20 Apr 2007 12:49 - Australië
Hello,
It's been a while since I posted my last story so here's an update on what I've been doing on the West coast.
After staying in Perth for a few days I started heading north towards Cervantes where I visited The Pinnacles desert. This doesn't feel like a desert at all because of all the greenery surrounding the area.
The next stop was Geraldton where I visited the fisherman's co-op. This is a holding facility where live lobsters (with a total value of over $4,000,000!) are kept before being shipped to overpriced restaurants. After this, I went to see the pink lake near Port Gregory.
The next day I drove to Kalbarri where I looked at the stunning coast line and the Murchinson River Gorge. Next, I went to Monkey Mia to see the "wild" dolphins that come and visit there every day in order to get some free snacks. Afterwards I went to the Francois Peron National Park to try the hot spring. But because it was 42 degrees outside and the water was 44 degrees the hot spring was closed. In order to cool down a bit I drove to Shell Beach where I wondered at the millions of tiny shells that make up most of the beach. Finally I went to Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites. These rocks have been formed by some of the oldest known organisms on earth. But, no matter how you put it, you're still looking at a pile of rocks :)
The next day I went to Coral Bay where I spent two days snorkeling and reading on the beach. The snorkeling here is absolutely great, just walk out 50 metres and you're right on top of the Ningaloo Reef surrounded by turtles, reef sharks and parrotfish!
After arriving in Exmouth I went straight to the dive shop to confirm my reservation for the whale shark tour the next day. Unfortunately it was far to windy to go out on the reef and my trip was canceled. The following day I went scuba diving on the reef. During my second dive I swam underneath arches of coral filled with thousands of little fish. A truly magical experience! After that I went on a shark tour but, unfortunately didn't get a good look at the shark.
Sunday I finally got to see a whale shark! Even though it was only a juvenile, 6 metres of fish is not exactly small... It was really an awesome day. We had to be ready to jump of the boat in front of the shark all day (as soon as one of the planes found a shark). We snorkeled, had a great lunch and got to see a really big fish :D
During the rest of my stay in Exmouth I visited the Cape Range NP and camped together with Manfred and Joel who I met on my first whale shark tour.
Before I left Exmouth I managed to catch up with Pascal, Leon & Mieke who I first met at Schiphol Airport just before leaving the Netherlands.
Thats all I have time for now,
Greetz, Bart
