The Groovy's Part 1 - All Aboard! - 13th - 23rd Jul 06

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We arrived back in Perth early doors on Wednesday as the car had to be returned at 10 am. Whits and Greeny took the trusty steed back celebrating the fact that we hadn’t damaged it in any way, when, as turning into the car hire place, they narrowly missed being hit by a guy pulling away from the lights - close call! Back at the Planet Inn we soon caught up with Kate and Lydia and the Irish lads (Andy, Foxy, Steve and Al) who we’d met before we went down south as well as some new characters the guys had made friends with whilst we’d been away. Whilst Smithers had some QT with her bed and book, Whits and Greeny mooched around and then strolled down into Leederville with Tom to get some supplies for dinner and to generally check out the place - it’s a really quaint little village with lots of roadside coffee bars - very civilised!
That evening Smithers chose the sensible option of phoning home and having an early night whilst Becs and Whits fell under the spell of Party Paul and along with Team Ireland, Kate, Lydia, Tom and ½ the hostel boarded the party bus for their first experience of Black Betty’s - what a dive and yet another reminder of our uni days - what is it with this place?! The beer needed to start flowing immediately for us to get through this, which thankfully it did, along with the Jagerbombs (a shot of Jagermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull!) and all manner of other shots, ensuring we had a great night and don’t remember getting home. Back at the hostel, on autopilot, Greeny headed straight for the room we’d stayed in before leaving, and was found by Whits lying on the floor moaning ‘I don’t live here!’ Drunk as a skunk she was like a dead weight and Whits and Tom put her to bed, thinking they were being quiet, but were informed by Smithers the next day that they were anything but … oops!
The next few days were spent in maximum chill out mode - snuggled under duvets, watching movies and drinking enough tea to sink and ship! During this hive of activity we deliberated the best way to get up to Broome and eventually managed to drag our arses into town to figure it all out. The result … a camper van with Monsters Inc spray painted along both sides of it and ‘We go bump in the night’ written on the back - excellent work girls! The minimum hire on the van was 3 weeks which meant we could take our time and take in all the sights along the way and as we would be sleeping in the van, we wouldn’t be forking out for hostels - get in! Back at Planet Inn, we put our plan into action to convince Team Ireland to get a van and come along too, which took all of five minutes and they dutifully headed down to the hire place to organise one for them. It then transpired that Tom and Bob, who have their own van, Dave, didn’t have to start work for another week, so they were roped in, along with Flo, a Swiss dude from the hostel, for part of the trip. In the space of 10 minutes we’d gone from there being the 3 of us to 10 on what was set to be an excellent road trip.
Friday night was spent in Black Betty’s celebrating our impending adventure and to be perfectly honest it was a bit of a blur for all of us! One of the things that we really wanted to do whilst in Perth was to have a drink at the Shed as our mate Jez used to be the manager there. As Kate and Lydia returned from their weekend down south on Sunday avo and were flying to Melbourne on Monday, we decided we’d go for a quiet farewell drink there and then meet the lads in the Irish pub down the road for one, before having an early night in preparation for the off the following day. Of course with Party Paul on the case this didn’t happen at all and after a mass hilarious sing along led by Al we went to a completely empty Black Betty’s for one last time with Party Paul openly admitting that he was doing his best to stall our trip as all of his best drinkers would be leaving (Think he must have been talking about the lads there - he couldn’t possibly have meant us!)
