Northern Western Australia

The day after Australia Day I was off with George, Teresa and Stephanie to travel to the northern parts of Western Australia. Our first day driving we made it to the Pinnacles by sunset. It was absolutely beautiful. We then drove through the night to the Kalbarri National Park. We saw so many kangaroos throughout the drive. It was really cool but also dangerous because kangaroos are like deer here and you have to make sure you don't hit them. We finally made it to the national park and all slept in the car because all the hostels were closed by the time we got there.

The next day we woke up to a beautiful site of the ocean crashing on the rocks. We went to the different beautiful look outs and then headed up to Monkey Mia. On the way we made a couple of stops. First we stopped at Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.

Hamelin Pool is one of only two places in the world with living marine stromatolites, or "living fossils". Our next stop was Shell beach.

The beach is made up completely of shells. We then finally made it to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia resort is known for having dolphins come up consistently throughout the day for feedings. The first night we visited the beach. The next morning we got up early to see the first feeding of the dolphins. I couldn't believe it how close the

dolphins came up to the people. The told us the history of the dolphin feedings and the name of the dolphins that come up. They then asked for a few volunteers to feed the dolphins and I GOT TO FEED THE DOLPHINS! It was awesome. After that we all relaxed and enjoyed the resort. I layed out on the beach and read a bit while listening to the waves. I then noticed many

people walking up to the shore. The dolphins had come back to get some more fish. I went up to watch and saw even more dolphins came up this time. One of the baby dolphins I seriously could of touch, it kept coming up so close to my feet!

The rest of the afternoon was spent buying gifts, laying around by the resort pool, swimming in the ocean and then drinking and eating with the gang. All in all a great day!The next day we left Monkey Mia for Exmouth. When we finally got to Exmouth we stopped at the store and when we came out our car wouldn't start! We had it jumped and got to our hotel. When we got to the hotel I called the car company and they said they couldn't get anyone out there that night. So we chilled around and meet some people from a tour group. The next morning the car started so we went off to the Cape Range National Park. When we got to the National Park we parked the car at the tourist center then when we tried to start it up again, it wouldn't start again. So this time I called the company again and the lady said she couldn't get ahold of the only mechanic in town and that we will have to wait. We decided that we weren't going to wait our whole afternoon sitting by the car. So we met this awesome Aussie, Nikolai and his American friend, Jamie and they jumped the car for us to get to the beach car park.

We left a note to fix the car and to find us on the beach. We spent the afternoon at Turquoise Bay snorkling and hanging out. After awhile we got hungry and Nikolai offered to cook up some fresh fish for us. So we went up to the cars, built a tent between our cars to eat under and then like perfect timing the mechanic showed up.

By the time we ate our car was fixed:) That night we all, including our new friends went back to the hotel, cooked up some food and had an awesome night chilling out and talking.

Now it was time to hit Coral Bay. We drove down with our new friends following behind and set up under a tree in the arvo right above the beach. We all took naps under the tree and relaxed all day in the sun. We swam a bit then cooked up some more fish. It was such a nice day. We camped out at a campsite nearby. That night we looked at stars, cooked a veggie curry

and then I slept in a tent that was ontop of a 4x4. It was awesome. In the morning it was time for us to say our goodbyes to our new friends and then go on a boat!

In exmouth we did a bit of snorkeling on the Ningaloo reef but in coral bay we wanted to see it farther out. We snorkeled with manta rays first. Those things are huge!!! Then we went into the reef and swam above reef sharks. The reef was beautiful and we got to see so many colorful fish. After our boat ride we packed up the car and started heading back to Perth.

We stayed in a cute quant town that night and then were off to Geraldtown the next day. Geraldtown had a nice harbor and was a nice place to spend our last night of the trip together. We all had so
much fun together!

In Perth we all parted ways. I went back to Beth and Colins for my remaining days in Western Australia. Their daughter had come to town and I went shopping the next day with them. Beth drove me around to see all the beautiful beaches in Perth then we shopped and had a drink at the harbor. That night I had my last dinner with them at this amazing thai place. I flew back to what has now become my home here in Australia, Melbourne and have started teaching once again.