Driving the west coast alone

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29/08/09

After a lovely flight where I watched star trek and some family guy episodes I finally arrived in Sydney after being there last 12 years and boy has it changed.
The first thing I noticed was that I did not hear an Australian accent for two days and the next thing was that the prices to do anything were exhorbitant.
I called my hostel to be told that the booking was changed to another hostel and I now had to pay for the bus that was originally free and when I arrived at the new hostel there were lots of other things like internet and breakfast that were also not included like in the other hostel but I guess that is something you have to deal with.

30/08/09

Met with Angela who had been in OZ for a few weeks and headed out to see the sites ,the weather was in our favour and there was a market on at the harbour so we went and had a nice look around and walked round the harbour bridge and ended up just going to a viewing point and not to the bridge tour as that cost 200 dollars for a two hour trip, I did count the amount of people on the tour and guessed that they had made at least 6000 for those last two hours.
Took the Manly ferry at 4 so as to get the sunset on the way back but unfortunately did not get the right ferry and missed it.When we returned it was dark and we could see the bridge illuminated so nicely so it was not that bad after all.

31/09/09

Went to the Indian visa office to sort out my visa , only to be told that they could not guarantee that they would have it back in time for me leaving to go to Perth, so I decided to go to Perth early , like the next day and to sort out the visa there.
Angela booked a trip to go to Frazer island and the Whitsunday islands and we parted again after just a few days.

1/09/09

After changing my ticket again with no hassle at all I took my new flight to Perth where I settled into a lovely hostel called the Emporers crown just on the outskirts of the city centre and spent the first night in a room with three other girls all of whom I hardly saw as they were Irish and knew how to have a good time !!

2/09/09

Up early and off too my visa office where I arrived to find that the office hours are from 1230 to 1330 Monday to Friday except Wednesday when they are closed and it was a Wednesday ,bummer!
Back to the hostel to wait for the next day where I met some Italian guys one called Tiziano and the other I hardly saw.There was however some guy watching season 7 of 24 and I became addicted again!!
Spent some more time online and then early to bed but not too worried as I liked my hostel and was enjoying to relax again.




3/09/09

Up again and off a bit later to go for the visa only at 12 did I realise I had left my passport at the hostel and I had to get a taxi there and back so that I had enough timt to do everything.
Finally arrive and go to get the visa sorted to find out that this place only does emergency visas and it will cost 300 dollars and will take anything up to 15 days.
So after all that I decided not to bother with going to India and headed to town where I went to a Quantas to find out the price to change my ticket and it would be 200 dollars as well as I would have to change to go to Singapore which I did not want to go to so I left things for a while.
Later that night I sat on the internet and found another visa pace for India and took its address for later the next day to try one final attempt to get a visa.

4/09/09

One final attempt and I headed to the address on my list where on arrival I was told that I might get my passport back in 5 days maybe a little longer and it would only cost 108 dollars how frustrating ,after all this time to finally get it sorted out so I put it in and just went back to my backpackers after trying to walk to Fremantel and being told that the walk would be about 20 km I decided that this would be suicide I opted to go to the pub instead but ended up having sushi and a coffee.
Went and bought a box set of the unit and started to watch that till about ten then started watching the series OZ that Tiziano had till the early hours.
All in all it turned out to be a good day.

5/09/09

After much time wasted sitting around Perth getting my visa I decided to go up north and so I hired a car with everything sorted out by 1300 I was driving by 1330 after being surprised again that in Australia maps and extra info is not supplied making you have to purchase your own stuff to have for ever when you are finished travelling or pass them on for free, like me having scots blood will give something away for free.
After driving for 45 min I finally managed to break out of the greater Perth area and decided that as I was quite fresh I would drive till I got tired and then stop and do some free camping which seems to be very big on the west coast.
On the road north you pass many places of interest however I decided to look at them on my return route and so pushed on up to Dongara where I had heard there was a very nice backpackers.
I arrived around 7 pm and realised that the Ozzies take after the Canadians when it comes to sign posting and could not find one sign indicating where this place was ,me finding only one sign leading down a dead end when I was leaving the town!
I even talked to some Germans who were driving a Wicked camper and they did not know where this backpackers was either.






And so I filled my tank bought a couple of cans or redbull , the 500ml type ,downed one and kept driving!!
Just north of Geraldton I pulled off the road into a layby only to find that this was also a place where everyone else was pulled up with their campervans and all sleeping so I got my sleeping bag out and went to sleep.


