Western Exposure Day 2

22:40, Monkey Mia
It feels so good to finally get here. The Bayside YHA is basically a resort here. There’s a boardwalk right out onto the beach. I took a brief walk out there after dinner. You could see quite a few stars, not quite as many as when I was at Merzey River, cuz the lights from the resort are bright. Gotta say that it’s very odd not to see Orion.

Today was a PACKED day.

Left at 7:30 to Kalbarri National Park.




The Z-Bend lookout had quite a view of the gorges. The sandstone in the area is about 280?million years old. About 170mya, the ice age started to carve out the gorges. There were fossilized tracks of an ancient arthropod. The sandstone was variegated, yellow, beige and red. The hike itself is not bad…2 hours or so roundtrip. You go down to the bottom of the gorge to the river. A few sections were steep, and a bit scary, but mostly doable. I’ll see how my legs feel tomorrow.

When we got to the bottom, I made my way to the shady side and just sat, enjoying the view and the breeze. Sophie nearly got stranded in the middle of the river. She was rock hopping and realised that from her little rock, there were no others close by. She made it back, and went a different route to cross. Self-proclaimed tour guide’s worst nightmare, because she likes to do extreme things.

Course, then Tim, and American here on his honeymoon, tried to do her route in reverse. Quite possible that he was into track and field. Did standing long jumps for several of the stones, and made it. I was getting nervous just watching them.

Saw some cool (golden orb?) spiders. They can get quite big, and their webs have a golden glow to them in the light. The neatest thing is that their anchor lines are uber strong, and not sticky. When you pluck on it, like a violin string, it flexes, and doesn’t break.

A short drive to the other side of the park to see Nature’s Window, a freak erosion that caused the centre of a formation to wear away. If you look through it, there’s a nice view of the valley. The winds coming up were just divine.

Hamburgers for lunch, and it was off we went to the stromatolites. Oh, before I forget, it’s very convenient how there are barbecues at most larger parks.

The 2.5 hour drive to the Billabong Roadhouse was frickin HOT. Highs were probably mid-30s today. The aircon was pumped to the max, and it was pissy weak in the heat. Someone in the bus was emitting quite the B.O.

Had a Tim Tam Cornetto and a Blackcurrant Powerade. I dunno if it’s because it actually tastes good, or because I was dehydrated, but the Powerade was really good. Tim Tam cone was ok. Gimme caramel anyday. I also don’t entirely get why Tim Tams are sooooooooooo good. Everyone raves about them, and I’m kinda ambivalent about em.

Another hour’s drive got us to the stromatolites. Pretty cool when you think about the fact that they’ve been here for 3.5 billion years, and that here and the Bahamas are the only places you’ll get to see them still alive. But I didn’t find them overly impressive. Perhaps one of the issues is that I’m a hands-on kinda person. Touching is a big part of an experience for me, and we couldn’t (protected area and all that).

Yet another hour after that was Shell Beach. Cool and a bit odd at the same time, to be at a beach that’s all cockle shells. The water was also quite shallow. Went out about 500m and the water only came up to my knees. Tim and Woody went further out, and it was still quite shallow. Interesting geography, in that the Peron Peninsula protects the bay, so there’s no wave action, and the water doesn’t flow much. Evaporation leaves the water about 3 times saltier than that out in the ocean.

Sophie spotted a jelly! I was the only one to touch it out of the 4 of us. They all thought I was nuts, but I know better. It’s a fleshier one, with a blue hue to it. The tentacles were stubby and their widths were about pinky-sized. The bell definitely had substance and was about the size of an adult human head. Felt like the stalks of larger anemones.

The sunset was gorgeous. That brilliant orange glow and striated sky never gets old.

Stopped into Denham to get some booze. I still had the JD, so I didn’t bother. Denham was a whaling town up until the 30s, when, due to the stench of the town, could not be gazetted. They stopped then, and is now just a fishing town with a population of about 470. It’s also a jumping off point for people to Monkey Mia, as it has more of a night scene.

Dinner was a simple affair of steak, sausages, and salad. Because there were no carbs, I can feel my stomach growling already, and we just ate less than 3 hours ago.

I’m gonna see how I feel tomorrow morning. If I’m awake, I’m going to go to the first feeding of the dolphins at 7:30. If I sleep in, then I’m gonna sleep in. Been sleeping so badly of late. With the red-eye on Tuesday, and the ensuing flight home on Wednesday afternoon, it’s probably a good idea to sleep when I can.