Hi guys! Its Alex again:) (get ready for a long one!!)

So as you may all know, i left the core four out here in Oz with the main reason being that i wanted to stay out traveling for longer and try to be with Adam and Rick for their 21st birthdays (5th and 19th september). So when the other lads left Brisbane, i stayed and found cash in hand work doing removals with some nutter called Jimmy, and also did the night shift at my hostel 'cloud 9' which sorted my rent out.

Plans changed sooo many times over that working month. We kept trying to work out what money we would all have and what it would cost to do the road trip from melbourne to the west coast etc etc..it ended up that we realised it just wasnt going to happen, and so Adam and I left Rick, headed to Cairnes and flew to Perth as Rick would have just wasted his money flying over to work when he can just do it there. Its all worked out great anyway and Rick managed to get a load of cash for Asia and also do a road trip with our cloud 9 mates, down the east coast!

I flew to Perth on my own and it was early morning, so i slept on some seats lol I had booked myself in to the billabong hostel and had a nap when i got there. When i went downstairs, planning to ring up some camper van companies, a lad we all met in Sydney tapped me on the shoulder saying he was also in my room and saw me when i was resting, so that was great really as i wasn't on my bill!

Adam joined me the next day and we stayed in that hostel for a week before moving to cooky's place out in the suburb 'city beach'. Cooky was in like a house share of his mate Barrel's (leon) who he met in London playing AFL, and Adam met Cooky in Mexico. Its a great place to stay because they know how to have a cracking BBQ and a good drinking sesh..plus theyre great lads with some good mates. Also, random backpackers stay there sometimes because the house is listed on a website for 'couch surfing', where people can stay on the couch in return for say, a crate of booze, or maybe just general clear up if you're not doing anything.

In that week we thought about costs of getting up the coast and back down as we were wanting to get to Broome at teh top, but the main place we most wanted to see was Karijini National Park just below Port Hedland. We thought about seeing if anyone needed a lift up to cut costs, so we looked on the billabong notice board to find Nicola who ended up joining us.

So after a week of staying at Barrel and Cooky's, we picked up the van and headed up the coast! First place we went to was the Pinnacles. We wanted to get tehre for teh sunset but missed it:( but all the same im glad ive seen the mass of random rocks sticking out of the ground in a huge desert! Not what you see around much is it lol

We all slept in the van as it was built and set out for 3 people with storage, a sink, little gas stove etc and mattress's with sheets for bed time. It was really fun just being in the middle of nowhere all the time and camping out.

Other stops on the way up were Geraldton and Kalbari National Park. We didnt really do much at these places apart from dodge paying to park the van somewhere so we could sleep, drink a few bevies, and play cards..just chill out basically:) We took loads of pics and had a good laugh too, but to see these fun times you have to look on 'www.offexploring.com/rickandadam'.

After those places we kept heading to Broome, stopping off at a little resort called Monkey Mia near Denham. This is where people go to see wild Dolphins visit the beach to get fed by some of the staff at teh resort. We couldnt dodge paying at this camp site, and we were glad we went in it anyway because it meant we could have a warm shower and power our electric stuff up.

When we got there, we watched the sun set just after a pod of dolphins came near to say hi lol These were some of the dolphins that would visit in the morning at 8am for 3 feeds over a period of a couple of hours. When we got to the shore line that morning, there was a big row of people stood in the water. You were aloud to go in up to your knees, and some of teh dolphins came over to you but you couldnt touch or anything for obvious reasons, they were wild after all. One came straight over to me and Adam so we took some good pics of tehm by our feet:) After a briefing of teh pod, they get fed, and you can get chosen to feed them too. I realllly wanted to do it, and i noticed that lots of people still had their camaras out, so i put mine away and looked interested and i got chosen straight away! I pulled out my camara and gave it to Adam to film, but we had a missunderstanding and the film never worked:( So i went back to teh 2nd feed in hope i could do it again, and jsut to my luck i did get chosen! So with my camara ready to go (accidently set on timer mode), nicola filmed me this time and it only got ONE second:( it just wasnt meant to be! lol But atleast i got to do it twice n have that memory!

