It is here at Cape Leeuwin that the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, I had previously imagined seeing some sort of tidal line but was still good to see.

There was also the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse which was totally manually operated until 1982 when a clockwork mechanism was fitted with a kerosene burner, being one of the last in the world!

Apart from the sign of the meeting oceans and the lighthouse there is nothing else to really do or see. The Saint Allouarn Islands, are further to the south with the nearest town just north being Cape Augusta.

Cape Leeuwin Travel Photos

Established as part of the Swan River Colony in 1829 by British settlers and named after Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle. Captain of the Royal Navy ship HMS Challenger, it was this 26 gun frigate which was the first ship to arrive from a fleet of 3 from Britain to establish a colony at the Swan River. Fremantle, aka Freo as it is known by the locals received city status in 1929 and now has a population of around 25,000.

Fremantle Prison was built by convicts in the 1850s, it was used as a jail by the colonial government in 1886. It has only relatively recently closed down, in 1991. Fremantle Prison was then reopened as a public museum for all to see. One of the most interesting features of the prison is the preservation of the prisoners graffiti on the walls I can especially remember James Walsh`s.

It was extremely interesting to see the prison as I could still remember the riot in 1988 as a boy when 70 prisoners took over half the prison including taking 15 prison officers hostage. I don’t blame them at the time they were locked inside with temperatures of 52.2°C!!! Having air conditioning fitted would have saved the government nearly 2 million Australian Dollars!

Freemantle Travel Photos

Cairns is where I completed my PADI Advanced Open water dive course. I went with Downunder Dive on their Atlantic Clipper for a 4 day live aboard dive course which was absolutely fantastic. I originally looked at diving with a company called Pro Dive but they seemed very up themselves and I had heard many a good thing about the PADI dive courses that Down under Dive offered. Also after some further research I found out they had probably one of the best boats. The SV Atlantic Clipper.

It’s an old 140ft tall ship but has been fully refurbished and has on the modern technology installed. It has very nice air conditioned cabins which cater for 2-4 people, has a large saloon, lounge and even its own bar. Of course it even has a hot tub on the front deck to sit in and relax, chill out and have a beer. The food was fantastic and served from a rather well built kitchen… one of the best things they prepared was probably the most basic of all and that was potato wedges with sweet chili sauce which was often sat waiting for us on deck for when we came out from night dives. Hmm hmm.

The Atlantic Clipper is permanently based at the Great Barrier Reef which would move every day to other parts of the reef, which would either be done over night if a long way or early in the morning if a short distance. This was excellent as you get to see a variety of reefs and have a truly unique diving experience. Downunder Dive had a fast transfer boat which takes you there and back which also allows you to spend as many days and nights aboard as you want.

I truly couldn’t recommend anyone else to dive with in Cairns but if you decide to look elsewhere please be very careful when selecting a dive operator in Cairns as many dive schools use fixed platforms at sea which you stay on and then commute by boat for the diving, not quite the live aboard you expected!

View more of my scuba diving travel photos in Cairns.

Cairns Travel Photos

Uluru is situated in the centre of Australia within the Northern Territory. This is now a World Heritage Area for both its cultural and natural values. The National Park is named Uluru-Kata Tjuta, and is about 270 miles southwest of Alice Springs.

Uluru is sacred to the Aboriginals, contrary to popular belief it has no actual meaning. It is actually named after an Aboriginal family from many years back.

It was discovered in 1872 (well by a non-indigenous person) by Ernest Giles, he never actually got close to it as what stopped by the Lake Amadeus. But a year later William Gosse visited the rock and called it “Ayres Rock” after Sir Henry Ayers who was the Chief Secretary of South Australia.

Uluru used to be known as a monolith rock and is 346 metres high, over 5 miles in diameter with a hard exterior which is unusual to other large rocks. Because of this it has prevented formation of scree slopes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scree which has given it it’s unusual steep sides.

It used to be thought and was listed as the world’s largest monolith. However this is misleading as Uluru is actually part of a massive underground rock formation which includes The Olgas. (This rock formation is often mistakenly thought to incorporate Mount Conner, which is actually a different rock formation altogether).

