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Thursday 9 today we spent the day chilling at cable beach, in the night we went to the oasis bar where there was a wet t-shirt competition. In everyones opinion the wrong girl one. I was supporting the aborigine.
friday10th nothing much in day, rang around a lot of rental companies and people advertising lifts for traveeling down the west coast to perth and went on the internet to get quotes and catch up with emails etc. in the evening we went back down to cable beach where the girls went on camel ride and I just chilled out.
Saturday 11 went down to cable beach again but this time to go and see some dinosaur footprints. When we got there it was high tide and so we were unable to see them. So we chilled out on the beach for the afternoon and then walked the 1hr ½ walk along the beach to the rocks at the end where the footprints were located. We didnt get there till just before sunset. There where no signposts or indications as to where the footprints were and so we didnt spot any. However we did see the ones on the top of the rocks, but these were cast in concrete, so dont know how genuine they were. Met a guy on then who said he had found loads of prints and also some bones that he's sent to the university for tests. He then gave us a lift in the front of his land cruiser to the nearest bus stop. In the night had a few drinks and played cards at the hostel.
Sunday 12th nothing. I have had too much sun so just stayed in the room. Had a little drink with the irish guys in my room and another early night.
Mon 13th picked up the wicked camper. The van has aboriginal drawings on the side and a sentence about a diet - a pretty s*** one from the others ive seen. The van is an el grand. Looks relatively new and the engine looked good. It can sleep 3 people in the back, which means we'll have to rotate who sleeps on the front seat. And theres a little unit with a sink in the boot. We drove all afternoon, stopped at an aboriginal town called bidyadanga for some petrol. It was full of aboriginies and the girls felt scared so they didnt get out of the car. But I thought it was pretty cool. We stopped at a road house caravan park in the night.
Tues 14th whilst having breakfast we got surrounded by loads of peacocks. Today we drove to karajini NP. Briefly stopped at port hedland for supplies. Got busted at the campsite for only paying for 2 people and I had to go see the people as the girls were a bit scared. Had a bit of a b******ing off these two lady volunteers so kinda felt bad, even though it wasnt my idea in the first place. In the night we drank wine and whiskey and played cards.
Wed 15th spent day at karijini NP and went to weano gorge (walked), joffre gorge and knox gorge. and then drove to a town in the middle of nowhere called tom price. Sounds very welsh and whats more just before we got there I told the girls how much the scenery looked like wales. Managed a free shower at the campsite then found a car park and stayed the night.
Thursday: all day drive to exmouth. Got there at 4. stopped for food, petrol and rented snorkels. Then drove to the lighthouse caravan park for the night- much the same as the campsites back home, but they dont have any grass.
Friday 17th: up early, luckily, as we didnt realise you were allocated campsites upon entry to the national park. We got the last place in the whole natoinal park. Today was spent at 2 beaches, the morning at oyster stacks, which was excellent for snorkelling, lots of coral and fish and saw an octopus. But no turtles and rays. In the afternoon went to turquoise bay, and the name speaks for itself. I think dulex would struggle to make a paint colour that turquoise!! the whole reef (ningaloo reef) is this tropical painted turquoise with the coral reef clearly visable. Also unlike the GBR where you need a boat to get to the reef, this one is about 10m into the water. As turquiose bay was so beautiful we stayed there till sundown and then drove back to campsite. The drive took ages as there were so many kangeroos we could only drive like 20km/h. Never seen so many kangeroos!!
sat 18th went to north mandu bay, but beach was all pebbly and didnt look that great for snorkelling, so went to lakeside, snorkelling was ok, but the weather really affected the visability as it was too windy. So we went back to turquoise bay. Snorkelling not as good today due to the weather. Spent most of the day there then went to mangrove bay, which was basically mud flats and only suitable for bird watching. Had a quick stop at surfers beach -high tide so no surfers then into exmouth to stay the night.
Sun: up and off early to get to coral bay. Drive is only 2hrs. Spent the afternoon on coral bay beach. Water is again a beautiful colour and can see loads of coral. Sand is probably the nicest ive seen at ningaloo, just sand, no shells. Snorkelling was ok. Loads of coral, all fascinating shapes however it was all dead so there was not many aquatic life. In the night we drove to a car park to spend the night, but we got caught by the ranger and had to drive out of town and stay in a lay-by on the road.
