1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,440 Western Australia is big. 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:06,920 I mean, it's massive. 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:10,320 It encompasses six deserts 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:12,560 and seven climate zones. 5 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,600 It's one third of the entire landmass of Australia. 6 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,000 It's the size of Western Europe. 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,840 The Little Sandy Desert - not even the Great Sandy Desert - 8 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,560 is bigger than Bulgaria... 9 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,520 ..but the population density is very low. 10 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,360 In London, where I live, 11 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:36,120 it's 5,592 people per square kilometre. 12 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:38,720 Here, in Western Australia, it's one... 13 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,240 ..and in this particular square kilometre, 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,680 that person is me. 15 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,480 Welcome to Bill Bailey's Wild West. 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,600 If you think you know Australia, think again... 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,080 ..because there's an even wilder... 18 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:02,320 Here we go. 19 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:03,720 Whoa! 20 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,480 ..weirder... 21 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:07,600 Even the kookaburras are embarrassed. 22 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:09,600 ..and more wonderful version of 23 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:10,920 the land down under. 24 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:12,560 I don't think there's anywhere 25 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:13,800 like this on Earth. 26 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:15,240 And it's in the west. 27 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,000 There's so much space here. 28 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,400 You could put 13 Britains into West Australia. 29 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:21,760 Let me take you there. 30 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,040 Imagine a land of giants... 31 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:26,160 You look like Bill. 32 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:27,640 Yeah, you look like Luc. 33 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,560 ..of alien landscapes... 34 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,200 I mean, where else in the world can you see 35 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,160 a waterfall in the ocean? 36 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:36,400 Whoa-ho! 37 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,000 ..and a bunch of characters you won't find anywhere else on Earth. 38 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,080 Well, if you're Space Gandalf, I'll be... What'll I be? Space Gimli? 39 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,760 HE PLAYS FAST SYNTH GUITAR LICKS 40 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,280 You play so fine! 41 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:50,800 I know, sounds too good to be true, but it's not. 42 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:52,560 This is the real Western Australia... Oh, yeah. 43 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:53,600 ..right here. Yeah. 44 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:54,720 I come in peace. 45 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,640 Because here it is - the most remarkable part of this 46 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,600 Great Southern Land is the western bit. 47 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:01,680 Who knew? 48 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,520 In our DNA, we want this. 49 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,280 We want to be amongst this. 50 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,520 Western Australia cracks open your soul. 51 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,800 I'm a few hours north of the WA state capital, Perth, 52 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,640 but it feels like I'm on another planet. 53 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:33,960 The verdant south seems light-years away from this alien land - 54 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,480 the Pinnacles. 55 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:38,720 It's quite an eerie 56 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,760 and beautiful sight when you first arrive. 57 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,920 There's all kinds of images spring to mind. 58 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:51,360 The first is of an ancient, fossilised forest, 59 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,760 and the next thing is they look like tombstones. 60 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,600 And they almost look like 61 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,280 they've been placed here in a circle. 62 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,480 There's some kind of intent behind them. 63 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,240 But, of course, the truth is 64 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,920 nobody really knows for sure how they got here. 65 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,320 I mean, there's plenty of theories 66 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,840 that these are actually old tree roots. 67 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,000 The fossilised remains of ancient trees. 68 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,080 And the other theory is that they're plants... 69 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,080 ..and that water flowed into the roots of the plants 70 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,760 and, then, carried with it nutrients. 71 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,000 They dried out, the climate changed, 72 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,480 and they formed these strange stone deposits, 73 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,240 these strange pinnacles. 74 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,120 But there's actually another theory, and that's the one I kind of like, 75 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:45,520 and that is that... 76 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,120 ..this area was sacred, 77 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:52,440 particularly for women. 78 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:55,600 Men were not allowed in this area. 79 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,920 And men who strayed in 80 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,360 to spy on these women were punished by the gods... 81 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:05,080 ..and turned to stone. 82 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,000 So, what we are, in fact, standing in is a...is a desert filled with 83 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,560 the fossilised ghosts of perverts. 84 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,440 You can still hear them saying, 85 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:23,320 "Cor! Look at that! She's gorgeous!" 86 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:26,520 Dirty sods! 87 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:28,080 BLEEP! 88 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:29,480 No-no-no! 89 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,360 "The fossilised ghosts of perverts." 90 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,320 You can't say that. Can you say that? I don't know. 91 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,000 Not a bad name for a band, though. 92 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,680 The Pinnacles are the gatekeepers 93 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,000 for one of the most extraordinary drives on the planet. 94 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:47,040 I'm heading north, 95 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,720 along a coastline that defies imagination. 96 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,960 This part of Western Australia, all the way to Exmouth, 97 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,280 is ancient and exotic, 98 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,000 rich in natural wonders, 99 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,240 with barely a tourist in sight. 100 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,760 It's what the locals call "the big country". 101 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,040 And they live in a big country, so it must be really big. 102 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,400 About ten hours north of the Pinnacles - 103 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,560 so, basically, up the road in WA terms - 104 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,440 is the Ningaloo Coast, 105 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,760 a World Heritage area famed 106 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,680 for its all-star cast of marine life. 107 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,520 We're pulling into Exmouth. 108 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,400 On first impressions, a rather tidy, well-kept place. 109 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,200 Wide boulevards. 110 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:34,560 Tree-lined avenues. 111 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:39,080 Palm trees, which attest to the more tropical latitudes we're entering. 