Update no. 3 on Tanya DewhurstCopyright 2002 Tanya DewhurstTanya Dewhurst,
who regularly wrote for FTH from London and other points, continues to pursue her
avocation as a travel writer.
I got this from her on 6 March, 2002.
Well, the last time you heard from me, I was jealously guarding my carton of tinnies and hunkering down waiting for a big wind. You'll be pleased to know that the cyclone missed the town I was staying in by about 80 kms (50 miles) which is just as well, because when it crossed the coast, it was a level 5, the fiercest ever recorded in Australia. Luckily it just demolished a road house (well, not so lucky for them, although they did sit it out in the beer fridge; I'm not kidding here) and lost some of its impetus (that is, went from 295 kph winds to oh, only about 160 kph) when it hit my travel friend who was working about 100kms inland at a gold mine. I saw the photos and boy, I wouldn't've liked to be in that ... some of their buildings were destroyed and the river was up to almost 3 meters (about 9 feet).
Suffice to say, it was a bit of a worry, especially as I was anxiously awaiting LEAVING lovely Port Hedland, having decided that iron ore mounds, stinky mudflats, salt piles, and general mining malaise was not my idea of a good vacation spot. The only redeeming feature about this part of the Aussie northwest is that it's nesting grounds for the Australian Flatback Turtle, so one night, me and a couple of young'uns from the backpackers hiked up the beach at some ungodly hour and watched baby turtle hatchlings emerge from their nest. Dozens of the little things spend a couple of hours slowly digging their way to the surface; they poke out of the sand like a weird clump of grapes. Then all of a sudden, they'll break free and scramble in a mad frenzy to get to the water. It's hilarious and kind of sad, too, because they're such fragile creatures all alone and vulnerable. Of course, like all marine turtles, they're on the very highly, maximum, really, really endangered species list. We made sure all of our hatchlings got to the sea, and I'm certain that even though only one percent are supposed to survive, all of ours are happily swimming amongst it growing big and strong. So there.
Anyway, thankfully, the river subsided enough for the road to open hours before we were due to leave, so my friend, a good ol' Aussie bloke named Pete, could finally escape from work and so could I! We drove southward for a mere, oh, 600 kms to our first stop: a little tiny miniscule beach called Coral Bay. Not much to look at from above sea level, but swim just, oh I dunno, 50 feet off the beach, and you're in one of the most wonderful coral reefs, ranked number 3 in the world. I felt like I was in an aquarium, there were so many amazing fish, coral, sea critters, etc. A beautiful spot, and officially now my most favorite beach in the world.
We then made the extremely scenic drive (read flat, barren, remote) for about another 600 kms to Monkey Mia, the famous place in Shark Bay where dolphins come to feed. Wellllll, it was a very pretty little bay and all that, but the whole dolphin thing is very contrived (like let's bring out buckets of fish so the dolphins will come and eat, 8am and 1pm every day) and the resort is oh just so resort-like that I couldn't help guffawing at the whole set-up. A lot. Actually, not bragging or anything, but I had much better dolphin experiences down in Augusta where they come in to hang out at the river mouth, no fish needed. One day, I walked for about an hour only several meters away from five dolphins who were idly meandering along the river. I was all by myself and the dolphins were just doing their thing as opposed to the 50 or so tourists who line up at Monkey Mia to be instructed on how to behave by the Aussie marine equivalent of forest rangers.
However it really is nice up there, and so bloody remote (and super hot) that it's worth the trek just to know that places like this exist in the world. Actually, I was much more impressed by the lunar landscape of the stromatolites -- the world's most oldest consistent life forms; oh they looked about the same 1900 million years ago. And they're microbes, so a mindboggling 3000 million of them fit into one square meter (about 3 sq ft). That makes my head hurt just thinking about it.
We then headed south for another 400 kms or so to Kalbarri. Pete's parents own a holiday condo there, so we stayed for three, fabulously relaxing, days. Kalbarri is one of those places that you just go to have a traditional seaside holiday. Sheltered bay, national park with amazing gorges, lots of fishy restaurants, oh what a really great place just to stop and not do a lot except go to the beach, do a bit of snorkeling, hiking, sunburning, have a barbie, drink amber fluids, etc. I have absolutely no shame in telling you that we spent two whole afternoons lounging around in the condo drinking beer and watching footy (Aussie rules, that is). Those of you who understand the Australian passion for sports and beer (not necessarily in that order) will appreciate the sanctity of such pasttimes. The fact that I had to drive thousands of kms out into the middle of nowhere to do it in, is neither here nor there.
