Our Millenium-Tour through Western Australia...
1st day:
The shuttle bus of our caretaker picked us up at 4 p.m. and took us to the railway station, where we got into the train to Frankfurt/Main. At the Frankfurt Airport we checked in at the Qantas Counter and had to realize that no seats in window or gangway rows were available anymore. Furthermore it was not possible to check our baggage through to Perth, we had to pick it up in Melbourne and check it in to Perth again at the Domestic Counter. We started at 11:55 p.m., with flight QF6 via Bangkok to Melbourne. The service was excellent and even the seats in the middle rows were tolerably. Even if there was not such a good entertainment program like with Singapore Airlines two years ago, the flight was pleasant and non-boring.
2nd day:
We arrived in Melbourne just in time at 4:55 a.m. and it was rainy and quite cold there. After a while our baggage was rolled off the plane and we could pass the duane. Now we finally stood on australian ground again. We went to the Domestic Counter first, checked in our baggage and strolled around the airport. After this we moved up to the observation deck and watched the planes at the runways. Then we had a look into the shops opening by and by and had a cup of coffee. At 9 a.m. we continued our flight to Perth, took a Yellow Cab there to the Britz Office, where we got our Bushcamper. There were no problems and we even got a sunblind due to the all inclusive package we booked. Now we moved to the city to check in at the Ibis Hotel. We quickly found the hotel but the parking space was very rare there. So we drove another loop to get to the parking garage behind the hotel but we had bad luck: The maximum height was 2,00 meters, but the height of our vehicle was 2,70 meters. So we drove again through the one way roads around the hotel to park the car anywhere behind the hotel, but there were constructions and a mobile crane blocked the passage. The workers were very cooperatively and so we maneuvered our camper into the loading zone behind the hotel and went to the reception then. They were wondering because they did not have any reservation in the computer but when we showed our voucher to them it was no problem to get a free room. But they could not give us a room wit a balcony or seaview because the Ibis Hotel has no rooms with a balcony and due to its central location you can not see the water from any room...
Then we asked where to park our car; they had a few roofed park spaces beside the loading zone and our Bushie exactly fitted into one of them. We entered our room next, had a shower and went into the city for a little sightseeing trip. The hotel is located next to the pedestrian zone, from where we walked to London Court and the Jetty later. There we met a sightseeing tour tram and decided for a cruise which was really worth it. The guide recommended `Northbridge` to us for having dinner there and so we went there in the evening. There are lots of pubs and restaurants in this district and we choosed `The Fishy Affair` where they served excellent seafood. On our way back to the hotel we saw a pretty nice bakery where we wanted to have breakfast next morning.
3rd day:
After we got up we went into the city and bought two cups of coffee and some croissants and muffins in the bakery. We watched out for a bench in the sun to have breakfast because it was quite cold in the shade. Then we went back to the hotel, got our Bushcamper out of the parking space and drove to Fremantle. There we strolled around until 1 a.m. and bought two big seafood baskets for lunch. After this we kept on looking around, buying postcards and souvenirs till we got tired of this. So we watched out for a cafe where we sat down and had a giant cup of ice cream. Meanwhile dusk came and we moved back to Perth. On the way we found Coles market and made an extensive purchase, due to living in our Bushcamper from next week, away from the big cities. After this we drove to Kings Park. At the tram cruise yesterday we stopped there for a few minutes and we really enjoyed the view to the Perth Skyline. Today we wanted to have a look to the "City of lights" in the dark. It was phantastic. Then we drove to Scarborough, visited the esplanade there but did not stay longer because it was already dark. We went to Sizzler for dinner, this steak house chain we already knew from our first Australia holidays. We decided to have a loaded potato with the all you can eat buffet and feasted until they started putting the chairs up and cleaning the room. Full and satisfied we moved back to our hotel. Unfortunately the only space that was big enough for our Bushcamper was already occupied. So we parked in the loading zone and sticked a note with our room number in the window.
4th day:
At 6.30 a.m. the phone rang; our car blocked the construction works. O.K. we had expected this anyway, so Andreas dressed quickly, moved the Bushcamper a few meters and went to bed again. We woke up at 9:30 a.m. ... ooops - we overslept. So we had only a little breakfast in our room, packed up our baggage and checked out then. Before leaving Perth we wanted to visit the CALM-Office to buy a 4-weeks-all-park-pass for Western Australia. Unfortunately this office was located in the opposite direction we wanted to move today. However, we even did it because we wanted to visit a big number of parks so that this pass would be very profitably. Then we left Perth to the north and went to the Swan Valley. This wine growing area is not as big as for example the Barossa Valley and not all wineries are open every day. Nevertheless we tasted a number of delicious wines in three wineries and bought a bottle of red wine too. We moved back to the highway driving a little detour and were lucky to see a couple of kangaroos beside the road. Meanwhile it was noon and we still had to go a long way to the Nambung N.P. So we stopped only for a short time at a roadhouse, where we had steakburger with the lot for lunch, and moved on then. Originally we wanted to drive the gravelroad via Lancelin to Cervantes, but there was not enough time left for this and so we kept on following the highway. After all we matched it to reach the Pinnacles before sunset giving us the chance to watch them in the golden light of the last sunrays. We even saw an emu strutting among this peculiar shapes and on our route to Cervantes a couple of kangaroos were to be seen. Wen we arrived at the Pinnacles Caravan Park we first asked for a powered site (A$ 15,50) ,bought a mosquito candle and talked with the young lady at the reception for a while. Later we prepared our Bushcamper for sleeping the first time in it.
5th day:
We got up at 7 a.m. and had breakfast in our camper due to the chilliness outside. Then we went to the reception and changed some travellers cheques into cash. The young lady asked, where we want to go today and told us that there is a new sealed road between Cervantes and Jurien following the coastline. Later this road meets the Brand Highway so that we did not have to drive back the road from Cervantes to the highway (a detour of about 40 kilometers at all).
But first we drove to the seaside to visit the Stromatolithen before we set out for Geraldton. It was quite windy and so it was not easy to keep on track with our hitop camper. On the way we made a short stop in Port Denison and about at lunchhour we arrived in Geraldton. We read about the best lobsters of the whole westcoast caught here and so we watched out for a seafood restaurant. But the town seemed to go down anyway any restaurants were closed at all and we could not find any seafood except the ordinary fish & chips, only fast food in any variation. The marvellous old cathedral was the only thing worth seeing in Geraldton. So we just visited a shopping mall to accumulate our inventories and moved on then. We only made a short stop for having a coffee and kept on driving the Brand Highway to the Kalbarri turnoff. When we reached the entrance of the Kalbarri N.P. there was not lunch time left until the sunset and so we visited only the Hawks Head Lookout and did a short walk down to the Murchinson River. Then we went to Kalbarri and spent the night at the Red Bluff Caravan Park (A$ 12). We cooked a pot of tortellini because we have not eaten any warm meal today. While sitting beside our Bushcamper having dinner we saw vehemently lightning in the distance which came closer later in the night and it started raining.
6th day:
Today we took on a couple of things, so we got up at 7 a.m. and had breakfast outside the camper this time. After leaving the campground we went to the Coastal Gorges and walked down to Mushroom Gorge and Beach Rock. The Island Rock view was very impressive too, from the lookout above we could see dolphins down in the water. Then we went back to Kalbarri with a short stop at Red Bluff on our way. At lunchtime we visited Rainbow Jungle, a large, marvellous birdpark where we could watch many multicolored parrots. About 1:30 p.m. we left this park. We had a yoghurt and a banana as a short snack, refueled our car and drove to Z-Bend and The Loop. It was already at 4:30 p.m. when we left the Kalbarri N.P. and we still wanted to reach the Shark Bay today. We liked this park so much that we absolutely did not think about the time. We arrived at the Overlander Roadhouse at 7 p.m., where we stopped for dinner. It was already dark since two hours and we had to drive very carefully due to the lots of kangaroos and cattle beside the road. At 9 p.m. we finally reached Monkey Mia. There was nobody at the reception anymore and so we asked for service at the restaurant. After a few minutes somebody came to the reception and were lucky to get the last powered site (A$ 18). The cash box was already closed and so we were told to pay text morning at 8 a.m., the time when the dolphins come to the shore too. We still took a shower and spent some time sitting behind our camper having a bottle of wine before we went to sleep.