112 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,520 This is the place where we can see the reef, the Ningaloo Reef, 113 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,840 and, hopefully, get in the water. 114 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:48,280 Maybe do a bit of snorkelling. 115 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,920 Maybe even see the thing I've been dreaming about for years. 116 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,480 The whale shark. 117 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,520 And here, on the Ningaloo Reef, is 118 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:00,920 one of the few places that you can do that in the world. 119 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,080 Whale sharks have always fascinated me. 120 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,400 They're the biggest fish in the world. 121 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,680 Their origins date back 240 million years, 122 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,000 and they're unique - 123 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,280 the sole member of the genus Rhincodon. 124 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,520 But, to me, there's a romantic grandeur about them, 125 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,480 as they glide gracefully through the world's oceans. 126 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,400 Gentle giants. The last of their kind. 127 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,920 If you think, maybe, it's a bit foolhardy swimming with a shark, 128 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,600 they pose no threat to humans. 129 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:31,920 They're filter feeders, 130 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:33,840 so they just live on plankton 131 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,040 and small fish - 132 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,280 not bearded comedians. 133 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:40,640 I can't... I don't know what... 134 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:42,400 I'm just so excited! 135 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:43,800 I can't believe it! 136 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,320 Finally getting to do this, after all these years. 137 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,240 A mature whale shark can grow as large as a school bus. 138 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:54,120 In fact, everything's big round here. 139 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:57,760 And I've just noticed a giant prawn. 140 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:00,240 That is magnificent! 141 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:01,520 I don't think it's to scale, 142 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,160 but it's absolutely anatomically correct. 143 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,040 I mean, what kind of town are you if you don't have a giant prawn? 144 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,560 Before I am immersed in the wonderful world of the whale shark, 145 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:20,600 I'm off to meet another, more everyday, Australian icon. 146 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:22,240 I've just got a tip-off 147 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,120 that there's a couple of unsavoury-looking characters 148 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,240 hanging around the campsite, so I'm just going to investigate. 149 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,280 A couple of emus here. 150 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,640 Quite fearsome-looking birds. 151 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,720 They're just wandering around in the street. 152 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,240 Just bumped into them. 153 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:51,920 I'm keeping my distance a little bit, 154 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,840 because they do have quite a fearsome reputation. 155 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,280 There's been occasions when emus have attacked people. 156 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,080 And they go for your eyes, 157 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,200 so I'm just... 158 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:04,640 I'm not taking any chances! 159 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,440 We don't have emus wandering round campsites in Britain. 160 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,960 There was quite a famous battle with these birds 161 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,440 in Western Australia in the 1920s. 162 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,160 It became known as the Emu Wars. 163 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:25,800 What happened was 164 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,480 there was a lot of farmers were trying to grow wheat, 165 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,840 and it was the Depression, and times were hard, 166 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,040 so they didn't want to lose the crop. 167 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,560 And 20,000 emus were migrating through the state, 168 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,200 and, er, they didn't know what to do. 169 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,760 So, what they did, they called in the Australian Army... 170 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:53,000 ..and, er, they tried to get the gunners to come 171 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,200 and, basically, shoot them. 172 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,040 It was straight out of the First World War, 173 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,720 they had these machine guns. 174 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,440 So, anyway, there were 20,000 emus... 175 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:04,720 ..and they started shooting at them, 176 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:06,400 and then the gun would jam. 177 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,240 And then the emus would run away, 178 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,040 and they'd scatter. 179 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,440 And then they would try and shoot them, 180 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,640 and the emus would sort of split up into groups, 181 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:16,440 like they were organised. 182 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:20,840 And, basically, it was a disaster. 183 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,960 There were 20,000 emus, 184 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:25,600 the...the army, 185 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,120 and they only managed to shoot about a thousand of them. 186 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,960 And the guy in charge was this magnificently-named 187 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,120 Major Gwynydd Purves Wynn-Aubrey Meredith, 188 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,280 and he was in charge of the Australian Army trying 189 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,320 to sort of get rid of these emus. 190 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,120 And by the end of it, he was kind of defeated, 191 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,200 and he said, "If we had a military division 192 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,760 "of the bullet-carrying capacity of these emus, 193 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,760 "they could face any army." 194 00:09:57,520 --> 00:09:59,480 It's a kind of mix of everything, isn't it? 195 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,680 It's like dinosaur feet, a straw hut, 196 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,600 there's this snaky neck, a big dagger beak, 197 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,360 a kind of slightly evil-looking demeanour. 198 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,360 Imagine 20,000 of them bearing down on you. 199 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,240 I mean, even with a machine gun, you'd be like... 200 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,040 BILL BREATHES TREMULOUSLY 201 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:23,920 I'm with Major Meredith on that one! 202 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,160 I'm lacking a couple of bits of kit, 203 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:35,600 so I'm just going to have a look here, 204 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,000 see if we can pick some snorkelling gear. 205 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,960 Oh, you see there? Whale shark tours. 206 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:44,400 This might be the thing. 207 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,280 I don't know whether this is the best model 208 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,360 for this equipment, though, is it? 209 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,480 Someone's transfixed, 210 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,680 like some kind of zombie. 211 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,720 I mean, look, that's not the best... 212 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:02,840 "Yeah, I love snorkelling. It's great. 213 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,240 "Really, really loving this snorkel." 214 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:10,840 I could do a better job. I could do a better job than that. 215 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:11,880 Like... 216 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:13,440 Or like... 217 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:14,920 "Wow!" Something like that. 218 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:16,360 Come on! 219 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:17,840 Just work it a bit. 220 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:20,840 Idiot. 