April 14^th – LAST DAY

Today we fly from Exmouth down to Perth in a propeller plane so it takes about 3 hours!  We’re then going to split and each do our own thing.  In our case it’s last minute shopping and hopefully a return visit to the botanical gardens so I can get a last look at the Banksia bench and gardens.

Hanna is insisting on treating us to a nice dinner as a thank-you for doing all the driving and for organising the holiday, so I’m sure we’ll have a marvellous time tonight.

CW’s thoughts and impressions of Oz.

1.       Three months was not enough. We’ve really enjoyed every section of this trip especially when we’ve met up with friends/family for different parts of it – thank you Derek and Hanna.

2.       The people almost to a person have been open and friendly and always willing to offer assistance.

3.       This country is IMMENSE. It has almost everything that you can get in other parts of the world, but often without the grandeur. This is down to it being a very old continent, this was something became very apparent during our tour of the Red Centre when Chris, our tour guide, described the mountain ranges as having been as tall as the Himalayas but worn down by aeons of erosion from the wind and rain and the red sandy soil we stood on was once part of that.

4.        Of all the places we’ve been to, so far, in Australia we’ve liked Adelaide the best. In a nutshell Adelaide and SA have it all: water, city, wines, wilderness, outback, seaside, this was no doubt added to by the hospitality of Paul and Alice.

5.       Planning this took a long time and if it hadn’t been for the advice and guidance of Paul Walton we would have been sleeping in the car on several nights. So a BIG thank you to Paul. Also a thanks to Doug Farndale who gave me a list as long as your arm of places to go and see. I don’t think we managed it all, but we gave it a heck of a go, plus we plan to come back at some point to do the “Top End”, this time in “The Dry”.

6.  I'd always wondered if I should have immigrated all those years ago. On reflection I think the younger me would have liked it very much however, the older me is glad that I didn't send in the completed paperwork. I'll explain, Australia has a lot to offer and is rich and diverse in many ways. Maybe it's because of where I come from, but Australia feels a long way from anywhere. Well, at least, that itch has been scratched.

TJV Signing Off from the Blog....

Reflections, Impressions and Highlights of Australia

1.        Summing it up in one word resulted in : hot, vast, immense, red, flat, ancient & venomous!

2.       Definite highlight for me are the people. I remember reading that in someone else’s blog of Australia and thinking what a strange thing to write.  However, I can only speak from experience and in MHO they’re a truly an open, kind, polite, welcoming and fun loving race.  They’ve made the holiday for us.

3.       Meeting up with Alice and Paul after a 2 week touring holiday in Turkey 23 years ago is definitely up there.  It’s so strange to have exchanged Christmas cards and the occasional email and then finally meet up again and spend time together after all that time.  For Chris, Alice has always been that Rest of the World stamp we buy annually in December, so it’s been fantastic to meet the person in the flesh and put a face and personality to it.  I’ve no idea if either Paul or Alice felt any apprehension about meeting me again, but I was certainly a little nervous.  Would we like each other, would we have anything to talk about and would we click?  I needn’t have worried as they were such good company and so welcoming.  I just don’t want to leave it another 23 years until we see each other again.

4.       Flora.  Where do I begin?  This has definitely far exceeded my expectations.  I’ve not tired of the endless stately gums and mallee, I’ve loved the surprisingly rich desert flora, and of course, my new friends – the protea family including all 78 species of Banksia, the Grevilleas, Hakeas and Dryandras.  I would love to come back to Australia in the spring and see the incredible flowers then including all the orchids that I’ve read about. 

5.       Fauna.  I had no idea that there were so many marsupials and have never heard of most of them.  Highlights have to be holding a koala (thanks to Alice), hand feeding wallabies, stroking kangaroos, watching Tasmanian Devils being fed, seeing wild platypus, observing a wild echidna foraging for ants, getting close and personal to wild dolphins and swimming with whale sharks.  All unique experiences never to be forgotten.

6.       Birds.  The various honey eaters and parrots have been incredible and I’ve loved hearing the birds in the high canopies of the Eucalyptus forests and just getting the occasional tantalising glimpses of bright colours like jewels flitting through the leaves.  The parrot feeding in Queensland was very special as was getting so close to the wild pelicans at Monkey Mia.

7.       Reptiles?  Well, honestly, I’m not a fan, but have been surprised at my bravery and newly found confidence at getting reasonably close to some fearsome snakes.

8.       Scenery.  This is a hard one as have been to so many very special places.  To name a few favourites – Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island, the Great Ocean Road, all of Tasmania, Gippsland south of Sydney, the Atherton tablelands in QLD, all of the Red Centre, the Karri and Tingle forests of SW Australia and the coast of West Australia.

