We are back in good old Germany already since almost two month....
....my god, time is running.
It's been good to spend time with our families, but time has come for us to move on again. Move on into a different City, maybe even Country and to start all over again!
We've showed you all the exciting bits of our travels, now it's time for the blog to go to sleep....
Alex & Andy
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Melbourne here we are Part 2
Well... what to say? Still in Melbourne. And quite enjoying it. Lots of things need to be organized to relocate our lifes back to the old world.
For all the Aussies: get the bloody fire goin', put the apron on and invite us over for a bbq!
And not to forget: more stuff has to go! We are selling our car including recovery gear and spare parts and the entire camping and travelling setup. Check out our new blog at
www.andyandalexforsale.blogspot.com
Additionally we will have another garage sale together with friends this
Saturday 28.02.2009
103 Mansfield Street
Thornbury
9:00-16:30.
Hopefully see you around.
For all the Aussies: get the bloody fire goin', put the apron on and invite us over for a bbq!
And not to forget: more stuff has to go! We are selling our car including recovery gear and spare parts and the entire camping and travelling setup. Check out our new blog at
www.andyandalexforsale.blogspot.com
Additionally we will have another garage sale together with friends this
Saturday 28.02.2009
103 Mansfield Street
Thornbury
9:00-16:30.
Hopefully see you around.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Melbourne here we are
For those that are wondering where we are and what we are up to, we are back on home ground since Monday night.
We owe you a report(and many photos) about our final weeks traveling from Adelaide along the coast towards Melbourne, which will come once we have unpacked the car...
Fortunate we were personally not affected by the devastating fires around Victoria, which are still raging on some places.
But we have friends that lost everything, lost their animals and lost friends themselves.
It is a very emotional time and a very sad event. Kinglake, where most people lost their lives, was one of my most beloved riding itinerary for the weekend.
Give us a call if you want to catch up!
We owe you a report(and many photos) about our final weeks traveling from Adelaide along the coast towards Melbourne, which will come once we have unpacked the car...
Fortunate we were personally not affected by the devastating fires around Victoria, which are still raging on some places.
But we have friends that lost everything, lost their animals and lost friends themselves.
It is a very emotional time and a very sad event. Kinglake, where most people lost their lives, was one of my most beloved riding itinerary for the weekend.
Give us a call if you want to catch up!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The heat is on!!!
After spending time in Cape Le Grand NP with the most beautiful beaches and unbelievable clear water(yes, you’ve heard it before…), we cut across to Balladonia along Balladonia road. A fairly rough 4WD track, where we –after fixing our 7th flat tire- soon came to rescue two guys which unfortunately had crashed the oilreservoir of their 2WD, going through a pothole(deep hole filled with bull dust, so you can’t see that there is actually a hole).
What where they doing there with such a car anyway??
The good thing was that they rewarded us with unusual good Roadhouse food in Balladonia(but we really deserved it, they would have been stranded out there without us). But a deep cut at one of our tires from the several sharp stones along the track, saw us changing another tire…
Now we were ready to go along the straightest road in the world!
Well, we crossed the Nullarbor plain with only one more flat tire from a fixed tube that had burst.
Some people say it is a boring stretch of road, but the coastline is very spectacular.
What where they doing there with such a car anyway??
The good thing was that they rewarded us with unusual good Roadhouse food in Balladonia(but we really deserved it, they would have been stranded out there without us). But a deep cut at one of our tires from the several sharp stones along the track, saw us changing another tire…
Now we were ready to go along the straightest road in the world!
Well, we crossed the Nullarbor plain with only one more flat tire from a fixed tube that had burst.
Some people say it is a boring stretch of road, but the coastline is very spectacular.
A spontaneous decision saw us heading north, getting out of the usual tourist route with ditching the Eyre Peninsula and driving along ‘Googs track’. We were somehow again looking for the freedom and remoteness of the ‘Outback’ and therefore choose a track that should remind us on our trip through the Simpson dessert.
We passed over around 700 red sand dunes and saw not one person and almost no sign of animal life. A little bit scary.
The area south of the Flinders Ranges is very dry Farmland and can be very hilly.
Two long-distance trails meander through this area and offer an array if side trails to play on – the ‘Heysen trail’ for hiking and the ‘Mawson trail’ for mountainbike riding.
I met Bruce in Melrose, who moved from Melbourne to this rural part of SA and manages the local Bikeshop. With an early start at 6am(due to the heat), he showed me around the bike tracks and showed me that I really hadn’t trained since more than six months.
In a lovely display, the local museum tells the interesting stories about early European immigrants to this area, many of them were Germans.
The area around Adelaide is rich of german history and we were constantly reminded of the german heritage in South Australia, especially in the winemaking! But they forgot how to do good apple cake down here…
We passed over around 700 red sand dunes and saw not one person and almost no sign of animal life. A little bit scary.
The area south of the Flinders Ranges is very dry Farmland and can be very hilly.
Two long-distance trails meander through this area and offer an array if side trails to play on – the ‘Heysen trail’ for hiking and the ‘Mawson trail’ for mountainbike riding.
I met Bruce in Melrose, who moved from Melbourne to this rural part of SA and manages the local Bikeshop. With an early start at 6am(due to the heat), he showed me around the bike tracks and showed me that I really hadn’t trained since more than six months.
In a lovely display, the local museum tells the interesting stories about early European immigrants to this area, many of them were Germans.
