First of all, sorry that you were all worried about me! Wifi and phone reception is limited in Western Australia. I’m fine and safely back in Perth after the 14 day trip from Perth to Broome. 

Now time for a little update…

The flight from Bangkok to Perth was interesting. The teenager behind me decided to throw up everywhere… I got to Kuala Lumpur airport and the man at the desk told me my luggage was not on the flight. He kept this up for 5 minutes then said ‘I’m only joking…why so serious?’

I arrived to Perth at 5.30am and made my way to the hostel. I couldn’t check in until 12noon so ended up sleeping in the tv room because I was so tired. The room I was staying in was messy with a capital M. I know I’m a messy person but this was 10x worse than any mess I’ve created. It didn’t go down too well when people in the room told me laptops, passports etc had been stolen recently. I went for a walk around Perth, it was such a lovely day with a nice breeze. 

I can’t say I had the most amazing sleep that night and then had to get up at 5am to start the 14 day Perth to Broome trip with Western Exposure.

Day one

There were 11 of us on the trip – me, another English girl, two Dutch, one German, two Swiss, two Australians and two Irish all ranging from 24 to 34. I found out I’m the only one doing the 14 day trip, everyone else is doing the 10 day trip and staying in Broome. That’s going to be a fun ride back to Perth for me.

It was a long day of driving today. I slept pretty much as soon as the engine started – it’s a gift, what can I say? Our first stop was the Pinnacles. The flies are annoying. One flew in my mouth and I swallowed it. Gross. Next we went sand boarding. Three little kids were watching us do it so before we left we let the little boy have a go, it made his day. I got sand everywhere, mouth, eyes, hair. We arrived at the hostel just before sunset; it’s located on the beachfront. We all went and watched the sunset, drank beers and played guitar.

Day two – Horrocks to Shark Bay

We had to leave the hostel by 6am and got on the road again. We went to a little spot where we saw a group of whales splashing around in the water. The weather wasn’t great so wore my jeans for the first time in a few months. We went to a spot called Nature’s Window and the Murchison Gorge surrounding it. We made it to a place called Shell Beach just in time for sunset. I would love to go back there.

Day three – Shark Bay to Coral Bay

The day of the long drive to Coral Bay (8 hours?). First stop – Money Mia to see the dolphins. The dolphins were nice to see but there were way too many people there that it didn’t feel special. After Money Mia we travelled to a place called Hamelin Pool to look at the Stromatolites. They just looked like rocks in the water… We then drove towards Coral Bay, our accommodation for the night. A few of us played giant Jenga( it got a bit hairy at times) then went to the beach to look at the stars.

Day four – Coral Bay to Exmouth

I decided to go on a snorkeling trip to see manta rays. Big mistake. I paid a lot of money to see a shadow in the water that none of us could tell if it was a manta ray or not. It could have been an amazing day but it really disappointed me. On the upside, we did see sharks and a sting ray.

Day five - Exmouth

Today we hired snorkels and went snorkeling in Turquoise bay. The Ningaloo Reef is really close to the beach here so we saw lots of cool fish.

Day six – Karijini National Park

Early in the morning we started the mammoth drive to Karijini National Park. Once we got there we went straight for a swim in Joffre Gorge. I bought a sexy fly net in Exmouth and my god am I glad I did, flies are literally everywhere here! I set my swag up outside for the night, sleeping under the stars awww. Reception told us they had spotted a brown snake in the bathroom a few nights before; I really wish they hadn’t told me that piece of information. Let the outdoors adventure begin!

Day seven – Karijini National Park

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. It was way too hot I ended up unzipping the swag, sleeping in only my t shirt and sleeping bag. I didn’t even care that the mozzies would get me! Today we went to Dales Gorge, Fortesque Falls, Fern Pool and Circular Pool. It was amazing. I can’t describe in words what the gorges look like and the pictures won’t do it justice. My trusty converse are holding out yet again! I love you converse! It was extremely hot today, one of the girls fainted after one of the hikes. My clothes got covered in red earth. How do you get red earth out of a white hoodie? Replies on a postcard please. One of the Swiss guys decided I should be his ‘back up’ wife. Well that’s what I’ve always wanted to be, someone’s back up wife!

