Travel Snap Tuesday

Ok, so I've decided to get in on this Travel Snap Tuesday idea, seen here on Snippets Of My Life but originating with Little Miss Moi. Here goes!

I'm going to start in Australia. Western Australia to be exact. Nearly two years ago we flew into Perth to start a 4000km loop up the coast to the Ningaloo Reef and back. It is one of my favourite holidays not least because it is when A proposed!

First stop - the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. An amazing area with thousands of limestone spiers sticking up out of the sand. We spent the afternoon here watching the scenery change as the sun set and the rain clouds rolled in. It was just beautiful.

We kept driving north, searching for a bit more warmth finally arriving at Shark Bay - most famous for the dolphins at Monkey Mia. We did go there and I did get to feed a dolphin but a bigger highlight was the Francois Peron National Park. Putting aside the rules about taking our hire vehicle 'off road' we set off through about 20kms of sandy roads and stunning scenery to Cape Peron and the lookout at the very tip of the peninsula. While we were looking out along the coast I thought I saw something in the shallows and said to A, "I think that's a dolphin down there." "Nah, I think it's a bird" he replied. We decided it was worth investigating. After a bit of scrambling down a track we got to the beach and made our way along the edge of the water as quietly as we could. Sure enough, as we got closer we saw a dolphin and her calf frolicking in the shallows. It was amazing, we stood mesmerized and watched for ages.

We finally made it to the main destination - Coral Bay - where we met an old high school friend who was now living in a mining town not too far away to visit for the weekend. Coral Bay and equally, Exmouth, had the most wonderful sea life and we spent all of our time snorkelling. The corals are not bright and colourful, but the fish most certainly are! This little guy was one of my favourites. This is the area famous for whale shark tours. Unfortunately we were there just after the season had finished so instead we went on a Manta Ray tour. Incredible. Such grace and beauty. We were also rewarded with a swim with a turtle, numerous sightings of sting rays, a couple of small (!) sharks and an amazing display of octopus camouflage and a sighting of a pod of whales passing as we watched the sun set over the water. Wow!

The last stop I thought I could take or leave but A was really keen on heading 400km inland to Mt Augustus which claims to be the worlds largest monocline (slightly different to a monolith, like Uluru). It's big, twice as big as Uluru but with some vegetation and a gentler gradient on one side of the rock. It was a beautiful sunny day and the climb was stunning. It took about 2 - 3 hours if I remember correctly, probably quicker if you don't lose the little painted dots that guide the way at the end! As I sat recovering at the top, A came over with two glasses of champagne, one containing a beautiful, sparkly diamond. He'd snuck the glasses, champagne and diamond all the way from Perth on our first day without letting on a thing! He'd even snuck out of the tent in the early morning to ring and ask my parents permission and chill the champagne in a bucket of cold water. What a sweetie.  

Anyway, that just about wraps up the highlights of the trip. Pop back next week for India or maybe Borneo!