The area around Adelaide is rich of german history and we were constantly reminded of the german heritage in South Australia, especially in the winemaking! But they forgot how to do good apple cake down here…
(Andy and Alex in Hahndorf)
Moving on to the Vineyards, indeed – we did a lot of wine tasting lately.
We rode along the 'Riesling trail' in the Clare Valley (it’s a funny feeling riding up and down those hills with wine in your blood and sun burning down).
And of course, we didn't miss out on the best wineries in the world famous Barossa Valley. YUMMY wine!!! I really started loving those fortified wines, the tawnys and the ports.
We rode along the 'Riesling trail' in the Clare Valley (it’s a funny feeling riding up and down those hills with wine in your blood and sun burning down).
And of course, we didn't miss out on the best wineries in the world famous Barossa Valley. YUMMY wine!!! I really started loving those fortified wines, the tawnys and the ports.
We managed to watch the fourth stage of the roadrace ‘Tour Downunder’ with Lance Armstrong being back on his bike(and we even rode up Mengerle Hill near Angaston on our own bikes!). We passed through the magnificent Adelaide Hills with even more hills(and wineries) to come and took our Mountainbikes for another challenging ride up and down and up and down in one of the brilliant Mountainbike parks in 40 plus degree heat.
It got unbearable hot once we’ve entered Adelaide, and South Australia’s' heatwave(46 degrees) really kicked in. So hot that everything in the car went jelly, the steel was too hot to touch and sleeping at night was just exhausting. Therefore we spent day time in Galleries, Museums, Shops and Cafes.
It got unbearable hot once we’ve entered Adelaide, and South Australia’s' heatwave(46 degrees) really kicked in. So hot that everything in the car went jelly, the steel was too hot to touch and sleeping at night was just exhausting. Therefore we spent day time in Galleries, Museums, Shops and Cafes.
(The proof, Adelaide market...48 degrees)
Anything without air-condition becomes to hot to believe it, the heat can make you absolutely mad.
And funny enough we met Gabrielle and Robert again, a lovely and somewhat crazy couple that we keep bumping into since ‘Lorella Springs’ in the Northern Territory.
We had a lovely evening in a pub and listened to their funny stories.
And funny enough we met Gabrielle and Robert again, a lovely and somewhat crazy couple that we keep bumping into since ‘Lorella Springs’ in the Northern Territory.
We had a lovely evening in a pub and listened to their funny stories.
(The Unimog/Unicat from Gabrielle and Robert)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Forest people we are
We took our time exploring the South West with its magnificent tall forests, the picturesque Margaret River wine region and many more beautiful white beaches (and we thought we had seen them all by now).
Margaret River is well known as a gourmet region, home to internationally acclaimed Wines.
We took our mission seriously and tasted as many products and saw as many vineyards as we could - hoping to become wine experts smelling and tasting the grapes of Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Semillon, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet, Merlot… you name it. After two full days, 12 cellar doors, a brewery, a delicious coffee roaster, a distillery, a disappointing chocolate fabric and a fudge fabric, we had finally purchased 12 bottles of wine, one bottle of Champagne, one bottle of butter scotch liqueur and had enough (…well to be honest we were running out of storage space). By the way, the driver (me) only had a tiny little bit of wine [and the voluntary taster (the other me) had to give his best and did a great job tasting each and every bottle – cheers!]. There are some seriously big wine estates out there, sitting in picturesque scenery, which makes you think about France, but not Australia. We are currently working on reducing our stock of wine bottles so that we have space again by the time we get to the Barossa Valley - the other well known wine region in Australia.
Somewhere along the way, a mouse must have sensed all those yummy Christmas treats in our food storage and wanted to get a taste of it, favouring the chocolate coated marzipan. As a result we were forced to stay at a motel in Harvey for one night and to take EVERYTHING out of the car, place mouse-traps (we had no choice) and vacuum clean all the mouse droppings - only to realize that the mouse must have left already. Lucky mouse!
The Stirling Ranges rise almost from see-level out of nowhere, towering above broad valleys.
The area (like so many in Australia) is of botanic significance, many plant species are found nowhere else in the world.
At first we climbed the hard and steep track to the 1052m high ‘Mt. Toolbrunup’ peak, but coming down was the absolute killer. Our legs were all jelly and shaking having to support our own weight with every step down. I’d rather walk up, that’s for sure. And because we enjoyed it so much, we carried on with the much easier route up to the 1073m high ‘Bluff Knoll’, the second highest Mountain in W.A. (the highest one is Mt. Bruce near Karijini NP, which we had climbed of course, too at the time we were there).
I was still walking like a robot two days later, every muscle in my legs stiff and in agony. Andy seemed to be fine; he must have done some secret bike ride- and mountain climbing training somewhere… [having one or two cheap and nasty beers before going to bed is actually the secret].
We had a very quiet New Years Eve party - just the two of us in the Fitzgerald National Park.
Set up just behind the beach under the stars with a bottle of nice Sumerset Hill Margaret River Champagne. We turned up the music and even danced with flashing headlights.
We are in Esperance right now to get some repairs done to our car before crossing the Nullarbor plain - the usual tear and wear after around 19000 km of driving, lots of it off-road on corrugated roads. The bill pushes what is left over of our travel budget to the verge. We might have to consider some fruit picking [or selling our bodies] if we have some other unexpected expenses :-) [like some more wine].