Our final destination was Perth, but along the way, we stopped off at Nambung National Park to visit the Pinnacles Desert. Huge, yellow (yes, yellow!) limestone pillars stand upright like soldiers in a sandy army in this bizarre, very alien landscape. Some of the pillars are only a few centimeters high, others tower more than five meters (about 15 feet). They are one of the weirdest sights ever, especially when a busload of Japanese tourists suddenly appear out of nowhere and scramble over the otherwise deserted area like they're in pinnacle Disneyland.
Perth was total fabfun-ness as we hooked up with my New Yorker friends Dot and Paul who were on the last leg of their Aussie trip. We rented a totally cool apartment in the city and enjoyed lots of party/beach/site seeing fun. My cousin and her fiancée (Kerrie and James) came over for dinner one night and well, you can judge how much fun we had by the fact that five bottles of red and many beers were consumed. Unfortunately, I had to get up very early the next day to take Pete to the airport so he could fly back to work, so a little pain was felt in the aftermath.
Perth is a real country-town of a city and one of the few places that always makes me feel like I'm really in Australia. It's usually pretty sunny (kind of like LA, perhaps not quite as hot all year round) with some of the most beautiful urban beaches. We frolicked at a place called Cottesloe and really, the pure white CLEAN sand just extends for decades. Add in beach-front pubs and India-esque tea rooms and well, really, who needs to drive all the way to bloody Kalbarri?
Reluctantly, I said goodbye to my friends, and borrowed Pete's truck to come back down to Augusta for three weeks. I'm staying (by myself) in a tiny little house on a farm property, about 10 kms out of town. The farm is great, not the million dollar ocean view that I had in December, but a different Augusta experience. I wake up to the serene sound of cows mooing and kookaburras and other farmyard/wildlife noises. It's very pretty around here....farmy. And the smells and colors remind me a lot of my childhood when I used to keep my horse on a country property...so I've been feeling very nostalgic.
My rellies are just as nutty as ever. We've trekked up to the river for skiing a couple of times since I've been down here, so I have spent a considerable amount of time being hauled around behind the boat at 60 mph on my arse, drinking a lot of river water. Their good friend Wendy has now become my "double biscuit" partner, so we get dragged around together. She's about my size and weight, so we're evenly matched when it comes to flying through the air. Her hubby and my brother in law have made it their mission to get us off, so they drive the boat very fast and make sure we hit lots of bumps and all I can say is that the last time we went out, I thought I was going to die. What a way to go. Wheeeeeeeee.
We're going up again next Saturday, so if you never hear from me again, you know they succeeded!
Last weekend was the Augusta River Festival which involved much (mostly bad) music, stalls, and fireworks. Oh yeah, plenty of wine consumption, too, so I was hurting considerably on Sunday. But I met some old guy who lives next door to (hysterical English comedian) Ben Elton in Fremantle. So that felt very hobnobby.
I did take off one day last week and drove into the nearest (about 150 kms) big town, called Bunbury to see Lord of the Rings. I thought the movie was absolutely beautiful and fabulous...I liked it much better than the book, which I found ponderous and somewhat boring. I'm spending a week in New Zealand on my way back to LA, so I'm looking forward to seeing some of the scenery for myself.
So, life from here goes thus: I leave for Perth next Sunday and stay with my cuz for three days. Then I'm off to another coastal town just south of Perth called Mandurah for a week, maybe a week and a half. I'm actually going to a wedding there and then staying in the newlyweds' house whilst they honeymoon. That works. Then I'm back off to Kalbarri for Easter/ my birthday bash with Pete, Kerrie, and James which I'm really looking forward to. After that, I have no clue where I'm going, perhaps back down to Augusta, depending on who invites me where and what's going on. But I don't have to worry about it for a month.
So, many of you have, uh, enquired as to when I'm coming home and you'll be happy to know that I have finally booked my flight. September. The 5th. Yeah, I know, it's six months away, but hey, I don't have any really pressing meetings or dinner dates or anything, so I thought, what the hell, silly skiing and calming Kalbarri, et al, here I come. I'm not really sure where I'll spend the majority of the next six months, but I do plan to go back up north at some point after cyclone season to complete the coastal tour...Broome, the Kimberleys, and maybe up to Darwin. Oh yeah, and I'm still writing a book.
Hope you're all well. Email me with all your news and gossip. Anyone who wants to visit, I'm sure I can arrange a fun foray up the rivva!
'Til next time.
tanya xxx
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