and the west coast gave me adventures!

Ok, so I start off my trip Wednesday morning at about 5:30 am when I have to wake up to pack my bags since I was too sick the night before. Not that my throat felt any better, but somehow I threw my dirty clothes into a different bag, grabbed my tennis shoes, camera, and charger... and out the door to the bus I went. The bus was a whole new story and the medicine must have made my stomach hurt b/c I didn't eat any food since I could barely see a hole through my throat. I almost turned around and came home, but again... the trip was non refundable and I was going to make it... so that's what I did. Our bus was late and we were worried we weren't going to make the tour, but we finally got there and got on the bus and I quickly thereafter passed out.

Thankfully, Kristen is awesome and explained to the group that I pretty much couldn't talk and was trying to get better. So that morning I slept until we reached the Pinnacles. But before that everyone on the bus did their introductions, so let me give you a basis of how the trip was set up.

There were 21 of us and a bus driver/tour guide in a pretty big bus that hauled a trailer. There were people on the bus ranging from 20 - 45ish. We had people from the US, Australians, a German, English, Irish, French, and Sweedish. There were a few couples both young and old and a handful of single backpackers and a couple students. So all in all it made for a really good mix of people and everyone really got along, or got on as Aussie's say it, well. For all of our meals we had food in coolers (known as "eskies" in Australia) and plates and everything packed in bins in the trailer along with all of our stuff. For every meal it was a group effort to get all of the stuff out, cook, and clean up. We had breakfast and dinner at the hostels we stayed in and then usually fixed lunch at a beach or picnic shelter along the way where there were bbq pits and at least a water fountain to wash our stuff off with. It was a TON of driving and our van had a really annoying air conditioning belt screeching that occurred pretty frequently, but overall a good trip. Ok, back to the first things...

The first stop that we made was at the Pinnacles. These are large formations of limestone, broken down sea shells, sand. There are a few different theories on how they were formed and still today no one knows exactly how, or why they were formed. But here they stand in a big desert area and they look like huge rocks sticking out of the sand.





This day we also went sandboarding. Pictures of that are to come later because they are on Kristen's camera. We hiked up huge sand dunes then used wooden boards that looked like snowboards to slide down the dunes on like a sled. It was fun, but after I hiked up the sand dune once I was out of energy and sat down to watch everyone else. After everyone had enough sand in their pants to fulfill their fun, we headed back on the bus to keep driving and eventually got up to Kalbarri where we were going to hike the gorge the next morning.

At this point, I'm about to die and haven't eaten anything since Bali. One of the Irish backpackers happened to be a nurse and pretty much told me I needed to go somewhere to get medicine or I was going to be worse off than I was now. So she told our tour guide and he found a clinic for me that night, so off we go. I went to the clinic and I think this old lady nurse felt really bad for me. Obviously, in the middle of Australia they don't think having doctors on duty is necessary... so there was no doctor in town, or in the next 3 towns over for that matter, because it was a full days driving to get to the next doctor that could actually give me a prescription. So she called that doctor and told him my symptoms and got the go ahead to give me a 'couple days worth' of medicine. Well, basically I told her I wasn't stopping till I got back to Perth so she gave me enough antibiotics and pain killers to get me back to Perth, her version of "a couple extra". So that worked out and after a day I was eating again.

So the next morning, the tour guide wanted to leave me behind but that wasn't happening. I really wanted to see the gorge and wasn't going to sit around a hostel all day, so off I went even though breathing was difficult haha Still it was one of my favorite parts of the trip...



This is a picture of the creature that left a fossil in the rock of his tail, pictured below...

This is the fossil...



















So we saw the fossil, and then hiked for about 3 hours around the gorge. Thank god there were some older couples on the trip, because I was definitely bringing up the rear with them. Climbing and hiking around was exhausting, but definitely worth it.


This particular part of the Kalbarri gorge was leading into what is called the Z bend. Another place we went to was called Nature's Window.

This picture below is of the bottom of the gorge after we made our way down there.














This is what they call "Nature's Window" and it was in a totally separate location from the gorge but a beautiful view. Even though this entire day there were flies everywhere, and I seriously mean everywhere... in your ears, nose, eyes, mouth... yeh definitely tons of flies and the people that bought the fly hats were genius.







So after our hiking trip we went back to the hostel and made lunch, I made jello... then we were back in the bus to head up to Shark Bay for the night. On the way we stopped at what is called 'Shell Beach' and that is the picture on the left. The entire beach consists of tiny little shells and they are sometimes up to 15 meters deep!! This is one of the only beaches like this where the shells have not been crushed up and smashed into sand.



