Weeks 2 & 3 updates

Be warned - this is a long post, but divided into day sections!

OK, feel a bit better today so can update the blog before I go to Sydney.

Monday 3rd Dec - Thursday 13th

Last week was a trip up the entire length of WA from Perth to Exmouth, with a company called Western Exposure (www.westernexposure.com.au). They were part of Trek America and having done a week's trip in the US with the latter I knew the week would be good.

Well, it went from good to excellent by the end of the week. There was a lot of driving all week, due to the huge distances between anywhere in WA. However, the first day's drive was lightened by us coming across a bounding red roo, and a shingleback lizard just lying on the road. Gary, the co-driver picked it up and we could get a good look at it, rather than being an exhibit in a zoo, say.

The first day, we reached the Pinnacles - a moonscape of sand and the sandstone and calcite "stalactites" rising up out of the sand. In the afternoon we went sandboarding outside Geraldton. The dunes were a creamy coloured yellow (others were blinding white due to the high levels of titanium in them), and our dunes were about 50m high and 75-80deg slope! There was also a howling wind blowing off the top of them, and the sand shifted in blocks like snow does in an avalanche, so I found it very hard to clamber up the side of the dune with the board, and then nearly got blown off the top even before I had slid down. Got up there at last and I shuffled forward on the board, braced my feet on the strip of wood, and then wheeeeeee, all the way down!!! Such great fun. The funny downside of this activity was that every part of me was covered with sand and even found it in my underwear!

Tuesday 4th: early start at 5.15 (this is meant to be a holiday?!?) However, we got to the Murchison Gorge just with the sun rising over the desert into a clear blue sky and wild kangaroos were bounding off to their homes and shade for the day. We hiked right into the bottom of the gorge, the river almost dry, but the scenery and red rocks were stunning. I was OK at climbing and on the way down, but of course my left foot packed up on me on the way back up and I was in horrendous pain by the time I got back to the bus. (ouch!).

After a lot of driving north again, in the afternoon we had short walks to the Stromatolites in Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay. Fascinating, although they don't do much - just filter oxygen and existed right at the start of life on earth - incredible. If you want a good description of what they do, read Bill Bryson's book "Down Under". Another stop was Shell Beach where all of it is made up of half-moon shaped cochina shells - about 5 metres deep and about 5 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Beautiful, and one benefit was that despite the wind, we didn't get blasted with sand!! Moved onto Denham YHA for the night - nice place.

In the evening, Tammie (the driver) took us to an open air spa. The guy who owns the land has tapped a natural HOT mineralised spring, and capped it with a spa pool. So there we were - about 15 people in a spa pool under the clear Southern Skies, looking at the stars ..... and seeing Orion upside down and back to front - weird!

Wednesday 5th: "feeding time at the zoo". No, not our group of travellers, but feeding the dolphins at Monkey Mia. They were beautiful animals - about 6-7 females come in every day, and a real bonus was that one of them had a baby with her, about 3 weeks old, which played and splashed around, slapping its tail on the water, while the adults were being fed. Spectators are picked at random to feed the dolphins the fish, and I got picked to do so - a great view of the dolphin close up (and all those teeth!). For the rest of the morning I joined an Aboriginal Cultural tour - Capes the Nanda (the name of his group) guy took us around his land and showed us how to identify animal tracks (such as roos, echindas, snakes, a kangaroo mouse), use and taste the native plants and how to build shelters and cook. A fascinating but all too short insight into their culture.

Afternoon: VERY long drive up to Coral Bay, now with only 6 of us in the bus as most left at Monkey Mia to go back south. Ningaloo Backpackers, very nice and clean. At midnight, we sat talking on the sand and again watched the skies and shooting stars over the bay.

Thursday 6th: the start of the best 2 days of the week. Thursday was a dream of a day. I went snorkelling with manta rays at Coral Bay - yes, true!!!! It was such an opportunity not to be missed. Child-size snorkelling gear (mask and flippers - the biggest feet I will ever have!!), and the first dive was a bit of a disappointment as the rays were spooked by too many people in the water at the same time and shot away from our swimming group, but on the 2nd dive, we got THREE all around us at the same time + feeder fish on their undersides. They were beautiful creatures about 4 metres wide - black with white spots on their backs, then pure white on their undersides, a huge oval shaped mouth sieving plankton through enormous gills, and the triangular/diamond shape of the bodies, just barrel-rolling over and over in the azure blue sea. One came straight at me - the huge mouth about 1.5 metres wide!!! Absolutely wonderful experience. In the afternoon of the day we then went snorkelling over the Ningaloo Reef coral and it was stunning - different shapes, colours, fish, textures etc.

Friday 8th we were in Exmouth, right at the top of the LHS of WA, and 4 of us went drift-snorkelling on Turquoise Beach. This means wading into the reef area (with size 20 feet/flippers) with a strong rip tide pulling us sideways, and then letting the current pull us along to the end of the beach. The coral was not as good as on Thursday, but the challenge was the rip tide and my strong swimming came in rather handy!! Then a long walk, a la Baywatch, back to the others, along pure white sand, with an azure blue sea, and under a cloudless blue sky.

Saturday 9th: 0500 start! but we made good travelling time to Northampton for our farm-stay. It had a pool and so I got it but it was colder than the snorkelling water on Thursday and Friday! The farm is suffering from drought and so has gone into tourism, but still they are having a really bad time of trying to raise crops and animals.

Sunday 10th: another early-ish start (0700) and we visited Greenough Wildlife Park on the way back to Perth. The pythons there are beautiful and I have pictures of me with a LONG one draped round my neck, as well as holding baby ones. They are lovely creatures, and not at all scary.

This week: weather very changeable: very hot Monday, oppressively humid Tuesday (like a wet blanket being held over your head), clearer yesterday and today. Unfortunately I had a huge pain flare up on Tuesday and couldn't do anything, and then came down with a cold later in the day and felt really weak and wibbly. I guess all the travelling and different environments was going to take its toll sometime. Better today though, but still tired.

OK, next blog will be from Sydney. I go there Saturday until 3rd January. I hope internet access will be more frequent so can make the blog updates shorter!

See you soon