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Published: June 28th 2008
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When we arrived in Perth we headed straight to pick up our 'wicked' campervan. Which was a cool Spy Vs. Spy van which Jason was very happy about. We had a quick run over everything we needed to know e.g. where to put oil, water in e.t.c. (the engine was under the passenger seat!) It also had a kitchen in the boot. To start our adventure they had given us an empty petrol tank so we found ourselves driving around in a panic at peak rush hour time in Perth trying to find a petrol station. Once we had finally found one we set about trying to head north, easier said than done with our useless city map and one-way systems. We finally found ourselves heading north through the beach suburbs of Scarborough, stopped off for a quick meal then set about trying to find somewhere to stay the night. Unfortunately we had wasted so much time hunting for petrol and trying to get out of Perth that it had gotten pretty late and when we finally found a campsite it was shut. So we started searching for somewhere to safe to park the campervan for the night, nowhere seemed right
it was either too dark, too lit up or too busy. In the end we were so tired and fed up of driving around we pulled up outside some houses overlooking Burns beach. We settled down for our first night in our little camper, only to be suddenly woken at 3am by what sounded like a very loud rattling sound across the left of the van. We shot up (well i did and jason did after i woke him!) trying to figure out what it was, thinking that someone was playing a practical joke on us or we had rolled down to the beach. jason finally plucked up the courage to peep outside the curtain to realise THE GARDEN SPRINKLER system was attacking us!!!! Phew!!!!!!! We moved the van onto a dry patch and fell back asleep.
The next day after our disturbed nights sleep we stopped off at Lancelin where we took a paddle along the beach then onto Cervantes where we found a campsite. Yipppeeee!!! Watched the sunset over the beach and ended up at the local community center where there was an offer on for a seafood platter. Yum!
We woke up early when it was
still dark to get to the Pinnacles for sunrise, where we got to see lots of kangaroos hopping around. The Pinnacles are an expanse of sand dunes with thousand of wind eroded limestone pillars up to 4 meters tall. At sunrise the sand and pillars glow in the changing light and it was freezing until the sun warmed us up!
We drove along the outback with just the road as our friend with nothing to see until we stopped at Geraldton for lunch before stopping at Kalbarri for the night, which was quite a tropical seaside town with lots of palm trees, pelicans and Galahas.
We started the next day off with a visit to the Parrott Jungle Sanctuary which was a huge aviary and we got to see over a hundred bird species before taking a scenic coastal drive along the dramatic cliffs dropping into the indian ocean.
After a very bumpy drive along a dirt road we were greeted by spectacular views over the Kalbarri Gorge and natures window which is a red rock arch that frames a landscape behind it! On another endless drive to Denham our fuel tank kept dropping and dropping and there
were no petrol stations anywhere, even driving at 80mph to try to save some fuel didnt work and as we were driving up a hill our campervan gave in and we had to pull over!Oppps!!! It was at least 30kms to the next petrol station. We decided to flag down the next car and luckily the next car to pass was a wicked campervan too and they pulled in! They were 3 dutch guys and yippee they were sensible and were carrying a petrol cannister! So they gave us what they had and we met them at the petrol station to fill back up their cannister.
After a nights sleep in Denham we were up early and set off to Monkey Mia, on route we were flagged down by a couple who's battery wouldnt start and after our ordeal yesterday we gladly stopped to help and got our jump leads out. While trying to find our campervans battery a ranger came along and got them for camping on a NO camping site - oops, no getting out of that one! He then helped us get them started, our good deed of the day! We made it to Monkey
Mia for the first dolphin feed of the day and we got to see around 10 dolphins loving to play along the crowds. The indian bottle nosed dolphins swim right up to the shore to be fed by the tourists. The dolphins had been visiting the area for at least 10 years. You could really see them clearly in the crystal clear water. We decided to wait 30mins for the 2nd feeding where their was a much smaller crowd. Jason was lucky to get picked to feed one (even if he did give the dolphin, the fish the wrong way around!)
At Coral bay we were able to go snorkelling off the beach on the Ningaloo reef. We headed into the ocean to go swimming with Whale Sharks. An aeroplane circled over us looking for the whale sharks while we relaxed on board ready and waiting. When the plane found one it radio'd through and there was then a mad dash to get in front of it. Once we were all in position we all had to "Line on the board", the boat would switch off its propellors and the skipper shouted "Go, Go, Go" and we had
to jump in quickly and quietly so not to scare it off and follow 'The swimmer'. The first whale shark was around 6m long and we had to stay at least 3m away and not go near the powerful tail and massive mouth. Easier said than done when they move around to get a good look at you. It allowed us around 10mins with it before diving down to the deep. When we got back onto the boat we thought 'Wow, that was amazing" then the skipper told us they'd found another one, "Okay, great" so we quickly got ready and lined up on the board again, this happened six times. We got to see 6 whale sharks which is really rare. The biggest was 10m long - huge. The had all got little fish hitching a ride with their suckers. Even though they were so huge they were so gentle!
We made a roundtrip to Exmouth before heading back down to Perth in the next few days, we scrubbed and cleaned the camper to get our bond back, which thankfully we did! then off to the airport to head for New Zealand.
We've had an amazing time in
the land down under and are very sad to leave but excited to explore New Zealand.
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