Well I've done the 2 weeks in the van and it's been great - pity the poor sod who's got to clean all that sand out of it (and dead flies!!). Did about 3,600 km's in the 2 weeks or for you thickos, 2,250 miles which is not far off my usual work mileage but when it's done at 65 mph (it's not a quick vehicle, believe me - you have to have at least a km of clear road to even consider overtaking the roadtrains!! They're the huge lorries by the way....) and all you hear is constant wind and engine noise and feel every little bump in the road, it's knackering but great fun. Have had loads of people come up and ask about the van, "did you paint it?", "what's the quote?", it's from a Leonard Cohen song apparently, and some even taking pictures of it, bit too much attention for me as most of them are a bit wierd. Well they are Australian eh Nards!!!!.
Wierd thing about Western Australia is that it's full of Australians who are travelling and you don't get any Japanese which Eastern Australia is inundated with. Makes it a much more real trip in a way. The beaches are amazing and absolutely deserted and the landscape goes from lunar to desert to lush greenery to gorges to the coast, millions of termite nests in one part, loads of wandering kangaroos and emus in another and then this beautiful turquoise sea all the way along
Best part of the trip has to have been Coral Bay as it's so beautiful and the flies relented a bit there. Ningaloo Reef is so accessible from there and it's awe inspiring. The conservation and protection of the area is tantamount to the whole resort. There is so much to do there as well although decided that Whale Shark trips were too expensive (about 140 notes). Exmouth was really cool, saw dingoes and emus wandering around up there really close by too. Course as you're farting around trying to get the camera out they bugger off so above is best shot I got. Carnarvon didn't like at all, felt like a real alien there and I've never seen so many moths (some are about 3 inches long and when that lands on you...... change trousers time, Monkey Mia and Denham lovely but worst of the lot for flies, you get approx 100 on you at any one time and I'm not kidding!!!! Sunsets every evening are phenomenal and seas really clear (except at Carnarvon....). Oh and I saw a redback spider in Exmouth - really disappointing actually as they're only about an inch long, thought they would be big buggers that could shout at you.... Oh and the weather has been amazing.
Worst parts - flies obviously, they do your head in and do not leave you alone until it goes dark, then the mossies and moths start, doing the laundry, yawn expecially when you'd rather be on the beach or dolphin watching, boredom on the highway, I timed 27 minutes between seeing cars at one point.... and that's about it really.
Back in Perth now for a few days and will be going down to Valley of the Giants on Thursday and hopefully to an AFL game at the WACA on Saturday then on to Sydney on Sunday. Apparently its brass monkeys time over there at the mo!! Bugger......
Anyway hope all lwell with everyone and catch up soon. Dxx
No comments:
Post a Comment