So, back on the road, and a 10 day trip up the west coast with 17 other people.The first day of these bus tours is always the worst. They always begin with an early start, and everyone sits quietly trying to suss out who the annoying one is going to be, and who they reckon is going to be friend material. Luckily, and somewhat unbelievably for such a large group, all 20 odd of us get on famously, and there are no irritating people on board. This seems the perfect ingredient for a good trip.
We drive north towards Kalbarri which will be or stop this evening. Soon, we turn off the sealed road for our first taste of unsealed corrugated red dirt road, which loosens your teeth and stretches as far as the eye can see.
Our first stop of the day is at the Pinnacles Desert. A sandy area full of Limestone Pillars, which have been left, when all that surrounded them was eroded away. It's an odd landscape, which wouldn't be out if place in space, but as we headed up the hill to survey the scene, it made marvellous viewing. Out crops popping up all over the place, the blue of the sea in the distance, and apart from the birds singing, and the hum of the odd insect.... silence.
Back in the van, things had livened up, and people were at least chatting, so I started to relax a bit!
I generally fall asleep on warm afternoons in moving transport, and despite our drive Simon's commentary, I could barely keep my eyes open. At one point I jolted awake to the words... "and that's how Hangover Bay got it's name".... NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Luckily H was awake... apparently, a ship crashed off the rocks a bit North of here, and the sailors immediately rescued their Rum, and drank it. They decided to walk south towards Perth, and this area is where they camped for the night. Hence the name reflects how they felt the next morning. We sat for lunch here, and I can think of worse places to sit off a raging headache, with the blue sea, and white sandy beaches stretching along the coast.
We sand boarded a bit further along the coast, and then carried on North. We had to introduce ourselves on the mike on the bus, so by the time we got Kalbarri we all knew each other fairly well (although it may take a few more days to capture all the names!)
The next morning we were up early and headed to Jake's Point to watch the surfers, as the sun rose, before heading into Kalbarri National Park.
At Kalbarri, we did a walk where we saw Natures Window - a hole eroded in the rock, which gives a picture perfect frame of the river below, or the sky if you look up. We also headed down the the River, in the Z Bend gorge. The sun is beating down... a welcome relief after the rain in Perth!We drove on - we have thousands of km's to cover over the next ten days so there is a lot of driving involved, but we each take it in turns to DJ on the ipod at the front of the bus, so there's usually something to sing along to.
Next stop - Shell Beach - imaginatively titled as the whole beach is made up of shells at least 1m deep. Then the short distance to Monkey Mia.
As we headed to the beach for Sunset, the only word I could think of to describe this place is Paradise. White sandy beach, the sunsetting over the water, pelicans gliding through the reflections of the suns rays, and the water being broken occasionally by the fins of dolphins. With a glass of Red Wine (goon) in the hand, I had to ask myself... does life get much better than this?That evening H and I went on a cultural trip with an aboriginal. We walked through white sand country to red sand country, and Campsy (our guide) pointed out Echidna tracks in the sand. At the top of the sand dune we looked out over the bay where the moon cast a brilliant glow on the water.
We sat around a camp fire, while Campsy cooked a mullet on the coals, and told us aboriginal stories about the stars, the turtle and the Thorny Backed Lizard. Sandalwood burnt on the fire, filling the air with a fabulous aroma which relaxed me. Campsy then gave us a didgeridoo demonstration and showed us how you can use the didg. to make the sounds of certain animals.
He then passed around the mullet to taste.The evening was fascinating, I could hardly believe that we had been up there nearly two hours.
Next morning, we were up early and headed down to the beach where a crowd was already standing in the edge of the water looking at the 9 or 10 dolphins who wer
e swimming in the shallows there. These Dolphins are fed 3 times in the morning each day, by hand by tourists, but are only fed 1/3 of their daily allowance so that they continue to hunt.
e swimming in the shallows there. These Dolphins are fed 3 times in the morning each day, by hand by tourists, but are only fed 1/3 of their daily allowance so that they continue to hunt.We stood and watched them, and a few of our party got to feed them. We even went to the second feeding, but sadly, neither H or 
I were picked to feed these beautiful creatures.
I were picked to feed these beautiful creatures.Then we were back on the road heading up to Coral Bay. H and I were DJ'ing, for what was nearly a whole day of driving.
We did stop at Hamelin Bay, home of the oldest living thing on Earth... The Stromatolites. If anyone has read Bill Bryson's down under you will know that while the concept of these living
rocks that oxidised the earth is fascinating, they just look like a bunch of rocks, so aesthetically are not that exciting. That said we did see some bubbles, so they are still breathing!
rocks that oxidised the earth is fascinating, they just look like a bunch of rocks, so aesthetically are not that exciting. That said we did see some bubbles, so they are still breathing!
We headed on, through a great expanse of nothingness, and as sunset began H and I started to pump the party tunes (we had the whole bus doing the YMCA at one point! - hoorah for having random tunes on my Ipod!) As darkness fell we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, and then headed to Coral Bay where we stopped for the night.
