Geraldton - Driving past pinnacles, Jurien Bay and speeding

FIRST DAY!

Of the self-organised 30-day West Coast Tour. On Sunday morning Charlotte, Laura and I were very relieved when the van started, so at 8:45am we took off towards the city to pick up Bastian at the YHA. Then we headed directly for Cervantes to see the famous pinnacles through some heavy rain. Laura and Bastian haven’t seen them. After a quick sandwich lunch in the car park we decided to drive through the pinnacles instead of walking.

Perth - The day before the amazing West Coast Tour

WHOOP WHOOP!!! 
Today I met my three travelmates to pick up the van from WickedCamper and then we drove to a big Coles to go grocery shopping for our tour. We spent nearly 200 AUD for food!
And guess what happened then in the car park? The battery failed!!! These are Charlotte (in the middle), Laura and me with our sad faces in front of the open bonnet.

And YES!!! This is my home for the next 30 days: the TANKGIRL van with a rooftent on top. Seriously, this is going to be some enormous trip...

West Coast - Tipps to organise a tour with strangers

Cheerio folks,
Do you know how hard it is to organise a tour/trip with people you hardly know? I can tell you it is PRETTY DOWNRIGHT HARD!

It is already hard enough to plan a trip with someone you know and I can tell you that the five weeks with Markus from Sydney to Cairns via Uluru to Melbourne hasn't been a dream in regards to organising it. It was still a lot to coordinate and to discuss and to compare and to be changed.

Swan Valley - Delicious food-tasting for Christine before heading back

Alrighty everyone,
On Monday morning on the 9th of June I took this picture. Why? Because I am allowed to drive these three cars at the moment :-) To the left the shiny new rental car, in the middle the old Saab and in the very back the really cool but fuel consuming Holden (4WD 7-seater).

Anyway, Christine and I navigated the rental car through the morning Perth rush hour back to the rental company and then took the train and bus back to Manning where we arrived at 9am.

Cervantes - Sandboarding, lobsters and the pinnacles at night

Alrighty mates,
On Sunday morning Christine and I got onto a bus and a train into the city center of Perth together with Maria and Erin (I know them from the Southwest tour and we have been surfing and to a Australian Rules Football game together). We picked up a rental car and after all the paperwork took off towards the North at about 9:45am.

Our first stop after an 1.5-hour drive was Lancelin where we hired two sandboards and then got into the sand dunes.

Perth - Speed-sightseeing, wild food and cocktails

Cheerio ladies and gentlemen,
On Saturday morning Christine and I took the bus into the CBD of Perth where we first visited the Bell Tower at the Barrack Street Jetty.

As I have already been on it twice and the last time has only been on Monday (WA Day), so just five days ago where I had to wait 90 minutes to get in for FREE, I decided to wait in the foyer for Christine.

Fremantle - Exploring tunnels with Christine

Hurray everybody!
I got a visitor last Friday! My friend Christine who I met in Melbourne and whom I have been in contact with eversince has taken a flight very early in the morning (poor girl!) to get to Perth, WA for the first time in her life. I picked her up at the airport at 9:30am and we headed straight for Fremantle. We had so much to talk about!!! And actually it was a little bit hard for me to speak completely in German again.
As she will be here for only four days we already planned the visits for each day and I can tell ya: they are jam-packed! I parked the Saab of my host family near the Fremantle Arts Centre and we had a brief look inside.

11.06.14 - 6 years, 6 months and today

Hi there everybody,
Today is Wednesday, the 11th of June 2014. This day has a special meaning for me in regards to Australia in different ways:

1) 6 years ago Markus and I became a couple!

SERIOUSLY??? We are already together for six whole years? And like almost always I am not with him on our anniversairy. I travel the world and am either in the UK, in Bremen or well, in Australia instead of with him. I miss him a lot...

Perth - Celebrating WA Day

Happy WA Day everyone!
On Monday morning I made it by bus to the Bell Tower at 10:05am. So just 5 minutes after it opened. But due to WA Day (Western Australia Day) the entrance is FREE and well, this queue has already formed.

Western Australia Day - 9 interesting facts about this enormous state

Happy Western Australia Day!
Or in short WA Day (before 2012 it was named Foundation Day). It commemorates the founding of the Swan River Colony in 1829.
In preparation to this public holiday here I would like to tell you 9 interesting facts about this really huge state. I found different figures in different sources (print version and internet), so this is only to give you a rough idea.

New Norcia - The monastic town with a great story

Cheerio folks,
On Sunday after an eventful week (it was Adeles 5th birthday, the oldest child of my host family and they had a big party) I finally made it to New Norcia, the only monastic town of Australia. At 8:45am I sat off in the Saab to the 140km journey up the Great Northern Highway in cloudy weather. After one hour and 45 minutes I arrived at 10:30am at the Museum & Art Gallery of New Norcia where you will be greeted by this.

I got a ticket for the 11am daily tour.