We spent the next days sightseeing Melbourne.  We rode the free tourist tram, which was way too crowded and loud so we could not hear the informational commentary.  We went the Eureka Tower for a view of the city, and I was curious about the Edge experience.  The view from the tower is excellent but the Edge Experience seemed lame and way overpriced.  It was just a small room which went in and out of the building a few feet.  I guess any hype is good for tourism because it was always crowded and people waited in a line.  We also visited The Shrine of Remembrance, which is interesting and the view of the city is great from there.

Melbourne from The Shrine of Remembrance

In the evening, we went to Phillips Island.  We went on the Nobbies Boardwalk which was pretty and we even saw a baby penguin.  It was neat because we were allowed to take pictures there, unlike at the Penguin parade.  We arrived early at the parade because it was advertised to come early, but it is not necessary.  We waited for so long in the cold until sunset and when the first wave of penguins came half the people left so there was plenty of good viewing spots empty.  The penguins come in waves and waddle on shore to their nests for a few hours, so it is hard to miss.  We watched a few waves of penguins and then walked on the boardwalk and saw them come to their nests and meet their little ones.  It was adorable and we really enjoyed the experience, we just wished we had come later.

Penguin by the Nobbies Boardwalk

The next day we drove on the Great Ocean Road, for the third time.  We did it in reverse this time which was better because we were able to do some stops we were too late to do last time.  Also, the sun was great for the Apostles.  It was noontime so the sun was straight above and we were able to take amazing pictures.  When we were there with Hendrik’s parents the sun was setting and the pictures right against the sun were not very nice.

Geralton was a lot prettier than I thought it would be.  There is not much to do though, and the main attraction is the HMAS Sydney II Memorial.  We had a guided tour of it which is free and interesting.  Then we went to the library since they had free wireless internet and both my dad and Hendrik cannot live without internet for too long.  It was an awesome library.  One of the most modern ones I’ve ever been too they had board games and puzzles on top of books and magazines so I could have easily spent the whole day there and was not bored, even though I did not have my laptop with me. In the afternoon, we drove back down to Perth and stayed in a Big4 and had a typical Australian barbecue with shrimp and fish and too much food to finish.

HMAS Sydney II Memorial

The next morning we went to visit the King’s Park and the Botanical Gardens which really impressed me.  I thought they were comparable to Sydney’s, and from them we also had a wonderful view of the city.  After visiting the park we flew back to Melbourne.

Perth from the Botanical Gardens

Hendrik and I woke up early to go back to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins come in for feeding.  I was disappointed that we were not able to swim with them but seeing the crowd it was understandable that they could not let people swim with them or they would chase them away since there were about 100 people lined up along the shore ready for the dolphins.  Nevertheless, we were able to see the dolphins really close-up.

Then we had to start the drive back down south. On the way we stopped at Eagle Bluff which was a spectacular lookout.  We only saw one shark though, which only looked like a tadpole from the distance.  Next we stopped by Shell Beach which is a beach made up entirely of crushed shells, no sand.  It was very white, beautiful and peaceful, seeing as we were the only ones there.  If we had had more time I would not have minded going for a swim.

Alone, except for that guy.

The last stop on the peninsula was for the Hamelin Pool.  It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found.  Stromatolites look like rocks and are an example of the earliest record of life on earth.  They were spectacular in their own right, but by then the sun was beating down, and the humidity was rising.  Therefore, I was very happy to go back to the AC of the car and not spend too much time with the stromatolites.  Then we drove to Geraldton where Hendrik and I spent a long time in the Winstersun Motel’s pool, which was very refershing.

stromatolites

We drove to Monkey Mia in the morning, but not early enough for the dolphins.  The resort and beach were pretty and there were emus, pelicans, and Mallee Fowls wondering around the property.

Hendrik making a friend

We went swimming in the ocean which was very calm.  In the afternoon, we went on the Shotover dolphin/ dugong sightseeing tour  which was lovely and we saw lots of dolphin families and a few dugongs.  The dugongs did not come out of the water so it was impossible to take a good picture.

After the boat, we went swimming again in a shallow area of the sea by the shore.  The tide rapidly pulled the water so it was relaxing to lie on the water and snorkel as the current carried us.  There, we saw lots of small animals such as hermit crabs and snails.

