Goodbye to Oz, hello to Thailand (again)

After a smooth handover of the van, I had a full day to get all my pictures uploaded to the internet. The upload speed was the best I had so far, so you should be able to see all my pictures online now. It might seem quite a lot of pictures, as I also use the internet as a backup. As you can see, I use Picasa and increased my available disk space to 10 GB total for only US$20 per year. With the current exchange rate, a steal for having it as a way to show my pictures and as a backup!

I rented a car to get to Dunsborough again, to see Nicole & Co a last time before returning to Thailand. After all, I don’t know when I will see them again, although they have some vague plans of coming over to The Netherlands and show her little strawberry to her family and friends. It was really nice to see hear again. The weather was very wet and much colder and with no central heating in buildings, quite chilly.

On the 23rd, I left Dunsborough very early for Perth, as I had to return the rental car at noon at the airport. After a smooth 3½ hour drive, I was on time, but had to wait for another 8 hours at the airport before my flight would depart. I could of course have gone later and extended my rental, but it was okay to stay out there for that time. Tiger Airways had several options to limit cost for excess baggage, such as a sports equipment option and pre-pay further excess baggage, so that was not too painful.

I arrived in the middle of the night in Singapore, where I had to wait again several hours for my connecting flight to Phuket. And in Phuket, I would have to wait again several hours for flying to Samui. It was okay to travel so extensively, as it was the cheapest option and I was in now hurry.

So, after a total of 36 hours of travel, I got back to Koh Samui and it feels good to be here. Leaving Oz and be back to this island does feel a bit like going home. I will be staying here for a few days to sort out some business and I already got my stitches in my leg removed. It will take several days before I can jump into the water again. That is fine, as it is currently very quite down here. I am now thinking of moving to Koh Tao by the end of the week, so keep an eye out for further postings from Samui or Tao!

Sawadee Krab!

Road Trip III

Snorkeling with Manta Ray, Coral Bay

I had seen a manta ray before. Only once, when I was at a liveaboard in the Similan Islands, Thailand. It was a beautiful site, to see such a graceful and large animal glide through the water. And now, I was looking forward to see it for the second time.

Our boat took us to the inner reef, just North of Coral Bay. Soon, the spotter plane was up in the air, on the look-out for these gentle creatures. After we did a bit of snorkeling to test the water entry in 2 groups, we had to wait until the pilot would see one from the air. And we were in luck! Close-by, a manta ray was cruising from shore to the reef at a steady pace and in a clear pattern. We all got ready to enter the water to see it with our own eyes. As the pictures on Picasa show, the water was murky, due to the strong winds which had stirred up the sandy bottom, but we were able to see it. Regulations state that we had to keep a certain distance and not disturb the animal, but I got quite close, as close as it was allowed. For some time it swam along the bottom below us, but several times it came up all the way to the surface. It was a magnificent site to see it glide through the water so effortlessly, while we had to snorkel at full speed.

After the snorkeling, I went for a dive on the reef. It felt great to be in the water again with diving gear. I feel now much more comfortable in the water diving, compared to snorkeling. I saw a turtle again and several sharks. Great to see these animals in their natural habitat.

After this water adventure, I drove up to Exmouth, a few hundred kilometers North of Coral Bay

Diving @ the Navy Pier, Exmouth

Exmouth is a very popular destination, due to the vicinity of a national park, the Ningaloo reef and therefore great snorkeling, diving and surfing. My reason for going to Exmouth was to go diving at the Navy Pier, supposedly one of the best dive sites in the world. The Navy Pier is, as it says, a mooring point for military purposes. It was built by the Americans for transporting all materials for their ultra-low bandwidth radio station which is one of three they use for communicating with their submarines. As it is a military installation, no mooring of private boats is allowed nor fishing. As a result, marine life is available in abundance.

Between the pylons, large schools of fish can be found, Sometimes in such great numbers, you almost need to push them aside to make your way through the water, resulting in very nice pictures where the light from above shines through the pylon and the school of fish. Many creatures are there to be found, such as box fish, frog fish, moray eel, trompet fish and others. Also various sharks can be seen. The white tip reef sharks were just resting on the bottom. I got so close as to be able to touch their tale, after which they swam away. No, they don’t attack you. All the fish were quite docile and easy to approach. Some giant cod fish were observing us as much as we did with them.

The pictures are only a limited reflection of this great dive!

