And it goes a little something like this…

My long time friend, Rafeena, our newly acquired American backpacker friend/housemate, Doug, and I left Perth on Sunday 5 July, final destination Broome. But this trip was about the journey, though Raf did have a wedding to attend in Broome on the 21st of July. Then she had to be back in Perth for uni on the 31st. Doug was continuing around Australia. I was undecided, but I packed so I continue my journey to Darwin and southeast asia.

Our transport was my blue Toyota Corolla. It had to get back to Perth as my brother was buying if from me.

The main stops on our trip were Exmouth/Ningaloo and Karijini, as Raf and I both hadn’t been. But there are many stops on the way, and for Doug’s benefit we included a few more.

Sunday 5 July – Perth to Geraldton

• Visited the Pinnacles at Nambung National Park and took silly photos
• Stayed the night with Dave, my friend Sarah’s partner, in Geraldton. Thanks to Dave for the hospitality, panadeine fueled conversation and driving us to get takeaway!

Monday 6 July – Geraldton to Kalbarri/Murchison River

• Visited Hutt River Principality – Prince Lennard showed us around and stamped our passports, funny man
• Visited the coastal cliffs of Kalbarri and The Seahorse Sanctuary

• Kalbarri National Park with Z-bend and Natures Window road closed due to heavy rain
• Finlays Fish Pub was shut so had pizza then drove to Murchison River 24hr rest stop and on the way visited Ross Graham Gorge in Kalbarri National Park by moonlight (only about 5kms off the main road).
• Got bogged driving into camping spot next to Murchison River and even with sticks and help pushing from two guys couldn’t get out so their 4WD pulled us, and even it slipped a bit doing so. I got quite worried for a while, my car came dangerously close to a tree too@
• Slept in the car… Doug on the back seat with his feet leaning on an esky outside the car (he’s tall…!)

Tuesday 7 July – Murchison River to Denham

• Got up early and at the next roadhouse cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast on our stove
• Drove to Shark Bay, stopping at a point before Denham for a stroll on the beach and sandbank
• Drove to the homestead in Francois Peron National Park, 10kms above Denham mid afternoon and lazed on the grass, sat in the 44 degree hot tub (water from an artesian spring) and had a bbq at sunset
• Stayed at a caravan park in Denham

Wednesday 8 July – Denham to Carnarvon

• Got up early to catch the dolphins at Monkey Mia. Made breakfast (porridge) in the carpark
• Drove to Carnarvon, stopping at Shell Beach and the Stromatolites in Hamelin Bay on the way
• Stayed with my friend Sarah and her daughter in Carnarvon. Thanks to them for the beds, interwebs, organising our camping spot in Coral Bay and washing machine use :D

Thursday 9 July – Carnarvon to Coral Bay

• Left Carnarvon stopping at some farms along South River Road to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, mango chutney and choc coated banana and mango icecreams
• Arrived in Coral Bay, checked in to a caravan park before quickly rushing to the beach to see the salmon feeding at 3.30pm.
• Raf and Doug snorkeled as I came to the realisation I couldn’t snorkel with glasses on(or without, I’m -5.5) and that I couldn’t find my emergency contact lenses (were a trial pair that weren’t that comfortable and hadn’t used in 6 months). My sprained foot didn’t help with flippering either.
  So I was a bit down thinking I wouldn’t be able to snorkel at all on this trip, but thinking it is still a beautiful place and I could do a glass bottom boat or quad bike tour.

Friday 10 July – Coral Bay to Exmouth

• Inquired about tours and discovered they hired out prescription snorkel masks!!!!! And they’re highest prescription was -5.5!! Woooo!
• Got into the water at Paradise Beach(Coral Bay) and within two minutes, before even reaching the coral, I felt something sting my back, looked behind me and I was dragging along a blue bottle jellyfish by it’s long thing (nearly invisible) tentacles. It tangled itself all over my back, and Raf and Doug helped get it off while I was slightly panicky. I’m not a big fan of the ocean. Main reasons: jellyfish, octopus, sea snakes, scary looking fish and salt/sand. So typical. And they’re not supposed to be there. It’s not the season, *and* they usually don’t end up in sheltered waters!
• Walked the 20mins back to the town, bought vinegar but by that time the pain had nearly subsided anyway and I just had a bit of a rash.
• Got back to Raf and Doug who had happily snorkeled without sighting another jellyfish,
• Jumped back on the horse and went snorkeling. It was awesome! No scary looking things and no more jellyfish(except tiny nearly invisible ones). Lots of colourful fish and plenty of colourful coral in between lots of brown coral.
• Left Coral Bay at around 2pm and drove to Exmouth, arriving at Andy and Jenny’s house, Raf knows Andy from Fremantle. They’re english backpackers working in Exmouth for 6 months.
• Drove to the lighthouse to view the sunset and ate tuna caught, cleaned and cooked by Andy for dinner.
• Went out for drinks and dancing at the pub with Andy, Jenny and a bunch of their friends

Saturday 11 July – Whale shark diving!

• Got up early to go out on a boat for a day with Ningaloo Dreaming
• Snorkeled for an hour with a 5.5 metre whale shark, snorkeled for 20 minutes with 3 big manta rays and saw turtles, dolphins and humpback whales
• All three of us experienced sea sickness, Raf all day, and so badly she didn’t swim long with the whale shark and not at all with the manta rays unfortunately. I was fortunate that my sickness only last 15 minutes and only resulting in me losing morning tea ;)
• Snorkeled over nice coral in the afternoon

Sunday 12 July – Cape Range National Park

• Drove into Cape Range National Park and were lucky to get the second last camping spot in the park (previous days all full), and at the best camping spot, Yardie Creek. 50m from the beach and 500m from Yardie Creek Gorge.
• Relaxed on the beach and late afternoon had a swim in the gorge/creek.

Monday 13 July – Snorkeling and Exmouth

• Walked the track further along the gorge, spotting wallabies and a feral goat on the other side.
• Snorkelled at Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay. Oyster Stacks was best by far. Turquoise Bay there was less coral, less diversity and it was much busier, but it was a nice beach to relax on. Apparently South Mandu is also really good.
• Drove back to Exmouth, did a big shopping expedition for our 5+ days in Karijini, and stayed with friends again