After a full day of driving we stopped at this sheep shed to spend the night. We all slept in our sleeping bags in this tiny room with loud rain on the tin roof. Making the trek to the bathroom was downright terrifying too! But at this place there was a huge hill right behind it that was rumored to have a great view. It was so beautiful up there. The ocean was right there and so was a marsh of sorts that had purple water. Everything else around was lush and green and beautiful. Apparently the water was purple because of this certain type of algae that grows there that they actually harvest for some purpose that I don't remember. We had great timing because this heavenly sunset happened while we were up there. The wind was so violent though, it was so strong it pushed me over while I was struggling up the hill, haha.
On our Day 2 of the trip we drove to Kalbarri National Park. This is a picture of me there! It was stunning. I'd never seen anywhere that looked like that in person and the red rock cliffs overlooking Murchison River was just amazing. This river weaves away from the Indian Ocean past the multi-hued sandstone formations of Red Bluff. 
There is a hole like this one but larger that is called "Nature's Window" so we called this Nature's Peep-Hole.
After spending the whole morning here gawking at the scenery we left and headed for the place where we would set up camp. Hamelin Pool, the place where we stayed was a nature preserve because they have stalagmites on their beach.
I'd never camped before so I was nervous I wouldn't like it cause I'm not a huge nature-girl.
We set up our tents, which was not as hard as I thought, and then had some time to kill before sunset and dinner so we went out to see the Stromatolites. They are theorized to have been one of the first organisms on earth before animal and plant life began over 3 billion years ago. They are millions and millions of years old and we saw them! Apparently the extreme salinity of the southern parts of Shark Bay have allowed these Stromatolites Here's a picture...
The following day we went to Monkey Mia, located at Shark Bay which is a really well known destination in WA. Wild dolphins come to shore to be fed and to mingle with people and visitors. It originally started happening when fisherman would toss their fish scraps overboard and by the 60's they were coming into shore to be hand-fed. It felt pretty strange because a woman knew everything about the 4 who came in close to shore and made up names for them (One was PUCK! that was hilarious to find out- if you've seen Summer Heights High).
But it's strange because these people know their entire histories and how many pregnancies they've had and how many shark bites, etc. It just felt very unnatural to me, like it was an aquarium where they trained the dolphins to come in from the ocean or something. But they were genuinely wild dolphins.The water was freezing so I didn't swim, but when one of my friends tried to swim out to the dolphin, the people who work there got really mad :-/ While we were at Monkey Mia we played volleyball and hung out on the beach. The volleyball game was so intense and we got almost everyone to play so it was so much fun! 
We stopped at a few other places at Shark Bay. One place that I didn't take pictures of had loggerhead turtles that would poke their heads out of the water. They were so quick though, I didn't even see one! This was another place on Shark Bay displaying a clip of the 2 million hectares of cliff lined peninsulas and islands it has. This is my friend Jess and I at one cliff scene we stopped at on Shark Bay.
These are some sheep that were on the road but then ran off when we drove through! These were some horses that were just hangin out right outside of our accommodations. We were staying on a huge plot of land but it was strange to see domesticated horses just standing there.
These were some pictures I took when I went out to see the sunset on my own at Hamelin Pool. Such a peaceful thing. It was my first genuine "West coast" sunset, which are supposed to be better than on the East because the sun escapes over the water rather than hiding itself.
These were our busses that we rode in for countless hours to see all of these amazing places. Many naps and frustrations were had on the bus, for sure.
This was one morning when the sun was rising while we were leaving for our next venture. Beautiful. I'm not usually up for sunrise, but I'm glad I was this time.
This was a completely isolated beach that we went to after a long day of driving on the bus. It was at the same place where the horses and sheep were ( I know, these pictures are a little out of order). We saw this kangaroo while we were approaching the beach and he stood there motionless while we all whipped out our cameras in amazement. We finally inched close enough-probably like 3 or 4 yards away, and he scampered off. This beach though, before we were there, had no footprints. No people know about it or are allowed on it. Amazing seashells and that feeling of something being natural and untouched was just really extreme here. The water was so nice too! 
This was another beach spot we stopped at. There was no sand, but instead super small shells. I actually got some cuts on my feet walking through them in the water, but they looked really beautiful. It's insane how preserved and non-commercial these locations are. Places this beautiful in the U.S. seem to be marked up and ruined with parking lots and false lighting and masses of people. This was what made these beaches so much more rewarding and relaxing.
These pictures are of Coral Bay, where we went to spend the day. It was a cold, windy day and most of the snorkeling tours and kayaking tours were shut down, but they kept one open for our group coming in. We all went on a glass-bottom boat ride over the Ningaloo Reef, which is better preserved than the Great Barrier Reef and is rumored to look about the same. The snorkeling was rough and the water was not too warm, but it was definitely cool to see the reef and some of the different fish.
