Exmouth to Perth

First some pictures of the gorges we saw and hiked in Karijini NP, because now I can finally upload some pictures again: and one of our many sundowners:

Exmouth was really nice and from now on onwards most of the things we were doing I've already done last time I was in Oz, so not too many surprises there. Our group at the Pinnacles:

After a good sleep we headed towards Cape Range National Park to do lots of snorkelling, hanging out on the beach, get a posh lunch with pasta salad and basically just 'chillaxing' as Pete, our driver, would say. We headed to the Oyster Stacks first, a very shallow place to snorkel, with lots of fish and coral, a good way to get ourselves comfortable in the water. The water here is a lot warmer than in Karijini, about 24 degrees, so much nicer to swim around in. After a great snorkel we headed towards Sandy Bay, where there is no coral, but what looks like the perfect beach you would get on your windows desktop: After a really posh lunch there we headed towards turqoise bay, where there was loads of coral and animals to see: white tip reef sharks, turtles, octopusses and obviously loads of different kinds of fish. Since I don't have an underwater camera, unfortunately no pictures of all this beauty. We headed towards Coral Bay in the evening where we stayed for 2 nights and had the whole Wednesday off to do whatever we liked. I really wanted to go diving with the manta rays, but apparently that is not allowed, so snorkelling it was. Paul, the two Frenchies and me, booked a day trip snorkelling with manta rays, whale and turtle watching and lots more 'regular' snorkeling. A brilliant day, since we saw 2 whales jumping out of the water a few times in a row and flapping there fins on the water, and still more to see: turtles, dugongs, stingrays, white tip reef sharks (about 1 metre away when we were snorkelling) and we snorkelled for about 15 minutes with a black manta ray!!! She had a black belly as well and was most likely pregnant. She was in very clear water just cruising around slowly, so it was really easy for us to keep up with her and admire her for a long time. Amazing! On our way we saw many wedged tailed eagles:

Next day we headed of towards Denham, in Shark Bay. We saw the stromatolites (oldest bacteria on earth that produce oxygen and made other life on earth possible), had a lovely sunset on shell beach and finally ended up in Denham. We left really early the next morning to see the sun rise above the ocean in Monkey Mia, the dolphin resort. Here you see one of the pelicans, drinking from the sprinklers :) We went to the first feeding of the dolphins, which is always great to see them so up close, and had some time to chill afterwards. Time to move further south to Kalbarri, but not before we had a glance at Eagle nest lookout, Murchison Gorge in Kalbarri National Park which we saw from the Hawks Head lookout. Then Saturday arrived, our very last day of the 21 day tour: down to Perth! A long day of driving, but also lots of things to see and do before we ended up there. We went to another lookout point, Island Rock lookout, to check for whales, dugongs and sharks, but all of them were apparently still asleep. Next we went to see the Lynton Convict Depot, where in the old days lots of convicts where housed, who were used for work in the mines, on farms etc. It's one of the best preserved spots in Western Australia. Originally we were supposed to go sandboarding just south of Geraldton, but since it had rained there the day before the sand was too wet and no way we were going down those slopes, so we headed a bit further south to the Greenough Wildlife and Bird Park, which as far as I am concerned is a much better option anyway. Loads of lovely animals to see AND pet: a little Joey (baby kangaroo) of four months old, a blue tonged lizard, an alpaca and lots more (dingos, snakes, camels, loads of birds, goats etc). Ofcourse the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park were visited and finally we arrived in Perth at around 8.30 in the evening. We headed straight to a restaurant for our last meal as a group. Exhausted after the long trip we made it a quick meal and were dropped off at our hostels. Mine is fine, it's great to have a single room for two nights! Yesterday we (Paul, Friedi, Lisa and me) went to the Fremantle Markets, where we met up with Jae whom we met on our first part of the tour between Darwin and Broome. The markets were really busy and there is a lot of crap for sale, so I didn't buy anything and just had a quick stroll around. In the evening we caught up again and went to the cinema, Harry Potter! After a drink in a bar afterwards it was time to get some more sleep, since this night I will be in the plane instead of in a bed. Just checked out, updating the blog and a stroll around town this afternoon before I head to the airport to fly to Melbourne and then off to Hobart, my final destination. Thursday I will start my last tour, a 6 day taste of Tasmania and after that it is already time to go home again :(