The landscape south and southwest of Perth reminded us a bit of Victoria - lush green bushland, undulating hills and a temperate climate with fresh nights to cool down. Besides many other activities, the region offers a great network of trails for hiking and mountain biking, which we took to our advantage.
We realized that we had left the harsh emptiness of the Outback behind - the long and lonely stretches of endless roads, the soaring heat and the bright red earth - and we already miss it. In contrary, we have returned to civilization, everything seems so easy, we live in comfort, no need to worry about fuel, food and water; our greatest challenges and adventures seem so far away!
In Dunsborough we took our chance to go scuba diving again and went for our first ever wreck dive. The Australian destroyer HMAS Swan was purpose sunk in 1996 and has become a popular artificial reef in 30m deep water. It was an interesting experience and quite challenging not to bump into things with our tanks or accidently touch anything with our fins in the tight corridors of the ship. In addition Andy and I were giving far too much weight and we were busy getting our buoyancy right.
In Dunsborough we took our chance to go scuba diving again and went for our first ever wreck dive. The Australian destroyer HMAS Swan was purpose sunk in 1996 and has become a popular artificial reef in 30m deep water. It was an interesting experience and quite challenging not to bump into things with our tanks or accidently touch anything with our fins in the tight corridors of the ship. In addition Andy and I were giving far too much weight and we were busy getting our buoyancy right.
Margaret River is well known as a gourmet region, home to internationally acclaimed Wines.
We took our mission seriously and tasted as many products and saw as many vineyards as we could - hoping to become wine experts smelling and tasting the grapes of Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Semillon, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet, Merlot… you name it. After two full days, 12 cellar doors, a brewery, a delicious coffee roaster, a distillery, a disappointing chocolate fabric and a fudge fabric, we had finally purchased 12 bottles of wine, one bottle of Champagne, one bottle of butter scotch liqueur and had enough (…well to be honest we were running out of storage space). By the way, the driver (me) only had a tiny little bit of wine [and the voluntary taster (the other me) had to give his best and did a great job tasting each and every bottle – cheers!]. There are some seriously big wine estates out there, sitting in picturesque scenery, which makes you think about France, but not Australia. We are currently working on reducing our stock of wine bottles so that we have space again by the time we get to the Barossa Valley - the other well known wine region in Australia.
Further inland, we were positively surprised how forested the area between Perth and Denmark was; they call it the southern forests and there a plenty of chances to get lost in old-growth forest that can be up to 300 years old.
Between the majestic Jarrah, Marri and Karri forests, we realized that, if we had to choose between ocean and forest, we’d rather go for the trees. We didn’t want to leave the forests anymore and therefore choose to have Christmas in Pemberton near the tall Karri trees (max 75metres). Andy climbed up to the 68m high fire-lookout tree (but only up to the middle), laddered with a spiral metal stair. But this is nothing for the faint-hearted, it is really quiet scary and it wasn’t anything for me either…
Between the majestic Jarrah, Marri and Karri forests, we realized that, if we had to choose between ocean and forest, we’d rather go for the trees. We didn’t want to leave the forests anymore and therefore choose to have Christmas in Pemberton near the tall Karri trees (max 75metres). Andy climbed up to the 68m high fire-lookout tree (but only up to the middle), laddered with a spiral metal stair. But this is nothing for the faint-hearted, it is really quiet scary and it wasn’t anything for me either…
We rode our bikes as often as we could along the forest tracks, riding sections of the 900 km long Bibbulmun walking track (which goes all the way down to Albany) and some parts of the 300+ km Munda Bidi mountain bike trail(which will go down to Albany once its finished). It was a bit frustrating sometimes as I can’t deny that Andy passed me at most of the uphill’s, leaving me back swearing and crawling up behind him. True! But I swished passed him going downhill. It was wonderful to ride our bikes a bit more often and to have some good fun single tracks. It has been some time now!
Somewhere along the way, a mouse must have sensed all those yummy Christmas treats in our food storage and wanted to get a taste of it, favouring the chocolate coated marzipan. As a result we were forced to stay at a motel in Harvey for one night and to take EVERYTHING out of the car, place mouse-traps (we had no choice) and vacuum clean all the mouse droppings - only to realize that the mouse must have left already. Lucky mouse!
Down south the daylight is very bright, the air clear and the sky almost always bright blue. Sunglasses are a must! With one blinking eye on the sky I can’t help but wondering how we are going to survive without any sunlight penetrating the grey sky once we are back in Germany… [well… there is nothing that drugs and alcohol can’t solve].
A well worth detour via the Stirling Ranges took us up to the Mountains (well… the height of an Australian mountain is nothing compared to the height of a European mountain - but better than nothing! [and don’t tell this to an Australian. It’s not that bad]). What a satisfying feeling to climb up a mountain peak, to go up and up and up, to feel the sweat dripping down on the rocks, heavy breathing and than a breath taking view with strong winds at the top.
A well worth detour via the Stirling Ranges took us up to the Mountains (well… the height of an Australian mountain is nothing compared to the height of a European mountain - but better than nothing! [and don’t tell this to an Australian. It’s not that bad]). What a satisfying feeling to climb up a mountain peak, to go up and up and up, to feel the sweat dripping down on the rocks, heavy breathing and than a breath taking view with strong winds at the top.
The Stirling Ranges rise almost from see-level out of nowhere, towering above broad valleys.
The area (like so many in Australia) is of botanic significance, many plant species are found nowhere else in the world.
