Moore River, The Pinacles and Wedge Island

A lot of the schools here in Australia go on camps and excursions. Excursions are like field trips basically and camps are literally going camping with a class from school. Its so cool. So last weekend my family and Laras friends from school and their families all went on a camp to Moore River. For those reading this and not knowing anything about Moore River (like I did) I highly suggest searching for it on Google Earth. Basically its a huge Sand bar and on one side is a fresh water river and on the other is the ocean and if you wade through the outskirts of the river you get to all the camp sites and the general store there. As soon as we got to our camp site we set up all the tents in a big circle. Me and Lara shared a tent. After that we all ate and just hung out around the fire. It was great! The next morning it was hot, like 35 degree hot (celsius ofcorse) so we all headed down to the beach. For me the beach was the high point of the weekend, I dont think I've ever swam in the ocean for a longer time. The waves were massive, the kind we only get once a summer in cape cod during hurricane season, freezing and in the pouring rain, so it was beyond amazing to be duckdiving under waves twice your height all day in the warm sun.

 

fresh water river on the left, ocean on the right

 

amazing waves!!!

 On the way home from the camp Dave and Sue decided to take a few detours to show me some more of the amazing places here in Aussi. First stop, The Pinicles. The Pinicles are like the Australian stone hinge. Where there located used to be big green forests but something happend to the forest hundreds of years ago and now all the trees are petrified stone settled on bright orange sand. We drove through all the paths to look at the rocks. It was 40 degrees and way to hot to leave the comfort of the air conditioning. Oh and more Aussi slang for you, air-con= air conditioning. Anyways, the Pinicles were so cool, nothing like I had ever seen before. So Australian!

 

roads through the Pinicles

 

more rocks/trees

 

what used to be a huge green forest

The next stop on our scenic journey was Wedge Island. I'd Google Earth this one too because it's honestly the coolest place I've ever been. Its this amazing beach off the coast of Wedge Island in literally the middle of nowhere. To get to it you need to drive through the fishing villages there. The houses in these small villages are all made by hand by whoever wants to live there in it. Once you navigate your way through the roads you drive onto these big hills of dunes. The hills eventually flatten out and then your there! Its the most amazing place. Crystal clear blue water and bright white sand that goes on for miles. At first I was a little apprehensive about getting in the water because everybody was staring and pointing at these dark patches in the water that looked like seaweed but were moving. At first I thought they were sharks and no way was I going in, but it turns out they were only stingrays and then I was definitely ready to swim. The water was so cool and refreshing on such a hot day, perfect beach weather! 

 

fishing villages

 

beautiful Wedge Island beaches

 

After finishing lunch at the beach we were all ready to go home and to bed after such a long weekend of traveling. But even the ride back home had plenty to see on it. Huge white dunes, heaps of cool plants and trees and miles and miles of straight ahead road.

 

the bush

 

caution: wildlife

watch out for kangaroos