Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Roos and Koalas - Perth




We took a short self drive trip along Western Australia between 10th October to 16th October starting from Perth then moving north bound to Shark Bay making stops at Cervantes to see the Pinnacles, then quick stops at Jurien Bay and Geraldton for R&R and precious fuel, then via even lonelier Indian Ocean Drive to Denham in Sharkbay 900 km in one day about 13 hours of driving. It's peanuts compared to the land mass of Australia.
Shark Bay is the most Western part of Australia with the famous Monkey Mia where wild dolphins regular swim to shore for feeding/human interaction and Hamelin Pool for it's Stromatolites (oldest living organism) and Shell Beach where the beach is made of billions of small cockle shells. These are only 2 in the world and the whole area was declared World Heritage Area by UNESCO.

It was so cold yet so sunny in Western Australia and we were told the weather was weird when we arrived, they had extended spring. But with it the beautiful vistas, wild flowers, fresh air and clear really blue skies, it was an experience of lifetime for us. Truely memorable and enjoyable getaway!


Caversham Park, feed and pet the Kangaroos. Strong hind legs, thick tails as counter balance and back stand.















The Koalas were one
snobbish bunch!












Silly ass have my vote as park mascot!











Lots of beautiful wild flowers, they are almost
everywhere in the bush.
This one is shot along
Munbinea Rd on the way to Cervantes.













Emu Downs Wind Farm, makes perfect sense
as this place perpetually windy. It's even much
more windy at Denham with winds 80~100kmh
at night. My camera ain't wide enough but
there are 48 of these here generating 80Mw
for 50,000 homes! GPS S30.46291 E115.3404
Elevation 142m.











Pinnacles at Nambung National Park.


Amazing clear blue skies.



























Unique white sand dune at the dessert.













This cute bobtail caught my eye
at Geraldton scenic drive along
Indian Ocean.





















Vin's turn at the Nissan Micra after I've put in 8 hours
drive after Geraldton. Nice frugal little car, makes sense
when fuel is 3x Malaysia's pump prices. Our favourite
pass time was hunting for the lowest pump prices!


















Monkey Mia




Nikki and her calf, she has been returning to Monkey Mia for the past 12 years. The feeding of the dolphins are controlled by park volunteers and they only feed females and they were given max 9 fishes a day to prevent human dependancy.


















Sailing aboard Catamaran Aristocat 2
Dugong, Sea Turtles and Dolphin watching.
How can it be so cold yet so sunny. I had sunburn
on my cheeks. We didn't expect the weather to
be that cold so we din't carry enough warm clothing.













Hamelin Pool, Shell Beach. It's not white sands
but white Bivalve Cockle shells! Only 2
known beaches of this kind.

Behind me are the Stromatolites.






We were surprised to see a pair of Emus
by the road. Such a bonus for us!










Eagles's Bluff
This calm and serene shot is nothing like this at all.
We have to brave 100+ kmh winds to take
this shot of Eagle's Bluff at near Sunset.
Such a beautiful vista, but standing still on the
platform without being blown off the cliff is
a challenge. Not to mention we were sand blasted
by pebbles blown off the ground up to our face!






Fields Of Gold and Lonely Roads




Some stretches of road are so lonely that we can drive for 15~20 minutes and there are no passing insight. I dread to think if Nissan were to kaput on us in such a remote place but we were surprised by the passing scenery such as this one plane bush land with wild flowers as far the eye can see.


On the way back to Perth, we entertained
ourselves during the 9 hours drive by counting
dead animals killed by roadtrains etc. We have
12 Kangaroos, 8 Rabbits and 1 Bird I killed
strayed across our Nissan. Poor fellow.












King's Park, Perth

Beautiful lanscape and concentration of wildflowers and Karri Trees. These trees have a smooth bark, wonder if it's like that whole year round?
King's Park also has a great view of Perth City.














Best Regards

More D