At first we climbed the hard and steep track to the 1052m high ‘Mt. Toolbrunup’ peak, but coming down was the absolute killer. Our legs were all jelly and shaking having to support our own weight with every step down. I’d rather walk up, that’s for sure. And because we enjoyed it so much, we carried on with the much easier route up to the 1073m high ‘Bluff Knoll’, the second highest Mountain in W.A. (the highest one is Mt. Bruce near Karijini NP, which we had climbed of course, too at the time we were there).
I was still walking like a robot two days later, every muscle in my legs stiff and in agony. Andy seemed to be fine; he must have done some secret bike ride- and mountain climbing training somewhere… [having one or two cheap and nasty beers before going to bed is actually the secret].
We had a very quiet New Years Eve party - just the two of us in the Fitzgerald National Park.
Set up just behind the beach under the stars with a bottle of nice Sumerset Hill Margaret River Champagne. We turned up the music and even danced with flashing headlights.
We are in Esperance right now to get some repairs done to our car before crossing the Nullarbor plain - the usual tear and wear after around 19000 km of driving, lots of it off-road on corrugated roads. The bill pushes what is left over of our travel budget to the verge. We might have to consider some fruit picking [or selling our bodies] if we have some other unexpected expenses :-) [like some more wine].
Esperance has been spoiling us with a pristine coastline where forests meet rocky cliffs and stunning white beaches. Did we mention white sand beaches before??? Endless Fascination! What a life.
We are off today to Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid National Parks before crossing the straightest road in the world on our way to Adelaide. Looking forward to ~ 2500 km of nothingness, as Nullarbor means in badly translated Latin ‘No Tree’.
You will hear from us again once we have made it over to Adelaide.
If you like have a look at the new photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/22614024@N04
We are off today to Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid National Parks before crossing the straightest road in the world on our way to Adelaide. Looking forward to ~ 2500 km of nothingness, as Nullarbor means in badly translated Latin ‘No Tree’.
You will hear from us again once we have made it over to Adelaide.
If you like have a look at the new photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/22614024@N04
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S
We are spending Christmas in Pemberton, the southern forest area in Western Australia.
We made ourselves a nice Christmas present by staying in a beautiful luxurious cottage in the tall Karri forest(http://www.peppermintretreat.com)
Merry Christmas to you all and a happy and healthy new year.
Alex and Andy
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Perth - what a lifestyle!
We indulge in the Perth beach lifestyle since a couple more than a week now, staying at a friends father's place; sleeping in a real bed, having a real kitchen, a bathroom and actually lights that don't sit on our head.
Every(well almost) morning at 6am, we go down to the beach with Nigel(+ 70 years old). And while he jumps into the ocean for a 20 min ocean swim, we go for a beach run and then for a dip in the water. A whole group of elderly befriended people then meets up for a coffee at the life saving club, they do that since 30 years. Nigel is amazingly fit, both physically and mentally - great inspiration!
Christmas baking made possible - Vanillekipferl
Alex prepares homemade Müsli for the rest of the trip
Every(well almost) morning at 6am, we go down to the beach with Nigel(+ 70 years old). And while he jumps into the ocean for a 20 min ocean swim, we go for a beach run and then for a dip in the water. A whole group of elderly befriended people then meets up for a coffee at the life saving club, they do that since 30 years. Nigel is amazingly fit, both physically and mentally - great inspiration!
Andy and Nigel
Christmas baking made possible - Vanillekipferl
Alex prepares homemade Müsli for the rest of the trip
Pinnacles desert
Thousands of limestone pillars scattered in a moon-like landscape.
Yes, I thought the same...
Waiting for the sunset was worth while.
Crayfish dinner at lake Indoon - so yummy!
Green Head
Swimming, they call it interacting; with the friendly sea lions was a truly amazing experience!!!
We stayed in the water for an hour, wiggling around to animate them to play with us.
And they do come up very close and are so curious and playful.
But watch out for the big male ones, especially during mating season!
They do look very suspicious at you and they are so huge!
We were lucky to witness mating on the beach, which doesn't look very pretty though.
The little ones are so cute!
We stayed in the water for an hour, wiggling around to animate them to play with us.
And they do come up very close and are so curious and playful.
But watch out for the big male ones, especially during mating season!
They do look very suspicious at you and they are so huge!
We were lucky to witness mating on the beach, which doesn't look very pretty though.
The little ones are so cute!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
World Heritage
Shark Bay surprised us with its diversity and extraordinary features.
In Monkey Mia we snorkelled to see a sea snake coming out of the high seagrass, sea kayaked to follow the dolphins, sailed to see the dugongs, visited a seminar to learn about the area, walked in the Francois Peron NP to observe marine life passing by; and we even played tennis, which must have been funny to watch(Andy has to work on his first serve)
The Denham Visitor Centre has a fantastic display about World-Heritage-listed Shark Bay; I think we were in there for hours.
Monkey Mia Dolphines - controled dolphine interacting
Stromatolites - ongoing geological process
Francois Peron NP - watching dudongs from the beach, any questions?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Ningaloo Reef
How good is that!!!!!!
We spent some lovely time at the magnificent beaches along the Ningaloo Marine Park within Cape Range National Park. The beautiful blue water never fails to fascinate. But don’t be fooled by the crystal blue water as it is freezing cold!
Unfortunately at this time of the year, the wind blows pretty strong along the West coast and can spoil once experience a bit. Though the sun is strong, the wind is cold and it’s not possible to stay outside after sunset.