But little to worry Australia still hosts the world’s largest monolith… Mt Augustus! Which is in Western Australia and is around 2.5 times the size of Uluru and is about 850m high!

Uluru looks amazing at sunrise as is famously known for appearing to change colour. It’s made from sandstone but is full of minerals like iron and feldspar. It’s the oxidisation of the iron that gives Uluru the rusty red colour. And the feldspar reflects the red light of the sun when rising or setting which appear to make it sort of glow.

The Aboriginals do not climb Uluru due to its spiritual significance. They also do not like visitors climbing it either, this is mainly due to the fact that the route crosses a sacred traditional “dreaming track”, secondly they feel a sense of responsibility for the visitors on their land to be safe. However climbing Ayres Rock is still very popular whether right or wrong. It was much harder than I had imagined to climb to the top and took me about 45 minutes at a fast pace. Believe me this is not for the faint hearted! There have been at least 40 recorded deaths from falls and heart attacks. So please be very careful if you decide to climb. For me personally the spectacular view from the top of Yulara was most worthy of the climb.

Ayer’s Rock, Uluru – Travel Photos

Another near death experience potentially happened when I was trying to take a photo of a snake at one of the gorges when it went into defensive mode and striked at my camera just missing me before swimming off down the small waterway. I have no idea if it was venomous… and had no time to count the scales and being about 30 miles from any help was ready to change my underwear

The photo is a view from the top of Dales Gorge looking down into Circular Pool. Amazing clean but green looking water, with a few strange creatures swimming around? And many lizards basking in the sun watching us human beings. You can get to Circular Pool from walking along the bottom of the gorge from Fortescue Falls, I seem to remember it taking about 2 hours to get there, but don’t forget you have to walk back.

A really amazing view and perhaps the best view of some of the gorges can be seen from Oxers Lookout. From there you can see Hancock Gorge, Joffre Gorge, Red Gorge and Weano Gorge all together. From here two walks start one leading to Hancock Gorge and the other leading to Weano Gorge which is much easier but a bit boring. (Only because its an easy walk), Karijini National Park Map.

The one part we didn’t go to which was probably for the best due to many warnings of asbestos was a little old town called Wittenoom, where Yampire Gorge is. Ive been told you can actually see all the blue specks of asbestos in the rocks. You can actually drive here but if you do keep the windows closed! Karijini National Park is in Western Australia near Tom Price and used to be known as the Hamersley National Park and is just under 6500 km².

Karijini National Park Photos

Kangaroo Island is in South Australia and is seven times the size of Singapore! The wildlife here is amazing, the Koalas are everywhere in the trees and of course the Fur Seals are incredible.

Of course there are also Kangaroos and Wallabies, but Kangaroo Island also has Echidnas, Platypus and Goannas. What I found to be really remarkable and completely unexpected were the Penguins! You can see the Penguins at Kingscote and Penneshaw. I was very lucky and got to see them in nesting season on the seafront, and watched them at night almost as a planned assault on the beach them straddling along the sand to the higher ground.

Most of Kangaroo Island remains exactly the same as when Matthew Flinders put a name to this island in 1802. Luckily just over a third of the Island is a Conservation Park which will protect the environment there.

Well my journey around the island was spent over a few days, having my own car I didn’t need to get ripped off hiring one which was a relief so we made up our own Kangaroo island tour. However the roads were not the best and we would have been more comfortable in a 4×4 but didn’t miss out on anything where the tours took you also we got to choose our own accommodation. I found the island incredible and most defiantly the best part of South Australia but this was nearly the unfortunate place which nearly got me deported from Australia… Long story but I stood the other side of a small fence on a flight of steps to take an uninterrupted photos of the seals. I have no idea why this was such a problem, the steps went all the way down to the beach and I was only a quarter of the way down these steps. You can read more about this on Daniela’s travel blog.

