Our week up the west coast! WHOOOOP! Was fantastic!

Day 1 - picked up at 7.30 after our monster breakfast to set us up for the long journey. Terry came to pick us up and we set off on out red earth safari tour! There was me, Claire, beany and colette. an irish bloke (ray), candian (andrea), kiwi (warren), Japanese (coggee), English (Bex), and a lady from Holland that we picked up after a day (martine), and 4 interchangeable german girls (andrea, Juliann, elaina, and Juliet).We went to Yanchep national park and saw some kangaroos and the cutest koalas! But it started raining which dampened our spirits somewhat! We had lunch looking out over a massive lake which would have been so much more beautiful if it the sun was shining! Shouldn't complain really!In Yanchep national park there are a series of underground caves. We went down crystal caves and had a look at the stalactites and stalagmites for a while. It was very dark down there but there were some really sparkly crystals which were pretty.Then when we reached Cervantes we had a little stroll to the beach which was completely deserted (apart from the woman asking us where we going and couldn't understand why we had cameras in our hands!!). The sea was crystal clear so we paddled for a while and then it got a little cold.Then the best part of the day was watching the sun set over the pinnacles desert with a glass of passion pop! The sun dropped so quickly that we just sat and watched it and wandered around the desert for a while. Then we all wrote our names in the sand, Beany wrote BENNY by mistake and hasn't lived it down since!

Day 2- up early - on the road just after 7.30! We stopped off at various places along the coast and played on the swings and visited the bakery. We stopped off at an animal sanctuary and fed a miniature pony, camel, kangaroos, goats, and a lamb! We didn't think it was a good idea to feed the dingo or alligator though. Then Michelle gave us a talk about snakes. Kinda thought I would hate it but after a while I ended up with a snake around my neck! Oh yes! Never thought I'd be able to do that but I did! Go me!Then we carried on the drive and stopped off to see some leaning trees. That really did just look like they were bent in the middle. Apparently it's something to do with the wind that means they don't grow straight up….or summat like that!After another drive on the fabulous mini bus we left Australia and entered the Hutt River Province which is nearly 600km north of Perth. In the 1970's all wheat farmers HAD to sell their crops to the government by law. But when the "wheat quota act" was introduced Hutt River would only get paid for 100 acres of wheat (when the farm produced a maximum of 1300 acres of wheat!), Leonard was a bit pis*ed off (understandably!) so he decided to do something about it. To cut a long story short look here http://www.principality-hutt-river.com/HRP_We_are_still_here.htm (or I'll only get it wrong!). So they became independent! He doesn't pay taxes to oz either. I think the government could overthrow him if they really wanted to but they haven't. they just leave him too it. And because it's independent we got another stamp in our passports! Was a bit weird that in his chapel he had his sons painted in the biblical scenes!
again, in the evening we ended up sat on a lovely beach having a drink!

Day 3 - we visited Kalbarri national park, which we have since found out, is on the opening part of the dvd of wolf creek (not a good dvd to watch when in oz!!!). The park is made up of red rock gorges that were cut from the landscape by the Murchison River. We visited natures window and went for the dreaded walk! Which wasn't so bad. We walked down through the gorges and we all managed to survive! When we got to the bottom there was a lake which was incredibly cold! But we got in anyway! Really didn't think I would coz I hate cold water and the rocks were covered in slime! But I just thought....i'm only here once (kinda became our moto for the week!). In the evening we went to the local pub that also had a 'pubtab' betting shop inside and had a couple of drinks! ended up singing to mustang sally on the duke box! And chatting to a guy who worked at monkey mia (where we here heading the next day!)

