Monday, April 30, 2007

Perth at last

It's been so long since I updated this. We headed to Cape Range national park just outside to Exmouth. In these national parks it's a constant battle to keep food fresh or not gone off. The procedure is generally meat for the first day followed by the remaining days of pasta and veg. I'm definitely not vegetarian material. Lots of snorkelling was done here and it was pretty amnazing. Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay were the highlights. Oyster Stacks has to be done at high tide and the coral is amazing. Turquoise Bay is cool as the current brings you right along the coast but then you swim like a hoor as you get towards the end of the headland as the current would drag you out to sea or Tiger shark territory. Got to meet a nice couple from Newcastle, New South Wales here. Mandu Mandu gorge is well worth a look here as well although we didn't appreciate it after being in Karijini. The Kangaroos here were very tame and would come right up to you. They definitely get my vote as the stupidest creatures in the animal kingdom. They make rabbits look intelligent. Wildlife item of interest is that a Kangaroo can cryogenically freeze their eggs if for example there is a drought and the kangaroo doesn't think it will be able to carry it's young to birth or to miscarry.

After here we headed down for Coral Bay. Nice spot but very small. After Cape Range the snorkelling didn't compare either. It was the Easter school holidays and the place was thronged with kids. Not much nightlife here although that could be a theme of the whole West Coast bar Perth. We also went on a Whale Shark trip while we were here although I couldn't recommend it. It cost $450 and we only saw the sharks for less than a minute. It could have been the fault of the weather the day we were there. The currents dragged you towards the sharks and they got scared and swam off. Saw a sea turtle which was good though. I think it was 3 days we were here and by the end of it we were delighted to be leaving. I will add as the time goes on this entry I will steadily be getting more pissed off as myself and Caroline were starting to get travel weary. You start to not appreciate what you're seeing. ANOTHER GORGE!!!

We followed this trip by heading for Carnarvon. Easily the worst town in WA. A pier is the towns main selling point called the one mile jetty. Got a picture of a stork here though. Of more interest is the satellite dish here from the film "The Dish". This dish was used to communicate with the Apollo missions when NASA lost contact when the spacecraft was in the Southern hemisphere. Oddly the town doesn't sell this fact at all. I thought there might be some facts on this but nada. We went on a tour of a banana plantation outside the town here as well. We also met some Dubs here as well who we were to meet in the next place as well. Not bad to meet a couple of drinking buddies.

The next day we headed for Denham. This place had a lovely little town. We visited one of 2 pubs in the town with our drinking buddies that night to acquire the hangover from hell. We hadn't much time to worry about headaches the next morning as we headed for Monkey Mia to see dolphins. This was well worth seeing. I also discovered my underwater camera doesn't work underwater or at all anymore here. Will have to invest in a new one here in Perth.

Kalbarri was our next stop. The national park wasn't great but I think this might be because we were getting spoiled at this stage. The Pelican feeding was good the following morning although I thought they looked more like storks. We headed for the Hutt River Principality the following morning although I must say that the gorges along the coast heading away from Kalbarri were amazing. The Hutt River Principality is it's own country. I think it was the 60s that it broke away due to harsh agricultural quotas. Prince Leonard is a very interesting character.

We arrived in Geraldton that night which was the day before ANZAC day. The marine museaum here was very interesting. We headed to the cinema that night which was followed by a couple of pints with a rock group. Stayed for the ANZAC celebrations the following day. The whole town seemed to be out. Obviously I sat for God Save the Queen. She's not my Queen.

Headed towards the Pinnacles then outside Cervantes. This was very cool looking. We headed on for Perth then which was a bit hairy avoiding the road trains at night. Arrived in Northbridge for ANZAC night and made the Shed in northbridge for a couple of pints. The place was rocking. Was a fantastic night. Other than that in Perth we haven't done much bar bum around with a small bit of job hunting thrown in. Being put forward for a job in Ericssons after all my efforts to get away from them. Also saw Fremantle. The Dockers won yesterday who I think will be my adopted AFL team although I think they're 4th from bottom. The Eagles are a shower of druggies and hooligans so I won't support them which I'm sure will amuse the Eircom League followers. Will look to sell the van now that we're in Perth. Hope all is well Slan. I'm sure you all love me and miss me as one fairly oiled Blacktrench based person said to me after the Punchestown races.

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