Woke up with a YAY! Today is the day I was most waiting for on the whole trip. Our Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventure Tour, the all day 4WD tour through Francois Peron, a place both Hobbit and I have never ever been to as we don't yet have a 4WD.
We walked down to the Visitors Centre and there we met the 6 other people we were to spend our day with plus our guide, Jack, who is Capes brother (Capes was doing a Kayak Tour today). We all piled into the truck and got on our way. Not yet out of town Jack had already started telling us about points of interest in the Bay and across the water. Telling us about the salt mines (apparently this is the best grade salt around) and his personal family history in the area. We drove past 'Little Lagoon', which Hobbit and I had walked around last time we were here and saw a magical sunset. Up the road and onto Monkey Mia Road. Shortly after we turned left onto Peron Road which is the dirt track that takes you right out to the very end point of the Monkey Mia area.
At the National Park entrance we had to get out and let the air out of the tyres so that we could get it over the softer sands. This was actually fun for me as I have never done it before, i hadn't realised before just how much of a princess city chick i really was, but I seriously have never put air into or taken it out of a tyre. These are 'boy jobs' that i send my partner off to do for me, lols! I suppose now is as good a time as any to learn, when Hobbit and I have our 4WD and go bush I need to know all the tricks so I can help him do stuff. I'm not sure what 'stuff' will entail, I don't even know if he does, but both of us will have to learn if we are to come out of a bush adventure alive.
Our first destination was a spot called South Gregory. But along the way there we pulled to the side of the road to get a really good look at Big Lagoon from the top of a hill and take some photos. Jack told us we were allowed to climb the ladder to the top of the truck to get higher up for photo ops. I was the first one up there and it was well worth the climb. Gorgeous views all around. My favourite photo was one looking down at Hobbit climbing up, sneeky! Anyways, we got to South Gregory and had a Morning tea stop. Capes partner, Mira, had baked us a fresh batch of choc chip muffins that would seriously give any cafe a run for their money. A lovely hint of real banana and cinnamon and gooey choc chunks melted through, still warm from the oven. Everyone else had their tea and coffee while I found a patch of rocks and shells in some rock pools to look through. I enjoyed that anything I picked up and asked questions about, Jack had an answer or explanation for. It made me laugh really hard later in the day when at one stage someone asked a question and he simply replied "I have no idea" because that was really unexpected! hahaha. He is like a walking Jackipedia. There were a few shells and things I found on my walk that Jack told me about including the Mother of Pearl fragments and the Razor Clam.
Our next stop was the incredibly awesome Skipjack Point. There we had a tourist boardwalk to utilise, something some people might think too 'touristy' but I actually appreciate as it prevents the destruction of delicate environments and prevents too many people from trampling vegetation and ruining the scenery. This boarwalk had many viewing platforms and all were so magnificent. I can't even describe just how majestic this piece of coastline is. But if you google map it you can see the location and perhaps understand how this little piece of land jutting out from the mainland could hold so many treasures. The part I love most is the great big red and brown cliffs protruding up and out of the turquoise water. The edges are lined with crashing waves smashing against the rocks and stirring up whitewash and foamy caps. As it goes out deeper to sea there are brown patches of sea grass where in one spot we saw dugongs feeding and moving about. Every now and then they surface to get a breath of air and then down the go, down down to feast on the soft fronds of grass. King Neptunes cows. Big, peaceful, vegetarian, slow moving sea cows, which apparently are actually closer related to elephants. Well I'll be! In this spot we also saw some turtles, sharks, and a range of birds. As this was a really windy spot I can only imagine what you could see on a lovely calm day where the water was like glass!
Back in the truck and another bumpy ride, we next landed at the northernmost tip, Cape Peron. I really loved this trail. We walked up some majestic big red sand hills littered with green shrubs and patches of ground cover. There were so many spots to spy the oceans miles below and this is where we saw a large pod of dolphins frolicking about. Who knows what they were doing (probably feeding) but absolutely anything dolphins do is fascinating to humans, so we all stood around watching them till they were out of sight. He caught a much closer glimpse of two dugongs swimming around and watched them intently as they are such lovely creatures. I had really hoped to see some of them this trip so it felt really nice to have my wish list fulfilled. I did photography studies in highschool so love finding artsy little scenes set up by nature. I found loads of them in this place and was spoilt for choice, I think my poor little phone was sapped of power at Cape Peron. The natural colours of the red sands, the blue skies, the mat olive green of the shrubbery and the brown of the rocks and woods scattered about. It is the Australian Outback Palette, my favourite colours. Some people prefer rich green forests and white snowy mountains, not me, I get my soul food and energy from being in places where the red and blue meet. This was just the place. I stood in the serenity of it and absorbed the setting, trying to fix it into my memory so that the next time I am stuck in a traffic jam, smooshed into a smelly train, sitting feeling like a nobody piece of shit in a uppity office, or being walked past like an invisible entity in a crowded and hustle and bustle city, i could take a moment to close my eyes and think of this place. Hear its sounds, see its colours, and feel its feels.