221 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,000 Oh, my... Ha! Right. 222 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:32,560 So, let's get into it. 223 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,640 Now, OK, I'm sensing a marine theme here. 224 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:39,920 We've got the water, we've got the Hockney-esque ripples. 225 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,760 We've got the... Oh, look, you see, got the whale shark markings. 226 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,640 It's pretty... There's a lot of... 227 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,320 There's quite a whale-shark-heavy theme going on here. 228 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:49,360 What do we think? 229 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,600 Is this for...? Is this for the male snorkeller? 230 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,840 Yes. Yes. 231 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,360 Is it...? Does this offer a purpose, like, of camouflage or something? 232 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,360 Um... So, they're SPF50, so they'll protect you from the sun. Right. 233 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,640 And they'll protect you from any stingies. Stingies. Oh! 234 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:06,680 But, more importantly, 235 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,520 they'll look...make you look fantastic. They'll look fantastic. 236 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,360 Yeah. They're good for the office, as well. For yoga, for swimming... 237 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,920 Excellent. Multi... Multifunctional. ..functional. Yes. 238 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,920 Absolutely. It's context-based, isn't it, though? 239 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:20,280 Walking around in West London, 240 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,920 I might attract quite a lot of attention. Yes! 241 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:25,360 But here... But here. ..I'm fitting right in. 242 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,480 I'm just getting into me whale-shark-themed leggings 243 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:31,800 and rashie. 244 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,360 I mean, even if I say so myself, I look fantastic. 245 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,360 Are you ready for the reveal? 246 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:38,560 OK. 247 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:47,440 What do you think? 248 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:52,960 I think I could pass for a whale shark. 249 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,360 If somebody was snorkelling and they saw me, 250 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,240 they'd probably reckon they'd seen one. 251 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,560 But they'd have gone, "This one had a beard." 252 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,320 I might never take these off. 253 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:04,800 I don't have any inhibitions. 254 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,440 I feel cleansed of my city ways. 255 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,440 I feel at one with nature. I'm ready to connect. 256 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,520 Oh, I do look like some old bloke in his pyjamas. 257 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:17,800 There's that. 258 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,560 Right, cue the soaring music, 259 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,880 because I'm about to tick something spectacular off my bucket list. 260 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,920 BOLD ORCHESTRAL MUSIC 261 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:46,360 Hello! 262 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,200 Hi! Ahoy there! 263 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:49,600 Hello. Right. 264 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,040 Hello. Thank you. Bill. 265 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:52,280 You're on. Jas. 266 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:53,840 Jas. Hey, nice to meet you. 267 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,200 You, too. Want to come aboard? Yes, please. Jump up. 268 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,240 My guide, Jas, has swum with 269 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,680 and studied Ningaloo's whale sharks for over ten years. 270 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:03,720 This is fantastic! 271 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:05,000 We're sort of matching. 272 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:08,000 It's the attire of the Ningaloo. 273 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,760 It is. I was thinking that I won't wear it, because, you know, 274 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:13,720 we're having a serious conversation... I know. 275 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,320 ..about science. But you are a scientist. I am. 276 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,320 And you're wearing it, so I feel now at home. 277 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:20,400 Exactly. Exactly! 278 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:21,560 Why are they here? 279 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:22,600 Why are they here? 280 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,640 So, the whale sharks come to the Ningaloo mainly to feed. 281 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:26,680 So, we get... 282 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,000 The majority, about 75% of the population, are juvenile males, 283 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,080 and, like the males from most species, 284 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:33,720 they've got a couple of things on the mind - 285 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,520 one of them's food. And they really just come here for the feed. 286 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,800 You're saying there's still so much about them 287 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:40,920 that we don't really know. Yep. 288 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,120 Well, we don't know where they mate, how they mate. 289 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,560 We've never seen them give birth. 290 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,960 We've only seen seven baby whale sharks in the entire world. 291 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:52,440 And I'm talking baby whale sharks 292 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,200 about this big. Oh! Tiny babies! 293 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:59,080 And from that size to about a metre and a half, they're not seen, 294 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,240 so there's a lot of their lifespan we just don't know anything about. 295 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:04,440 How long do they live? 296 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,760 So, between 80 to 130 years is what they think. Wow! 297 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:08,920 Yeah. 298 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:14,920 Jas tells me that whale sharks can dive to almost a thousand metres, 299 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:19,640 and females can have 300 pups, as they're called, at a time. 300 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:21,520 And then there's the spots. 301 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,440 As individual as fingerprints. 302 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,240 So, here's my question about the markings, 303 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,240 because I know that certain creatures, 304 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:32,440 particularly marine creatures as well, 305 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,680 they have quite unique markings 306 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,800 by which you can identify individual animals. Yep. 307 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,400 So, is that the same with whale sharks? 308 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,640 Correct. Right. Yes, so pretty much our attire here, 309 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:43,240 this would be the, ah, 310 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,520 I think it's based off one of the local photographers, 311 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:47,800 an actual photo of an actual whale shark. Oh, right. 312 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,080 But what we do on the left-hand side of... 313 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:51,640 this is my right-hand side, 314 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:53,720 but on the left-hand side of every whale shark, 315 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:55,600 just behind its pectoral fin, 316 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:57,920 the gill kind of area, just behind that. Yeah. 317 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,160 So we'll take a picture of that, send it in to the DVCA, 318 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:02,960 which is our governing body. OK. 319 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,680 And they put that through a little program. 