western australia
We will be going through a few different areas in WA - the Kimberleys (where G will meet us), the Pilbara, the Gascoyne, the Mid-West, the Heartlands and Perth itself.
kimberleys
It would be nice to travel down the Gibb River Road, but realistically that probably won't be possible considering the time of year (February) we will be in the area. The Wet will make it pretty much impossible to cross any rivers in our old Patrol, so we'll probably head down the Great Northern Highway.
As similar to Elle as we are, we believe the northern part of WA is one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Looking forward to El Questro, and Broome especially.
pilbara
Neil grew up in the Pilbara, in Karratha, so we are really looking forward to heading back there and exploring the nutty town that made Neil Neil.
One of the highlights of the Pilbara is Karijini National Park - Australia's largest national park (100,000 sq. kilometres). It has 100m sheer-sided chasms off which to chuck G when he starts smelling.
gascoyne
Lots of shearing sheds in the Gascoyne, and lots of bananas. So off we are to shear some banananas. And camp under the stars near Mount Augustus. And fry up some dolphins and dugongs on the Ningaloo reef. Mmmmm mmmm.
The Gascoyne is about 10 hours drive from Perth, so not a weekend trip, but well worth the effort. In Shark Bay you can find stromatolites - single celled organisms known as cyanbacteria that grow at a rate of less than 1 mm per year. Like Riss. They are known as living fossils (not at all like Riss) because they are probably as old as any form of life on earth.
the mid-west
We'll stop for about a week in the mid-west, probably in kalbarri, to catch our breath before the final leg home. You can go from Kalbarri to Perth easily in a day, especially in you are in G's car with airconditioning rather than Lee's car...
The Kalbarri gorges are absolutely stunning, and we'll probably go canoeing through the Z-bend or abseiling again (for the third time). There are heaps of incredible old fossils in the gorges that you can just literally walk over. Old sea caterpillars a metre long and as fat as your leg.
the heartlands
The Pinnacles, just north of Cervantes, are pretty good. They are great big limestone pillars that look a little bit like tall, skinny deformed alien-termite mounds up to five metres high.
Once I went up to the Pinnacles in a tour bus stuck next to a woman who had to keep emptying her bladder bag. Which is fine, but she felt compelled to describe it to me...
The tour guide told us a story about Richard Clayderman wanted to do a piano concert in the middle of the Pinnacles. For a special effect they got some Aboriginal artists to draw concentric circles in the sand around each pinnacle. It took three days and looked gorgeous until Channel Ten came over in their helicopter the night of the concert and blew all the circles away. d'oh!
Mum and Dad (Wiese) grew up on farms in Narrogin and Yealering, which is why we put them on the map ;) If you squint you can see Barber Road.
Last updated: 13th October, 2001
|
Western Australia
