Australia - Birds in the wild

Dear loyal readers of my little blog,
During my time in Australia I had the chance and a fairly good camera to take pictures of lots of different birds in Australia. At one point during my Au Pair time in Perth I had enough time and the energy to look up their names on the internet (it was raining a lot, so no point in going out and exploring the country, right?).

I start with the most beautiful birds in my opinion: the parrots!

Here is a Carnaby`s Cockatoo which I encountered in King's Park in Perth. Only when I saw a picture of it in a Avon Valley brochure I recognised it as an endangered black cockatoo.

Malaysia - Langkawi island - Relaxing pur and last organisation

Dear island lovers (again),
In my third week in Malaysia I decided to get to the next island, further North. I got on the 2pm ferry from Penang island to Langkawi island. The clouds were pretty dark and it rained as well during the three-hour-trip but luckily it wasn't too rocky and I didn't get seasick.

Malaysia - Pangkor and Penang islands - Nice beaches and amazing food

Dear island lovers,
After exploring Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and the Cameron Highlands I decided to head towards the West Coast of the Malaysian peninsular as it was supposed to be drier there. And they have beaches :-) Lots of beaches. My first stop was Pangkor island where I arrived after taking two buses, a ferry and then a motorbike ride to my guesthouse. OH YES! Three Malay-Chinese guys who spoke to me on the second bus helped me to get me and my 20 kg suitcase to my guesthouse in Teluk Nipah on two motorbikes. How nice! After checking in and refreshing I went for a first walk along the beach.

Malaysia - Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Cameron Highlands - Dutch, chaotic and mossy

Dear Malaysia lovers,
After my week in Bali and my week in Singapore it was time to move on within Southeast Asia. From Singapore I took the bus across to Malaysia and into Melaka (also known as Malacca). This town which is about 120 km South of Kuala Lumpur is a listed World Heritage City due to its rich history. Mostly because of their Dutch occupation but the Portuguese have been there as well and many buildings have been preserved. I had a good look around. Luckily everything is very close to each other and easily visited within a day.

All the trishaws are as heavily decorated as the ones on this picture

Australia - Compared to Singapore - my impression after a week

Dear Singapore lovers,
Guys, Singapore is like SO freaking different to Australia but than in some ways it isn't. I spent a week there after I finished my six months as an Au Pair. Luckily I was able to stay with my friend Eva whom I met in Adelaide in February.

Let's just get a few facts right about Australia and Singapore to give you an idea of how different they are:

Bali - Great but not as relaxing as intended... I blame Australia!

Dear Bali lovers,
I flew to Bali in Indonesia!!! Who would have thought I would do that when I arrived in Sydney exactly 10 months ago? To be totally honest, I felt a bit like I'm betraying Australia when I headed to the Perth International Airport. But than, it is a typical Aussie get-away right? I planned this to be a totally relaxing, slow-paced cultural holiday to regain some energy for my further travel. Well, that didn't quite go to plan.
After a smooth flight and a long immigration queue I got picked up by the owners of the homestay which I chose in Ubud. I arrived there at 8pm and settled into my room before I went out for dinner. I was a bit overwhelmed by the hot and humid weather and all the noises, smells and looks. Visiting any part of Asia is so different to any Western country or Australia. I know a bit from our family holidays but I haven't been to Asia in over 10 years. (Shocking, I know!)
The next morning I enjoyed a Banana pancake on the terrace of my room. That's how a holiday should be like!!!

Perth - Zoo visit with children

Dear Zoo lovers,
The Perth Zoo is only a few kilometers away from my hostfamily, just a 10 minute car drive. But I never bothered to go there in the five months that I have spent here in Perth. Why? Because it didn't offer me anything special or new that I wanted to see and at 27 AUD entry fee for an adult I wasn't willing to pay that. During the spring school holidays and just 11 days after the birth of Éléonore my hostmother asked me to join and help her with the four kids at the Perth Zoo where she would meet two other French families with their kids to spend the day.

I took the chance to take some close-up pictures of my hostchildren.

Perth - Royal Show is on! Food, craft, rides and lots of animals

Dear Royal Show lovers,
I had to shift some of my other regular jobs around to have this day off to go to the Perth Royal Show! I was seriously excited about it, even more as I would not spent it alone :-)
The Royal Shows around Australia started as agricultural get-togethers of the regional farmers and to compare their best cattle and other animals and farm produce with each other and nominate the best of the numerous categories they have. At some point they got the permission to call it royal and up to this date it is one of the main events of Perth. At 9:30am I made my way through really jam-packed trains to the Claremont showgrounds where I met Twiggy and we got inside. We got a map and a list of the day's activities and events and made our way towards the cookery pavillion.

We had a look at the different stalls and showbags and got the chance to pet a really soft-haired huge horse along the way.