320 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,320 It goes through there, it does all these little algorithms on the spot, 321 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,240 comes out the other end, and says, "No, that's this shark that we saw 322 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,560 "three years ago on Coral Bay" or something. Yeah. 323 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,120 So that's how we kind of ID them with their spot patterning 324 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:16,280 using that program as well. 325 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,480 Spot pattern. Right. OK. Hard with the naked eye. 326 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:19,680 Yes. 327 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,400 In the last 75 years, 328 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,720 whale shark numbers have more than halved, 329 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,640 due in no small part to fishing. 330 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,840 These days, they're officially classed as endangered, 331 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,200 which makes it all the more special to be here 332 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:34,800 and hopefully catch sight of one. 333 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:36,000 It's not that deep, is it? 334 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,200 Oh, the boys are giving me the signal for whale shark. 335 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:39,760 Oh, really? Oh, my God. Over here. OK. 336 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,080 Oh, my goodness, that's great news. 337 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:42,920 All right, we'd better get ready, then, I suppose. 338 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:44,960 Do you wanna get ready? I dunno, what do you reckon? 339 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:46,160 Let's go. Oh. 340 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:47,720 Whale shark. Whale shark. Come on back. 341 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,160 Yeah! Come on! 342 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:03,120 Go, go, go, go. 343 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,000 All right. That's it. Let's go. Go on in. 344 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:06,160 Here we go. Here we go. 345 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,400 Here we go! Wee! 346 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,560 Come on, whale sharks, I've given you a big build-up. 347 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,000 I'm gonna look a right mug if you don't show up. 348 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:31,520 I'm on the Ningaloo coast, 349 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,840 near the town of Exmouth in Western Australia, 350 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,920 for the wildlife experience of a lifetime. 351 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:44,400 And the whale sharks are every bit as spectacular as I'd hoped. 352 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,880 This handsome fella is a juvenile male. 353 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,480 Barely out of his teens, 354 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,760 he's already migrated enough distance to span the entire globe. 355 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,400 To be this close to such an extraordinary animal... 356 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,160 ..is as good as it gets. 357 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:10,520 That was... 358 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:11,560 ..amazing. 359 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:14,560 That was incredible. 360 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,640 Oh...my God, 361 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,080 that was absolutely incredible. 362 00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:29,080 I mean... 363 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:31,800 ..I've been trying to see these whale sharks for 364 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:33,920 as long as I can remember, and... 365 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,200 ..to see them, like, for the first time is, 366 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,400 I've got to say, it's a bit overwhelming. 367 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,440 I'm a bit emotional. 368 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:44,000 I didn't know quite what to do there. 369 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:48,040 I was sort of a bit discombobulated with the experience. 370 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,600 Nearly dropped me camera out of my fins, I was all over the place. 371 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:52,680 It's... 372 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:55,480 ..an amazing moment. 373 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,160 It's like a culmination of years and years of... 374 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:00,840 wanting to swim with them, 375 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,880 but...whatever you know about them, 376 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,520 whatever you've read about them, 377 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,080 nothing prepares you for seeing them right there in 378 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:10,720 the water, in their natural environment. 379 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,480 Absolutely... 380 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:13,880 ..spectacular. 381 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,960 There's a timelessness about this part of Western Australia. 382 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,680 It's almost spiritual. 383 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,400 And the dry land is every bit as inspiring, 384 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,280 complete with its own ancient history. 385 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,920 So I'm up on the Coral Coast, up towards Ningaloo. 386 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,840 I'm going to a place called the Mandu Mandu Gorge. 387 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,840 I'm here to meet one of the traditional owners, 388 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,120 Hazel Walgar of Baiyungu People, 389 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,520 who is a great advocate for this area, 390 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,000 and someone I wanna learn a bit more about this region from. 391 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,080 It's one of things I wanted to do, really, with this trip, 392 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:57,280 is to actually talk to the traditional owners, 393 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,000 hear what they have to say about the land, 394 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:01,080 because I'm sure they have 395 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:03,840 a different perspective on it than I would. 396 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:05,440 You know, they would see things, 397 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,440 know things about it that I couldn't possibly know. 398 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,760 And I think the only way, really, to get a proper insight into 399 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,840 the land is to talk to the traditional owners. 400 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,480 Hello. Hello, Bill. 401 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:25,800 Hazel. How you going? 402 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:27,760 Really well, thanks. Long way from home. 403 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,720 Yes. Long, long way! Long, long way. 404 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,360 It's the first time I've been to this part of Australia. 405 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,920 You like it? I do. 406 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:37,760 This is Ningaloo. Welcome. Thank you. 407 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,720 Beautiful spot. What are you making here? 408 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:41,600 I'm making some bread. Ah! 409 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,240 We call this here Johnny cakes. 410 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,240 Just flour, bit of milk, 411 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,400 makes it nice and creamy. 412 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:50,440 Stick it on the fire you've got going over there? 413 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,120 Stick it on the fire. 414 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,840 Yeah, see, this is something I think I'd be able to knock up. 415 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:57,880 We're not allowed to really eat this. 416 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,960 Doctors always say there's too much sugar in it, 417 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,200 especially for us, with diabetes, you know? 418 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,080 After we go and check our sugar, bloody thing's up high, 419 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,680 thanks to the whole damper. Yeah, I know, that's the thing isn't it, 420 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,840 anything that tastes good, does you harm, doesn't it? 421 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:13,240 That's right. 422 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,520 Cultures as distant as Native American and Innuit 423 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,600 have their own versions of Johnny Cakes. 424 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,160 First Nations old people in Australia made their flour 425 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:27,200 grinding native seeds from native plants like acacia. 426 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,400 What Hazel made today was introduced with sugar, 427 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,160 by the European settlers, 428 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,600 who traded the ingredients as currency. 