Planet Perth

Got up last Wednesday and decided that I really had to do something about leaving Perth despite being sodden with cold. Went to the travel agent and was a vulnerable mess of sniffles and coughs. Which is the excuse that I give for what happened next. As I tried to to escape Western Australia I was told that I would have to wait until the following week. Hum. But what was I going to do in the mean time?????

A tour?

Really?

Me?

A tour?

Ok then, why not. Now this is not something that I usually do (mainly because I don't often have enough money) and so I signed up for a four day trip up the coast. I did try and get one down the coast but it was full so I went the other way. And then bought a plane ticket to take me to Adelaide on Monday night.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for sorting so many things out and all before lunch. Then reality hit me. What if it was a busload of Gap year kids? What if it was some kind of pissed up party bus where nubile eighteen year old spent the whole four days swapping partners while Grandma Helen sat in the corner tutting annoyingly and blathering on about youth being wasted on the young? I started to get scared. I told the hostel owner what I had done and he did nothing to reassure me.

'Who are you going with?'
'Planet Perth'
'....hum.'
'What?????'
"Big groups, I could have got you something cheaper and better.'
etc

The warm glow of achievement left me and I barely slept that night for worrying about the next four days stuck in a huge bus full of wankers.

What a waste of time that worry was. The bus only holds 20 people. And there were only 11 of us plus the tour guide. Not one Gap year kid to be seen. The tour guide, Craig, was hardly one of those guys who spent more time admiring their reflection than looking at the road.

In short, it was fantastic.

I had a brilliant time and am sorry to be back.

It could have been bad. It was a very mixed group- 2 Swiss, 2 Japanese, 3 English, 2 Malaysians, an Italian and a Slovakian- plus one Aussie tour guide. The bus picked me up from the hostel at 6.45am- which would prove to be one of the later starts I would have for the next four days. I had stuffed everything into the luggage room here at the hostel and was sitting on a bench outside shivering and sniffling when the bus arrived. I was greeted with a hearty 'g'day, Helen' and so the adventure began.

Day one was kinda quiet. People were getting to know each other and so most of the photos are of scenery. There was a lot of polite 'where are you from?' and 'what do you do?' type questioning going on.

Craig seemed a little disappointed at first at the lack of animation from the group but as the sun came up and we all thawed out the chatting started. By the time we arrived in Kalbarri for our first night, the ribbing was in full force. We had a proper Aussie barbecue and got to know each other over a few beers (Carlton Cold for me, Emu Bitter for Tibor the Slovakian, Asashi for the Japanese girls and more wine than was strictly necessary for Steph and Zoe from England. Well, they had a lot of wine but showed amazing restraint).

The view from the bus had been fantastic all the way there- the Pinnacles were our first real stop- outside of the many hundred toilet breaks we took. Standing stones in their own little desert surrounded by bush, the Pinnacles are beautiful and unique. Once Craig had told us some of the aboriginal history to the area (the stones are people who were turned to stone because of their greed) a more mystical aspect was given to the place. We stopped a lot to look at many other things and Craig was a mine of information.

The second day we headed off to Monkey Mia. We saw rainbows landing in the ocean and the sprays from the whales playing in the distance. We walked in a National Park and saw rock formations such as Nature's Window and took a 'stroll' down the cliff face to the river and back up again' the Z bend. That night we went on an astronomy walk along the beach. Unfortunately the moon lit the sky to brightly that it was difficult to see the stars. Didn't matter to us tourists who were happy to stand on the moon drenched beach and learn a few constellations.

Waking up in Monkey Mia we watched the sun come up over the water - weird thing to do on the West Coast but we were out on a little peninsula. The pelicans started to gather on the shore and so did the people. That is because of the thing that pulls people to Monkey Mia- namely, the dolphins. There is a group of dolphins that play and live in the area and three times a day they come to the shore to be fed. Now this is not Disneyworld- these are wild dolphins who have the choice of whether or not they want to come. And given the small amount of fish they are given, it must be the curiosity that drags them in. There is no way to tell the dolphins what time they must be there so it is all a matter of waiting until they are ready.

People lined the shore and waited while the ranger told us about the dolphins and the history of Monkey Mia. Eventually the star attractions started getting closer to us and soon they were in the area, swimming just a few feet away from where we were paddling. It is hard to say who was the most curious at that place. The dolphins roll their heads to one side so that their eyes are out of the water- all the better to see us with. It was awesome and after they had had their breakfast we got on a boat for a further chance to see more out at sea.

Full of the joy of the dolphins and the catarmaran cruise around the bay we were more than happy with Craig's suggestion of getting some roasted chickens and having a picnic on the beach. We were on a pure shell beach, made of millions of tiny shells. Great food and even better company now that we had spent the previous two days getting to know each other.

The girls went to swim while Angelika and I just watched, having forgotten our swimsuits. The water was cold at first but soon warmed up- the only problem with swimming was that the water was so shallow.

As Craig told us to get back on the bus, Angelika said that she wanted to stay and we all agreed. Too bad, we didn't have time and the bus set off along the beach.

Not long after we started, we stopped again. The bus had become bogged down and we were going nowhere without some serious pushing. So push we did. But nothing happened, save the bus sinking further into the beach.

We dug around the wheels- Angelika, my young partner in drink, disappeared in a hole she dug under the bus until all we could see were her feet. She had to be pulled out. Wood was placed around the wheels and we all braced ourselves against the back of the bus and pushed- nothing again. The trailer was off and we gave it another try. Going nowhere. Hum.

The phones had no connection on the beach so it was going to be a case of going to get help. Craig enlisted Lee and Fadrina and off they went into the bush, telling us not to be worried for a couple of hours at least. We busied ourselves with more swimming and decided to make a fire. We didn't need one but it gave us something to do. Once lit, it became too hot to stand by and people started to drift away. We were thinking that it might be nice to stay on the beach anyway and had high hopes of not being rescued until the morning. We had plenty of food and an esky stuffed with beer. It looked a great spot to practice our Astronomy homework. People went onto the bus to gather a few things.

'Oh, look, a car' someone said and waved politely. Then people realised that we should be doing more than just waving and we all ran up the beach waving and shouting. The car stopped and came over. The tourists with Alex- our soon to be saviour- helped attach a rope to the front of our bus and videoed as Alex's 4x4 towed us to safety. Once out of the hole Craig turned up with the help we no longer needed. Feeling very pleased with ourselves we told him that we had done it already. And he had to prepare for the ribbing he would be getting once word got out that he had bogged the bus on the beach.

It was too late to make it to our destination of Northampton that night so we stayed at Nanga Station/Resort. We got the beach as the sun went down and before the moon came up and watched the shooting stars and admired the Milky Way.

The rest of the time was spent in the natural spring spa. And when I say the rest of the night, I do mean it as some of us didn't make it out until nearly one. Sitting in the hot spa, supping a cold beer and watching the night sky- does it get any better than that?

We were up even earlier the next day- who said that holidays are for relaxing- as we had plenty of driving and sandboarding to do (yes, I did go sandboarding this time but just the once).

Even given that, we still arrived back in Perth too soon for most of us who were trying to persuade Craig that he should just keep driving. I felt almost like I was saying goodbye to my family as the bus drove away and I walked into the hostel, feeling a little lonely without my 11 new friends around me.