West Coast tour for 10 days from Perth all the way to Broome...
4/10
I finally made it to the hostel at 2am! Got some sleep in a bed rather than a plane seat. Woke up at half 8 and then headed into Perth. I went to the museum of Western Australia. It was actually rather good. I then went on a tram tour of the city. It went through Kings Park which is really pretty. I then came back and rung home to speak to Mum and Dad as they got back from their holiday today.
5/10
This morning I had to get up at 5am, sure it will carry on this tour! We drove to Namburg National Park and saw the Pinnacles. Not sure how to describe them really. We had to wait around after lunch as the air con was not working, not going to be good if it doesn't kick back in! Luckily it got fixed. We stayed the night in a town called Horracks. During the drive we saw emus and kangaroos which was really cool.
6/10
Up at 5am this morning and off to Kalbarri to go on some walks. We saw natures window which was nice. We also then did a walk down the Z-Bend gorge. It was really really hot! We saw some more emu's and kangaroos. We went to Shell Beach and messed around taking silly pictures. We then headed over to Shark Bay World Heritage area. We watched sunset but the ones in Darwin were better. We spent the night in Denham.
7/10
Off to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia this morning. That was cool, the dolphins are wild and swim up to the beach to be fed. They were really cute. There was also some giant pelicans there. In the afternoon we went and saw the stromatolies, they are some really ancient living thing at Hamelin Pool. We spent the night at Coral Bay.
8/10
Today I went snorkelling with Manta Rays. It was so amazing, they are huge! Later on there was more animal sightings and I ended up snorkelling with turtles which was totally cool and then we saw a reef shark! Really awesome experience today. After that we drove to Exmouth. In the evening, well pretty much night actually, Liam decided that I should go to the beach to see the others that were there (not everyone had gone). I decided it was easier to go with him to keep him quiet. He said he knew the way, 40mins later when we were still not at the beach it was obvious he had no idea where the beach was as the others had said it was a 5 min walk. Turns out we missed the track up over the hill as it was dark. Got to the beach and there was no beer in the cooler, what a waste of time going there!
9/10
Another snorkelling day today. First stop was Lakeside. We saw a stingray there and a ton of colourful fish and equally cool coral. We all had a good laugh at Phil again as he went wandering off. Too many stories about this guy to put on here. We then had another snorkel at Turquiose Bay. The current was really strong so it didn't help not bashing into people. There was a few fins in faces and people getting kicked in the head. We then went to Vlahming Head Lighthouse for sunset but we all missed it as we were taking jumping pictures!
10/10
Today we spent the whole day in the bus. We made our way to Karijini National Park. All we did in the late afternoon was walk to Joffree's Lookout. Fun day, not!
11/10
Today was a lot of walking. We went to Circular Pool in Dales Gorge. We also went to Fern Pool. It was hard work climbing up the gorge in the heat. We saw a big lace monitor by the water. There was also a big huntsman in the girls loo again, why not go in the boys!! While the others were swimming I stood there with 3 big cameras around my neck "papping" them all. Lots of people on the tour had the good cameras and kept on taking pictures when no-one was looking so there will be some funny ones I'm sure.
12/10
Today I went on a crazy adventure. The day started off by getting kitted out in wetsuits, harnesses, helmets and lovely shoes. We climbed down a gorge and then jumped off a ledge into the water, that was fun. We then floated down through the gorges via a series of pools. We had an 8m abseil (not fun) and then a 8m natural waterslide with a 2m drop to the water. I managed not to land feet first and ended up landing in the water bottom first, ouch! And luckily it was all captured on the dvd the guy gave us at the end of the day. We did some more jumping with tubes this time. We had a rope climb and then some rock climbing with no ropes. We finally made our way back up the gorge after a long days fun and adventure. We took in Oxers Lookout and Junction Pool lookout which was two lookouts you could see from down the gorge too but when you are at the top you cannot see all the way down to where we had been which was strange but cool. Most of the places we saw today which were amazing aren't seen by anyone else as it requires all the ropes and climbing etc. Only 5 out of our group did it. Awesome day.
13/10
We had one last quick walk in Karijini before leaving and heading to the cattle station for tonights camp. We actually had to set up the tents this time, luckily my tent buddy knew what she was doing!
14/10
We left the cattle station and headed for Broome. Boring drive. We arrived in Broome in the early afternoon. Managed to convince Sascha our driver to wait for me so I didn't have to pay to get a bus over to Cable Beach where everyone else was staying. We went for a sunset camel ride on Cable Beach which was really cool. I had a 15 year old camel called Seta. Bit scary when she had to stand up and then sit back down! We then had pizza before heading to the bar. Managed to bag not going back to my hostel across town. Luckily some of the people on the tour are just on holiday and paid for single rooms.
15/10
Today I left the others hostel, caught the bus at 9.18 and was lucky enough to be ready to leave and go back to the beach on the free shuttle bus that my hostel offers at 10. We stayed on the beach for a few hours before having a nice lunch with those that were left. Back to town on the 2pm shuttle. We helped Liam buy some pearls for his girlfriend. Had coffee and then I took Marieke to the airport. It's weird as you can walk to the airport from my hostel!
16/10
So today I am just waiting around for my flight at 6.30pm to Melbourne. I have to go back to Perth first and then get a connecting flight. Boring day ahead really...
See you all very soon now!
xx
