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Published: December 31st 2015
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G'Day for the last time,
Apologies for the delay with the blog, there's been a bit going on!
We left off in Cairns where we found the memory card and saved the rest of the holiday. 5 hour flight to Perth went in a flash. Special call out to Johnny Pockets from Cairns Airport who walk through the metal detector 3 times before realising he had to empty his pockets. We arrived late into Perth so it was 6/7 hours in the hostel before getting on the road for 7 days.
Our tour consisted of 6 nights/7 days going from Perth to Exmouth & back to Perth. Day 1 we were picked up early with another 10 people (5 guys & 5 girls) and the driver, Sarah. Turned out it was Sarah's 2nd trip but you wouldn't know. Our first stop on the trip was the Pinnacles Desert. This looks like an old graveyard. I'd imagine it would be quite spooky at night. 1st encounter with the WA flies, we were told they weren't too bad for the time of day & heat. We stopped in Geraldton for a swim & some lunch. The water was pretty cold
but nice as it was a hot day. A quick stop in pot alley, the wind was insane and then to our accommodation. We stayed at a ranch in Kalbarri for the night. It's important to remember the name Kalbarri and it is not called Kilgarry like I was calling it.
Day 2 started early with a visit to Kilgarry, I mean Kalbarri National Park. It was a walk on a rock face. We were expecting the worst after our previous walk. It was nice and easy for most. "Why do I always end up climbing a rock face? This was supposed to be a holiday!" - Emma. Abseiling was available but neither of us were brave enough to do it. We were photographers for the duration. this led to a classic moment on the trip. The abseiling guy was shouting down who was coming down and the phone they had left with us. The shout came "It's Tom and he's got a Windows Phone." We looked blankly at each other. Turns out his phone was in his pocket and he just wanted to let people know he had a Windows Phone! One of the girls, Immo, got her
hair stuck in the rope near the bottom of the rock face. When she was released, Emma reassured her the guy would have cut the rope, but the rest of us were sure it would be the hair instead of the rope. We went to Natures Window next. Very nice spot and some great pics. Next stop was Monkey Mia for our night there. That night we went to the pier for some drinks and to try get a look at some dolphins. Sarah said if we sing they come in. It was a disaster. My voice not only scared the dolphins away but also scarred a few people for life.
Next morning we went to the beach to see the Monkey Mia dolphins. It was into the orange t-shirt to try get picked out for the dolphin feed. It wasn't to be, they picked all the pesky kids, almost ruined my day! There was a dolphin calf in close to the bay, very cool to see. It was a hard day of driving but we did stop at the Stromatolites. The Stromatolites are the reason for the Ozone Layer so it was great to see them. On our
way to Coral Bay we had a run in with an aboriginal woman. She was lying on the ground and when we tried to get round her she jumped on the bull bar. It was an experience to say the least. Eventually her father in law, he was in a car beside us, pulled her off the bull bar and we were on our way again. It was a very strange experience. We stayed in Coral Bay that evening and finally got to have a can of Fosters in Australia. I know I'm very sad.
Day 4 was a free day. There was an option to swim with Manta Rays but we had done this before so it was a chill out on Coral Bay beach for the morning. Lunch was particularly interesting. Emma was very hot and if anyone knows Emma, she is not herself when she is warm plus there was a million flies around us. Our lunch arrived in a takeaway box instead of a plate and Warm Emma was not happy. I think at that moment if Emma had been offered 2 Billion Dollars she still wouldn't have been happy. We arrived in Exmouth and
finally realised how warm it was. We got out of the van at the off license/bottleshop and the heat was sickening. 42 degrees. It was pool time. Emma picked up a new nickname "Auntie Em" from Jake on the tour. I think it sums her up perfectly.
Next day we went to Cape Range National Park to Turquoise Bay & Sandy Bay. Two extremely nice beaches. We snorkeled on the reef and seen some great coral and fish. A dolphin showed up and we had just got out of the water. Dolphin chasing is easier than it looks. We then play beach cricket and Emma smacked me around the beach. Turns out she's got an eye like a baseball player. I eventually got her out. I got into the game a bit too much and was shouting at people across the beach to catch it. It was back to the pool for the evening. We went to the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse for sunset. It was great to see. Flies were at an all time high. I had 15 on my back at one stage.
Day 6 was a write off. 10-11 hours in the bus with only stops at service stations. We got to our accommodation which won an award for hostels in 1998. Fair play to them.
We had a lot more on for Day 7. We stopped at a prison on the way to the Greenough Wildlife Park. Feeding the animals was great. I was only slightly scared doing it. Camel & Kangaroo saliva all over the hands. got to see some really cool birds who asking you "How's it going?" pretty fun. It was the sand dunes next which was great fun. Coming down the dune on the board was great. The team race didn't go to plan. We (Jake & I) didn't get ourselves ready quick enough and fell half way down. It went as well as possible. The trip was great with a fantastic set of people. The people really made the trip. We got back to Perth for Emma's favourite part of the holiday, 2 nights in the Hilton.
No rest for the wicked though and we were out by 6 am to go to Rottnest Island, the scene of the deed. We were going around on our bikes, full of flies and sweating. It was about picking the right time for it. The lighthouse seemed ideal. It went well, she said YES! Rottnest is very nice, very picturesque, even if there was a million flies. I never understand a flies fascination with mouths. It was all calls and Skype for the evening. We did get to meet up with the guys from the trip that night.
Our last day in Australia was spent in Fremantle. We met up with LTB for the day. Went to Fremantle jail and had a wander around. The jail was cool and our guide gave good info to us throughout. On our walked to the harbour, we were abused as you can only be in WA. Walking along minding our business and we hear a shout to say we had disrespected some blokes sister by continuing to walk down the street. It took us about 30 seconds to realise he was talking to us! It was onto the airport for our trip to Dublin.
We had told a couple of fibs about when we would be home so we could surprise people. It went well, Emma's mam swore, mine hit me a few times, they were very happy to see us.
Anyway, that's it from us. Thanks for following along for the duration of the trip, hope you've enjoyed it.
Happy New Year!
Auntie Em & Whipped Bermo!
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