This is another view of Coral Beach as the sun was starting to go down. While we were here, Kristen decided to get in the water even though she was the only one. While she was playing catch and getting a ball out of the water she asked our guide, "Umm... are there snakes in this water?!" Our guide slowly thought and said, "Umm... noo?" and she then quickly yelled, "Oh yes there are!" as she bolted out of the water. As we all crowded around to see we could clearly make out what was a sea snake. Sea snakes are one of the deadliest snakes alive and they are also the only snake that can make the decision whether or not to inject their venom. Needless to say, thank god she got out of the water fast and we didn't have to worry about that...

So after that we took a short trip across to Eagle's Bluff to get some pictures of the sunset. Our tour guide sped pretty fast so that we could make it in time to catch the view, and it was absolutely stunning!








So after the sunset we headed up to Shark Bay where we stayed at the Monkey Mia resort where we could see the dolphins the next morning. We had dinner, and I actually ate.. huge progress!!
After dinner we headed down to the beach to hang out for a bit as a group, it wasn't but 5 minutes later and we saw dolphins about 4 feet away from us in the water just playing around. They were there all night long in crystal clear water. But we had been warned not to touch them because a) we'd be in huge trouble and kicked out and b) because sometimes the dolphins are known to attack a bit if they are in an unknown situation etc. So we left them be but enjoyed their playful nature and how close they were. The next morning, we got to see them up close and personal again, and some people from our tour group even got to feed them.

So that was a good day, and after that we headed back to the bus to head up to Coral Bay so that we could get a good nights sleep and be ready for our adventures the next day. The day in Coral Bay was an optional activity day, but our tour guide raved about this manta ray/snorkeling adventure so I did that with Kristen and it was well worth it!

On our way out on the boat we immediately saw some dolphins just swimming and hanging around the boat. Sign of a good day for sure.

Our first spot was a snorkel location and we all tested our gear and snorkeled around. There was some really deep reef (this is all along the Ningaloo Reef) and then there was some shallow reef, too that we couldn't even swim over top. Our guides however took us through a break in the reef to hover over one big cauliflower reef and after about a minute of hovering we saw sharks swimming below us which was crazy!! They were reef sharks though and they were at what is known as a cleaning station. This is a known location by the instructors where sharks always come to get their gills cleaned out, so basically like a dentist appointment for the sharks. They were so close to us, it was absolutely nuts! Not even 4 feet away, and I was definitely freaking out.

Our next expedition was to swim with the manta rays. Wow is this a process... they use spotter planes to find the manta rays and then give the boats the coordinates. So the boats then pretty much chase the manta rays until they spot one, then a guide jumps in the water to catch up with it and follow it. While all this is going on one group of snorkelers is ready on the back of the boat to jump in. When the guide has found the manta ray and is swimming with it they yell "go go go" on the boat, meaning for the group to jump in and swim directly to the guide. So you swim with all your might and catch up to the guide and look down and the picture on the left is what you see! It was incredible to see them, and they were even closer than the sharks! Some of the manta rays were really fast, and others slowed down and turned around, and spun so you could see underneath of it. They can span up to 7 meters long! We had 3 groups on our boat and all went 3 times, but since I was in the last group they let us go a 4th time because not everyone got a good look our 3rd time. You had to be a pretty strong swimmer to be able to keep up with the manta ray if it was going fast, and it was exhausting. But our 4th time the manta ray started off really fast and then decided to flip over and come back toward the group. I was right over top of it and saw it flipping and turning around and it was so neat to see! They can weigh a ton, but just float around filter feeding. So that was a really cool experience none the less, and definitely memorable!

Our next stop was the turtle sanctuary in the water. We couldn't actually get in the water here, but then we moved to a snorkel spot called, 'The Maze' and actually saw turtles swimming there. The snorkeling there was amazing, and I truly felt like I was in Finding Nemo or The Little Mermaid. These pictures show the turtles that we saw - they are actually from another girls underwater digital camera, but they turned out really good so I thought I'd use her pictures to show you what I saw!














At some points we could also see little fish nibbling at the top of the turtle's shell, and I swear it was a scene in finding nemo!
We saw a ton of other stuff too, like this blue spotted sting ray. This is a picture of one that was up close in the water, but we saw this while we were out on the reef too. We also saw star fish, sea cucumbers, beautiful coral, lots of fish, little clown fish, and a really large sting ray that had its tail eaten off. I was amazed at everything we saw while we were at this snorkel site, and would love to go back! Definitely the best of the entire trip!




So after our full day of adventures at Coral Bay (where mind you there was also a salt water croc on the loose that had killed a person and we were swimming in the water where it was found the day after we returned home... it was found in the water where we were swimming with the manta rays... not safe!!) we headed our way up to Exmouth, which is at the northern most point of the Ningaloo Reef.

