West is best?

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Sunday 29th April (414kms) - We set off North & it wasn't long before it started raining, we had planned to drive to Geraldton but noticed that The Pinnacles were in the area so took a detour to see them, (a National Park which is made up of thousands of limestone pillars resembling termite mounds, some as tall as five metres, some only centimetres tall). It had been raining on & off all day & when we got to the Pinnacles it absolutely threw it down & Claire & I were completely soaked. We continued to head north & stopped for the night at a resthouse near Coomallo. Claire cooked me a lovely Chilli & Jacket Potato as a special meal as I had said bye to everyone & we had our first night sleeping in the van, It felt like we didn't have a care in the world.

Monday 30th April (512kms) - Woke up after having not a lot of sleep, it had rained a lot & been really loud on the roof. We got up at 8.25am & had breakfast, topped up our water & diesel & were on our way. We stopped off a couple of times, firstly at a huge sand dunes/desert for some photos, then at Dongara Port Dennison. We made it to Geraldton for lunchtime & had ate parked up with the back doors opening out onto the seafront. After we'd eaten we went for a walk along Grey's beach & in the other direction to the lighthouse; we stopped in town on the way through to take some photo's of St Francis Xavier's Cathedral. We were going to stop at a place called Overland Roadhouse but they wanted more money than our first night & had no power so we continued to Hamille Pool & stopped off at a lovely Caravan park. We had a cup of tea & then watched the sunset over the sea. We had an old Scottish man come & chat to us, admiring Shack & then he kept coming back to show us maps & pictures & allsorts, I thought we'd never get rid of him!

Tuesday 1st May (509kms) - We got up & drove to Denham, where we saw a couple of Emu's wandering across the road. We then went further north to Monkey Mia to try & see the dolphins. Unfortunately they come really early & we had missed them for the day. We decided to drive on as it would mean waiting a whole day until we got to see them & there was nothing else to do at Monkey Mia, we got to see some big pelicans though. We drove north to Carnarvon, we had a look at the one mile jetty, other than that it was like a ghost town so we just got a couple of bits from the supermarket & sat drinking Goon, (the aborginal word for wine), & what everyone refers to cheap wine as in Australia.

Wednesday 2nd May (407.5kms) - After breakfast we drove to Coral Bay where we stopped for lunch & had a walk along the beach. The weather was really warm & spending long periods of time in the van was really tiring. After lunch & our walk we drove up to Exmouth & had already arranged to do a couple of dives for Thursday, (we decided not to go snorkelling with the Whale Sharks as it was so expensive & there was no guarantee we would see them & although you could do the trip again free of charge, we were short on time). We went on the internet in the afternoon; whilst we were out walking a car drove past & some kids shouted out "G'day mate" so Claire laughed when I said "G'day Cobber" back to them, I thought it was funny & apparently so did the kids! We cooked dinner & had an early night as it was going to be an early morning. I felt like I didn't have a care in the world, like Max & paddy driving along on the road to nowhere!

Thursday 3rd May (0kms) - We did two dives off Ningaloo Reef, a marine park on the North West Coast of Australia. I have to say that I think I haven't been spoilt with the diving I have done in Borneo & so was a little disappointed with the first dive as visibility was rather poor. On the second dive we did see some cool stuff though, a Wobbegong Shark, a guitar shark/shovel nose ray, (we are still unsure which it was), an olive seasnake, a big massive moray eel & other little creatures. When we got back on the boat two of the guys managed to talk Claire around to swimming with the whale sharks on Friday, they tried to convince me but I thought it was too expensive & said I would think about it. Anyway I thought about it & decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity & when would I ever to get swim with Whale Sharks again, so I put my name down for it too. Some people from the dive shop had invited us out for a drink so we went to meet them at the pub & I managed to say hello to a random man who I thought was one of the guys, he pestered me & Claire trying to get us to play pool & asked if Manchester was near Kent! We managed to escape him & sat around a pool, the people from the dive shop came & quickly went so we went back to Shack as it was 2 Great British Pounds for half a pint of beer! (How much do I miss Asia & it's cheap alcohol now!)