In Coral Bay a branch broke of the tree above and landed on our roof rack right on top of my bike. The constant blowing sound in your ears can actually make you a bit mad! Now, that we got rid of the flies and were even hoping for some cooling down…
Equipped with a wetsuit we snorkeled at the amazingly accessible Ningaloo reef (the outer reef lying only 100m offshore from some parts of the beach). There was wonderful marine life to enjoy, fish swarms and the most colorful and beautiful designed fishes. Sometimes a sea turtle head popped up between stacks of amazing formations of mostly hard corals.
It is a beautiful sight to see an ancient creature, like sea turtle ‘flying’ through the water.
Right now it’s nesting time, the time for the females to come to the beach and start laying their eggs at night time. Even so we found their tracks going up into the sand dunes, we never managed to see one at night time; waiting crouched into the sand hoping to be witnesses of that special moment. Apparently another beach further north was a sight of hundreds of turtles coming ashore…damn it!
By crossing ‘Yardie Creek’ at low tide we continued on to Coral Bay via a sandy track further along the coast, where we had all the romantic beaches to ourselves!(Well, almost) We met a group of guys that spend some time fishing for seriously big fish. And guess what - they gave us a beautiful sautéed Red Emperor fish for dinner. Just like that….that’s Australian!
Not much later they needed our help to get pulled out and start up the car, so that we ended up with two bottles of good wine in addition to our fish dinner…It came in quiet handy as we were slowly running out of food having spent quiet some time away from any supermarket.
To our great disappointment, people still don’t treat those pristine places accordingly and burry their rubbish in plastic bags just the sand…very sad! Sea turtles feed on Jelly fishes, and a floating plastic bag looks astonishing familiar to a jelly fish, you can imagine the outcome.
Coral Bay
Who would have known that we would spend ‘Melbourne Cup’ in a pub in the resort town Coral Bay.
To our surprise the pub was packed with dressed up people, horse racing bets were taken and even a crap race took place, a bit controversial because at least one crap lost a few legs unfortunately.
Equipped with a wetsuit we snorkeled at the amazingly accessible Ningaloo reef (the outer reef lying only 100m offshore from some parts of the beach). There was wonderful marine life to enjoy, fish swarms and the most colorful and beautiful designed fishes. Sometimes a sea turtle head popped up between stacks of amazing formations of mostly hard corals.
It is a beautiful sight to see an ancient creature, like sea turtle ‘flying’ through the water.
Right now it’s nesting time, the time for the females to come to the beach and start laying their eggs at night time. Even so we found their tracks going up into the sand dunes, we never managed to see one at night time; waiting crouched into the sand hoping to be witnesses of that special moment. Apparently another beach further north was a sight of hundreds of turtles coming ashore…damn it!
By crossing ‘Yardie Creek’ at low tide we continued on to Coral Bay via a sandy track further along the coast, where we had all the romantic beaches to ourselves!(Well, almost) We met a group of guys that spend some time fishing for seriously big fish. And guess what - they gave us a beautiful sautéed Red Emperor fish for dinner. Just like that….that’s Australian!
Not much later they needed our help to get pulled out and start up the car, so that we ended up with two bottles of good wine in addition to our fish dinner…It came in quiet handy as we were slowly running out of food having spent quiet some time away from any supermarket.
To our great disappointment, people still don’t treat those pristine places accordingly and burry their rubbish in plastic bags just the sand…very sad! Sea turtles feed on Jelly fishes, and a floating plastic bag looks astonishing familiar to a jelly fish, you can imagine the outcome.
Coral Bay
Who would have known that we would spend ‘Melbourne Cup’ in a pub in the resort town Coral Bay.
To our surprise the pub was packed with dressed up people, horse racing bets were taken and even a crap race took place, a bit controversial because at least one crap lost a few legs unfortunately.
About to go for the next dive
We came here to dive and hopefully see the Manta Ray, which lives in this area all year around.
It has been three years since our last scuba dive and we were a bit rusty with all the equipment but it went very well! Diving between stacks and stacks of hard corals makes you realize how fragile and delicate a reef actually is. You should hurry up to experience it while it is still alive; it probably will be dead in two centuries…And yes, we met the Manta Ray! We snorkeled above and behind it when it, while it did its feeding roll – with its mouth wide open it graciously rolled over and over again like in a constant summersault to catch the most krill to feeds on. AMAZING!!!
Happy faces after seeing the Manta Ray
Please have a look at our newly uploaded photos on flickr(click on link top right hand corner)
Cheers, Alex and Andy
Monday, October 27, 2008
Karijini and more
Since our last post, we covered a lot of ground and are now down in Exmouth on our way to the magnificent ‘Ningaloo Reef’/Cape Range Nationalpark, one of our Highlights of the trip.
We hope to see big sea-turtles, Mantas, whales, unfortunately we are too late to see the biggest fish in the world - the whaleshark.
P.S.: As it is always me - Alex - writing the post, I will make it easier for me and report from my perspective. Meaning too, you have to cope with my sometimes funny 'Alex-english'.
Cape Leveque, just North of Broome spoilt us with stunning scenery of aquamarine water and white-sand beaches, which we were looking forward to. We spent a lot of time in the water snorkeling around, the sun was so strong that we had to cover up not to get badly burnt lying in the water and watching the colorful seaworld underneath.