429 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,040 Oh, look at that. Shall we have some... Butter. 430 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,800 ..butter and jam or something. Yeah? Jam. We got honey. 431 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:41,480 Knock the old sugar right up! 432 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,520 BILL LAUGHS 433 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,360 We're gonna be seeing double! 434 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:47,720 Oh, this is lovely, Hazel. Yeah. 435 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,280 We just don't have country like this. 436 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,360 It's just a totally new experience for me. Hmm. 437 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,280 Hazel's connection to this land sustained her through 438 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,640 one of the darkest chapters in Australian history. 439 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,320 As a child, she was re-homed as part of a government 440 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:09,120 and church-run programme that ran from the early 1900s 441 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,520 until as late as the 1970s. 442 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,640 An estimated 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children 443 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,360 were taken - becoming known as the stolen generations. 444 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:24,720 Been mostly here all my life, 445 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:28,720 you know, before we were taken away 446 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,320 and put in missions and stuff, but this was always home, 447 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:34,680 and that's one thing they never took from us. Yeah. 448 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,000 Our connection back home. 449 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,520 That must have been quite a big moment coming back here then. 450 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:46,120 Yes, it was. Especially coming back home. Yeah. 451 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,000 Back to country and most of all, 452 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,000 our old people that was once here when we were growing up, 453 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:53,840 no longer here. 454 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:58,720 You know, we saw how they had to try and adapt to suburban life. 455 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:03,120 Yeah. And we just saw their heath deteriorate. 456 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,600 We lost a lot of our old people. 457 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,600 But this is where I come Bill, 458 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,520 when I just want to find myself, 459 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,360 and do my healing right here on country. 460 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:16,800 This is a blessed place. 461 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,040 Just sitting around a fire doing this sort of stuff. 462 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,800 Hazel's experiences may have taken her away from this place, 463 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,160 but her traditions and knowledge are as strong as ever. 464 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,680 See these stones here? Yeah. 465 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:36,160 These are ones we old people used for their grinding stone. Oh, right. 466 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:40,560 You can feel the... It's got a bit of... 467 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,480 Mm. 468 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,680 That's one they'd get, 469 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,000 and they'd hold it like that. 470 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:49,720 Yeah. 471 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,760 That's for those making the flour. 472 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,360 Yeah. 473 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:03,840 Lot of our stuff we don't like to take away. 474 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,400 Mm. 475 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,280 We encourage visitors not to take things off country. 476 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,320 Mm. Mm. 477 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:16,160 The tragedy of the Stolen Generations is the broken families 478 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,960 and disintegration of a multi-generational 479 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,480 connection to country. 480 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,000 Thankfully, people like Hazel have come back 481 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,800 to begin these teachings all over again. 482 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,680 This quite spectacular canyon, 483 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,440 this is all part of the Cape Range National Park. 484 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,920 Great deep gorges 485 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:54,520 and narrow spurs of rugged limestone. 486 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,840 Spectacular. 487 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:58,440 Apparently, this is about, 488 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,760 I think it's something like over 50,000 hectares 489 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:07,280 of national park, teeming with wildlife and endemic flora. 490 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,520 It's a haven of nature, 491 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,240 and for bearded travellers. 492 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,120 This is Charles Knife Canyon. 493 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,640 320 metres above sea level, 494 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,960 21km wide, 495 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,080 and ridiculously beautiful. 496 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:28,160 Wow, look at that. 497 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:32,440 It's a weird sensation being amidst such strange emptiness, 498 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,040 but feeling curiously at home. 499 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,760 It's like the crags and cliffs are speaking to me, 500 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,800 probably telling me to watch my step. 501 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:42,200 I am a Capricorn, 502 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,400 so that does mean I'm sure footed, apparently. 503 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,640 I mean, don't want to jinx it. 504 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,240 Or perhaps, more accurately, they tend to land on their feet. 505 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,200 So, I might say that ascribes to me. 506 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,280 They can be headstrong, sometimes stubborn. 507 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,400 And will eat almost anything. 508 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:05,680 Again, all of that applies to me. 509 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,560 With my best foot forward, 510 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,320 I'm stepping out into history itself. 511 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,840 This is an old reef. 512 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,800 Part of the old Ningaloo reef, which is out there. 513 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,880 And everyone comes for the whale sharks 514 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,200 and the snorkelling 515 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,520 and the diving on the reef out there, 516 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,400 just off the coast, 517 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:38,120 but this is the remnant of a huge limestone reef. 518 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,840 You can see it all around in the evidence of fossilised shells 519 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,400 and crustaceans. 520 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,240 This is probably over 60 million years old. 521 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:48,880 But that's the science version. 522 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:53,480 What I'm getting from this is the beautiful sense of space, 523 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,720 of tranquillity, 524 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,800 stillness, 525 00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,640 of the ancientness of the rock. 526 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,560 One of the great things about canyons is that, 527 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,560 you know, you're propelled upwards, 528 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,640 and you see these great valleys all around you. 529 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:13,160 I don't know, just, 530 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,480 they're immensely... 531 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,280 ..sort of awe inspiring places. 532 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,440 Makes you stop, catch your breath. 533 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,840 It's one of those days where you think, 534 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,520 I'm glad to be on this earth, 535 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:31,160 to see this. 536 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,960 As I navigate my way through Western Australia's Big Country, 537 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,960 I feel connected to my fellow intrepid explorers. 