Broome

After three weeks of traveling up the coast I reached Broome, my final destination in Western Australia. To be honest, a part of me felt relieved to be done with WA. I loved the beautiful, secluded beaches but I was beginning to feel a little too secluded. Not to say that Broome isn't also isolated-- in fact the closest city to Broome is Bali. Yes you read that correctly: the closest city to Broome, Australia is not another city in its own country, rather an island in Indonesia-- but the town is big enough to have Vodafone (my Australian phone provider) signal, two supermarkets, and a McDonald's which offers every backpacker's favorite thing: FREE WIFI!

What started as a pearling town in the 1880s has turned into a popular vacation spot for Australians during the dry season, which lasts from April to September. Broome isn't huge, but the major attractions aren't ideally located and I also wanted to learn more about the town's history, so I decided to do a sightseeing tour. I visited during the first week in April so it wasn't very busy yet, which explains why I was the only person on the tour (again). The guide took me all over town, stopping at the courthouse, Cable Beach, Gantheaume Point, Chinatown, the Broome Museum, Town Beach, and finally the Japanese cemetery. My favorite stop of the day was Gantheaume Point, which is where the lighthouse stands. The orange cliffs are strikingly beautiful and it's here where 120 million old dinosaur tracks were found. I mean, how cool is that? I also enjoyed the Broome Museum; it focused on the history or pearl mining and the dangers Japanese and Chinese divers faced during the early days. I very much enjoyed the tour and learned a lot more than I ever expected.

The next day I decided to relax on Cable Beach. I had heard from many Australians that Cable Beach was their personal favorite and I have to say I was not disappointed. The water was the warmest I've ever put my feet in, but I didn't dare go swimming, my tour guide had sufficiently scared me to death at the possibility of being stung by a jelly fish. That evening I went on a sunset camel ride on Cable Beach and then saw a movie with a few of my greyhound friends at Sun Pictures, the world's oldest open air cinema. My last day in Broome, Kelly and Jen (the girls I traveled with in Perth and Margaret River) arrived! Although we only had one afternoon together it was so nice to see them and catch up.

*** Sadly, I do not have any pictures from my day tour. My camera was acting up, so my guide insisted that I use his camera and then brought me to a Kodak shop at the end of the day to get a photo cd made... but when I went in the next day to pick it up the store was closed. Luckily, Kelly picked it up for me, so I will be able to post pictures when I get the cd form her (most likely after I get home in June).

The one and only Cable Beach.

As my sister Jackie would say, I decided to "treat" myself and rented an umbrella and chair for my day at the beach.

Hanging out with my camel, Harley.

It's hard to pick a favorite Australian sunset, but this is one was definitely in my top five. I'm not sure I've ever seen the sky to red (although it looks more orange in this picture).

I've been to outdoor cinemas before, but never an open air one. I liked that they had canvas chairs for us to sit on and that we could see the stars and a few airplanes fly above us.

Coral Coast

I had been getting on and off the Greyhound for five days by the time I arrived in Coral Bay and had met some very nice people already. My French friend Stephane who was on month nine of his year long around the world trip and two German women, Andrea and Stefanie, who were taking time off work to travel for three and six months respectively. We met three more French people and one Swiss at our hostel that we hung out with as well. It was nice to have so many people to lie out on the beach and snorkel with, in addition to eating meals together.

The soft white sand and crystal blue waters were quite similar to Monkey Mia, but Coral Bay was so much larger. The beach went on for miles and was extremely wide during low tide (which this picture does not show).

Just past this rock was the best spot for snorkeling.

I taught the French boys Patrick, Stephane, and Benjamin how to play beer pong. I obviously won-- after all, what kind of American would I be if I didn't dominate in drinking games?

A few days later, Stephane and I both headed to Exmouth for Easter weekend. There isn't a whole lot to do in Exmouth (this tends to be the case in many west coast towns) if you aren't into scuba diving. Lucky for me, I am. Now, I hadn't been diving in four months and I was a little bit nervous my scuba skills would be rusty, but as it turns out diving is a lot like riding a bike, once you know how to do it you never really forget! I did two days of diving, with two boat dives each day. The first day we went to Cod Spot and Whalebone, just off the coast of the Muiron Islands. On the first dive I went down 17M (55 ft) which is the deepest I've been to date. The second day were both reef dives at Lighthouse Bay. I saw a lot of blue spotted rays, a sea turtle, an eel, a puffer fish, lots of crabs, etc... In addition to the great dives, I met some very nice people on board. I really liked my instructor Vicki, she was only 19 years old, originally from England, and had been a scuba instructor for a year Thailand before moving to Exmouth in March. I also met three Americans, which never happens! One woman originally from LA who has been working in Sydney the past two years and a couple who relocated to Perth a few months ago.

On Easter Sunday it was Stephane's birthday, so I took him out to dinner to celebrate. The next day, I was sad to leave because I was heading off to Broome by myself and Stephane was flying to Bali. I am very happy I met him; I had fun teaching him American expressions, practicing my French, talking about anything and everything, and just having someone to eat meals with and go to the beach. I was worried about doing the west coast by myself and by the Greyhound instead of an organized tour, so it was definitely a pleasant surprise to meet nice people along the way.