If your making up your own Kangaroo Island tour make sure you visit;

• Seal Bay to see the Australian sea lions and Fur Seals
• Flinders Chase National Park where the Remarkable Rocks are and Admiral’s Arch
• The Lighthouses at Cape Borda and Cape du Couedic
• Kelly Hill Caves
• Little Sahara
• Mount Thisby lookout (Renamed Prospect Hill in 2002 in honour of Matthew Flinders)
• Murray Lagoon with its aquatic bird life

Anyway recommendations for Kangaroo island would be to book your own car hire if you don’t have your own car, book your own accommodation as some of the Kangaroo Island hotels are very pricey and are inflated on the tour costs. But you will love it.

Remarkable Rocks, Flinders Chase National Park Photos

The HMAS Swan was scuttled almost ten years ago, on December 14th 1997. Situated in Dunsborough, South West Australia in a depth of just over 30m. The Swan is one of the most popular dive sites in Australia most probably due to its sheer size. The wreck is 112m long 13m wide and 21m tall, being only 1.3 miles from shore allows it to be cheap to dive.

If you are looking for or planning your next dive trip or diving holiday in Australia you have to come and visit this wreck. Nearly the whole vessel is penetrable apart from the engine and boiler room, which have been closed off to stop any entanglements. Apart from this you can go everywhere even up and down the lift shafts! There are many diver access holes which have been cut out into the ship so you don’t need to worry too much about getting lost as I can remember seeing one every 20m or so.

Marine life here is excellent, it was one of my very few encounters with a Grey Nurse Shark too. Another diver told me it was a Bronze Whaler but it didn’t look anywhere as stream line and had a shorter head so I’m pretty confident I’m correct. Anyway if it had of been a Bronze I’m glad it wasn’t too curious! There are many Batfish around the top of the mast, some big Samson fish which seem to come out of nowhere, and others such as Bullseyes, Blue Devil fish, awesome Shaw’s Cowfish and some very strange looking Dhufish. There is some small size soft coral growing around the wreck, but of course the biggest dive attraction is the HMAS Swan.

Diving the HMAS Swan Photos

Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay is one of the most ancient vistas on our planet it is known as the Pilbara region of Australia. Our earliest ancestors still survive here etched into the rocks around 3.5 billion years old as stromatolites.

The reason they are able to survive here is the water is actually twice as salty as normal sea water which makes it inhospitable to many other living things.

The stromatolites are so important that it made Shark Bay a World Heritage area.
The stromatolites are too small to be seen, but appear as rocky lumps scattered over the beach, they are actually built by tiny organisms using sediment and other organic matter. Within these rocks there is a massive community of them which are thought to have 3,000 million m²! They can build stromatolites up to 10 million times their own size (1.5m, but 10 million sounds better). A 1m stromatolites is about 2000 years old.

They are very boring to look at, and just look like dark rocks around the beach, but its amazing to think how old these things are and what they must have seen in their lifetimes! There are walkways which you can walk along to stop any damage to them, but unfortunately there always seems to be someone who has to think otherwise.

Whilst you’re here you should also visit Hamelin Pool telegraph station where you will get a private tour of the museum. Its very interesting, especially to hear about all the damage which was done to the lines by the aboriginals to make tools for hunting.

Shell Beach is just off the Hamelin Road at Hamelin Pools, its about an hours drive from Denham. Shell beach is made from billions of tiny shells and is one of only two in the world. It is about 65 miles long and around 10m deep.

A large number of buildings around this area were built using bricks cut out from the beach. This is a photo of a typical quarry which had been excavated.

Well this may have not been the most interesting part of my travelling nor maybe the most interesting thing to read on my travel blog… but it was nice to finally meet my oldest ancestors

Stromatolites, Hamelin Pool – Travel Photos

Well actually the whole island is a sand dune so to speak. It’s the biggest sand island in the world about 260m high. Being made completely from sand Fraser Island actually moves 1-2m a year!

Fraser Island if I remember correctly is known by the Aboriginals as K’Gari which means paradise and was inscripted by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1992.

Fraser Island is easy to get to and is only a couple of hours drive from Brisbane you can hire out 4x4s out there, but heard many horror stories about cars getting stuck and arguments from hell. Hence decided to take a Fraser Island tour with Dingos which was excellent, no sleeping bags, no cooking, no tents and no driving, just relaxing and downing some VB and the best part of this you dont get your food eaten by dingos!

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island – Travel Photos