Unfortunately for him, Paul was unsuccessful in his mission and on Monday morning Team Ireland, Whits and Tom headed down to Big W to get some supplies, including a tent for the boys as there was no way they’d sleep 4 in the van and some 4 way walkie talkies meaning we could communicate between the 3 vans on the road - genius! They’ve also come in very handy for games of I spy and who would win in a fight between … to pass the time on the long journeys. Communicating on them wasn’t always that easy though. Deciphering what Team Ireland are saying in general is no mean feat, so trying to figure out what they were saying over the radio became virtually impossible. Apparently they had the same problem with us though and claimed that every time we talked on the radios all they could hear was ‘God Save The Queen’ Trying to get Team Ireland organised enough to do anything is nothing short of a nightmare with all of them scattering in different directions and generally faffing around, so it took a lot longer than expected to buy the tent - a sit down breakfast was apparently a necessity before they could do anything else! Eventually all purchases were made and we headed back to Northbridge to collect the van. This process also took a lot longer than expected and we eventually left the hostel at around 3 pm, not before stopping in to say our goodbyes to the legend that is Party Paul. Due to the nature of his work, he’s a pretty nocturnal fellow so we went straight to his room expecting to find him in bed. Upon first impressions it appeared that we were wrong, but then sure enough a leg dangled from the bed, and a very confused Paul with hair going in all manner of directions emerged from the ‘doona’ moaning ‘Please don’t remember me like this’ The procession of 10 queued to ay their farewells, and there was one final thing to do before we hit the road: assign code names to each van for us to use on the walkie talkies. Imaginative as we are, the Irish lads became Team Ireland, we became Team England and Tom, Bob and Flo became Team Stoke on Switzerland. We stopped in Leederville for supplies along the way. Once stocked up we made to move out of the car park when we realised that we hadn’t actually planned where we would be going for the first night. After an arduous and lengthy map and campsite guide consultation we decided to head for Noble Falls, about 45 km’s out of Perth in the wrong direction - great progress for day one!
Upon arrival at the rest stop it soon became apparent that Tom and Bob were past masters as this camping lark, this being their 6th road trip, whilst we didn’t really have a clue! As they bustled around pitching tents, collecting fire wood and making dinner we looked on in bewilderment realising that we’d have to get a bit more organised from now on! After dinner, a very cold evening was spent by the fire with gamesmaster Tom getting the drinking games under way - a theme that would occur every night of the trip until he left. We’re now experts at Yeeha, Bullshit, 21, 3rd man, Queen or Emu, the Name Game and our livers are consequently suffering! Soon enough everyone was fairly toasted with Steve messing up spectacularly, enthusiastically calling Frankenstein instead of undertaker on one game, which had us in fits of laughter, and Bec’s falling off her chair which would also become a recurrent event. Foxy also spent the night developing his oh so original Mexican Standoff film entitled Feet of Flames (inspired by his and Smithers cheapy Khao San Road trainers melting from the heat of the fire) featuring the young and beautiful Vensuela whose father has arranged her marriage to the wealthy and slightly older Senor Esteban - a highly ranked military man. Of course, Vensuela is in love with Raul, the young blacksmith. Naturally a stand off occurs between Senor Esteban and Raul with Raul having been kicked by one of his horses the day before putting the Senor at an unfair advantage and threatening to kill Raul until he dies from it! The plotline developed and became more predictable as the week wore on, and although it probably doesn’t sound that funny to you guys, it had us all in stitches - it’s the way he tells them!
The next few days were pretty much taken up with spending the days driving and the evenings drinking in the rest stops or car parks as Foxy quite accurately described them. They were basically gravel pit lanes on the side of the road where we would set up camp and a fire, ably assisted by Pyromaniac Tom, who built all of the fires, and Woodchucker Flo who would go off into the bush looking for wood and invariably come back with an entire tree, and then freak ourselves out about what could be lurking in the bushes, whether it be snakes and spiders or mad axe men, with Foxy regularly predicting that it would 10 minutes until the first ass raping!