7th day:
Exactly at 8 a.m. we were at the reception desk to pay for our site. Then we went to the beach, where a couple of prying tourists and a number of rangers already stood in the shallow water. At about 8:15 a few dolphins came, firstly swimming formations in the distance but coming closer by and by. The rangers told a lot of interesting facts and in the end the dolphins were fed with some fish. At 9 a.m. we started again, stopped at Shell Beach for a short visit and were back at the Overlander Roadhouse at about 11:30. Now we moved on following the Northwest Coastal Highway to the north. A few minutes past 1 p.m. we arrived in Carnavon, where we watched out for a pretty nice restaurant for having lunch and finally found the Old Post Office Café. After lunch we went to a Bank for changing some travellers cheques into cash and then we bought some wine and beer in a bottle shop. Following we wanted to refuel our car but the Shell station was closed, the Ampol was rebuilt at the moment...finally we got fuel at the BP, the last station in town. The attendant there told us that they had heavy damage due to the floods last month and showed us marks of the water below the window ledge. This was also the reason that the other fuel stations were still closed.
We left Carnavon and went to the Blowholes north of the town. We have not been so lucky to see a blowhole in action so far, two years ago in Kiama and at the Great Ocean Road there was not the right weather for this. Even today there was almost no wind, so we did not expect anything spectacular. But here at this rocky beach the giant waves of the Indian Ocean rolled on even without strong winds and broke at the rugged cliffs then. Mighty columns of spray and water raised from the blowhole followed by an angry rumble. It was an overwhelming view indeed. We followed the coastline on a gravelroad then, because we read about the wreck of the freighter `Korean Star` lying here. Firstly we had to pass road constructions, then the road became worse more and more leading away from the coast. There were no roadsigns anymore and the time hurried by. After about 100 kilometers we gave up our quest and turned back. When we reached the sealed highway there was a sign showing the direction to the wreck right where we came from. Obviously we must have missed a turnoff or it was hidden anyway due to the roadworks there... Now we moved on to Coral Bay on the highway. The last hour we had to drive through the dark again, because we spent a lot of time in the quest for the wreck. We stood at the first campground in Coral Bay (A$ 20) just at the entry, left of the Reef Café. We strolled around a few minutes and watched out where to book a snorkeling cruise next morning. Then we had ham & eggs for dinner.
8th day:
The day before we had crossed the tropic of capricorn and so we thought to be in the warm tropics now. But the night was quite chilly. We got up at 6:30 and had breakfast in our camper. At 8:00 we went to the office, payed for our camp site and asked what cruises would be available. We were in doubt if there would be whalesharks out there in the early June but they offered whaleshark-watching-cruises indeed. Even humpback whales, they told us, were to be seen. But the cruise was A$ 280 per person, ok they use a plane for piloting the ship right to the whales ant this must be a unique experience... But more than DM 700 for this trip was more than our limit for this day and we wanted to go snorkeling anyhow today too. So we asked for other choices and they offered a swim-with-the-Manta-Rays-and-snorkeling-cruise for A$ 95 per person to us. We liked this offer better, got our swimsuits and cameras and went to the beach then. There we got a wetsuit each and Anthony, our guide, waded to the ship with us, where Stewart, our skipper, already waited. The cruise was very good, there only were two more pairs with us, one of them coming from Cologne as we got to know later. First we went to a bay where a couple of Manta Rays were and we jumped into the water right behind them. It was really impressive to swim so close behind or beside this big fish gliding smartly through the water. Then they took us to a shallow reef where we could go snorkeling, watching the colorful corals. It was phantastic, the beauty of the Ningaloo Reef is likely to the Great Barrier Reef we visited two years ago. Later they showed a place to us where we had the chance to see turtles in the water and to go snorkeling again. After lunchtime we were back in Coral Bay where we talked for a while with the people from Cologne and hat a shower then. After this we mounted the sunblind to our camper and laid back in the shade for a short time. In the afternoon we strolled through Coral Bay, shopped a little bit and had a Long Black and donuts in a bakery. Later we jumped into the pool for a while, wrote some postcards and read in our travel guides for planning the next days. We cooked pasta for dinner, added a can with mushrooms and garlic and opened the wine from the Swan Valley.