Monday 20th: walked to shark bay, saw 4 sharks and a manta ray. Driving to monkey mia today. Got to monkey mia at sunset, me and anais got out and walked along the beach while other 2 paid and there were dolphins playing, around 6 of them, no more than 10ms away from us and at times only 2m! It was amazing and one came right up to us, where we could have easily stroked it. But didnt due to the wellbeing of the dolphin. We then followed them down to the pier and watched them there, no more than a couple of metres from the shore again. If you look at the photos (when I eventually load them) none of the photos have been zoomed in, to give u an idea of how far away they were. It was a magical experience.
Tues 21st: got up for the dolphin feeding. Only a small no. of people get picked to feed the dolphins, but the beach is full of eager watchers. Rented a 4 seater pedlo. Journey over was ok but didnt see any dolphins, turtles or dugongs which they said we might see. Getting off the beach I managed to cut the bottoms of both feet on the sharp rocks. On the way back the journey sucked as we were against the current which was not far off the same speed as we were going and it also was blowing us out to see. So I worked my arse off trying to get us back to monkey mia, realising the issue while the girls just peddled like women do -not a care in the world. So it took us 1hr to get over to the beach and about 3hrs to get back. But as we got close to the beach 4 or 5 dolphins appeared not to far from the pedlo which made the trip well worth it. In the night I probably saw the most amazing sunset I have ever seen, well it was more the opposite side of the sunset. Check out my photos, theres a good one of the catamaran with the star.
Wed 22nd: stopped at shell beach, where yes the beach is just full of shells, no sand and apparently in the places the shells are up to 10m deep. Didnt swim here. We then stopped at hamelin pool where I saw the worlds oldest living organism. The stromatolites are the oldest form of life on earth, around 3000yrs old they basically look like brown rocks, see my pics. We then stopped at a layby just outside kalbarri np for the night and played with the rugby ball with catherine.
Thursday 23rd: kalbarri NP. Stopped at hawks head, ross graham, the loop (natures window) and the z bend. Similar to karijini np but not as magnificent. We then drove to geraldton, got a migrane so wasnt much company. Stayed the night in geraldton, next to a football pitch, so me and anais threw the rugby ball for a bit.
Friday 24th: chilled at geraldton in the morning and had a much earned hungry jacks (burger king) breakfast. We then drove to nambung np to view the pinnacles, thousands of years old small limestone columns that appeared when the sand dunes shifted. We spent like an hour there then drove to lancelin, where we spent the night. This part of the drive was along the road called the indian coast highway, where u could see big white sanddunes, it was a nice drive.
Sat 25th: drove from lancelin to perth. Walked around the cbd and then to the water front and sat on the beach for a little while. Then walked to kings park (the biggest park in the world, apparently even bigger than cental park in NYC) walked around there for a bit and then back to the camper van. Met one of julies friends and 2 of catherines friends and we went out into town. Just stayed at one pub and came back relatively early as we were all completely knackered.
Sun 26th: we drove to york today as catherine and anais were doing their skydive. We spent all morning there and it was a lot of waiting around like mine. But the girls were scared, especially anais. The company they went with actually made mine look like a mickey mouse company. They had video training and then practical training, a jumpsuit and a hat. I had 20 secs of instructions and jumped in my shorts and t shirt. As they came close to landing u could see them waving and cheering. They thoroughly enjoyed it. Their videos were good but there was a girl who jumped with them who had a video and it was aweful. Her goggless kept on coming off so she was constantly adjusting them, in the end the guy held them on her, with his fingers blocking her eyes and rammed up against her nose, making her look like a pig. Poor girl, haha. York was a very pretty old town, we only drove through but from what I saw I would recommend an afternoon there.
Mon 27th: today went to the airport with anais and catherine as they were flying to adelaide. Julie, t-bo (julies friend whose staying in perth) and I went to scarborough beach for the afternoon. In the evening we camped amongst the skyscrapers in the car park.
Tues 28th: drove to fremantle, booked into the old firestation hostel and dropped t-bo and bags there. Then drove back to perth and dropped the wicked camper off and caught train back to freo. Train system here is probably the worst ive encountered on my travels, just no information anywhere on ticket prices, zones etc. but very cheap. In the evening I went for a walk around the harbour area and spoke to sunny. In night watched a couple of films and was in bed by 11.
wed 29th: moved from the firestation to backpackers inn. I went around town looking for cheap car rental but no luck, cheapest was $40 a day. T-bo left last minute because of a job offer that he had to be there for the next morning. Me julie and oriele (julies friend from melbs) walked around town. In night went to little creatures (a brewery and pub).
30th: rented free bikes from little creatures and rode around freo stopping at the south beach and freo prison, both not worth seeing. In the afternoon went to the library (free wifi) and finally managed to ring home. Skype was excellent but nothing else worked. In the evening played table tennis with julie. In night 3 of us went to little creatures for a drink.
