Archive for the ‘Holiday’ Category
We had a snorkel and dive trip planned but the company called us that they had to cancel because their boat broke down. So instead of getting up early we could sleep in and have breakfast before loading up the car and checking out. We used the time freed up by the cancellation by driving to Cape Range and visiting a few of the spots we didn’t have time for on the 4WD tour. First was the SS Mildura wreck but this was hard to see because of the high tide. We returned there a few hours later before leaving for Coral Bay.
Most of the points of interest here also have geocaches so we could log a find and see the sights in one go. The last geocache we went to was near a water tap about 300 meters from the main road. As we got closer we noticed 3 emus nearby. This was a great photo opportunity but soon we noticed that there were 5 and then 6 emus near our car. I still had to get out and look for the cache about 70m away but I wasn’t sure if any of the emu would react if I was on foot. I just took a chance and kept the car between me and the big birds and that seemed to work. After finding the cache I walked back and saw that there were now eight emus and 2 of them were in my path. As I got closer they decided to move away so I could get back in the car. Still further south on the main road we visited the exhibition of the visitor’s center and ate our lunch at the picnic tables.
We headed back to Exmouth, filled up our tank and got on our way to Coral Bay. There are no services between Exmouth and Coral Bay (159 Km). When we checked in at the hotel reception we were informed that our trip for tomorrow (snorkeling with manta rays) was canceled because there were not enough people taking the tour and we should contact the office to reschedule. When we called they said they got a late reservation and the trip was back on schedule.
We took a quick stroll through Coral Bay (takes 10 minutes) and it was time for dinner.
At 6:30 the 4WD of West Trek safaris arrived in front of the hotel to pick us up. It was still dark as the sun would only rise at 7. We made our way to Shot Hole Canyon via a track for 4WD only. We saw the sun rise as we walked up to a viewing point in the canyon. We headed back to the main road and a few Km further we got onto another track, Charles Knife’s road. We returned via the same track to the main road and continued south to once again turn into another track. This was a long track that meanders from the east to west side of the peninsula. It took about 3 hours to make the crossing as the some parts of the track can only be done very slowly as the 4WD crawled over rocks. THe views along the way were spectacular.
Once we were near the ocean again we continued south for a short while to Yardie Creek. We saw a few Rock Wallabies hiding between the rocks there while going on a short hike. After the hike we had lunch near the beach.
By now it was getting close to 3 o”clock and we began to make our way back north. As I already picked up a few geocaches during this trip our guide and drive made a few stops where other caches were hidden. At Turquoise Bay we went snorkeling for a while and then had our “afternoon tea” before continuing the drive. Right before sunset we were at the Vlamingh Head lighthouse to see the sun go down. Then it was time to get back to the hotel.
This was a trip that took almost 12 hours but it was well worth the effort. We went places we would never have seen on our own as the rugged terrain would be a no-drive for any rental company.
We had another early start. We had to get up and be ready by 7.30 to be picked up for a whale shark trip. As there was no jetty we had to board a small boat that took us to the main sightseeing boat. Once all 20 of us were on board we left the “harbor” we anchored down so we could get in the water for a 30 minute snorkel. This was nothing spectacular although we saw a lot of small colored fish and some coral. We then cruised further along the Cape Range coast southwards seeing humpback whales.
At 10 o”clock the spotter planes take to the skies to radio in the location of the whale sharks and the boat then heads that way. Once the destination is reached a group of 10 people get in the water right in the path of the shark. Once it gets closer the group splits to the right and left to let the shark pass and the continues to swim alongside. These are magnificent creatures and the ones we saw today were 6-7 meters long.
As the whale shark is an endangered species, it”s illegal to harm them in any way and we had to stay 3 meters away from it’s body and 4 meters from it’s tail (seems logical as the tail of a full grown whale shark can weigh 1 ton).
After we had 4 opportunities to swim with these sharks it was time to return. On the way back we had some bottlenose dolphins swim in the bowwave and a few humpbacks were seen breaching out of the water.
