Muddle Through Memoirs

To begin with, yes I am breaking chronology here, and also yes even this post is a full month on from when it happened but I’ll be taking no criticism for the fact the combination of procrastination, house hunting and finally falling into a work routine hit me like a truck.
This trip was undoubtedly one of the best weeks of my life and an experience I’ll always treasure so it makes the most sense to break my writers block here and work back.

The week started with an early morning pick up in Perth where I boarded our truck full of nerves and excitement as I met the merry bunch of fellow travellers I’d be spending the trip alongside. Fortunately, it became apparent very quickly that everyone was super friendly and we were all just as hyped for our adventure.

Our first stop was just a short distance outside of Perth at the Nambung National Park, famous for the incredible pinnacles desert. The desert is a vast landscape filled with thousands of natural limestone pillars, in some directions, for as far as the eye can see. Some of these pillars are thought to be as ancient as 30,000 years old and aboriginal stories tell us that the land was a sacred women’s space and the pillars were, therefore, the figures of naughty young boys who came to spy and were turned to stone as punishment. Judging by the thousands of pillars I’d say they were very poor at learning from each other’s mistakes!

Our next stop was Dynamite Bay for a quick lunch stop before we were back on the road, pit-stopping again to stretch our legs at the visually dynamic leaning tree in the aptly named Bentwood.
From there we headed to Hutt Lagoon, better known as the Pink Lake, a beautiful natural body of water turned pink by the same algae that turns prawns and, in turn, flamingos pink when consumed.
Our final stop was a cliff edge close to Kalbarri to watch the sunset over the ocean and beautiful red sand rocks.

It was a crack of dawn start from our hostel the next day as we sleepily piled back into the truck and headed into Kalbarri national park to watch the sunrise. We headed across to the skywalk and lookout point armed with our breakfast and were certainly rewarded for our efforts with one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. The skywalk offered an incredible view over the landscape even if it could be a little unnerving to walk across the glass and huddle the lot of us in one corner for our first group picture.
Breakfast proved to be a slightly more challenging affair due to the insane amount of flies that plagued the area and I was certainly glad of the fly net my friend Becky had given me before the trip, though we did discover (mostly through Steve acting the fool) that the end of my plait made a very effective fly swat so I was able to at least drink my tea in relative peace.

After breakfast we headed further into the national park to explore the area and also give chance for my first daredevil activity of the trip when 5 of us were brave enough to abseil off one of the cliffs in the canyon, an activity that was all fun and games when you were jumping your way down the wall and enjoying the incredible views but was slightly more sickening in the initial stages of shuffling your way backwards over the ledge. After surviving the abseil not once but twice (gluttons for punishment!) we enjoyed a hike through the park, clambering down the rocks towards the river before we needed to head back to the truck.

It was a long drive from Kalbarri to Monkey Mia but we broke it up with a few pit stops, first at the Billabong Roadhouse for coffee and a sweet treat and then at Shell Beach so we could stretch our legs and have a quick paddle.
Lastly we hopped out at Eagle Bluff for a wander along the walkway by the ocean in the hopes of seeing some dolphins or turtles but were instead were rewarded with a hammerhead shark swimming in the bay! Our tour guide Jenai had never seen a hammerhead here so it was especially exciting.
We finally arrived at Monkey Mia in time for a sunset swim before dinner and definitely made the most of the beautiful water after such a long travel day.

Our third day began with an experience we had all been anxiously awaiting, seeing the dolphins who come regularly into the bay at Monkey Mia. Conservation measures at the bay are strictly enforced to protect the visiting dolphins and ensure they remain healthy and independent so seeing them can never be guaranteed though it is very likely. We were lucky enough to see two mothers and calves named Oboe and Piccolo, and Pia and Wiggy. The sweet little calves were a year and 10 weeks respectively and were so adorable to watch playing in the bay.

