Northwest Trip



Jurassic Park buses



The northwest trip was amazing! I was able to see so much more of Australia than I would have otherwise and it was well worth it! The tour guides were very knowledgeable and were able to identity every land mark, plant, or animal, which I saw quite a bit of all these things. Each morning we woke up between 5:00 and 7:00am to get a full day of activities and sight seeing. Everybody did their share to help out including five people a day made the three meals. We slept in tents every night at various location, and despite sharing a two-person tent with three people, I was able to get good rest each of the nine nights.



So many flies!



The first day was mostly driving on buses that looked like they were from Jurassic Park. There were 47 students across three buses, and so there was not one spare seat. We stopped in a town called Geraldton to see the H.M.A.S. Sydney II Memorial. This honored 654 sailors who were lost off the Western Australia coast during World War II. Each seagull in the structure represents one sailor who died. Day 2 we visited a number of lookout points on our way up the coast. The flies were horrible! We had to wear fly nets over our heads from this day forward.





H.M.A.S. Sydney II Memorial



One seagull for every sailor



One of the many lookout points





Wearing the fly nets




First wild Kangaroo sighting



At Hawk's Head lookout point



 



Emu wandering in the streets of Shark Bay



Sitting in the boom net



On day 3 we woke up bright and early to get to Monkey Mia to see wild dolphins be fed. These dolphins swim up every morning and are the most photographed dolphins in the world. I have never seen dolphins so close. They would roll on their side to get a good look at us - perfect photo opportunity! After the dolphin feeding we went on a sailboat called the Aristocrat II. We rode on the boom net on the back of the boat. This was so much fun! I had to hold on tight to the net otherwise I felt like I was going to fly off! For lunch we stopped at Shark Bay. We were too early in the year but during later months hundreds of sharks swim up the bay to feed. Also, while we were eating lunch we saw a wild emu. Wisconsin has squirrels that cross the road, Australia has emus! Later in the day we visited Shell Beach, which is a beach that has no sand and only shells! Very cool. Finally, we saw stromatolites that were near our campsite. There are only two or three places in the world where stromatolites can still be found due to the need of high saline levels. It was neat to see the first oxygen-breathing organisms.



Stromatolites





At Shell Beach





Sting ray in the shallow water of Coral Bay





Beautiful sunset



Dancing on the beach



Day 4 was spent driving to Coral Bay. We reached the campsite around dusk and visited the beach before it got too dark. There were sting rays everywhere in the water! We had to watch where to step so as to avoid getting stung! Day 5 was my favorite! I had the opportunity to swim with whale sharks! We first snorkeled where we practiced getting into the water quietly and quickly. On this snorkel we saw a reef shark, leopard shark, and a manta ray. Next, the spotter plane radioed in explaining they spotted a whale shark about 40 minutes away in the open ocean. By the time we reached the spot of the whale shark, everyone had their snorkel gear on and we got in the water. I couldn't see anything at first but then spotted this giant white mouth coming towards me. I quickly swam out of the way and saw an 8 meter long (about 28 feet) whale shark swim by. It was such a spectacular sight. We swam with this whale shark three times before it dove. We then sped off the find another. This whale shark was a "baby" of about 6 meters long. We swam with this shark twice before we scared it off and it dove. It's crazy to think that we could scare off a fish the size of a bus. Finally, we snorkeled one more time and saw a number of reef fish and a sea turtle. Swimming with whale sharks was by far the coolest thing I have ever done and was well worth it!



Manta Ray



Whale Shark







Karijini national park





Fortescue Falls



Starting day 6 we drove inland and we reached Karijini national park that night. This was the land of red dirt. My shoes and most of my clothes are stained with this dirt. We had to leave all food inside the buses so that it wouldn't attract dingos. There was no running water and lots of bugs! The following day we hiked down the gorges within the park. We visited Circular Pool, which is sacred to the local aboriginal people, Fortescue Falls, which was a beautiful waterfall and my favorite place of the day, and also Fern Pool which had twin waterfalls. This day was very action packed and we were pretty exhausted by the end. It was my second favorite day after the whale sharks.



Some of the group at Fern Pool



The study abroad coordinator holding a
baby praying mantis. He doesn't look too happy!





Huntsman spider





Termite hill. These were everywhere and were all about this size!



Mining hole

The last 3 days we slowly made our way south again. We stopped at a number of old mining towns and several abandoned sheep shearing sheds. We even slept in a sheep shearing shed one of the nights! We got used to the smell...eventually. The entire trip was so much fun! We saw so many wild animals that are native only to Australia, and so many land marks, look out points, and towns unique to Australia. The 10 days went by so quickly. I never imagined camping so long but I really enjoyed every part of the trip!