Gorge-ous West Coast Travelling...
So, here I am, currently in Broome, about 2 thirds of the way up the West coast of Australia. I have just come back from an amazing 10 day tour which has taken me up the coast. Starting in Perth, we stopped at loads of places along the way, staying in hostels and sleeping in swags (like a big canvas sleeping bag, outside underneath the stars). There were originally 18 people on the trip but as we went along some people got off at different places so there were only 10 of us who went all the way to Broome.
We then headed to Karijini National Park for a few days, this was where I slept in a swag and admired the stars...the 'Southern Cross' was pointed out to me lots of times as it is featured on the Australian flag, and there was some kind of Emu shape that I still can not see however hard I look. Anyway, that was not important. Karijini was really cool, there were loads of gorges which we walked through and climbed the rocks and then swam in the pools. I remembered how much I like climbing rocks whilst I was here so had a great time! I took quite a few pics but here is just one of the gorges that we climbed in to and swam in the pool.
I have done loads, so will try and pick out the highlights for you...on the first day I tried some sandboarding...thought it would be hard, but actually it was easy, however I did do it sitting down, didn't quite upgrade to standing...
Monkey Mia is famous for having wild dolphins swimming in the sea, apparently 40ish years ago the fisherman used to chuck their scraps over the side of their boats and it encouraged the dolphins to come and feed and now they arrive everyday for their breakfast and lunch. I got picked out of the crowd to feed one, so here I am, having just tossed the dolphin a dead fish...
After Monkey Mia, we stopped at Exmouth and did some snorkelling, it was amazing, I went on a glass bottomed boat and we could see these massive fish swimming underneath and all this really beautiful coral, and then they stopped and told me to jump in with my snorkel and suddenly the big fish were slightly scary, however, it was great and the fish got really close...no nibbling this time though.
This is a massive termite mound we passed on a road we were driving on...there was a lot of driving, so getting off the bus became novel at times...
We then headed to Karijini National Park for a few days, this was where I slept in a swag and admired the stars...the 'Southern Cross' was pointed out to me lots of times as it is featured on the Australian flag, and there was some kind of Emu shape that I still can not see however hard I look. Anyway, that was not important. Karijini was really cool, there were loads of gorges which we walked through and climbed the rocks and then swam in the pools. I remembered how much I like climbing rocks whilst I was here so had a great time! I took quite a few pics but here is just one of the gorges that we climbed in to and swam in the pool. Whilst we were at the National Park, our battery died on the bus, so we spent the rest of the trip having to push it to get it started as jump starting it didn't seem to work, this was quite amusing to begin with, but less so towards the 5th day of doing it...it's all part of the adventure.
There is loads more stuff we did, and I had a great time. I am now in Broome, which is quite North, but not as North as I had thought! On the map it looked really close to Darwin, but it turns out it is a 28 hour bus ride, so maybe not as close as I had thought. Infact, I found out the other day that Australia is the same size as the whole of Europe...no wonder everything seems so far away from each other...it is.
I forgot to say how much the flies annoyed me in the Outback, they are everywhere, they couldn't get enough of me either (and that wasn't due to my lack of showers), it's nice to be in a city where there are no flies about, although it does feel weird to see so many people, as where we were travelling we were quite often the only people there. Unfortunately a lot of my photos don't do the landscape justice, it is so much better when you are there, so I will just have to try and remember it!
This is everyone who was left of the tour on the last day at '80 mile beach'...don't know where it got its name from, but apparently it's a really long stretch of beach, about 80 miles long I think.
A few people from the tour are still in Broome, so a few of us are going to an open air cinema tonight to see 'Bran Nue Dae', which was apparently filmed in Broome and I met one of the stars in the show this morning...a snake that features on the road in the film...haha, he was called George.
Not sure my plans for the next few days as I need to work out how I am going to get to where I am going next, and indeed where I am going next. Anyway, stay in touch, 4 weeks left in Australia.
Looks amazing! I was impressed by your jump in the last picture! x