Coral Bay to The Pinnacles Desert

I left my last post just as I had met up with my fellow travellers in Exmouth and embarked on the coastal journey back to Perth. The group of 9 really was a little something of everything. 2 Swiss-German girls travelling together, a Canadian girl, an Irish girl, an Italian guy from Switzerland, a German couple, and a man from Tasmania. Our guide was also Australian born. And then me, the token American.  I had a lot of fun with the group and hoping to catch up with a few of them in the future; here in Perth, other parts of Oz, or perhaps in other countries??? I love inviting myself overJ

Backpacking groups aren’t something that most Americans are too familiar with, so a brief overview to start. It’s sort of like a guided tour that some of us may do when we go to Europe, as in there is a guide taking you places and you get driven around. But all the meals are prepared by the group; everyone pitches in to prep, cook, and clean…generally this is all done together in the kitchens of hostels or at public areas (or on the side of the road…it happens). You carry your food with you in the vehicle for the most part, except when the guide needs to top off a few supplies when we actually get to a place that has a store. Lunches are generally sandwiches you make yourself, with fruit and cold leftovers from the night before. Everyone pitches in to carry supplies from the truck upon arrival. And in the hostels or backpacker inns, you sleep in one or a few rooms together (or camping….this tour did not camp but others in the group had just finished a camping tour and I will likely be doing that in the future). My American friends might think I’m crazy at this point, but I promise you there is this whole other culture of backpacking in most countries. It’s seriously fun and a great way to safely (and cheaply) see lots of places and meet lots of people.

OK, back to the trip. I had enjoyed my time alone for a few days de-stressing from work and was ready to be in the company of others.  After leaving Exmouth we travelled to Coral Bay, where I had another relaxing day on the beach. Coral Bay has some fun activities like swimming with Manta Rays and quad-biking (aka “4-wheeling” in American), but I had just swam with the amazing Whale Sharks and practically grew up driving a 4-wheeler (they charge a fortune and don’t let you go very fast, so pointless for me).

Travelling the next day, we passed through the Tropic of Capricorn and made a pit stop in the fruit-producing town of Carnarvon, where we had amazing chocolate-covered frozen bananas. The Shark Bay World Heritage Site area has some very interesting things happening.

·    Shell Beach is a 50 mile beach made completely  of shells of the cockle species. It has something to do with the extreme saltiness of the seawater here that allows the cockle to flourish – and it is quite a beautiful sight.

·    At Hamelin Pool, at the base of the Peron Peninsula, there are stromatolites, which are over 3 billion years old. They’re not exactly exciting to look at, but they are very special. This is one of only 3 places where they exist in the world (the other two in the Bahamas I am told).

·    The town of Denham where we spent the night and went out for a drink had some pretty interesting locals. Think “Deliverance” banjos. Denham is the western-most town in Australia.

·    Monkey Mia is most famous for the wild Bottlenose dolphins that have been coming to shore multiple times daily for feedings for 40+ years. I can’t believe how close they come.

·    Dirk Hartog Island is named for a Dutch captain who first landed there (debatable with some French dude) in 1616. He nailed his plaque to a tree, said the land was inhabitable, and moved along. Then in 1697 another Dutch captain, Willem de Vlamingh, landed on the island and spent some time exploring the west coast of Australia. It wasn’t until 1770 that Captain James Cook landed on the east coast, outside of Sydney, and the first British settlement began in 1778 - over one hundred years from when the Dutch first landed on the west coast in 1616!

·    An abundance of sea turtles, dugongs (manatees),  and the largest known area of sea grass in the world make this a truly special place.

In the Kalbarri area, we took some short hikes up to Nature’s Window and down to Murchison Gorge. Kalbarri is also famous for the Batavia ship of the Dutch East India Company, which is a story in itself. If you’re curious, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship) for a truly fascinating tale. Kalbarri is really beautiful and I’d like to come back and spend some more time here. There are also really stunning coastal cliffs to gaze out over the Indian Ocean and search for humpbacks and dugongs!

We also stopped for a bit of sandboarding on the dunes near Geraldton. Geraldton has a population of about 30,000, making it the 4^th largest city in the state of WA – and it is also the first traffic lights coming from the north top of Australia! While “attempting” to sandboard, I took quite a digger and ended up completely covered in sand sand sand everywhere, even in my ears! We then headed, sand and all, to Nambung National Park to check out the Pinnacles Desert. The Pinnacles were unknown to most of the Australian public until the 1960s when they were added to Nambung (which was originally a National Park due mostly to the wildflowers). You can also see them in the Empire of the Sun music video for “Standing on the Shore”.  

All in all, it was a great trip and I can’t wait to do some more exploring in Australia. I’d love to get up to Broome or even Darwin and do some camping. That will probably have to wait until next winter (June-August 2012) as the weather is pretty unbearable up there in summer. Oh so many things to do!! Now back to the daily grind.

Shell Beach

Sunrise over the Outback

A wild dolphin at Monkey Mia

Coastal cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean

One of many "Leaning Trees" near Geraldton

The Pinnacles Desert, Nambung National Park

Nature's Window, Kalbarri