6/09/09

After not being able to sleep after drinking the redbull I decided to keep driving and so carried on and was glad as the weather up north was a lot warmer and I was able to get to Monkey Mia by 11 am which was pretty good as the road is so boring with nothing between the big or what can be passed as a small town.
The only backpackers at Monkey Mia was also the only thing at MM and so after checking in and having a look around I was surprised that unless you wanted to do something with the crowd or you want to spend lots of money then there is nothing to do in MM.
I was sat in my car with nothing to do I wondered over to see a couple of guys camping and decided to get a crate of beer and just get to know as many folk as possible and so off I drove to Denham 22km back down the road and got my beer and when I returned ,the German people I had met the previous day at Dongara.I jokingly asked how come they had taken so long as I had driven almost all night.
Its amazing how a crate of beer attracts people like moths to a flame and soon the little group had changed from five to twelve people with there being people from the states ,England , Germany, Australia and me from South Africa.
Went to bed at about 2330 and never saw the people in my dorm as they were not there when I arrived and left before I got up.


7/09/09

Up at 8 to go and see the dolphins that is the main reason that people go to MM to see the wild dolphins get fed ,personally they are still wild they are just domesticated and for that reason I found the whole experience a bit like an amusement park.
Realising that there was nothing else to be done in MM I left and headed north once more with the ultimate goal to be ending up at Broome but another reason that makes MM a bad destination is that to get there you have to drive down a road that only goes one way and so u have to do the road twice which is 310km extra on the drive.
As I was leaving I realised I had forgotten my towel and ran back to get it which was fortunate as I met a guy called Locky who advised I go to Coral Bay which is on the way to Exmouth and he advised that I would like it there and so after more driving with nothing all around again I arrived in Coral bay and checked into the only backpackers I was disappointed to hear that I could not drink any of my beer as it was a licensed property oh dear as I was really looking forward to have a few after the long drive.




The room that I checked into was a ten bed dorm and there was only me and a couple of Swedish guys who had been working in margret river and were on their way to Broome to do the Mango picking season but were stopping in Coral bay to do some snorkelling with the gear they had spent all their money on that they had earned in margret river.
Petter and Chris had also bought a digital underwater camera and we decided to go to Exmouth the following day to see the Whalesharks that I had heard on the radio were returning due to some unseasonably warm weather and this was something we all really wanted to do.


8/09/09

Got up early and headed off to Exmouth but by this time the weather was very warm so I used the aircon the whole way there to be pleasantly surprised that with three people in the car , a little Hyundai Getz , the fuel economy was still about 600km from a tank as apposed to 700km with one person ands no aircon.
We arrived in Exmouth to be told that the whalesharks were indeed not around and the radio had got it wrong and meant humpback whales instead.
The tourist department advised that we got to Torquoise bay and do some drip snorkelling as with me not having and flippers it would be very difficult to go anywhere and so after another hour of driving we arrived at the bay to be greeted by a few hundred other people ,however they were on tours and had to get back to town by 1530 as that is when the snorkel gear was due back and we had all our own stuff.
On our first drift I saw a shark but Petter and Chris missed it only to go back while I was on the beach to see a shark and some turtles which was quite good for them.
After diving at the cook islands it was surprising to see that there were less fish in the area and that one of the worlds top dives was just round the corner.
I had forgotten how tiring swimming was and was so tired that I had to get Chris to drive and this turned out to be a good idea as I had not seen one Roo the whole drive up but saw a whole lot on the drive back to Coral bay and was glad that he drove as he was very good at spotting them on the road long before I did.
Took longer than expected to get back and decide to have burger at the hostel then go to sleep after a long day.


9/09/09

Woke up today expecting to continue my drive on up to Broome but booked a tour to swim with Manta rays instead.
On the boat at 930 and off to do a trial drive for those of the group that had not done snorkelling before.
First dive was very good with us all being quite far out near the reef and there being a lot more interesting things to see made better that we had a camera to take as many pics as we wanted.






Back on board we headed to a sandy area where the Mantas hang out and feed and waited for the spotter plane to find one for us which took about half an hour and then we were split into groups and a guide took us off.
My first sighting was great as I swam right over the top of the Manta as we headed to the guide and then followed at a safe distance , I was amazed at how effortlessly the fish swam and was nearly taken by surprise as it came closer to the surface as I was right behind and had to stop to stop from hitting the Manta.
Again the trip was made all that better as I have evidence of all that happened, it was truly worth all the boring driving to get there.
We all had one more swim before heading back to shore and it was a shame that Petter suffers badly from motion sickness because as we headed towards homw we spotted some humpback whales and so waited to watch them go by but by this time Petter was hunched over in the corner feeding the fish with one other girl not far behind, it was nice to have gotten my sea legs fishing in the channel that age ago with Pete!
We headed back to the last site where we were told that this was a Turtle feeding area and we were rewarded by seeing three different Turtles and some pretty cool fish.
I was the las to come back on board.

