Monday 15th September - we're in Exmouth, on a camp site with WiFi so slow it's taken over 20 mins to upload a 3 paragraph email. So I won't be attempting to upload pictures today, I'm doing this update on my phone. The 3g signal is slow but not quite as glacial as the WiFi.
Just a quick update, we've had a day and a half in Karijini National Park. Splendid place but we couldn't stand two nights with no air con, no showers, and a drop toilet which stank like the pit of Hades - for any festival goers, think of a Glastonbury drop toilet which has been left to ferment in 30 degree plus heat for several weeks. We spent the second night at Tom Price, a new mining town which was named after the American who identified the commercial potential of the iron ore in the region - it had power, showers and only moderately stinky toilets.
As we left Port Headland the road was quite busy, and literally every second vehicle was a road train, most carrying iron ore. I think the operation continues 24 hours so the road kill is on quite an impressive scale. I saw one cow, recent, and one, very much not so, as well as kangaroos and sinister red blotches on the road.
Karijini is a beautiful, quiet (mostly) place, but very hot and dusty. We stayed at the Dales Gorge site, which is the only one available to 2wd vehicles. On the first evening I sat outside to cool down and watch a star-filled sky where you could see the Milky Way, and an occasional shooting star.
We did all the local walks including along the top, down into the bottom at the Fortescue Falls end, along the bottom to Circular Pool (which is) then up to the top again. Most of that being classed as grade 4 - for experienced bush walkers only. We felt quite proud of ourselves, as well as absolutely knackered.
Yesterday was spent doing an exhausting 600 km drive, arriving here in time to book a trip to see the reef. Ningaloo Marine Park is another world heritage site, and home to the longest fringing coral reef in the world. Unlike the Barrier Reef which takes an hour to get to, our glass-bottomed boat got out in 5 minutes. Splendid sights, lots of fish including Barracuda and corals nearly 1000 years old.
We next called at a bird hide and watched a Great Egret fishing very close to us, with a very high success rate. On the way back we called at Vlamingh Head lighthouse lookout and saw our first ever whales! They were a long way way out but we clearly saw them blowing and breaching (jumping almost out of the water). It looked like at least one adult and a young one. They were either Humpback Whales or Southern Right Whales. According to our leaflet Humpbacks have two nostrils, and lungs the size of a small car which they can empty and fill in two seconds. The blow is not water but their exhaled breath condensing.
We drove back to the camp site and on the way I mentioned that we should look out for emus as we had seen one in the distance as we went out. A couple of corners later I had to do an emergency stop as there was one in the middle of the road, and two of his mates on the verge - they are big birdies!
Almost up to date now - here's hoping the next camp site will have WiFi functioning well enough to upload some pictures. It's bizarre that I've had less trouble getting a decent internet connection in Cambodia than in Australia.
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