Pesco Down Under 2009: Monkey Mia Weekend!

Two weekends ago I went on a tour up north with some friends. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my trip thus far. The first day I left currie hall at 6 a.m. to go meet for the tour. I went with 4 girls I already knew (two who go to UCSB and the other two are from Holland), their friend from England, 1 Italian lady, and 4 Japanese people. Once we got out of Perth I learned what Australians mean when they say "the bush." The Bush is literally bushes on and on forever. Our first stop was the pinnacles. The pinnacles are these rock formations that the aboriginals believe are the people of an old aboriginal tribe who were turned into rocks after using up all the land resources. We got some really cool photos, but an old couple got mad at us for climbing on the pinnacles, oops! As we were leaving, our coach broke down! So we were stuck on the side of the road waiting for them to bring us another one. We were supposed to sandboard that day and there were some sand dunes nearby, so we started to sandboard there, only to find out that it was a national park so we weren't allowed to. So instead we had lunch and then napped/hung out in the bus for a couple of hours. rough start. But then, alas, the working bus came for us! We proceeded with our journey and ended at a hostel. It was my first hostel experience and I liked it! We all shared a room and there were a bunch of young people staying there that we hung out with. The next day we went to Kalbarri National Park, which reminds me of Utah/Arizona because it has vibrant red rock. We saw beautiful gorges and hiked down to the river that formed them. Then we went to see the Stramatalites, which were the first living organisms on Earth! They are these ocean rock things that produce oxygen. We stayed at another hostel that night and played cards with a bunch of funny Irish guys. The next morning we woke up early and walked to the beach where they let a few lucky people feed wild dolphins who swim right up close to shore. We then went to an aquarium with open pools and got to see all sorts of cool sea creatures like sea snakes and sharks! Then we went to shell beach, which is a beach that looks like it's all white sand, but really it's a bunch of tiny white shells. It's also really cool because you can walk really far into the water and only be up to your knees. Finally, we ended the day at a farm stay. We saw wild emus and kangaroos! We got to feed some emus, sheep, and kangaroos as well. Then we went and looked at the starts. It was amazing because there was absolutely no light pollution so we could see SO MANY stars. The farmer showed us a bunch of constellations and explained a lot about the stars to us. Afterwards we went and had dinner in the shearing shed. For dinner I abandoned my pescatarian ways and tried kangaroo in a shepherds pie. After dinner we had a bon fire and we tried to show everyone how to make smores, but it was rather difficult because we were lacking supplies (they don't have grahm crackers or hersheys chocolate here). The smores consisted of small chocolate chip cookies and flavored marshmallows. But they were okay, and the bon fire was fun! On our final day we left the farm stay and finally went sandboarding! It was so much fun, and the sand dunes were beautiful. After that we went to this small principality where a guy decided he didn't want to pay taxes so he found a way to secede from Australia. Now he is this old man with a church, post office, and souvenir shop. He even has his own currency (although I'm pretty sure it's not useable) and stamps. Our final adventure was at an animal park where we got to feed different farm animals and kangaroos. While I was posing for a picture of me feeding a horse the donkey bit me! It hurt so bad and that is when I decided there is a reason why donkeys are called ass's. I also saw dingos and crocodiles. Then I got to hold 3 pythons, a big lizard, and a baby kangaroo! It was so cool. An absolutely amazing weekend.

Me with the "prince"