With everybodys tummies rumbling, our next stop was to have lunch and snorkel at Bottle Bay. But Jack had a little surprise in store for us, and it was the best one anyone could have given me personally, it was a bit of a detour north to the tip where we saw the most amazing rich red cliff faces climbing out of the ocean like big red tidal waves. At the base was a huge area of rock pools the likes of which had me more excited than a kid on christmas morning. I didn't hesitate to get out the truck and race over to see what was in these pools and boy where they a treat! I saw hermit crabs, shrimp, catfish looking things, and a whole range of beautiful little fish. In one pool I saw about 5 different species of fish, it was like watching a Valerie Taylor underwater documentary. I sat there and watched them all darting about in their schools and going from ledge to ledge to keep safe. Hermit crabs are always my most exciting rock pool find and this place was crawling with them. All shapes and sizes and many species. If I had my way we would have stayed here all day, I would never grow tired of this place. Many more photo ops and a few shameless selfies later, we piled into the truck and much to everyones glee set up for lunch.
Lunch was a range of beautiful salads put together by Mira, some flatbread wraps, and Jack the legend cooked some Shark Bay Mullet on the gas barbecue on the beach. No Wood fires are allowed in the Cape because too many people started stripping the area of wood. People! I shake my head. Anyways, the fish was so perfectly cooked that even Hobbit ate some and he never eats fish! I have to say I had the best wrap I have ever had in my life. Beautiful freshly caught and cooked white fish flesh with a sprinkle of fish seasoning, rocket, beetroot, feta, coleslaw, chickpeas, onion, and lettuce. yummo!
The drive home seemed so long. With full bellies, energy expended, and quiet reflection of a really exciting and action packed day, one by one everyone in the truck seemed to doze off or just sit silently with heavy eyelids. A really big turnaround from the trip in where there were many questions and lots of interested chatter.
One last stop, one I was really hoping we would make.... The Hot Spring Tub!
There is a big hot tub set up at Peron Heritage Precinct where there used to be a cattle station before the government bought back the land and made it a National Park. This hot tub is kept full by hot water pumped fresh from deep in the ground which is extremely mineral rich. Imagine sitting outside in the cold air in a 50 degree tub of steaming radox but it is all natural. All of us felt our aches and pains melt away. I had a sore neck and those knots unraveled like they were never there. Beautiful. Hobbit and I agreed we would come back here another night before we leave, hopefully a quieter night, would be a bit romantic if you managed to get it to yourself ;)
It was with mixed feelings that we arrived back at the visitors centre, I was so exhausted and ready to relax, but I was also so sad the tour was over. I learnt so much today and saw the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I can't believe I came here all those years ago with my ex partner and thought how boring and awful Denham was, how ignorant of me to make up my mind based on a few streets and shops in the township. How much I would have missed out on had I not given it a second chance. And here I am now, on my 4th trip and already planning the next.
Hobbit and I have already made the decision to get home and review our budget so that we can get a 4WD as soon as possible. We want to do all the things we have been saying for years that we want to do, and we are not getting any younger. What are we waiting for? Our Mortgage to be paid off? By the time that happens we will not be fit or young enough to do all the things we want. Nope, the time is now.
Back at the hotel room now, it is 11pm and Hobbit has been yawning all evening and has already climbed into bed, unusually early for us on a holiday night. It has been a really fantastic day and all that enthusiasm has totally drained us. I know we will sleep like logs tonight, even the howling wind outside our hotel sliding door wont keep us awake, within seconds of hitting the pillow it will be counting ZZZZzzzz's
Id like to thank Capes, Jack, Mira, and the Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures tour company for a magical couple of days. Not only have we enjoyed sights we simply wouldn't have seen on our own, we have gained a whole new insight into Aboriginal culture, and Shark Bay history that no one else could have told us better. https://www.facebook.com/Wula-Gura-Nyinda-Eco-Cultural-Adventures-179649578715277/
It was SO hard to choose just 9 photos of my day, there are literally loads and loads in my phone after today. And no matter how great a photographer you are, the pictures turn out great but absolutely nothing beats going to these places and seeing and feeling them for yourself. I see so many of my friends jumping into planes and traveling all over the world when they haven't even seen their own country yet. I don't understand that mindset. I suppose it just has to boil down to different strokes for different folks. But if you are planning a road trip north, make sure you book a tour with Wula Gura Nyinda, I can't even think of words that express enough how highly and strongly I recommend it.
Western Australia. See it for yourself.
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