Margaret River to Adelaide

Denmark

From Margaret River, we headed to the south coast to a place called Denmark. On the way, Jamie climbed the Diamond Tree, one of the tallest types of trees in the area, it used to be used as a lookout for forest fires (helicopters are used now). Jamie also fed some brightly coloured birds. I did neither of these things because that tree was bloody tall and those birds were psychos (maybe a slight over exaggeration there!)


Jamie up the Diamond Tree (He got down after that point, he said it was too high and scary!). I think it was about 60ish metres high.


J's got yet another new bird!

After all our complaining about it being too hot up north, it was too COLD down south! The weather was very British: very windy and rainy. We were the only people crazy enough to sleep in a tent in our campsite in Denmark.The wind was so strong that I was sure that the tent would cave in any second!

The following day, we went to Walpole-Nornalup National Park to do the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. A steel walkway has been erected in a forest of Tingle Trees. It ascends to 40 metres at its highest and you can see through the floor - it's very scary! But J enjoyed it, he did it twice.


J in the giant trees


The view from the canopy.

We also visited the Giant Tingle Tree, which is over 450 years old and has a hollow base.

Apparently they used to drive their cars into the hollow!

Esperance

We headed east along the south coast to Esperance. On the way, we stopped near Albany to check out the blowholes. Basically, they're a natural phenomenon of seawater being 'blown' out through holes in the rock. It was pretty impressive and reminded me a bit of Jamie after eating a curry. We also checked out some other natural sights on the rugged coastline.


Jamie's arse!

The Natural Bridge.

The rough seas around Albany.

The weather was much more cheerful in Esperance, though still a bit cold. We drove to some of the sights including the Pink Lake, a beach and some coastal lookouts. The Pink Lake was, disappointingly, not pink! There was a detailed explanation of where the colour comes from (involving the ingredient that makes carrots orange), but the lake was more like a grey-blue. Oh well.

What a difference a day makes!

The Nullarbor Road Trip

We drove north from Esperance to Norseman, where we began our journey east across the Nullarbor Plain into South Australia. Apparently, people do this drive just to prove that they can do it. It's a very long drive and there's very few places to stop on the way. It also includes the '90 Mile Straight' between Balladonia and Caiguna - the longest straight road in Australia! 'Nullarbor' is derived from the Latin for 'no trees' and although it would be wrong to say that there are no trees, the land is very flat and monotonous.

We stayed the night in Caiguna.

Very misty and atmospheric at 5am

The next night, we stayed at Eucla. In the evening, we went to see the old telegraph building out in the sand dunes. It was a very serene place - nice cool breeze, very few people and the sound of the sea in the distance.

The old telegraph building.

The dunes around Eucla.

The next day, we crossed the border into South Australia.

One of the many lookouts over the Great Australian Bight.

We drove on the true 'Nullarbor' section, where there isn't a single tree for about 40km (a relatively small distance). We stayed the night in Ceduna. After tea, we enjoyed a few hours drinking wine and chatting to an old Aussie biker and a Swiss-German guy by the fire (as it was a bit chilly).

The long and not winding road!

Port Augusta (Spear Creek)

We drove to Port Augusta, the following day, passing through Kimba on the way.

Mad Jam: Beyond Thunderdome - loo break on the way.

A big gallah with the Big Gallah!

The weather had been pretty crazy recently in this area and roads were flooded. Luckily, the place where we stayed hadn't really been affected.

Sunset over Spear Creek.

The next day, we drove south to Adelaide via the Clare Valley wine region. We stopped at 3 wineries for a spot of tasting - not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Monkey Diary - Post 12

Mr Monkey is back on t'internet, baby! Did you all miss me?


Chillin' at my Coral Bay crib. J & K are so cheap, this is the first bed I've slept on in months!


Tropical Baby!


Why am I on this rubbish beach!



Welcome to my crib, homeys!




Fancy a few beers at my bar.



That's it, you're my bitch now! Thrashing Jam boy at a game of strip poker.




It's a hole a rock. Life doesn't get anymore exciting than that.




Just waiting for the perfect wave, then i'll be out there showing everyone up.



What are they?




Hot in the city.



Meet my new woman. Miss Monkey - very original! We had a couple of dates, but she was too clingy.

I liked eating the witchety grub. Juicy!

It's feckin' cold!

Perth to Margaret River

Perth


We took the car into the garage to get the brakes sorted and the mechanics said it would be a few hundred dollars to sort it. So we left the car a nd went into the city to have a look around. We then got a phone call from the garage and they said that something else needed fixing and then another thing as the list got bigger. In the end, the car car was in for 2 days and we spent way too much money to mention to get most of the problems fixed. This means our plans are going to change slightly. Instead of going to Melbourne, we are going straight back to Sydney more or less and selling the car, then we are going to do Melbourne and Victoria any way we can. After that a very kind Matt Tilly said we could stay at his for as long as we need to, which is very nice of him. We are pretty damn skint, but we are going to make the most of it while we are here. After all it's a once in a lifetime trip.



Perth as seen from King's Park.


We're back on Manchester soil on Boxing Day morning, with 10 layers of clothes on to face the UK winter.


Margaret River


After not really doing much in Perth, we decided to leave and go down to Margaret River and carry on with our journey.

