Postcards from Australasia #17

We've come to a major milestone on our trip of a lifetime, leaving Australia, having first arrived here on June 6th   We visited Fiji and PNG on the way but have spent the vast bulk of our time in this country, indeed continent, of extremes.   We're sad to be leaving but also excited about where we're going, New Zealand.

The wildlife will be different, no more wallabies or indeed Kangaroos:

We've been under literal clouds since leaving Shark Bay, the West Australian summer has proven cloudy and cool for us recently.   We kept getting out and about looking for new species of animal and bird, though the season makes everything quieter, understandably.  After many months of looking in suitable holes in trees though we did finally spot an elusive Australian Owlet-Nightjar:

They quickly hide when spotted so a brief glimpse but it did lurk back towards the sun as we were leaving.

One of our favourite and one of the more ubiqitous species is the Lauging Kookaburra, we'll miss their distinctive song:

From Shark Bay we headed south via the Margaret River to Albany to meet our friends Craig and Stacey.   Craig is a 4WD enthusiast and took us on a tour of West Cape Howe National Park, including dropping in at Dunksy Beach, only accessible with a serious 4WD car or boat and lovely spot it proved to be:

The following day at Little Beach in Two Peoples Bay, we found a group of small jellyfish had been washed in:

We spent a week in and around Albany, stopping to admire some of the local 'recycling':

We were due to visit the Stirling Ranges National Park but cancelled our stay there as more than half the park had burned and the majority of it was closed:

Instead we spent more time on the coast, dodging the showers.  One trail in Two Peoples' Bay didn't turn-up any of the hoped for but unlikley bird species, however the trail, unwalked in a while, was covered in spiders' webs, a proper hazard in this part of the world:

We did find a Western Spinebill, handsome bird:

We drove on from Albany, via Ravensthorpe, this their grain silo:

And on to Esperance, where we visited Cape Le Grand National Park.  This spot was Thistle Bay, and a stunning spot it was too, one of the few beaches in the park inaccessible to the 4WDs and therefore still in good condition:

This is Frenchman's Peak in the park:

From Esperance it was a long drive back to Perth, though Aussies don't seem to be daunted by really long drives like we are in the UK, given the scale of the country beyond the crowded East coast it's easy to see why.

On the way back to Perth, like proper tourists, we stopped at Wave Rock:

It's a surprisingly busy spot given the flies and given it's four hours from almost anywhere else.

We spent our last day in Australia on a wine cruise along the Swan River, winding up at the Sandleford Wine Estate for a tour and lunch. 

We've loved Australia, time now to move on....

Postcards from Australasia #16

Helen and I arrived in our hotel in Perth after a long day travelling from Kangaroo Island, via Adelaide for our flight. Poor Kangaroo Island, a lot of what we saw including the animals is gone now and still the fires burn, very very sad. We're glad that the fires are mostly behind us now, we got to relax and enjoy the glow of the sunset over Perth as we settled in:

One of the first things we did from Perth was catch a ferry from Freemantle across to Rottnest to see a Quokka if we could. We did! What adorable animals. Predictably tourists were breaking all the rules regrding harrasment of these animals to get their ideal selfie. We left this one to enjoy it's brunch under a tree and snapped away at a respectful distance. It seemed pretty happy with the world!

Rottnest is a wonderful place to explore by bus, by bike or on foot as we did, walking over 10km and bumping into the venemous dugite on a marsh boardwalk. Luckily the marsh was summer dry as the snake wasn't budging. We did a detour off the path and it then slithered its way past where we'd seen it from initially...

The island is stunning, this is Salmon Bay with the waves rolling onto the enormous beach and the colours, one of the most picturesque places we've ever visited...

On our way out of Perth, with Helen recovering from a heavy head cold, we stopped off at a city wetland, Herdsman Lake, and were delighted to see this male Splendid Fairy-wren from the Western race (surely a species in its own right?):

A Great Crested Grebe (same as back home in the UK) with a youngster huddled on its back:

And the very handsome Nankeen Night Heron:

A little further North we stopped off at Yanchep National Park, where a small bushfure still smouldered away:

This Western Grey Kangaroo was enjoying relaxing in an unburnt area:

From Yanchep our next stop was the the surreal Nambung (formerly Pinnacles) National Park. Basically you either take a short walk or a slightly longer drive through a landscape of limestone pinnacles They have no idea how they formed.... it's fascinating and well worth a visit:

After a night in Jurien Bay we drove up towards Kalbarri stopping at Hutt Lagoon, also know as 'Pink Lake', kinda easy to see why..

On the lake a number of waders were searching for food, including this Red-necked Stint:

From there we headed into Kalbarri passing through some of the coastal parts of Kalbarri National Park:

Over two days we visited all of the gorge views overlooking the Murchison River:

Scrambling down one trail that involved some fairly tricky ladders and rock scrambles, especially camera laden, to the river gorge below, worth it though!

From Kalbarri we drove North onto the Shark Bay World Heritage Peninsular. The wind was blowing up some devils just off the highway:

We stopped at Hamelin Pool to view the stromatolites, one of the oldest forms of life on Earth, they are rock pillars formed by co-operative bacteria dated to around 3,000,000,000 years ago and still extant, remarkable:

This is them close-up. At this point Helen got a migraine, so we had to get back in the car and drive post-haste to our hotel in Denham to check-in. Helen then spent the next day and a half pretty much stuck in a darkened, quiet room, recovering. We were grateful they got us in early.

I headed outtherefore on my birthday on my tod, driving to Monkey Mia, with the goal of seeing Western Grasswren. Expecting this to be tough, i was chuffed to see seven of them within an hour, this one was feeding in the rapidly diminishing morning shade:

While other creatures went looking for direct sunlight:

With temperatures hitting 39c i sat under cover watching a stream in a mangrove and was fascinated by the marine life that swam underneath, including this Shovel-headed Manta Ray. Helen recovered and we spent a day together exploring Eagle Bluff, Little Lagoon (the mangroves) and a few other spots before starting our long drive South, destination Margaret River and then Albany to meet some new old friends.