Monkey Mia Sunset

We ate dinner at the Monkey Mia resort which was beautiful since we were seated outside with a view on the ocean and were able to see the sunset and two dolphins swim by close to the shore.

We set out in the morning and drove to Kalbarri,  On the way we saw a leaning River Gum tree which leans because of the wind on the plains.

River Gum Leaning Tree

Once we entered Kalbarri National Park there were a few lookout points by the cliffs along the coast, which were pretty but failed to be spectacular compared to the Great Ocean Road.

We reached the town by noon, had lunch, bought a lot of bottles of water, and headed out onto the unsealed most popular road of the park which is about 25 KM long.  Originally I thought we may need to rent a 4wd but it was not necessary.  I had not done my research for the climate though.  I didn’t think it was a desert, but it was, smack in the middle of summer and the temperature was extreme.  Signs said that it could get up to 50°C or 122°F, and I think it wasn’t too far from that today.

Our first stop was a lookout which was a 100m walk, and it was incredibly hard.  I felt as if I was in an oven, and that my skin was crisping, even though I was using lots of sunscreen and had my windbreaker on.  It was definitely deadly heat.  We arrived at Nature’s Window soon afterwards and as we got out of our air conditioned car, a family next to us was just getting into theirs.  The woman told us not to go, that it was too hot and that they didn’t make it to the window, and turned back.  It seemed ridiculous because the window was only 400m from the car park.  We think the she was more concerned for my dad since he is a heavy older man, and I was glad she scared him out of going because I did not think it was wise for him to go either.  He stayed behind in the shade, and Hendrik and I went, because I was really looking forward to seeing the window which was pretty much the whole point of going to Kalbarri in the first place. I had a hard time getting to the window and was dizzy and felt my muscles shaking when I finally reached it.

We sat in its shade for about 15 minutes drinking water.  We had brought 2 liters each for this short walk, and I wished we had brought more. Hendrik seemed fine though and was thriving in the dry heat while I was begging for some humidity.  As I sat in the window I dreaded the walk back since it was uphill this time and was literally scared of it.  The window was gorgeous and the view was amazing, and suffering in the heat was totally worth it.  When I finally made it back to the car I felt as if my insides were boiling and was having trouble breathing.  I had a headache and drank more water as I faced the air-conditioning which was on full blast but having a hard time being too cold in the desert.  It took a good half hour before I felt better.

It was the hottest place I have ever been to, and would have planned differently if I was to go back.  Preferably go there in winter and not at 3 in the afternoon in the summer.  Then again, that was probably the reason we had the window all to ourselves and didn’t have to share with other tourists.  We did not attempt the z bend, though Hendrik was ready to go and feeling up to it, but I don’t think I would have survived that 500m (1Km return total) walk.  It was a shame, but I don’t think it was worth risking.

There was no shortage of Yuka trees in Kalbarri

There was one more stop before leaving the park which was a lookout right at the car park so that was ok.  Then it was just a straight drive up North to our overnight destination.  There were hardly any rest stops or roadhouses, but we stopped at one rest stop because I had to go after drinking so much water, and there I found a goat sitting in the shade of hut where the toilet was.  It was the only shade for miles and someone had made it a bowl out of the bottom of a water bottle for it.  It had no more water so I gave it some and then some more until it had finished off a liter and all our water.

I felt so bad for the toilet goat

There was a \roadhouse nearby (nearby is about 40 miles) so we could stop there and get more water.  When we arrived there, Hendrik told the man who probably owned the roadhouse that there was a goat in the bathroom.  He didn’t think much of it, laughed at us when we said we gave it water, and said that sometimes goats from farms escape and that they get rounded up once in a while.  We had wanted a rescue party to be sent for the goat.

Sunset near Denham

By sunset we had reached the outskirts of Denham and arrived at our cottage at dusk.  I was shocked by the state of the cottage which was a complete dump since the website seemed nice.  It was dirty and falling apart.  The wind from the sea roared all night, and I didn’t know how it didn’t just pick the cottage up and make it into splinters.  Denham was tiny and since it was 9 everything was closed, and we could not find food anywhere so we had potato chips, which the one bar in town was able to sell us, for dinner.

Our cottage

We left Perth early and drove up North to Cervantes to see the pinnacles.  There is a small museum next to them which is nice to visit to get out of the desert heat.  There are two ways to see the pinnacles. One way is to drive.  There is a “road” made in the desert outlined with rocks, and Hendrik drove since this was the closest he could get to driving off road.

