Perth to Adelaide

Country: Australia by Lisette

25-04-2005

Perth was a disappointment for me because I experienced a mini culture shock coming from the adventurous trip to Uluru. It is a quaint sea town, but all I wanted at that time was to disappear in the bush once more.

And so I was off, back to Adelaide, again. Another disappointment waited for me with the discovery that we were sleeping in tents and not using the swags that I had become accustomed to. My tour mates for the next 7 days were the guide, a geologist and a young German girl; unfortunately I didn’t really get along great with any of them.

Loved Fitzgerald River National Park and Cape Le Grand National Park had gorgeous, paradise-like, beaches! Because of the distance we had to cover in such a short time, we took regular roads and stopped and touristy places. A real shame, but because I had to return home I choose to take the short trip.

Wave Rock is very, very impressive. It is a giant surf wave of multi-coloured granite created 2700 million years ago (that is before the dinosaurs came around)! It is 14 meters high and 110 meters long. The shape is formed by gradual erosion of the softer rock beneath the upper edge. The colours are caused by the rain that washes chemical deposits (including carbonates) down, forming stripes of grey, red and yellow.

It was fun spending some time in limestone Cocklebiddy Cave and crawling towards the water. Naturally, I thought the water was to cool to swim in but our guide lighted some candles and the atmosphere was very nice. Climbing up made me feel like a mountain goat!

We were stopped by the police in Eucla and were ordered to show our visas. Ridiculous, like you can be in the middle of Australia without a proper visa and these guys will catch you! It made me laugh out loud.

The last fun part of the trip was a cool eco-tour in Baird Bay where we saw sea lions. And then it was almost over and I had a one-night lay-over in Adelaide before going back to Melbourne on yet another tour!