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Published: September 28th 2007
Hello everybody! I am sat in my hostel aching from head to toe after a 4 day bus trip from Perth to Monkey Mia and back again.....thats about 1700 km return! A very long, exhausting journey but with great fun to be had along the way!
I am now into my third week in Perth and have been on a lot of day trips out with various friends from the hostel exploring Perth. The hostel is a really friendly place, I arrived from Alice Springs and went walking (in the wrong direction of course!) to find a supermarket. On returning to the hostel I had decided that there was nothing in Perth and I was going to starve. My room was a 10 share with 9 guys and me but one of my new roomies kindly offered to walk me to the local supermarket and that ended up with me going out with a big group of kiwi guys to watch the All Blacks football that night. The All Blacks won, a few more from the hostel joined us for a big night out. From there on I had been welcomed into the hostel family and been chatting to everyone
ever since. Our hostel is near to Hyde Park so a few of us went there the next day for a sunbathe and recovery time!
On the Wednesday I caught the train to Freemantle Prison with a german girl from the hostel called Johanna. We went on the "Doing Time" and "Great Escapes" tours with our guide David, aged 87 who was a former British prison guard when it was still open (it's closed now by the way!). The tours were really interesting and a bit eerie being in a previously working jail and seeing the execution gallows and solitary confinement cells. The next day we planned to go to Perth museum but lasted about 10 minutes there with all the schoolkids and stuffed animals. Instead we decided to go girly shopping with Isabella to get Johanna new work shoes, I came back with two reduced going out tops!
Perth is very wet so had a few days indoors with nights out locally in Northbridge with a chinese meal included one night. Perth offer a free bus around the town so I went with Steve (Ozzy guy) to Kings Park one Sunday which is a massive park with
botanical gardens, japanese gardens, boardwalks etc. We only had a little wander and saw some great views looking out over Perth. I returned a few days later with Danny (Irish) and we walked over the boardwalks and through the gardens which were impressive even to a non gardener like myself. On the way we stopped at the Swan Bells Belltower and caught a bell ringing demonstration and were able to ring the bells ourselves (for all of 2 seconds before the old lady instructing us told us she wanted to go home!). We got our certificates and went to the park until we were rained out!
The next day I went back to Freemantle with Trish (canadian) to see the roundhouse, another old gaol with a live cannon. We milled around the shops and had a lovely cake after lunch. I have made some really good pals here.
The sun showed its face so a group of us decided to go to Scarborough Beach (definately not the same as the UK equivalent!). The weather was beautiful, white sands and crystal aqua blue waters. As it was a week day it was pretty quiet so we all had fish
and chips on the beach followed by a walk along the shore to burn it off again!
Back to another weekend and a few of us went to an irish bar and danced to irish jigs. The singer dedicated "You'll Never Walk Alone" to me!
It was soon Monday where I was getting picked up at 7am to go on my 4 day tour to Monkey Mia. We had a group of 21 of us on the mini bus. Our first stop was at "The Pinnacles Desert" which are exposed limestone rock formations in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately it was cold and wet but that gave it an eerie atmosphere. Took a few photos and got talking to Melissa, a girl the same age as me from Southampton - my new trip buddy! After lunch we went to Namburg National Park where I braved sandboarding! It almost killed me climbing the sand dune carrying a sandboard but it was fun (and very quick). We were only allowed to sit down which suited me nicely! The rain stopped me from having a second go! That night we had a long drive to Kalbarri National Park where we
stayed for the night.
Breakfast was at 6AM prompt the next day - eeks! Long drive to Z-bend gorge which was a beautiful big gorge with a z-shaped river running through it. A few hiked down it and went for an abseil but I was happy to wait with the others at the lookout point where I got fantastic views. We then drove to Natures Window which is a rock which is similar to a picture frame, framing beautiful views. After a few more hours driving we reached Shark Bay Heritage Point where we saw stromatolites, the world's oldest living organisms. Sunset was spent at Hamelin Pool and Eagle Bluff then a final stop at shell beach, named as it is entirely made of small white shells. Our accommodation that night was literally in the middle of no where at the seaside town of Denham.
Another 6AM Breakfast and a drive straight to Monkey Mia. About 13 wild dolphins were already in the shore. I waded out to knee deep and they were swimming around my legs. I was slightly disappointed when the rangers informed us that only a few of the 100 or so people could actually
get the chance to feed them and was made up when the volunteer picked me who was standing behaving and smiling sweetly at him! It was all very quick but the dolphin gently took the fish from my hand, I have an unflattering photo of my backside to prove it! The sun was finally out in Monkey Mia so we caught some sun. After more driving we stopped at Small Lagoon, a beautiful small circular lagoon where we got a group shot.
The driver then took us to the service station where we were to change buses to meet the south bound coach (our group were going all the way to Exmouth so we swapped over to the bus heading back to Perth). The southbound bus was on the verge of breaking down so we had to wait longer than anticipated. In the end our driver couldn't wait any longer so said he would leave us at the roadhouse and the bus would be there for us an hour later......3 hours later we were still waiting on the dirt roads in the middle of nowhere! The driver left us an open tab which the japanese tourists took advantage off
and got 2 grocery bags of shopping each as it was 'free'. Stayed at a farm that night and were told we could 'lie in' until 6.30am the next day!
A short drive the next day to the Principality of Hutt River - basically it is land seperate from the commonwealth of Australia ruled by Prince Leonard and Princess Shirley - both 84 years old. We got our passports stamped with a visa allowing us in and out of the country. Driving up we saw the huge statue of Leonard's head and then got a tour of his government office. Prince Leonard checked our passports for authenticity and showed us his flag, stamps and currency. The 2007 coin was commemorative of his 60th wedding anniversary. We toured his chapel where I got to sit on the princess chair and see is paintings of Jesus and Leonard's sons. We saw his gem and crystal collection, measured our energy, recharged in the pyramid of energy and listened to his national anthem. So totally random!!! He signed one of his official postcards for me on the way out.
More driving and we reached Greenhough Wildlife Park where we were giving bags
of feed to feed emus (I wouldn't dare feed them!), kangaroos (one had a joey in its pouch), horses, camels, ducks etc. One talking cockatoo was 65 and when I asked him who he was he replied, "I am Wakka the great". When I tried to make him repeat this to the others he refused until it was just the two of us - the big tease! Handled pythons of varied sizes...I actually preferred the bigger ones as one stuck its head in my hair and scared the life out of me. They made a girl into Rambo with 4 snakes around her neck and one around her head like a bandana. Very long drive home (9 hours total on our mini bus) then back to a warm reception from my fellow hostel guests.
Now I'm all clean and updated I am going to book my flight to Sydney for sometime this week where the next stop is to finally work and get a flat ready for Christmas!
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George
non-member comment
Hey! Wow I can't believe you did the sand boarding thing....and liked it! Good for you x Keep enjoying your adventures x Loadsaluv George ........... Cat's Blog Fan