Reluctantly leaving the adorable and playful dolphins behind we hopped back in the truck and headed on to Hamelin Bay to see the stromatolites, which tour guide Steve was keen to tell us have been around for approximately 3 billion years creating oxygen for the planet.
From here we drove on to Carnarvon, the fruit basket of the west, where there are plantations of every description for miles around and we were able to grab some delicious frozen mango lollies.
We then arrived at our destination for the night, Coral Bay, again in time to watch the sunset from the beach. At this point we were definitely getting spoilt for beautiful views! We enjoyed a chilled evening in Coral bay with pizza, pints and drinking games before heading in for a relatively early night in preparation for the next morning’s excitement.

Our fourth day started early again with a quick coffee and visit to the coral bay jewellery store, run by a grouchy ageing hippie who’d been in the bay since the 90s but who had some of the most gorgeous handmade silver jewellery (I caved and bought a dolphin ring!)
Soon enough we were headed out on the Coral Bay Eco Tour to spend the day snorkelling and swimming on the Ningaloo Reef alongside five turtles, a lemon shark, a leopard shark, and many reef sharks (particularly when we came across their cleaning station). The main event of the day however was swimming with the huge and beautiful manta rays, one of whom we were lucky enough to see barrel rolling while filter feeding close to the surface. I’ve swam with mantas before in Nusa Penida but they felt positively titchy in comparison to these gentle giants and it was certainly an experience to remember. All this snorkelling made me so glad for the investment I’d made in my gopro ahead of this Australia trip as getting to capture and share videos of our day with my friends was really special. Full credit for the photos to our incredible underwater photographers on both snorkelling trips though as the quality really cannot be beaten and were certainly worth the price!
After our day on the water we drove on to Exmouth (the most northerly point for our trip) for a bbq dinner and ice cream cake to celebrate Jenai’s last night with us before she had to head back to lead another tour (leaving us in the precarious hands of mad uncle Steve!)

Though I loved every minute of the trip, day five had to be my favourite for sure. From our hostel in Exmouth we headed back out onto the Ningaloo Reef on the Kings Whale Shark tour. Our expectations were definitely hopeful for seeing a few of these incredible creatures but nothing could have prepared us for the amazing day we spent leaping in and out of the sea and swimming alongside countless whale sharks ranging right from a year old baby to giants that were the size of cars and could have been up to 100 years in age. Swimming alongside these incredible creatures time really does stand still and nothing can really prepare you for how amazing and humbling it is, you can definitely feel like a small speck in the ocean!
From our sunbathing spot on the deck of the boat we were also lucky enough to see turtles, dolphins, sharks and even the very first humpback whales spotted that season! Generally humpbacks don’t appear in Exmouth until June but due to temperature changes in the water they’ve begun heading by earlier and we saw them in mid-May.

To round out this incredible day we headed for sunset at the Exmouth lighthouse where the great nothing meets the sea. The views in Western Australia really just cannot be matched.

If we thought we’d done some heavy driving days before this nothing could prepare us for the huge amount of distance we had to cover on day six as Steve had us bombing down the highway from Exmouth all the way to Northbrook, covering a distance of approximately 800km.

Our home for our final night together was a charming farmstay with cows, horses and plenty of space for us to have a last bbq, as well as smores, songs and stargazing around the campfire. With an eski full of drinks to finish and some surprisingly delicious peanut butter whiskey courtesy of Nebraska we ended up having my favourite evening of my time in Australia all together as it devolved increasingly chaotically into a cross-cultural dancing lesson involving the Nutbush, the Cha Cha Slide, Saturday Night, The Wobble and Waltzing Matilda.

On our final day, heading home to Perth, we stopped off at the Geraldton Lighthouse, built in 1877 (the first all steel structure in Australia), as well as a random spot at the side of the road to admire the grass trees, incredible feats of nature which grow just 6cm per year and some of which are estimated to be 350-450 years old. The trees have very delicate leaves and yet whose trunks are completely fireproof and thus are able to survive the fires that often burn across the region.
Our final stop of the trip was to Yanchep National Park where we were able to see many of the sweet faced Western Grey Kangaroos as well as the small community of Koalas who were brought west to form a protected community against the ravages of chlamydia on the east coast.

I honestly cannot be more grateful to have met such incredible people and will treasure our amazing adventure for the rest of my life. One of the best things about travel is getting to connect with awesome, like-minded people from all over the world. You definitely bond quickly on trips like these and I’ll never forget all these fantastic humans and the laughs we had together.