Cannington - Greyhound races with other aupairs

Dear dog racing lovers,
I admit it: I have never been to a dog race before! But Australia is full of firsts for me, it's just I didn't expect this to be one of them. I surely should have seen some dog races in England but somehow it never came to my mind. Together with two other German Au pairs who live nearby I decided fairly spontaneously to have a look at the races on a Wednesday as the entry is free then. On Saturdays you have to pay to get in. I picked the two 18-year-old girls up and we made our way to Cannington, only a 15 minute drive away to the Greyhound racing grounds where we arrived at about 7:30pm.

Litchfield - Wangi Falls, Cascades and Buley Rockhole again

Dear swimming lovers (once again),
On Day 27 of our tour Charlotte and I got ready to visit the Wangi Falls at 9am. We brought all our bathing stuff with us and were ready to jump into the water when we discovered this sign.

Kakadu - Maguk waterholes and Aborigine rock art

Dear swimming and rock art fans,
On Wednesday morning we drove with Katherine, Shaun and Phil at 7:45am towards Maguk, a place in the Southern part of the Kakadu National Park and again only accessible via a dirt road where 4WD should be engaged. We arrived at 8:30am and then took on the hike through some monsoon forest.

Kakadu - River crossing, Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls

Dear 4WD lovers,
Upon getting up really early we were greeted by mosquitos during our breakfast... We got ready to meet Shaun the tourguide, his sister Katherine and her husband Paul at 7am and to drive towards the Twin Falls on a 4WD track. Shaun has approached us the day before to come along with them as they had two free seats in their rented car. Despite the 60km/h limit signs Shaun drove at around 100km/h but still managed to spot this two meter long python next to the road! AHHHH!

Kakadu - Cooinda, Cultural Center and Yellow Waters

Dear National Park lovers,
On Monday morning Charlotte and I got our passes for the Kakadu National Park. While you have to pay a small entrance fee of about 10 AUD per vehicle at nearly every national park in WA, in the Northern Territory there are only two national parks where you have to pay 25 AUD per person: the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Kakadu National Park.

Katherine - Gorge lookout, hot springs and lots of birds

Dear bird lovers,
On Sunday the 13th of July I drove the last 110km to Katherine where we headed for the Visitor Information Center. Luckily we were able to use their FREE Wifi for half an hour and so we connected to the world again! We had no internet for the last ten days. After some grocery shopping anf fueling up we drove to the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park for lunch at 1pm. There we were surrounded by bats just hanging around in the trees...

West Kimberleys - Crocodiles in Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

Dear Kimberley lovers,
After a rather bad first night sleeping in the small Johnny Cash car we got up at 6:15am to be ready at the Derby Busservice Depot at 8am to be picked up for our day tour to the West Kimberleys.

We were quite shocked to see so many older people on the bus as this tour was advertised as being suitable for a moderate fitness level with rock climbing involved.

Derby - Small car, small town, big overnight sleeping problem

Dear small town lovers,
Everything turned out differently than expected!
Charlotte, Bastian and I got to Wickedcamper at their Broome depot shortly after 9am which was probably too early. Our Tankgirl was still on the trailer and the depot looked more like a graveyard of to-their-limits-and-beyond-used vans.

Exmouth - Swimming with Whalesharks!!!

Dear Whaleshark lovers,
On Monday the 30th of June it was time for Charlotte, Bastian and me to go for a swim with these guys:

WHALESHARKS! The biggest fish in the sea and on visit in the Ningaloo Reef every winter.

Exmouth - Visiting Cape Range National Park

Dear beach lovers,
On Sunday Charlotte drove us about 150km to Exmouth where we had to fill up our Tankgirl near the Visitor Information Center where we got lots of information about the area. After a short visit to a small market we set off to the Cape Range National Park. We first stopped at Hunters Beach, apparently good for surfing but this day the waves were not too high.

Coral Bay - Drifting off in the current

Heyho reef lovers,
Everyone knows about the Great Barrier Reef on the East Coast of Australia. But nobody ever told me about a big reef system on the West Coast called Ningaloo. I was very surprised during my research before this tour to find out about it. Surely it is not as big as you could see it from space but everybody here was raving over it.
Anyway, as we drove the last 100km to Coral Bay from our free camping overnight stay we bought some snorkel equipment there. After lunch we headed onto the really nice beach and took some pictures with Charlotte's underwatercamera.

Monkey Mia - Dolphin feeding and drive to Carnarvon

Dear animal lovers,
On Thursday the 26th of June we got up really early to be at Monkey Mia at 8am just in time for the first interaction with the dolphins. People were lining the beach.

And the dolphins got REALLY close! It was so exciting to spot more and more coming in and circling around in front of us.