Warroora Station

Warroora Station, Oz

I had decided in Exmouth not to drive up to Broome and cancel my trip to the East coast. It is much more a party area and very touristy. Also, Australia has proven not to be my worst case budget scenario, but my worst, worst, worst case scenario, so money-wise it is a better decision. I have decided to return earlier to Thailand and work there a month longer. My return flight to The Netherlands (via Düsseldorf, Germany) is still set on 22nd of September.

After Exmouth, I drove back South again, as I wanted to go to Warroora Station, located just South of Coral Bay. I had to go back as it was the best thing to do time-wise. My friend from Koh Tao, Jacqui, is working over there, and I wanted to visit her. Obviously, the best time would be when she would have time off, hence the detour.

Warroora station is a relative small station of approximately 50 x 35 km (about the size of the province of Utrecht (?) but with hardly any people living there), located along the coast, South of Coral Bay. It is a typical Australian station with wild bush land, sheep and some cattle, run by a great family. It is not only a farm station, but tourists can enter it for going to the coast and camp right at the beach and fish, all for a small fee. The landscape is absolutely beautiful and the sunsets gorgeous. The pictures give an impression of it. As the buildings of the homestead are located far from other sources of light, the stars and the Milky Way are incredibly clear to see.

The beaches are also magnificent and usually completely deserted. Kangaroos and emus can be found walking around, usually around dawn and dusk, when it gets cooler.

I also had to go back to Coral Bay one day, to go on my second (free of charge) attempt seeing a whaleshark. Again, I saw several people throwing up on the side of the boat as they were seasick, but again no whaleshark. I did see a Minke whale. Apparently, it was not meant to be for me to see a whaleshark. Hopefully, they might be still around Koh Tao when I go over there.

Jacqui works over there as a temporary hand, currently mainly in helping to build the fence of barb wire right next to the highway. This needs to be done, so there will be little chance of cattle crossing the road and causing an accident with possible fatale ending for both people and animal. With temperatures of over 35 C during the day and lots of flies around to buzz around your eyes and ears, this is not always a lot of fun. I went out with her and her boss, Marty, to check it out what they were doing, shoot some pictures and give a little bit of help. Unfortunately, this help resulted in a nasty cut when the barb wire cut across my skin in my lower right leg, as the pictures show. The nurse in Coral Bay did some thorough stitching with 5 of them in total, so I will also have a Ozzy tattoo. As a result, I could not do much walking for a few days and we therefore watched almost the complete first season of ‘Heroes’ on DVD which I had brought with me from Thailand. And now, we are both very much hooked on this series! :-)

I had a great time on Warroora station, most probably one of the best times in Oz. As such, I decided to stay a few days longer and drive the van back to Perth in two days.

Before that, I got bogged once with the car and had to be towed out. Also, we tried a bit of beach fishing Ozzy style - casting the rod and sit down and wait, while drinking a beer, we watched breath-taking sunsets and lighting a camp fire, barbecued on the fire and drank some beer and Margaret River champagne. Also not to forget, drinking some shots called ‘Mad Dogs’ as Jacqui had learned from some Polish guests who were staying there the week before. These shots comprise of ¾ part of vodka, ¼ part of raspberry syrup and 3 drops of tabasco and taste absolutely fabulous, apart from looking great in a picture!!! ;-)

On Saturday morning, I packed up my stuff and made my way back to Perth, driving for 2 days. I am glad that I have got my ipod and FM transmitter with me, so I could listen to my own music on this long drive. On the way South, I came across some special transports going North, delivering giant vehicles and vehicle parts for the mining industry. Some of these, took up the whole width of the road, so we were forced to stop and wait on the shoulder of the road until this impressive transport had passed.

I also got pulled over by Australian police, who wanted to check if my van was in good order, as they had seen several (wicked) camper vans before who were in less good condition. As mine is a fairly new one (2007 model), I had no problems, but gained an extra paragraph of text for my blog. ;-)

End of road trip

I arrived in Perth today, Sunday 18th. I am staying again in the YHA, this time for 2 days. Tomorrow, I will return my camper van. I have to say, a next time, I might consider renting from another company such as Britz, as they seem to have better equipped vans for the same price, as learned when talking to fellow travelers.

Also, tomorrow I will upload as many pictures as possible, as I can have access to some decent internet speed. On the 20th, I will rent another car and go to Dunsborough again and see Nicole again for 2 days. After all, I will leave Oz after this and I don’t know when I will see her again.

