Hot and Sticky in Western Australia

G' day All, Susan here. Yep! Well I have finally gotten off my backside to make a contribution to Pete's fabulous blog.  I can't guarantee it will be as funny or as informative as his, I may ramble on a bit or have a quick chat with the girls half way thru so bear with me...

So we picked up our campervan and headed North, happy to be on the road again.  It's a 'Him' this time and is called 'Morris' (lovingly named after the first 'Box' of wine we had in him).  Our first stop was The amazing Pinnacles Desert, This is made up of thousands of limestone pillars, up to 4 metres tall rising out of golden sand dunes

It's pretty spectacular, even more so considering the surrounding earth is a rich red colour and the neighbouring beaches are snow white...

At this stage I think I should point out that for the last few weeks the average temperature has been between 35 & 39 degrees which is pretty darn hot in the middle of a desert, oh and while I'm at it I may as well mention the Flies.....  Oh yes 'THE FLIES' when people talk to you about Australia the mention the stunning landscape, the  tropical turquoise seas, the great friendly people, they even mention the nasty, nasty, horrible, HUGE (as big as my hand HUGE) spiders!!!  but no one warns you about the flies,  while in the middle or western Oz, as soon as you step foot outside at least 40 flies land on you (it's like a race) luckily for me they get to Pete first due to a certain height factor-poor Pete) then the flies that haven't landed on you are flying AT you, mainly into your mouth, into your ears, up your nose and even trying to balance on your eyelashes... Not good!  Ok that's my rant over for now... Well not quite just a quick word about the spiders.. I seem to have a special gift of seeing them everywhere and they seem to be getting bigger.. and they're always in the jacks, normally Pete would go in and inspect them for me (what would I do with out him he's the best) but the other day I ventured into one (unchecked by my main man) trying to be brave,there was huge spider in it, his body was the size of a meatball!! no kidding, I nearly passed out. Other than that I love Australia....

   Next stop was 'Shell Beach', well when I say next stop I actually mean 3 days later after a very long drive, this is Australia you know.  Shell Beach is one of the longest shell beaches in the world, it is made up of tiny, white cockleshells up to 10 meters deep in some places and the water is luke warm and crystal clear, a great spot for the daily bath...

The beach was almost deserted when we got there, it was beautiful...

From there we when to 'Monkey Mia resort' in Shark Bay to see (yep you've guessed it) Dolphins!!! Go figure? Every morning for the past 10 years wild Dolphins come right up to the shore line and interact with people, of course a few buckets of fish might have something to do with.  It's a bit of a circus during the morning feeding session

 

but is a great opportunity to see wild Dolphins up close..

The resort itself was beautiful, fab beaches, a cool swimming pool where we spent most of the day working on our tans, which are coming along just nicely thanks to the searing heat and the scorching sun!! We even managed to fit in a romantic stroll along the beach for sunset..

The next day it was back on the road again heading north for our final destination Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef, home to Logger Head Turtles, huge Manta Rays and the amazing 18m long 15 tonne Whale Sharks.  Our plan was to head out on a boat and go snorkelling for the day over the reef in the hope of spotting some of the above... however, this was not to be.  Upon our arrival the clear blue skies quickly changed into dark black clouds, gale force winds, torrential rain which resulted in 'Cyclone Pancho' (No we didn't name it, that'd be the Aussie weather people, wonderful imaginations the Aussie's have).. The eye of the Cyclone was 200km off shore so no real damage was done but the roads were closed due to flooding and the winds were too strong to drive so we were van bound for a few very wet and very hot days, Morris let us down by leaking but then again maybe he was sweating as much as we were in the 80% humidity..  Sorry I've no Photos of the storm but if you saw it you wouldn't get out of the van to take a picture either.  

So that brings us up to date, we are now on our way back to Perth to give leaky Morris back, he's served us well but it's time to move on... in a few days time we will fly to Cairns (pronounced 'Kens' with a high pitched voice) on the East Coast to begin the last leg of our Amazing Australian Adventure... Stay tuned... There are loads of really BIG SPIDERS there so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about all that...

Now for the girlie bit... Happy Birthday Mam on the 1st April hope you have a great day, lots and lots of love.. Su+Pete. Dad hope your enjoying your well earned rest by rebuilding the house maybe? or just building another one or two for fun? Mmm very relaxing... Daisy Mae so sorry haven't written lately, promise to write soon, hope all's great with you and writing away like a mad thing.x Gillie Gorie thanks a mill for the great email, I'm lovin' all the goss promise to mail you back soon, Jeannette, likewise promise to mail soon, any more thoughts on an early hol???  Maevey Baby any wedding news for me?? Suzy Mogs, how's it going? any goss? Bar and Su, Neal and Gabreilla give Aaron, Zak, Ginavera, Lorenzo a big kiss for me, Pete and Patricia 'how's it goin' bud!, Mr +Mrs Owen+Ruth MaGee (to be) congratulations that is wonderful news,  Eoin and Lucy, nice one on the job front!! Lavinia hope alls well with you,Marco and baby Lucca, Niallo, see ya in Sydney, Martin and Dee, howyanow! Thanks for the Grays Anatomy! A big hello to Pete's parents in Tuam, the Lyons' and Monica in Dunmow, Paul in Auckland (well done with the job), John, julie and kids in Glanmire, Martin and Catherine, hope you're well, how's lovely Sam? taller then his uncle Pete yet? ... Lots of Love Su+Pete. xx