Hi there folks, how’s everyone doing?

As some of you might know, I have been travelling along the West Coast from Broome to Perth. After looking for a job for a month in Brisbane and working in Montville for three months, I was really excited to continue travelling again. It was a bit strange to leave Montville, because I liked working there, I liked the people to work with; however I am in Australia to see the country so let’s do it! I flew to Broome where the weather was nice (read 30 degrees), close to the beach and a nice hostel with swimming pool. Great start!

On the Wednesday evening I walked into my hostel room, time for preparing my bag for starting the tour. And guess what? Two of my roommates should become my tour mates in the next morning.
A big 4W drive bus arrived with big letters ADVENTURE TOURS, that must be ours. We took a seat and drove 600 kilometers to a big Cattle Station. A group of 21 people with all different age groups starting from 24-75 years. We had some dinner talked a bit more and went to bed. An early morning appeared, 6am was departure and we drove up to Karijini National Park. It was promising after many great experiences from a lot of people in this part of Australia.

We had arrived the campsite, which should be our accommodation for the next three nights. Two person’s tents were set up, with a stretcher and a swag, great to go camping again! There was only one problem: the forecast told us it was going to be cold, especially during the night. However, first time for a swim in a gorge. Beautiful rocks, bit of a climb to get down but it was a beautiful spot with a waterfall; I should tell you, the water was quite ‘refreshing’. A nice Spaghetti Bolognese made everyone a bit tired, in combination with cold/fresh air because it was an early night.

Waking up was different than the day before.. After a “good morning” the question was: “How did you sleep”? And believe me, 95% answered with: “It was freezing” or a similar fraise to that. However, we survived and time for another walk at another gorge. You start walking, talking with your tour mates and then: WOW. Three beautiful lakes where you could swim in, amazing scenery with the rocks and perfect blue water! Trying this beautiful water was something I wanted to do, so I went in the last lake. The information centre informed us with some history about the environment and aboriginals. In the afternoon we played games, drunk beers and so on.

After another freezing night it was time for some adrenaline, named Canyoning. Maybe you will remember it, if not; I did this in New Zealand. Some clumsiness, some laughing at each other and yes we wore our Canyoning gear (which means 3 layers of wetsuits) and drove to the entrance of the gorge. A place with the oldest rock formation in the world, how awesome is that! What a day with: tubing, rock climbing, abseiling, swimming and traversing. It was quite chilly, but great adventure, beautiful views and great company.

The last night in Karijini National Park was the warmest. Not because of the temperature, but I learned that I had to wore more layers. Now you probably ask yourself the question, how cold is cold? I will answer this for you. The first night was 3,6 degrees, the second night was 2,1 degrees and the third night was 2,3 degrees; no heaters applied. I found out a sleeping bag for 15-8 degrees is not enough in this case! That sounds funny doesn’t it? Let’s say: “You’re never too old to learn!” Our group existed out of a bunch of Australians and what they just kept on saying was: “You’re from the Netherlands, you should be used to the cold”. Hard to explain that we live in nice, warm and good isolated houses. Anyhow it was an awesome experience, and the beauty and awesomeness of Karijini National Park was it definitely worth!

Time to head off to Exmouth. I am a quick learner, okay not always true but we had a long drive ahead so I was smart this time and clamed a seat in the front. Lots of space, Kim was keeping me company and together with (driver/tour guide) Zane we had an awesome day! Starting with a sunrise and driving during sunset made it even better. The time flew by. Arrived another campsite this time with a nice warm campfire, had dinner and had a couple of drinks at the campfire. What a lovely evening.

After a good night of sleep, we foresaw a fantastic day ahead. Jumped on the bus, swop the vehicle “bus” for “boat” and drove on the ocean. We got some swim gear on: wetsuit, snorkel, mask and flippers. Some explanations of safety instructions and then it was time for jumping in the water. Snorkeling in the beautiful Ningaloo Reef. Amazing sea life, like: a turtle, octopus and lots of colorful fish. We jumped on the boat again and went further into the sea. The boat stopped, time for the ‘real’ activity: “swimming with whale sharks”.

