27th Feb 2012

Gidday everyone!

We've been loving Western Australia - seen lots of wildlife and lush beaches!

We spent a bit of time around Perth and walked into the city via Kings Park & Botanic Gardens and enjoyed a spot of lunch and a drink whilst people watching! Next stop was Busselton/Dunsborough where we chilled on some fabulous beaches - white sand and clear turquoise seas and a very long wooden jetty!

After a couple of days there we headed south with a stop off in the Margaret River area to do some chocolate tasting - not a huge amount of free chocolate which was a bit disappointing so we spent some pennies and devoured some more yummy chocolate! We also went to Lake Cave and saw some weird and wonderful formations.

We then made a very long journey towards Esperance with a pit stop in Albany. Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance was amazing - the beaches made my mouth drop open and the word "Wow" escaped! Even the kangaroos relax on the beach from time to time and we were lucky enough to see some of them munching away next to the beach - they were very tame and we got up close to a baby one which even lay down next to me for a rest! We climbed Frenchman's Peak for fabulous views of the national park with the beaches in the distance - a hot but well worth it climb!

On the way back up north Wave Rock was cool - we had fun surf posing and looked at Mulka's Cave and Hippo's Yawn while we were there. Dave's poses were much better than mine of course!

The Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park was impressive with loads of rocks of various shapes and sizes - if you look closely on the photos you might be able to play 'Where's Dave'! Tee hee - he spent some time hiding for the photos bless him!

We experienced some outback temperatures in Kalbarri National Park and had to buy fly nets as they were unbearable inland. We went to see the amazing Murchison River and the gorge and did a short walk to Natures Window. The temperatures in the gorge can reach 50 degrees at times so I did get a little stressed out under my fly net! We were very sensible though and didn't stay out of the air conditioning in the car for long! Brilliant views though!

Monkey Mia in Shark Bay was one of our favourite stops as we both got chosen to feed the dolphins - we were very lucky because not everyone gets a go! The wild dolphins come to feed most mornings but don't rely on the feed and they are only allowed to feed certain dolphins a certain amount a day. We shared our campsite with the resident emu's - funny creatures! They even took a dip in the sea to cool down! We chilled on the beaches and ventured into the sea with the dolphins swimming freely and saw some turtles raise their heads, pelicans, mantarays and stingrays! Fab!

We visited Shell Beach and had a giggle before pitching our tent by the beach in Coral Bay - another lovely beach where we relaxed and met the local wildlife! We did a spot of snorkelling and saw some amazing fish - some were huge!!

We crossed over the Tropic of Capricorn and are now in Exmouth which is as far north as we are going to go at the moment - we hope to go to Darwin and see more of the Northern Territory when the wet season is over at the end of April before we head to China.

Our plan before we fly to Alice Springs on the 8th March is to do some more chilling on the beach and dipping in the sea to make the most of the beautiful beaches and sunny weather!

Ooo...forgot to say...Dave saw a snake, I had a shower with a redback spider (ahhhh), ants and flies are driving us potty and Dave saw a family with a baby kangaroo in a bag that they found abandoned and all alone - he stroked his little head! Gutted I missed that!

Right, off now!

Lots of love - will be in touch soon!!! X x x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx