The Cube

Hamelin Bay is four hours south of Perth and situated north of Augusta. It is on the southwest coast of WA between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is famous for the abundance of stingrays that frequent the bay. This was the selected camping area that sis invited me to join - we stayed at the Hamelin Bay Holiday Park campsite. 

There was a kiosk near our tent and many kids hung out there. We asked one of the kids what could we find in the kiosk thinking that it could be more of a hot food kind of kiosk. We were told, "lollies". Haha. We did made it to there during one of the opening hours and yes, there were good selection of snacks but also a decently stocked convenience store. 

A jetty was established to service the timber milling operations in the past. Only a few piles of the original jetty remain on site. 

We saw stingrays again in the morning before we departed but the waves were high and the stingrays were fast. We saw them but not fast enough to get good pictures, and vertical challenged. 

It was raining on/off so was cloudy during sunset timing, but we saw double rainbow though. 

Augusta is about 15 minutes drive away from Hamelin Bay, so we visited Augusta the next day. It is the nearest time to Cape Leeuwin. 

Index page for 16 days in Egypt, Oman and layover in Manila.

Day 6 - Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hapshetsut and Colossi of Memnon

Day 8 - Shali Fortress, Gebel Al-Mawta

Day 9 - Salt lakes, Cleopatra's Pool, Temple of Umm Ubayd, Gabal Dakrur, sunset from the desert

Day 10 - Aman Yden Hot Spring, Shali Fortress for sunset

Day 13 - Spending a day in Nizwa

Day 14 - Day trip to Birkat Al Mouz and Bahla

Day 15 - Around Muttrah

Day 16 - Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Bayt Al Maqham, Omani brunch and around

I find Muscat is a large spread out city. I had a day in Muscat but it started in the evening to the next evening. This round I decided to stay near the Ruwi bus station, and it won't be too far from Mutrah. With the delayed buses and what-not, by the time I checked in to the hotel, it was evening time. I initially planned to go to the Yiti street viewpoint above Ruwi before to going to the Muttrah area. As the sun was about to set, I decided to skip the viewpoint and headed to the Mutrah area. 

Muttrah, also spelled as Mutrah or Matrah is around a beautiful seafront corniche, used to be the city's old commercial centre. Around this area one can visit the popular Muttrah Souq, Muttrah Fort, Fish Market and the Sultan Qaboos Docks. 

I walked the seafront corniche, walked into the Muttrah Souq to get last minute souvenirs. I walked into one of the branches and got a bit lost. It took me a bit to get back to the main street because I wanted to have my dinner at Bait Al Luban which serves traditional Omani cuisine and about 9 minutes walk away. 

When I got to Bait Al Luban, I was a little taken aback because it looked more fancy that I pictured it to be. Anyway, they were fully booked till at least 9 PM. They mentioned that they have another branch about 15 minutes drive away. I asked if they do takeaway service, so I ordered a Makbus Dijaj - spiced rice cooked with fresh vegetables broth and topped with oven roasted chicken (OMR 5.50)

 

The next day I walked to Ruwi bus station and took a bus to the airport for luggage storage. I paid OMR 3 to store my small luggage for 12 hours. Then another bus to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. 

True to its name, it is indeed a grand mosque. The construction of the mosque started in 1995 and the mosque was opened in 2001. The total main area is 933,000 square meters. The main prayer hall can accommodates 6500 worshippers, a smaller female prayer hall can hold 700 worshippers. The courtyards and corriders can accommodate 12,800 worshippers. 

The carpet in the mian hall was knitted by hand by professional craftswomen in Iran, is one of the largest carpets in the world. It is a one-piece carpet and weighs 21 tons. It took 600 craftswomen 4 years to make. The German manufactured chandelier was 14 meters high, 8 tons in weight and consisted of 1122 bulbs.  The Swarovski crystals used were imported from Austria. 

It is free to enter but my daypack was deemed too big and I had to deposit it at the shop at entrance. I paid OMR 2. 

I walked to Dukanah Cafe for brunch. I ordered their breakfast set (OMR 3.70) and a pot of Omani coffee (OMR 1.80). It was all tasty. I was stuffed and rolled out of the door. 

 

Bayt Al Maqham (or Bait Al Maqham) is located amidst the plantation in the quaint suburbs of wilayat of Bawsher. The house was built for an Omani noblewoman, Sayyida Thuraya bint Muhammad bin Azzan Al Busaidi who lived in it in the 18th century. More than just a big house, it was also built for defence.

This is really not a major tourist area. I chose to go because it is near to C39 - Ghala Jabel Heed Hiking trek. I had time to kill but also too much time because I needed to get to the airport a bit early as I wasn't able to check in online. 

I travelled around Muscat by public bus, including to and fro the Muscat Airport. I paid for my bus fares to the driver with cash. The bus fares were either OMR 0.30 or OMR 0.40 except the ones departed from the airport. Buses I took out of the airport cost OMR 1.00. 

My flight out of Muscat Airport was at 8:10 PM, so I had a shower and dinner at one of the airport lounge. 

I stayed 2 nights in Nizwa and spent day one in Nizwa. The next day I did a day trip to Birkat Al Mouz and then Bahla by the public bus before returning to Nizwa. 

I got my bus tickets online the night before. I noticed that I couldn't find the bus information if I checked it too close to departure time, possibly to stop online purchase of ticket. 

Unfortunately for me, this leg of the bus was late by about 50 minutes. I almost gave up waiting and walked back to the old town. There was a metal bench under the bridge in the shade. I don't know what makes me sat on the bench and continued waiting. A kind human stopped to give me a lift but at that time I hadn't waited for a long time so I declined the offer. I was looking down at my mobile phone when the bus was approaching. The drive sounded the horn, I looked up and quickly walked towards the bus stop sign. The bus came but it meant that my time at Birkat Al Mouz was cut short. 

Birkat Al Mouz, or on the Mwasalat website, the stop is written as Barkat Al Mooz. So I wasn't sure that this was the right stop and looked up on Google map to confirm it wasn't too far away to walk. It is one of the most famous villages in ruins in the Sultanate - Harat al Sibani (the Sibani neighbourhood) and Harat al Wadi (the Wadi neighbourhood).

The other reason is to visit Falaj Al Khatmain that is fed by Wadi Al Mu'aidin. It is one of the five Omani aflaj (plural of falaj) listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for recognising it as an outstanding example of an ancient, sustainable water-sharing system. 

When I was there, I saw two men walked towards the right side when facing the mountain. I was behind them and saw that they went into a structure with divided cubicles, possibly to have a shower as they were holding a bath towel. There were also some visitors walked out from the opposite direction from me. 

Bahla is a town 40 km away from Nizwa and is the notable home of one of the oldest fortresses in the country, the 13th century Bahla Fort. Most of the buildings are hundreds years old and are constructed of traditional mud brick. I got off the bus at the Bahla Souq stop is very near the Bahla Fort, entrance fee OMR 4.00

Bahla Fort was built by the local Banu Nebhan tribe that ruled between the mid-12th and 15th centuries. Unlike Nizwa Fort, there were lesser information on Bahla Fort but it was a good walk going through the fort. 

Bus was late again but it did come. One of the shared taxi driver approached me to ask if I want to go on his taxi instead. I wasn't the only person waiting at the bus stop and it didn't feel unsafe where I was so I continued to wait.