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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!!

W.A: PERTH 2

Day 118- 30/11/09
DRIVE BACK TO PERTH
Tuesday
We had a long day of driving with nothing in-between the towns… really nothing! But we got back to Perth and chilled out for a little while. Then it was back into action… Rachel (John’s girlfriend) was having her graduate fashion show. It was a pretty big deal, about 25 students show casting their final year creations. I had nothing to wear to a fashion even, but I was quickly reassured that formal or dressy doesn’t really exist in Aus. So I got away with jeans and a nice top! But still I think I need a wardrobe update…
The night was amazing, and the students put on a fabulous show! Rachel’s gear was very classic and beautifully tailored, and I also spotted a few other budding designers whose clothes I absolutely loved!!
Then after the show we popped into the casino (the show was on in the hotel and this place is massive, with an equally massive casino!) So Rob chanced his arm on black jack….. No such luck!! We are going to have to get a job in Oz….

Day 119- 1/12/09
PERTH
Wednesday (CHILL OUT TIME)
Day of rest was needed today. This trip is a lot of hard work, going to places you never been, seeing things that only people could imagine!! So we took it easy today and organised going up the West Coast of Aus to Exmouth, supposedly a boring 13 hour drive to see the best beaches in the world! So we looked into renting a camper van for the week. Plus it was time to get back to reality, looking for a job online!! Much as we don’t want to work, I think we are looking forward to a new way of life.
While I (Rob) was doing all the organising, Danielle was sitting outside weeping, reading the last few pages of Twilight, the New Moon!!! Which she finished, I’m sure she can tell you all in an e mail because I don’t want to bore you all by telling you now.

Day 120- 2/12/09
PERTH
Thursday
Today we headed out for a Dim Sum Lunch with Tommy and Fui (my dad’s friend from way back when!!) it was great to catch up with them and find out that Tommy is a serious follower of our blog… he knew some of our stories better then we did!! Very impressed! So Dim Sum… what’s that? Well it is a traditional Chinese style of meal; loads of little portions of food are brought out one after another, lots of little steamed dumplings (love the prawn ones) and various other dishes that we hadn’t come across yet! We even tried chicken feet!! Not really to our taste but apart from that everything else was super yum and we were well fed….Thank you Tommy & Fui, we had a super time, great to see ya! And to hear some of the stories from my dads past….. Ha ha!! Like road kill for dinner and the image of the two of you in a mini!!! Ha ha!!
That evening we had a Barbie with Ger and Julian. Rob learnt how too clean a BBQ properly!! You need these skills for this country, they are vital!!

W.A: MARGARET RIVER

Day 114- 27/11/09
PERTH – MARGARET RIVER (FOR THE WINEOS!)
Friday
Conor gave us his car for the weekend, so we could drive down south to Margaret River. The girl we met yesterday Fiona came with us, she was meeting up with friends down there. We stopped off in Bunbury town on our way down, small little hippy town where we stopped for lunch. Not much happening here but it was good to stretch the legs. We arrived at Geraldine and Julian summer house in Margaret River just after lunch time. We had a quick stop and went straight into the town to meet up with Fi’s friends. Sam and Will worked for a winery like all local people in Margaret River. If you live here your either in wine or in wine!! So it looks like I’ll (Rob) have to become more mature, and have a taste of a few wines!! Luckily enough Sam brought us on a tour of his winery he worked at “Xanadu”. When arriving, the size of the gates said it all. The winery was huge and well exported. So we got a V.I.P tour of the winery, plus Sam drove so we could have as much wine as we pleased!! Even though two of us don’t like wine, we really got stuck in. Glass after glass no wonder we were half shot coming out, but I think I’ll (Rob) stick to the whites if I had a choice! And onto the next winery it was, Will brought us to his winery, Voyager was the name of this one and it was a bit more swavy!! It had 8 grounds men and that’s just for the flowers! Plus I though was very funny, that the owner doesn’t drink wine!! This place was so proud of there Aussie brand it had a 16meter by 8 meter flag at the entrance (no joke) it was the size of Ireland (that’s a joke)!!! It was great to get a personal trip of the grounds and of course to taste the wine too. It was a Friday night and there was a band playing in town, so we decided to get ready, and head to Sam’s for a few pre drinks before we hit the town. We came across the coolest thing yet in Aussie land, a drive through bottle shop (off Licence) you don’t even have to get out of your car, it’s basically like a drive through Maccers!!! What has the world come to, sooo lazy!! Turns out the band were great, sorta indie, jazz, hip hopish like!!! Very different but this whole town is. It sorta gets under your skin in a nice way. Very cool trendy place to live, especially if your into wine!

Day 115- 28/11/09
MARGARET RIVER (SURFER DUDE)
Saturday
We rested today, for most of the morning actually. But when we finally arose we headed to town and strolled around, it is such a nice town with such a hippy vibe! Something I think Australia has pockets of all over the place! We headed to the beach for a late picnic and drove around all the lookout points along the beach until we came to Surfer’s Point. The place was so crowded with all sorts watching the sun set and the evening surfers trying to catch the perfect wave! It was a really nice setting - families, tourists and local surfers all chilling out!