October 1st: visited freo markets in the morning. Played table tennis with julie and oriele. Caught train to perth and then bus to margaret river. Took 5 1/2hrs. Inne town backpackers. In the evening watched a horrid film called hunger and went to bed at 10.
2nd: walked around town-didnt take long, its tiny! So extended my walk so I was around 1 1/2hrs. In afternoon watched the grand final of afl -st kilda v collingwood with 3 aussies. Went for walk up one of the many nature trails. In night played cards with 3 aussies and a young couple from dorset (rather very posh old chap). Then went to the pub with the 3 aussies. All pubs /bars shut at 12, every night!!
3rd: hired bike from the hostel and rode to surfers point, prevelly and went back and rode the trail to cowaramup. In the evening caught the bus to pemberton. Staying in the yha which is actually a house and one of the bedrooms just has 3 bunkbeds in.
mon 4th: managed to grab a lift of the 2 girls that were staying here to the gloucester tree. This is the worlds tallest climbable tree. Now when I say climbable, I dont mean free climb up the branchs or up a ladder. The tree is an old lookout tower, for use in the old days for keeping an eye out for forest fires in the karri rainforest. The gloucester tree is one of the taller karri trees in the national park and the lookout platform stands 62m above ground. There are iron bars that are hammered in to the tree at one end and these are what u climb up. No saftey net, no hand rail. I was actually surprised how they were allowed to still let you climb up it, with health and safety rules these days. We then went to the cascades, but these were really s***, more like rocks in the water. In the afternoon I went for a walk through the main street and went to the old train station where there were a few old trains and a steam train. I then walked to the swimming pool (more like a forest pond). I came back to a full house, pretty much full of germans. What an evil sounding language german is. In evening just updated the old journal.
5th: its pissing down! Had all morning to kill so went to the old trainstation to see the steam engine. It then cleared up so went to the swimming pool, which is in the forest and is more like a tiny lake, it has marron in it. I then went for a walk on one of the forest tracks. Just as I got back to town it pissed down and I got soaked. I waited under a tree but was getting to wet so legged it to a bus stop where I spent the next hr. thank god for sudoku on the phone. It eased off for a bit so went and grabbed some food in the cafe. It started raining again so went to the yha main building and manged to get into the living room and watch a film. I then caught the bus at 3 to walpole. Walpole is tiny. I walked around the whole town and it took me 15mins. The hostel is run by a little lady, who is actually dying from radiation poisoning, but shes a lively little thing and the biggest aussie sports fan I have ever met, she knew every competitor in the commonwealth games and knew everything there was to know about cricket, afl and rugby league.
6th: there wasnt much to see in walpole, so I hired a car. $35 afor the day. I set off at 9 to make a full day of it and hopefully be back in time to catch the bus to denmark. The car is a little go-kart thing, an old suzuki. First was mandalay beach, a long beach with fast swells, a great site to see, some proper 'rip u to shreds waves'. On the way to the beach along a dirt track I saw this huge black snake on the road, I first thought it was a piece of rubber from a tyre, but oh no, it was a monster of a thing. I then drove to mount frankland, the car doesnt cope well with these non tarmac roads, I was driving down a straight road, doing 80km/h and the back end started fish tailing, pretty scary seeing I was going straight, but then on the corners id whip the front in and the back would drift around which was cool. Mount frankland offered some amazing views, it was the tallest peak in the area and you could see for miles in all directions. Next stop was the giant tingle tree. These trees only grow in this part of oz and the whole world so I got to see the worlds biggest girthed (is that a word?) tingle tree. Then a short little drive to the valley of the giants which is a forest full of tingle trees and has a tree top walk. I got there only to find that I had to pay also for the ancient walk, which was not worth the money and the tree top walk was only 40m, and after climbing the gloucester tree, it would have been soggy pants. So I jumped in the car and drove to peaceful bay. A nice beach but nothing special. Then to conspicuous cliff which was beautiful and had a lovely beach with huge waves crashing on it. I then headed back to walpole. I got to the hostel, got my things and the lady told me that the bus was due to leave right then -i had got my days mixed up, on wed it differs from the rest of the week. So I stayed there for 10mins trying to talk over with the old lady about what to do, so I decided to hitch hike. I went down to the main road, looked for an ideal spot to thumb and as I crossed the road the bus came round the corner. The guy signaled if I wanted a ride and kindly pulled over on the side of the road (he wasnt scheduled to stop at walpole, so if I was early and was waiting at the bus stop, just off from the road, he would have driven straight past) so was pretty lucky. When we got to denmark he went on a little detour and dropped me off right outside the backpackers. Again this hostel is like a house and theres only 3 other people staying here. So ive got a dorm room to myself. Played cards with one of them.