Back at the hostel I suggested to the guys that I cook as it will cost less than us all buying some pizza.
So after defrosting some mince I made some spaghetti bolongnaise which I was sure was not that great but at least we had lots of pasta and did’nt leave the table with empty stomachs.


10/09/09

Had a late start to the day and only left at 11am to carry on down south as I expected the trip to take me about two days and the car had to be back on the Saturday and I also thought I might see some of the sights I had missed on my way up the coast.
At about 3pm I passed a hitch hiker at the turning for MM and thought that I would stop as I had been on my own for too much.
When I stopped I was not sure if all the stuff would fit in my car but we managed and soon I was off down to the Kalbarri national park.
The couple I picked up were Jeff Philips and his partner Lisbet who gave me a Chak-rok for stopping. They were artists whose work I later saw and loved , they have been travelling around the world since 1993 and fund their travels through their art.
They were also doing a film and videoed me as I drove, turned out to be quite an interesting couple who hitch the whole way round the world except ferry crossings and flights.
I dropped them at Kalbarri but was quite disappointed at the park so kept driving and spent the night at the same layby I had stayed at on the way up with me being quite surprised at how far I had come in one day.





11/09/09

Woke up after quite a good sleep as this time I decided to stay in the drivers side and was rewarded with a good 8 hrs sleep and was not on the road till at lease 8am .
Realising that I was really early and should have spent a little longer at Coral bay instead of rushing down as I was now going to stay in Perth doing nothing. I arrived at Perth at around 1400pm and was put into a dorm with a double bed which was free and of course I took it !
I had been watching a series called the Unit and so went and got the next series and proceeded to watch that ,by the time I had finished watching a few episodes I went to bed to find that there was some one else in the room fast asleep and snoring so even though I had a big bed I did not sleep well.


12/09/09

They guy that was asleep in the room turned out to be a south African who had moved to Oz to do wine in Margret river and had been at a wine show and had been drinking all the previous day and so that explained why he had gone to bed so early.
Just spent the rest of the day chilling and doing nothing waiting for Angela to arrive on the sun 13th.



14/09/09

Managed to get ticket to go down to Manjimup today to see Martin and family a nice bus trip from Perth west which took around five hours with Martin picking me up at 1730 and going to his family.
Its been 7 yrs since I last saw him and I am surprised at how well he looks and he has some beautiful children called Anneke , Jennylee and the latest Marcus.
As we were all at home we were treated to some lovely spicy chicken and a salad while I got reaquaited with the lovely Van Rooyens.
Went to bed rather late after such a great day and a lovely evening.


15/09/09

Woke at 8 after a great nights sleep except for too much beer and having to get up and go and talk to the great white telephone!
With Martin working in the forestry he has access to the roads and parks for free and so we head off to see some very interesting tree that due to the way that nature has worked , even though they are large they were never cut down!
The four aces being an example of these.
It was then off to an observation point created but topping a tree and putting a platform on top and driving steel pegs into the trunk to form a step ladder to the top , I raced to the top and down in 9 min but could hardly walk afterwards with muscles I had not used since skiing protesting something aweful.The view was worth it though.


Afterwards we went to a microbrewery where I tried six different real beers with surprise surprise , the first and the last being the best and the others just succeeding in getting me sozzeled!
Headed off to do some shopping so that I could do the cooking tonight my special spaghetti Bolognese.
Cooked with the help of Jennylee and Anneke the food was soon ready and it was good to see Martin and Anel relaxing to some extent. Anneke surprised me and had two helpings and Jennylee managed to push hers around her plate with her hands until little roxy the dog ended up getting it 
For desert we had strawberries with a chocolate and some other lovely dishes.
Managed to get to bed by 12pm.


16/09/09

Went to school with the two girls today and saw what they were up to seems like they are much better off there than in SA. Going off with Martin to see Margret river and the rest of the south coast. Such lovely senery with some lovely beaches and vineyards in Margret river.
Left Australia after first visiting 12yrs ago but did not enjoy it that much so was happy to leave to go to Japan.

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Photos

the phantom of the...
drank two cans of red bull and could not stop driving

two hitchhikers
all this stuff went into my three door hyundai getz and the three of us!