Friday 4th May (0kms) - I was ill during the night & didn't really feel up for diving but had some medicine & felt a bit better so decided to give it a go. We got to the dive shop & had a briefing about swimming with the whale sharks, & how you aren't allowed to go within a certain distance of their body & tail, etc. We set off in our boat & first we did a dive at Westside, also known as Nick's Lumps where we saw amongst other things, a hawksbill turtle & a grey stingray; we even got to swim through a little cave which was cool. We surfaced & after putting our dive stuff away we got a call immediately from the spotter plane up in the air looking for the Whale Sharks, one had been spotted so we speed off & everyone on the boat, (20 of us) were really excited, (especially as they hadn't been seen the day before!)

The 20 of us were spilt into two groups & went in the water 10 at a time, to compile with the legislation about swimming with the Whale Sharks. We were the first group in & it was an absolute mess, the spotter in the water couldn't see the shark & so group 2 jumped in & got to see her. They had a couple of minutes with her before they have to stop & we jump in & swim along side her. It was so amazing, or rather she was amazing, about 6 metres long, (not that big as Whale Sharks grow up to 18 metres), on average the Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef are around 12 metres & can weigh as much as 11 tonnes, with a mouth a metre wide. She didn't really mind us swimming with her & occasionally went down & then came up again. It was brilliant to watch her open her mouth so big, (she only eat's plankton so I wasn't scared). There were a couple of other boats there but our boat was the first there & the last to leave & we had about 4 hours on & off swimming with her. I was absolutely shattered by the end of the day but it was an experience I think I will remember forever! The Whale Shark is the largest of the species of sharks & that got me thinking about how many types of sharks I had swam & dived with, so I made a little list & showed Claire, to our amazement we had encountered nine different species of sharks!


1) Bamboo Shark
2) Black Tip Reef Shark
3) White Tip Reef Shark
4) Grey Tip Reef Shark
5) Port Jackson Shark
6) Grey Nurse Shark
7) Sandbar Whaler Shark
8) Wobbegong Shark
9) Whale Shark


Saturday 5th May (821.3kms) - We travelled our longest distance yet, it was really hot & really tiring, we drove for hundreds of kilometres & all we passed was a petrol station, you really don't get distance & how remote some parts of Australia are until you drive it & see it for yourself. We arrived at Port Hedland & had a look around but there wasn't a lot going on. At this point in our campervan journey the novelty of waving to other campervan drivers still hadn't worn off & I thought it was great when people waved at me just cause I was driving a campervan, (very sad I know!) Since starting our campervan we had cooked for ourselves all the time & had eaten very healthily, (part from all the wine!) We set up our van just outside Port Hedland in a Caravan Park on the main road to Broome & had a glass or two of wine & had some dinner.

Sunday 6th May (630.8kms) - We travelled to Broome & walked from the beach to Gautheaume Point, (7km's south of Broome) in an attempt to see the 120 million year old dinosaur tracks, unfortunately you can only see them at very low tide & so we had to make do with the cast's on the top of the cliff face, again it was a really lovely sunny day & hardly any clouds in the sky. Whilst out shopping (for food), we saw a sign advertising skydiving in Broome, I had always said I was going to do one but thought it would be in Cairns. Anyway we called to enquiry & the lady we spoke to was really nice & it seemed good so we booked for Tuesday morning!

On Sunday evening we were told about 'The staircase to the moon' where once a month for one or two nights the reflection of the moon on the sea & the tide being the way it is makes it appear as if there is a staircase leading up to the moon. As we had a great Caravan Park, overlooking the sea on the Roebuck Bay side of Broome & shack was parked in a great spot we could just jump out & walk over to the beach & sit in the dark on the sand with all the other happy campers to watch it. We got to see it & it did indeed look like a staircase to the moon!

