Day Nine and Ten :(

 

I had to leave the crew today L  And take the Great Northern Highway back to Perth… I have never seen so much mining equipment… All we saw as we were driving south was mining equipment going north to Tom Price and Newman.. I really could see myself living in Newman, only because they pay very well!!! Tonight we stayed in old sheep herder quarters.

 

Up very early 430 am so we could get into Perth on time… I had enough time to get all my laundry done and get prepared for a very hectic week.  Out of a Peter Sellers movie, the party is over!! School for the next month is going to be very stressful and my motivation is meeting up with Erin and Ciera at the end of it all

road train

Me and My buddy Dominique

The crew

Huge Dump Truck

VERY far from home

Otherside of the World

Climbing up from Handrail Pool

I went down down down…

rankings

change in rankings

start of spider walk

Self-portrait!!

more spidey pics

Dales Billboard

Me by the Billboard

Me by the Four Gorges

The Crew by Dales Gorge

Me in the Gorge!!

Group in Front of Me

walking the line

Hardcore

More gorge walking

SPIDEY People

dada

Self portrait

fun fun

DANGER

shadow potrait on mt. bruce

Mt. Bruce

just about where i start freaking…

Pretty money view

me pretending to be excited

Champion

pretty good view

Self portrait coming down

Today was the second day in Karijini and my last day with the rest of the group L For everybody else was going to Broome and tomorrow I had to start heading back to Perth.  We were up early and on the trail..  Today was the day we did all the class five trails, which are the hardest ones that you can do without being a certified climber or guided by one.  Some places were so narrow that we had to get through by having both hands and feet on the wall (called Spider Walk)… There were signs everywhere saying how dangerous the gorge walking is and if you get hurt it will take a very long time for you to be rescued. And I understand how fatalities occur because the walking we did was challenging and if the rocks or your shoes are wet then it is super slick!!!  We got back to camp around two and ate lunch… Then about half the group decided to hike the second highest peak in WA, which is Mt. Bruce!!! It was about 95 degrees and the sun was blazing!!!!  I almost made it to the top, but had a little heights scare.  There was some beautiful views as well.  We all had a big party tonight since it was our last night together!!

First Day in Karijini

Today was the first day in Karijini!!! It was so amazing!!! UNDESCRIBABALE… I completely fell in love with this area…   There is no way that I can tell you all and the pictures can not do it justice!!!  Today we hiked and hiked and then we would come across a pool or a waterfall and jump in.  Oh yea and if you notice how everything is red in the pictures… that does not come off ANYTHING! I think that I am finally just getting it all off (after a week!!)  We went to Circle Pool, Fern Pool and some beautiful waterfalls.  This portion of the trip was definitely my favorite with all the walking and such!

Me jumping into a pool

Me and Dominique

Asbestos

Me above a Pool

Me doing what i do best

Waterfall

Climbing Down

Fern Pool

Fern Pool

Blue Blue skies and Red Cliffs

Me and Dominique by Fern Pool

Me and Bright Fern Pool

Below the waterfall

me in the waterfall pool

The Group before Descending

shadow self portrait

Spring

Driving To Karijini and Joeffe Gorge

Me in very very cold water

Tree outside Joeffe Gorge

Self Portrait

First Sunset in Karijini

Red Dirt on the way to Karijini

MT BRUCE!!!

Driving into Karijini

Shadow Portraits

Joeffe Gorge

Today we drove inland from Exmouth to Karijini. It was a very long drive… but driving through the desert was neat for me.  I am still in awe that anything can grow up here!!  Once we got to our camp in Karijini, we went to Joeffe Gorge which was a short walk and saw the sunset on the way back

