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 - 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.

Fremantle - With James at Little Creatures

Dear meeting up with friends lovers,
This is my fifth month in Perth and finally James (who I got to know on my Tasmania tour back in February) and I managed to meetup. I totally forgot that he lives here and thanks to Facebook he replied to one of my pictures of the Pinnacles that we should meet up. Due to his holidays in Europe and my West Coast tour and then the birth of the fourth baby of my hostfamily it took us quite a while.
But we managed to find a convenient time for lunch and we decided to go to the Little Creatures brewery in Fremantle.

Perth - With Twiggy in King's Park

Dear park lovers,
One of the best things that happen to me in Australia is meeting great people! And it is even better to meet these great people again! So on the morning of Friday the 8th of August I met Twiggy in the CBD of Perth. I got to know Twiggy on the Southwest Tour that I did back in April this year, shortly before Easter.
Anyway, due to the bus breakdown and the following loss in time which we tried to compensate by getting up early (AHHHH!!!) and doing lots of things in a single day the whole group grow more and more together. Despite the bus breakdown this was probably one of the best tours I have done in Australia because of the awesome people and Twiggy was one of them. After catching up on what happened in the last few months in our lives we decided to go to Kings Park with the fantastic view onto the Perth skyline.

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.

Darwin - Markets and nice dinner at sunset

Dear market lovers,
On Sunday the 20th of July 2014 Charlotte and I got up early to clean out our Johnny Cash car and to give away some of our stuff to other campers as we would give back the car the next day to Wickedcamper. After some good work (you wouldn't believe how much dirt can be in such a tiny car even though we cleaned it out in between as well...) we drove into the city again where we headed for the Nightcliff Village Sunday market. 

Litchfield - Swimming at Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls

Dear swimming lovers (again),
On Thursday morning we made a quick escape from the mosquitos of the Merl campground down the Arnhem Highway.

After 40km we stopped at Malakuta to have breakfast but we didn't do the walk there as we wanted to visit Litchfield National Park. I drove the 250km to Litchfield and stopped first at the Termite Mounds.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shark Bay - Hamelin Pool and photoshooting at Shell Beach

Greetings to all history and photoshooting lovers,
On Wednesday the 25th of June we got up at 7:15am and left the caravan park at 8:40am to be just in time for the pelican feeding. Only problem: no pelican turned up...

Quite disappointed to have gotten up so early to not see any pelicans we settled into the van and Bastian drove three hours straight to the Billabong Roadhouse where we girls got a picture taken.

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...

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.