Our Beach Shelter at Cape Leveque
One morning while we were still lying in bed and looking out to the see, we were witnessing three humpback whales, playing around and pirouetting out of the water.
What a very special moment!!!
Picnic at Cape Leveque
Andy must have been naughty again!
At some stage I thought I finally get a bush-freakout, when our camp was invaded by the tiniest ants; they were all over my toilet-bag, inside the fridge, all over our roofrack, cutlery box, bags….
Additionally we were visited by an exceptional curious big spider that night which followed me around and even climbed up Andy’s chair…eeeek! But we still will never kill one; we just catch it and release it near another camper….
It was at 'Middle Lagoon' that we met Jessica and Roland from Cologne, which were on there Honey moon along the Westcoast. We had a lovely evening together; Andy and I hadn’t done so much talking in german since a long time. We arranged to meet again in Broome to catch up for the staircase to the moon(which was unfortunately covered by clouds).
Middle Lagoon
At Brooms’ ‘Willie Creek' Pearl Farm we got an inside into Pearlfarming in order to get those world renown Pearls, after the tour we appreciate saltwater pearls now a bit more.
A$100.000 pearl necless, that Andy wouldn't buy for me
We left the beaches behind to turn inland again, where we gave Australia’s hottest town ‘Marble bar’ a short visit before entering ‘Karijini Nationalpark’. And sure enough we saw some spectacular gorges, probably the best we had seen so far. We really liked those ancient geological formations not at least because we had to climb down and scramble along the gorges, swim through water holes to find the hidden track in ‘Indiana Jones’ style.
After what seemed to be a long time in flat country, we even found a mountain to climb up - Mt. Bruce(Punurrunha) at 1235m. Great exercise and great view.
By now we are used to the fact that at least one very active spider (we guess it is the Wolfspider) visits our camp every night after sunset. We might become friends after all!
Karijini NP
On our way to Millstream-Chillchester Nationalpark, we stopped in Tom Price to refill our empty food and fuel storage, have a shower(you wouldn’t believe how dirty our clothes look sometimes….) and drive and ride up ‘Mt. Nameless’. Where I have to ask the question, how can you honestly name something ‘Nameless’? It is paradox; first of all - by the time you call it nameless, you have already given it a name and could have used that time to think about are real name; secondly it already had a name! The Aborigines that had been to the place long time before white Europeans invaded the country, called it ‘Jarndumuha’. It is another great example of the disrespect during the time of early european settlement in our point of view!
Tom Price is yet another mining town, that was established in 1962 and has developed into a leafy green neighborhood with manicured lawns all situated in the most unforgiving interior.
We follow stories about the early European settlers (between 100-150 years ago) with astonishment, it can not be imagined by us today what they had to go through in this harsh and dry country without having any of those modern comforts we are used today.
And again it wouldn’t have been possible without the bush skills of Aboriginal people which didn’t get anything or only little in reverse for as long as the middle of this century!!! We have seen a great deal of old and modern Australian history by now and we have the greatest respect towards the oldest culture in the world, the first Australian inhabitants – the Aboriginals.
After three months it looks like we have developed a travelling routine (in a positive way), we are used to have far less comfort, not having regular showers, turning the underwear inside out and to live outdoors no matter what weather, fighting of flies all the time, getting bitten by mosquitoes, hit by huge bugs that can't navigate and fishing ants out of our food.
Its funny but it looks like we can relax now, we are so relaxed that we are even missing work. We are hooked on playing chess (which I just recently learnt), we can’t stop reading books(finally I take the time to read and read and read) and listening to Harry Potter and other Audio books during the long drive. Apart from that we are very active, go hiking, running, a little bit of riding (not enough though…), swimming and do some core exercise to hold our muscles together for the photos. We talk a lot of our familys and friends here and overseas and what it would be like to leave our Australian friends and life behind. On that note: We miss you all very much!
And last but not least and most importantly, we still like each other very much!
On our way back to the coast, we spent two very nice days at a tranquil water hole at Millstream-Chichester Nationalpark. Our camp was in a lush oasis in the midst of arid, spinifex-covered plateaus. Until a herd of German grey haired tourists arrived, stripped of their clothes to jump naked into the water. We were stunned to see them acting as if they would be alone…We felt a bit embarrassed for our fellow country people.
You have to wait for an update on photos, it takes soooo long to upload them on flickr.com, that I better resize them first.
Cheers, Alex
We hope to see big sea-turtles, Mantas, whales, unfortunately we are too late to see the biggest fish in the world - the whaleshark.
P.S.: As it is always me - Alex - writing the post, I will make it easier for me and report from my perspective. Meaning too, you have to cope with my sometimes funny 'Alex-english'.
Cape Leveque, just North of Broome spoilt us with stunning scenery of aquamarine water and white-sand beaches, which we were looking forward to. We spent a lot of time in the water snorkeling around, the sun was so strong that we had to cover up not to get badly burnt lying in the water and watching the colorful seaworld underneath.
Our Beach Shelter at Cape Leveque
One morning while we were still lying in bed and looking out to the see, we were witnessing three humpback whales, playing around and pirouetting out of the water.
What a very special moment!!!
Picnic at Cape Leveque
Andy must have been naughty again!
At some stage I thought I finally get a bush-freakout, when our camp was invaded by the tiniest ants; they were all over my toilet-bag, inside the fridge, all over our roofrack, cutlery box, bags….