Exmouth

Last night we drove into exmouth, which is a wonderful little town.  And has the best hostel along the west coast (that I saw).  Today we spent the whole day in Exmouth and in the morning we drove to Cape Range National Park.  We went up to a lighthouse look out and saw whales out in the ocean!!  Also from this vantage point, we could see the US Naval communications for the entire region!!! There were 20 huge towers!! It was pretty crazy.  We travelled another half and hour to the best beach we went to!! Turquoise Bay!!! Sadly today I forgot my camera at the hostel.  I have never seen water as blue or sand as white as on this beach!!! Today we rented snorkel equipment because Ningaloo (unlike the Great Barrier) is right off the beach. We saw reef sharks and nurse sharks (both have completely non-aggressive natures) sleeping under the coral.  I also got to swim with a sea turtle J  It was so cool and all I could think about was the turtle dudes in Finding Nemo.  I would go behind him or her where he couldn’t see me and he or she would turn its head very relaxed to see where I was.  Very very cool!! We stayed here til mid-afternoon and headed back to Exmouth for a beautiful sunset!!!

Coral Bay

Coral Bay was the first stop along Ningaloo Reef.  Ningaloo Reef is the longest continuous reef in the world (the Great Barrier is not continuous)  and is the only significant reef on the west coast of a continent. Today we got up around eight to book snorkeling… It was soo soo amazing.  This is the first time I have ever been snorkeling and I dont think that it will ever be better.  We swam with a manta ray.  It was so cool. We followed her around for about ten minutes( there are regulations on how long you can follow them for) and we were right above her!!!  The people who worked on the snorkel boat said that this was the best Manta Ray snorkel that they had ever had!!  There is very little known about them and the girls on the boat actually work for a professor at the uni I go to in Perth to research mantas.  The boat also took us out into the turtle sanctuary… we couldn’t snorkel here because of the law.  After showering and chilling out we went to the local pub for some pretty poor live music…. but the evening was fun anyways 🙂

HEHE painted in mud

Sailboat for you Dad

Wind Farm in Coral Bay

On the Boat

Some Coral in Coral Bay

FISHES!!!

ME!!!

Turtle!!

Cool Colored Coral

Me Snorkeling

Monkey Mia and Shark Bay to Coral Bay

Monkey Mia is where the dolphins come in to be fed.. i thought it was going t o be really cool but it was kinda dissapointing.  One cool thing was the pelicans drinking out of the sprinkler… hahah pretty funny and cute

The Crew in Monkey Mia

Dolphin

Pelican Drinking out of Sprinkler heheh!!!

  Today was a lot of driving, but i soon realize that once we get to Coral Bay it was all well worth it.

Kalbari

Driving to Denham

Gorges are gorgeous

Again

Me in Abseiliing Equip.

Gorge

Me and Nature’s Window

Nature’s Window

Today we went to Kalbari and hung out in one of the gorges!!! I ended up trying to conquer my fear of heights… and tried to abseil!! AKA rappel and it was so much fun!!! Lots of driving til we ended up in Denham to stay

First Day of Break

Hello All, It has taken me a really long time to write and I am writing retrospectively.  Any who… the first day of break I got up really early to head into the city to catch the van.  We drove a few hours North to the Pinnacles that was pretty cool… Geologically that is. We also stopped to sandboard, which was so so much fun!!!  HEHE This day was lots of driving and we ended up in a really small town with a hostel to ourselves.  The tour group was 18 of us.  Most from either the UK or Germany.  Everybody was young and excited to explore….

This is Where we Stayed with the Van in the Foreground

Pinnacles Billboard

Pinnacles

Me in the Pinnacles

Sandunes outside Geraldton

Me Sandboarding!!

Cool Sunset

Winding up to Wind down

So this week has pretty much been crazy!!! Super busy with school.  I had three assignments due today(Friday) and a midterm Wednesday!! But now I am done 🙂  I am really getting excited for my spring break!  I leave very early next friday morning.  Yesterday, I went to dinner at Erika’s (roomie) aunt and uncles house.  It was Yum.  And her uncle is going to teach me to surf once it gets warm because he goes every morning.   Well, I wont be writing for a while, but I will have bunches to talk about when i get back from my adventure up North. 

Cheers, Allison