Barry Backpacks Around the World

As it turns out I could rent a car with just my international driving permit (even though it clearly stated it wasn’t valid without a driver’s license. I didn’t point that out though.) On Sunday I finally had luck finding a travel companion in the form of a 21 year old German (they really are everywhere) girl named Jasmine. She had put a notice up on the board in the hostel and needed to be in Perth by July 31 for her flight home. We met and after several phone calls decided to rent a car for nine days from Europcar. As stated above they were willing to rent me the car without my US driver’s liscense. We ended up with a very nice new Hyundai Tuscon that needed to be delivered back to Perth so they waved the one way drop off fee. The “car” looked like it had been birthed from an amorous encounter between a hatchback car and an SUV so I am not exactly sure what to call it.

Jasmine and I set out on Monday from Broome. Monday was purely a driving day where we covered nearly 1000km of what turned out to be a 3700km trip (Australia is big). After leaving the tropical sand dune and mangrove forest environment of Broome. The terrain quickly became an arid desert dotted with very small plants and distant rocky hills. There was the occasional roadhouse (gas station/restaurant/bar/caravan park/grocery store) every few hundred kilometers or so. There were also ominous signs warning about lack of water and the like. As there were no radio stations on either the FM or AM band, we “entertained” ourselves with Jasmine’s two didgeridoo CD’s. This provided us with over 2.5 hours of dideridoo magic (it was as painful as it sounds). We spent the night at one of these roadhouses (tent use number two). Jasmine slept in the car and I in my tent.

On Tuesday we finished the drive to Exmouth (our first major stop). Driving up the pennisula to Exmouth, we left the desert area behind and once again entered a sand dune environment of bushes and sand. We arrived in the afternoon in Exmouth. We had time to buy some supplies in the small town and check into the caravan park. We hiked to a lighthouse and looked out over the ocean. We then walked to a rocky beach and swam for a little in the ocean which had a rocky bottom. The water was a beautiful turquoise color though. I did manage to cut my knee in the process. The next day we went into Cape Range National Park which was our main reason for coming to Exmouth. The national park lies between the Indian ocean and a range of low hills which bisects the pennisula that houses Exmouth. We spent the day hiking to gorges, again swimming on beautiful white sandy beaches, and snorkeling. The water was very clear and there were many large colorful fish to look at. Despite repeated efforts I never could manage to pet one. One snorkeling spot was called Turquoise Bay. In the bay there is a very strong rip current. The current is generated by a hole in the reef through which the water empties out of the lagoon and back into the ocean. It is a nice spot to snorkel as the current carries you quickly along. You just have to make sure that you exit at the right point to avoid being sucked out to sea.

On Thursday, we drove to Monkey Mia. The terrain was again very arid and flat until we turned off onto the pennisula housing Monkey Mia. We checked into the only resort in Monkey Mia. That night I could definitely tell that we had left the tropics as the temperature got very cold. It also looked liked rain was coming. Although it is the dry season in North Australia, July is one of the wettest months on the southern west coast. We woke up on Friday morning to a very gray cloudy day (my first in nearly 1.5 months). This gray weather didn’t stop the main attraction from occuring though. Monkey Mia is famous for its dolphins. Everyday for nearly thirty years, a pod of dolphins have been showing up to be fed by people. In the past anyone could feed the dolphins, but since the 1980’s it has been regulated and feeding can only be done at set times under the supervision of park rangers. The ad hoc feeding in the past led to dolphins becoming dependant on the food and the babies were not being taught to fish. Today the dolphins are fed 2 kgs of fish spread over three feedings. A dolphin needs about 8 kgs per day so they are still forced to go forage. Only five females are fed (I am not exactly sure why.) The feeding times are approximate. The dolphins show up when they are ready. As the first feeding is usually between 7:30 to 8:30 am, we went and stood on the beach around 7:30. The dolphins finally showed up around 7:45. Some had babies with them. Workers came out with buckets of fish and called on different people to give the dolphins fish. (I happened to be one of those people). I couldn’t touch the dolphin as we can transmit diseases such as the common cold to them. I had to put the fish near the dolphin”s mouth. The dolphins appeared to enjoy all the attention. At several times, they almost appeared like they would beach themselves as they swam very close to the shore. (I might mention that the water was “refreshingly” cold). After the dolphin feeding, the rain started. Jasmine and I went to the town of Denham to see if we could find something to do. Everything here is pretty much outdoor related and was canceled due to the rain so we decided to drive on to our next stop.