Driving through the pinnacles

The other way is walking.  We did both.  They were beautiful and I’ve never seen anything like it.  The desert in Western Australia was completely different than in the center.  Here it looked like the stereotypical desert, with soft yellow sand; the center had bright red sand.

Walking among the pinnacles

Next we drove up to Port Denison/ Dongara which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be and it was completely dead.  We went swimming in the Indian Ocean which was warm even in the evening, and the beach was abandoned.  There was pretty much only one open option for dinner which was a restaurant/bar near our hotel with an ocean view.  It was nice but really expensive for what it was.  What we soon noticed was that the more remote we were the more expensive everything was.

The moon Hendrik photographed

That night we went to see the stars since there were hardly any city lights and the sky was clear.  Hendrik was amazed by stars since he had never seen any growing up in Belgium, which is all lit up at night.

The next day I enjoyed the cold Jacuzzi at the hotel pool, which was really nice in the hot and humid weather.  Then we found a Laundromat in Darwin, which was a challenge, since the one we were sent to was closed and the other one was a bit out of town.  We did laundry in Darwin because there was nothing else to do but still kicked ourselves when we arrived in Perth and the apartment we were staying in had a washer.

Christmas decorations in Perth with the Bell Tower in the distance.

The following day we went sightseeing in Perth.  It was a very pretty city, nicer than I thought it would be so I was very impressed with it.  We visited the Bell Tower, Fremantle, and went swimming in the sea.  In the evening we came across a photography exhibition in the park, “Earth from Above,” which was neat and interesting.

Hendrik and my dad looking at the "Earth From Above" exhibit.

I called the airport the first thing in the morning to see if we could go for a flight, and we went back on the plane.  Even though we did a B-line to the falls we were able to get another good look at Kakadu since the falls were at the furthest point of the flight tour.  The weather was much better today and we were able to see Jim Jim and Twin Falls in all their beauty.  The flight is a definite must in Kakadu during the Australian summer months since there is no access to most sites.  The flight was the highlight of Kakadu for all of us.

Jim Jim Falls

Twin Falls

After the flight we drove down to Cooinda, had lunch, and went on the Yellow Water River Cruise.  There are 2 entrances for this cruise one for the summer and one for winter, because of the varying water levels during these two seasons.  On the cruise we were really able to see the sheer amount of water.  When we went by the second dock only the handrails were peeking through the water.  This cruse is very different in the summer and winter.  During the winter the main attraction are crocodiles, which we unfortunately did not see. Now the river was too wide and the water was spread out.  Since crocs like to be near dry land they go to the edges of the river, and therefore, they can be seen during the winter since the river is much narrower and they have to be near water to survive.  The flooded landscape, though, is very beautiful and to see the difference between the seasons (since it was obvious to see where the river was in dry season) was the most fascinating for me.

The flooded land and railings

There were also many different and interesting birds such as king fishers, darters, sea eagles, and jacanas or as most people like to call them, Jesus birds, since they seem to be able to walk on water.  We also saw a Jabiru’s nest which was huge, but no Jabiru.

A Darter drying its wings

After the cruise we noticed that large green ants had tried to take over our car but luckily it was bigger than they were so we quickly got in hoping they wouldn’t get inside and drove off.  We drove south through the park towards the other exit and those ants clung onto anything they could find.  Many found refuge from the wind in the side mirrors.  We stopped at the Bukbukluk Lookout and after just getting out of the car it started to rain.  My dad turned back, but Hendrik and I decided to go to the lookout since it was only a short distance from the car park.  Just as we reached the lookout it began to properly pour and we were soaked in no time.  The rain felt nice in the humid weather since it was warm and at least we got to physically experience the wet season.  Of course, there was nothing to see at the lookout because of the storm.  When we came back to the car, it had stopped raining and some of the ants were still there crawling on our car.

Ants on our car

All throughout the park were huge termite mounds which were really impressive because of their size and the number of them in Kakadu.  Close to the exit of the park I took a picture with one.

Then we drove back to Darwin.  It was a very quiet drive on a straight road and we hardly passed another car.  That evening we saw the most spectacular sunset in the abandoned wilderness from the road.

