Long weekend in October

A couple of weeks ago we took the Friday and Monday off and spent a few days 'Down South'. We stayed at our favourite hotel Down South: Abbey Beach Resort in Busselton. Beautiful hotel / apartments maybe 100 meters from the beach. While there we met up with some (new:-)) friends (Daniela and Pablo) to walk a little part of the Cape-to-Cape track along the coast so we could take some nice photos.

When I say small part, it really was a small part, we walked maybe 6 or 7 km but (as you will see :-)) never on a straight or even remotely 'even' ground... The entire length of the Cape to Cap walk is about 140 km.

Here's a few photos of (around) the Abbey Beach resort:



A little bit north of the resort was our favourite 'waterhole':



A few shots of the beach side track:



For our small piece of the CTC walk, we met our friends at Canal Rocks. From there we drove in their car to Indijup (near the Indijup Spa retreat) to walk back to Canal Rocks. As you will see when looking at the photos a really very nice track. A very little bit of walking across the beach and then the rest pretty much along the 'high' dunes... Some photos (not all, to see all photos of our weekend: LOOK HERE.)



Does it make sense to say that surfers and surfers are not the same? :-):-) You may need to click on the second photo to zoom in a bit ...



Unknowingly these people paused and posed for my photo:







There are moments that you cannot believe you're actually still on the right track.. especially when looking back:







And this is the last 'lookout' spot just before arriving back at Canal Rocks:



The next day the weather was quite bad (that is it was raining quite a lot. We did drive towards the Eagle Heritage hoping to be able to do some birds of prey shooting, but because of the weather that did not happen. So we droved back - doing a bit of sightseeing from the car - and ended up in Bunkers Beach Café for a very nice coffee and a wet (!) view:

Coral Coast Cruise

We've heard a lot of people talking about their experience doing a cruise on a cruise ship. So, about 6 months ago we did something for the first time of our life, we boarded a cruise ship for an 8 day-s cruise along the WA coast. 'Along the coast' not to be take too literally of course, given those ships don't really stay in sight of the coast :-).

The ship we were on was called the Pacific Jewel. Big enough to have about 2000 passengers (and 700 crew!) on board. The ship was 12 decks high, our cabin (with a balcony:-)) was on the 10th deck.

Here are some photos:









The weather was a bit 'iffie' when we left:





The food was excellent - both at the buffet restaurant as well as at the 'a la carte' restaurant:





Arrival at Geraldton. The ship is too big to be able to get to the jetty's, so all passengers (the ones that wanted to go to land :-)) had to be transported with tenders:







So here are a few shots of Geraldton:

















Well deserved refreshment after the hot walk:





Back to the ship:



Goodbye Geraldton:



Every night when returning to the cabin, some towel-art found its way into our cabin:



This was our most favorite spot to stay in quiet moments. At the end of our deck (10). This deck only allowed for adults:-)



Oh yeah, did I mention the food yet:



How long is a piece of string? (or: how long is cruise ship hallway?)



And, NO 'Land Ahoy' for a while (unless crossing a 'ocean freeway')





Closing in to Broome (next destination). Here the ship will be able to dock at the jetty, but they will always have to be piloted by a pilot who knows the local situation in detail. Also the last turn is done with the help of a local 'tug':





Still waiting (docking is a lengthy procedure:-))





So this time we could actually walk off the ship straight onto land (ok, the jetty):



Impression of Broome:





Now, back to talking about food.. The food aboard the ship was excellent, no complaints at all. In Broome however we found a little café where they served Nasi Goreng. This was the first time since we live in Australia that we tasted Nasi Goreng as we were used to back in the Netherlands at an Indonesian restaurant. This dish alone makes Broome more than deserving of being named the 'Pearl of the North'!!



Some further impressions of Broome



















And then back to the ship, where we found another piece of towelart:







One of the entertainment afternoon (for kids:-)): paper plane competition:



Clearly enjoying ourselves:



Whilst on the ship we enjoyed a couple of entertainment activities (A guitar playing couple doing a Pink Floyd music with laser show; a art-appreciation workshop and an information session about the cooking and kitchen (including a tour) aboard the ship:





























And with that, we leave you to it: