Australia so far...

Perth: the most isolated capital city in the world

It has been over three weeks now since I left my homeland in south africa, and headed for the land down under! If you think the african sun is strong, you have not been to australia!  the sun here has an intensity here like no where else i have been!

I began my australian odyssey on the west coast, in the district known as known as western australia.  This continent is so big that Perth is closer to Singapore than to australia's own capital of canberra... hence the need for its government system!

Western australia is the largest state in the continent, in which live only 2 million people, 1.5 of which live in perth.

Perth itself is situated on the banks of the Swan river, and is a very clean, well kept city.  The thing that struck me is that the lawns are all immaculately kept, much as one would see in Oxford or Cambridge, england.  The difference being that the australians are allowed to walk on their grass!! Gd help you if you do so in England... that certainly is frowned upon!

So, what did I do in this most isolated city?  I went to Kings Park, where you have fabulous views of the city and the river, I went to the Bell tower, Perth's answer to the millenium, I took the ferry along the river to Fremantle and Rottnest, and went to Cottelsloe and Trigg beaches, where the wind and sun cream meant I was left looking like a sand monster, much like Harry, the dog from that children's book I suddenly seem to remember...At trigg beach, I was given my first lesson is boogy boarding... its fun when it works...not such fun when you try to go over a wave you should go under and get dragged under anyway... i definitely drank more of the Indian Ocean than I was supposed to that day!  But it certainly cleared my sinuses!!

The 35 plus degree heat day and night, and the lack of air conditioning in my room meant that I was very lethargic and by no means as energetic as I was in cape town...  This lethargy was encouraged by there being a limited amount to do.

As such, I was happy to begin the tour up the west coast to a place called Exmouth. 

On this tour, we visited the Pinnacles desert, where limestone formations protrude from the desert sand, which unlike the beach sand which is white, is bright yellow.  The contrast made for a nice picture!  We then drove to a sand dune, where, if the fancy took you, you could sit on a sled and and slide down a dune, known as sand boarding, much like to taboggoning to those of us from cooler climates!  I decided against the idea of covering myself with sand, and so became one of the designated photographers of the group!

The next day, we arrived at Kalbarri national park, where in this delightful 40 degree heat, we went for a walk.  All these walks begin like a shabbos (saturday) afternoon stroll, but then suddenly, you find yourself scrambling up and down bolders in a most un shabbosdick (sabbath like) manner!  Because of all the floods, river were flowing that have been dry for many a year!

We then had the option to abseil down a 25 metre wall, and much to my surprise, I found myself handing over the money, and strapping myself into a harnass.  After a minor freak out, and almost backing out of the whole affair, I actually walked abseiled down the wall!  Once you get passed the ledge, it actually becomes quite fun, despite the jelly like legs at the end of the experience!  Clambering up was another ordeal, and I rather wished I could be hosited back up.. sadly that wasnt to be possible, so clambering it was!  From tbere, we went to a beach covered entirely by shells.  I must the colour of the water was an unreal turquoise...

We then went to Nature's window, which is a window shaped rock formation caused by wind erosion...a great photo opportunity!   We ended the day in a resort called Monkey Mia, which is quite an exciting tourist trap for us animal lovers!

In the 2960s, the fishermen started to feed the wild dolphins, and this continues today, although in a manner that does not mean they have to stop hunting, so they remain wild.  The tourists, myself included, line the sea shore, knee deep in water, while 5 dolphins are fed 1 fish each.  It is there choice to come, and there choice to take the fish.  On that day, these particular Indo-pacific dolphins were feeling quite emotional, as noted by the pink colour one of the calf's turned, and he came along and brushed past some people's legs.  I was lucky enough to have the very tip of his tale brush past my leg, and as explained, it does feel like a hard boiled egg minus its shell! 

From there, we went to see the stramadolites... now my knowledge of these is not very great, but my understanding is that they are very old, living, breathing rocks.. you can even see the oxygen bubbles they produce! 

Now this day was made slightly uncomfortable, to put it mildly, by the umber of flies that were around.  they are attracted to the salt on skin, and come and pester you in a way previously unthought of!  I understand why fly nets are a neccessity in western australia, and, as I was to find out, in the centre as well!

We crossed the tropic of capricorn to get to the Ningaloo reef.  This was the highlight of the trip for me, for more reasons than it was where I had my first ever night time swim.  Both in Coral bay and in Exmouth, you can swim on the reef.  It is the largest reef in the world that you can swim to from the shore, and although I have heard it is not as colourful as the great barrier reef, it does contain more wildlife.  I spent the day snorkelling on the outer reef, where I was able to marvel at nature's beauty... the fish are an array of colours that one would think could only come from the imagination!  We then had the privilege to snorkel with mantar rays, giant and harmless rays, and to snorkel on the cleanign station of the reef, where reef sharks come to be cleaned by the cleaning fish.   There I was, in the sea, with five sharks swimming below me... unreal and amazing!!!!

In exmouth we snorkled the inner reef, (coral bay was the outer reef), and saw more beautiful fish and coral.  I then spent the next two days working hard on my sun tan, (dont worry factor 30+ was worn at all times), and then we headed back to Perth.

On the way back, we stopped off at the Hutt River Province.  This is a seperate country, run by Prince lesley and princess shirley.  he is a man who declared war on australia in the 1970s as the australian government tried to tell him how much wheat he could grow on his own land, and legitimately he declared his own country, and no longer pays tax in australia.  We all had our passports stamped and everything!  Our final stop before returning to the civilisation of perth was an animal rehab sanctuary, where i got to hold a baby kangaroo, and feed a whole group of kangaroos... it amazed me how soft they were!

After having seen mainly desert for a week, the city lights of perth were a welcome sight!  So, back in perth I whiled away a few more days before heading to the red centre of australia, which to my surprise is in the northern territory of the country...