We drove through very rainy and windy weather to Kalabarri. Kalabarri is the sight of another scenic national park. We checked into another caravan park. This night we both slept in the car as the ground was soaked and the rain and the wind was heavy. We woke up to a very beautiful (but windy) day. The main road into the park was closed due to flooding so we made due with some of the other sites around the area. We first headed south of the town and stopped at various look at points. The landscape south of the town was very flat and ended at steep cliffs. The cliffs plunged straight down into the very turbulent, yet beautifully blue, ocean. At one spot we saw some sort of whale in the distance. The whale oddly enough appeared to be accompanied by a very large pod of dolphins which jumped in and out of the water as the whale repeatedly dived and resurfaced. After this we headed north from town and we went hiking along some river gorges that were still open. We spent the night in the town of Northhampton.

Northhampton is a very small town with some interesting old buildings and hotels. The main reason we stayed here was its proximity to the Hutt River Province. Many people don’t realize but there is actually a second country in Australia called the Hutt River Province Principality (or Prince Leonard’s land). The country was formed in 1970. A farmer named Leonard was fed up with wheat tariffs and managed to secede his 57 sq km farm from Western Australia using some legal loop hole (which has since been closed). The Western Australia government has been trying without success for over 30 years to get the move declared illegal. There are about 30 residents living on the property and about 13,000 citizens worldwide. I believe anyone can become a citizen. The province is run as a kingdom with the current rulers being Prince Leonard and his wife Princess Shirley. The province has its own passports and is currently trying to get into the United Nations.

To get to the province, we had to drive out into the country down a dirt road. There was a sign marking the border. We pulled up onto the main property and began to look around. The site has a post office, chapel, campground, and some interesting sculptures including a very large one of Leonard’s head. The post office was full of interesting exhibits about the province including the national anthem, the local currency, and postage stamps issued by the province. While we were in the post office who else but Prince Leonard showed up to give us a tour. He stamped our passports and took us around showing us various sites and explaining some of the history of the province. He has apparently received gifts and visits from other heads of state and they were on display. There were also pictures of the province’s military even though I am not exactly sure what it entails.

After Prince Leonard’s land, we made our way to Geraldton. The terrain along the road now contained many more farms and towns as we were leaving the Outback and getting back into a more temperate part of Australia. In Geraldton, we walked around the town and watched Harry Potter 5 in the theatre. We spent the night in a Caravan park near a beach. Monday dawned cold and rainy again. We left Geraldton and drove along the coast to Cervantes which is the nearest town to Nambung National Park. We arrived in Cervantes fairly early in the afternoon. When I checked into the caravan park, I discovered the guy checking me in was an American from Missouri. His wife was Australian and her parents own the park. He gave me the American discount (Yeahhh!). It rained the whole day. In an attempt to entertain ourselves, we first drove around the town which took two minutes. We then spent the afternoon watching TV and reading. We spent another night in the car due to the rain and wind. It never just rains here. It is always accompanied by huge winds. But once again we woke up to a nice (but cold and windy) morning. We drove into the national park to view the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles look like it could have been a set for the original Star Trek (every alien planet was a desert that contained large stone columns or crystals). It was a very interesting area. There were limestone pillars of various shapes and sizes sticking out of a very yellow soil. The pillars were usually very straight and cylindrical in shape. They jutted out of the soil in all directions like some sort of strange plant.

We left the Pinnacles and made our way to Perth to drop off the car. Jasmine and I parted ways. She is staying in Freemantle (a suburb) and I am staying downtown. I spent the evening running errands that I needed to do. I had to go to the post office to pick up a package containing my towel (I have been using a shirt) and fleece which I had left in Kununnura. I also had to buy a new rain jacket for my fleece as my other one has mysteriously disappeared. I traveled for over five months without losing anything. In the last month though, I have lost a wallet, left my fleece and towel behind, and lost a rain coat. I hope this doesn’t become a trend. I am making a concerted effort to try to make sure I have everything when I leave an area.

I am now considering how to spend my remaining seven days in Australia. I will probably rent another car alone and go visit some forests to the south of here. They are supposed to be very large and I haven’t seen one big native Australian tree (with the exception of the odd Boab tree) since I have been here so I am curious.

Side Note:
Traveling with a complete stranger is interesting. You have to learn how to operate around each other. For example, I am much tidier than she is. I think she found it very amusing that I made sure that we emptied the dirt out of the car. I sweep my tent out after using it each morning and try to wipe off the excess dirt. Things last a lot longer if you take care of them. Her tent (In her defense, it was raining when she picked up her tent.) contained a lot of dirt on the bottom and apparently carried an ant nest with it. When we went to set up her tent it was full of ants and we were plagued with ants in the car. She is not a morning person. I usually just got up and left in the morning and did my own thing until she decided she was ready for human interaction. I am sure that if she were writing this, she would have her own things to say about me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 5:58 am and is filed under Australia, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.