West Coast

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Perth - after arriving on the 18th we spent the first couple of days trying to sort out accomodation errors - note to self double check reservation/confirmations in advance!! That didn't get in the way of having a good time - we spent a gorgeous day out at Rottnest Island, though the journey getting there was very rough and we both felt very sea sick, we had planned to hire bikes to ride round the island on but surprisingly when we got there all 1500 were being used (we now recommend booking on the web in advance), we still managed to see lots of beaches and coves and swam and sunbathed and had a picnic on the beach.

On the Sunday we travelled by train to Freemantle a popular destination just 20minutes out of the city to visit sme markets, the old prison and walked around the harbour admiring all the boats - there was a boat show, we grabbed some fish and chips but they really didn't taste half as good as back homes, especially with watered down vingear!

Monday & Tuesday spent looking at the shops, afternoon of watching the cricket at the WACCA - WA v Tasmania and a long walk out to Kings Park via the marina, a particularly lovely place to visit and enjoy great views of the city.

On Wednesday we left the hostel to collect our classic Wicked Van - check out the pics to follow and drove to Scarborough beach where we spent 2days chilling out on the beach with lots of other backpackers, and enjoyed a few beers and some camp stove fajitas.

Friday 25 - we drove North of Scarborough and began our journey up the west coast - we drove to Cervantes and visited the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park - amazing limestone structures were created from ancient shells. We drove onwards to Jurien Bay to snorkle and then stayed in Green Head (240km from Perth) at a sad looking camp site.

Saturday 26 -We drove to Geraldton via Dongara, where we picked up some supplies, went to a farmers market and then had a yummy lunch in Dome, lex a caesar salad and kev a fish burger and fries, compared to being on the road and just eating noodles and tinned veg this was luxury! We decided after chilling on the beach to drive onto Northampton - one of the oldest settlements in WA - where we luckaly found some shade and parked our little camper van - Samantha (her already obtained name), later that evening came thunder and lighting.

Sunday 27 - We woke early and drove to Denham (shark bay) - Monkey Mia some 905km from Perth and this was really the first encounters of lots of animal remains on the side of the coastal road and lots of lizards and snakes crawling across the road. We stopped off at the Hamelin Pool, 90km south east of Denham to visit one of the few places on earth where living marine stromatolites (the oldest living organisms on the planet) exist. Check out the photos - they look like lots of little lumps but really in the view is spectacular. From here we drove to Shell beach, which is made up of countless tiny cockle shells layered up to ten metres deep, the area is vast - see the photos of me in the distance. We stayed in Denham for two nights at a camp site right next to the sea where we both appreciated the sea breeze and spent the first night again surrounded by thunder and lightning yet no rain came again. We found out earlier that WA have had its longest period of time in recorded history of temperatures over 25 degrees at night, so we're looking forward to cooler climates in Melbourne.

Monday 28- We drove to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins, which was pretty amazing because they come right into the shore, we saw them get fed and watched them all moving around in groups, splitting off in two's and then re-forming in groups again. We also did lots of snorkling and saw some massive turtles.

Tuesday 01 - We decided because of the heat that we would start travelling back down the coast to enable us to visit south of Perth. We drove from Denham to Kalbarri national park and spent the afternoon chilling in the campsite pool - yey for coolness until we were joined by 50 or so dragonflies darting in and on top of the water for half an hour - think they must have been high!

Wednesday 02 (today) - for the first time we had a lay in (well to 7am), after an evening of watching kangaroos surround our little camper. We drove into the National Park and walked around a few trails and then drove to ssome lookout points on the coast for some more walking and hunting in rock-pools and snorkling before having a picnic in the shade.

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