Hello ! 

Wow it seems a lifetime ago since we last updated our blog! Thank goodness for Holly and her mini diary of the day's major events to help recall what has been going on.... It's been a rather manic last couple of weeks driving around some of the more remote parts of Western Oz where Internet and phone coverage with vodafone is patchy at best ... Hey its just like in the UK! 

Last time we wrote we were leaving for Kalbarri and about to drive north. As I mentioned before, the Pike family have been so generous and lent us Bec's old Barina (the oz version of a vauxhall corsa) which we affectionately called Boris and had seen us around the South west of oz. On the way out of Kalbarri we planned to stop at the beautiful gorges as well as 'Natures Window' which is one of those picture postcard views down through the rocks into the gorge. We had enjoyed Kalbarri so much, we had decided to spend an extra day here to explore the gorges properly. Sadly though, the weather hadn't agreed with our plans. The heavens opened and we were dismayed to discover the road to the gorge was closed. Moaning and groaning about why a road would be closed due to rain (we would soon to discover why tomorrow) we decided we would have to make it a shorter visit tomorrow morning, on the way to Shark Bay. 

The next day we woke to beautiful sunshine and anticipation and questions from the grey nomads, as apparently I must have had a hotline to the rangers..."have you heard if the road is open." "no I have just woken up" was the only response I could give at 7am! It was a great relief to all that the road was open (hooray!) and off we went. After getting to the turning and paying the entrance fee, Holly asked the ranger if the road was suitable for 2wd's, and more specifically, "our little barina"- "yes of course" came the confident reply from the ranger. What followed was a journey down a road which could be regarded as a graveyard for 2wd's. Indeed, a few had collected on the sandy banks at the side of the road, but I think the drivers had nipped out either for a breather from getting their hands jarred or just to look at the pretty roadside wildflowers. I should have realised when everyone coming the other way was waving at me.... Hmmm, why are they waving at us I asked Holly... Just being friendly was her suggestion. It soon became apparent this was their way of wishing us good luck... You might need it! After lulling us into a false sense of security with a few kilometres of nice comfortable road, we discovered why it is closed in the wet. The rain had washed away the sandy covering to the road and left in places the corrugated road (imagine a corrugated tin roof... but made of concrete!) fully exposed.

For 26kms, we had to endure some of the worst sections of road imaginable for a 2wd, bumping, juddering and jerking along at 30kph. Of course, whilst this was going on, tons of 4wds bombed it past us at break neck speed. At this point I was having major 4wd envy! Then Boris decided that 30kph, despite the road, was too slow for his liking and started to get all hot and bothered so we had to tactically find what smooth spots we could to bomb it down the road, just so he could cool down. Eventually we made it, and boy was it worth it! The views were amazing, however all the way along the walk, in the back of my mind, I had that sinking feeling that what goes up must come down and to leave the park we still had to drive 26kms down that road in the other direction!

Onwards north we trekked and eventually made it to Monkey Mia, part of the world heritage site of Shark Bay. Another really beautiful spot, bar the biting cold winds in the evening and early morning coming in from the sea. The main highlight of Monkey Mia was the live dolphin feeds that happen every morning, where wild dolphins come into the shoreline to feed. It was amazing to see  dolphins in the wild so close up, interacting with humans. The first morning, we saw around 15 dolphins in the bay and a small number come into the shore. However, there wasn't a ranger about and I think the dolphins decided, "hey, we turned up on time but you weren't here, right, we're going!" and sadly didn't come back! The next day they returned and the rangers were there and we got to see the dolphins feeding which was fantastic.

Our stop for the night was Carnavon, a sleepy town very much catered to the grey nomads and one of the homes of Australia's banana industry. Indeed as you drive into the town there is a massive king size banana! At this stage, we were perfecting our tent construction skills. Good job, as other than the story below my only other memory of the place is gale force winds battering us and almost taking the tent down. Making our camping experience almost palatial, we had borrowed air mattresses and thanks to Boris and his cigarette lighter we didn't even have to blow them up. Well, sadly at Carnavon Boris' decided to blow his fuse at having to blow up one more air mattress. We didn't know this at the time but 5 mins down the road when we had gone out for dinner and the speedo went... and then the battery died! Fortunately we got it going again and made it back to campsite. In the morning, after conking out 2 more times, and with still no speedo and the fear of the 200km drive north, we found a Holden dealership and even though his next available slot was next Tuesday,the nice man replaced Boris's fuse which the air pump had blown! We were thanking our stars this had happened in a town with a garage just down the road and not the middle of nowhere!

We drove on to our most northernly point in WA, Coral Bay. Wow, this was one of the most stunning spots we have ever been to and we both didn't want to leave after 4 days! It has crystal clear water and the coral reef there (Ningaloo Reef) is literally 20 meters from the shore at some points. Each day, we would hire snorkles and swim out and explore the reef. Holly went out on a scuba dive and then snorkelled with 4m wide manta rays (not sting rays!) one of the best things she has ever done. In coral bay, they don't have dolphins come in to feed, but sparkled emperors, and each afternoon you can go to the beach and stand at the waters edge and all these huge fish come in to feed. Whilst Holly was diving, I went and did this - if you drop the feed by your feet, the fish will come in and swim round your toes to feed. Pretty cool!

On the final afternoon we went for our last snorkel, and just as we were leaving to watch the England rugby game, Holly spotted a turtle on the reef. We managed to swim with it for a bit before we went back to shore - what a fab way to end our time in such an amazing place.

The hostel we stayed in was great - it even had a Wii where Holly made her England debut with great aplomb and almost brought home the bronze medal in Wii bowling golf!! And we finally managed to meet some people under 65! ... including a fellow south east Londoner, Zoe,  big up to thamesmead!! Hope you are settled and back safely to Perth? Hi as well to Will and Sarah - hope settling back into Manchester life hasn't been too hard! Will - Our victory in the inaugural Port hedland/uk pool challenge still ranks as a personal highlight of my time in oz!!

So, we reached the end of the WA adventure. 1100 kms back to Perth. 4500 kms driven, lots of fantastic memories and now we are in the 'top end' or the Northern Territory, where we are baking in 37c heat, but more of that next time. Our treat has been to indulge in the various ice creams Australia has to offer. Our favourite at the moment is a golden gaytime. Whilst this may sound dodgy I personally recommend checking them out... Somehow I can't see the tagline of "it's hard to have a golden gaytime on your own!", which attracted us to them in the 1st place, making it over to the uk!

We just had time to stay with the Pikes one last time and see everyone before we flew to Darwin. Holly was most disappointed that the Dominos pizzas over here don't come with dips for the crusts! Shocking!! Thank you so much for all your kindness and generosity which had made our time in WA truly amazing! Whilst I'm still getting my head round Aussie Rules, I think I have been engrained as a West Coast Eagles boy (sorry Bob.... Maybe next year for the Dockers... new coach and all) 

Anyway goodbye for now!
T&h x