SUNDAY 7th JUNE
We left from Cottesloe early... well 10am and drove up the coast a little way to Lancelin, which was quite a quiet little beachy caravan type place.
We then tried to continue up the coast as the map said 'proposed road' - unfortunately it still hadn't been finished yet, so after a long detour down a seemingly endless road in the middle of nowhere. But we managed to get back to the 'Brand Highway'. We got to Geraldton just before dusk and had coffee and chips by the sea. We had planned to stay there... but there really didnt seem to be anything there and as there was no YHA, we decided to keep going to get to Kalbarri which was around 100km, which had lots of things to do and a YHA. We then discovered that the full beam didn't really work so well - if you keep it on for more than 20 seconds, the lights cut out completely for 5 seconds.... daunting, as we were pretty much driving through a national park. There were signs everywhere saying about stray animals, so we weren't drivin that fast at all.
Earlier that day, we'd noticed that something had bitten into some of the food stuff in the boot, well i say food it was 3 sachets of cappuccino. We wondered how that had happened but thought nothing of it.
At some point at about 40kms from Kalbarri, I felt something touch my leg, I was so sure that it was something that I had to stop the car and look around the seat etc. - Obviously I couldn't see anything in the dark, so I had to get back in and bear it til we got to our destination.
This had shaken us up a bit and we were listening out for any noises in the back. Little did we realise, that the dangers were OUTSIDE of the car. All of a sudden, this medium sized kangaroo launched itself into the front passenger side of the car! Sarah and I literally both screamed at the top of our lungs as soon as we saw it. Scariest thing was that it could have written off the car and left us stranded in the middle of nowhere, in the dark. (with our possible rodent stowaway).
Luckily the only damage done was the front light which was completely smashed and the bumper, which was still attached but hanging off slightly.
We drove the rest of the way VERY slowly and saw 2 or 3 more kangaroos darting around. When we got to Kalbarri, we realised that the closing of all reception places was about 20 minutes previous (thank you Mr Kangaroo). Luckily some lovely people at the YHA took pity on us and somehow got us into a dorm room all by ourselves. We were both pretty much in shock, so they helped us out with tea for Sarah and Goon for me :) We regaled all the inhabitants with our story and definitely entertained them all for the evening! A nice shower, then bed.
MONDAY 8th JUNE
We got up at 9.00am to go check in with the reception and pay for the next night as well. Then we drove literally JUST up the road to this tiny little industrial... well not estate, more like 2 roads... Luckily for us it was full of crash repairs, spare auto parts and car amendments. We spent the next few hours going round each one getting quotes and then on the scrapheap (helpfully also just down the road) looking for the parts that we needed (front light, rear light and bumper).
We ended up buying the front light from the most expensive quoter (and rudest) and then took it to the cheapest and most lovely guy ever, he was so helpful and nice about everything, it was actually a pleasure to leave the car in his care.
As it was so close to the hostel, we headed back to sunbathe by the pool (i know, tough life huh?) The guy rang us a bit later, to let us know that the back break pad had completely ground down and needed replacing. The German girls had mentioned that that one was a bit thin when they had the others replaced... but we didnt think we'd have to change it STRAIGHT away... but we had noticed a bit of a noise when stopping. - all in all he fixed the beast wagon all up for $300... which is more than $200 less than the rude/pricey guy quoted us. He also checked over the engine and said that there's no problem with it and it's a good engine. We said that we were going to try to get it up to Broome and he said that it would definitely get us that far probably alot further. We then took the newly fixed car sightseeing at places like Red Bluff Beach and Pot Alley, which involved a bit of rock climbing and took some fantastic pictures.
Then went back to the hostel where we chatted and played some poker with these 2 builder guys from London who had just come down from the Broome area - I won the poker in the last hand! ;)
TUESDAY 9th JUNE
We woke up really early to go and watch the Pelicans being fed just down the road at Kalbarri beach. It was quite funny as the largest male (the alpha) was really greedy and stole the fish from all the others. There was also some really cheeky seagulls that picked up any the fish that the Pelicans didnt snatch up straight away haha.
We then got on the road again on the way stopped off at and Hawks Head and Ross Graham (i know stupid name) which are both viewpoints for a nice river and gorges. We made our way down at Ross Graham and it was really beautiful, see the pictures.
After quite a long drive we got up to Monkey Mia (way before the sunset). It turned out that a large school group had booked up all the rooms at the YHA hostel. - HOW IS THAT FAIR? anyway, the next cheapest was a room with a double and a bunk bed, so we had to take that. We had a walk along the beach to get a feel for Monkey Mia and we were struck by the peace and quiet of the place. The sea was so calm, hardly a ripple and everything seemed to be a shade of salmon. The view out of the balcony was amazing... such a lovely sunset!
WEDNESDAY 10th JUNE
We woke up VERY VERY early to be at the beach for 7.30am to be ready to see the first of the Dolphin feeds. It was really crowded, but we were lucky to get some really great photos.