On Wednesday morning we finally reached the Pinnacles desert near Cervantes, which we’d initially intended to visit on Monday afternoon! The Pinnacles are made up of thousands of limestone pillars resembling termite nests - some only a few centimetres high, others standing up to 5 metres tall - that just jut out of the desert floor. The scenery was really impressive and it was nice to finally see something other than the open road. After the Pinnacles we went to see some Stromatolites, a term totally alien to us, but something which seemed to excite our Flo more than anything else! We soon learnt, although it did take some time to actually make some sense, and we couldn’t be totally sure about all of the facts now, that they’re microbes almost identical to organisms that existed 3.5 billion years ago, and evolved into more complex life, producing enough oxygen into the environment which created an atmosphere that could sustain life. They looked just like rocks to be fair, but the concepts that surrounded them did make them fascinating to view - they’re actual living things that made it possible for us to be here today!
The remainder of the afternoon was spent driving further north in the hope of finding a camping spot that had showers. The only luck we had was Batsia Caravan Park 10 km’s north of Geraldton, but we were quite happy to pay a few dollars if it meant we could get a good scrub down. The downside of these caravan parks is that, as Salcombe people will know all too well, you have to keep the noise levels to a minimum - not very easy to do once Tom’s got a game of ‘turd man’ in full swing and soon enough we got booted out of the BBQ area and had to keep the noise down by the vans.
Thursday saw us head over to Kalbarri National Park after a brief stop in Geraldton for supplies and a cricket set. We explored a few of the look out points and the beaches where the lads released the 5 year olds inside them and spent the afternoon getting decked by the waves and playing football. We approached our campspot via the national park taking in the spectacular Hawks Head and Ross Graham lookouts. That evening was spent at another roadside rest stop, but unfortunately this one was inhabited with a number of people in their ‘big rigs’ meaning we’d have to keep the noise levels down again. Rain also threatened and it would drizzle every 5 minutes on and off which led to us yo-yoing between the vans and the fire. At one point Whits, Smithers and Greeny were taking refuge in their van with the side door open watching Tom, Steve and Flo chop wood for the fire with the hatchet they’d bought. Soon enough a peculiar old codger claiming to be the warden of the site approached and asked the lads to keep it down. But it didn’t stop there, instead he launched into a diatribe about how caravan park owners want places like these free rest stops to disappear so they can charge everyone for camping, which was a valid point, and how people like us making noise and generating complaints would make it easier for the caravan parks to get these sites closed down etc - it seemed he would never stop! He wasn’t saying this in a hostile way though, and when Smithers commented in her best aussie accent that he was ‘Just after a yarn’ our van, non too inconspicuously, fell about laughing. As we heard him conclude that all of the problems regarding campsites that he’d listed were connected to the conflict in Iraq, the hilarity reached fever pitch, which Tom, Steve and Flo could blatantly hear, but had to attempt to maintain the conversation without bursting into laughter themselves - a bit like when you’re being told off at school and are desperately trying to keep a straight face! The rain then got the better of us and after a brief walkie talkie based version of the name game between the vans, everyone piled into our van to watch Ice Age 2 on Bob’s mobile cinema (his laptop) and promptly feel asleep!
On our way to Denham, which would be our base point for visiting Monkey Mia, we stopped off at the Ocean Park, a locally run aquaculture park which upon arrival looked to be pretty deserted and lacking in anything worth seeing. But appearances can be deceptive, and we were soon greeted by a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable young aussie who gave us a guided tour of the various pools and marine life currently present at the centre, including 2 turtles, a couple of highly venomous sea snakes (more poisonous than any land snake), snappers, shovel nosed rays and all manner of other fish found in the local area, as well as the great looking stone fish which basically looked like a rock with a miserable face painted on! The crowing glory of the centre had to be the central pool inhabited by Lemon sharks. Our guide would dangle a fish head tied to a piece of string over the water, and it was a great spectacle to see the sharks grab it in their mouths and hang there for ages holding onto the fish! Occasionally they’d thrash about a bit freeing the fish head from the stick and swimming off with their catch.
