Recap of the Northwest Trip

What an action-packed vacation! I don't even know where to start, we covered so much on this great trip. The ten days took us over 6,500 km of the beautiful northern part of Western Australia. I kept a log everyday of our activities which I will share with you. Overall, I learned to appreciate how spread of everything is in this country, and some much I enjoy being a city kid. I was proud of myself on the camping front, no crying at all. It felt good to come home and take a hot shower. I slept great on a real bed for the first time in over a week. I could have never seen these sights on my own, it is too much driving and without the knowledge of our guides I would have missed so much. I am very happy to have had their knowledge and experience on this journey.

Day 1 = Over six hours of driving was broken up by stopping at gas station every two hours. This was a great way to drive though several small towns and take in the changing landscape as we got further north. One minute you were staring at miles of fields with sheep, and then suddenly the ocean would peak out on the horizon. We slept at a sheep station in a barn.

Day 2 = More driving, including a stop in Kalbarri, a town known for the view where its river meets the ocean. It was beautiful. We also stopped at a gorge and hiked around, taking pictures at "nature's window", a rock formation that has a perfect snapshot through a hole in the rocks. We slept in tents at a caravan park.

Day 3 = We spent the day at Monkey Mia, the world famous beach where wild dolphins come everyday to be fed. Apparently, the process used to be much more natural, but for the dolphin's safety it is now very regulated. A few fish are given to a couple dolphins by scientists who give a talk about the animals. You as a tourist must stand on the beach and watch. Lucky for me, the rule is once the feeding is over you can go in the water and take your chances with the dolphins. I was treated to a great show, but I was not able to pet them. After the dolphins, we took a boat out into the water and went boomnetting. This consists of four or five people getting dragged behind the boat at a fast speed and playing in the waves like dolphins. It's like tubing without the tube. I loved it. We spotted some manatees, but they were too far away for me to take photos. We spent the night in tents at the same caravan park.

Day 4 = Full day of driving again, but that evening when we arrived at our sheep station for the night, we went swimming on a private beach and watched humpback whales jumping about a half a mile off shore. It was beautiful

Day 5 = Diving at Ningaloo Reef in Coral Bay, the only fringe reef with coral in the world. The weather was stormy, so the big manta rays were not around, but the coral was beautiful. There was more diversity than in the Great Barrier, but less color. I was happy we didn't see any sharks. That evening we went to the only bar in coral bay (they only have one of everything really) and my peers indulged in two dollar beer night. We spent the night in a sheep station that had dorm rooms with real beds. It felt so good to have a real room!

Day 6 = All day drive to Kaijini national park. We got there after dark so setting up our tents was a challenge. I was really worried about spiders, snakes, lizards, and dingos. We managed to scare them all away with our noise I guess.

Day 7 = We spent all day hiking through gorges and swimming in fresh water pools at Karijini. It was so nice to be active all day after all that driving. The land was beautiful.

Day 8 = We hiked and took a swim in the morning before starting another long drive. I ran into a snake, but it was a pygmy python so I wasn't in any danger. I did scream though. We arrived in the mining town of Newman in the afternoon. It is home to the biggest iron ore mine in Australia. The miners work hard days, four weeks on and one week off. Our guides took us to the local miner bar, and as you can image a large group of international students got a lot of attention, especially the women. We stayed in groups, and managed to all get home without having our butts touched too much. I don't know if the work is worth the money because the lifestyle is so lonely, but to get paid 100,000 to hold a stop/go sign all day isn't bad. We spent the night in the tents in the parking lot of the caravan park where the miners live.

Day 9 = All day driving to a sheep shearing shed where we had a big fire to mark the end of the trip.

Day 10 = Driving all day to get back to campus. It was cool to watch desert turn back into farm country and then city again. I will miss the random emu or kangaroo standing by the road side (or laying if they were unlucky). I really am not a camping girl at heart though.