9.       Cities.  This is easy – Adelaide.  However, loved the Sydney Opera House – what an icon of the 20^th century, especially as it was still being built when I last visited in 1967!

1.    Experiences?  Hmm, a lot here too.  Hand feeding the wallabies on Kangaroo Island, holding a koala, the Tingle Tree Top walk, watching 2 performances at Sydney Opera House, going down a gold mine at Bendigo, walking round the Desert Park at Alice Springs, the Red Centre tour, wine tasting at some very famous wineries, visiting the Banksia Farm and last but by no means least swimming with whale sharks.

1.     Itinerary.  Even though I say so myself, I did a pretty good job of planning this trip.  I did loads of research and spent months on it.  Chris and I have agreed that we’d probably have taken a day out of Sydney, Melbourne and Green Island and spent them on an extra day in Launceston, and 2 extra days in the Red Centre – one at King’s Canyon and one in Alice Springs.

1.     Travelling companions.  It goes without saying that it was just so lovely being able to spend a whole month with my beloved mother – definitely very special and will always be treasured.  I loved spending time with Derek – he’s good fun, witty and always very stimulating company.  Out last companion was Hanna, an old friend I’ve known since I was 18 when we met at university.  She’s been an avid reader of our blog so it’s been wonderful to actually live some of it with her and enjoy her dry and quiet humour.

1.     Anything negative?  Very little, but have to say the insects here are horrendous.  Never will I go home with such scarred and scabby legs – just hope they’ll fade in time!

April 13^th

They say that you should never set out to sea on Friday 13^th, but as we’d already booked to go swimming with Whale Sharks with Ningaloo Blue we decided to risk it. Tamsin and I were picked up at 07:45 and as the last pick up we headed straight for the boat. This required a 30 minute drive back up the road that we’d been along the previous evening. On board there were 16 people plus the some of the crew, as we pulled up a family of 5 joined us making 21 in all. We were transferred from the jetty to the boat by dinghy. Having been given the safety briefing we headed out to the reefs. First stop was a between the inner and outer reef where we had a 30 minute dive to get used to the snorkels and fins. At this point I need to say something about the weather. It was clear blue skies with a gentle breeze. The sea state was slight with a gentle swell. The sea at this point was reasonably clear with visibility of about 10-15 metres. One of the crew had joined us as well as a videographer and they pointed out some of the fish that we could see. My only regret is that in my haste to get in the water I forgot to bring my underwater camera as we swam through schools of fish and saw many types of fish large and small. We did a few dives to have a better look at the coral before heading back to the boat.

As we headed out through to the outer reef the sea swell increased, but that didn’t stop us seeing a Tiger Shark, which the videographer (Vi) was disappointed that the spotters lost track of as she wanted to get in and film it. I guess videographers are expendable in Australia! We headed through the outer reef and then south along the coast as we were due to rendezvous with the spotter planes overhead looking for the Whale Sharks. We were split into 2 teams of 10 and taken through the protocol which involves getting people in the water alongside the Whale Sharks before swimming alongside it. To do that team 1 goes out of the back of the boat complete with snorkels and fins and a team leader,  after an interval team 2 does likewise. After a period of time team 1 comes back in followed by team 2 a bit later. This happens a few times so that no Whale Shark gets bugged all day, plus other boats are in the vicinity trying to do the same. All the boats and the spotter plane co-ordinate with each other.  So there’s quite a lot of milling around.

There are other guidelines that need to be followed when swimming with Whale Sharks i.e no closer than 3 metres from the body, 4 metres from the tail and not in front. At no point must you touch and every effort must be made to avoid a collision. When the team leaders say stop you must stop and regroup to get back on the boat.

First encounter

As we approached the area being patrolled by the planes we suddenly changed direction and increased speed as one had been spotted close to the surface. It’s quite amazing to look into the ocean and see this large fish swimming so closely. As this happened team 1, (we’re in team 2, team leader Alex), jumped into the water and swam into position hoping the Whale Shark would come their way, which it did. We then got ready and jumped in, all very excited. Seeing such a large fish in close proximity is simply amazing, the crew guessed that it was about 5 metres in length. I managed to take some video footage at the same time as struggling to avoid other swimmers and keep up with the Whale Shark. After a period of time our leader called a stop and we headed back to the boat. After a short rest we were back in again. Again I managed to get some video of this. After we got back into the boat we went looking for another Whale Shark. I gave Tamsin the camera as I wanted to do some swimming and just enjoy the experience. This time just as team 1 got in the water the Whale Shark dived however it didn’t go that deep and as we jumped in you could see it below you. Tamsin took some footage which although it’s a bit dark you can make out the spots. I was concerned at one point that it was going to come up underneath me as I could see that the dots on its back were getting bigger and every way I moved to avoid it, it seems to choose the same direction, fortunately it was rising to the surface very slowly and we managed a second dive.