Monday 7th May (24kms) - After breakfast we chilled out for a bit before driving to Cable Beach, supposed to be one of Australia's most beautiful beaches & it was easy to see why it was beautiful; it was also to be the scenery of our skydive. We did some sunbathing & a bit of paddling to cool down, (swimming wasn't allowed), but the sea was lovely. I managed to burn my nose for about the millionth time, (it's my malaria tablets which I have to take for four weeks after leaving a malaria country). At this point I was half excited, half nervous about doing my skydive, we even brought a nice dinner to cook for after we had done our skydive!

Tuesday 8th May (0kms) - We got up & had breakfast, as we weren't being picked up until 11am we sat & read our books. About 10.45am I get to a part in my book where one of the main characters reveals the reason she is in a wheelchair is because of a skydive that went wrong, I could not believe the words I was reading & that made me nervous. We got picked up & as soon as we met Ralph, the man we would be doing our tandem skydive with I felt excited & relaxed a lot. He had done over 3000 jumps & had been doing it for over 20 years. I decided I wanted to go first so we went through what I had to do as we jumped & then he started filming my DVD, in which I look like a complete idiot, as expected.

We had the option of a 10,000 feet jump or 12,000 feet, so of course we went for the top shelf, 12,000 feet. The plane was tiny & it just managed to fit the pilot Brandon, me sat behind his chair & Ralph in. Brandon looked really young & I wondered how long he had been a pilot, I think he was only 19! Anyway as long he managed to get me up to 12,000 feet, hopefully Ralph would do the rest. I felt really excited when we were going up & all I kept saying was "Shall I put my googles on now?" Ralph would politely say "No, not yet Erica." Anyway it came to the time where he clipped the back of me to the front of him, the door opened & we were positioned on a ledge on the edge of the plane, rocking & then 1,2,3......freefalling for about 45 seconds, the most undescribable experience of my life. My googles were pushing into my face so I kept wanting to pull them away from my face. The G-force was making my face look terrible but the view was amazing & I just wanted to take it all in. After about 45 seconds Ralph opened the shut & we jolted upwards. I was then able to remove my googles & admire the 360 degree view of the outback, beautiful Cable Beach & Roebuck Bay in the sunshine, without a cloud in the clear blue sky.

Ralph let me steer for a bit & he did a view sharp turns which were so much fun. When I saw Claire on the ground I was waving & shouting & then we landed safely. I just sat on the floor so excited I didn't even think to get up, Ralph pulled me up & then I did a little celebratory bum wiggle dance, (again this makes me look like an idiot on the DVD but it is quite amusing). Claire reckons she could hear me scream from when we jumped but I don't remember screaming!!

It was then Claire's turn so I said bye to her at the airport & went with the lady to the landing spot. We got a radio call from Brandon to say they were about to jump, you could hardly see the plane it was that small & then you just saw this little white dot getting bigger as it got closer & then the parachute opening. I could not believe watching Claire what I had actually just done, again another amazing experience I will remember forever. We spent the afternoon relaxing on Roebuck bay's beach & then I rang Mom & Dad to tell them what I'd done as they said they didn't want to know until after I had done it, I could tell Dad was shaking his head at the phone thinking I was mental! We had a beautiful dinner & talked about the great day we both had. One of the funny things was they were filming a TV advert for Skydive Broome which the lady had dropped out of at the last minute & they almost decided to use Claire & I, how funny would that have been!

Wednesday 9th May (679.6kms) - We drove from Broome to Berrangi Bridge, a freebie nights accommodation in a designated camping area off the road by the Margaret River. The signs clearly say "Crocodile Attacks may result in injury or death." In the day we had stopped off for lunch near Derby & stopped to look at the Boab Prison Tree with a girth of 14 metres and a hollow trunk, said to be over 1000 years old. Prisoners were locked up here en route to the Old Derby Gaol. We didn't leave the van, incase of croc's & we didn't need to, cooked dinner & had an early night. This was our last night in Western Australia & on our journey tomorrow we would cross the border to the Northern Territory.

We had some amazing times & experiences in Western Australia, in Perth & in the van, is West the Best? Well we'll have to do the east to find out!

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Photos

The Pinnacles Desert!
You can actually see the rain on the photo!

The outback!
Nothing for as far as the eye can see!

Comments

[Andy]

What a lovely view down there! x