After the morning Glass Bottom Boat/Snorkeling tour, we spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach. Much of the trip was high paced and it seemed we never got to go somewhere and relax for however long we wanted, so this day was definitely in order. 
Afterwards the whole lot of us participated in the Happy Hour, cheap drinks from 6-7 at the bar on the beach> We all had a really good time and it made the hour long bus ride back go by a lot quicker!The next morning we woke up early and drove all day inland and and then set up camp in the outback! We passed through the Hamersley Range, which is over 3 billion years old (one of the world's oldest mountain ranges). I took a picture from the bus window below.
This was the view outside my tent when I awoke in the morning. We had to set up in the dark when we arrived at camp, so the red dirt was really stunning.
We walked just five minutes from our campsite and there we were at Karijini National Park! (the two photos above as well) There was some Class 5 hiking that we had to do on the rocks, which was definitely a challenge, but also definitely worth it. You forget how stunning nature really is when you live in a developed town/city, where you just get desensitized to seeing the same things every day. This trip definitely reminded me of how amazing nature really is. 
This is a picture of myself and my friends Tess and Elise at the bottom of the Monkey Walk. We had to use both arms and both legs to grip onto the rocks to get across.When we left Karijini we stopped quickly at an Aboriginal Museum that was a tribute to all of the land that we were exploring. This sign below is written in Aboriginal language and I just thought it was very wise. All of the foreign travelers on the trip (which was everyone) was freaking out about the possibility of being killed or attacked by snakes, dingoes, poisonous spiders, etc. but the Aboriginals got it right. If you just respect the land and the animals' habitat, they won't harm you.
Next we drove to another set of gorges in the afternoon. I'm not sure which places match which names but I guess it doesn't really matter. We explored Weano and Hancock gorges, Handrail Pool, Joffre Falls and Dales Gorge. Again, very beautiful as you can see. 
This was one of our two "tour guides" although they started to feel more like really knowledgeable friends by the end of the trip. This is Fi, cracking up at something, don't remember what. Her laugh was so contagious! 
This picture is of most of the people in our tour group, but there were some that didn't want to brave the freezing water to take the group picture.The next morning we went to Fortescue Falls. This was one of my favorite places on the trip. Fortescue Falls and Kalbarri National Park were my favorite places visited. It was so peaceful...even though our guy friends were cliff-jumping, as they are about to in the picture below. It was too high for me though, so I jumped off that tiny ledge at the bottom that looks like it's a meter up...it was higher than it looks though! Still good fun.
Isn't this just heavenly. It was literally glowing in the sunlight.
The walk from Fortescue Falls to Fern's Pool was less than five minutes and there were trees just like this one everywhere, with huge roots.
This is Fern's Pool. We swam out and sat underneath the waterfall and got pelted with the fresh water. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but it really was stunningly peaceful and just eased my soul.
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN!!! WOOT!!!
After spending all morning at Fortescue Falls we went back, packed up camp, and headed for Newman, a mining town. We stayed at Newman Caravan Park, camping out again, and at night the whole lot of us when out to a bar, where all of the miners congregate after work. Didn't make friend with any of them although a lot of people did- most of them were pretty creepy and dirty looking.
WA (the state of Western Australia) is really well known for having a beautiful display of wildflowers in the spring. Though it wasn't spring yet on this trip, a lot of flowers were already in bloom. WA is home to over 8000 native wildflowers. They are unique, diverse and boost the often barren landscapes with heaps of color.
These white ones that look similar to Daisies are called Splendid Everlasting.
In the morning we went to another mining town called Meekatharra, passing through sheep and cattle stations on the way to Wogarno Sation, where we spent our last night. That little hut you see was the shower facility, which we didn't pay to use, that's going on 2 days without a shower. Ah! The toilets were even tinier, and I'm pretty sure animals were living in there- we kept on hearing noises when we had to go out there in the dark at night.
It was really nice to have a big campfire again with everyone together on our last night. This was the night where Mars was actually the closest to Earth that it would be for a very long time. We were freezing and exhausted and didn't stay up until 5 a.m. or whatever it was to see it. Some people did, but all week when the stars were clearer out in the Outback we could see it getting brighter every night.
Day 10: We drove back, spending the entire day in the bus. We were all sad it was over, but exhausted and in need of a shower. There were some beautiful things to see along the way as well...
These are just more wildflowers in fields everywhere in WA that you drive by for miles and miles. All the bright yellow are flowers. They are Canola, which is what they use to make Canola Oil.
Amazing trip.
Australia is magical!
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