Additionally we were visited by an exceptional curious big spider that night which followed me around and even climbed up Andy’s chair…eeeek! But we still will never kill one; we just catch it and release it near another camper….
It was at 'Middle Lagoon' that we met Jessica and Roland from Cologne, which were on there Honey moon along the Westcoast. We had a lovely evening together; Andy and I hadn’t done so much talking in german since a long time. We arranged to meet again in Broome to catch up for the staircase to the moon(which was unfortunately covered by clouds).
Middle Lagoon
At Brooms’ ‘Willie Creek' Pearl Farm we got an inside into Pearlfarming in order to get those world renown Pearls, after the tour we appreciate saltwater pearls now a bit more.
A$100.000 pearl necless, that Andy wouldn't buy for me
We left the beaches behind to turn inland again, where we gave Australia’s hottest town ‘Marble bar’ a short visit before entering ‘Karijini Nationalpark’. And sure enough we saw some spectacular gorges, probably the best we had seen so far. We really liked those ancient geological formations not at least because we had to climb down and scramble along the gorges, swim through water holes to find the hidden track in ‘Indiana Jones’ style.
After what seemed to be a long time in flat country, we even found a mountain to climb up - Mt. Bruce(Punurrunha) at 1235m. Great exercise and great view.
By now we are used to the fact that at least one very active spider (we guess it is the Wolfspider) visits our camp every night after sunset. We might become friends after all!
Karijini NP
On our way to Millstream-Chillchester Nationalpark, we stopped in Tom Price to refill our empty food and fuel storage, have a shower(you wouldn’t believe how dirty our clothes look sometimes….) and drive and ride up ‘Mt. Nameless’. Where I have to ask the question, how can you honestly name something ‘Nameless’? It is paradox; first of all - by the time you call it nameless, you have already given it a name and could have used that time to think about are real name; secondly it already had a name! The Aborigines that had been to the place long time before white Europeans invaded the country, called it ‘Jarndumuha’. It is another great example of the disrespect during the time of early european settlement in our point of view!
Tom Price is yet another mining town, that was established in 1962 and has developed into a leafy green neighborhood with manicured lawns all situated in the most unforgiving interior.
We follow stories about the early European settlers (between 100-150 years ago) with astonishment, it can not be imagined by us today what they had to go through in this harsh and dry country without having any of those modern comforts we are used today.
And again it wouldn’t have been possible without the bush skills of Aboriginal people which didn’t get anything or only little in reverse for as long as the middle of this century!!! We have seen a great deal of old and modern Australian history by now and we have the greatest respect towards the oldest culture in the world, the first Australian inhabitants – the Aboriginals.
After three months it looks like we have developed a travelling routine (in a positive way), we are used to have far less comfort, not having regular showers, turning the underwear inside out and to live outdoors no matter what weather, fighting of flies all the time, getting bitten by mosquitoes, hit by huge bugs that can't navigate and fishing ants out of our food.
Its funny but it looks like we can relax now, we are so relaxed that we are even missing work. We are hooked on playing chess (which I just recently learnt), we can’t stop reading books(finally I take the time to read and read and read) and listening to Harry Potter and other Audio books during the long drive. Apart from that we are very active, go hiking, running, a little bit of riding (not enough though…), swimming and do some core exercise to hold our muscles together for the photos. We talk a lot of our familys and friends here and overseas and what it would be like to leave our Australian friends and life behind. On that note: We miss you all very much!
And last but not least and most importantly, we still like each other very much!
On our way back to the coast, we spent two very nice days at a tranquil water hole at Millstream-Chichester Nationalpark. Our camp was in a lush oasis in the midst of arid, spinifex-covered plateaus. Until a herd of German grey haired tourists arrived, stripped of their clothes to jump naked into the water. We were stunned to see them acting as if they would be alone…We felt a bit embarrassed for our fellow country people.
You have to wait for an update on photos, it takes soooo long to upload them on flickr.com, that I better resize them first.
Cheers, Alex
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Broome, Cable Beach
Here we are, this is what we need now!
The beach is only a stone throw away from the Caravan park and we’d like to hang out at the beach, to read and jump into the waves!
.....but not before we've spent 1½ days among our friends in the Industrial areas, the mechanics, to get at least one ‘new’ second hand tyre, our rear indicator light fixed, our second battery replaced and this and that… business as usual which comes with a lot of waiting in offices with pin up girl calenders.
We call our next destinaton a beach holiday, that could make you a bit jealous. The Dampier Peninsula(Cape Leveque) just north of Broome is a transition zone between desert and tropics with white-sand beaches and azure-blue waters!!!! Snorkeling......ahhhh
Note: New photos uploaded on flickr.com, please click at link on top in the right hand corner.
The beach is only a stone throw away from the Caravan park and we’d like to hang out at the beach, to read and jump into the waves!
.....but not before we've spent 1½ days among our friends in the Industrial areas, the mechanics, to get at least one ‘new’ second hand tyre, our rear indicator light fixed, our second battery replaced and this and that… business as usual which comes with a lot of waiting in offices with pin up girl calenders.
We call our next destinaton a beach holiday, that could make you a bit jealous. The Dampier Peninsula(Cape Leveque) just north of Broome is a transition zone between desert and tropics with white-sand beaches and azure-blue waters!!!! Snorkeling......ahhhh
Note: New photos uploaded on flickr.com, please click at link on top in the right hand corner.
The Kimberley region
The Kimberley was supposed to be the highlight of the trip!
