Kangeroo Capers
Trip Start
Aug 08, 2008
1
8
13
Trip End
Aug 31, 2008
Perth,
Western Australia,
Australia
Friday, March 20, 2009
The garden also had ponds full of fish, yabbies and frogs. We were entertained by a frog chorus - deep throated croaking tunes filled the air every night!
Opposite our studio was "the Carriage' - an old railway carriage that our friends, Conrad and Bridget, had booked into. That too was quaint, although the outside toilet had no door. The outside shower, however, was hidden to some extent by a wall!
The following day we got acquainted with Freo and spent a couple of hours sunning ourselves on the beach and swimming in the Indian Ocean. Back at the eco-lodge we met Conrad and Bridget who had driven from Perth - it was great to see them again. Bridget and Judith went to town and visited the hairdresser, whilst Conrad and Dan enjoyed a few beers.
We awoke to the sound of horses clip-clopping to the beach and after a hearty breakfast we caught the train from Freo to Perth. We strolled through the compact central area and up to Kings Park. We followed a trail through native bushland, a botanic garden and clo,bed a DNA tower. We got a good view of Perth and the meeting of the two rivers - the Swan and Canning. Also, in the park we saw Gija Jumulu - a Boab Tree (750 yrs old), which travelled 32,000km from Telegraph Tree (Western Australia) to Perth. This was the longest land journey of a tree this size in history! Gija people in East Kimberley gifted the tree to the people of Western Australia and on 14.02.08 five Warmun elders performed a smoking ceremony to allow the tree to leave East Kmiberley.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Cottesloe Beach (7k, north of Freo). It is the most popular city beach with safe swimming. The waves, however, were huge and crashed on the the gorgeous white sand. We watched from afar breathing in the aroma of fish and chips, which lingered in the air.
The next day we travelled south to Yallingup (known by the aborigines as "the place of love"). We entertained and intrigued fellow campers as the trailer transformed into a campervan and a tent! We spent some time on the picture postcard beach - golden sand, cloudless blue sky and huge surf breaks. We plunged into the Indian Ocean and were instantly engulfed by the huge waves - we were swept off our feet - it was like being in a washing machine! Dan, Conrad and Bridget had a go on the boogie board while Judith was swept off her feet again, this time by the taut torsos of the young surfer dudes! After lunch we took a stroll down Busselton Jetty - 142 years old and measuring 1841m is the longest wooden structure in the Southern hemisphere. In the evening we were visited by some pink gallaws - funny looking birds - rather like chubby parrots with a white crest of hair, a pink face and waistcoat and a grey overcoat.
The Margaret River region was our next destination - some wineries to see! Our first stop was the Voyager Estate. Behind its gates stretched long lines of vines, sweeping lawns and inviting rose gardens. We gladly accepted the invitation to visit its Cellar Door and tasted the fruit of its labours! We also had a superb lunch in the restaurant. Us backpackers felt a little out of place, but being mature, fullbodied and well balanced we fitted in perfectly! We sobered up with a stroll in the relaxed and laid back Margaret River township. Our palates, however, soon got dry, so we wound our way through the vines to our second winery - Vasse Felix (Felix is the Latin word for "lucky"). We then pressed on to winery number three - The Mad Fish where we engaged in a bubbling conversation with the barman!
Our next adventure was a visit to Jewel Cave described as an underground maze of mystery and beauty, which seems to defy nature and dwarf those who enter its lofty chambers. We descended into the cave and explored its many caverns. It is spectacular and is home to many stalactites and stalagmites, including one of the longest straw stalactites to be found in any tourist cave in the world. The stalactites and stalagmites form colourful and decorative shapes (e.g. a tiered wedding cake, cave coral, cave popcorn, a rasher of bacon, a giant cauliflower, a slab of butterscotch toffee and melted cheese on toast). Non-food items include the knotted roots of the Kari tree that stretch from the floor to the ceiling - reddish-brown in colour and bound tight they resemble bed sheets thrown out of a fairytale castle tower by a damsel in distress; the frozen waterfall; helactites which grow out sideways (a cave mystery because it is not known how they are formed); pendulites - a unique and rare formation, hollow straws grown under water and looking like tear-drops); a cave ghost - a woman with long white hair, wearing a white dress and walking away; the face of a screaming woman that some believe is a spirit; and last, but not least, the preserved bones of a possum that had the misfortune 600 years ago to fall through the entrance hole of the cave. It survived that escapade and wandered further into the cave, but eventually died of starvation.
All "caved-out" we took a scenic drive through a dense forest full of magnificent Kari trees and saw a snake slithering across the dusty track. To cool off, we had a swim at Hamelin Bay. On the way back to camp we stopped at the Margaret River Chocolate Company where we took advantage of the free tasting! If you are mad about chocolate, it's heaven! One of the girls working there was making pyramids out of the handmade chocolates - she did that all day apparently! We drooled over the mouth-watering range of chocolate bars, chocolate coated delights, handmade gourmet truffles, novelty chocolates, rocky road chocolates, chocolate sauces and sugar-free chocolates. We also stopped at a cheese tasting shop and sampled a range of cheeses. Finally we gave in to temptation and sampled the wine at the very grand family-owned Laurence vineyard. We rounded off the day with an early evening swim at Yallingup beach where we saw a starfish and a sting-ray in the shallow water.