As we carried on up the coast, we stopped off at Carnarvon, and then had to really try figure out where our money was taking us. We just had to face it that we weren'e going to get to Broome, or Port Hedland in that matter. If it wasnt for Nicola staying with us through to Karijini, we wouldn't have made it there either! It was here that we said our fairwells to her as she hitched up toPort Hedland with some other people..and then me and Adam could have some serious fun! We had two days left here in this amazing place, and so planned it out to see all the Gorges, pools, waterfalls, and take all the walks (rated from class 1 to class 5 in difficulty). They were great to do and we feel we achieved alot after completing them, so it was time for some extreme stunts! We went back to our favourite spot to just basically soak up the view and the sun at 'fortescue falls'. This is where we saw some mad southern guy jump into the natural pool off the gorge wall. He didnt hit the bottom so just kept going higher! From 7 meters, to 12, and then about 15/16! It was mad! So we decided to go back to the van to get Adams camara which had little battery left, so we had to make it quick and good- no messing! We went straight to the 7 meter jump and filmed each other one at a time before the battery went. After that, i had to go higher, so i went to all the heights as teh otehr guy, but on the highest, i went about an extra foot;) One of the best rush's ever! Really scary stuff!

After our Karijini adventures we knew it was time to make our way back down the outback on the 'great northern highway'. We tried to space it out as much as poss because we didnt want to get back to the city! We kept finding 24 hour rest stops off the highway and made fires. It was a brilliant way to set the scene, and totally chills you out. We just put chillout tunes on, drank wine n stared into the fire getting lost in our own thoughts. It was like therapy in some way and really relaxing:)

On the way down we stopped off at little mining towns, like Newman, Kumarina, Meekatharra, Cue, and Mount Magnet. You could pay for mining tours but we couldnt afford. There were some strange sights to see though! Its just so isolated that alot of the people from these towns look really old fashioned and out of time. They probably never left teh town nevermind the country! On our way between Newman and Cue we thought people were actually trying to lure is into trap so they could get us and murder us! We stopped at a place a few miles off the highway on a dirt track, and it looked like something off the film wolfe creek=S wierd structures and really old trucks, and this strange display of pots and pans pinned up on a tree as though it was some piece of art done by a pshyco. We got out of there ASAP! Also in Cue, a guy in a shop (who said the word f*** after at LEAST every 2 words lol) told us to head back up the highway to the lake and follow the track aroud the other side assuring us it was the place everyone camped and was very eager for us to go there!=S ...So we put our hands in our pockets and paid for a camp site again! Which turned out to be our fave, because we had a common room building with a kettle right next to our van, and showers with water as hot as we wanted! sweet as bro! (aussie saying haha)

The last place we visited on the way back down was a place called New Norcia, which was founded by a spanish monk. Its a beautiful place, with great buildings and scenery, but its all to do with religion, which just isn't my cup of tea as most people know, nor Adams. But we didnt rule it out just for that reason, and stayed the night so we could walk around in the country for a couple of hours the next day before getting back in to Perth that afternoon.

When we got into Perth, we did some food shopping, checked emails and then got in touch with Cooky to see if Me, Adam, and Vince (the camper van named after Vince Noir of The Mighty Boosh!) could go round.. the reply was just what we wanted.."F*** yea bro! Bring a slab of beer over and lets get wasted! my bday today!". So this is just what we did=D This was a sunday too, and over here you dont get an early night in ready for the first day at work..you go out, watch teh AFL, and get spandangled haha.

So right now, we are back at Barrel and Cooky's place getting free rent, Adam has to work for a month, and i just chill out and wait for my flight on Monday to Singapore, where i meet Rick for a week or so!! Hope you enjoyed catching up with me once again, and make sure you check both sites from now on because im back on this with blogs and pics when i leave adam for Asia:)

Love to all! x