538 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:14,920 So, I'm a big fan of maps. 539 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:16,400 Always have been. 540 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,920 When I was a kid, my Dad had a great collection of Ordnance Survey maps 541 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:25,040 and I just loved poring over them and finding every detail. 542 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,840 Every sort of contour in the landscape. 543 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,200 I kind of prefer maps in a way. 544 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,680 Sometimes actually, when we're out on this trip, you know, 545 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,480 there's been no reception, 546 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,280 so you can't even get the map on your phone at all. 547 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,280 You can't rely on them. 548 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,640 So, let's have a look and see what we've got. 549 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,280 All the way up here there's the Pinnacles. 550 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,320 Up past Geraldton. 551 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,640 Then a bit of a long drive up here, 552 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,360 up the Carnarvon, 553 00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:00,800 and now we're right the way up here in Exmouth. 554 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,360 And then eventually up to Port Headland. 555 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,880 And then, the road just goes off the map. 556 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,280 So, I don't know where we go then. 557 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:11,800 BLEEP 558 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,760 Map... 559 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:17,840 Yeah, much easier than the old phone. 560 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,080 A good map will take you to places that reveal the unexpected. 561 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,920 I'm often gob smacked at how people can drive right past 562 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,760 the most glorious of sights, 563 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,000 simply because they didn't have a good map. 564 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,840 Just an hour down the road from Exmouth lies this hidden oasis, 565 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,560 carving its way through an arabesque of limestone cliffs. 566 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,680 It's called Yardie Creek, and my guide is a man called Boxy. 567 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,920 Hey, Bill. How you are? Boxy. Boxy. Good to meet you, mate. 568 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,040 Come aboard. Thanks very much. 569 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,280 Is it fresh water further up, then? 570 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,760 No, no. All salt? Salt right to the end. 571 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,600 Oh. Nearly a kilometre and a bit to the end. 572 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,160 Oh, so it's just a gorge that then just... Yep. 573 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,160 A gorge, or they call it a creek. 574 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:10,680 It just filled up from the ocean, 575 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,880 must be a few faults underneath where the water still comes through, 576 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,520 and it never, ever goes stagnant or horrible. 577 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,560 It's always fresh salt water. Right. 578 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,000 And if you lift your eyes from the crystal waters, 579 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,760 you might spot an iconic Australian species, 580 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,120 but in a place you might not expect. 581 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,280 Like seeing a koala clinging to a garden gnome. 582 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,600 I'll take you to the little wallaby just over here. 583 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,720 There's a couple up here. 584 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,840 There's one sitting straight ahead of us in the sun there. 585 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,200 See him in the edge on the rocks? Oh, yes. 586 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,160 That's little black footed wallaby. Look at him! 587 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:44,800 There's probably another one tucked around the corner here. 588 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,760 This little guy has come out for the sun. 589 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:49,520 He's so cute. 590 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,000 He's called a black footed, or black flanked rock wallaby. 591 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:53,440 This is where they live, 592 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,120 and all they eat is the vegetation around here. 593 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,640 They spend most of their lives in these rock walls. 594 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,040 They just live in these little cracks? Yes, in the cracks. 595 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,120 They can swim, but I've never seen one in the water. 596 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:03,600 They're very, very sure footed. 597 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:05,000 When you have a look at their colour, 598 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,600 when we go further up in the rocks, they're sitting in the red rock now, 599 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,640 but when they're in the other side, in the grey and red rock there... 600 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,600 Yeah. ..they're very well camouflaged. 601 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,480 You can hardly make them out unless you know what you're looking for. 602 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,280 They're funny, aren't they? 603 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,760 They've found this little environment, 604 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,080 and they've just adapted perfectly to it. 605 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,840 Yeah. 606 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,880 It's not just furry creatures here, 607 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,840 there are feathered ones, too. 608 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,680 Living rent free in homes built by their great, great-grandparents. 609 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,360 You can see the osprey in there? Is she in there? 610 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,120 I think she is. Should be in there. Yeah. 611 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,520 These guys return to the same nests every year to breed. 612 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,000 This place is such a sight that I want to get even closer to it. 613 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,840 A paddleboard is quiet, low on the water, 614 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:56,560 and at one with nature. 615 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,120 Yeah, bet you thought I was going to go in there. 616 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,360 The age of this land is just mind-blowing. 617 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,040 I feel like a five-year-old surrounded by giants. 618 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,320 It's just fantastic 619 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,400 to see ospreys on nests that have been there 620 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,560 for hundreds of years. 621 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,840 To see rock wallabies, 622 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,720 perfectly adapted to their environment, 623 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,160 and to see kestrels flying overhead. 624 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,040 But also just spending time in a place like this. 625 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:49,400 Getting out on the water, having a paddle, is just wonderful, 626 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,680 and I can see why people are drawn to this place. 627 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,320 Starting to sort of get under my skin a bit. 628 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,760 In Britain, we think we know "old." 629 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,400 We have the Jurassic coast 630 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,200 with fossils dating back 185 million years. 631 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,360 Pfft! In Western Australia, that's nothing. 632 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:21,280 There's an even more antiquated inhabitant here, 633 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,960 and I'm heading south to Hamelin Bay to meet them. 634 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,200 SINGS TO HIMSELF: # Strum out the lights...# 635 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,400 This area teems with microbial life 636 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:37,360 in a colony that began before the dinosaurs walked the Earth. 