Our long driving journey continues. The destination du jour is Monkey Mia, a dolphin resort in Shark Bay, some 800 kms from Perth. No small task, but I’m so used to travelling long distances that it didn’t seem to even bother me. However, today’s highlight was also visiting the Principality of Hutt River. This is a real country in the middle of nowhere in WA. A man by the name of Leonord seceded from Australia in 1970. He had a farm that covered roughly 20 square kilometers It was a 30 km drive off of the main road, half of which wasn’t on a sealed road. Dave navigated us there shortly before 11, and Princess Shirley (who is in her 70s or 80s) showed us around for about 10 minutes. The Province itself was no more than vast, red, dry farmland that seemed to span for eternity. The buildings that made up the ‘capital’ of Nain consisted of the Government Office, a Chapel, a welcome center, and a souvenir shop. I tried as hard as I could not to laugh the entire time. There is even a wood bust of Prince Leonord as you drive in or out of the main city. High comedy roams here, but the people of Hutt River take it very seriously.
I took over the wheel after Hutt. And it was pretty difficult. Mile after mile of the same desert. It is remarkable that people inhabit even the small towns that we came across during our road trip. We stopped in Billabong that consisted of a gas station and a café. The drive continued, and we made it up to Shell Beach, the next destination. This is one of two beaches in the world that is entirely made up of seashells. The water was incredibly warm, unlike anything I have experienced in a long time. Dave walked out a hundred meters or so and it was the exact same depth the entire way out. On top of that, the three of us were the only people on the beach. Unbelievable really.
Post Shell Beach meant that we were almost at Monkey Mia. Nearing Denham, I noticed that the gas light was on. I panicked a little bit, realizing that if we were to run out of gas things were not going to turn out well. Fortunately, I worried for no reason as we made it to Denham with plenty of gas left (I guess). After a nice $60 fill up, the short drive to Monkey Mia took around 15 minutes, where I am sitting writing this with no cell phone, no Internet, and no worries. Except for the thousands of flies that constantly seem to bother me. I am a fly magnet. Not kidding. Tomorrow we’re driving 800 kms or so back to Perth. Should be a lovely time.
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