Thurs 7th: Today went to the visitor centre and saw the worlds biggest barometer. I dont think theres much of the 'worlds biggest' have left to see!!! I then came back and was preparing my stuff for a hike when one of the girls asked me if I wanted to go with her in the car and see a few sights. So off we went. First stop was monkey rock, which had some fantastic views over the coastline. We then went to lights beach. Waves were a bit to big to go swimming in. we then went to green pools and elephant rocks, where we climbed some rocks but didnt go swimming-too cold. Then went back to the hostel, it was only 3:30 so I decided to go on the hike that I was going to go on this morning. It was along wilson inlet and part of it was on the famous bibbulmun trail. Saw some lovely views across the inlet of pelicans and dippers and these crop of rocks out in the inlet and with a nice sunset it was a really tranquil spot.
Friday 8th: catching the bus to albany at 4:30 so got pretty much the whole day to waste. So decided to go and check this beach out that this guy in perth recommended. A nice little 16km walk along the heritage trail (an old railway line) there and back. So got to crusoe beach and to be honest, it wasnt that great and after the 2hr walk I felt a little peeved. On the walk back I saw loads of lizards, pretty big ones (nowhere near the ones in the perhentian islands though) and also 3 snakes. One right on the path infront of me which I didnt see, so kinda gave me a jump. There were black and about 1.5m long. Mam would have loved it!! I got back to hostel around 2:30 so had a shower, food and managed to jump on the internet for 30mins before catching the bus to albany.
saturday 9th: free breakfast, but the bread was a little frozen. Not many people there eating so took full advantage and had my 8 pieces of toast. Its a lovely hot day, just below 30degrees. Another long walk on the cards today. Walked up to mount clarence. A great view over looking the town of albany, princess royal harbour, middleton beach and king george sound. Then walked back to the hostel, grabbed some food and my towel and headed to middleton beach. Theres a 'scenic' walk around the headland. But the only scenic bit is a km stretch from middleton beach. The rest your walking behind trees so cant see much. Its also whale season and king george sound is known for its whale calfs. Unfortunately I didnt see one. Middleton beach is a nice beach, with a large green area behind it. Water was pretty cold but I had to go for a swim as I havnt had a dip in the southern ocean yet. Then the wind picked up and it got cold and to windy to stay on the beach. So I headed back to town. In the evening I went into the garden area of the hostel to try and get involved with the crowd there. But everyone knew everyone else as they have all been here a while, working in albany. So I sat on my own for a little while, still find it hard to 'make the first move' and go up to a group and just start talking to them, especially after I havnt done it for like a month. But soon enough a guy asked me to join them and a girl gave me a free drink of tequila. So stayed with them rest of evening, a few of us went on to a pub,the white star and then we ended up in a club till 2:30. but it was full of kids.
sunday 10th: weather isnt great today, drizzling and quite grey. So checked out and went for a walk up the main street to dog rock. Then went to subway to grab my food for the evening as im on the bus from 3 till 9. rang the planet inn hostel, said the street was close to the bus station so they didnt do pick ups. The dick. Yes the street was like a 15min walk which was doable, altho a little sweaty with a 20kg rucksack on ur back. What he didnt tell me was the hostel was at the other end of the street to the bus station and the street was about 2miles long!! so after leaving the bus station at 9:10, I got to the hostel at 10pm, where they werent expecting me. Got a bed in a room which smelt and was dirty. The matresses were stinking and the previous persons sheets were all still on the bed. The whole place hasnt looked like its had a good clean in a good damn while. Early night!
11th: nipped into town to print off my flight itinerary and pick up some souvenirs and then back to the hostel to take full advantage of the free internet, which again turned out to be s***. Managed to email everyone but in like 6hrs only uploaded like 200 photos. Early night.
12th: up at freaking 4am to be picked up at 4:30am for my 7:45am flight that I had to be there 1/2hr before departure! It was the cheapest and only way and the company only did that time in the morning. Slept off and on at the airport but wasnt that bad. Flight was great. A little bumpy on the approach but that just made it more fun. Caught the public bus into the centre and found the hostel without a hitch. The girl at the hostel told me what bus to catch and which way to walk. In the afternoon had a quick walk around town and went food shopping. Weather is drizzle so just chilled out in the hostel.
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