W.A: WEST COAST - EXMOUTH & CORAL BAY

......Road Trip.....

Day 121- 3/12/09PERTH - GERALDTON

Friday

Today was the start of our trip going up the West Coast of Aus. We have been told different story’s about the North West, like the drive is boring as hell, your better of getting a flight. But we decided to rent not a camper van but a station wagon!! It’s basically a space wagon at home, where you can fold down the seats and sleep in it. We also got all camping equipment with it, so it was another little adventure we were looking forward to. When picking up our wagon, they told us we weren’t aloud to go as far as we wanted and if we did go that far, we would have to pay another 400 bucks!!! Which we were never told booking over the phone, so we kicked up a fuss.

Our Home for a Week!!

We came out on top with them letting us travel as far as we wanted to! To get where we wanted to go, was going to take up to 13 hours, plus someone (Danielle) forgot her drivers licence so it looks like I will be doing all the driving!!

Our first stop was Geralton, which was only a 4 hour drive. I couldn’t get over the size of there road trains they call over here. They are 40 meters in length and take a kilometer to stop once travelling at top speed, so I stayed well clear of them. They have angled bull horns on the front of the truck to bounce any animal they come in contact with off the road, which as the journey went on was true. Cows, kangaroos, sheep, birds and emus were all spotted dead on the side of the road. The landscape is too big to put up fences so the animals are free to wonder where they like. It was time to see how comfortable this wagon was.

So we made up the bed in the back and it was like sleeping on concrete!!! 6 more days of this, can’t wait!!!

Day 122- 4/12/09

GERALDTON - EXMOUTH

Saturday

We woke up in the car park all stiff and sore, but it wasn’t really that bad we just need to pad out the boot a bit more. After a quick breakie we headed off to Exmouth. This was going to be the farthest point for us; it was a good 10 hour drive… poor Rob!! Half way through our trip the petrol light came on.

I checked the map for the next petrol station…. At least 100km away!! So off went the air-com and we slowed down to 100km/hr. we were in a sweat, as it was super hot outside and I think Rob was really panicking, knowing that we probably wouldn’t have over 100km in the reserve tank! Next thing the car started beeping! Right we knew we were done for… but we kept driving… what other choice did we have! And then in the distance of this long endless road was a little petrol station, Billabong Roadhouse!! Phew! So we made it but I’d say with less then 5km in our tank… Thank god for that one! When we arrived we drove around this empty town. There were signs of life there but we couldn’t see a soul! Just emu’s wandering around the town… very random!

We drove around but Rob was getting pretty cranky – he had been driving for at least ten hours, so we pulled into a little beach car park. They are loads of park tables and barbeques set up so we decided to have our dinner there. But we weren’t having a BBQ, no we were of course back to our steady diet of noodles and beans… this time we added carrots… Mmmm!! Ha ha!!

After our quick meal a French couple arrived and set up at the BBQ. They had mince and peppers, onions and garlic… the whole shebang!! And it smelt so good! Put us to shame they did!! Typical Frenchies!!

Day 123- 5/12/09

EXMOUTH

Sunday

We woke up in the heat today so headed off to the beach, Cape Range National Park. Driving along the main road we stopped to see all these emu’s just wandering around on the road!

So strange… they were even hanging out at the info stop having a drink of water – they didn’t seem bothered by us at all!

We stopped by the lighthouse; it looked over the whole park - which gave us a good idea as to what was coming up!!

We paid into the park and got all our maps and what not – but the Taylor’s and Tommy and Fui had already told us where to go! So we turned into a few beaches along the way they were so nice…but once we got to Turquoise Beach ….

My God it totally took our breathe away! The sand was powder soft and pure white, there was no seaweed lying around and the water was perfect light blue and you could see everything -crystal clear!!

So we headed off to go snorkelling! It was so cool, less then 5 meters from the beach was all this coral and hundreds of little fish (now, it was no Fiji, but still gorgeous!) after a few hours of sunbathing, we saw a turtle pop his head up out of the water, so we walked around to this spit, where you could walk out quite far but still be in knee high water. So we are wading out and I am (Danielle) a bit farther ahead but I turn around to talk to Rob and he’s frozen in the water…. Looking at something and starting to panic! I’m shouting at him to tell me what’s going on, and he barely whispers that there is a shark in the sea by him!! This is shallow water so when I look down there is a dark shape swimming in his direction! The shark was only about 1.5meteres and even though we’ve been diving with sharks, it was very strange having this thing head toward him! Rob just started to leg it and the shark darted off in another direction. All the while I’m out is deeper water so I start to practically fly over the water getting my legs out of the water as fast as I can!After that traumatic event we headed on down to a few other beaches and checked out Yardie Creek. It was a totally dried up creek with muddy water and muddy bush! So we headed back to Turquoise Beach for our last glimpse of it. As we were leaving out of the corner of our eye we saw a baby kangaroo jumping near our car…. So we stopped and so did it…. Then it back tracked so we did too… luckily there were no cars on the road! Then it jumped over to its mom, and then there were three of them!!

So cute!

That evening we headed back to our same spot then we wandered around the little town. For such a small place, the central park was jam packed with hundreds of families!! It was the Christmas Carols in the Park. So we sat down and just blended in with all the families there! it was fun to just people watch, I could do that for hours! Then once the carols got under way… well there is no way to put this nicely- one of the women ruined the carols… she sounded like a broken violin! It was horrendous!Enough said we left after a while and chilled in our car over looking the beach!

