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Set off on our travels on 23rd April 2011 arriving in Perth Western Oz after a brief stop in Singapore Changi Airport at just gone midnight on 25th April. Spent two nights in North Lodge backpackers before hiring a Camper Van 'Dirty Sanchez' from Travelers Autobarn for 3 weeks setting off on our trip along the West Coast!
After spending a night in Scarborough in a car park over looking the beach, we took the Indian Ocean Drive (which gave us some awesome views of the huge west ozzi coastline) towards Exmouth.
First stop was Dongara arrived there pretty late on after a 5 hour drive, dawned on us that Oz is massive and gonna take a while to get anywhere! Stayed the night camped just outside of the Town were caught & given a bit of a telling off by the ranger but thankfully no $150 fine. Left Dongara in a bit of a rush so didn't really get much chance to see it in the daylight.
Next stop Kalbarri (you'll love it! - the sign says and we did) stayed for 2 days went to the National Park to see natures window but Dirty Sanchez couldn't
make it up dirt road so we had to do the other side of the park instead. Was pretty gutted but soon got over it!
After Kalbarri we headed to Money Mia stopping off at shell beach on the way which was amazing and still one of my best places so far. No sand on this beach instead millions of little white shells that have been washed up from the surrounding area and apparently 10ft deep. The Ocean was crystal clear and the sun was beaming on us, it was like the stuff of dreams and can't really give it justice in words.
Monkey Mia was pretty good, more of a resort type place, but every morning they have Dolphin interactions where wild dolphins swim to within a foot of you as you stand in the ocean. Was pretty amazing to see and after a few attempts to get picked James lucked out and was picked to feed Nicky one of the Dolphins - he was proper chuffed!
Denham, Eagles Bluff, Little Lagoon, countless look outs and photograph stops & the odd encounter with an Emu, Kangaroo, Cows, Sheep & Eagles we reached Carnarvon where w stayed
for the night before heading up to Coral Bay where we did a turtle tour on this glass bottom boat, saw turtles and got to snorkel in two different sites along the fringing coral reef - which was far out!!!
The boat crew threw in some fish pellets and hundreds of fish all different sizes, colour & type came rushing to the back of the boat and you dived in amongst them. Instantly this underwater world open up to you and the fishes were as eager to explore you and came right up to you, sometimes swimming along with you.
You got totally lost and before you knew it you were miles away from the boat with reef sharks, huge sting Rays & Manta Rays and thousands of fish keeping you company. MINT!!!
Coral bay was beautiful you could walk in to the ocean and see huge snapper fish and baby rays and after a small swim were able to snorkel the coral reef!
From Coral Bay we headed to Exmouth (our last stop, before heading back)! Got there about 8 and managed to get spot at the Lighthouse Caravan Park which was where bush met
the reef. Was a pretty cool place and after a good nights sleep headed in to Exmouth to check it out.
Found out you could camp in Cape Range National Park for pretty cheap so decided after charging the stuff over night at a camp site we'd head there first thing and was lucky enough to get a spot at Osprey Bay.
The camp site host reminded me of Wally out of Crocodile Dundee but was Muray and was a sound guy. Got a secluded & huge spot at the front of the park totally surrounded by bush, but only a 5 minute walk to the beach.
Went to explore out new back garden and was joined by turtles as we walked along the beach they swam almost alongside us coming up for air every now and again!
Went back for our first bush tucker butty and was visited by a Kangaroo & her joey who kept their distance for a bit (almost looking like they were playing hide & seek or something in the bush but after a while they got brave and came right in to the camp. Gotta admit was a bit freaked
out and went to get Muray to see what we should do. He said the guy before us must have been feeding them and we needed to scare it off because they become aggressive and like pest and can get shot by the ranger! After Murray got to the camp spot all his hid was scrape his feet along the floor and they bolted!! Had snags & rice for our first bush tucker meal and few stubbies before off to bed.
Decided to do the Yardie Creek gorge in the morning had a bit of a mix up with Murray we thought he said it was an hours walk to Yardie Creek but he meant the the gorge walk was an hour and after walking for ages and still nothing in sight we were rescued by Stuart & Bev who took pity on the two crazy English dressed in beach gear walking in 30 degree heat miles away from anywhere and gave us a lift to the creek and after we had walked the gorge they even gave us a lift back SWEET!
A reminder of how massive Oz is - walking somewhere unless in a city is
well out of the question.
Yardie gorge was pretty cool, would have been nice to do the boat trip (tried blagging on it by blending with some tour - but no luck). Everything is well expensive here and we are seriously watching the pennys already!!
Gorge walk wasn't that far about 4kand after the 5k we'd walked to get here in the full on sun was nice to be in the shade of the gorge!
Got a spot at Lakeside Camp Site in the park the next morning which is nearer to the snorkeling sites and so moved down there and set up camp.
The new site was spot on, right on the lake with a full on view of the beach & ocean NICE!!!checked out our new spot went for a swim and chatted with some fellow campers. Took a walk down to the Visitors Centre (could see it from the campsite, so we knew we'd be ok to walk it - although did get offered a lift).
Finished off the snags and rice and some vino whilst chatting to our camping neighbours.