On the way we stopped at the stromatolites, which are one of the oldest living things on this planet... yes older than the dino's. They are actually living rocks. They create oxygen in the air, and this is one of the only places in the world that they can be found in such high quantities. There are smaller versions of these closer to the shore that look like rubber mats in the water. You can also see what looks like tire ruts carved in those sheets of the rocks, which is actually when they were pushing wooden carriages through the shallow water to try to load things on to the ships, which destroyed those sections of the stromatolites forever. It was really cool to see these even though they are a bunch of rocks, it is one of the only places in the world that they are accesible to humans to see and they are part of the reason why we can survive on this earth today!


So we continued our way up to Exmouth and stayed there for 2 nights. Our full day in Exmouth we went to 2 different snorkel locations. The first one was called Oyster Stacks and it was really rocky and hard to get in and out of the water, but fortunately for me someone knew what they were doing and this kind man reached out his arms and helped me get out without a scrape. Every other person that got in the water came out with cuts and scrapes, success for me!
Then we went to the famous Turquoise Bay which is where we made our semi decent pyramid on the beach. We did some snorkeling here too and saw some cool stuff, but for the most part I spent this day on the beach. There was a snorkel place called the drift right here, basically you swam in and let the current take you over the coral but you had to be careful to get out of the current in time before it hit the point of the bay and turned into a massive rip tide current thing that was apparently really dangerous. So I wasn't extremely comfortable doing that, so we went in for part of that and saw a tiger shark and some more coral, then I swam out before the end. But other people saw more sharks, sting rays, and turtles around this area, too.

Also at Exmouth we celebrated Kristen's 21st birthday, which was a hit. It was also our tour guides birthday and one other girl from hong kong's birthday all on Easter Sunday! So we celebrated Saturday night and all got dressed in costumes made out of trash bags and had a great night.

On our way leaving Exmouth we stopped at Vlaming Head Lighthouse that is no longer in use. There was also a radio tower that was used in WWII that was blown over by a cyclone that hit the area. But WWII is when Exmouth really came into existence. The major use of this area was for the US to keep contact and intercept radio communications during WWII. At first the Australian's didn't like it because they were not allowed on the US base, but now there is a mutual agreement and the area is dually staffed and monitored, just obviously not using the same equipment.



So we started our 8.5 hour drive after our stay at Exmouth, that was long. On the way we did stop at a banana plantation and get chocolate covered frozen bananas, they were tasty :-)


We also obviously passed the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped like all tourists would to take some picutres.



And this picture was taken out the bus window and is what
the real Australia looks like when you aren't prancing around on beaches on the coast!







That night we had a farmstay on a farm that grows mainly wheat type products and has sheep. Obviously the farms aren't doing too good in Australia if they are breaking into tourism, but if you ask me the farmer is smart and is in it for the long haul because he is now consistently supplementing his funds so that he can continue farming without debt and without worrying about having a bad season, which has been more typical than not in the past 5 years.

So at the farm stay we could sleep outside if we wanted to, and so I decided the stars were nice and I would give it a whirl. Well I took my swag down and was following our tour guide and few other people that were sleeping outside that night, and we all assumed our guide would know a good place to lay out. Well that was wrong. He walked straight into horse poop, then continued to lay down is swag and sleeping bag and plop down for the night. I then proceeded to tell him he was ridiculous because he was laying in poop. Not just old poop, but pretty fresh poop... that smelled bad. I couldn't believe it, what an idiot. I mean really... if I wanted to sleep in horse poop, well I can do that at my own house. But I don't need to do that while I'm touring around. There was a nice grassy area about 30 feet away that would have been just as nice and not a dirt ground with straw and tons of poop. So I dragged my swag onto the grass and went to hang out with the group for a bit because it was our last night, and there was no way I was laying in poop with our guide... what's worse is that Kristen stayed down there with the guide in the poop! I mean really... do you honestly follow someone that leads you to sleep in poop?! I would hope not, but apparently everyone doesn't always think for themselves these days.. that's another story.

Anyway, so rest of the group (aka the irish and english, because they are the ones that stay up and drink and chat) and I hung out on the porch and talked some more and I drank my water with my antibiotics (don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm not that ridiculous). It was nice to finally be able to talk for myself and get to know the group. But when I went down to get in my swag for the night, dew had already taken over and gotten the whole thing soggy. So I decided it would be in my best interest not to sleep in a wet and cold bed outside since I was sick and I went back into the room (where I had also seen a mouse scurry across the floor earlier) and enjoyed the comfort of a bed.

