8 November – 14 November
Monday:
It’s an easy three hour drive from Fremantle south to Margaret River. There’s none of the crazy driving and terrible roads that we got in South Africa. We arrive at about 4pm and set up camp for the first time.
I spend some time making friends with the locals then we stroll down to the river.
Tuesday:
Our first night in the tent goes swimmingly – literally, not figuratively. We’ve not quite got the sleeping situation sorted so it’s a bad night’s sleep to both of us. And it’s raining. What I thought was a brief night time shower carries on all through the morning and then on and off for the rest of the day. Luckily the tent holds up well and everything stays dry. We check out the town and the beach - along the way spotting our first kangaroos grazing and bouncing about in a field. Back at the camp for a cup of tea I see some parakeets eating lavender flowers. It’s a beautiful scene and the scent of the lavender fills the air.
Later in the afternoon we have a walk out along the riverbank through forest.
Janet adds: There are loads of interesting birds about and I’m turning into a bit of a twitcher, much to Nick’s disgust.
Nick adds: We could be living here soon.
Wednesday:
More pissing rain. We manage to get everything shoved into the car and then start heading north. I have my first go at driving our new big Australian car. It’s an automatic and has cruise control, so there’s not much left for me to do but steer We’re heading for Cervantes and are hoping to leave the rainclouds behind. No luck though – it’s still raining when we arrive so we treat ourselves to a night in a static caravan.
Janet adds: Hooray for tumble driers and clean knickers!
Thursday:
It’s finally stopped raining. On the way to see the Pinnacles we pass an Emu – another check on our Australian wildlife list. The Pinnacles are weird pillars in the middle of desert. It’s beautiful and quite eerie.
We carry on up north along the coast through quiet little beach towns. At Port Gregory we stop to admire a pink (!) lake.
It’s about 4.30 when we arrive in Kalbarri and as the sun is finally out, we’re back to camping. Once the tent is up we watch the sunset on the beach. There are flocks of parakeets about and across the road kangaroos are grazing on the local cricket pitch.
We manage to knock up some pretty good fajitas on the barbie (I think we’re the only people ever to cook vegetables on these things) and take a stroll for some star (and kangaroo) gazing before bed.
Janet adds: I liked getting greeted by Fred the campsite parrot – hello Fred.
Friday:
We head down to the waterfront early to watch the pelicans getting fed. Its brilliant fun to get up that close to them – they really are huge.
Then we did a stupid tourist thing: an 8km walk in the heat of the day through a river gorge. All the signs said to go early morning or late afternoon, so we decided to set off just after midday. It was hot (30+) and full of flies, but we survived and even enjoyed it. It was like walking through the Australia that’s in my head.
Afterwards it was a swim at the beach and an ice-cream to cool us down. We stopped off as well to visit our cricket pitch kangeroos. We needn’t have bothered: when we got back to the tent there were more roos just across the way bouncing up the road (including mum with baby in pouch).
Saturday:
We’re driving from Kalbarri to Monkey Mia in Shark Bay today. We had a few quick detours to see the stromatolites, shell beach and to take in the views from the cliffs at Eagle Bluff. Whilst setting up our tent we made our first acquaintance with the camp emu.
He (she?) basically wanders about looking for unguarded food – and we’ve spotted him trying to get into a few caravans and campers that have been left open. We’re pretty good at setting up our tent now and have got our bed good and comfy.
We were early enough to book onto a sunset cruise on a catamaran. A perfect way to end the day. Luckily we were in the capable hands of a very experienced crew:
Sunday:
It’s close to paradise here, like being on a tropical island with shallow clear waters. We got up early and headed to the beach for the dolphin interactions. A group of scientists have been studying wild dolphins here for decades. There are 5 dolphins that get fed every morning, if they decide to come in and feed. They come in really shallow and we got to stand in the water with the dolphins playing only a foot or two away. I wasn’t lucky enough to feed one, but it was still an awesome experience.
After a swim and a bit more dolphin spotting we headed out on a wildlife cruise. The area has a large dugong population and we saw quite a few coming up for air. We also saw rays, sharks, turtles and of course more dolphins.
Janet adds: thinking of my mum this week – I know she would’ve loved our cheeky fat trip.
Nick adds: sick of seeing dolphins
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