Driving through the very heart of the region along the unsealed Gibb River Road and up North into the most isolated tip, we were looking forward to explore the far North West corner of Australia, which is much bigger than the UK. A spectacular beautiful stretch of the world with a torn and twisted coastline and rugged sandstone ranges; rich in Aboriginal culture and European history. Indonesia was now less than 500km away….
Famous 'Bell Gorge'
But you could tell that by now we were getting a bit tired of the Savannah Woodland and looking at Gorges, it sounds a bit arrogant but that’s the case. This area is magnificent, it’s beautiful, but we were ready to see something else and to spend some time somewhere without sightseeing and moving on every day, fixing flat tyres, hiding from march flies,...- just hanging out.
Back to the Gibb River Road - it can be rough and some parts shake the filling out of your teeth, to our surprise it was quiet busy and there are several cattle stations which have opened their doors to tourism in a big way.
Corrugations....
We were surprised to find top end accommodation and dining in such a remote part. Out of curiosity we camped at popular ‘El Questro Station’ and a little further down the road at Home Valley Station. Coming to this part of the country, strangely water didn’t seem to be an issue any more, sprinklers go day in day out and the last time I have seen lawn as green as here, was in Germany after rain….
The ‘El Questro Wilderness park’ had some nice walks on offer and the ‘El Questro Gorge’ walk was outstanding beautiful(and challenging), with quiet some climbing over big boulders and the most crystal clear water in an unusual rainforest setting!
'Dusty Bar' at Home Valley Station
After flat tyre No. 4(note we are almost only driving on our spare tyres by now) hundreds of kilometres of heavily corrugated road, we abundant the plan to go up further North to see the Mitchell Falls.
Via Derby -where we had the worst breakfast ever- we made our way to Broome…off to the beach at least!!!
We are missing Melbourne's fantastic coffee- and breakfast culture.
Driving through the very heart of the region along the unsealed Gibb River Road and up North into the most isolated tip, we were looking forward to explore the far North West corner of Australia, which is much bigger than the UK. A spectacular beautiful stretch of the world with a torn and twisted coastline and rugged sandstone ranges; rich in Aboriginal culture and European history. Indonesia was now less than 500km away….
Famous 'Bell Gorge'
But you could tell that by now we were getting a bit tired of the Savannah Woodland and looking at Gorges, it sounds a bit arrogant but that’s the case. This area is magnificent, it’s beautiful, but we were ready to see something else and to spend some time somewhere without sightseeing and moving on every day, fixing flat tyres, hiding from march flies,...- just hanging out.
Back to the Gibb River Road - it can be rough and some parts shake the filling out of your teeth, to our surprise it was quiet busy and there are several cattle stations which have opened their doors to tourism in a big way.
Corrugations....
We were surprised to find top end accommodation and dining in such a remote part. Out of curiosity we camped at popular ‘El Questro Station’ and a little further down the road at Home Valley Station. Coming to this part of the country, strangely water didn’t seem to be an issue any more, sprinklers go day in day out and the last time I have seen lawn as green as here, was in Germany after rain….
The ‘El Questro Wilderness park’ had some nice walks on offer and the ‘El Questro Gorge’ walk was outstanding beautiful(and challenging), with quiet some climbing over big boulders and the most crystal clear water in an unusual rainforest setting!
'Dusty Bar' at Home Valley Station
After flat tyre No. 4(note we are almost only driving on our spare tyres by now) hundreds of kilometres of heavily corrugated road, we abundant the plan to go up further North to see the Mitchell Falls.
Via Derby -where we had the worst breakfast ever- we made our way to Broome…off to the beach at least!!!
We are missing Melbourne's fantastic coffee- and breakfast culture.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Two steps forward and one back again
We decided that the Bungle Bungle Ranges in Purnululu NP are worth a detour before heading along the Gibb River Road through the heart of the Kimberley’s.
Unfortunately the support bracket of the exhaust pipe broke off again, during the trip along the heavily corrugated entry road.
The previous mechanic in Katherine had done a bad job(but it was the only one that had the time to do it) and we thought surely someone in Wyndham would be able to help out.
Well, I think this country needs car mechanics as they are all so busy that we were forced to go back to Kununarra.... Here we are again!
On the upside, I even 'enjoyed' some riding off-road and along the bitumen road into Kununarra. But the dry heat is not really something that I would call fun, I wonder how people ride along those roads through the centre....it's boring.
While waiting for the car to get fixed, I tried to upload the photos from our trip with the girls, but the connection is so slow that after only 16 new (taking more than 30 minutes) I am giving up now....
Ahead of us are 700km rough Outback offroad!
Alex
Unfortunately the support bracket of the exhaust pipe broke off again, during the trip along the heavily corrugated entry road.
The previous mechanic in Katherine had done a bad job(but it was the only one that had the time to do it) and we thought surely someone in Wyndham would be able to help out.
Well, I think this country needs car mechanics as they are all so busy that we were forced to go back to Kununarra.... Here we are again!
On the upside, I even 'enjoyed' some riding off-road and along the bitumen road into Kununarra. But the dry heat is not really something that I would call fun, I wonder how people ride along those roads through the centre....it's boring.
While waiting for the car to get fixed, I tried to upload the photos from our trip with the girls, but the connection is so slow that after only 16 new (taking more than 30 minutes) I am giving up now....
Ahead of us are 700km rough Outback offroad!
Alex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