637 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,960 Too small to be seen by the naked eye, 638 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,720 these microscopic life forms are all around us. 639 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,400 Dr Therese Morris is an expert in planetary science, 640 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:48,800 which is just as well, 641 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,400 as I need her planet sized brain to fully comprehend this place. 642 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,520 So, this whole area, then, is part of this world heritage. 643 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,360 Absolutely, yeah. Protected site. Yes. 644 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:05,440 The landscape all along this coastal area is part of what's called 645 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,640 a sedimentary reserve, because having a beach made purely of shells 646 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:14,200 that are predominantly all the one type does not occur 647 00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:16,840 in very many places in the entire world. No. 648 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:18,640 It is truly unique. 649 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:28,680 So, where we are, 650 00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:30,600 you can see in front of you, 651 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:32,320 you've got the beach. 652 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,480 And at the end bottom point of that, 653 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,360 you go into this black coloured material. Yeah. 654 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:39,280 And then further beyond that, 655 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,400 we go into the structures that are columns. 656 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,200 So, which bits can we walk on, then? 657 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:52,000 We're going to minimise our impact by just staying on the sand. 658 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,280 OK. It's quite squishy. 659 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:55,720 That's right. Is that good? 660 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:56,960 Well, it's full of life. 661 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,160 There's living microbes all through the sediment. 662 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,880 I feel slightly concerned that I'm leaving footprints on something 663 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:04,960 that's going to be here forever. 664 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,360 We have to be really, really careful here 665 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:09,360 because the sediment here is alive. 666 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,920 It's enriched in microbial material. 667 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,000 Now, if we put our feet onto that, 668 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,120 we will move the guys that are keeping away from the oxygen, 669 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:18,880 into spaces they don't want to be. 670 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,760 We're really interfering with their system. 671 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,320 Yeah, yeah, physically disrupting them by doing that compaction space. 672 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:25,920 OK. 673 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,040 There's one feature that's unique to these parts. 674 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,000 They're living fossils, called stromatolites, 675 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,080 and they're like colossal microbial skyscrapers, 676 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,480 growing at under half a millimetre a year. 677 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,000 These things here. 678 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,280 The stromatolites here, how old are we talking ? 679 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,360 Up to 2,000 years old. Wow. 680 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,240 But what we're looking at are organisms that have been around 681 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:51,640 a lot longer than that. 682 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:53,960 The microbial mats that forms these rocks... 683 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,240 This is the stuff that's... The stuff that's over... 684 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,920 Flowed over the top of this. Yep, growing over the top of it. 685 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,800 That community was one of the first ecosystems 686 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,640 to be on this planet, 687 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:08,640 all the way back to about at least 3.47 billion years ago. 688 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:11,440 Wow. 689 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,360 So, this is what the Earth would have looked like 690 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,280 nearly four billion years ago. 691 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,080 Yeah, that's our understanding of it. 692 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,720 Well, not four billion. Well, nearly. No, not quite. 693 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,120 Three and a half. You've got half a billion years... 694 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,440 Yeah, but come on, what's half a billion? 695 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,960 You know, that's the... THEY LAUGH 696 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:43,800 Morning. 697 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:47,920 This is one of the things I love about Australia - 698 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,400 there's bins everywhere. 699 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,880 I mean, from where I'm standing, 700 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:57,000 I can actually see four bins in line of sight. 701 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,040 Now, this is obviously some old heritage bin, 702 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:06,520 and I thought that might just be kind of cosmetic. 703 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,440 But, no, it's an actual functioning, working bin. 704 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,520 There's one over there, one over there, 705 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:13,680 and one over there. This is amazing. 706 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:15,880 I've just seen another one. 707 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,400 That's six! Six bins! 708 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,320 In 100 metres radius. 709 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,240 That's unprecedented. 710 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:24,840 In London, where I live, 711 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:29,600 there's one bin for every square kilometre. 712 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,360 In Northampton there's 5,592 bins 713 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,960 per square kilometre. 714 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:42,000 In a neat reversal on population density... 715 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,560 BILL LAUGHS 716 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:49,400 Bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, bin! 717 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,200 Surrounded by bins. 718 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,960 This is Northampton, Western Australia, 719 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:00,960 home of the bin! 720 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,440 You'd struggle to find a trace of litter in these parts, 721 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:18,000 but one thing WA is knee deep in, is shipwrecks. 722 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,080 Battered by high winds off the Indian Ocean, 723 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,960 with perilous reefs and a treacherous coastline, 724 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:28,880 WA's so called "shipwreck coast" is a navigator's nightmare. 725 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,600 It's reckoned there's 1,600 wrecks out here, 726 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,320 including Australia's oldest, 727 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,400 each with a tale to tell. 728 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,960 And down the road, off the coast of Geraldton, 729 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,640 lies a legend of maritime misadventure. 730 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,760 In 1629, a huge Dutch vessel, 731 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:53,120 the Batavia, set sail from Holland, 732 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,640 on its way to the city of Batavia, 733 00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:58,320 modern day Jakarta, 734 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,840 laden with riches and gold and lord knows what. 735 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,840 The captain, Jacobsz, was a bit of drunk. 736 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,280 He was a liability, effectively. 737 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,160 Plus, on the long journey from Holland, 738 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:14,520 he'd taken up with one of the fine ladies on board's maid. 739 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,000 So, he was often otherwise engaged. 740 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:22,480 So, one night, as the boat approached the coast of Australia, 741 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,280 disaster struck. 