Today we went on the scenic flight of Kakadu 1^st thing in the morning.  There were some storms in the area since it was wet season and the weather was unpredictable during this time, but they assured us that we would miss the storm.  Kakadu is a huge park with some amazing land formations such as cliffs, rifts, and of course waterfalls.  On the way to the main sights which were Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls we flew by the landing strip used in the movie Crocodile Dundee.

The Landing Strip for the movie Crocodile Dundee

As we approached the area where the falls were there was a wall of thick gray clouds which our small airplane would be unable to fight so we were forced to turn around.

The uninviting clouds

Since we did not get to see the main attractions the pilot took us to Magela Falls which was gorgeous and also Dinosaur Valley which was stunning.  Normally the tour does not include these two locations.

Magela Falls

Dinosaur Valley

On the way back to the airport we got a good look at the uranium mine which was practically in Jabiru, just as it began to rain.  After we landed the pilot asked us whether we were going to be around tomorrow and that we could go see Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls then.  We were not expecting that, and it instantly brightened the day since we were feeling like we were not getting the most out of Kakadu.

Uranium Mine

After the rain in the afternoon and pizza from the gas station, we went to Nourlangie (or Burrunggui) Rock, which is famous for aboriginal rock paintings.  It was a short trek to the art sites which was only bothersome because of the flies.  My dad and I definitely preferred the humidity to extreme dry heat, so we were walking along fine, but Hendrik was miserable and kept wishing he was in dry heat.

Me using my fly swatter

Afterward, we had dinner in the Gagudju Lodge in Cooinda which is the second hotel in Kakadu (there are only two not counting camp sites and hostels) which had a less fancy restaurant with cheaper food.  There we also purchased tickets for a Yellow Water Cruise for tomorrow afternoon.

Aboriginal Rock Art

The following day we drove to Kakadu which is a huge National Park about 2 hours east of Darwin.  Originally, I had wanted to rent a 4wd since many of the roads are only accessible with a 4wd.  Then I learned that summer is wet season and those roads are closed anyway 4wd or not.  I was a bit disappointed since we would not be able to get to some of the main sites of the park.  Our first stop was the Mamukala Wetlands where we saw many different types of birds.  It was just very uncomfortable because we felt as if we were in a steam room and flies kept circling our heads and landing on our faces.  We would break off a twig with leaves and wave it in front of our faces which alleviated the problem of the flies though now we had leaves brushing against our faces but somehow it was less annoying than the flies.

Birds of Mamukala Wetlands

We also stopped by the visitors’ center which is a little museum as well.  There my dad was persuaded to take a scenic flight on an airplane since in the wet season it is the only way to see the famous waterfalls.  Then we checked into the Jabiru crocodile hotel.  There are very few hotels in Kakadu and this is the only one in Jabiru.  It’s a novelty since the hotel is shaped like a crocodile but that is mostly noticeable from the sky.  I went to the local supermarket to pick up some food for lunch since the only option was to eat at the restaurant which was very expensive.  Since we were going to eat there for dinner we didn’t want to eat there two times a day.  The store practically didn’t have any food and it was all so expensive.  I bought Jello fruit cups and that was it.  Surprisingly, the gas station had a bit more choice and it was going to be open on New Years so at least we wouldn’t starve.

Jabiru and the crocodile hotel (picture taken the following day from an airplane).

Hendrik and I decided to go see what was going to be happening for New Years Eve and we were told that there were two bars.  The first looked desolate and closed down and the second which was the “golf club” was getting ready for festivities.  The “club” was tiny and looked like an elementary school cafeteria and a few people, in desperate need of a shower, sporting mullets were putting up streamers.  We knew that we were not going to be celebrating there.

I had wanted to spend New Years in Sydney since there were a lot of things going on and it is famous for its celebrations.  My dad wanted to see more of AU than Sydney so he did not want to spend another 3 days there so we were in Kakadu instead, one of them most remote places on earth.  We had dinner in the Hotel which was nice, but they were not going to be open until midnight so we bought a bottle of champagne and just brought it to our room and watched the TV.  Darwin is ½ an hour behind Sydney so we watched the fireworks bursting from the harbour bridge over and over again and when we were sure they were going to announce New Years in Darwin the news ended.  There was no countdown or mention of Darwin welcoming in the New Year, so the night was a flop.