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This issue of DEVGRU will take you deep into Western Australia and experience this magical ancient land. If you want to read the Travelogue Flight Experience section, please move on to push another article in this issue.
The urban civilization of Western Australia
Perth with Fremantle
I've always heard that Perth is the loneliest city in the world, and geographically it's true. This loneliness has also created the cleanliness of Western Australia, and it is a great choice for those who want to escape the smog-prone winters and crowds elsewhere.
As mentioned above, Western Australia has a continuous coastline and excellent beaches. The widespread sand and low population density make beaches not as rare resources as the West Coast of the United States, which is very enviable. Local shops usually close at five o'clock in the afternoon, but the southern hemisphere summer makes Perth's day so long that people can take their families to the beach after work. This is also the time when the temperature turns cool and the sea breeze is at its peak, so enjoy the best time on the beach.
If Perth, the capital of Western Australia, has a slightly more commercial and urban atmosphere, then the neighbouring town of Freemantle can be said to be the street culture centre (plus the food centre) of Western Australia. The streets here are not wide, and the small shops with local characteristics are lined up one after another, which makes people dizzy.
It is also a gathering place for street artists.
Perth sits in the interior of the bay and is a natural haven, while Fremantle faces the ocean, so Fremantle's seafood is abundant and inexpensive, such as the Australian lobster of less than 500 yuan /kg, although it is not large (the water temperature is high), it is delicious, and it is eager to grow a few stomachs.
In addition to lobsters,
There are also scalloped oyster crabs
For seafood lovers, there are basically no regrets here.
Head north to explore ancient lands
Kalbarri National Park
After experiencing perth's urban culture, we embarked on a journey north, ending in Kalbarri National Park via Nambung National Park. Kalbarri is north of Perth and is about six and a half hours away, so be prepared to spend the night in Kalbarri, which is not expensive, about 150 AUD a night.
Soon after coming out of Perth City, it becomes a two-lane drive, and to overtake it, it has to be like the picture below. Of course, the further north you go, the more often you are driving alone, and there is not a single car in the field of vision in front of you.
On one side of the road, the Indian Ocean is within reach.
After completing nearly 500 kilometers of travel, it finally entered the range of Kalbarri National Park. There are two roads inside Kalbarri National Park, one to the west along the Indian Ocean coastline and the other to the interior of the park, essentially along the Murchison River Valley. The coastline we walked when we went, the inland line we walked when we came back. The feeling of the coastline is obvious: the beaches have disappeared and are replaced by towering cliffs and raging tides.
Eroded by the waves and winds, the arch structure is also presented here. It can be said that the approximately 60 km of coastline within the national park is full of scenery, and the Island Rock in the picture above and the Natural Bridge in the picture below are just two of the more famous attractions.
Drive north along the coastline for an hour to reach the town of Kalbarri, surrounded by an open bay and fine sandy beaches. After a day of driving, the feeling of sitting on the beach and emptying is amazing.
Another goal of coming to Kalbarri is to photograph the Milky Way in the southern hemisphere and see different starry skies. That night was quite interesting, it was pitch black and the sea breeze was whistling. When I parked the car and turned off all the lights, the magnificent starry sky slowly revealed, and the entire galaxy could be seen without any help to the naked eye.
The next day, we set off into the interior of Kalbarri, where the red sandstone of the Murchison Valley presents a bizarre landscape under the influence of wind erosion.
The sky was cloudless that day, and after walking in the scorching sun, we finally came to Nature's Window, the most famous wind-eroded landscape inside Kalbarri National Park.
A closer look at the red sandstone sediment layer is a wonderful texture.
Heading south from Kalbarri, there is another famous attraction about two hours' drive from Perth, Nambung National Park, which features wind-eroded limestone columns.
There are also some active sand dunes in the park, where you can climb high and look out.
Nambung National Park is actually a desert, densely packed with stone pillars, stretched out in the sunset, as if you have come to another strange planet.
Rottnest Island
After returning from Kalbarri, he took a break and headed west by boat to Mouse Island. Rottnest Island was first discovered by Dutch explorers in the early seventeenth century, when people arrived on the island and marveled at the cat-sized rats, hence the name Rottnest (Rotte is a mouse in Dutch, nest is a nest).
(The ubiquitous quokka— the "rat" that the colonists encountered early on, was actually a small kangaroo Chinese named the short-tailed dwarf kangaroo.) ）
Most of the short-tailed kangaroos today live on Rottnest Island, and it's interesting that they're not afraid of humans, but on the contrary, they're curious about the arrival of humans, and they'll take the initiative to sniff and even lick you with their tongues.
In addition to the short-tailed dwarf kangaroo, Rottnest Island also has sandy beaches and the sea.
Similar to Nambung National Park, it is mainly limestone, so you can see the erosion of the waves.
The island's wild beaches are also inhabited by seabirds and seals, and they are also safe.
Lazy seals bask in the sun, and occasionally one or two roll over and continue to sleep.
There are many salt lakes in the interior of Rottnest Island, inhabited by pigment-producing microorganisms, which produce pigments that make the lake pink in the sunlight, hence the name "pink lake".
Rottnest Island is not large, and you can circle the island in three hours by bike; there is also a road in the middle of the island that spans north and south, so if you don't go to the west side (Wild Beach), you can circle in less than two and a half hours. The main thing that comes here is the short-tailed dwarf kangaroo, and I only hate that I can't catch one to go home.
Animals of Western Australia
Finally, the animals of Western Australia are devoted to a separate chapter. As the most isolated inhabited continent in the world, Australia has a very unique ecosystem. The most famous is the kangaroo, although it is a herbivore, but the kangaroo has a very strong muscle. In general, kangaroos do not get mad, but they are also very scary.
The kangaroos in Caversham Wildlife Park, the kangaroos that haven't eaten enough early in the morning will actively come up to you and grab your hand when they see food...
The same famous kangaroo is the koala, who sleeps 17-20 hours a day, making people envy life ahhaha.
There are also some other small animals in the zoo.
Dingo, the Australian native dog, looks a bit like the Shiba Inu, but is actually much more ferocious than the average dog, and is an animal at the top of the Australian food chain.
There are also penguins in Australia (although they are the smallest ones).
But the most interesting animal is certainly the Quokka on Rottnest Island. These wallabies are completely wild, but they are not afraid of people, and they can even touch the back and back of their heads, which is very similar to cats; if they are used properly, short-tailed kangaroos will squint their eyes and enjoy, which is really cute.
summary
Remote, lonely and wild, Western Australia is a great place to explore by car. If you have time, you can actually start from Perth and head north through Nambung National Park, Kalbarri National Park, Shark Bay to Exmouth. Another route is to head south to Albany, which has dense woods due to the monsoon and is a different landscape than the barren red land in the north. But either way, this is an ancient and magical land.
The article is reproduced from Feike Tea House, the original author DEVGRU