I arrived into Perth on Sunday morning... and frankly, was a little disapointed!!! It was warm, but grey, and even threatening rain!!! Not quite England... but still - not what I anticipated of Xmas in Australia!!! Monday morning (not solely due to the weather!!!) we were early to rise... and on a plane again!!! This time, my flight was slightly more local, taking me 1300km up the west coast to a place called Ningaloo Marine Park.
So Australia is well known for being the most poisonous country in the world... they are home to the most deadly snakes, jellyfish, fish, spiders... and well... pretty much anything else you can think of!!! When we finally arrived at Ningaloo, desperate for some of the promised beautiful deserted white beaches, clear turquoise waters, and a selection of coral and exotic looking fish to (apparently) rival the Great Barrier Reef, we did a pretty good job of finding exactly that... Therefore you can imagine my reaction... stood on a picture-perfect beach (the five of us and no one else in sight for miles), wading knee deep in warm crystal waters... snorkel in hand... about to dive in... when suddenly I start to spot large fish just a few feet away in the water... then the sand starts to smudge and a 'ray' drifts past!!! Now, not being a marine expert... (or really having much of a clue at all!!!), i'm pretty confident that the sharks are just harmless - I'm sure I've heard people talk of 'reef sharks' or something?!? And i'm pretty sure that they are just 'mantra rays'... but then I don't know what a 'mantra ray' or a 'sting ray' looks like - I was however, pretty confident that I didn't want to accidentally stand on either!!!
Needless to say... at this point the dream of a deserted beach is becoming less and less appealing!!! (If there was ANYONE around who looked even slightly confident in the water... you'd have more faith that you weren't about to die a slow and painful death!!! Or even a swift and painful death!!!) However, in the absence of anyone else in the sea or on the beach... I spent the rest of the afternoon observing the dark shapes from the relative safety of the shore!!! And my first stop on the way back to the appartment - to buy some reef shoes (now I can stand anywhere - or at least with slightly less fear!!!)
Tuesday, I headed out on a dive boat to discover the underwater with some safety in numbers!!! Having not scuba dived in a couple of years, I was slightly nervous entering the water - more trying to remember everything i'd been taught before - ermmm... exactly how do you control your buoyancy / clear your ears / avoid swallowing gallons of water?!? Luckily... my memory got a kick start after the first mouthful of salt water... and it all came 'flooding' back!! I did however, have to put up with my divemaster buddying me up with a very handsome blonde guy... you'll be glad to here I survived that without any problem!!! (Although was a tad dissapointed that his hair took on a slight ginger appearance 12m underwater!!!)
Three dives later... I was back in my stride... and even a little gutted (obviously feeling much braver by this point!!!) not to have seen any sharks!!! But the giant turtles, fish of every colour under the rainbow, lively reef... all made up for it!!!
So... then for the first leg of the major road trip back to Perth...
In my experience of road trips... there are two main things I've learnt: A) Road trips of this size should be kept to small numbers - 2 or 3 people max... and under no circumstances should 3 people ever be cramped into a back seat together!!! Primarily because the backseat in such situations is designed for the drying of beach towels, shorts and bikinis - but also because in the heat of failing air conditioning... you become overcome by a desire to regress 20 years... and suddenly you're a small child, desperately wanting to elbow your neighbour and whine 'you've crossed onto my side!!!' B) Regardless of location - Californian Highways or Australian dirt tracks - on any long road trip, you can guarentee a lack of CDs - you just never think of it until you're on the road and... then, damn - no decent tunes!!! The other unfortunate problem is that suddenly every decent radio station disappears into the dust and heat... and you're stuck with a channel that makes you feel like you have slipped back in time half a century... hmmmm....
All this considered, you'd have to wonder how the week has been so much fun!!!