See'ya, maties!

Road trip II

28th of April

Tonight will be my last night in Kalbarri town which is (logically) located in Kalbarri National Park. You might already have seen the pictures I took and posted on my picasa photo website, but things have been pretty tranquil down here. Friday was ANZAC day, a public holiday for all Aussies. A lot of them went out in the country, so this and the earlier camping sites were busy, but everything has become a lot quieter. I expect it to be like that the further I go North, as the Australian school holiday has ended as well.

Kalbarri National Park is approximately 120.000 km2 and it takes over 60 km just getting from the highway to Kalbarri town. It mainly consists of bushland and some nice river areas as you can see in the pictures. The special thing about it, is that a major part of the river runs underground, thus preventing the water from evaporating and provide fresh water to the people how live in this dry land. However, today was not so dry as it has been raining on and off. Apart from a slight drizzle several weeks ago apparently, they had not had any rain for months. It was therefore very much welcomed by the local people. You don’t see it that often back home that people have big smiles on their faces when it rains!

The national park has some stunning views with nature looking at its best in a dry area. However some local fauna can be very annoying, such as the many flies which keep on buzzing around your eyes and ears. I resorted to buying a head fly net and a hat, so the flies can not bother me around the head so much anymore. It might look a bit silly, but is very effective! Luckily, they all disappear during the night and hardly any mosquitos are present on the camping site.

I had a in total 3 nights here and took my time to see the national park, watch a Aussie footy game in the local pub and just chilled out while meeting various people as well. Almost every traveller I meet is slowly making his or her way up North. Some also up to Broome, other go beyond that to Darwin and even after that go to the East coast or straight down through the middle to Alice Springs and Adelaide. I already saw some these people at earlier camp sites and will probably see some later on again!

Tomorrow, I will have a long stretch to drive; all the way to Denham, in total about 400 km. I will try to make an early start, so can spend some time on the journey seeing some interesting sites. I am planning to make a stop at the Principality of Hutt River, which is a very small state of a disgruntled farmer who was appalled by new government quotas o wheat production and seceded from Australia in 1970. The government has tried to overturn it, but failed so far. Yes, Australia is therefore not a single country continent. It is suppose to be some sort of attraction, so I’ll see what it is about.

Also, after the exit from the highway to Denham, I will pass the stromatolites, only one of four locations where these pre-historic organisms can be viewed. More on that hopefully later on.

Denham is very close to Monkey Mia, where wild dolphins can be closely observed during feeding, so should be very nice. Also, it has also parts of the Ningaloo Reef, so am planning to do some snorkeling and possibly some diving as well.

29th of April

I arrived today in the small village of Denham, named after an English naval officer. It is a town with gone glory, as the pearl fishing is not there anymore. It is now within the Shark Bay National Park which is a world heritage site. This is due to its unique nature of hyper-salin bay with the Stromatolites as mentioned before, its intersection of tropical and desert-like environment and its unique seagrass beds, the largest in the world.

On the way driving up, I did not see the sign or anything for the principality, so had to miss out on that one. Would have been nice to exit and enter Oz just briefly within this continent! ;-)

Also, due to the heavy rainfall of the last few days, the road to the stromatolites was closed and might only be reopened again in 2 days or even later. What I did see, was another special site, called Shell Beach. These shells have adopted to the higher levels of salt in the bay area and have washed up to shore thousands of years. This has resulted in an unique beach of shells - as the name says! The water is about 1.5 times salter than normal ocean water, so when taking a jump into the water, it was very easy to float! The shells have been used for building houses, as the example of a wall on one of my pictures shows. This picture was taken in the Denham information center where an excellent exhibition of the Shark Bay area is on display. I went there this afternoon.

I am planning to go to Monkey Mia tomorrow and leave the day after, after the feeding of the dolphins. Hopefully, the road to the stromatolites will be open again so I can check these out as well!

Monday 5th of May

As you can see, it has been almost a week since I wrote the earlier paragraphs. It has been a busy time with driving around, seeing and doing nice things and also spending time with friends I made while traveling. Many people follow the same route up North (or South), so I saw several people at the various camp sites and locations. There are all sorts of people, like the young backpackers using a second-hand station wagon or campervan to drive around Oz, or the senior couples, taking a few months off to do the same. As you can see, Oz is for the young and elderly! ;-) (What makes that me then…?)

