Blogs from Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 11

Today we fly to Broome. It seems that the machine they use to x-ray the checked baggage at Kununurra airport isn’t working. No problem we’re told, they’ll do a visual inspection of one of our two bags instead - “a sample”. Hmmm. Terrorists and drug runners this way please. Just as well we packed all our explosives in the other bag. Most of the things in the "sample" bag they’ve picked are Issy's, so she’s shown into a back room with it by a burly security guard. She comes back out a few minutes later. She was expecting him to unpack everything and go over it with a fine tooth comb, but she says all he did was swab it like they usually do to your carry-on when they think you look a bit shifty and ... read more

It was a lively night in the bar last night. I was able to watch my beloved Blues enjoy an unexpected triumph on one of the big TV screens. I raised my arms in jubilation at the end of the game and then did a mini-jig in the middle of the room … and no one batted an eyelid. As we walk into breakfast this morning someone’s hosing out the bar. The door to the ladies’ toilet is front and centre. It's adorned with a colourful "Sheilas" sign, and there's a pair of buffalo horns mounted on the wall above it. The mens’, by contrast, is down the end of a dark corridor and has a very small and respectable looking ”Gentlemen” sign perched discretely above its entrance. I’m not quite sure what message we should ... read more

Day 8 Today we had to return the car, pack up the tent and stuff and move to a chalet for the final night. I had a few of the items we had bought such as the self inflating mattress, camp chairs and tarp up on marketplace and we sold a couple of the items, which was a bonus and donated the rest to people at the campgrounds. The Exmouth Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Park had let us in the chalet early, so this was so appreciative, it meant we didn’t have to store stuff in their reception area and could move it with the car before it was dropped off. Taking the car to look around the beaches of Exmouth, pick up a couple of pies for lunch (a reef and beef pie, which was ... read more

Day 7 Today was THE most exciting and bestest day we had. I guess it was the climax of such an epic trip. Today, we swam with Whale Sharks. We chose Ocean Eco Adventures, they seemed more eco friendly and onboard they had reusable everything and reef friendly sunscreen, They also used a flylite plane to ‘spot’ the whale sharks and this was handy in being able to have multiple swims with them. The morning started off with a nice continental breakfast and real coffee, followed by a safety and expectation brief. We were then taken out to a coral reef called Nudi Reef, known not for naked swimming but for the tiny nudibranches that hid amongst the corals. Due to the potential of stinging jelly fish, stinger suits or long sleeve rashies and leggings needed ... read more

Awaking early we headed down to the ocean for the dolphin experience. Monkey Mia Resort do a dolphin feeding experience. I wasn't sure what to expect, in two minds about the how ethical this would be but my curiosity override and we were lined up on the beach, toes in the water. We were informed about the 'dolphin program' of only feeding 2 of the dolphins less than 10 percent of their daily feeding, allowing them to catch their own. The talk involved history, facts and a strong emphasis on dolphin (and ocean) conservation. Although Kym and I have been blessed by the amount of wild dolphins that have approached us while we have been kayaking or on the jetski and have had many encounters with them in Adelaide, we were still ahhing and awwing everytime ... read more