DESTINATION NORTH - a 600km drive - the temperature got higher and higher as we progressed northwards. At the town of Lancelin we headed for the 4X4WD track over the sand dunes towards Cervantes. We were looking forward to our AFTERDUNE DRIVE (JDs joke)! We let the tyre pressure down and Conrad drove through the sand on the narrow, but well worn track. The GPS kept telling us that we were on "Sappers Road", but it was telling us lies or it was just confused! All was going well until we came to a dune that was bigger than all of us! Reluctantly, we turned round and got to Cervantes via tarmac. We set up camp and then visited the Pinnacles Desert where we experienced the "Pinnacles" - thousands of limestone pillars of all shapes and sizes that rise mysteriously from the sand dunes. En route we saw a kangaroo hopping across the road. He stopped and looked at us inquisitively. We drove round the 4km one-way loop in the Pinnacles Desert. It was eerie in places - "graveyard" pinnacles were huddled on the the high dunes; clusters on the low ground resembled stumpy, rotten teeth, larger formations were like chess pieces, angels and slabs of honeycomb. We had timed our visit perfectly. The sun was setting and the light was fantastic. The pillars cast spooky shadows on the golden sand, the heath surrounding the dunes had a green hue and as the sea swallowed the sun the sky was a myriad of yellows, oranges, reds and purples. We then spotted a couple of kangaroos hopping between the pinnacles - a true Australian bush scene.
DESTINATION PERON PENINSULA - Up early and the sun was hot as we drove through miles and miles of bush. In the town of Greenhough we saw trees bent sideways as if bowing to us. Some stooped so low that they touched the ground. In Geraldton we stocked up on provisions for our next three days in the wilderness. Further on we met a cyclist who had run out of water. Unfortunately, the petrol station had no water, so Conrad kindly gave him some of ours. He was cycling round Australia and had been going for 13 months. OUR NEXT ADVENTURE PERHAPS? We also stopped at Denham where Judith got locked in the car. She was like a puppy dog overheating. Luckily, Dan heard her yelping and let her out! In the early evening we arrived at Gregories camp in the Francois Peron National Park - a real bush camping experience. The flies were a nuisance, so we wore fly nets over our faces - we looked like a gang of bank robbers! The camp was isolated, but we were sharing it with seven guys from Australia who were on a two week fishing trip. Their camp was huge compared to ours and was like something out of Robinson Crusoe. They cooked a bluebone fish on the barbie (their catch of the day).
Our first night at Gregories was blustery - the wind tugged at our tent relentlessly and our dreams were tossed and blown. The following morning, however, was glorious, and although it was Friday 13th, there were adventures to be had. We explored the northern tip of Peron Peninsula, i.e. Cape Peron and Skipjack Point. Aboriginal people have lived here in the Malgana language for about 25,000 years. The first written descriptions and images of Malgana lives were documented by French explorers early in the 19th century. One of the explorers was French naturalist Francois Peron. The park bears his name in recognition of his contribution to Australia's natural and social history. At Cape Peron and Skipjack Point the rich red sand dunes meet the white sandy beach. We saw hundreds of black and white cormorants standing in line on the beach - not sure what they were queuing for! We walked along the clifftops and from the lookout point at Skipjack Point we saw a shark zig-zagging in the water; a turtle and some manta rays. Conrad fished at Cape Peron and caught a shark that got away. Back at camp our tent had collapsed in a heap because of the wind. After re-erecting it we headed for the nearby beach and bathed in the shallows - we didn't want to go too far out in the shark infested waters.
DESTINATION MONKEY MIA - After dismantling our camp we headed south and stopped off at Peron Homestead Precinct, which provides an insight into how life as when Francois Peron Park was a working sheep station. We wandered through the small interpretive centre which depicts stories, indigenous inhabitants, European colonisation and current day conservation programmes. There is also an outdoor hot tub where you can soak and relax in the hot artesian waters. it was too hot, however, to dip in our toes! Passing through Denham we saw emus crossing the main street - cars had to give way to them. Others emerged from side streets to join their friends and on they trotted! We set up camp at the impressive Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. We were a stones throw from the white sandy beach. The sun as still hot, so we e swam and snorkelled in the clear water. We were in for a unexpected treat. We witnessed sting-rays, a sea snake, a turtle, pelicans and then the icing on the cake - dolphins swimming right beside us. It was an amazing and magical moment. The following day we rose at 7am to get another close-up view of the famous dolphins of Monkey Mia. This is the only place in Australia where the dolphins choose to swim with you. They swim in the shallows and come to be fed (up to three times a day). Their visits are extremely reliable. They have an attendance record of 99.6%, which translates to them only missing 4 days in the past 5 years! It was an amazing spectacle. We stood on the edge of the beach as three dolphin families (the Puck family; the Surprise family; and the Nicky family) swam in the shallow water. They were all female except for India (a mummy's boy who hasn't yet found any other males to hang out with). Puck is 32 years old and her daughter, Piccolo is 16 years old. Puck is pregnant again (female dolphins don't have a menopause, so can reproduce all of their lives. The gestation period is 12 months). The dolphins came up very close as the rangers appeared with buckets of fish. Bridget was chosen to feed one of the dolphins.
Later that day we left the campsite and received a send-off from the locals - some wild emus that came strutting round the corner. On the way to Exmouth we stopped off at Shell Beach (a crunchy beach made from shells) and then at the Stromatolites. We parked the car in the grounds of a weird and rather run down campsite - it was bleak and eerie and it felt like we were on a horror film set! We followed the path that leads to the stromatolites and it got spookier. We passed the grave of a little boy aged 7months who died in 1898, and the grave of a 60 year old sailor who drowned in a boating accident. Eventually we reached the stromatolites, i.e. living rocks built by cyanbacteria and which appeared on earth 3.5 billion years ago when oxygen was scarce. They come in various shapes and sizes and colours (e,g. club-shaped, red-capped, rock towers, flat and spongy huddled together like a soft black mat). Tidal movement, waves and abrasive action of swirling sand and shell help shape them.
We reached the shire of Exmouth in the afternoon and settled into our "Lookout Chalet" named "Groper"! It was in a fantastic location - at the base of Vlamingh Lighthouse and according to the brochure "where the range meets the reef". Exmouth has a population of about 2,500 people and is named after a British Royal Naval Officer. During World War II, the area became important for a military operation named "operation potshot".
We spent two full days in Exmouth and although a huge grey blanket of cloud hung overhead it was still relatively warm. We snorkelled at Turqoise Bay and saw some beautiful fish, e.g. parrot fish, bluebone, garfish (needle-shaped and evil looking). We came across some reef sharks and then spotted a 6ft Leopard Shark. Fortunately it was sleeping! After a lunch of baked beans on toast with HP sauce we drank cocktails in the Novotel in Exmouth. Judith had to have a Caprinha - it brought back so many memories of South America! Dan enjoyed a "Fire Engine" - bright red and tasted like cherryade! That evening we had a kangaroo hopping round outside our chalet. It wasn't the cocktails making us see things - it really was a kangaroo! Later that evening we wandered to the beach in search of turtles hatching. We saw lots of broken egg shells, but no baby turtles. Our perseverance, however, paid off. Judith spotted a huge female turtle which had emerged from the ink-black sea and was dragging herself up the beach to lay her eggs. Her tracks looked like giant tyre marks. We switched off our head torches so as not to frighten her and listened to her flippers thudding against the sand as she dug a deep chamber in which to lay her eggs. We left before she laid her eggs - we thought it best to leave her to it.
The following day we got up early to catch the low tide so that we could see the Mildura wreck. Unfortunately, the tide wasn't low enough for us to be able to walk to the wreck. We set off for Karratha, but discovered that the roads were closed due to the heavy rains and flooding. In a nutshell we were cut-off! We booked into the Potshot Resort for a night and spent the day exploring the Ningaloo Reef. We swam in the shark infested waters at Tulki beach. baby reef sharks were all over the place!
DESTINATION KARRATHA - Wednesday 18.02.09 - The weather up North was still pretty bad, so we stocked up with supplies and decided to make our way to Karratha. The roads were quiet and as we reached the flood disaster zone we saw fields under water and cattle stranded on hills! The radio reported that some cattle stations were being evacuated. We pulled in at Nanutarra Roadhouse and discovered that the Fortescue Bridge was still closed. Our only option if we wanted to get to Karratha that evening was to go the long way round, i.e. a 900km detour inland! We decided to give it a try and headed for the Warlu Way. An elderly lady travelling on her own in a saloon car followed us. She was very 'game' and the weather didn't seem to phase her. We nicknamed her Mrs Doubtfire! There are many rivers and tributaries in this area, which combined with heavy rainfall, made the going difficult. Conrad drove carefully through the spectacular Karijini National Park. We watched the forces of mother nature unfurl - the sky changed from blue to black, mist shrouded the mountains and an electrical storm lit up the heavens. After 15 hours on the road we arrived safe and well in Karratha.
Thursday 19.02.09 - Our last full day in Australia was spent doing chores (laundry, shopping, shipping home surplus luggage - again!). In the evening we had a last supper in a local pub with Conrad and Bridget and Peggy and Brian (their friends from Louisana). The baramundi fish was very tasty. Back at Conrad's we flipped through our holiday snaps and reminisced.
Friday 20.02.09 - Up at 6am to catch our 8.30am flight from Karratha to Perth. We had a great time thanks to Conrad and Bridget's hospitality. At Perth we had our bags searched (yet again) - they were very interested in Dan's memory sticks and Judith's cranberry tablets! We then had to sneak past a very officious customs lady - she was weighing hand luggage and ours looked a tad too big and heavy! Eventually we boarded the flight to Singapore.
SEE YOU ALL FOR A SINGAPORE SLING.
