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Day 5 – Exmouth – Snorkeling with Sharks and the Amazing Human Bicycle!

cazzmatt — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:31:00 GMT

Exmouth (pronounced X-mouth) isn’t much in the way of a town; it’s more like a truck stop. However, it’s the gateway to Ningaloo Reef, one of the best places in the world to see aquatic life of all sizes. It rivals its East Coast counterpart, the Great Barrier Reef. Unlike the GBR, you don’t have to hop on a boat to see the reef, you can simply walk off the beach and find yourself immersed in an awesome coral reef. The most notable sight is Turquoise Bay. It’s about an hour outside the “town” of Exmouth itself, and shouldn’t be missed. This was some of the best snorkeling we’ve ever done. We saw tons of coral, fish both large and small, turtles, sting rays, sea snakes, and most exciting of all… SHARKS!

They were tame reef sharks, that aren’t interested in smelly humans, so it’s somewhat safe to swim with them, and a huge adrenaline rush. We encountered three that day, the biggest one being 2 metres/6 Feet! Matt spotted this one. As he turned around, there it was swimming directly at him like a heat-seeking missile, but turning at the last moment before impact. As Matt’s heart was pounding out of his chest, he decided he should swim after it. As he trailed the shark he remembered, “Oh yeah, these animals could take off a limb if they so choose.” So he eased away and joined the rest of the group of snorkelers.

Our guide, Ben, had quite the job of wrangling 13 snorkelers and let’s just say, some were less than okay swimmers, which is sad because it’s usually the coral reef that pays the price by being kicked and broken by flailing fins. Remember: coral is a living creature and shouldn’t be touched. Even your sunscreen can harm the coral while you’re admiring its beauty.

After the group surfaced, only 4 of us chose to swim the reef again. On our second go, we didn’t find any more sharks, but did see a blue spotted stingray. That was pretty cool. It was a bit more tricky getting back to shore, seeing as the tide was going out, leaving less and less water between us and the razor sharp coral. At some parts, all you could do was hold your breath, think skinny, and glide over. We all made it our unscathed and with all our limbs.

After our snorkeling adventures, our sweetheart friend, Doris, decided to share her special, self-created snack. It was a tuna sandwich topped with ketchup, mayo (but we didn’t have mayo, so ceasar dressing was substituted), and finally strawberry jam. What a treat! She created it for when she was in the mood for a “salty-sweet snack”. This all came about as a World Cup bet, and because England lost, our UK friend, Amy, agreed she would eat the Tuna Delight. Matt just ate it anyways, so did a few other girls. It’s quite an interesting taste when that jam hits the tuna. As everyone was politely admiring how it was a “very unique taste”, Jo blurted out, “No!” as we all stared at her with our mouths full, “It tastes like SICK!” She was right. She couldn’t have been more right. It tasted like sick. This may have been one of the grossest things Matt has ever put in his mouth. And that’s saying a lot. He’s eaten cow balls!

Before returning to our hostel, we stopped off at Vlamingh Head Lighthouse to catch the sunset, and of course take a million pictures. Then it was back to our hostel for one of Ben’s awesome dinners. We would like to add that for Matt, eating with a group of girls is awesome. Seeing how Matt is a human garbage disposal, and most girls aren’t, he usually ended up with second and third helpings.

After dinner, a German girl, Monika, showed us a trick she had learned on her travels, The Amazing Human Bicycle! Naturally, the Human Bicycle was recreated within our group. Even “Look into my Face” girl got into the act.

This was also our last night with our group. We decided to hop off our tour and spend a few days seeing what the Ningaloo reef had to offer. But, nothing would prepare us for the giant surprises that awaited us deep in the ocean. Before the night ended, and our group of friends continued up north, Ben was nice enough to share a few bottles of champagne with all of us, to celebrate our last evening as a group.

But don’t worry, this isn’t the last you’ll hear of “Look into my Face”, she decided to spend a few days in Exmouth too. Hurray for us!

Day 4: Coral Bay - A Hook in the Arm is Worth Two in a Fish

cazzmatt — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:24:00 GMT

Day 4, as advertised in our Western Xposure guide, was our day to explore the wonders of Ningaloo Reef and its fantastic marine life in Coral Bay. We could go snorkeling, cruise the reef on a glass bottom boat, take a quad bike tour or even a flight over the reef. Somehow, Matt only ended up with a fishing hook stuck in his arm. But more on that later.

