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.
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.
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!!!
Dear Wildflower lovers,
It is Wildflower season in WA! HURRAY! My hostfamily luckily wanted to swap some of my working hours, so I was able to attend the month-long King's Park Festival on Saturday the 13th of September. I got up early (before 8am!) to catch two buses to King's Park where I arrived at 9:30am on a fantastic sunny day. At the top of Fraser Avenue you will be greeted by a flower bed full of wildflowers in bloom.
I love my camera! It can take the most clear close-up pictures, so I went as close as possible to all these lovely and beautiful flowers.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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...
Dear lake lovers,
After our rather disappointing visit to Wyndham we decided to stay overnight at Lake Argyle. After securing a spot at the only caravan park we drove to the Dam lookout for the sunset. We had a really nice view and it was surprisingly beautiful for an artificial lake. Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest dam lake.
Dear lookout lovers,
On Day 20 of our West Coast trip after our day into the Bungle Bungles Charlotte and I got ready to depart the rest stop area at 9am. I drove us 3 hours (270km) to Wyndham in the East Kimberleys.
I headed for the Five River lookout which we have been told by Carol that it is really nice. There you find the whole history of Wyndham on just two signs.
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.
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.
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.
Dear walking lovers,
On our second day in Karijini we drove to Dales Gorge and started the circular walk clockwise. So we walked towards the Circular Pool first along the rim of the gorge.
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.
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.
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.
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:
