Writing this blog from a carpark/camping spot in the middle of the Aussie bush a little way outside of Coral Bay, WA. This is a longer blg that adds detail to the previous brief one! Internet is increasingly hard to come by up here so this blog will be posted some days after it's been written. We've had a nice couple of days driving around the Shark Bay Marine Reserve area; we've both fed dolphins, seen sharks, turtles, emus and pelicans and got a bit sun-ripened despite having slapped on the factor 30 several times a day. Temperatures have been around 40degrees during the day and dropping a bit overnight but its 8pm now and still reading 36deg phew!

Before going to Monkey Mia spent a night in beautiful Kalbarri where we treated ourselves to a night on a posh campsite. The first thing we did was put some laundry on!! We watched the sunset and got talking to a nice girl called Sara from Melbourne who we shared a beer with over dinner of Kanga Bangers (kangaroo sausages) yum! We watched a pelican being fed in the morning (usually there are more, they just aren't hungry at the moment we were assured). Unfortunately the national park was closed (a bit like driving to the Peak District to find it shut for the weekend) so we visited several bays and 'bluffs' - headlands along the coast. We bumped into Sara again and after convincing her that we weren't stalking her we arranged to try and meet up when we're in Melbourne next month. The bays and bluffs were a gorgeous mix of secluded little beaches and stunning cliff top views. We spotted some dolphins and an eagle but thankfully no snakes as this was prime snake territory. We hired a canoe and battled against winds in the estuary, it was very very hard going!

Last night we stayed back at the Hamelin Telegraph Station campsite where we were invited to have a glass of wine with Tricia (from Ireland via Solihull) and Michael who run the site, Paul who was their friend and only other guest and Ash the cat. It was a nice way to spend the evening hearing about the history of the place! It's definitely a site we'd recommend if you ever find yourselves that way!

Today has mainly involved driving north. We stopped in Carnarvon for lunch and to stock up on supplies of flavoured tuna (thanks for the tip Ruth and Dave) and other fresh stuff that would survive the heat (this seems to consist largely of cherry tomatoes and courgettes.) We've been quite creative with meals so far considering we are limited to one stove and not being able to keep anything cold. Carnarvon wasn't much to write home about... It has a reasonable supermarket, a very popular bookies and a very talented tourist brochure team. They really have made it look like somewhere you'd want to spend time, it's just that... well... you wouldn't.

Tomorrow we'll head to Coral Bay and see what it has to offer! Hopefully some awesome snorkelling and an end to this heat wave soon!!

Anna xx