A few girls opted for the Manta Ray tour where you have the opportunity to Snorkel with giant Manta Rays, which they all raved about and insisted was well worth the $200. We saw some video they took, and watching those huge creatures doing backflips underwater was very impressive. However, this day we decided we wanted to hang on to our cash. We had the chance to swim with Manta Rays at night in Hawaii for FREE by sneaking through a hotel and past their Manta-themed restaurant and jumping into the dark ocean with rays swooping by us. But we digress, back to Coral Bay!

The girls who didn’t choose to swim with rays took the quad bike tour which cost somewhere between $85-$100. And some poor soul had to share a quad bike with “Just Look Into my Face” girl. (If you’re unsure of whom we’re speaking about, read our “Day 2 – Kalbarri” Blog)

Lucky for us, our tour guide, Ben, was going fishing and invited us to come along which turned out to be a whole day of fun and did we mention FREE! Let us start by saying that neither of us are fishermen, nor fisherpeople, for that matter. Despite this, Matt somehow managed to catch the biggest Spanish Mackerel EVER! Basking in his own glory, Matt cast his very next line, which flung right back around a vengeance and landed the hook digging into his forearm. Barbs and all. Luckily our hero/tour guide Ben was there to cut and pull it back out. Catching a big fish is an awesome feeling, but nothing will humble you faster than hooking yourself in the arm with your own fishing lure. That was the first real fish Matt has ever caught. It was also the only fish any of us caught that day. He swears that bruise on his ego hurt much more than the hook in his forearm.

Upon returning we were given a hero’s welcome for catching the fish. Matt was showered with appreciation. He exclaimed, “Don’t worry ladies”, as he stood atop a picnic table, “I shall provide for the tribe!” Just then a ray of light beamed down upon him from the heavens above. I think he was even holding the Ten Commandments, too. Okay, that’s not completely true, but we did eat the fish for dinner. Everyone really enjoyed it, and we learned that the cheek meat of the fish’s face is really tasty.

While not partaking in any of the awesome tours in Coral Bay offering close encounters with sea giants or the chance to kick up some sand on a quad bike, this became one of our most memorable days of the trip, and it didn’t cost a dime. Just a hole in the arm…

Day 3: Monkey Mia – Have You Hugged a Dolphin Today?

cazzmatt — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:19:00 GMT

This was day 3 of our trip, and it was a big one for one simple reason: DOLPHINS!!!

Monkey Mia is home to the famous wild Bottlenose Dolphins that swim right up to shore every morning for a free bite to eat. And no, there aren’t any monkeys. There’s legend of a monkey jumping off a sailors boat and making it to shore, and “Mia” is the Indigenous word for “home”. They should really think about changing the name to “Dolphin Mia”, that’s much less misleading. Anyways, back to the dolphins…

Every morning the dolphins show up around 7:00 am for a free meal. As cool as this sight is, it’s obviously not natural to teach these intelligent animals such bad habits. They’ve reformed it over the years, back in the 70’s you could just buy a bucket of fish and go out to the beach, feed the dolphins, and basically give them a big dolphin hug, if you wanted to.

Now it’s well ran, with several employees and a group of volunteers, to make sure no dolphins are hugged. Even though we dream about hugging dolphins, it’s not good for them, and they can catch our diseases. So DON’T HUG DOLPHINS! And while you’re at it, don’t wear sunscreen either; it burns their little dolphin eyes.

These dolphin guards take their jobs very seriously. As Matt found out first hand. He was the first to run down to greet the dolphins, but his dolphin lovefest was cut short by a dolphin guard repeatedly screaming from down the beach “GET AWAY FROM THE DOLPHINS!”. We didn’t realize you couldn’t just wait down at the water’s edge for the dolphins. You have to stay back about a 100 feet away from the water at the dolphin information desk. They do this because the dolphins will think it’s feeding time, but feed time won’t come for another hour, and we don’t want to mislead any dolphins.

Finally, feeding time came, and we rushed down to the beach along with a hundred other tourists to meet our aquatic mammal brethren, or should I say sister-en, because they only feed the females. The dolphins are completely wild, and will swim right up to your knees. It’s really exciting, even if we are teaching bad habits. But the excitement is cut short once again by a dolphin guard who drones on and on about dolphins in an inaudible microphone. All we can think is, “Just feed the freaking dolphins!” and finally they did, but of course, we weren’t picked to feed them.

