Western Australia

Kalbarri
Originally uploaded by Petra Bos.

FINALLY; I managed to finish uploading a selection of photos of my trip to Western Australia in October – November last year. I know... it’s a bit late, but rather late than never.

I went to a conference in Perth and decided to seize the opportunity and spend some time exploring WA. Shervi, a friend from work, and I went to Perth a week before the conference. We spent some time in Fremantle and visited Rottnest Island where we cycled around and got to know the local inhabitants; quokka’s.

After a day at ‘Rotto’ we joined a backpacker’s tour up the coast from Perth to Exmouth and back. It was a full on tour with lots to see and do. The first stop was at the Pinnacles, impressive rock formations in the sand dunes north of Perth. Our journey continued to Kalbarri National Park. Here we saw whales along the beautiful coastline, we abseiled into the magnificent Z-bend gorge, took lots of photos down in the gorge and visited the famous Nature’s Window. What a beautiful park!

After Kalbarri we travelled further North towards Shark Bay. This is a world heritage listed marine park with several attractions. We visited the stromatolites; the oldest life form on earth, responsible for all other life, since the bacteria living in these structures were the first to produce oxygen; living fossils really. We visited Shell Beach, as the name suggests, a beach completely made out of tiny shells. And we paid a visit to the local hot water spring. This was not on the itinerary and had to be done in our spare time in the evening. However, the hot springs are closed in the evening. Our guide knew that the gate was never locked, so if we were quiet, made sure not to wake up the ranger, we could sneak in and out and nobody would know. So there we went, 20 backpackers trying to be quiet, arriving at the hot spring and then finding in the water... the ranger and his wife having a romantic evening in the spa! Fortunately the ranger didn’t mind our company and we could all join the couple in the spa which wasn’t quite big enough for so many people.

The next morning we got to see the main attraction of Shark Bay; the Monkey Mia dolphins. Every day since the 1960s, people have been feeding dolphins at Monkey Mia. The dolphins know this and visit every day. The feeding is now strictly regulated by the Department of Environment and Conservation and only selected dolphins are being fed. It attracts plenty of visitors who get a good view of the dolphins.

After feeding the dolphins, we went on an Aboriginal cultural tour. Cape, our Aboriginal guide, showed us around the sand dunes of Monkey Mia, tried to teach us some Aboriginal language (quite unsuccessful, I’m afraid), showed us how to follow animal tracks, how to find bush tucker and water in the outback and he gave us a demonstration of playing the didgeridoo. The best of all, he prepared us some delicious local fish in the ashes of his campfire, a campfire
with a view this was!

Leaving Shark Bay, we headed for Coral Bay, party town of the west coast. Coral Bay is beautifully positioned next to the Ningaloo Reef. The Ningaloo Reef, besides just being a beautiful and very accessible natural reef, is famous for two impressive inhabitants; the whale shark and the giant manta ray. The whale shark is the world’s largest fish and despite its name not dangerous to humans. Unfortunately it was not the whale shark season while we were there, so we did not get to see this amazing creature. The other famous inhabitant, the giant manta ray can have an impressive wing span of up to 7 metres! Unfortunately the spotter plane that was supposed to find us a manta was broken and we were unable to find one by boat :-(
This does give me two reasons to go back to this place one day... We did have a great day snorkelling though; we saw lots of fish, coral and some reef sharks (also not dangerous).

The next stop on our tour was Exmouth and Cape Range National Park, again positioned next to the Ningaloo Reef. We arrived late in the afternoon, just in time to make it for sunset at the lighthouse. At least... that was the plan... on the way up the steep hill to the light house our bus decided that it had had enough for the day and would not go up any further. We enjoyed the sunset on the spot. After which we conquered some challenges getting the bus turned around without the trailer heading of the cliffs (close call there) and jump starting the bus, but it all worked out in the end. The adventure is part of the fun!

We spent a day in Cape Range National Park, enjoying a walk through a canyon, spotting an echidna (weird Australian animal, a bit like a hedgehog; one of the only two egg laying mammals in the world), spotting some sharks and turtles at the bottom of the canyon and doing some more snorkelling at Turquoise Bay. I found the Ningaloo Reef truly amazing; so beautiful, plenty of fish and colours and so close to shore, you just walk in the water for 10-20 metres and you’re there!

The journey back down south from Exmouth to Perth was a bit less eventful. Two long days of driving with only a few interesting stops. The main stop was at Hutt River Province, a little ‘independent’ country that I have told you about before. And a final stop was made at one of Australia’s many wildlife parks, where we had a chance to feed some kangaroos and hold some snakes.

Back in Perth we just had enough time for a visit to the aquarium and a walk in King’s Park before the conference started. The conference was big and very relevant. It was also a great chance to meet some of my colleagues from Nottingham again. During the conference we went on a bike ride along the Swan River and we had a bbq at the campus of the University of Western Australia. This was very well organised, they even arranged for dolphins to attend the barbie!

Following the conference it was time for another trip, this time down South. Kim, a friend from work, invited me to come along and visit her parents who live in this South-Western corner of Western Australia. We had a great time down South as well.

Kim’s parents live in Busselton, one of the up and coming towns in Australia to live in. The town is famous for its wooden jetty which extends over 1800 metres in the sea, making it the longest wooden jetty in the Southern hemisphere. Under the jetty a reef has formed on the jetty poles and at the end of the jetty the visitor gets the opportunity to view this reef from an underwater observatory. Basically it is an aquarium inside out; the humans are behind glass looking out into the ocean to see the fish!

Just South of Busselton is the famous Margaret River wine area, famous for... wine and surfing. Kim has a friend who manages one of the wineries in this area and she took us around for a personalised tour of their own winery and some of the others. The day was completed with a lesson of body surfing in the surf and swell of Yallingup. Needless to say, a day full of fun and laughter...

Even further south, are the famous forests of giant Karri and Tingle trees, growing up to 60 metres high. At Pemberton I climbed one of those giant trees which used to be a fire lookout. I found it quite challenging, psychologically that is, to climb this tree with no safety precautions whatsoever. Not sure if I would do it again, but the view from the top was well worth it. A more comfortable tree top view was to be found at the Tree Top Walk in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. An impressive walkway made up in the canopy of the forest. This day was finished with visits to some astonishing beaches on the South coast.

After an overnight stop in Denmark, we travelled on to Albany (Australians are not very creative with naming their towns, or maybe they just like to pretend that they are in a different country) and visited some impressive coastline with a natural bridge and a place called ‘The Gap’. From here we continued our journey through the forest back to Busselton and eventually back to Perth and Adelaide.

I can truly recommend a visit to Western Australia to everybody; the nature is just so amazing and there is so much to see. I haven’t even seen half (or a quarter) of it. I can’t wait to go back, to see more and to revisit the Ningaloo Reef!

Next time; (I hope I won’t keep you waiting as long again) photos from a trip to the Flinders’ Ranges and to Kangaroo Island from when my parents were visiting here over Christmas... stay tuned.