ok, 10 day tour to talk about. deep breath and....

it's pretty much a jumble now. i should have taken notes during the massive drives in the bus (not as bad as the planes but still agrahh quality). i'd be putting up pictures to commentate right now but it seems that this pc is being a biotch and wants to reformat my memory card. no thanks, i'd like to keep my pictures.

so on tour we started off by standing by the train station waiting for the bus to show up.i was nervous as hell. got lucky with the bunch i got though. very nice people. made up of girls, a family and a pair of older couples. nationalities were 4 swiss(family),1 german, 4 japanese, 1 swedish, 1 canadian(vancouver..every single canadian i've met is from bc), 3 irish, 2 aussies, 2 scots and a kiwi tour guide.

after a bit of driving (first day 600km plus) we hit the pinnicles (think large mounds of rock like thingies made of sand. not very interesting but a nice walk after a long ride. after that we stopped at the sand dunes. the other canadian and i grabbed a board and took off to what we dubbed the girlie hill..to the protest of our guide..he took off up the largest hill stating that we would never get enough speed going down the the little one. turns out he was right, so we trudged over to the large dunes. once up there it was scary as s*** but as the speed never got up to anything marginably terrifying so it was all good. first hostel was not bad. sitting right next to the sea it had an open planned layout (rooms had just beds but the toilets/showers and sinks were all seperate/in a hallway exposed to the elements). everybody pitched in and made a supper of chicken stirfry (note..i had a tad. remember i have the sensitive driving stomach which has been known to cause frequent stops on pervious road trips..blah!). and it was off to bed.

day 2 had us on the road by 7am (before we left i snuck down to the shore to get some sunrise shots). we hit the z-bend which was a nice little hike but the flies were deescusting! they were everywhere! almost as bad as meal worms..blagrahh! then off to natures window. it was pretty nice but i think too much hype surrounds this place. long drive and we got to shell beach just as the sun was setting. shells, shells eveywhere! stopped in denham for a bit of a sleep. this hostel was definatly different. kind of like a suite it had 2 rooms (4-5 beds each) with a living room and ONE BATHROOM. thats one shower/toilet. kitchen was in a common area. supper consisted of steak/sausage/fries and coleslaw. checked out the hostel owners guard kanaroo(not a joke) and off to bed.

day 3 had another early start. we had to make the dolphin feeding at monkey mia for 7:30am. as the beach was packed and i'm not really interested in dolphins, i took off. glad i did too. found a quiet little bay with a s*** load of pelicans and crabs. spent a good hour wading in the water and taking pictures. next was ocean park in shark bay. basically a tiny aquarium, it had a hot tour guide who knew a s*** load of facts about his limited inventory of marine life. after, more driving got us to the stromatolites. pretty much just living rocks (said to contribute a huge amound of o2 to the worlds supply) i was more interested in getting pictures of the pier as the sun set. got a really nice one too but it'll have to be posted later. the hostel that night was brutal. set in coral bay it was chock full of hormone crazy, drugged up boys who thought they were gods gift to the ladies. not bothering to go to bed they staked a spot by the ladies washroom (not kidding) and partied it up until the next day. i say the next day as they woke me up at 5am and came/went in packs for the rest of the day.

day 4 was coral bay. started with a glass bottom boat ride (9am). it was freezing out there! i think it was because of the wind/morning. pretty nice though. the coral was amazing. after that just meandered around. spent time in a shop trying on swim shorts. finally deciding on a pair, had a nice chat with the sales girl (from quebec!) on the feeling of being fat as aussie sizes are 1 larger than ours (aka size 10 at home would be size 12 in oz). tried a koala beer. thought it was going to taste like root beer. WRONG! nasty s***. don't drink it. around 4ish we were off to exmouth. BEAUTIFUL hostel. set up like a camp ground the rooms were set up in rows (think villa like apartments). 4 to a room with showers/toilets right across the way. so QUIET. everybody took the opportunity to have a nice shower while some did there laundry. supper consisted of fish/chips picked up at a local shop. not a fan of fish, i have to admit that it was quite good. it was said that the fish was caught that morning.

day 5 was spent in exmouth. and it was HOT. it seems the further north we went the hotter it was getting. weird eh? if we go north at home it gets colder. not really happy that the day was intended for the beach i contemplated a whale watching option. it left at 2pm so i decided against it. looking back, kind of wish i hadn't. started by going to yardie creek with a half/hour rock. finally got to see some of the termite mounds we had been passing up close. some were taller than i am! after that it was off to the beach. all of the girls were intent on snorkling/sun tanning. me being me, was content just sitting there in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. determined to avoid the inevitable sunburn, i had my legs covered with a towel. thats right people..they're still white just as i like em. unfortunatly i forgot about my feet..which burned. hahahaha.