Darwin - Car return, beer and a night at the airport

Dear last day lovers (do they exist?),
On Day 30 of our West Coast tour Charlotte and I got up early (I HATE getting up early...) again at 7:15am. It was a warm night in the car and I didn't sleep well. We hand-washed our Johnny Cash car in the Noonamah Tourist Park before we went for a search of a car wash where we could use a hover to get the last dust out.

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!

Bungle Bungle - Long drive to Cathedrale Gorge

Dear strange formation lovers,
Well, getting up early is definitely not my cup of tea but if it needs to be than I will get up at 6:30am. Charlotte and I got breakfast and everything ready by 7:45am to walk around Leicester's rest stop area. We were looking for someone who has a 4WD and would possibly have some spare seats available to take us into the Bungle Bungles. After just a few minutes we approached a man who just checked the engine of his car and asked him if they are heading into the Bungle Bungles.

Leicester's - Geiki Gorge and another long driving day

Dear driving lovers (again),
On Wednesday morning after our West Kimberley daytour we had another long day of driving ahead of us and set off at 8am. I drove the 250km to Fitzroy Crossing where we filled up our little car. Then Charlotte took over the steering wheel and got us to Geiki Gorge. We didn't plan this stop, so we were only able to do a short 800 meter loop walk where you don't have a view of the gorge itself. The walk was still nice.

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.

Broome - Batman van, coastline and beer

Dear easy life lovers,
I can tell you: it wasn't an easy life for us driving our "new" Batman van. What? Where is Tankgirl? Well, read the sad story about her here in my last post...
The batmobil had a manual gearbox and not an automtic one. That's not the problem as such, the problem was to get into the gears, especially the third one was difficult. The steering wheel wasn't straight, the brakes didn't seem to be how they should be, it had over 430,000km on its clock and pieces were falling off everywhere.

Sandfire - Tankgirl breaks down...

Dear van lovers,
The title says it already: Tankgirl didn't wanted to complete the journey with us but I give you the full details of the sad story anyway.
It all started very normal on Friday the 4th of July, on Day 13 of our tour. We got ready to depart Port Hedland at 8:30am in the morning as we had a 600km journey in front of us to get to Broome. After a few hours (and a fuel stop at Pardoo Roadhouse) as Bastian drove on the Great Northern Highway we noticed some strange engine noises and Bastian told us that the steering got funny as well.

Karijini - Climbing Mount Bruce

Dear mountain climbing lovers,
After a "nice" full day of driving the day before we set out early in the morning again towards the Dale Campground in Karijini National Park as it is a busy time of year. Then we drove on further towards the Visitor Information Center and have been told that the gravel roads are really rough. As our Tankgirl is not a 4WD (four-wheel-drive) we have been advised to test a bit of the road first. And so we did.

We were afraid about the conditions of the tyres from the very beginning and everything in this van was rattling away as we drove just 200 meters or so on this road.

Tom Price - Driving, driving and driving

Dear driving lovers (do these exist?),
The day after our awesome WHALESHARK swim we got organised again. We put away the tent, bought groceries, fuelled Tankgirl (1st), picked up the CD with the pictures from the swim the day before and then Bastian drove. And he drove and drove until about 280km along the road we stopped at the Nanutarra Roadhouse to fuel up again (2nd) and then another 270km landinwards to Paraburdoo for fuel (3rd) and then it was a very short 80km drive to Tom Price to the Tourist Park Caravan Park where we arrived just in time to make dinner (rice with tuna, chick peas, beans and curry paste). Well, then we settled for a very cold night again. Yepp, that was our tenth day on our West Coast Tour. I took some pictures of the road and changing landscape along the way. But, seriously, there is nothing more to say about this day except that the fuel got immensely more expensive with every fuel stop.

Kalbarri - Nature's Window and the loop walk

Dear walking friends,

At 8am in the morning Laura and Charlotte walked over to the car rental to pick up our car for the day. They arrived at the caravan park with this:

Kalbarri - Memorial, a pink lake and coastal cliffs

Alrighty folks,

On the morning of our second day after a seriously freezing night with just two hours of sleep we at least had a very nice breakfast and then I drove us into the city of Geraldton where we visited the HMAS Sydney memorial.

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...

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.

Swan Valley - Indulgence pur... well, almost

Dear beloved food, wine and beer lovers,
On Sunday I grabbed the Saab in the morning to finally set off to the Swan Valley (actually I already wanted to go on Friday but then I had to draw up a Plan B with the Crown Casino and the City of Perth instead).

After a short stop to the Visitor Information Center in Guildford I set off to the award-winning Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail up West Swan Road.

Southwest - Waiting and drinking game

Greeting to you all,

The next morning due to the sun shining into the tent I got up at 7am (I HATE getting up early!!!) and I was one of the last ones (no surprise to me). We got told that Damian had to take the bus to the workshop half an hour walk away where it needs to stay for a few hours before we could drive off. Damian left the trailer with us and we set down, had breakfast, watched TV, talked, used the internet and waited.

Southwest - York, Wave Rock and broken bus

Moin Moin guys,

On Sunday the 13th of April 2014 my host mother Cécile was so friendly as to drive me into the city of Perth at 6:30am in the morning as there was no public transport possibility for me to get there. She dropped me off at the YHA Perth on Wellington Street where I asked another waiting backpacker if he is waiting for the Esperance Tour and he was! Andre, a German backpacker and I spoke a little bit about the usual stuff (where are you from, how long are you here, if and what did you work, what will the tour be like etc.) while another old guy joined us. At 7am a bus with a trailer approached, the tour guide Damian stuffed our bags into the trailer and we hopped onboard together with three other girls.

Perth - Exploring King's Park

Hello world,
On Saturday afternoon my host family drove in their newly accquired Holden Jackaroo (a 4-wheel-drive 7-seater) to King's Park for a Easter egg hunt for children organised by the French community.

Mandurah - Water, War Memorial and Walking

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

After my visit to Penguin Island in the morning I set off to Mandurah which is another 30 km South of Rockingham, so in total about 80 km South of Perth. This town is famous for its cruises: dolphin / lunch / dinner / twilight / torchlight / wedding / party cruises. Everything is available. As I have already seen dolphins in Adelaide (that was the day when my camera broke down, so you cannot see any pictures in this blog entry, sorry! ) I decided against a dolphin cruise and went around the marina shore for a walk towards the park of Mandurah.