I went to Monkey Mia and was able to see the last feeding of the wild dolphins of the day. They are only fed a small portion of their daily feeding requirement, so they are not depending on it and loose their natural hunting skills and behavior. I was very lucky to be chosen to feed a fish to one of them, so got to see it very close. Seeing these amazing mammals so close, is an incredible experience! I was wondering who was checking out who, when they were swimming by and rolling over a bit so they could have look at all those humans with their digital cameras!

For the afternoon, I had booked an indigenous walk of a few kilometers with Daren ‘Capes” Darewell, a native aboriginal and ex-Aussie football player. He is quite a character. He took us (the group) just around the area of Monkey Mia and explained what the area means to the local aboriginals and the names for it. He also told us to listen to the land as it talks to you, and that you should introduce yourself when entering new land as you are a visitor. He showed us ‘bush-tucker’ food from the land, which was surprisingly widely available in an area that looks like a harsh and desert-like area. We tasted various fruits including bush bananas and nuts. It was amazing what you could hear, see and find when you now what to look for. Very interesting and I can recommend it to anyone to try it, should you have the opportunity!
The next day, I left Monkey Mia to make my way up to Coral Bay with a stop-over in Carnarvon, where I could do some last-time decent shopping as that is only limited available further up North. I did pass the stromatolites, but the road was still closed, so had to miss out on these unfortunately.

I have plenty of storage area in the van under the bed, so got a decent supply of pasta sauces, soup and other stuff, including some drinks to take to my friend Jacqui, who is currently working at a station near Coral Bay. As that is located in the middle of nowhere, I have to bring all of my own food, before going over. As she has only time off on the weekend, time wise it made sense to first go to Coral Bay and Exmouth and then drive back South again for approximately 200 km to go and see her for a couple of days. Although it will mean extra driving, it is not that bad, as I would have had to drive a bit South as well, if I would have stayed in Exmouth. Anyway, that is for some time later.

While I was in Carnarvon, I did some local relaxing stuff as well; I went to a local plantation to hear about their produce and try some delicious home-made dips and jams, had a drinks at a very nice cafe right within a plantation along the banks of the river and went to see to blowholes at the coast, which are a spectacular site to see and hear!

Coral Bay is, as it names says, located on a bay, right at the Southern End of the Ningaloo reef and only a few hours driving from Carnarvon. Ningaloo Reef might not be as widely known as the Great Barrier Geef, but it is the biggest reef that close to a shore in the world. Basically, you can just walk of the beach, swim 50 meters and snorkel with the current to see some very nice corals and wildlife. And that is exactly what I did. The water is also warmer then further down South (26 C), so that makes the snorkeling more comfortable. You can see a lot of hard coral and various reef fish. I even got to see an reef octopus and a juvenile white tip shark.

Today, I had planned to take the snorkeling a step further by going on a whaleshark snorkeling tour. This is quite an expensive thing to do, but suppose to be worth it (you get a discount if you are a YHA -Youth Hostal Australia - member). They take you out on a boat, outside of the outer reef and get assistance from a spotter plan, who will look for a whaleshark. By the way, yes, these creatures are sharks and are the biggest fish in the world (max 18 meters), but are absolutely harmless as they mainly feed on plankton and like small sea food.
So, we took of in the morning for our tour and had practice snorkel on how to enter the water once we get to a whaleshark. When we got out on the ocean we had to wait quite some time before the airplane spotted one. It was then time to get there as fast as possble, before the other boats did. We all got ready to jump in, in groups of max 10 people, when the whaleshark went to dive deep again. They can stay at the surface for a long time if they want to feed, but obviously can also decide to go again. After all, these are wild animals. It did not come up again, so we were unlucky with this one. Later, they airplane spotted another one, but it turned out to be a manta ray, so we did not go in the water again. In the end, we did not get to see any and returned back to the dock, after another free snorkel dive. There, I got to see some green turtles and again some sharks, 2 white tips again and a normal reef shark. Very nice, despite the disappointment of not having seen a whaleshark. Back at the shop, we all got vouchers to make it up on another day for free and I will be doing that next Tuesday, when I leave Warroora station and before making my way further up North to final stop of this road trip, Broome. Tomorrow however, I will go snorkeling with the manta rays and make 2 local scuba dives, so hopefully, they will be there to watch!