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Published: September 4th 2010
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Oh my word, let me just begin this blog with stating how freaking big Australia really is. Truly at this point I am conflicted with the way that I feel about Australia. The land is beautiful, the people are nice, the sites are amazing, but holy cow there is a far distance between each adventure and the cost is insane. I have no idea how people can really afford to live out here. With that being said, let’s get down to business of what I have been up to.
I often need to remind myself on the long drives and the same vast scenery that I have been staring at for the last month that this is my life, I have chosen to be here and I am not working my life away (just yet, that will be coming soon enough). On the 14th of August the trip west began. The highway that heads west out of the Northern Territory and along the top of Western Australia is called the Savannah Highway. This drive is supposed to be very beautiful and also take people along the Kimberley’s, a major highlight of the trip that I was looking forward too. Along
this drive through the Northern Territory we drove through Gregory National Park and we also came across a river bed that actually had water in it, this is not usually the case.
A very interesting thing about Australia is that fresh fruits, vegetables and honey are not supposed to cross state lines. So far along the journey there have just been signs stating this fact the fine for doing so. That was until Western Australia where the car was actually searched and the honey confiscated. I was shocked, but they believe is stops the spread of disease.
The first stop was Lake Argyle which is one of the largest fresh bodies of water in Australia. From there the journey continued to Kununurra, which was where we learned that a 4WD vehicle is necessary to travel the Gibb River Road (AKA the path through the Kimberley). What a bummer. So instead of having a beautiful short drive with camping in the mountains; we took the long way around through vast arid northern Western Australia. There was one area where the land did get a little hilly that was exciting. So we saw the Kununurra the eastern gate to the
Kimberley, which lead us to feeling we also had to see Derby the western gate of the Kimberley, thankfully accessible by 2WD. A really cool tourist stop was at this Boab Tree which is related to the BoaBoa Trees of Africa, my favorite trees. This particular Boab Tree was used for a slave jail while they were being transported to the coast.
Finally the Indian Ocean! Broome is a coastal tourist town that is a big backpacker meeting up point. There are dinosaur footprints there from about 4 different species of dinosaurs but these could only be seen during low tide, which I missed. This was the first time that I have gotten to play in the ocean since being in Australia. The water was warm once I got used to it. I attempted to body surf, but I pretty much sucked at that, man I am nervous for a surf board. In Cable Beach parking lot we met a couple named Otto and Taryn, they have become our road buddies that we have ran into along the west coast and shared a few stories with.
Heading south along the west coast there is a place called Sandfire
Roadhouse, which is home to 2 white peacocks. What beautiful creatures. We just passed through Port Headland as it was a very dirty mining town. We did find this really rad camping spot on the Balla Balla Inlet. There were the huge pelicans there that kept trying to steal the fish that sadly Dave never caught any.
The next day is a real highlight for me on this road trip. A turn off the beaten path really paid off. We stopped at Point Samson where two Humpback Whales swam all the way through the bay. It was really a great moment. In town there was a café owned by the loudest New Yorker that I have heard in a while, her accent combined with her years in Australia made her sound like she was from Jersey. Very sweet lady, but holy moly she was loud. From the café we took a drive through Cossack a ghost town and onto the beach, where I saw live Sand Dollars for the first time in my life.
The next major stop was in the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park. I had only heard amazing things about this area, it was one of
the primary reasons that we chose to do the west coast first. Sad to say, the weather was horrible! All the locals said that it never rains here, maybe 8 days a year. That I think, is a lie; it rained 3 of the 5 days we were in the area. The rain didn’t stop us from being good tourist. We went to Cape Range National Park and camped for 2 nights. There was hiking along the Yardie Creek Gorge, where we saw very cute Black Footed Rock Wallabies. There was also snorkeling at Turquoise Bay. This is a known drift snorkeling site where if you are not careful you can be taken quickly out to sea. The day was pouring rain and it was freezing. I did have my wet suit so the water was tolerable for me but poor Dave froze to death. On the one nice day that we had at the north end of Ningaloo, we did go diving. Where while we were diving we could hear the Humpback Whales singing to each other, talk about memories of a life time! To finish off the marine park, we spent a day snorkeling and laying on the
beach in Coral Bay.
Heading further south, we went along the Shark Bay World Heritage Drive. So COOL! We stopped at Hamlins Pool and saw stromatolites, went to Shell Beach (you guessed it a beach made of shells) we went to Denham and met some locals, great city! We saw this guy catch a squid and cut it up; what a mess! At Monkey Mia, we saw the wild (yet habituated) dolphins come to shore and I got to even feed one! Her name was Piccolo and she was very pregnant.
We kept heading toward Perth via the Scenic Ocean Drive, where we visited the popular Pinnacles. They are not sure why they exist, but they were cool to see.
7,896 miles from the start of the trip we finally, made it to Perth on September 2nd! We have sold Cricket; purchased tickets for Indonesia and I am saying see you later to Australia on September 6th.
More to come…
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