Woohoo! We are finally on the road and I have something
worth writing about for the first time in months! I was starting to think we
were never going to leave but on Wednesday morning (6 days after our
anticipated departure date) we started out on what I hope will be an incredible
road trip around Australia.
Our first stop was supposed to be in Rockingham so we could
hang out with some penguins, unfortunately the great ratchet strap disaster or
2013 had other plans for us. I wanted to be on the road by 8am so we could
catch the 10am ferry to Penguin Island and be back on the road by noon to make
it to Kalbarri before night fall so at 9:30 when Jesse along with his dad and
one of his brothers were struggling to secure our bikes to the roof rack of
Jesse’s truck I thought our trip would be delayed yet another day. After what
seemed like eternity of making ‘how many men does it take to screw in a light
bulb’ jokes with Jesse’s mom and watching the men struggle they finally managed
to figure out how to work the ratchet straps so we could head out. At this
point I was pretty sure the bikes would never be used during our trip because
we wouldn’t be able to secure them to the roof again after we finished with
them. I was also sure we would have to skip the penguins or we would never make
it to our goal destination for the day.
We spent about 8 hours on the road the first day and I only
had to press the imaginary brake on the passenger side a few times as we drove
through some heavier traffic. We didn’t really stop other than to refuel on
that first day but there didn’t seem to be much to see and we didn’t have much
spare time anyway. We arrived at the caravan park in Kalbarri around dusk. We
had originally planned to camp on the side of the road but couldn’t find a spot
that looked both safe and comfortable so we decided to shell out the cash for a
place to sleep for the night. We set up our tent and cooked some dinner before
calling it a night.
Before crawling into our tent that night we had only spent
about 5 minutes inside of it after setting it up on Jesse’s front lawn to make
sure we knew what we were doing and that the air mattress fit inside. We
probably should have spent a little more time inside so we could have figured
out that it is tiny and we should have bought a 3-person tent. To say we were
snug as bug in a rug would be an understatement. We made it work though and
will continue to do so, its just a bit of an adjustment.
The second day of our trip was much more exciting. On our
way back to the main highway we stopped to explore Hawks Head a gorgeous canyon
inside Kalbarri National Park. The views were stunning (I will post some
pictures when I have a better connection) and I wish we could have spent a
little more time in the park but we were on a mission.
Our next stop of the day was at a roadhouse in a ‘town’
called Billabong. I saw the town on the map the day before and was excited to
drive through it just because it had a fun name so I was pretty stoked when we
got to stop at the Roadhouse there and take a few pictures. We refueled the car,
bought some drinks, and joked around a little before continuing on our merry
way.
When we made it to Carnarvon we had only planned to refuel
and keep driving but stumbled upon a few sites that kept us in town a little longer
than expected. The first of which was a giant banana, not overly exciting but a
good excuse to take a cheesy picture. The second was the OTC Dish, a giant
satellite that was used by NASA from 1966 until 1987 and tracked both the
Gemini and Apollo space missions. The thing was huge! We climbed up as high as
we could but luckily some of the stairs were closed off to the public because
I’m pretty sure we would have been attacked by an angry bird who had a nest in
the satellite if we had climbed any higher.
From there our goal was to make it to Coral Bay but we ended
up spending the night at a rest stop about 60km out of town. I was feeling a
little wary about the sleeping on the side of the road so when Jesse brought a
big stick into the tent ‘just in case’ I totally freaked out. I didn’t think I
was going to sleep a wink that night but when another vehicle pulled up and the
person inside started to set up camp as well I managed to calm down enough to
get some sleep. Luckily I didn’t find the knife Jesse had brought into the tent
until morning or I definitely would have been up all night.
The next morning we took the short drive to Coral Bay where
we would spend most of the day. We had hoped to swim with the manta rays that
the town is famous for but it turns out the only way to do that is to go on a
tour and we were too late to go on one so we snorkeled off the beach instead.
I’m not used to swimming in deep water so I freaked out a little bit at first
but Jesse assured me everything would be fine and we saw some really cool
stuff. There were massive corals that looked like cabbages and so many
beautiful fish. Unfortunately my waterproof camera decided it didn’t want to be
waterproof anymore so I don’t have any pictures.
Once we had finished swimming we headed to Exmouth a little
over an hour away. Jesse’s oldest brother has some property here and very
graciously has let us stay here for the past few days. We didn’t do much on the
weekend as we had originally planned to spend that time looking for jobs in the
area but once we arrived we decided we didn’t like that plan anymore but since
my birthday was on Monday and I didn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere to
celebrate we decided to stick around a while longer and I’m glad we did.
Jesse absolutely spoiled me for my birthday. We woke up
bright and early and made our way back to Coral Bay to spend the day on a
snorkeling tour that included a manta ray swim. I was a little nervous about
the first swim as our guide described where we would be going because I am not
the strongest of swimmers and was sure I would drown. Luckily they had some
pool noodles on board and I was able to swim the whole distance with
confidence. The corals we saw today were more colourful than the ones we saw
closer to shore and we saw many more varieties of fish as well. Once we had
completed the loop around the reef we were given free time and I foolishly
headed back to the boat because I was tired and Jesse ended up seeing a turtle.
I was so jealous! Luckily he managed to capture some footage of the little guy
on his go-pro.
Our next activity for the day was a swim with manta rays.
This experience wasn’t quite what I expected. I had been told that they were
quite a playful and curious animal and would swim up to you so I was expecting
a group of us to be treading water while a group of rays came and played with
us. What actually happened was we got dropped off near a manta ray that was
chillin’ at the bottom of the ocean and was spotted by a plane and had to swim
to keep up with it. Did you know the average speed of a manta ray is 26km/h?
Neither did I. We got dropped by the ray three times and on the first time I
managed to keep up with the group and on the second, one of the guides had to
tow me and we still struggled to keep up so I opted to sit out the last drop so
Jesse could enjoy himself without me there to slow him down. I missed out on
seeing another ray but I'm pretty sure I would have passed out if I tried to
swim that hard and fast again.
When we arrived at our final snorkeling site for the day I
had fully intended to check things out but when the guide described the route
we would be following I decided it would be best if I stayed on board. I kicked
myself a little when Jesse got back and told me that he had seen several reef
sharks and turtles but knew that I had made the right decision because I really
didn’t have it in me to swim another 45 minutes.
Once we finished our tour we headed back to Exmouth where I
finally got to open my fabulous presents before Jesse took me out for dinner.
All in all it was a pretty amazing day.
Today we plan to repack the truck and maybe do some fishing
before we head out again tomorrow. We plan to spend about 10 hours on the road
tomorrow so we will definitely need a good night’s sleep tonight.