Day 116- 28/11/09
MARGARET RIVER (YUM…A DAY OF TASTING)
Sunday
Today we were taking in the best of Margaret River’s produce! It was a super day filled with food and wine! Best day of tasting ever!!
We started with a tour of the Melting Pot Glass Studio, it was lovely to see all the glass works but unfortunately we missed the workshop tour, that’s only on a Tuesday.
Next was Jah Roc Galleries (beautiful stuff…), we were in our element, spending all our imaginary money! Then it was off to Olio Bello – chutneys and olive oil (best ones were Tomato Jam and Red Pesto.) It was a great start to our foodie day, got my taste buds going! And it makes me (Danielle) want to cook! One day maybe it will come back to me!!! We headed on to Moss Brothers Winery (my favourite wine by far – Moses Rock Rosé) I’m converted, I’m serious, I really like wine here! Well still only sweet whites and rosés! We headed on to a brewery for Rob - Bootleg Brewery. It was packed, bus loads of people there having boozy lunches and sampling the beer. As Rob was driving and as they weren’t giving out small samples for free we headed on to our next stop - Woody Nook. A nice winery with a cute café tucked to the back. I love all the country style foodie stuff – everything it organic and made locally! And the setting is perfect, not too posh or classical like the French wineries but a bit more modern and cool – well I guess wineries have only been around here for the last 35 years! Rob kinda insulted the woman by saying that all the logos here were very modern and cartoon-y… Ha ha! She turned around and said ‘Well in fact our stamp is a print of the old farm house; it is probably one of the most classic stamps of Margaret River….’ Eek! Oh well, it looked like a cartoon to us!

Our favourite stop - The Grove (liquors and spirits), we weren’t expecting this one at all, we got to try some really nice liquors like strawberry, lemon, white chocolate and butterscotch – and butterscotch and chocolate mixed!! So good! Then we got a choice of a pre mixed cocktail, I had a yummy Shokalot – strawberry and chocolate with cream and Rob had an orange and chocolate ginger ale shot. Then being more of a vodka connoisseur I sampled their premium grape vodka… nice but it’s no Absolut!!
We popped into Yahava Koffee Works (coffee tasting) after that, we (well I) certainly needed a wake up after an early day of tasting alcohol!! We took a little breather and stopped to have lunch, not that we needed it with all the food tasting coming up!
After lunch we went to Cape Lavender (Lavender wines…all the same really but with a hint of lavender…Mom you would like it, I know you like your lavender!) then we heading on to the beautiful Margaret River Chocolate Company… mmmmm! It was stocked full of chocolate slabs and chocolate sauce!! They had a corner with various icecreams and cookies and cakes, but we were very good we only sampled their 3 types of chocolate – dark, milk and white…. But that’s because that’s all that was free!! Ha Ha! Next door to that was Margaret River Providore (chutneys and jams, spices and cereals) This place was great they handed out loads of free recipes so I took a load of them… you never know I might get back to cooking while I’m here!! Then I was sampling the chutneys with the little plastic spoons when a big woman’s voice bellowed “Change Spoooons!”… I was morto!! I had forgotten to take a fresh spoon and had been dipping the same one back in to the next pot!!! Oops!! Rob just laughed saying she was just annoyed because she was going around with 20 spoons in her hand! After that embarrassing ordeal we came across Margaret River Nuts and Cereals (muesli, spices nuts, dried fruit) this place was lovely, you could make your own muesli here with all sorts of dried fruits and various cereals!! But we were not here to spend we were here to do free tastings... so once we had accomplished our mission we headed on to the next spot!! Next, Margaret River Dairy Company (cheeses – my favourite was smoked cheddar) this went down really well with my last wine tasting at Palandri Winery, no Rosé though!! Poo!
We finished the day with a wander through the town, listening to the live music streaming out of the bars!! We love Margaret River!


Day 117- 29/11/09
DENMARK AND ALBANY (FAR AND NOTHING BETWEEN)
Monday
Our next stop was Denmark, (No not the country, a place in Aus) looking a the map we thought, ah 2 hours should do it, 6 hours later we pulled into Denmark after moving a millimetre on the map, just shows you how big this country is.
On our way we stopped off at the Valley of the Giants Tree Top walk. It’s a raised platform 40 meters above the ground viewing some of the highest tress in Aus, it was a pretty spectacular sight, plus the walkway swung side to side to make you feel like you were in the tree tops, well that’s what the brochure said!!! The 20 min walk took us 5 minutes as we rushed by Americans taking close up photos of the bark; time wasn’t on our side to make the Honey Shop, Toffee Factory and more wine stops before they closed!! Our next stop was the Toffee Factory, looking through the glass window at them cutting the toffee was enough for us to buy a cheap left over bit, which they sell for half price!! It was a funny sight the two of us leaving, chewing on this huge piece of toffee. Danielle said we have to save some for later but it was gone before we got the next stop, Honey!!
We were still picking the toffee from our teeth, walking into the Honey Shop (Bartholomew’s Meadery). I know it is a honey shop, but they had everything you could think of all made from honey- soap, wine, ice cream, shampoo, sweets…. The list went on and on!! So we got stuck into the Meadery Honey Wine, far too sweet for me but of coarse sweet tooth Danielle loved it. The lady in the shop was basically telling us her whole life story about her Irish background; she was the scariest women I’ve come across, big bubble eyes and a very loud laugh, we got out of there because all I could think of was Wolf Creek!!
We arrived in Denmark, thinking it was going to be quite a big town, but we came across a small street with a supermarket and a few shops, so we decided to continue on to Albany, our last stop. Albany was much bigger and catching the sunset just as we arrived was a bonus. Plus it was back to camping, sleeping in a car for the night!