Our underwater camera had broken earlier in the trip and we’d posted it to a repair shop in Perth, pleading with them to fix it before Christmas. We had to call to say it was ready so Nitin took us to collect it and treated us to a sightseeing tour afterwards. First we stopped at Kings Park - a beautiful and huge park on a hill overlooking the city. The main part of the park had manicured lawns and large trees lining the road, with panoramic views. Further around the park it turned into dense bush and felt like a completely [View Full Entry]

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We had to use our heater when we woke up for the first time since arriving in Oz - I can’t believe what wimps we’ve become since travelling! Since crossing the tropic line we’ve really felt the difference in temperature. As it was our last day in the van we had to get up early to go through our list of chores like emptying the grey water, filling up the drinking water and emptying the toilet. Once we were sorted out, we drove across the road to the beach where the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre was based. We weren’t really sure [View Full Entry]

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After breakfast we drove up the coast towards Yellingup. En route Matt spotted a sign for a sheep shearing shed advertising ugg boots so we decided to follow it as I’d been thinking about buying some. Outside the shop there were some sheep in a pen. Most of them had been sheered already and looked a bit naked and lost. We patted them and they immediately tried to eat our clothes. The shop was full of woollen clothes and ugg boots in lots of styles. Matt persuaded me to try on a big woolly jumper that he liked and reluctantly I [View Full Entry]

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Our morning started with a short trip into Denmark. After a quick walk around the town we drove to the Valley of the Giants - a karri forest containing some very tall trees. They’re different from the NZ kauri trees,- instead of being fat and stocky, these were tall and skinny. The storm the previous night had brought some of the trees down along the walk we had planned to do - the Ancient Empire Walk - which weaved along a boardwalk through the forest. It meant that we could only go a short way into the woods before we had [View Full Entry]

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When the alarm went off I did my best to persuade Matt that getting up now was a bad idea and we’d be much more productive if we had a bit more sleep. He agreed and we finally got up an hour and a half later feeling much better. When we opened up the curtains we saw that it was raining and cloudy. It was the first rain we’d seen on the west coast and it was a shock. The weather had been getting cooler since crossing the tropic line and even though I wasn’t cold in long shorts and a [View Full Entry]

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We managed to get out of bed early this morning (although I do admit Matt had to drag me out for a change) as we had a long day ahead. After filling up our tank full of diesel we began our longest journey yet. Matt’s plan was to get as far as we could before nightfall. We set off along the ocean road towards Port Gregory, where we passed alongside a stunning pink lake. Yes, you read that right! The lake was completely pink and apparently beta carotene is produced from it. Even the clouds above it were pink from the [View Full Entry]

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Our alarm went off early as we wanted to see the dolphin feeding before leaving for Kalbarri. We got into our shorts and swimwear and made out way down to the beachfront where there was already a crowd gathering. People were standing knee deep in the water as dolphins swam backwards and forwards in front of them. There were a few volunteers in the water with walkies and one of them also had a loud hailer. She informed us that we were waiting for a couple more dolphins to arrive before commencing the feeding. The dolphins are fed from the beach [View Full Entry]

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As a treat we decided to have a very lazy morning so slept in until almost 10am. I felt so guilty but it was worth it! We made ourselves a fry up breakfast/lunch and then it was already time to go to the next trip. This one was a nature cruise aboard the Shotover - a large, luxurious catamaran. The weather was hot so we had on our hats, sunglasses and sunblock ready as there was little shade aboard the boat. We took a seat and waited excitedly, thinking about the types of wildlife we might encounter. The two crew members [View Full Entry]

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Today we went on our first Monkey Mia tour. It was a full day safari trip through the national park. We all met at the tour booking office and were introduced to Tim Hargreaves, our guide for the day. He was a cheery bearded man, the kind you could imagine to make a fun worldly wise grandfather. He was full of old stories and had experienced lots of adventures during his lifetime travelling the world. He was originally from Jersey and had been officially Australian since the 70s but he still had a very posh English accent gained from years at [View Full Entry]

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We decided to see if we could make it all the way to Monkey Mia in one journey - it was less distance than Broome to Port Headland so we thought it was achievable. I packed a bag of food and drink for the cab and after a final drive through Coral Bay to the petrol pump we made our escape. Almost as soon as we set off along the straight road an emu ran out of the bushes in front of us. We were doing about 120kph at the time! Matt slammed on the brakes making everything in the back [View Full Entry]

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