For the second feed, we went and sat on the jetty to watch which gave quite a different vantage point as we saw alot more dolphins hanging around further out. Apparently they only feed the female dolphins as they are more easy going and less violent towards the feeders.
After that we went for breakfast at the cafe/restaurant near the beach. WHAT a rip off and it was also the worst breakfast we'd ever had. - even the tea was horrible.
after that we were tempted in by a sign for "FREE SUNSET CRUISE" so we had a look, basically if you bought a day trip on a boat you got the sunset one for free. We had a think but decided to do it, as we just thought about the gorgeous sunset the day before.
The day cruise started really warm and it was basically to try to see the Dugongs and turtles.
As it turned out, the weather changed very drastically and all we saw was a few dolphins swimming alongside the boat. Oh and we also saw some squid ink that they thought MIGHT be a Dugong. It got very very cloudy and even started to rain! - something that happens in Monkey Mia about 3 days a year - terrific. Needless to say the Sunset cruise was called off as you couldnt even SEE the sun!
For the evening we cooked ourselves a nice tomato and sweetcorn pasta, before I showed Sarah the first few episodes of Dollhouse.
THURSDAY 11th JUNE
We got up early again to check out and then we drove up with the intention of staying at Coral bay, but looking at the YHA map that we had, the next town up called Exmouth was written in larger font and also had a YHA, so we decided to keep on going to Exmouth. We got there slightly before the light had gone, but it took a while to find WHERE the YHA was, as they didnt really signpost ANYTHING! We eventually found it... this big holiday resort caleed the 'POT SHOT RESORT HOTEL' which had a backpackers sort of stuck off on the back. It was really clean and a really nice room. Around the back of the resort, there was this fast food caravan, but instead of your cheap stuff, it was a gourmet burger van. I had a 'POWER HOT DOG', which was a hot dog, with bacon, cheese, onion and spicy tomato relish. THE BEST HOT DOG I'VE EVER HAD!!
FRIDAY 12th JUNE
In the day we went exploring and quickly realised that Exmouth didnt really have anything we wanted. The famous Ningaloo Reef with all the Whale Sharks and Snorkelling was at Coral Bay - typical huh. We looked at what Exmouth had to offer, a shipwreck and a turtle sanctuary - unfortunately it was not in Season, so there was no Turtles to see. Instead we walked up the beach that they use, which was covered in a very crazy arrangement of large dark coloured rocks - you'd think the turtles would pick an easier route? Anyway, there was lots of fish to look at.
We then had a look at the shopping mall in Exmouth and had a look at the tours that were offered there. The one for swimming with the whale sharks was very very expensive - $400!! The guy showed us a DVD of the day befores tour, which did look amazing but not at that price. Instead we went to the tourist information building and found that there was far more options for tours going from Coral Bay - we booked on a 2 hour glass bottom boat and snorkelling trip for the very very reasonable $45 - actually we haggled a YHA discount to $39 - so 10% of the cost. Unfortunately that'd mean not seeing the whale sharks... i wasnt too bothered, anything with the word SHARK in its name is nothing that I particularly want to swim with! In the evening we went out for a nice chinese meal and were very full.
SATURDAY 13th JUNE
We got up early as the tour was supposed to go at 10am. We got there quite late and were there for 9.50am - it turned out that they had delayed the tour until 11am - just enough time for coffee and a muffin.
Going out to the boat, the water was very warm. Getting onto the boat was quite a task and I actually slipped on the ramp! how embarrassing - luckily only 3 people saw that haha - no harm done. I was getting quite scared about the snorkelling as Western Australia is known for having more sharks. - Sarah did ask on the boat "is there any sharks?" - apparently the reef is where all the reef sharks are born, but they're so young and timid they are alot more scared of us than we are. Another guy asked how many people have been attacked and the skipper told us that there had never been any attacks on Coral Bay - good to know! We'd gotten our snorkelling gear on and I was getting very nervous - Sarah on the other hand was not scared. The first area we went to was called 'snapper valley', which is aptly named as it is FULL of very large snappers. Anyway, Sarah got in first but didn't like it and wouldn't let go of the rope. I got in and took to it, pardon the pun, like a fish to water. I found the flippers very easy to use and found I was able to swim alot faster and wasnt affected by the tide. Sarah, however didn't get on with it and got out quite quickly. We'd bought an underwater camera and I took lots of shots of the fishes. The helper on the boat kept throwing fish food at our heads... which was really quite scary at some points when hundreds of fish were swimming right for you!! The skipper then took us a bit further out to a place they call they 'aquarium' which is full of lots of different kinds of fish. More photos there and Sarah stayed in for alot longer. It was a really great experience and definitely well worth the small amount we paid!!
When we got back to Exmouth we went for a long walk to a fishmonger and a book shop.
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