Western Australia: Perth to Broome
Resting up for a few days in Broome (my new favorite city in Australia) between the first half of our Western Australia (WA) adventure (Perth to Broome) and the second half which starts in a couple of days (Broome to Darwin).
To catch you all up, we arrived in Perth, the capital of WA, back on August 1st. Perth is in fact the furthest city away from Boston on the planet, so nobody can accuse us of not venturing too far from home!
WA comprises roughly the western 3rd of Australia. If WA was a country it would be the 10th largest in the world. We spent a few days in Perth, mostly preparing for our trip, but also visiting beautiful Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, having a tour (and tasting) at the Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle (Freo to the locals), taking in a comedy show (we understood about every third joke), and stumbling upon a Boston Sports bar (you might recognize the faces on the wall):
On the 5th, we met up with our group of 18, and 2 guides, on a cold winter morning (about 40 degrees) for an early departure. Our group was mostly comprised of Europeans (Italians, Swiss, Germans, Dutch, a Brit, and an Irish girl), as well as four Aussies and Melanie and I (we like it when there aren't alot of Americans around - we can hang out with Americans at home, no need to come halfway around the world for that!). The group had a nice mix of ages - from 20 to 70 (we weren't the oldest, hurrah!), with many of the Europeans being in Australia on working holiday visas.
Over the course of 10 days, we passed through the land of 18 aboriginal nations, each with its own language and culture, and drove 4,400 kilometers (2,750 miles - not a typo!). Along the way we stopped at a bunch of different national parks, with widely varying landscapes, including:
We started out staying at a few different backpackers' hostels (this one had 10 beds per room - definitely not the Ritz!)
But we eventually worked our way up to sleeping under the stars at different campsites (still not the Ritz, but the night sky was amazing (the stars are all different here in the Southern Hemisphere)), and thankfully the dingos that often strolled through our campsite at night didn't do any harm!
The highlights of the trip were definitely the time we spent on the Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay and Exmouth (according to many, more impressive even than the Great Barrier Reef), and our hikes in Karijini National Park.
The water on the reef was as clear as a swimming pool, the snorkeling was great, and watching the bottlenose dolphins swim alongside our boat, and the humpback whales breaching was awesome!
But actually getting in the water and swimming with the huge manta rays and humpback whales, and watching (from the deck of the boat) as a sea turtle valiantly (but futilely) tried to fight off a frenzy of ten tiger sharks, now that was epic!
After leaving Ningaloo Reef we continued on to Karijini National Park - known as the Land of Gorgeous Gorges - which were indescribably beautiful (and the water was indescribably cold!). To add to the adventure, the trails to get to the swimming spots were generally Class 5 (out of 5) hikes, the danger of which was driven home to us when a hiker at the first gorge we visited had to be airlifted out later in the day we were there.
Since completing this first leg of our journey late on Monday, we've spent a few days relaxing in Broome - its been just what the doctor ordered. We spent an afternoon at the Broome Turf Club watching the Ladies Day horse races (WA's answer to the Kentucky Derby)
And taking a camelback stroll down the beach (interesting bit of trivia: camels were first introduced to Australia from the Canary Islands in 1840. Today there are more feral camels in Australia - more than a million - than there are camels in Egypt!)
We had one last brush with civilization before packing up for the next leg of our journey (I'll let you guess what we did - but here's a hint: we didn't go see Oppenheimer....)
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