We had a fantastic day out on a wine tour around the area yesterday. We were taken to 4 wineries and a brewery. Our bus driver also prepared our lunch for us. We had kangaroo, wild turkey, salad and lots of sauces and dips made from local bushtucker. It was fantastic stuff. A couple of 'lucky' volunteers got to try a witchety grub. A one of the wineries we tried 'Dukkah', which is a mixture of nuts, herbs and spices which you dip bread or crackers with olive oil on . It's very moreish!



At the second winery before we had drank too much.




At the brewery with the sample beers.



The group on the tour.

Today we went for a drive around the Margaret River region, but the weather was not the best so we really didn't see much.


Cape Leeuwin. Where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.


An old water wheel near Cape Leeuwin. It doesn't move anymore as it's encrusted in lime and salt.


Kate on Hamelin Bay beach. The weather was rubbish!

Exmouth to Perth

Exmouth

On our first evening, we drove up to the lighthouse to watch the sunset and to see if we could spot any whales. We managed to spot a few breaching in the distance.


Sunset at the lighthouse.

A legless lizard, we think.

The next day we hired out some snorkeling equipment and drove to couple of recommended spots in Ningaloo Reef Marine Park. Firstly we went to a spot called Lakeside, then after lunch we went to Turquoise Bay. The colour of the sea, surprise, surprise, had turquoise colour to it, with darker areas where the reef was. (Kate: J is V sarcastic!) I spotted a few Stingrays and followed them, while Kate decided to keep her distance in case they got a bit moody and stung one of us.


The creature from the deep.

Angel fish, we think.

Stingray. If you can see it. It's in the middle of the pic.

On Turquoise Bay beach.

On the way back to Exmouth, we stopped to have a quick look at the wreck of the SS Mildura, which struck the reef during a cyclone in 1907.


SS Mildura wreck.

The next day, it was down the coast to Carnarvon.

Carnarvon

We stayed one night. I HATE FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monkey Mia

On the way to Monkey Mia, we stopped at a lookout over the vast landscape of WA. We didn't stop for long as it was fly central. I HATE FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I welcome you to 'Fly'stralia.

The emptiness of WA.

We also stopped at Hamelin Pool, to look at the stromatolites. These particular stromatolites are 3000 years old but it's believed that very similar stromatolites were the first lifeforms to inhabit the Earth. They are made from bacteria and there are very few living examples of them remaining.


An old thing and the stromatolites.

We also stopped at Eagle Bluff looking for sharks, whales, dolphins and dugongs.

Eagle Island off EAgle Bluff, with me showing my gut off.


Honest, the dark shape is a shark.

In the morning we walked to the beach to watch the dolphin feeding. They have feeding the dolphins there since the 60s, but it is a lot more controlled these days, you can't feed them burger and chips anymore! The guide book says that it's all predictable and not the normal way of life for the dolphins, but it is good to see them close up and it's not as if they are in captivity. They swim around near the beach as one of the rangers talks to the tourists, then they eat a few fish and swim back out to sea again, they're certainly not daft.

Dolphin at close range.

A couple more dolphins.

And a pelican thrown in for fun.

After leaving Monkey Mia, we drove south down the coast to the town of Kalbarri

Kalbarri

On the first day we drove into Kalbarri National Park and did a couple of short walks. We didn't want to do anything longer because of the flies. I HATE FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first walk was to Nature's Window, a natural window made from rock framing the Murchison River. The second walk was to another part of the river called Z Bend.


Natures window framing the river below.

Kate fighting the flies away.

The river from the Z Bend lookout.

The next day we travelled down to Jurien Bay.

Jurien Bay

On the way to Jurien Bay we looked at more sights on the Kalbarri coast

Kate on the Kabarri coast being attcked by more flies.


A natural bridge.

Once we arrived in Jurien Bay, we went to the local bar and listened to an Aussie band called Cambridge 43. They were pretty good, playing songs from U2, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and others.

The next morning we drove to Nambung National Park to see the pinnacles desert. They are bizarre limestone formations on bright yellow sand.

More flies attacking. I'm trying to stop Kate wafting her hand everywhere so we could get a good picture but this is what we ended up with.


Kate liked this phalic shaped one.

More of the sticky up things.


Some close up.

On the same day we continued to the outskirts of Perth to a place in the Perth Hills called Mundaring. On the way we passed through Yanchep National Park to look at the koalas that were there. Kate loves koalas! (Kate: It's true.)

Mr Koala.

Mundaring

We camped at the YHA in the national park. It was very picturesque and we saw lots of Western

Grey Kangaroos in the grounds. Two of them had joeys in their pouches. We like camping at hostels as we have use of all the indoor facilities, especially the lounge with the log fire and TV. The weather was noticably cooler here, especialy at nice. It's the first time Kate has wore her 'Ugg' boots since July (Kate: Ugg boots are lush!!)

Very arty shot of the roos.

One of the mums with joey in pouch.

The first morning, we were woken up very early by a bird singing the guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz 'Are you gonna go my way'. It was quite funny at first, but became quite tiresome after 3 hours of it!

We spent our first day taking it easy as I was feeling a bit ill and it was a Sunday so nothing was open anyway (Kate: I reckon he was ill because of that lanb chop that some weird Aussies gave him. It must've been a Homer Simpson moment: Weirdos offering me food..... Free food, woo hoo!!!.... D'oh, I feel ill).