Stars are awesome out in the bush, look like you
could just pick them out of the sky & there's millions of them. Guess coz there's no light pollution you get to see more and the moon when it makes an appearance is huge and really bright. Could spend all night looking up at the stars and most nights we did.
Spent 3 nights at Lakeside went on another gorge walk (Mandu Mandu), turquoise bay & Oyster Stacks snorkeling which were excellent allowing you to explore the Ningaloo Reef. Oyster Stacks can only be done at high tide so you are really close to the coral - its amazing. Both places had a pretty strong current that just carried you along as you admired the coral floating on the drift.
Loved Cape Range could have stayed there longer but we have to get the van back and only got 5 days and a load of things we wanna do on the way back.
Blowholes, Flat Rocks, Pinnacles, White Sand Dunes not to mention over 2000k to get back to Perth!
After visiting the Op Shop in Exmouth, getting some supplies and nearly getting caught using the electricity to charge our stuff at the nearby caravan park (sometimes
you gotta be cheeky!) We left Exmouth looking for a roadside rest area at Leamouth where that the Dutch couple from the National Park told us about.
After a short drive we found the spot and cooked some grub inside the van, finally managed to get some internet connection and did some quick emails before the battery ran out.
Headed for the blow holes (small holes in the cliff that fill up with pressure and force the ocean 30ft in the air whistling as it goes) in the morning, it rained all day and we were soaked after just 10 mins of watching the blow holes. Camped for the night in Point Quobba - which we thought was free but cost us $5.50 which to be honest was money well spent. The spot we had was just hidden behind a sand dune with the beach and sanctuary area of quobba just on the other side of the dune. The entire area was dotted with tin shacks all different sizes and colour and in different states of repair. Was like a little shanty town just on the beach, each shack with its own number and all made from the same
corrugated tin. Took a bit of a wander down when we got some break in the rain, as well as walking up to the lighthouse but spent the rest of the day in the van jut chatting and chilling drinking vino & stubbies slightly damp but that didn't bother us too much.
The sun was out the next day and we were able to explore the blow holes without getting soaked. Spent a couple of hours chillin by the blow holes and admiring the Indian Ocean dancing over the rocks with all her power. James took a little explore on a crab search whilst I just sat on the cliff edge looking out at the ocean tempted to just dive in!
Could have spent all day there but we need to make tracks, so we headed to Carnarvon to get some stuff for dinner and eat our butties by the ocean! Would have been nicer to stay for a while in Carnarvon as this was the only big town we had come across but after a quick charge & laundry at a camp site we headed to a 24hr free camp ground near the Murchison River called 'Nerren
Nerren'. A massive electrical storm followed us all the way down, lighting up the sky with Orange and Gold colour wash. No thunder or rain just the electrical storm was pretty awesome to see. Got there pretty late so pretty much hit the hay as soon as we arrived and in the morning hung out our washing and chilled out for a bit at the camp ground putting on an Ozzi Op Shop photo shoot for our own amusement! On the road again about 1pm heading for Flat Rocks (between Carnarvon & Dongara). Made it to Flat Rocks with a few hours before the sun set. Set out our stall had a look round and made some grub.
Flat rocks is beautiful, we had the beach to ourselves all night and along with Shell Beach is another one of my favorite places so far. Was so peaceful and remote you felt instantly at ease there with the ocean on one side and bush covered dunes on the other.
Stayed up for a bit admiring the place, reflecting on everything we had done and feeling pretty gutted that the van had to be back in two days. The moon was
almost full and provided us with all the light we needed at times you were torn between looking at the ocean and looking at the moon - tough life!!!
After breakfast and a final admire of Flat Rocks and headed for the Pinnacles a natural phenomenon, but not before doing some dune running! The pinnacles was ace, hundreds of lime stone towers with no explanation or reason. Was pretty far out, especially considering 100 years earlier they were totally hidden by sand dunes. Set off for Lancelin (our last stop before Perth) in search for the Lancelin Homestead. Had no luck finding it so decided to treat ourselves and stay at The Lodge a nearby hostel and have a full on tea and a shower. Finally got a decent internet connection and enough power on the netbook and skyped mum, Don, Jake & Drew to catch up with them and fill them in on our adventures so far.
After cleaning the van and sorting out our stuff we head back to Perth to hand Dirty Sanchez back. Made it to Perth in time and found a hostel (Ozzi Inn) to stay at for a few nights. Free pancakes
in the morning & free rice what more could you want (a free room would be nice please ha!)
Handed over Dirty Sanchez after filling him up and walked back to the hostel van less!
Proper backpacking starts now. Gonna spend the next few days deciding what to do and when to do it and have some few bits to sort out. Have been tempted by a 9 day tour of the Nullarbor but not sure we have the time or funds and would mean staying in Perth for another week. Off to find out about our Indian Visa' and possibly going cliff diving later with the guys at the hostel - is raining again today though so not sure if that will still be happening.
Think that’s everything - although as brief as I can make it and 3 weeks old will try and keep up to date with the blogs now! Can't believe how much we have done and don’t think anything I could write could truly describe it and there is so much left to do.........
Gem & James xx
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