Due to a lack of free camping spots in the area we had to stay at another caravan park, but we had a nice spot and good facilities at our disposal, including a poolside BBQ area where we had dinner and played some drinking games until the curfew at 10 o’clock! We weren’t too bothered with the prospect of an early night as we had to be up early the following morning to be at the 8.30 am dolphin feeding session on Monkey Mia nature reserve, 26 km’s out of Denham. The bottlenose dolphins turn up for their brekkie like clockwork every morning and we were able to wade into the water whilst they frolicked around us waiting to be fed, some of the more impatient ones blowing water out of the top of their heads and making farting sounds! It was a good experience, although the woman standing next to Steve got slightly carried away when someone commented that she’d got her trousers wet, she replied in a very loud, maniacal, American accent ‘I don’t care, this is my dream’, which solicited a few under the breath sniggers from most of the other people on the beach.
After a brief breakfast back at the campsite and a long deliberation about which beach to visit, we ended up back at Monkey Mia beach for the afternoon. Smithers and the boys partook in a very energetic game of volleyball whilst Whits took on the position of umpire while Greeny went for a stroll along the beach. Once the game was over it was time for Tom and Bob to teach us and the foreigners the rules of cricket. Team Ireland seemed very dubious at first but were soon loving it! The most essential ingredient before the game could commence was ‘The Guv’nor’ Tom and Bob’s amazing beer only eskie on wheels with a handy handle making it easy to drag along the beach - fabulous! Once the Guv’nor was in place and everyone had a beer in hand, the game started and after numerous debates Tom and Bob, the team captains, regarding LBW’s, it was soon down to one run to determine which team would win the game. Becs was up to bat, and incredibly confused, and when she hit the ball and started to run, it appeared that she had just won the game for her team … until she tripped over and did a spectacular slow motion fall towards the wickets, being stumped out in the process and eating sand! Sorry Becs, but it was hilarious and once again everyone was falling about laughing!
That evening Smithers and Whits couldn’t help but notice how similar it was to one in Salcombe. We had some dinner up at the BBQ area followed by a couple of rounds of queen or emu and ‘turd’ man. Foxy kept us entertained with his antics as usual, including pretending to be a cobra on the prowl with various hand gestures, when he heard a woman laughing, which had us in fits of laughter yet again! Sure enough, at about 9 o’clock we were told to keep the noise down or disappear to the beach (sound familiar anyone?!) There was no chance of us keeping the noise down so we set off down the road for the beach with the camping chairs, Tom’s guitar and of course the Guv’nor in tow. Along the way Bob got bored of the walking and set his chair up in the middle of the road, swiftly followed by some others and as Tom started strumming away on the guitar it seemed that we’d just carry on the party there. But we did eventually make it down to the sand, chairs under our arms, looking like a perverted opening credits to Reservoir Dogs and were entertained for the next hour or so by Tom singing and attempting to remember various songs on the guitar. Soon enough the cold got the better of us though, and we made our way back to the caravan site, this time with Smithers and Team Ireland having a shoot out pretending their chairs were machine guns.
Sunday was Tom and Bob’s last day as they had to get back to work, so Flo would be joining us in our van, and Team Stoke on Switzerland would be no more - boo! We all had to take the same road out of town and then when we reached the highway we’d go north and they’d go south. On the way to the highway we stopped at the very picturesque shell beach and also at Hamelin Pool to see some more Stromatolites, before pulling into a roadhouse to say our farewells.
Au Revoir (as they say in the France)

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Photos

Surreal
Driving through the Pinnacles Desert

How romantic!
Team Stoke on Switzerland enjoy a candle lit dinner

They're huge!
Pelican at Monkey Mia

So cute!
A dolphin at Monkey Mia

Doh!
Becs skulks off after falling on match point!

Victory!
Jo Foxy and Al celebrate their win

Locked!
Andy losing terribly at a game of 3rd man

Having fun with the sparklers
Bob, Steve and Becs

Alriiight!
Foxy

After being kicked off the camp
An impromptu street party!

Last day of Groovy's Part 1 at Shell Beach
L-R: Me, Tom, Becs, Flo, Steve, Andy, Foxy, Al, Bob and Jo

You could see us coming!
Our three colourful vans in convoy

No we're not taking a leak!
Watching the dolphins at Monkey Mia

Flo's favourite!
The Stramatolites