Homer 2022 : A week in Apulia, South Italy

Thursday 16 June to Wednesday 22 June

Apulia

Apulia is a Southern region that forms the heel of the boot of Italy. It is largely rural and has a long coastline. It's far less touristy and not as wealthy as the more Northern areas of Italy.

But first, we headed south to Matera, one of the oldest cities in the world.

The Sassi (meaning stone) houses are built in caves and carved out of the hillside. Since becoming a world heritage site many have been restored. Some of the caves are now hotels and shops.

The long, warm dusk evening was one of the most peaceful of our trip. 

We spent three nights in Capitolo, just south of Monopolli, at a family campsite on the Adriatic. We loved the beachside restaurants and bars and enjoyed swimming, especially in the rock pools of an old quarry.

We did a day trip to Alberobello, a world heritage site of Trulli houses, corbello-style roofed houses built with no mortar. 

With a stop in Locorotondo. Just because we have to do a hilltop town almost every day. 

 The coastal drives in Apulia are amazing. 

We found a few wonderful beach towns on the Ionian sea.

Picture perfect Otranto with it's medieval walls and turquoise ocean. Next time I'd like to stay here for a week. 

Local hidden gem Torre Mozzo.

Beachside camping in Rivabella outside Gallipoli. 

On Wednesday we headed back up north with an overnight stop in Vasto, a local, working class holiday town where we were kept up late by the campsite karaoke.

Western Australia Road Trip Part 2

En route to Exmouth we stopped in Coral Bay for some great snorkeling. We weren't able to sit on the beach or walk due to all the flies. 

We stayed two nights at the Mantaray Resort in Exmouth. Low season around here is very quiet. A deserted marina and lots of locked up holiday homes.

We did a day trip through Cape Range National Park with more amazing snorkeling at Oyster Stacks.

Exmouth to Broome is 1400kms and 2 days of driving with a stop in Port Hedland, which has absolutely nothing going for it! 

We spent three nights at the Blue Seas Resort in the Cable Beach area. Broome is small with a mildly interesting downtown you can be done with in 5 minutes. Then you can hang out with locals in a dodgy bar for a drink. To be fair, the season hadn't quite kicked in yet. 

Cable Beach is the more rarified  and touristy part of town. We spent pleasant evenings at the Divers Tavern and the Cable Beach Club.

You can't swim in the sea at this time of year due to stingers so apart from beach walks and bird watching we did a great dolphin sight- seeing boat trip and a hugely entertaining camel ride on the beach.

Working camels were released into the desert in Australia over a hundred years ago, once railways and roads opened up the interior and the camels were no longer needed. The camels in Broome have been rescued from drought and fire stricken areas and are very well looked after.

After another night in Port Hedland, we stayed at the Tom Price Tourist Park to explore Karajini National Park. Some areas were still closed due to the rainy season and it was still very hot. Hiking with flies and in the heat is not much fun. It's a beautiful landscape but without the animals we are used to in African national parks, we found it a little one dimensional. 

We drove the inland route back to Perth, staying in Newman and Mount Magnet. Unless you love being in the car and on the road to nowhere, I'd suggest flying back from Broome.

By this stage, the Corona Virus was spreading world wide ( no cases in Western Australia though ) and we realised borders would be closing and international travel would become more tricky. We had no choice but to cut our Australia trip short by a month and return to South Africa as soon as possible. 

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.