I'm not sure that we could have experienced a broader range of landscapes and activities and emotions in the last 10 days.After a very uneventful St. Patty's Day, we left Exmouth to explore Cape Range, renowned for its snorkeling and pristine beaches.We set up camp at Lakeside beach for two nights.It was basic to say the least with just 1 pit toilet and no water.We spent our time mostly horizontal soaking up rays and drifting over coral.Turquoise Bay, recently named Australia's best beach, has funnily enough the clearest turquoise water either of us have ever seen.The current is really strong in parts, meaning that it was the laziest snorkeling we had ever done, as long as you want to go where the current is going, you just lay motionless and enjoy the ever changing view.A couple of sharks later,I enjoyed the view from the beach while Greg continued on.We were able to eat like kings due to our latest fishing trip.But there is only so much fish you can eat.Our 7 fish seemed to be enough to feed 5000, so we shared the wealth with whoever was lucky enough to be camping near us.With 6 groups of people having free fresh fish for dinner, and us with a pretty empty beer cooler, we had hoped to get at least one cold brew in return.No such luck!After 2 days of sunning and snorkeling you can imagine that a shower would be needed, but there was nowhere to do this.So we drove to the nearest (only) tap 10 minutes away that stated "limited water supply" well we were desperate.So there we were in the middle of nowhere, butt naked trying to shower from a tap a foot off the ground, it was a classic sight!

The following day we went back to Exmouth, stocked up on supplies and began our drive towards Karijini National Park, 7 hrs. inland.Losing the days light, we realized we weren't going to make it that day so we would have to camp at an overnight truck stop.This isn't so bad we thought, have dinner and a glass of wine under the stars, but the second we stepped out of the beast that all went downhill.The flies were horrible.Now don't get me wrong, in the last week they never went away, but this was really bad.These demons make camping unbearable, especially at certain times, one being when cooking or eating.The other is when nature calls!So that night we ate our dinner with one hand, using the other to swat the flies and waving like a crazy person, while walking around in circles and swearing shamefully.By dark the flies had gone and out came the mosquitoes (isn't life a bowl of cherries?) - a never ending cycle.The temperature that night was a low of roughly 30ºC (90ish ºF), and a couple more degrees warmer inside the tent.It was the worst night sleep of the trip.Tired and fed up we wake to fight off the flies again - it was getting really old.That day we arrived in Karijini, a place so beautiful it would left anyone's spirits.Driving into the national park on the blood red dirt tracks with never ending savannah grass on either side - it looked like we had arrived in Africa and expected a zebra to wander past any minute.With the hot, dry, flat landscape we didn't expect to find what Karijini had to offer.By that afternoon we were climbing down sheer red rock faces into deep gorges with green natural pools and waterfalls waiting for us at the bottom.Slipper rocks meant my attire was a bikini and hiking boots - it's not a good look!That night we were staying at an eco lodge, which had some amazing accommodation, we however were far away in the camping area, but close enough to be jealous of their fans.We did attend a presentation by the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) at the lodge, admittedly for the air conditioning, but it turned out to be pretty interesting - they supply a free medical service to anyone in need in the outback with the assistance of a fleet of small aircrafts - good to know in our situation.It also brought home to us the issues of the deadly snakes out here, Greg now no longer hikes in flip flops, which is good news!

The next day was even better than the previous as we walked down another gorge to Fortesque Falls and further onto Fern Pools.The scenery is so surreal.To see nature so untouched isn't that common.It was so perfect it almost looked fake, like we were at some fancy 5 star hotel with an inviting pool, surrounded by vegetation and waterfalls - only this was the real thing!After rock jumping, climbing waterfalls and soaking up the beauty we had to drag ourselves away and continue north.We planned to drive to Port Hedland and treat ourselves to a hostel.Upon arrival our mood turned.It was like a ghost town, but supposedly home to 15,000, where were they?Did they know something we didn't?There were no hostels where our lonely planet said "hostel".As our search for a room continued and we crossed a few survivors of this hole of a town, we thought maybe these guys killed everyone else.No one was friendly to put it nicely!This was probably the reason for all the windows of houses having cages around them.Finally we found an overpriced motel, but at least we were behind a locked door and had a firm bed to lie on for the first time in a month.Feeling refreshed the next morning we drove the long stretch of straight road to Broome.

We were hoping to see the "staircase to the moon," a natural phenomenon that happens here when the full moon rises above the exposed sand at low tide giving the illusion of a staircase, but every night , right on time, the clouds rolled in.so instead we chilled out to a movie at the world's oldest outdoor cinema and took the beast to strut her stuff along Cable Beach's 22 km stretch of sand.We have officially been accepted into the 4WD club.However our favorite thing about Broome is that the flies have finally b*****ed off.

For the last few days we have been in the Dampier Peninsula.The majority of it is aboriginal land and for most places you need permission to be there.It is accessible only in 2 ways - a tiny plane and by 4WD, luckily for us we have the latter saving us $380 each for a 30 min flight.We drove to the tip, Cape Leveque to an aboriginal run accommodation.We booked into Mindo, a beach shelter,that would become our home for the next few days.It reminds us of where we met in Fiji.Mindo is constructed solely from wood beams and palm leaves and is completely open on one side with a view of the beach only 10 meters away.We had a "kitchen area" (a table where the food cooler sits), a "bar" (a bench with our wine cooler), a "living room" where Greg finally got use out of his travel hammock and a "bathroom" (cold water shower in the corner).We didn't have any neighbors so to say that this place was peaceful is an understatement.We relaxed with books, sunbathed and when we got hot we jumped into the ocean keeping a watchful eye out for salt water crocodiles and the deadly box jellyfish, and with being miles from anywhere, the night skies were mind blowing.We felt like we were on the set of Castaway.The next day we luckily ran into another guest, Paul, staying at a fancy cabin.He was interested in going mud crabbing, but being low season it is hard to get hold of any guides.However, within the hour the three of us were back on the dirt roads looking for this indigenous community where we felt about as welcome as a fart in a tent, but we followed our guide, Vincent in our truck to the managroves.He finally warmed up to us after Greg helped him change a flat tire.Apparently, mud crabbing involved walking through thigh deep brown croc infested water / mud and sticking a long metal hook into holes in the mud and hope to pull out a crab.Greg and Paul did the crabbing while my eyes were fixated on the muddy water, ready to run if I saw bubbles.It was a hot, sweaty 2 hours but in the end we came out with five big crabs which beat our original plan for dinner of 2 minute noodles.That night the 3 of us had a feast of the sweetest, juiciest crab meat our taste buds have ever experienced, and it was supplemented by scotch beef fillets and a nice Caesar salad.We could barely move from the table once we had finished.The nights here have been incredibly hot, giving us an average of 4 hrs sleep a night.The plus side of this is seeing the sun rise and set every day but we are in need of some serious beauty sleep before we start the long road to the even hotter Northern Territory.To get there however we would need a well behaved vehicle and ours was acting up again this morning, but with the help of Neil, a local cultural guide, and Paul we managed to start her up eventually.So we kissed goodbye to our humble hut and headed back to Broome to fix her once and for all (hopefully the new fuel filter keeps her running).