It didn't hit 48 at all (phew!) and is hovering mid-30s with some humidity. We're still melting a bit though!

Our WA tour started with a drive out to The Pinnacles - some unusual rock formations in a very yellow sandy region of a National Park. We found one that looked like a camel and yes Simon, we saw the manly part shaped one that you and Chris saw when you were here before. In fact, there were a few! We drove on and stopped at a beautiful dune for some sandboarding and I was proud that Chris immediately stood up on his board and made it all the way down whilst everyone else were going down on their bums. What a hubby! Our night stop was at a little lodge in Kalbarri with a nice room sharing a bathroom with the room next door. A few people were suprised it was an 'all chip in affair' and hopefully felt a bit bad after sitting down and watching a few of us frantically chopping and cooking to be able to eat before bed. We left them the washing up!

A bit of an early start the next day to drive to a gorge on the Murchison River. We walked to a view point and then to a part where you could try abseiling. Strangely, Chris didn't want to partake, but I lept at the chance as it was something I'd wanted to try for a while. It was only about a 25 metre drop and we each had two goes. I was really good at it for a beginner apparently (boast boast) and he said I must be quite fit to do it the way I did (he doesn't know me very well....!). I found it exhilarating and Chris did a good job photographing and videoing my fat arse coming down the cliff. By then, the temperature was soaring so we left, grabbed some lunch and moved on.

Next stop was Hemlin pool to see the Stromatolites. Sadly, I was very interested in these. Briefly: Scientists believe that these formed the first life forms on earth and gave rise to multi-cellular organism evolution. There are only 6 sites of these for viewing left in the World and Australia has 5 of them. It's all about bacteria and producing oxygen in high salinity area etc etc so I won't bore you but I found it fascinating. Such a geek! We moved on to Shell beach which is, you guessed it, completely made up of shells (mainly Coquina) up to 5 metres deep! Very white and a very beautiful beach with shallow water that stretched out for ages. Our night stop was Monkey Mia, similar accommodation and a late dinner, but I was so excited because after arriving we almost immediately saw the dolphins swimming very close to shore. I was so looking forward to the next morning!

So, 7.30am we were up and on the beach for the dolphin feeding. Around 10 were swimming around very close and a few were almost beached. They are very careful with conservation and ecology here (but very little recycling... weird) so they tell you not to touch or swim (bacterial reaction from us to them and other safety issues) with them. But we got to paddle with them, so my childhood ambition was practically reached! It was amazing to see them so so close. We didn't leave until late morning so Chris and I hired a little battery powered glass viewing boat that you lie face down on and went aroud the bay. We went out to the sea grass and over to the Paua shell and pearl farm to see them in the water. Very interesting.

It was a long drive that afternoon to Coral Bay where we were disappointed to have really rubbish accommodation but thankfully was only for a night. Plus, we didn't have to cook as the hostel did us a burger each. However, the following day made up for all disappointment...

After updating my blog briefly whilst waiting for the boat with the news about Perth, I got on the supposed turtle tour only to find out that they'd given me the wrong info and I was on a basic 2 hour snorkelling and reef tour. Of which I didn't want to snorkel. Hmmpf. But to view the coral and fish through the glass bottomed boat and learn about the reef was really great and I enjoyed being out on the water. We saw a turtle briefly as well as giant clams, sea cucumbers and a lagoon ray. Returning to shore, I went to the kiosk to see if I could do the turtle one and on realising their mistake they gave me the trip for free which was leaving in 10 mins and was 3 hours duration. I wavered, but grabbed a muffin and got on it. Chris had done a quad bike and shore snorkel tour that morning so I caught him briefly to explain and he decided to just chill on the beach whilst I was out. So off we went to a different part of the reef and on the way spotted a shoal of bait fish with a load of gulls dive bombing them and 3 or 4 reef sharks trying their luck at grabbing some fish. Then a dolphin turned up to get in on the action! We went further on into the turtle sanctuary zone and saw lots of green turtles, swimming around and under the boat. Simply breathtaking to see them in the wild and so many! We anchored away from the turtles for everyone to snorkel and aftera while I decided that I should stuff my developing irrational fear and take the chance to see the fish and coral whilst in the water as the fish were quite big and the waters shallow. So I borrowed a mask and asked if I could just dip a little off the boat with no flippers as I hadn't been fited with any and the skipper said 'of course, as long as you're a confident swimmer', so I am and I jumped right in. Wow, the fish were so colourful, better than from the boat, but smaller and then I looked down and saw it was all a lot deeper than expected! The glass had magnified of course. After a few minutes, I looked up and had already drifted. They had warned about the strong current and gave a lot of saftey info, but boy, it was hard work treading water without flippers for any more than a few minutes! I swear I had a whole work out after 2 minutes! I'm glad I did it and was proud. The skipper was great in the information she gave and I learnt so much. After disembarking, I met Chris and we had a quick swim in the pure turquoise shallow waters before going back to get ready to leave. 5 hours on the boat took its toll though and I was still rocking a few hours later!

Driving to Exmouth we briefly stopped to see some Terminte mounds before pulling up at the backpacker part of the camping park. A very large, pristine clean and sparse room with shared shower blocks a walk away. We were going to extend our stay there for 2 nights as we are getting the next tour back, but for $5 per night more we found a family run lodge with private facilities and a fridge in the room, so we've now moved to there. Unfortunately she didn't tell us that the pool is out of use :( . Anyway, there was an electrial storm that night and we went to bed early as they are quite strict with timings at the park (eg - lights out in communal areas 10pm).

Yesterday we were supposed to go walking down some gorges again in the morning but it was deemed too hot and we all voted just to drive to one of the beaches on the itinerary instead. We went to Turquoise Bay (aptly named) and after a brief shower, the weather was gorgeous. I did cook a bit though so have some sore patches this morning. The tour for us finished last night and everyone left at 6am this morning, but of course Chris and I extended our stay here. We plan to chill and mooch around out of the sun today and look around town, then hire a car tomorrow. We've had some mix up with the tour so it's fingers crossed that all goes to plan and we are able to join the tour leaving Monday to get back to Perth!

It's lunchtime now so we're off to grab yummo.

xxx