So the next morning we had pancakes and then were off for our final leg of the trip back to Perth. On the way we stopped at one of my absolute favorite places. The Hutt River Principality.

There is a man named Prince Leonard, and he created his own country. He is about 85 years old now, but he did this when he was a young farmer in the area. There was a huge limit put on how many crops they could grow, and it was not nearly enough to make a profit. In the Australian law it said that if there were some sort of crisis like this, then somehow you could seceed and form your own country. Well this man is a genius because he did exactly that, and the Australian government has been after him ever since! He has been taken to court by the government and tax department at least 8 times, and he has won every single time. I guess the government never thought it would go this far, but the Prince is about to get his own seat in the United Nations, and when he does that Australia will have absolutely no jurisdiction to take him to court any longer and then he will be able to build the international airport that is in his plans for the future. This man is truly brilliant and quite funny and sarcastic on top of that.

He has won a medal, something like the 'french gold star' and the only 2 other people to get this award have been Queen Elizabeth and one of the presidents of the US.. he is the 3rd to get this award and he said that although he wasn't the 1st ranked world leader, he would get his way there eventually. He has totally found loop holes through almost every law in Australia and he doesn't even pay taxes. He has created his own currency, flag, and postal system, too. Also he set it up as a principality so that he can not be overthrown and one of his children will be able to take his place next.

The whole idea is absolutely absurd, but to be honest it's also quite impressive. In this picture you can see his wife, Princess Shirley. She isn't as sharp as Prince Leonard, but she's right up there. He knew everything about all of our passports from different countries and knew each hologram that was on them as we all got our visas from HRP. The whole place looks just like another run down farm in Australia, but really it is so much more! And there are other people living there besides his family. Just the fact that a man of his age can still be fighting the government, and winning to keep his own country... well I'd say he's had a pretty amazing life and he doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. However, unfortunately I know that his health is deteriorating. Apparently the tour group 2 days after us didn't really get to talk to him at all because he was sick so they didn't stay long. But with my group he was perky and running around to show us different things and take pictures with us, and he was quite the entertainer. So kudos to him!



And last but not least, we stopped at a wild life park where they work on rehabilitating injured animals etc. and work purely off of donations to keep the farm running. This was a good final stop to complete our experience, and of course fun feeding all of the animals.
I really enjoyed the roos! The red ones were the softest!















There were also snakes there, tons of birds, even deer. The mountain goats were pretty fun, and I enjoyed feeding them the most because they made some pretty hilarious noises.





There were also emus, which is one of the animals on the Australian Crest - the other is the Kangaroo. The reason why these 2 animals are on the crest is because they cannot walk or hop backwards at all, and Australia was supposed to be seen as a country that is always moving forward with time and never falling back.

There was this huge croc as well

And some dingoos - which are like crosses between dogs and wolves that are found in the wild in Australia and in the wilderness have a very short life span because of all the enemies and harm they come into contact with.









So after all that we headed back to Perth and then caught a cab home. By then I could talk again and was even eating normally. But it was a long long long time in a bus, and that was exhausting to be perfectly honest. About the time I made it home all I wanted to do was stare at a wall and lay in my bed and not talk to anyone. So I've been relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing since I've returned. I did however make it to the doctor here to get some more medicine to totally knock my tonsilitis out and he gave me some extras, too just incase I get it again. (I'm really starting to like Australian doctors/nurses and their extra pills).

Now that I'm back the weather here is great. In the evenings you can wear jeans and a t-shirt and be perfect, which is what I like!! The Australian's say it's cold... I say it's comfortable. It's also field hockey season for guys here (not girls like in the states) and one of my roommates plays and so does another friend of one of the Elon girls so we have started to go to their games which is fun and gives us something other to do than go out at night. So I'm becoming a mom and taking pictures of my roommate since he is a freshman and I'm going to make him send them back home to his parents. I have a feeling his mom will like them... I mean she makes him about 20 frozen dinners every couple of weekends when he goes home so he never has to cook while he is here, he just heats up a meal in the microwave and it is like home cooked. So, that just gives me the feeling he's a mamma's boy. So anyway, the hockey games are fun haha

But, it's also back to reality now because class starts again on Monday. So I'm going to the beach one more time before break is over to rest up and prepare myself to focus on school work for 3 hours a day. (shouldn't be that hard, but when you've been doing nothing but traveling for 2 weeks.. it get's a little difficult) Then I only really have a month and half until I'm finished! Which is crazy! I'm giving it one last effort to get a job, but again nothing is looking too promising... but it's worth it!



Sorry for such long posts, but I wanted to get it all on here so that I don't forget everything that I did either.

Love and miss everyone back home!!