Our next stop was near Cervantes in a Lobster factory where we had a guided tour and later on lunch (no Lobster unfortunately). Driving along the coast we stopped again in Jurien Bay. Beni and me took a refreshing bath, the others did not dare – maybe because of the sea lion which was suddenly swimming around, only 10 metres away;-). Luckily it was only a sea lion. When we were walking on the jetty a couple of minutes later, we saw a huge stingray where we have been swimming just before.
We had to leave the beach soon, as there were another 3 hours to drive. In Geraldton we stopped at the bottle shop to get a few beers and finally arrived in Northhampton where we stayed overnight on a farm. Reggie, the farmer, had already prepared us kangaroo and calamares for dinner. The evening we spent with a few funny games and a couple of beers.
Saturday we left the farm early in the morning. The temperatures required a jumper, but the sun was shining. Our first stop was near Kalbarri on the coast. The sandstone formations were impressive, together with the deep blue sea. The only drawback was the wind. However, the fotos turned out well. After a coffee break we drove into the national park on bumpy dirt roads. We started walking down the gorge to the river which was not really existing at this time, but during the rain period it can be up to 5 metres deep. In the middle of our hike we did some Abseiling – sounds quite familiar... . It is actually what you might assume: going down a steep rock face on a rope. It was fun, although i expected it to be more than about 20 to 25 metres. The temperatures, meanwhile risen to 30 degrees or even more would have been fine, if there hadn't been tons of flies, trying to get in your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. A side effect of the widespread farming in the whole area. After the hike we stopped again at Nature's Window, a small arch. There were still a few hundred kilometres to drive to Monkey Mia. On the longest straight road of WA we stopped at 3 PM at Billabong Roadhouse for lunch. Luckily we could eat inside, as the number of flies seemed to increase continuously, even IN the bus. Soon we entered the world heritage area of Shark Bay and stopped again at Shell Beach, a beach covered completely with small white shells – impressive. After taking a few pictures we continued, since the sun slowly was approaching the horizon (although half an hour later than in Perth). A last stop in Denmark (bottle shop...) and then, finally arriving in Monkey Mia. Having enjoyed the last sunrays and taken a few pictures, we soon started a guided tour with an Aboriginal who told us about him, his family, the history of the Aborigines and the area of Shark Bay. We were sitting around a fire somewhere in the bush, listening to his stories and him playing the didgeridoo. It was like beeing in another world for some two hours. Back in civilisation we had a BBQ and later on in the evening we were sitting on the beach, waiting for the dolphins to come, but they didn't show up before the next morning.
Sunday, we got up early to have some breakfast before the first feeding of the dolphins at 7.30. Waiting on the shoreline, watching them swimming in front of you, almost touching your feet was unique. Later in the morning we did some kayaking and enjoyed the gorgeous beach of Monkey Mia. At noon, we unfortunately had to leave, heading south again. Our next stop was at Ocean Park, still in Shark Bay. The most impressive thing was of course the feeding of the sharks. We were told that they eat less than 1 kg a day. But nevertheless, I don't want to meet them face to face while swimming in the sea. After lunch we continued our journey southwards as there were still over 1000 km to go to Perth. The next and last stop on that day was in Hamelin Pool where you can see stromatolites. At first sight it looks just like stones in the water, but knowing the story behind them makes it much more interesting. They're believed to be the first living species on our planet 3.5 billion years ago. Of course, the ones which are there today are not so old, but it's one of the rare places where they still occur. After another 3 hours driving we arrived after sunset in Northhampton where we stayed this time on the beach. Reggie, the farmer, cooked again for us and later in the evening we made a fire on the beach and had a final drink.
Monday was the last day of our trip. Before breakfast we had a refreshing bath in the really cold sea... At least we were awake after that. Dave cooked us ham and eggs for breakfast, so we were starched for another long day. Near Geraldton we stopped in a wildlife park. The highlight was of course the kangaroos we could feed and stroke. But there were also a lot of other indigenous animals such as dingos, crocodiles, emus, etc. We continued our trip southwards and stopped for lunch at a roadhouse to eat some burgers. In the late afternoon we slowly approached Perth and made our final stop in Lanceline where we went for sandboarding on the dunes. It was exciting, but the wind was strong and after some runs on the dunes most of us were covered completely with sand (it required an extended shower in the evening to get rid of all that sand...). Tired, but happy we finally arrived in Perth. It was a fantastic trip!
