Wednesday 14th May
I woke up at 06.30, later than planned, because I hadn't heard the tinny alarm on my watch go off (one of the downsides to wearing earplugs). This left me in a bit of a rush but I had become expert at getting my stuff together under the pressure of time, so was out at the bus before our scheduled departure time of 07.00, and early enough to get my seat of choice for the journey towards Denham that day.
We were due to change to a smaller coach – this new one had the luxury of air-con – but there was a mix-up with the number of people who were due to leave on the bus that day (a similar problem had occurred the previous day when three English girls were told they would have to stay over in Kalbarri because the office had messed up). We ended up staying on the bus we came from Perth on the previous day. It wasn't their fault, but Evo and Jimmy had to try and rectify a problem that had been created by other people, and it didn't inspire a great deal of confidence in the organisational abilities of the people who were planning our tour.
Once again, we started the day behind schedule, but I didn't really care; it didn't bother me all that much as delays were just part of the daily routine for me (not counting my time in Japan where the only delays I encountered were self-inflicted). We left with a few new faces on the bus and continued on on our journey towards our destination of Denham, where we were due to stay overnight.
Our first stop was at Kalbarri National Park which was accessible from the main road which then turned into an unsealed (i.e. no tarmac) dirt track. The surface was very bumpy and it caused quite a lot of vibration in the bus, and I dreaded to think what it was doing to the suspension of the old bus we were using (I now realised why it looked so battered and bruised). After about 10km, we arrived at 'The Loop' gorge which was made up of some stunning red canyons. We took photos at 'Natures Window', a large rock, created out of layered stone, that has a hole in the middle of it that frames the snaking gorge below. When we were finished here, we drove for another twenty minutes in the other direction to the 'Z-Bend' gorge where some of the group did abseiling down the side of the rock face. It's a stunning place and well worth a visit.
We left Kalbarri NP and our next stop was at the Overlander Roadhouse, a service station (or 'servo' as the Aussies call them!) in the middle of nowhere, and here we had lunch and a break from the road. Later in the afternoon, we visited 'Hamelin Pool', a location on the beach that is home to a colony of 'living rocks' called stromatolites, which are one of the oldest organisms in the world. Scientists have credited them with giving life to all other oxygen-dependent organisms that have existed in the world, letting them grow and thrive when it all started, all those millions of years ago. However, most of us weren't that impressed as they just looked like a bunch of rocks, and we didn't feel the need to hang about too long.
The area around Denham is called 'Shark Bay',home to the 'Shark Bay World Heritage and Marine Park'. It is famous primarily for the 'friendly' (or just plain greedy) dolphins that come to be fed along the shoreline at Monkey Mia, where we were headed the next day. We stopped off at a few of the other attractions, including 'Shell Beach' which, as its name would suggest, is a beach with shells on it. This differs from most beaches in that it is made up entirely of small, mostly intact white shells, and extend for a couple of kilometres in front of a very flat sheltered sea. There are many uses for these shells, one of which is the production of bricks used to build homes and businesses in the local area.
After 'Shell Beach', we had a fairly direct drive to Denham, and the 'Bay Lodge' hostel which was where we were staying for the night. It was a good place with decent rooms, all with ensuite bathrooms. I shared with Peter and Phil, and it was nice to have a room with a bit more space than usual. A group of us went to the local pub for another Easy Rider special discount meal. It was a proper Aussie locals pub, and it reminded me slightly of some of the bar scenes in Crocodile Dundee. It was full of fishermen, most of them looked like hard drinkers, the real stereotype from smalltown Australia.
After dinner I went back to the hostel and had a game of pool with Andrea, one of the German girls, and totally disgraced myself with my lack of abilities at the game. I am terrible at pool but have never played worse, so gave up after that game and instead chatted to a few of the other Easy Rider people that I hadn't met. One of them was a guy called Sean who was from Galliagh in Derry, five minutes down the house from us and near to where I went to school. It was funny to meet someone from so close to home, and he seemed like a nice guy. It had been another really good day and I was starting to feel more and more comfortable with the group, and looked forward to the next day, despite the fact that we were due to leave at 07.00 again.
