The world according to K

No birds

Photies show me at coastline near Pinnacles – the famous politically incorrect car, The Pinnacles,Sunset at Kalbarri, Glimpse of the whale

So I hired a car. On the side of the car is a logo saying ‘no birds“. I drive this car thousands of KM’s over a period 10 days with this blaring logo- which I think has something..well to do with birds.

When I return the car- bemused I ask what the logo stands for.I am told by Steve that this car hire company prides itself on the fact that it keeps its prices low due to the fact that it EMPLOYS NO BIRDS as front line staff.

OMG here’s me driving this bloody car all around western Australia not knowing that I am promoting the most un right on – anti -woman, politically incorrect company – that is reknowned all over Australia as being over the top. I was mortified. Move on.

Cervantes – The Pinnacles
So where was I? – the road trip. I left Perth and headed on the main coastal Highway ( which is on average 100’s kms parallel from the coast) and headed for Cervantes- home of the famous Pinnacles- strange formations in the desert coastline.

Cervantes is 200km from Perth and it looks like a a tiny hop skip and a jump on the road map. I was amazed at the space and how the road just seems to go on forever into the distance. I loved the scary sight of a road just heading towards oblivion- and not a car in sight. It gives you a great sense of freedom and I had my Priscilla Queen of the desert moment playing Pachebel a full volume..ok it wasnt Abba but I didnt have ABBA. It was wonderful.

Half a day later after a few coffee stops by the roadside ( I had my butties made and flask …)
I reached Cervantes. It was dusk when I drove ( OFF ROAD) to see the Pinnacles.
These are very very odd strange rock formations in the desert and the light going down made them appear to be golden in colour. It was very much like a lunar landscape but in an eerie orange red colour. see photies.The most stunning sight which made me jump for glee, was the appearance of kangeroos hopping around these pinnacle things. It was such a surreal moment.These Kangeroos do look so funny and with their paws ready to box. After staring you out, they hop off with alarming speed and I saw one with its little uns in its pouch..Other wildlife I saw there were Emu’s . Lots of em.

I have since found out that dusk is most dangerous time of day to drive in Aussie ,as this is when the kangeroos just hop out in front of cars. The size of these things – and the fact that you could hit them was very scary. The roadkill that I saw throughout the rest of my trip – proved the point that so many of these kangeroos are killled by cars or trucks – and are left dead on the roadside. I have never in my life seen so much roadside carnage.

I stayed the night at a hostel in Cervanes- where I met Gini- a young 20 year old German girl – who was travelling / driving her own car alone. It was her first night travelling alone – and I could tell she had the wide eyed rabbit in the headlights look- very near to tears. Her evening meal was a box of cereal. God love her I thought. After sharing some pasta with her- she asked if she could follow me in her car next day to the next town Geraldton over 200km away. No probs.

Geraldton
I left next day with Gini following in her twenty year old car ( she was planning to drive all the way around Aussie), on to Geraldton . Arriving there we discover the shock absorbers in Gini’s car have gone. The garage tell us it will be at least a week to fix. It was then we decided that Gini could travel up the coast further with me in my car ,as I would be coming back via Geraldton to Perth to return my none PC hire car. It would take at least a week. That settled we drive on further North up the West coast arriving at Kalbarri mid afternoon ( another 300 km further on)

As you have guessed distances in Aussie mean absolutely nothing.

Kalbarri

This coastal beach town is beautiful. We saw the sea gorges at sunset , and they did indeed look spectacular ( see photies of yet more sunsets). The coastline cliffs are a deep red colour and they appear to glow as the sun sets. Add in yet more kangeroos and the sight is truly stunning.
The hostel was sweet , with only 4 of us an dorm although it had room for 10. Her we met two British girls and we joined them playing pool at the pub later that night. They managed to gegg us onto a whale watching cruise that was happening early morning next day.

In the pub – I removed myself from the younger age company ( flirting with aussie blokes) and found myself in the company of a man and wife who were millionaires travelling North, a real bushman called Bruce ( I kid you not ), and a waste dispoal worker!!!! An entertaining time had by all – and the millionaire couple offered to meet me in Cairns if I got there. How funny!!

Watching Whales
This was a wondreful morning. very early – on a boat- the sea being calm – sitting on the top a prime spot ( as the skipper fancied Gini), we were asked to lok out for the tell tale water spouting of the whales.

Within half an hour Popeye ( my name for the skipper who was a hoot), spotted our first whale. Sidling up closer, when this whale emerged from the water, I became very emotional – in fact most people do apparently. The Humpbacked male whale was huge, and yet it rose out of the water as though playing the lead role in a ballet, sort of pirouetting in the water, then sinking down slowly. The last thing to disappear was his the tail, slowly descending , as though waving goodbye to us. It was so special, and these huge animals are so awe inspiring.

He let us follow him ( and it about them wanting to stay with us, as he could have so easily dived deep and gone missing), for about half an hour. Then performing is final act with a huge dive and spurt from his blow hole- he was gone.

Apparently the whales are just as curious as we are about them..so who is really watching who. seeing his watchful eye weighing us up at close quarters, I really wonder.

We also glimpsed from afar a female whale with her calf – but she wasn’t about to let us get too close, and took off protecting her offspring from our watchful eyes.

Another ambition of mine ticked off my list. A magical morning – and we were back for breakfast by 7am. As the skipper, another funny character who told politically incorrect jokes said – “This is better than being married or dead. “I couldnt agree more.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 12:39 am and is filed under 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.