Western Australia Road Trip Part One

Our roadtrip routine goes something like this..

Coffee and the news in bed.

Up and pack. On the road with a stop for breakfast and another coffee. In Australia that's a "Flat White". And a  "Low Tide Flat White"  to denote less milk. If it's too late for breakfast we'll push on till lunch and a sugar free coke. Burgers or sandwiches or hot pies.

Long stretches of very quiet road. Podcasts and music. Roadtrains. 

WA is vast and unpopulated.

And unlike Africa, you don't see much wildlife or many birds from the car. 

After a few hours on the road, we pulled over to get a picture of a Banksia tree.

 I got out the car and was immediately attacked by a swarm of flies. It's impossible to keep the camera still while waving both arms frantically around. And doing the Tourettes River Dance. Once back in the car you have to blast the aircon at full tilt with all the windows open to chase the flies out. Back on the road there's always one pesky bugger buzzing around on the dash.

At Nambung National Park we headed for the gift shop to buy head nets. Even with these you want to limit your outside time! 

People come here to view the strange Pinnacles landscape.

It's an interesting otherworldly place.

We did mostly drive by sightseeing in Killbarri National Park to avoid the flies.

 Towns are few and far between so it's better to fill up on  fuel when you see a roadhouse.

At Monkey Mia we enjoyed an afternoon of sailing with great sightings of turtle, dolphin and dugongs.

The next morning we joined the tourists for the dolphin feeding. The dolphins are not in captivity here anymore but the older mothers teach their young to come to shore for a free meal and so they are habituated to humans.