742 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,400 The Batavia wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands, 743 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,920 which are 40 nautical miles just off the coast here in Geraldton. 744 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:35,160 The Portuguese had even warned shipping about this, 745 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,920 by naming the islands up here the Abrolhos Islands. 746 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:44,040 It means, abre vossos olhos - keep your eyes open. 747 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:50,240 Literally, the name of the islands was the warning 748 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,880 and our Captain Jacobsz singularly failed to do that. 749 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,080 He had one job. One job! 750 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,440 Literally, the islands were called, "Look out!" 751 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:04,320 The ship was wrecked on the islands, 752 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:08,440 the survivors struggled onto two little coral reefs, 753 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,360 but that wasn't going to last long. 754 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,000 If you stayed with the wreck, the wreck was foundering, 755 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:15,080 so they had to find water. 756 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:20,800 So, the upper merchant, the VOC man, Francisco Pelsaert, 757 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:25,920 decided to set off to look for water with Captain Jacobsz. 758 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:30,160 And they set off in that little boat - the long boat. 759 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,360 And they headed up the coast, 760 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,280 and they headed here. 761 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:37,320 And all this coast up here. 762 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:38,920 But they didn't find water, 763 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,080 they couldn't find anywhere to put in, 764 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,720 and on a couple of occasions, they saw smoke. 765 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:47,480 And they thought, "Oh, smoke, that's people. That means water." 766 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,080 So, they came on land 767 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,680 and they met with some Indigenous folk. 768 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,480 Probably the first time these people had ever seen 769 00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,520 Europeans or white people. 770 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:01,880 What an amazing meeting that would have been. 771 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:04,520 So, all of this happened in 1629, 772 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,520 almost 200 years before European settlements 773 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:09,520 on the East Coast of Australia. 774 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,520 So it's quite an extraordinary moment in maritime history. 775 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:22,160 There's one final stop on my travels through the Big Country, 776 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,720 and in keeping with WA's technicolour grandeur, 777 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:27,720 it's also the most lurid. 778 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,560 So, this is Hut Lagoon, 779 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:34,440 the famed pink lake, 780 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,480 just outside Northampton. 781 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,000 I've got say, it has got a pinkish hue. 782 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:41,640 Apparently, it has some health benefits. 783 00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:44,240 People bathe in it, people get in it. 784 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,840 I don't know about that. I might want to get on it. 785 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,520 All right, get my shoes and socks off. 786 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,040 OK. 787 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:03,520 So, the reason it's pink, 788 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:07,440 is that in the water there is this algae 789 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,520 which produces carotenoids. 790 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:14,560 It's a naturally produced colourant. 791 00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:16,360 Beta carotene is one of them. 792 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,600 You can find that in food preservative, 793 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,680 in food colouring, 794 00:42:21,720 --> 00:42:25,160 in medicines, even in cosmetics. 795 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,120 And it is really pink. 796 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,080 I mean, it's just bizarre. 797 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,400 Apparently, it changes. 798 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,120 It varies from a sort of deep lilac, 799 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,480 to a lighter mauve colour, to this, what it is today. 800 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,600 This kind of bubble gum pink. 801 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:49,680 When you come to places like this, 802 00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:53,600 you feel a sense of the vastness, the loneliness, 803 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:55,680 and a bit of isolation. 804 00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:59,840 And sometimes you associate that with negative thoughts. 805 00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,400 You know, being on your own, being cut off from people. 806 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,240 But I think, certainly what we've been through in the past few years, 807 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,840 certainly during the lockdown and during the pandemic when we were 808 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:13,280 isolated from others, 809 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,760 it's something that I thought we could draw some positives from. 810 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:22,040 You know, to feel that when you are isolated, 811 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:26,640 you remember that feeling of resilience that we all had, 812 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:31,520 and then use that as a pathway to happiness. 813 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:35,240 Fully inspired, 814 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:39,800 I'm heading out on my board to soak up the sheer...pinkness 815 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,360 of this curious paradise. 816 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:48,960 Oh, shit! 817 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,080 Yeah, well, that was a little bit trickier than I thought. 818 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:55,440 Because it's so shallow, 819 00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:58,600 I couldn't put the fin on the bottom of the paddleboard, 820 00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:00,960 so you get no stability. 821 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,960 So, when you're tracking forward, 822 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,120 you just go left and right, and then the wind suddenly got up, 823 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,720 and I was being buffeted like a leaf. 824 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:11,960 Then my hat blew off! 825 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,720 It was all going wrong, 826 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:15,240 but then, 827 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,480 I had a banana stashed in my pocket. 828 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:23,240 And I realised, I'm eating a banana on a pink lake. 829 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:26,440 I feel like I'm in a Doctor Seuss cartoon. 830 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:37,000 It's hard to truly describe this part of the world. 831 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,600 It's simply too big, too old, too beautiful, 832 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:42,960 to fully take in. 833 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,560 My senses are still reeling from all this wonder, 834 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:51,080 but these experiences are already lodged deep in my memory. 835 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:55,920 And if I've ever had enough of grey London, 836 00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:00,520 I know I can retire to the cleanest country town on the planet. 837 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,840 On the next episode, in the world's loneliest city, 838 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:08,760 I make some new friends... 839 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:10,560 WILD ELECTRIC SOUNDS 840 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:16,680 Get some tasting notes from Bill Bailey. 841 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:18,640 It's got like a big forehead. 842 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:20,560 These are called karri trees. 843 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:22,520 You hear a big creaking sound, run. 844 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:24,800 LOUD THUD Oh! Easy, tiger. 845 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,680 Subtitles by Red Bee Media