Karijini

We'd heard lots of great things about Karijini National Park and so left ourselves nearly 3 days to spend there, which I'm so glad we did. On the surface, the park is just some lovely landscape, but it's what's below the surface that's so great: gorges galore. And at the bottom of most of them, croc-free (we're not really in croc country quite yet--stay tuned!), swimming safe natural pools! Heaven on a hot day.

 

At the pool pictured just above, which is a special site for Aboriginals, there came all this clatter from the tree above the ladder down into the pool, and we looked up to find several dozen bats restlessly hanging from the branches.

We're also firmly in spinifex country, its golden waves very characteristically Australian.

The amateur geologist in me loved all of the amazing rock faces in and around these gorges and pools, and though we were hopelessly covered in iron-red dust by the time we finally left the park, I was so happy.

Pilbara

Passing into the Tropic of Capricorn, our next stop was going to be the town of Exmouth--and nearby Ningaloo National Park, with its right-off-the-beach snorkeling, whale sharks, and other marine marvels. But as we were driving into the Pilbara region, the coast was living up to its "Cyclone Alley" nickname, and a very heavy rain was a-fallin'. SR wisely decided we should stop driving earlier than planned when we saw "FLOODWAY" signs every few kilometers on the road we were traveling and the rain just kept coming down harder. So we pulled over at a rest area, where several other road trippers seemed to be doing the same thing, to wait for the rain to pass and try again in the morning.

 

Except in the morning, the road we'd been traveling down was now a river!

 

The vans and trucks--and even a couple of sedan-type cars--that we saw attempt the crossing all got through...

But as we went through our a.m. routine and debated what to do, we learned that farther ahead, the road to Exmouth was closed until at least the mid-afternoon, and we decided not to risk going through the water for a lot of waiting and then a very rushed visit to the park. Got to leave something on the "next time" list, right? So instead we pointed the car inland and headed deeper into the Pilbara region.

Soon, the landscape became dotted with enormous termite mounds.

And our little campervan began to look very small amid the sprawling scrub and sky.

We were getting into Australia's more unforgiving, harsh desert environments, and creatures who learned that the hard way (though this one was probably roadkill):

There was also evidence everywhere of the previous night's rain, with swollen rivers surging through the other-wise bone-dry terrain.

And with each kilometer we went deeper into the region, the more red with iron the dirt became.

Within a few days, we (and all of our stuff) would be covered with so much red dust that I looked like I'd gotten a deep tan and invested in a bottle of hair dye. But the beautiful landscape urged us on...

Shark Bay

Continuing farther up Australia's western coast, from Kalbarri we headed to the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. There, we found the world's largest stromatolite colony (plus this really cool fish in the picture)...

...and a Shell Beach that truly lived up to its name: miles of not sand but this:

At Eagle Bluff the turquoise water was stunning and if you look closely at the bottom of this picture, maybe you can see the manta ray that we saw.

I have no idea what the creature on this sign is supposed to be, but I love it and was glad we didn't run over any.

And then, we did the classic thing that almost all visitors to Shark Bay do: visit the Bottle-nosed dolphins at Monkey Mia. They do limited feedings each morning that draw select dolphins close to the shore. So fun to see!

The Monkey Mia resort also has emus prancing along...

...and these GORGEOUS pelicans.

Kalbarri

Continuing northward, we arrived in the town of Kalbarri--which wins my vote for most scenically situated town we've seen in awhile--and the beautiful national park of wild coastline and gorges that surrounds it.

 

It rained the whole time we were there, which I thought was actually kind of great; it did prevent us from doing any extended walking, but it brought the animals out in droves to drink from the puddles that were forming in the road. We must have seen more than a hundred kangaroos--they were EVERYWHERE. And some other less commonly seen creatures....

And then, of course, was the scenery itself, which became more spectacular as the rain cleared up on our way out of the park.

 

 

The Turquoise Coast

When we finally departed Perth, we took Indian Ocean Road north along the coast out of the city. At Nilgen look-out, we got to take a walk among all these cool grasstrees:

 

And then at Wedge Point--and pretty much everywhere else along this coast--there was a pristine, empty white beach. I don't think they're so empty when it's a little warmer out; it's a bit too chilly for frolicking in the ocean, as we're still far south enough for it to be feeling like fall. But never fear, we're headed north to warmer climes. Is it getting boring, Blog Reader, to look at yet another beautiful Australian beach? Hope not.

One really interesting and unique sight along the coast was Lake Thetis, just outside of the town of Cervantes, and its stromatolites and thrombolites. These are the rock-looking things in this picture, but they're not rocks; they're actually microbial colonies, much like those that first formed from the primordial goo in the early days of planet Earth, before kangaroos and wombats roamed the land. :)

Maybe my favorite sight of the Turquoise Coast was a tad bit inland (and I mean just a tad bit--it kind of blends with the sky in these pictures but the ocean is right there on the horizon in some of them): Pinnacles Desert, which is a section of Nambung National Park near Cervantes. These rock spires, some 4 meters tall, made for really beautiful walking and picture-taking. Such a cool place.

Perth

I think I'd read before about the unusual isolation of the city of Perth, but I couldn't really appreciate it until we drove there from the Adelaide area, several days away through nothing but bush and some very hardy folks who survive on it.

 

But once in Perth, which is surprisingly sprawling and very urban, it was hard to believe that all that open space is even out there. We joined the city dwellers for dinner in Mt. Lawley one evening...

 

...found a great beach in Joondalup that had a lot where we could park the campervan overnight...

...checked out ultra-alternative Fremantle (including grabbing a fabulous yoga class--not pictured!)...

...absorbed views of the big city behind the state parliament building...

...appreciated the avenue of eucalypts planted 85 years ago in celebration of Western Australia's centennial...

...and joined the Perthians (?) enjoying their city from Kings Park on the federal holiday on the Monday after Easter.

I really doubt we would have spent so much time Perth if we hadn't needed to hang around to get all our Antarctica medical stuff done, but I'm kind of glad for the serendipitous opportunity to get to know a place a little better, random as it may be. I'll remember this place for its seemingly perpetual clear, blue sky and its lonely--but somehow proud rather than lonely--perch on the edge of the continent, miles and miles of bushland on one side, the Indian Ocean stretching out into the distance on the other.

Australia's South West

I feel like this region of the country should have some more interesting, descriptive name than it does, but as far as I can tell, this is it: Australia's South West! Encompassing the Margaret River Wine Valley, some really big trees, and countless idyllic beaches.

 

SR and I were in Perth (that post coming next) for a bunch of doc/dentist appointments to get qualified for Antarctica in October, and then had to go away for the long Easter weekend to allow time for all the tests to come back and paperwork to be completed. So we decided to go away to the South West, a little corner of the country that is both exactly what I imagined Australia is and what I never imagined it is.

 

What I didn't imagine is the trees! We did the "Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk" near Walpole, which is kind of a tourist trap--but also very cool to be 40 meters in the air, with only the upper reaches of the huge Red Tingle eucalypts stretching overhead.



 

And then there are the beaches, which ARE the Australia I was expecting. We were mesmerized watching the body boarders at the beach at Yallingup for the better part of an hour.

And then there was the beach at Peaceful Bay...

...at Conspicuous Cliff...

...and misty, ship-wrecked Mandalay Beach...

...before ducking back into the trees of the towering Karri Forest...

...before more spectacular coastline at Point D'Entrecasteaux.

Forest, beach, forest, beach--it was a beautiful way to spend the long Easter weekend while we waited for all of our paperwork in Perth to get done. And so much of it so refreshingly different from what I expected this country to be like.