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Published: December 7th 2009
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Dec 4th - Dec 7th Hitting the open road is the best way to see a country and we were eager to explore the state of Western Australia on our own terms. It took a while to get through the heavy traffic around Perth but soon we were on the open freeway surrounded by nothing but scrubland as far as the horizon in every direction.
Simon has been to Perth before and was eager for me to see the Pinnacles which are about 300km away from the city. This is an area of golden desert from which huge chunks of limestone protrude. There are small chunky ones, tall skinny ones and others that stand in little groups. It is quite an unusual sight and we drove around the Pinnacles stopping frequently to take pictures. We had tried to walk but with the mercury topping 40 degrees and flies dive-bombing our faces it was just too uncomfortable.
Our road trip was taking us up the coast to the Ningaloo Reef which is perhaps not as famous as the Great Barrier but has many attractive qualities. The Ningaloo Reef is accessible from the beach so you can just snorkel out
over the coral and come face to face with turtles, manta rays, black-tipped reef sharks and countless types of colourful fish. It is probably most famous as the place to swim with whale sharks but they are only around from March to July so we unfortunately will miss out on that experience.
The west coast of Australia is sparsely populated with the majority of people living in Perth. We drove around 500km on the first day of our road trip and probably saw only a couple of dozen other vehicles. The freeway is actually just two lanes (one in each direction) and is flanked on either side by arid land with prickly looking plants and trees and warning signs to look out for kangaroos. We lost count of the number of dead kangaroos we drove by all in varying states of decay. Thankfully we haven’t had any run-ins with live ones yet though - they tend to be more active at dusk, dawn and at night so we are sticking to driving during the day. It is quite boring driving for hours with no change of scenery, except an alarmingly increasing number of termite mounds, so we are making
good use of the iPod. After 500km we stopped for the night at a small town (they are all small up here) called Northampton where we slept in a caravan much to Simon's amusement.
We made an effort to get up early for another long drive day and were on the road by 8.30am (an extended holiday is not without its hardships) for the 650km drive to Coral Bay. We passed many rivers that were as dry as deserts. It’s hard to imagine they actually ever have water in them because it is so dry up here. Stopping at another small town for lunch at a chicken take-away (not KFC because we are too removed up here for any of the big chains) we marvelled at how people could live out here. It is so far away from Perth and I couldn’t imagine living hundreds of miles away from shops or a cinema. Not to mention the unbearable heat and the relentless flies. I know some people like remote but this is something else.
We arrived at Coral Bay by 4pm so were able to enjoy a couple of hours on the beach before bed. The beach is
The Pinnacles
Simon with the hire car stunning. I’m talking soft white sand, a gentle curve of the coastline and crystal clear warm waters that lead out over the coral. Simply beautiful. We spent the next morning on the beach too and ventured out for a snorkel in our masks that we had bought from a cheap shop called Crazy Eddies in Perth. Unfortunately we didn’t realise at the time they were kids’ masks (the $9.99 price tag should’ve been a clue) but I managed to fit mine on while Simon had a few issues with getting his nose in. We’ll see how we get on with them but may need to upgrade to the adult version. The water starts out shallow but suddenly becomes really deep and we snorkelled out over coral and saw many colourful fish, lots of sea slugs and some quite large fish that seemed a bit too curious for my liking. Then as we were lolling about in the shallows I saw a big dark shape in the water to our left that seemed to be moving. It was a manta ray. There are lots of these in this region and they can grow to monster sizes. This was only a small
one and it did look very elegant as it swam through the shallows. I’m not so sure I want to encounter a giant one in the depths though.
After a leisurely morning in paradise we headed a bit further up the coast (about 150km) to Exmouth which is the closest town to Cape Range National Park and the Ningaloo Marine Park. We arrived in town the same day as the Christmas carol service so after dusk fell and the temperature dropped from the late 30s to the mid 20s we headed to the green to watch primary school kids wearing tea towels on their heads re-enact the Nativity and sing carols. Very festive.
With the temperature in the early 40s we attempted to go to one of the free beaches around Exmouth today (you have to pay to go into the national park beaches) but with no wind or shade we thought better of it and spent the afternoon by the pool at the hostel which was very relaxing.
Tomorrow we are going on a day-long expedition into Cape Range NP where we will snorkel over the reef from the beach at Turquoise Bay. We just hope
the flies don’t follow us there…
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Kath Carter
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Absolutely brilliant
I can't wait for your next instalment!