4 volunteers, with a bucket of fish each, wade out to the dolphins and pick from the eager crowd, a few lucky dolphin lovers get to feed them. It helps if you are really old, really young, or really hot. Cassie should have shown more skin on that frigid morning at 8am. It would have helped our chances. We were really disappointed they didn’t pick us: we were there first, we love dolphins (it’s Matt’s spirit animal, after all), and we even pretended to laugh at all their stupid dolphins jokes.

At the same time the dolphins are being fed, giant pelicans are lurking around for a free meal as well. A volunteer lures the pelicans away with a decoy bucket of fish so they don’t bother the precious dolphins. The pelicans shouldn’t be overlooked. They’re massive, and quite impressive.

Shortly after the feeding, the crowds and dolphins dissipate. But if you hang around, a few dolphins linger by the shore, which is nice because there are about 100 less people to share them with.

We’ve met people who were disappointed by Monkey Mia, but we thought it was pretty cool and one of the most memorable sights on the west coast. Just don’t show up thinking you’re going to have a deep heart-connection with your spirit animal. It’s all business for these dolphins: they show up, they eat, and they leave. There are no tricks or dolphin hugs.

After all the dolphin excitment, we jumped back on the tour bus, or “Landshark” as our group named it (Thank you, Matt…). We drove to Ocean Park, an awesome little open-air aquarium that houses all kinds of fish, sea snakes, sea turtles, one very interesting, color-changing squid (which was Cassie’s favorite), and a whole bunch of sharks. There was also one very big Tiger Shark.

The enormous outdoor shark tank was very cool, and something we had never seen before. It looked like a set from the Kevin Costner blockbuster movie: “Waterworld”. The tank was made of corrugated metal and wood, and there was even an old, rusty windmill in the background, and of course lots of man-eating sharks. A large walkway stretches over the shark tank so you can only view the sharks from above. This makes the presence of the Tiger Shark even more eerie, as only its giant dorsal fin can be seen.

After a tour of the more basic sea creatures, we got to see them feed the sharks, which was AWESOME! They tied a dead fish onto a wooden pole and dipped it into the water until a feeding frenzy ensued. Deadly animals eating things is always awesome. Another great thing about Ocean Park is that they really seem to care about the animals, instead of a profit. So go here and support the little guys and their ferocious man-eating sharks.

Next stop was the Stromatolites. Basically, these are underwater colonies of microorganisms that live on strange rock formations. They are the oldest living organisms on the planet and are billions of years old. They created Oxygen before it existed naturally in our atmosphere. They aren’t particularly cute, nor do they attack dangling dead fish on a stick, but they are cool, and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them, so they are worth a visit. There’s a triangular-shaped pier that is constructed over them, offering great views of these odd formations.

Of course, it’s hard to follow up dolphins cruising past your legs and a shark feeding frenzy, but you can’t help but tip your hat to something that’s older than air. Well done, Stromatolites, well done old friend.

Day 2: Kalbarri National Park “JUST LOOK INTO MY FACE”

cazzmatt — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:10:00 GMT

We started our day in Kalbarri National Park at Z-Bend Gorge (pronounced Zed Bend). Early in the day we hiked down its steep slopes into the gorge. It’s advertised as having a refreshing swim at the bottom. If by refreshing, you mean a stagnant pool overflowing with mosquito larvae, then yes, it is refreshing. In the wet season, lots of water flows though the gorge, making for a great swim, but we were not so lucky at this time of year. Still, a great site to see.

Next stop in Kalbarri was The Loop. We actually looked down from a cliff lookout into the loop, which is basically a dried up river bed that forms a loop shape, where we saw a family of grazing kangaroos.

A big sight to see at Kalbarri is Nature’s Window. It’s a unique rock formation that appears to be a rock wall with a large square-shaped hole through the center creating a window and luckily for us, it was formed atop a giant mountain. So there happens to be an awesome view through the “window”. It’s mandatory for every tourist to sit in front of the natural wonder and pose for a picture. Our group of 12 girls and two guys (one of those being our tour guide, Ben) all sat patiently as an elderly man with his wife by his side took pictures of us with 12 different cameras, one for each girl in the group. I don’t know why we chose an old man to operate 12 different digital cameras, as it made it very difficult to watch this guy struggle to use modern technology, more often turning off the cameras rather than taking a picture. By the end, he had realized that there were only two guys out of 14 people. In his excitement, he yells, (in front of his wife) “Only two blokes and all these girls? It’s like a smorgasbord!” There’s nothing women love more than being compared to a buffet line of meats.

