Last Days in Exmouth and Goodbye to the Turtles

I have left Exmouth now and returned to Sydney. I really had such an unbelievable experience up there. I did have a fairly busy last week; I tried to pack in lots of fun stuff before I left.

The weekend before I left I met an Australian guy named Andrew, and we went snorkling at Lakeside and Turqoise Bay, and then went for a short walk at Yarddie Creek and saw a mom and baby blackfooted rock wallabies. I think they are pretty rare to see, but they are so cute and see a little tame, this mom and baby let me walk right up to them.

On Sunday our last social was an op shop party (second hand clothing store, for thoes of you who dont yet speak ozzie, I will show you my newly created Australian Canadian dictionary - thanks for all the help on that!). We all had to wear something that we had bought from the local op shop, which was a tiny shed ran by an adorable little grama, and everything cost one dollar. Or less. We all dressed up in our fancy new clothes, and I mean fancy, some girls found prom dresses from about 19 years ago, and managed to look lovely. Rachel and Naiomi, I`m looking at you here. Katie's animal themed bodysuit kicked ass. Mistral and Beth, both looked great of course., I don't know many people who could wear a yellow and orange tube sweater dress and pull it off. Jess found a full on Bundaberg wifebeater and matching tie were classic, and the tights matched so well. And they were not only fashionable, but functional as a coaster. After we all dressed up, we went down to the beach all decked out, and had a barbq, where I ate of course, kangaroo, and also a ton of fish. That was a perfect last soical.











One day we headed down to the nursery, where you can see tons, or sorry, heaps, of reef sharks from the shore. After we left here, we stopped at the side of the road to take some pics of Naiomi scaling a termite hill in her bikini, which turned out to be a fairly erotic picture. Anyway, while she was trying to figure out how to get down, we were wandering around ignoring her cries for help, we found a shark head sitting there. Linda had a moment with it, then we took it back to the potty. Our plan was to hide it in some bushed until it was fully decomposed, then pull the teeth out to make jewlery or something. I don't know how legal that it, but we figured out it was already dead, so it was ok. But unfortunately, when we went back to the bush, it was gone, so we figure that dingos must have come and eaten it. Or thoes gilrs from 406 took it, they were always so jealous of everything we did, like finding rotting animals at the side of the road.

On Monday before we left, we had a reef retreat day. We went down to South Mandu beach, where there are some cabins set up and a dinning area and people pay hundreds of dollars to stay there for the night, but we got to go hang out and go snorkling and get a nice lunch. I spent most of the time in the shade on the beach because I was feeling slightly hungover and couldnt really move or sit up or think or talk. But I couldnt think of a better place to lay around and be hung over.

Another day we went to Bundegi beach and watched the sunset. I took some great photos, but my favorite is this one of Rachel doing the ultimate chin up pose, and has nothing to do with the sunset, except the sun is shinning on her. We ate our last meals at Planet Burger, which was a small caravan that would appear across the street and produce awesome food. We hung out at the beach, and finally got to hear Linda play the violin. After enjoying her on the guitar, banjo, and glokenshpiel for the past month, I was blown away when I heard her play on the instrument she has grown up playing. Thank you Linda, for your music and sing alongs, that made the nights so much funner. You are a legend, a classic, whatever they call wikked people in Australia. I hung out with Jess in the car, the only place you could have a few feet of personal space, thank you Linda and Jess for that. Jessie, I hope that you come visit me in Canada soon, I miss how you would growl at me everytime I would say 'Good Morning Sunshine!', I also miss that my skin has not been burned in over a month now. You are awesome, come enjoy the snow in my country. Thank you Naiomi for the kangaroo steak, I will think of you every time I eat it. This picture of us enjoying it for the last time tugs at my heart strings. Also thanks to Rachel, you saved my sanity (living with so many people in the tiniest hostel room on record for more than four weeks can be challenging, but we made it through!). And although you may not realize that nothing ryhmes with orange, you are still amazing.

All the other girls, it was a pleasure meeting you. Oh, and Pete, although I consider you one of the girls since I got you in that skirt. I thought it would be really hard living in a small town for so long, but when you are always surrounded by a beautiful crowd of turtle vollies, you can make anything fun (even the bimbo bar!). So I said goodbye to all the great people I met, hoping that some of them make it to Canada one day. I said goodbye to the stunning beaches, the flies, the pool, the supermarket, the bakery, the pub, the turtle bus, to passion pop, to our fabulous kitchen with no knives, cutting boards or utensils, to Club 405, the best place to hang out any day of the week, where everybody knows your name, and eveyone wants to hang out, to the Jurabi Turtle Centre, to waking up at 4:45 in the morning (this picture of Rachel passed out after monitoring in the morning pretty much sums that up), the friendly cleaning staff and receptionists at the Potshot (bwhahaha) and finally goodbye to the turtles! I still never got sick of seeing them, as some people predicted I might. Everytime I saw one heaving herself up the beach, or swimming happily in the water, it reminded me how lucky I am to be doing what I am doing. I am so glad that I did it, and in the process got to explore Western Australia, which I think too many people overlook.

Now I am back in Sydney, staying with one of the turtle volunteers, Averil, in Newport. I have been hanging out with the boys, and for my birthday I got to sit out side on a patio in 28 degree weather (which felt cold after Exmouth!). It was the first time that I really felt lonely for home though. I have missed my friends, but it was more wishing they were here, not that I was at home. I can`t believe that my trip is more than half over though, so I wont spend too much time wishing I was home, I know it will come soon enough.

Oh, and just for fun, here are some more random pics of Rachel on the ground.