Oh my beautifulness, what a special activity is this. What a bless we had the opportunity to do this. Such a big ‘fish’ in his natural environment and we could swim along with them. Such a beautiful skin, such clear water and lots of opportunities to get an awesome picture with it as well. Wow, wow, wow. Oh and I forgot to tell how awesome the food was, how awesome the staff was and how awesome the weather was. Just a perfect day. Even when you think it couldn’t get any better, it happened. Humpback Whales showed themselves. More than one, more than just shown. They waved, they dived, and they came close. Jeeeeeesss, what a luck and happiness on this day. Being in/on/at the water here in Australia is Indescribable!
Unfortunately we had to take a seat in the bus again. Drove a bit and arrived in Coral Bay where bunk beds in a building where waiting for us. Great to see how good or funny people are in pool and table tennis with some boos. What a day, what a day and what a blessing, wow!

Still reminiscing from yesterday a new day appeared. A part of the group went for a manta ray tour, similar to the whale shark day. A part of the group would rent some snorkeling gear. But Coral Bay would not be Coral Bay, if there was not a beautiful opportunity to see coral in the bay. A little sleep in, enjoyable morning and a beach day it was. Beautiful reef, so close to shore and so shallow. The sea life is amazing, the coral is stunning and the beach is super relaxing! Great, great, great. Watching the sunset with a beer was definitely the way to end this beach day. Once again the evening turned into a competition play yard with lots of fun. Thank you Ningaloo Reef for those amazing days!

Long drive day 6 ahead, to get to Monkey Mia. Apparently a famous place, not sure why and what to expect. First, back to thousands of years ago, stromatolites: the first breathing creatures on earth. They look like a rock but apparently feels like your hand skin. The sunshine with clouds turned this place into a breathtaking place. The second stop was another beach, a rare one for Australia this time: “Shell Beach” exactly, a beach full of shells. The water was so clear and nice, perfect photo shoot spot. Monkey Mia is located in Shark Bay, really good, a bay with a lot of sharks. There is just one resort/hostel directly at the beach. We watched the sunset and repeated the night like all the others.

For the next morning there was something special on the itinerary, feeding wild bottle nose dolphins. Aaaahaa there we go, that’s the reason it’s that famous! We could line up till our ankles in the sea, in one straight line. The dolphins were swimming in such shallow water right in front of me and the water was perfectly clear. With some nice close up pictures as a result. And to make the morning even better, Angie (one of my friends) got chosen to feed the dolphin and she picked me to come with here. I was literally in front of the dolphin, so amazingly close. And during the second feeding time, I could come again that close to this beautiful animal. Wow, wow, wow! Unfortunately the dolphins live in Shark Bay and got attacked by sharks a lot; most of the dolphins had a lot of scars.

We’re getting closer to Perth but still a lot of kilometers to drive, so made myself comfortable in the bus again. Beautiful scenery from the bus, and a stop at Kalbarri National park for a short walk. However, short or not, it was beautiful again. Then we were a bit in a rush so we could stop at Murchison Gorge. Nice climb down the rocks to get to the gorge, yes yes stunning! And walking back during sunset was even better. Strange to realize it is the last night, but time for some games and drinks again.

Last day, early day, pancake breakfast, long drive ahead. Still some activities on the itinerary. Pinnacles Nambung National Park, weird that it seems like a rock, it feels like it and actually it is a tree root. Still in the dessert, so everything is orange and in the background you see white (I mean white) sand dunes and the sea. So many different landscapes in one area. And instead of just watching the sand dunes, we used it for sand boarding. The boards were not that good, but still a lot of fun. And there it was, Perth, the end of the tour. Unbelievable what I have seen, what I have done and with great company. To end this tour properly we went out for dinner with some lovely people from the tour. Thank you all for made this happen. I enjoyed everything so much!

One last day on the West Coast, the trip to Rottnest Island. It’s famous for the Quokkas, another native animal of Australia. I should describe it as a mixture of a rat, wallaby and maybe a squirrel? However, the happiest animal of the world in my opinion. Next to that, there is more for visiting Rottnest Island. It has beautiful views, great to explore by bike, almost no traffic, some history and the chance to spot sea life like my friend and I did: dolphins! I couldn’t wish for a better ending of this trip.

Sorry for the enormous story and the waiting time of a new post. At the moment I just arrived in Bali and have more amazing adventures of three weeks East Coast. That will be published soon. Pictures of the Westcoast are to be found in the album: Westcoast.

Thank you for reading about my adventures again! Cheers, xx!!