Of all the things we did in Kalbarri, abseiling down Z-bend gorge was by far the most awesome. If you’re there, and you happen to see “Abseil Rob” don’t miss the chance to abseil the cliff face. It’s only around $30, and you can do two abseils, so it’s well worth the cash. (Rob also leads half-day tours for $75) It’s not for the faint of heart, you’re very high up and many people struggle to face their fear of heights. Luckily for us we had a fellow American girl who wasn’t afraid to scream at those already terrified. She would look at them straight in the eye and exclaim “JUST LOOK INTO MY FACE!!!” As if this would cure their fear of heights. This obviously made her very popular within our tour group.

As we called it a day in Kalbarri the smorgasbord, and 2 blokes in tow, piled into the bus and headed up the cost towards Monkey Mia. We stopped to watch the sunset at Shell Beach, which as the name would suggest, is a beach made entirely of tiny shells. A great ending to a fun-filled day of excitement. “JUST LOOK INTO MY FACE!!!”

Day 1 of Our Western Xposure Tour: The Mysterious Pinnacles Desert and Sandboarding

cazzmatt — Wed, 9 Jun 2010 18:06:00 GMT

We rose early June 9th to meet our Western Xposure bus tour (and guide, the awesome Ben Beverley) in Perth. After quick introductions, we hit the road for Namburg National park where we took a tour of the Pinnacles desert. These limestone pillars formed naturally over time, creating a forrest of eerie rock formations (including several several giant phalluses).

Then... SANDBOARDING BRO!!! Basically, it was sitting on a wooden snowboard and bombing down huge sand dunes. Matt crashed (he probably should have listened to the instructions), and one girl bruised her tailbone(again, listening to Ben could prevented this), but it was well worth it in the end, because it was awesome.

Later that night we stayed in the town of Geraldton.

Perth: Surprisingly Hardcore

cazzmatt — Tue, 8 Jun 2010 18:01:00 GMT

We left Sydney on the 6th of June to head to Perth. We were really looking forward to Perth after hearing all the great things people said about it, “Oh it’s such a pretty and clean city”. But we were more taken back by all the sex shops, strip clubs (A few were hiring), and face tattoos. Surprisingly there were a lot of tattooed faces (including a couple that were pushing babies in strollers), which equals hardcore, and somehow people left this out when describing the city. Perth is the biggest city in Western Australia, but it’s tiny compared to Sydney. There’s a huge Asian influence here that can be felt through the Asian-style restaurants and massage parlors (Insert happy ending joke here). James St. has loads of hostels, restaurants, bars, cafes, and an unusually large jumbo-tron. The giant TV over looks a grassy lawn and café were people sit out and well, watch TV... in a sort of creepy utopian society kind of way. There are also permanent stools on the sidewalk and at night, they glow, which makes for a cool sight. Across the street is a bright blue restaurant, Valentino’s, separated from the park by a massive modern art piece, a squiggly black and white arch. We ate breakfast at Valentino’s, we read it has the best breakfast, and it was good. Also along James St is the Old Shanghai food court, which has some of the cheapest eats in Perth, but it’s Perth, so it’s not that cheap. They have an awesome dim sum place in the back. The highlight of our time in Perth wasn’t in Perth at all. A two-hour ferry ride from Perth is Rottnest Island. We spent the day cruising the island on bikes (there are no public cars allowed on the island). It was a nice day to ride around and see the island’s pretty beaches. There’s also supposed to be some great snorkeling sites there as well, but as we were there at the beginning of winter, it was just too cold to hop in. For this reason, we’d recommend going in the warmer months. We also encountered Rottnest’s famous Quokkas. The smallest animal in the Kangaroo family, which looks very much like a cross between a kanga and a rat. As you can read in any guide book, the Dutch explorer who first discovered Rottnest island, thought the quokkas were in fact rats, and named it “Rottnest” (which is apparently Dutch for “Rat’s Nest”). How charming. They are mostly nocturnal, so we didn’t see any at all, until the end of the day, when they seemed to be everywhere. Lots of people feed them, so they come right up to you begging for food. But resist the temptation to feed their furry little faces, even simple things are bad for their health, and they are an endangered species. We had a great time in Perth tattoo watching, eating good food and making new Quokka friends on Rott-Awesome Island.

Photos: We are CazzMatt!

cazzmatt — Tue, 4 May 2010 09:55:00 GMT

CazzMatt