West Coast Part 1 - Perth to Exmouth

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Back to Perth and rented a wee campervan to head up the West Coast of Australia. We expected to get a wee trampy van, but it was like living in a 5-star hotel, with lights and a plug for charging your iPhone. It even had a wee fridge! Headed North via the charity shop where we picked up Trivial Pursuit, Australian Young Player’s edition. Best Purchase we made in Australia. First stop 243kms up the road to Ledge Point, then another 351kms up to Kalbarri, a pretty national park on the coast. We ventured along the Road of death (named by Deirdre who felt that it was a wee bit dangerous) to see “nature’s window,” a rock formation that perfectly frames the picturesque Gorge behind it. Quality spot and worth risking our lives for it. This is where Deirdre beat Ciaran for the first game of Trivial Pursuit (1-0).



Monkey Mia was the next day’s stop, about another 400kms North to a wee Peninsula that was near the first spot where Dirk Hartog, the first European to land on Australian soil landed. Quality spot where they feed the Dolphins in the morning and they come right into the shore so you can stand in the water with them. We took a wee cruise and got to see Whales, Dolphins, Turtles and Dugongs (big sea mammals like manatees). We also got a tour of a black Pearl farm and are now up to date on how they get the oysters to make the pearls so quickly. Something about interfering with its Gonad sac… Google that too! Stayed here for 2 nights before heading north. Ciaran leveled the Trivial Pursuit up here with a momentous victory (1-1). Big drive today, 580kms to a very popular spot called Coral bay up the coast. We were dead lucky and got the last spot because someone didn’t turn up. I hope that they were ok. Coral bay is located at the southern end of the Ningaloo Reef, where you can swim with Whale sharks, but we were about 3 weeks too late and they had all gone back to where they came from. Instead, the Manta Rays were in town, so Ciaran went for a wee swim with them, which was amazing. They went out snorkeling as well and there was a turtle and a wee shark too. Apparently though they are more scared of us than we are of them. Then we jumped back in the van and drove to our intended destination, Exmouth.

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