My swag

Day eight – Karijini National Park

Today we went to Weano Gorge and Hancock Gorge. At Weano Gorge I got to crawl like a spider up the walls to get to the other side. The reward was a beautiful little pool at the end of the track. We found a huge dead cockroach which wasn’t very pleasant but a photo opportunity none the less. At Hancock Gorge we couldn’t get down to the water unless we used a handrail to maneuver ourselves down the rock edge. It was so much fun and the swim at the end was worth it! A few of us swam through narrow tunnels and climbed rocks to get to a waterfall at the other side of the pool. You don’t get to do things like this every day. Always fills you with hope when your tour guide tells you a man died in this spot a few weeks ago.

It was our last night in Karijini and we watched the sunset, had a mammoth guitar session and even found someone to play the ukulele. I was greeted by a frog in the bathroom whilst brushing my teeth (at least it wasn’t a snake!).

Day nine – Pardoo Cattle Station

We drove to Pardoo cattle station via Port Headland. In the evening, I got bitten on the bum by a centipede. It stung a little but I didn’t think anything of it until one of the Aussie guys on the trip saw the video I took of it and said ‘I don’t mean to alarm you but you should show Sean this (our tour guide), it’s not bad but it’s not good’. I thought crap, crap, crap. So Sean got his insect book and rang the venom hotline number. It turns out the bites hurt like hell but aren’t venomous. Phew! It’s quite rare to be bitten by one so just my luck for it to happen to me.

Day ten - Broome 

Location for breakfast this morning – 80 mile beach. Broome is Hot!!! Just sitting I was sweating. We got to Broome around 2pm but couldn’t check in until 4pm. I had to run to made it to my sunset camel ride! The camel ride was really relaxing but the camel thought it would be fun to put me on a slant to the right for the entire hour trip. After the camel ride the whole group met up for food and drinks as everyone would be going their separate ways tomorrow.

Day eleven – Broome

I just chilled out today, went to the beach and into town for a look around. It was too hot to stay in the sun today. 

Day twelve – Broome to Karijini National Park

I had a 13 hours’ drive to Karijini with the tour guide today = torture. I couldn’t sleep at all and had to constantly talk to him to keep him awake. It wasn’t much fun. The best bit of the drive happened when we were 30km away from the campsite and the van decided to get a mechanical fault and wouldn’t let us drive over 40km an hour on corrugated style dirt roads! It took us an hour and a half to drive 30kms! Sean rang the mechanic but there wasn’t much they could do as it was Saturday evening. I met another group of 5 people who would be making their way back to Perth with me. I slept in a swag outside again, it was much cooler this time than when I was here a few days ago.

Day thirteen – Karijini National Park

We all got up early to see what was happening with the van. At 12 noon someone finally came to look at the van and told us we wouldn’t be going anywhere today. A few options were floating around, one being that someone would drive from Perth to Karijini then we would drive straight back to Perth. We didn’t hear back from head office the time frame to this ( a 16 hour drive) was slipping away. In the end we were told we were to be flown from Newman back to Perth on Sunday. It was a great way to waste a day in the reception of a camp site.

Day fourteen – Perth

Today we joined another group and did some of the gorges again. It was nice but it wasn’t the same without the group I went up to Broome with. It took 3 hours to get to Newman airport from Karijini. Newman airport is basically a shack in the middle of know where! A lightning storm was happening during takeoff, it was awesome to see the sky lighting up. We were supposed to have transport arranged when we got to Perth but because of the Qantas strikes they weren’t letting certain vehicles in to the arrivals/departures. I ended up making my own way to the hostel and flopped in to bed. I’m on the top bunk with no bars on the side of the bed. Oh dear.

So now I’m in Perth until Friday then I fly over to New Zealand! Exciting times. Oh and happy Halloween everyone. It’s pretty quiet where I’m staying so I’m not sure if I’ll be doing much tonight.