Day 4 - started by missing the dolphins by 5 mins at monkey mia! Devastated was not even the word! So we hung around for an hour on a beach that wasn't very warm at 8 in the morning until they came back! Good job we did coz loads of them came back to shore, even the little 8 day old baby dolphin! And our guy Wayne (from the night before) happened to be doing the talk when the dolphins came in…funny how we all got to feed a dolphin! Haha. Was amazing though. We were just stood at the shore and all the dolphins were there swimming around and jumping out of the water.After that we went to see some stramatolites, which just looked like big black rocks to me! But terry was saying they are very important as we wouldn't be here today without them. Something to do with the algae producing oxygen. But we did get to see a jelly fish though!This is the night we spent at a sheep station! All well and good when you see it on the trip notes but in reality it is outback Australia!!! We were in tin can rooms, had to light a fire to heat the water for showers and the toilets were outside. I came face to face with a giant spider in the toilet that I thought was a plastic fake one that someone had put there for a joke!! Turned out when Colette and I went back a bit later the plastic toy spider had moved up the door! We could not get out there quick enough! And then the wooden door got stuck on the concrete floor so we hopped about and screamed a bit more until we could get out!!Also the night out of 'outback idol'!! Colette and I had been informed we were team captains earlier in the week which we were dreading!! My team managed to win mastermind on the bus so we were at an advantage! We also played some games and a bit of cheating went on for both teams!! Then it was 'outback idol' time! Each team had to come up a song. Needless to say we got rather drunk in preparation for this! Team 1 (my team) performed as gangster rappers to 'american boy' but changed the words for our 'outback crew' number! Team 2 (colettes team) did a rendition on mamma mia but changed the words especially for terry (our tour leader!)! it was hilarious! We had such a blast and laughed solidly for hours!Then Trevor got out the guitar….he's got 2 heads, 6 legs, my double decker dog…was defo the favourite song of the night! The singing continued until the campfire died down and we decided to pull the beds out of the tin can rooms and sleep under the stars!

Day 5 - This was the big Coral Bay day! Decided I was gonna try and swim with manta rays….the 'i'm only here once' attitude kicked in! Even though creepy crawlies in the sea freak me out! So we boarded our boat and tested our snorkel gear! The first snorkel area was AMAZING!!! I've never seen anything like it. The colours were sooo bright and clear, it was like swimming in Scarborough sea life centre! There were so many fish and coral of every colour. We even saw a shark! Eeeeeeeek!! And a stingray and all kinds of underwater life!Then came the manta ray! We found one and all set off. It was really hard work because of the current of the ocean but we followed her ages. She was huge! Looks just like a massive stingray (but they don't sting!), can grow to 3-4 metres across. It was a fantastic experience.Then we stopped for the others to go snorkelling to a shark cleaning station. Would have been a harder swim than the manta ray so decided to sit it out. Claire and I sat on the boat and fed the fish, one of them actually nipped claires leg, the cheeky git!This was the night we reached Exmouth. 2 nights in one place..brilliant! Friday night was disco night! The place was full of strange people who were obviously only let out once a week! We had such a laugh though. we met some ozzy blokes who were on holiday and sang and danced the night away. Before we knew it they were turning the lights on and telling us to go home!! Funny how one drink can turn into alllll night!

Day 6 - We desperately needed a lie in but the alarms went off early and after laying in bed for a while trying to decided what to do we got up and went with the group to turquoise bay! It was baking hot so the factor 30 came out! Even though it was a Saturday the beach was quiet. We got our snorkelling gear and set off again on ningaloo reef! I don't that it was as good as coral bay but considering could get there from the shore there were loads of fish to see! Then after a while we ended up just sunbathing on the beach…heaven!

Day 7 - we started our journey home! Booooooo! Gutted. So tempted to apply for one of the jobs at the potshot and stay there! There was a lot of driving on the next couple of days, poor terry, so we did a lot of sleepin on the bus! And a lot of listening to music, soundtracks of the week were, kids in glass house (smart casual), cute is what we aim for (rotation), motion city soundtrack (commit this to memory), fayze2 (english electric) and a bit of supergrass thrown in for good measure amongst any other random songs!We stopped at the tropic of Capricorn along the way! And then spent that night in a convent in Northampton, which was haunted! I hate ghosts or anything like that; I get mega scared so I was not looking forward to it! And when terry scared us by knocking on the window, just after the stories about the nun who had hung herself in the convent and all the freaky stuff that had gone on, I literally jumped out of my skin and banged both my knees on the table and now have bruises! Thanks terry.

Day 8 - we arrived back at unit5, 16-18 carr street just after lunchtime.

Now, 2nd day back at work and it doesn't even feel like we were ever away. It was so amazing though and I had the best time EVEERR! Saw a completely different side to oz than I've seen so far so I'm sooo glad that we did it. The country is beautiful and there is so much to see and do everywhere you go. This was defo one of my highlights so far. Terry was brilliant too, he knew so much about everything, all his storied started with "we had this one guy/girl on the bus……". He cooked us brilliant meals too! Think we all came back a stone heavier! He and everyone else really made it a lot of fun!

Also made me question what I'm doing in Perth working in an office. I'm bored ALL day long and it's actually quite cold under the air conditioning unit! I really want to get out there and spend time outdoors and make the most of the short time I've got here. I've only got one chance so I'm gonna make the most of it. Always wanted to work with horses so I'm gonna try and do it! Very exciting but scary at the same time!! watch this space………