Day 124- 6/12/09

EXMOUTH – CORAL BAY

Monday

We woke up early and headed off to Coral Bay, only 155km away! When we got there the beach was just as nice as Turquoise Bay – actually Rob preferred here. There was a tiny little village, with a few shops and a supermarket and one huge campsite! So we set up for the day on the beach, and totally relaxed, it was so nice here and in the afternoon you could sit in the shallow water, it was like a bath!!

Went we went to find a place to camp… we were a little screwed! Rules rules rules!! No-camping signs everywhere, not only that but you couldn’t fish you couldn’t touch or take anything! So after driving around- looking for a good hiding spot from the police (on the spot $100 fine if caught camping!) we eventually settled on the massive campsite!! We found all the usual backpackers in there even the ones that were doing the same as us… I guess this place there is nowhere to camp but in the campsite!!

Day 125- 7/12/09

CORAL BAY – MONKEY MIA

Tuesday

Another uncomfortable sleep in the back of our Station wagon!! We spent the morning on the spectacular beach.

Being hot and bothered again I (Rob) decided my luck with fishing!! Aus being Aus, you can only fish at designated areas and the area that I was fishing at, the fish had to be thrown back in!! But I only knew this when I was frying my fish up in the pan!!

Catching 4 fish, I tried to throw a small one I caught back in, but the hook was so deep in his mouth I couldn’t get it out in time!!! The pure little fellow!!!! But he was great bait for the next 3 fish I caught!!! The rules were only recreational fishing – no taking!!! Lucky I didn’t show off my fish this time to the locals, or I prob would have got a smack!!!

Check out these campers... a bit too organised!!

After an afternoon of fishing and bathing, we took the long long long road to Monkey Mia. Another road that had nothing in between, just bush and dead Kangaroos! Monkey Mia, didn’t have Monkeys but Dolphins!! Don’t ask why it’s called that, when there are no monkeys there!! The Dolphins come right up to the coast of the ocean every morning to be fed. We arrived seeing all the same signs we have seen down the whole west coast “NO CAMPING”. These signs were everywhere and if you’re caught the fine is big, plus cautious Kate was in full action!! We tried reversing into the bush so the local parky wouldn’t see us, but failed almost getting stuck!! So we gave up and just pulled into the side of the road and took the gamble. What’s for dinner???? Mmmhhhhhhh noodles!!!!! I never want to see another noodle by the end of this trip!!

Day 126- 8/12/09

MONKEY MIA – PINICLES

Wednesday

Up super early to get into the park, at half seven there was a crowd already forming!! One of the star dolphins was waiting at the waters edges for her morning feed. And you could see loads of others jumping and playing out in the water! So we found a place in the long line of tourists- right beside all the Japanese and their cameras! So as the morning went on we were told to stay our of the water for the actual feeding time, as any splash or shuffle in the water causes a noise that is magnified under water to the dolphins.

When the feeding started the staff started to pick people out of the crowd to feed the dolphins, I so wanted to give it a go… and at one point the girl pointed to our direction and said the girl in the denim shorts… ah, but it was the other girl a few people down from me!!! Poo! We at least we got to see them, about 9 dolphins in total, mothers and babies, juveniles and the males, and we got to learn a bit about them. But it was just way too crowded to stay there, there were at least 250 people shoving to get closer to the dolphins, it was a bit much so once the feeding was over we headed on to Denham the next village. Denham was quiet and empty and I think Rob and I were a little tired and fed up so we just kept driving.

We stopped off at Shell Beach. This place so beautiful, it’s a build up of loads of tiny shells, I mean millions upon millions of teeny white shells….

But no touching or taking… only observing!! So we were on the road again, making our way down to the Pinnacles! But our journey was paused when our engine or something started making a ticking noise! So we pulled into the next road house, checked the engine oil…. Well lets just say neither of us have car experience but when there is no oil showing on the dipstick well we know that it’s not right! We bought oil from the shop and the owners came out to check what we were doing… we obviously looked new to dealing with cars! The lady said we were close to blowing our engine... Eek!! Her husband was from Co. Down, small world; you’ll always find an Irish man somewhere!! There were really nice but Rob was set that this is what starts a wolf creek episode… super nice people in the middle of nowhere!!

Ha ha!! So we made it to the Pinnacles just at sunrise, well with about 20 mins left of sunrise. But that was plenty of time for a few funny photos of these phallic like rock formations… they really are the funniest looking things (I thought of you Smyth Girls laughing at this!! Ha ha!) We stayed at Hangover bay that night, and enjoyed our last night sleeping in the boot!!

Day 127- 9/12/09

PINICALS - PERTH

Thursday

We made the short two hour drive back to Perth, stopping on the way into the Midlands Shopping Centre. It was a massive shopping complex, like Dundrum…but let’s say not in an area like Dundrum!! But it was nice to wander through a shopping mall, and people watch…. Always fun! After our break there, we headed back to the Taylor’s house, and I cleaned out the car. That’s the compromise… Rob drove the distance on his own…. But I did the big clean up… a lot of sand in the car!

That night it was so good to sleep in a real bed… not in the boot of a car! Needless to say we slept very well!!