We had to get up early as we had a 733 Km drive ahead of us and we wanted to be in Exmouth before dark. Traffic on the highway was light and we made good time so we stopped for a few geocaches along the way. We passed a few road trains and got the opportunity to see a couple up close at the roadhouses. We noticed that it’s best not to wait to long to fill up on petrol (gas). We had lunch and filled up at Carnarvon and found the next available petrol station to be 140 Km away with the next another 223 Km further north.
Along this highway it’s clear that driving in the dark has some drawbacks, we must have passed over 100 dead kangaroos and goats next to the road.
After dinner in Exmouth, driving 5 Km back to the hotel,we had to stop for 2 smaller kangaroos that crossed the road. At highway speeds there would have no way to avoid them.
As the distance from Perth to Exmouth is more than we cared to do on one day we picked The Riverside Sanctuary as a stopover. It was still a 530 Km drive and we planned our route so we would arrive at the Sanctuary by sunset.
We left Perth via the highway until we got to Jurian Bay from where we took the scenic route along the coast. 15 Km south of Geralton we stopped at Greenough where many of the trees are growing near horizontal because of the winds blowing in from the sea.
When we arrived at our cottage for one night we were just in time to see the final daylight that colored the western sky. There was nothing more to do than have dinner and preparing for tomorrow.
It was a short night but we were on our way to the rentalcar company by 10:30. We were given a 3.6 V6 cylinder Holden with 9000 Km on the clock. Not bad 
After stopping at a nearby shoppingcenter to get some food and drink and a prepaid phonecard we set off to the center of Perth. We first went to the Bell Tower at the waterfront, thee spot where wee found our first Ozzie geocache. We strolled along one of the main streets to the Perth Mint where gold coins are made (no free samples though).
We continued to the Belgian Beer Cafe and then back to the car. All is set to drive north and “really” begin our tour of this part of Western Australia.
There will be no internet access tomorrow as we’ll be in the middle of nowhere, at least 20 Km from the nearest “town”.
We left home at 17:00 on Sunday to take our first flight from Brussels to Frankfurt. The flight left right on time and 40 minutes later we touched down. We changed terminals and boarded QF6, the Qantas flight to Singapore, for a 12 hour flight east. Still spot on time we again changed planes once again for the final leg of our trip, a 5 hour flight south to Perth. 100% to schedule we touched down on Ozzie soil at 30 minutes past midnight. A quick stroll through immigration and customs and a 15 minute drive in the hotel courtesy bus and we could get to sleep around 2 in the morning.
Early to rise and have breakfast we left the hotel at 7 and took the subway to Namba station we boarded the Rapi:t train to Kansai airport (KIX). It only took 10 minutes to check-in (we tried online but the system refused to change our seats). We strolled this modern airport untill it was time to board the Finnair A-330-300 for Helsinki. We arrived on time, went through security (again) and crossed the border into the EU. An Airbus 319 took us straight to Brussels where we arrived as scheduled. 22 hours after leaving our Osaka hotel we opened the door of our home that we closed 28 days ago.
A short high speed train ride brought us to Kobe. From Shin-Kobe station we took a loopbus to Meriken park where we first went up the Port Tower which, for a reason unknown to us, was free that day. On the other side of the park is the memorial for the 1995 earthquake that devastated the city. A part of the destroyed quay is kept as reminder of the strength of the quake. We walked through the center of town and visited the Earthquake museum where a lot can be learned about the big Kobe earthquake and what is being done to prevent major damage in case a tremor strikes again. We also learned that Japan is prepared for earthquakes and that all is being done to start restoring critical infrastructure as fast possible. A 2 Km walk brought us back to the station where we returned to Osaka on another Hikari train.
After breakfast we took the subway and high speed train to Himeji Castle, a 30 minute and 100 Km ride. Himeji Castle is on the Unesco World Heritage list and one of Japan’s top tourist attractions. Like Osaka Castle it has 5 stories but on the inside there’s 6 stories. From the top visitors can see the castle ground and the area around Himeji. Next to the castle is a Japanese garden with typical plants, trees and ponds with bridges. About 500 meter away is a park on a hill from where there’s a fantastic view of Himeji Castle. If it weren’t for the geocache hidden on the top we might have missed this spot. We were at the trainstation just in time to board the Kodama high speed train back to Osaka. We also bought an English language newspaper with all the information about yesterday’s earthquake. These pages are going back to Belgium with us.
