( In English this time, so my travel mate and all the other non Dutchies can read-a-long. )

I had enough of Darwin. So I decided to leave to Perth. First the plan was to go south to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. But I met a few people who tolled me that the west coast was really beautiful……

After a few desperate days to find a travel buddy, I was lucky. I found Natalie from Newmarket (Canada), the happiest and nicest person in the world ( according to the voices in my head). Then she had to make the decision, who to travel with. The battle was between me and two French guys, and of course…I won. After a short conversation we decided to leave the next morning, and so we did.

The next morning I picked her up at her couch-surf address (Network connecting travellers with locals offering accommodations.) and we left to Litchfield National Park. Which is just south of Darwin. We went for a swim in one of the georges, which was really nice and visited some other great spots. Then we went further south to Katherine.

In Katherine was not much to do, so we did some shopping and we prepared us for the long trip to Perth! Along the way we visited some beautiful National Parks and stayed there to spend the night under the stars next to some campfire. ( It was not so romantic as it looks like, we still slept in the buzz. )

After a few days, we finally arrived at Broome. A small city with a huge beach. We spent hours and hours walking on the beach. ( I still got my tint from these walks. ) One day we where walking there in the evening and we saw something really weird. In stead we saw the sun plunging into the ocean, it was the moon. Aaaaahhh!!! But we survived…

When we were finished with walking and frolicking on the beach, we went to Port Headland. I thought it was a nice place, just like Port Douglas. But it was nothing like it. It was a huge port, and nothing more than industrial areas. Between all these busy looking places, we found a huge cocaine factory. That must have been the reason the place was so big… So we took some “industrial” pictures and left as soon a possible. We were running like mad people…or was it just me, thinking of it. 

Because we where driving faster than the speed of light, we almost missed the exit turn to Point Samson. A small town ( 250 citizens ) at the coast with some exiting beaches. The beaches where full of live, with a green type of crab (they were so quick that they were hart to see) and squirting octapussies which changes color from brown to dark purple with bright blue spots.

Natalie wanted to do her dive-course in Exmouth. Here for she needed a dive-medical. ( Some simple test at a medical centre. ) But of course, all doctors at the west coast were occupied or on a holyday. But as a miracle you only experience once in your life, there was one option at Dampier. Again, a small town at the coast. When we arrived, we went for a walk and met some fishermans. We started to talk and as usual, one of them was called Hans and was born in Friesland (Northern part of The Netherlands) and came to Australia when he was something like 12. The next morning Natalie had her medical done ( Everything was OK, I think its because she is “THE BROCCOLI MONSTER”. Ok, children, don’t cry now, she is very nice. ) and we moved on to Exmouth.

Finally, we were in Exmouth, Whale Shark capital of Australia. We were pretty exited about the dive trip next day… It was perfect!! I took my motion sickness pills!! (I learned from last time.) The sun was shining!! The ocean was bright blue!! We were about to go diving!! There was even a whale!! (But where was I, at the toilet , just for 1 minute... ) But then, as if it was a joke, “Sorry guys, we have to cancel the dives for today.”. Unfortunately, the swirl was to strong to go diving.

Next day, it was raining, but the dives were perfect. We saw sharks, turtles, weird creatures with bright colors. Even a nice yellow snake (Olive Snake), which I touched. And then, when you are back on the boat; Natalie: “Did you see that snake, that’s one of the most venomous snakes in the world. If it bites you, just enjoy your last 10 minutes underwater, no need to go up…” It’s always nice to hear these things afterwards. ( blame goes to the dive-instructor ) But no worries, I’m still alive and it was great ( Look at Natalie’s face on the picture!! ( second page) ).

Back with our feet on the ground we went to Coral Bay. And again, like almost all the places at the west coast, a small town. With the most amazing beaches I’ve ever seen. They start with white sand, then totally transparent water, that suddenly changes to green and then blue. All with in 50 meters. Where the water is green and blue, there is the reef already. So we hired some gear and went snorkelling. It was cold but great. Again, we saw ray’s lots of fishes and one turtle.

The next day we left to Carnarvon, a shitty place. But lucky us, I downloaded a movie in Exmouth, which we watched in our van. (“High Fidelity”, great movie. )

Because we loved Carnarvon so much, we left the next morning, right away, to Monkey Mia. I’ve been looking for her, but there are no monkeys in Australia… But lucky us, the PLACE does exist. We had a nice long beach walk and found even a shark (see picture, third page ) which was a little bit dehydrated. I was thinking, if I throw him back into the ocean, it might survive… We had a sun-set dinner at the dock, visited by pelicans and dolphins.

The next morning... After a short warming up ( for the van ) we left aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalll the way to Perth. It was a long but beautiful trip. With beautiful green hills and huge fields with wild yellow flowers.

N Natalie and Me N Natalie and Me

Green Turtle Green Turtle

and even more and even more

Check the next page to see the first pictures of this story.