The desert country

From one of the most isolated cities on earth, Perth (it is closer to asia than it is to Sydney) to Kalbarri on the Batavia coast (the Batavia shipwrecked here) to Denham, Shark Bay to Coral Bay on the Coral coast.

Denham, quite isolated. There are a few ATM's in this place, but you will not get more than 150 out of them.....there is no doctor, only nurses. If you want to do shopping of any importance (starting from clothes and moving up) you will have to drive 400 k's south. The nearest big hospital is in Perth, an approximately 10 hour drive if not more. If you get bitten by any poiseness animal here you are in trouble. But it is such a wonderfull place. The scenery is stunning. I visited Francois Peron National Park, the highlight of this trip and the reason I came to Denham. In this park the red meets the white and the blue. Red cliffs, white sand and blue water. Absolutely gorgeous! It used to be as sheepstation. How people can/could live in these circumstances is byond believe. Imagine the people coming from oversea and were promised land for their cattle. Lush green fields, yeah right. It is a desert country. An absolute desert. How these people were able to survive without having plenty of drinking water......How they must have gotten the schock of their lives when they came here after the long boatjourney....

The dutch came to this place for spices, well actually the went to the Indies but got kind of sidetracked by the strong winds on sea. I am still a bit upset that they did not claim this island/ land/continent hehehe. The French came here for scientific research on plants and animals.

Pics Denham

In Francois Peron NP I saw dolphins, sharks, rays and lizards. And birds lining up in a row all facing the same way as they were waiting in line to buy a concertticket, that was really funny!

Denham is located in Shark Bay. Shark bay is a worl heritage list protected area.

Shell beach (a beach completely ' made' out of shells), Stomatolites, soaking in a hottub at night with a perfect view on the sky (which is extremely bright -lack of pollution- so you really SEE millions of stars), a 4W drive along the coastline (owner hostel took us on a drive)..

Shell beach:

walking on the beach all by myself without anybody around (30 people on the beach in Oz is a crowd).

It is cyclone season at the westcoast......one already passed the coast but two of 'em are still out there....per season about three cyclones will actually come on land and then the rain and wind is unbelievable and can blow everything away...here is hoping I will not cross one...

I am in Coral bay at the moment...Coral bay is one of the two places in the world (California is the other one) where mantarays are a constant population. I will have to overcome my fear once again and go on a snorkeling tour with the mantarays as it is a unique experience.....so today I have been checking out all I need to know to possibly overcome my fear: how big is the boat, how long is the boatride, is the sea wild, are there any sharks. It is the biggest boat, The boatride is 5 hours, the sea is ofcourse unpredictable but reasonably calm and sharks, hey it is Australia. Sharks are everywhere. There are planes going out to spot the mantarays and they will also look for sharks. If a shark is spotted everyone has to get back to the boat.......Anyways that is one of my biggest fears, meeting a shark.....but I really feel that I have to do it...the snorkeling with the rays that is. meeting a shark I can live without :-))

This entry is a bit hopping from one thing to another, but I feel as if cannot write anymore at the moment.....I will have to continue for myself because this is my diary. But honestly, I can do without right now. It is hot which makes me really tired and I am extremely enjoying myself and I m a bit restless when I am on the internet.

So do not expect any logical and nicely readable entries anymore......haha. I realise that it is not complete as weel and I want to write more about history and stuff but I cannot seem to manage. maybe later I will add it to my entries.

Cheers!