We did it! We got to go on the Western Australia trip that was scheduled last year but got cancelled due to lock down. Google says we went to 34 cities and 95 places. I wonder how it determines what a “place” is. We drove 4797 km (2981 miles) up the state over 2 weeks. Upcoming wild animals we saw: quokka, kangaroo, dingo, goanna, emu, camel, whale shark, dugong, humpback whale, dolphins, reef fish, and turtles.
Perth
As soon as we landed in Perth we started walking, trying to get the lay of the city. There were some iconic spots we had to go. We saw a lovely sunrise, went to Fremantle (colonizer prison that was in use until 1991), and visited the museum.
Rottnest Island
I have wanted to see quokkas for a couple years now and was very excited to have a lovely day there to bike around the island, view the turquoise water, and coo over the cute marsupials.
Pinnacles to Kalbarri
The pinnacles were a little smaller than the ones we grow in the US 🙂 Then we drove 6 hours to Kalbarri where the next morning we had a mama and joey visit us.
This is when we lost wi-fi and didn’t get it back until the last day of our travels. I went through dopamine withdrawal.
Kalbarri to Hamelin Station
In Kalbarri National Park, we visited Nature’s Window, hiked, visited the Skywalk, and hiked to the Z-bend overlook.
Hamelin Pool is the home of living stromatolites. We stayed at a de-commissioned sheep station. Since the boardwalk over the stromatolites was damaged in a 2021 cyclone, we didn’t get an up close look at them.
Monkey Mia
For more than 50 years wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins have visited the shallows at Monkey Mia. Only a select group of five mature females are offered fish and are only offered fish during their first three visits between 7:45 am and 12 noon.
https://www.sharkbay.org/place/monkey-mia/
We also took a catamaran trip touring shark bay where there were dugong, dolphin, and turtle sightings
Exmouth and swimming with whale sharks
We started on another 6+ hour drive north taking a lunch break in Coral Bay. BF snorkeled and I just walked in the shallows. We arrived in Exmouth, founded by US expats in the 1960’s, to get ready for our swim with whale sharks experience on the Ningaloo reef.
On the second swim, the shark kept turning in my direction. I swam madly to get out of its way but when I turned around, it had oriented itself again in my direction. I kept swimming away again and again until I was out of breath and a little terrified. I just wanted to get out of the water by then!! A whale shark’s mouth is about 5 feet wide (1.5 m). They have rows of over 300 teeth, but as filter feeders they do not use these teeth to eat. So I didn’t need to be afraid of it eating me, I just didn’t want it to bump me or me get in its way. We survived and enjoyed more swims and a reef drift snorkel.
Karijini National Park
We did a 7.5 hour drive to Karijini National Park where we stayed in an Eco-Retreat. What is an eco-retreat? Camping in a 4-bed trailer with no electricity and public toilets. We hiked Mt. Bruce, Western Australia’s 2nd highest peak which was smaller than La Cumbre Peak that we see outside our SB home. I’m a little out of shape so it kicked my butt. We then went on a casual walk to a First Nation’s pool and waterfall. On the way home, we got a great view of a dingo. Elite!
Marble Bar
On our multi-hour trips, we listened to Dan Simmons’ Illium. It was at least two-thirds longer than it needed to be but it allowed non-drivers to snooze along the way without missing the story line.
Driving into Marble Bar, our car developed a loud, screeching sound that we couldn’t tell if it was the tire, the breaks, or something else. We stopped at the Comet Gold Mine and tourist center where an old Dutch immigrant told the history of the mine. BF thought this was a most authentic experience. The museum was filled with old mining gear.
Marble Bar gets its name from what was thought to be a colorful Marble Bar that crosses the Coongan River. The rock is in fact jasper. Marble Bar has earned the reputation of the hottest town in Australia from the consistently high temperatures it receives. Ironclad Hotel was erected as Marble Bar’s first hotel in 1892, one of the first two permanent buildings in the town at the time of the gold rush. This was a must-do for BF.
The real goal in Marble Bar was to see the 3.5 billion-year-old fossils. They were not well marked and all we had to go from was gps markings with no gps available. A compass was used, so old-school. I on the other-hand, took pix of flowers. As I do.
Boring to Broome
We cut our Marble Bar experience to detour to Port Hedland so we could replace our broken car. Google maps was outdated so the Avis outlets were no longer where we were directed to. Long afternoon. We get to a nice hotel, thinking we could finally get wi-fi (I was still in the tail end of my withdrawal) but was told that the wi-fi was out for an undetermined amount of time. At least we had electricity and more than 1 bar of cell connectivity.
On the way to Broome, we saw goanna (monitor lizard-like creature) and finished the audiobook. In Broome, we learned about the pearl diving history, saw fossilized dinosaur footprints on the beach, and celebrated BF’s new title of Distinguished Professor.
We flew from Broome to Melbourne to start our month of work. I’m so happy to have seen wild quokka, kangaroo, dingo, whale shark, dugong, humpback whale, dolphins, generic reef fish, turtle, goanna, emu, and camel. This was an amazing trip.
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