2nd

We then headed off for a third shark. This one was moving quite fast and I had the camera again. On our 6^th swim I managed to get both sides and the a tail shot however I couldn’t catch up so the shots are from an oblique angle from behind, still a fantastic experience.  At the end of that swim I saw a shark down below I didn’t have time to switch the camera back on before it disappeared. I guess it was a harmless reef shark, but as we’d already seen a Tiger Shark.......

Close encounter of the 3rd kind.

There was the opportunity to do another dive, but there were few takers as most of us were pretty tired by then, so we headed back northwards with the plan to do a snorkel on the outer reef after lunch. We stopped for a well earned lunch of salad, cold meats, pasta and cheese on the outer reef. As the sea state had become a bit rougher we headed back to the inner reef close to port for the snorkel and along the way saw Dugongs, a Stingray and some turtles. This snorkel was disappointing as the sea had clouded up since the morning. As we came aboard the crew had some fresh fruit refreshment for us that we ate as we headed home.

Before we left the boat we were given a glass of sparkling wine as we toasted a very successful day swimming with Whale Sharks. What a way to end a brilliant Friday 13th!

Our last evening we went out for what turned out to be a superb meal at Whalers in Exmouth. Having had some quite dodgy meals over the last 3 months we didn't expect too much, but we were wrong. They knew how to cook steak and certainly knew that most sauces didn't come from a bottle, this was seriously good stuff and considering where it was came as a nice surprise. Yup, I think we like Exmouth.

The Coffee Pot train

April 12^th

On leaving Carnarvon we decided to take a look at its main attraction the Mile Long Jetty. This is indeed a mile long and was used when Carnarvon was an important port for the wool industry in the region. To get to the end there is a small train called “The Coffee Pot”, this isn’t a steam engine but a small diesel engine narrow gauge train. As we drank our teas the train was taking a fisherman out to the end of the jetty from where, he claimed, that big fish could be had. After fuelling up we headed north.

more canyon views

As we came up the peninsula we turned into Charles Knife Road Canyons. These are on the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula (the west side)and as we headed in, we were treated to a mini Grand Canyon/Utah. The scenery is quite stunning. We didn’t go right to the end where there is a lookout as Tamsin and I wanted to check in and then to snorkelling. So we pressed on.

Canyon views

Having checked in and found what was considered to be the best place to snorkel. We choose Turquoise Beach. The beach has a current that runs northwards and as long as you don’t go passed the end of the spit then you don’t need to be a strong swimmer. A few metres out we found a wide range of fish swimming in the coral and started trying to identify them.  From memory there were: Parrot Fish, Wrasse, Sea cucumber, Angel Fish, Butter Fish, Long Toms.

After about 30 mins we decided not to over egg it as we needed to make sure we were okay for tomorrow. On the way back we drove slowly as it was getting close to sunset and because we started to see wildlife close to the roads. It was difficult to get close to the Wallabies and Kangaroos, but eventually we managed it and got some nice shots. We also saw an Australian Bustard.

A real bustard

Later we sauntered into Exmouth and were shocked to find the two recommended restaurants in town had no availability. So we took the next best option and went to a Chinese. Hmm, not the best we’ve had, but as we were all hungry it worked for us.

April 11^th

We had a 400km journey to Carnarvon today, a large part of which involved retracing our route back down the peninsula to rejoin the North West Highway.  We didn’t leave until 10.30am so we had some more time to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Monkey Mia.  Hanna went to see the dolphins again, but I slept in late so Chris and I chose to kick back and people watch from our balcony.  I had planned to go swimming in the sea, but when it came to it, didn’t fancy it.  We wandered along to hopefully see a later dolphin session, but it wasn’t happening.  Snooze you lose, as they say!

It was quite a long and boring drive with nothing to really break the monotony of the long straight slightly undulating road through the desert scrub.  Occasionally, I’d get really excited if I spotted a road train ahead as I anticipated the thrill of overtaking it, but each time was thwarted as they pulled over into a lay-by just before I got to them.  So, I had to be satisfied with the slightly lower octane thrill of a bend in the road instead.  We all agreed though that we were very glad that this was a one way trip and that we were flying back to Perth.  It’s given us a good idea of the remoteness and huge scale of the outback, but I wouldn’t want to be driving on these roads for much longer.

