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Billy Ray, Irony and the Sunset Coast

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The Nullarbor Plain was just that, no trees(null arbor, get it?)  and plain although we did spot an occasional kangaroo or emu from the train window.  This train ride boasts the longest stretch of straight railroad in the world, 475 kilometers, and connects the east and west coasts of Australia.  After 2 nights on the train we arrived in Perth to begin our "Sunset Coast" adventure.

We found a SCUBA class and set off to study our workbooks. On the second day of the class we went to the local pool for our first confined-water dive.  We learned about the gear, how to rig, how to do a "buddy check" and by the afternoon we were in the deep pool practicing buoyancy techniques.  I have a vivid picture in my mind of Bill in full gear, floating two meters deep in the 5 meter deep pool, in lotus position, eyes closed, with sun streaming in behind him ...relaxed.

Our open water dives would take place off of an island called Rottnest Island, familiarly known as "Rotto," about a half- hour ferry ride out into the Indian Ocean.  The island is a weekend holiday destination for folks from Perth as well as travellers and is known for its resident marsupial, the Quokka.  We camped there for four days and became well acquainted with the Quokka who are meek and do not startle, but do try to hustle campers for food.  One even put its paw on Bill's lap as he prepared a Thai delight on the camp stove.

The open-water dives were great.  And, because we were lucky enough to be the only 2 enrolled in the course, we were able to complete our underwater skills quickly and had a lot of time to swim around and check things out.  The first descent was kind of scary; I was struggling to breathe at the surface and the thought of breathing under water for 45 minutes seemed crazy.  But Neil, our instructor, was really reassuring and once we were down to 12-14 meters the time flew and Bill and I were hooked.  We saw some gorgeous coral, loads of fish that I can't name, and some stingrays. We celebrated our 9th anniversary as certified open-water SCUBA divers.

Our roadtrip up Sunset Coast began the following day.  We had booked a campervan from a place called Wicked Campervans; their vans all have lively paint jobs with 1960's flare.  Looking at their website (www.wickedcampers.com.au ) we noted that they have several outrageous vans and we weren't sure which one would be ours for the next three weeks.  It turned out to be titled, "wicked flora," and was decorated with colorful flowers and bees (see photos), but what wasn't apparent at first glance was the airbrushed message on the back which read, "pollenate the nation...ban the pill."  Well, no good self-respecting, reproductive health-wise person, let alone physician, could in good conscience drive 6000 kilometers with such a message on her van, now could she?How ironic!!  We signed the papers, I bit my lip, and the matter was quickly remedied with a patch over the airbrush, leaving the message to read, "...hooray for the pill."  We got several honks, waves, and odd stares as we drove the two-lane highway along the Indian Ocean north headed for Ningaloo Reef.

The tourist track up this side of Australia boasts several sites including 1)The Pinnacles, a bizarre and stark collection of sandstone towers among gorgeous sand dunes, 2)Kalbarri National Park, known for its sandstone cliffs over the Indian Ocean and river gorges, also near a well-known outdoor fish BBQ restaurant called Finlay's, and 3)Monkey Mia, a research center for dolphins where tourists can see and feed them right up close.

Our first authentic Australian experience was a visit to Waroorra station, a remote homestead set on the Indian Ocean at the southernmost tip of Ningaloo Reef. Some campers from Perth had given us a tip about the place saying, "drive in, open the gate, pay 5 bucks a head, and camp all alone at the most pristine beach on the coast." We did just that--for two nights we parked our wicked campervan 40 meters from the beach, saw almost no one, snorkelled a small section of the reef, and had 2 fantastic sunsets all to ourselves.  We camped at several other beach sites along the way, arriving just for sunset, parking steps from the shore, cooking up some tasty meals, and snuggling into the campervan at night.

Driving in Australia is an experience.  First, places are very far apart and the scenery in between is stark albeit beautiful for that.  Second, the place is bone dry and you must carry water both for your vehicle and for yourselves.  There is nothing between destinations except occasional homesteads that have become, essentially, roadside service stations.  Some provide clean water, most provide petrol, and all of them make you wonder how people live in such a remote setting.  There is no radio (not even religious radio like in the states that somehow tunes in no matter where you are) and you hardly pass anyone on the roads except the occasional "skippy" (kangaroo) or huge wedge-tailed eagles feeding on "skippy who didn't look both ways."

After an afternoon spent snorkelling on Ningaloo Reef out of Coral Bay, we  headed on to our main destination, Exmouth, where we would dive for 3 days and have the chance to swim with whale sharks!  The Exmouth Dive Centre took us for six dives on Lighthouse Bay in the Indian Ocean.  The best dive was The Labyrinth where we saw a zillion fish, colorful coral, nudibranches, sea snakes, octopus, white-tipped reef sharks, blue-spotted stingray, and bullrays.   It was after these dives that Bill became obsessed with the "rays" and I started to call him, "Billy Ray."

Our final dive was on the outer Ningaloo Reef, which by the way is 260 kilometers long and is the largest fringing reef in the world.  After SCUBA diving we snorkelled with whale sharks that are 8-10 meter-long, filter-feeding, endangered sharks that swim at the surface around the reef.  The boat relies on a plane to spot the sharks and the snorkelers then rely on a spotter swimmer to find the shark in the water.  At a moments notice we had to jump into the ocean, fins, snorkels, masks in place to follow the spotter swimmer and swim along side the shark. Exhilarating! Later that afternoon our boat located some Manta Rays swimming along the reef and Billy Ray got to swim with one for a good half-hour!

After Exmouth, driving became the focus as we had several kilometers to cover in just 7 more days with 2 national parks left to see,  Katherine and Kakadu National Parks.  We swept off to Broome, Karratha, and Kunnunura crossing the northwest corner of Australia and after 3 nights finally landed in Katherine.  There, we found Edith Falls and swam in the gorgeous and cool plunge pool at its foot.  We rented a canoe to paddle the Katherine gorge and view ancient aboriginal rock wall paintings.

With 2 days left we were exhausted, but determined to see Kakadu National Park.  Kakadu is known for its crocodiles, billabongs, and frogs, its birds, woodlands, and ancient aboriginal art sites.  And, it is at its peak in the wet season, familiarly called, "the wet."  We arrived in "the dry," and did not have the quintessential Kakadu experience, but we did see several birds, skinks, and a bandicoot.  We took a sweet sunset cruise on the Yellow Water Billabong and saw several large crocodile cooling themselves on the shore.  And finally the trip was topped off with a sunset over the wetlands from the Ubirr lookout.

We are now in Darwin, our final destination in Australia. The next task is to cram all our gear back into our backpacks after letting it explode all over the campervan and to unload the giant jar of Nutella on some lucky backpackers. It's been an incredible couple of months camping, biking, sightseeing, snorkelling, diving, and driving.  We've seen some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, heaps of red dirt, and three gorgeous shorelines.  Check out the photos and thanks for reading...Next stop Indonesia!