Day 1 Perth to Broome - Horrocks

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We had an early start to pack up and catch the Adventure Tours bus that was picking us up from the hostel. We had a short journey to the Bells where there were 3 more bus loads of people all taking a trip with Adventure tours.

We found the right bus for us and loaded on our luggage. This bus was more luxurious than the previous 2 tours but it was almost full, with only 2 spare seats so not much room to spread out. Then it was time to get to know the others on the tour as we drove out to The Pinnacles which were about a 3 hour drive from Perth. The Pinnacles are rock formations which jut out of the sand, the Aborigines believe these rock formations are the hands of their ancestors and that if anyone were to spend the night in the Pinnacles then the rocks would come alive like a hand and drag you down into the earth never to be seen again. Of course the geologists have another view about limestone rock forming around tree roots but that's much less exciting. After a walk through the pinnacles it was a short drive to Jurien Bay where we pulled into a little picnic spot to have a lunch of yet more sandwiches!

After lunch we drove to Cape ?? for some more sandboarding. This sand dune was set back just off a beach with a beautiful view of the cape. The best fall of the day was actually completely unrelated to the sandboarding. Instead it was one of the Chinese tourists whose hat blew off whilst she was watching the sand boarding, she chased the hat trying to catch it before it ended up in the sea but after a few near misses both the hat and her feet were in the sea, however she was still having trouble catching the hat and ended up sat up to her waist in the sea (fully clothed) whilst one of the locals on the beach waded in to fetch her hat for her. We were trying to hide our laughter at the hat chasing scene when the lady came out looking very sorry for herself. Oops!

Next it was on to a town called Dongara, there's a lot of farmland surrounding the town and bush fires are used as a control measure but unfortunately yet another of these fires got out of control a couple of years ago and closed many of the main roads in the area. One of the main trades in the town is fishing and it is famous for its Rock Lobster, however this is actually just a crayfish which the fisherman renamed when sales of crayfish started to fall. It's served them well though as the rock lobster is now sold at a premium.

Just past Dongara we passed the leaning tree which is a huge tree growing sideways across the ground. It's from the gum tree family and is caused by strong southerly winds constantly blowing against one side of the tree, although the tree is a very hardy grower, it has very soft branches - hence the sideways growth. Then it was on through the town of Geraldton, the second largest town in WA with a population of 36,000, and a couple of quick stops at the 440 road station for fuel and a tavern to pick up drinks before heading into camp at Northbrook Farmstay in Horrocks.

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