Exmouth Harbor

On board the Pro Dive boat.

Muiron Islands

Monkey Mia

The first thing everyone should know about Monkey Mia is that there aren't any monkeys on the premises. Weird, right? I've thought about it and decided that Dolphin Haven would be a better suited name. The resort puts on three daily feedings to a group of wild dolphins they all know by name. Guests are allowed to walk into the water, take pictures of the dolphins, and listen as the volunteers give about a thirty minute speech on the mammals. Even though the dolphins are incredibly friendly (one even swam up against my leg) as a precaution no one is allowed to pet them. The staff put it this way: how would we feel if twenty people came up to us three times a day to pat us on the head? We'd probably get annoyed and eventually bite back. Other than enjoying the dolphin feedings, I spent my two days in MM sunbathing, writing in my journal, getting to know Joanna, my German roommate who was also a dolphin volunteer, and Stephane, a Parisian who became my west coast Greyhound bus buddy.

My camera isn't even on zoom in this photo, that was how close this dolphin was to me!

Joanna wasn't working the feeding I went to, so unfortunately I wasn't "randomly" picked to feed the dolphins. Still fun to watch.

Life as a professional beach bum... it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it!

Monkey Mia soared to the top of my "Australia's most beautiful beaches" list.

My first emu sighting!

Mom & Dad visit: Australia

My favorite day in Hamilton was spent sailing to Whitehaven beach. During the summer months in Queensland (the state Hamilton Island is located in) it’s necessary to wear stinger suits in the water due to the high number of jellyfish. Although this made my Mom nervous, she and Dad were both troopers and came snorkeling with me. It was definitely my favorite snorkel spot so far; I couldn’t believe all the different types of fish, rays, and turtles we saw! On Sunday we took a ferry to Airlie Beach and spent the afternoon eating an eight- course brunch at Deja Vue. We were so stuffed we didn’t even bother going out for dinner that night! The last day we were there it did rain a lot, but that didn’t interfere with Dad’s early round of golf or mine and Mom’s full body massages (ahh the perks of vacationing with your parents) so we had no complaints!

Sailing the Whitsundays.

Whitehaven Beach.

Unfortunately, not very many pictures turned out well from my underwater disposable camera, but at least I was able to capture this friendly sea turtle.

Dad helping out on the boat, what a natural!

The Yacht Club, where we had dinner our last night in town.

Cockatoos were everywhere on the island, here's one just chilling on our balcony.

Upon arriving at our hotel in Sydney, the receptionist told us we had been upgraded (Mom’s favorite word) to the penthouse. Not a bad way to end our vacation, eh? Our first day we spent walking around Sydney Harbour, eating lunch at a café in Circular Quay, taking a ferry ride over to Manly beach, and then having dinner with Brooke and Jay in The Rocks. I was so happy my parents could meet some of my friends! We woke up bright and early next morning and headed to Hunter Valley for a wine tour. If I remember correctly our favorite vineyard was called Iron Gates. Dad had them ship a dozen bottles or so back home; I made him promise he would save at least one bottle to drink with me. As a Christmas present I bought my parents tickets to a show and tour of the Opera House, which is how we spent our Saturday afternoon. We all loved the tour and enjoyed listening to the music during The Man In Black: The Johnny Cash Story. Our final day, Mom and I did some serious shopping at the markets before having a lovely Valentines day dinner in Darling Harbour. I couldn’t believe how quickly three weeks passed with my parents. I loved every minute of them being here. I would highly recommend my siblings going abroad, if only to have our parents to come and spoil them crazy during their visit!

The view from the penthouse... not too shabby.

Just a couple of beach bums hanging out in Manly.

Interior of the Opera House... We actually learned on the tour that due to some political issues, the Danish architect Jorn Utzon never saw his finished product.

They've had everything from operas, concerts, and wrestling matches take place in the main hall.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the best trip ever!

Phillip Island

While staying in Melbourne, we decided to take a day trip to Phillip Island, which is about an hour and half outside of the city. It's here at sunset that the world's smallest penguins waddle to shore after a long day spent in the sea. Kat and I were especially excited about the penguin parade, and then extremely disappointed when we realized that you had to pay to watch... along with hundreds of other people... and you're not even allowed to take pictures of video tape the event. Change of plans. We instead went to see two different blowholes and ended up eating dinner on the beach and watching the sunset. All free of charge. The whole day was so much fun, I couldn’t be happier that we went!

A very rocky beach we had to walk across in order to get to the blowhole.

Technically, it's just water smashing up against the rocks, not a blowhole. Still very cool.

Our next stop was The Nobbies, where the real blowhole was. This blowhole was a let down, so I didn't bother putting up a picture. The scenery was worth the trip alone though!

Flynn's beach.

A very scary, spiky, and (thankfully) dead blow fish I would have stepped on if it were not for Adam.