Today we said good-by to Perth and the southern section of Western Australia. The Easyrider bus came by our hostel and picked us up at 7:00 am for a full day of travel. Our final destination for the day is Geralton. It is a major city in the region and has a large harbor where much of the shipping takes place into and out of the northern half of Western Australia.
Along the way, we stopped at a few locations to see some sights. One of them are the Nambung National Park to see the 'Pinnacles Desert'. This is actually not desert, but sand dunes near the ocean that are red in color so it appears that you are in the desert. The pinnacles themselves are actually huge limestone pillars created by erosion and vegetation digging into the limestone and causing cracks which are weak spots and allow the erosion to happen in a manner which leaves the pinnacles remaining. There are literally thousands of them in the area and if you study them you can use your imagination and see different 'things' carved into them. Elephants, dolphins, witches, faces, birds and hundreds of other items. The only limit to this is your imagination. Very fun, but the place was over run by flies:(
For those of you who have never been to the Australian Outback, or any real rural area of Australia, you haven't experienced flies! Since there is such a lack of water, flies will try to ge water from wherever they can, including in your mouth, nose, eyes even your ears. They swarm around you in huge numbers and aren't the least bit affected by swatting at them, and there is no insect repellent that they seem to care about. The only way to keep them off of you is to wear a net over your head as our driver did. We have since purchased a couple of these, so look for some rather fashionable photos later on:)
The first day was a long one. We finally arrived in Geralton around 5:00 and checked into our room. A large high-ceiling room in an old hotel in the center of downtown Geralton. The only problem was the room was on the interior of the building and had no exterior window to open and the temperature was in the mid 30's Celsius. That's around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We'll see how we deal with the heat for the next few days while we're here.
Next stop is Kalbarri. A small resort town further up the coast. This hopping on and off is kind of fun. We've already met a few other backpackers and hope to meet more along the way.
So, if you get the chance, hop on the bus Gus! But remember to allow yourself to make a new plan Stan because that's what this is all about:)
Eric & Val
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