We arrived in Carnarvon mid afternoon, and as it was so hot retired to our rooms.  The advertised free wi-fi wasn’t working initially, as some server had to be reset which apparently was quite a big deal.  The only man who could switch the plug on and off was “very busy on many other task” so we had to wait until he could free up a piece of his brain to move the finger required to reset the server.  Hanna based herself in reception where she could use another server having reminded the receptionist firmly and somewhat glacially that the only reason we’d chosen to stay with them was the free wi-fi.  This seemed to do the trick as within 10 minutes or so the second server serving the rooms was reset!

In the evening, Chris drove us down to the harbour to the harbourside seafood restaurant.  The road looked very unpromising, but eventually we spotted a number of cars outside a building that turned out to be our destination.  We had a surprisingly good meal there.  Chris and I had oysters and Hanna had an enormous bruschetta dish for starters.  This was followed by Reef and Surf for me (grilled spotted red emperor with prawns and squid in a garlic creamy sauce) and The Fisherman’s Catch (the same as me but without the sauce) for Hanna and Chris.  We all felt stuffed after that so retired to an early bed feeling somewhat sated!

By the way, this was a momentous day as I took ZERO photos.  Amazing!!

April 10^th

Dolphin interaction on the beach

Interactions with the tame dolphins starts at 7.30am, so we were up bright and early to hopefully witness this.  As it turns out, the early start is a con as they give you a 20 minute spiel before feeding any dolphins and generally the dolphins don’t turn out until after 8am.  So, you could turn up at 8.15am and still be in plenty of time.  Note – this is written by someone who dislikes early starts!  We hung around for quite a while on the boardwalk before we were allowed to approach a wide section of beach by the jetty specifically set aside for dolphin feeding.  We all lined up and waited and waited and waited.  After 45 minutes, Chris and Hanna went back to the rooms to pick up stuff for the cruise we’d booked for 9.15am.  Just as they disappeared, a dolphin and her calf appeared!  However, we then got the 20 minute spiel before much action and most of it was quite a way up the beach from where I was standing so I couldn’t see that much.

Some old man feeding a dolphin....

  Chris and Hanna got back in plenty of time to see the actual feeding.  Here, some uniformed volunteers trotted into the sea to knee depth.  They were both armed with buckets of fish.  By this time, 2 dolphins had appeared so they shared them out along the beach and wandered down so that everyone got a chance to see a dolphin close up.  They then picked people from the crowd at random to give a fish to the dolphin in your section of beach.  Unbelievably, the gentleman in the grey hat (i.e. Chris, although Hanna and I both thought he said the man with the gray hair!) was selected and duly performed his task – am sure the dolphin was very impressed!  It seems that only 5 females ever turn up for this daily ritual which can be performed up to 3 times in the mornings only.  They are fed only 1.5kg of fish in a session and as they require 11kg a day, it forces them to still hunt and remain independent.  Apparently, these “tame” dolphins have been coming to Monkey Mia for over 50 years and have passed on this ritual to their daughters.  Originally, they were fed by the fisherman, but now it’s a serious tourist business.

After 30 minutes, the session must end, so we just had time for a quick cup of tea before boarding our retired racing catamaran for a 3 hour wildlife safari.  We all managed to get a prime seat at the front of the vessel so that was a good start.  There really wasn’t much wind so we set off with the help of the engines.  An hour passed with nothing spotted and Hanna said that she started to reflect how much more we’d seen at Eagle Cove the previous day.  Suddenly the cry “Dugong” rang out and we all strained to see a gingerish coloured blob grazing on the sea grass before us.  These amazing animals are also known as sea cows and I think must be closely related to the manatees in Florida.  Hanna got a good sighting of it from her side of the boat, whilst Chris’s and mine were only okay.

After that, wildlife sightings were only remarkable by their absence.  So, Harvey, our skipper, decided to take us out to see some dolphins hunting so that we had something to watch.  That was great fun and we were lucky enough to see these marvellous animals jumping out of the water in pursuit of their prey.  After that, once we had started heading home, we also added a number of turtles, a manta ray and another dugong to our tally, so we all felt we’d got reasonable value for our money! 

Two friendly pelicans

We were ravenously hungry once we set foot on dry land so had a fast food fix in the bar before retiring to our rooms for a few hours to avoid the heat of the day. I quickly set off to the beach before retiring as there were 2 pelicans there and got some nice pictures of them from only a couple of metres away.

At 4.15pm, we reconvened at the jetty to reboard the “Shotover” catamaran for our complimentary sunset cruise.  There was virtually no wind, so we powered out into Shark Bay under engine power and then just drifted tranquilly for an hour or so taking in the immense sea views and the occasional turtle popping its head up for air around us.  Naturally, we watched the sun sinking below the horizon and duly admired all the incredible colour changes in the landscape before heading back to dry land.

We then just had time for a quick drink on our balcony before heading off to the restaurant for another very nice dinner.  We made our plans for tomorrow and then retired for an earlyish night.