Blogs from Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 3

Ihr Lieben, beim letzten Mal hatte ich euch ja die Strecke Broome nach Perth versprochen - and here it comes. Dass ich so hinterherhaenge beim Berichten, ist zwar nicht so dolle, aber dafuer mache ich meine Reise dann immer noch mal - man vergisst doch so einiges ueber die Zeit, da ist es gut, wenn man die grauen Zellen noch einmal aktiviert. Broome fand ich bei meinem ersten Besuch nicht so spannend, und auch auf den zweiten Blick nicht so begeisternd wie manch anderer das vielleicht schildern mag. Der beruehmte Cable Beach ist schon schoen, aber ich bin ja vom ganzen Reisen verwoehnt und daher nicht mehr soooo leicht zu begeistern. Aber zu Gute halten muss man ihm auf jeden Fall, dass das Wasser wirklich ein krass tolles tuerkis-blau ist und der Strand einen weichen weissen ... read more

We were keen to camp amongst the giant Karri trees at Pemberton, but alas, overcast skies and constant drizzle, change our course and we continue to head west. On our way through we stop at Augusta and in particular Western Australia’s tallest light house Cape Leeuwin, which sits at the most south western tip of Australia where the Indian and Southern Ocean’s meet. After making our way as far west as possible we are certainly ready to start our trek north. We make our way to the outskirts of Margaret River and set up camp at Conto’s Campground in the drizzly rain. Rain, rain, go away!! In the morning we head out to explore Jewel Cave, the largest show cave in Western Australia. As soon as we enter the cave we are immediately awed by this ... read more

Yulara to Perth. Leaving the big rocks behind us we turn west for the final leg to Perth. This proves to have a few challenges of it's own. Somehow I managed to get yet another puncture and this time in the new tyre and on sand. I think I have developed a new special talent. At least now we are all very adept at tyre changes and we are soon back underway. The great central road is a fairly decent dirt road with a few remote roadhouses and basically nothing else apart from the occasional camel. Our first stop is Warakurna Roadhouse, deciding to stay after being discouraged to go on to Warburton by the roadhouse owner. All this stretch is an alcohol free zone to protect the natives... read more

As we continue to head west we drive to the “Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk”. An amazing 70m high steel walk way that sways with the wind along with the huge Tingle Trees, whilst taking you on a loop walk through this majestic forest. The girls enjoyed swaying and jumping on the board walk just to scare the poor Mum even more! An awesome feeling being around these massive and historical trees, many of which have been here for at least 400 years. Time to find a camp, we head into D’Entrecasteaux National Park and to the 4WD track leading into Banksia Camp. Once again we have the place all to ourselves which means we have the pick of the camp sites and choose one with a beautiful view over the bay. The beach ... read more

After doing some Toyota fault finding and web forum searching, radiator flushing and "a lot" of crawling around, under and everywhere else we packed up and headed toward Albany, but alas that heat gauge began to rise again. After a couple of middle of no where emergency stops we were able to slowly roll into Albany and in particular to the Middleton Beach Caravan Park. Odyssey Issue No. – Car overheating Matt knuckled down to contacting mechanics whilst the girls and I were keen to explore what activities the park had to offer on another wet and rainy day. What we found were: · Pool · Heated spa · Games room · Camp kitchen with flat screen TV We were certainly impressed by the facilities and of course the girls were straight off to the pool ... read more

We really liked the Timber Creek Caravan Park. Small park, plenty of shade, amenities fine etc. It has a lovely grassed area down by the creek which has fresh water crocs in it. On our way from the Buchanan Highway to Timber Creek we noticed the first of the boab trees. Because our booking in Kununurra started on 10th May we decided to stay in the cool for an extra day and lingered. Still no sight seeing as we will be doing it with Dave and Shirley one the way back through. Here we did a big clean up on the van. The amount of dust getting into the interior has diminished considerably with all our efforts on tracking down and blocking little leaks. I swept, vacuumed, dusted etc. I like the size of this house ... read more

What have you heard: The Nullarbor is boring? This is our third crossing and still find this area full of interest, even if spaced out over a few hundred kilometres. Keep the eyes open and something to thrill will surely pop up. Last time it was gigantic pieces of machinery being transported. There are signs asking us to watch out for camels, wombats, emus and kangaroos. But nothing prepared us for the adventure of the day. We were able to watch one of creation's most amazing birds, The Wedge Tail Eagle. Sadly, some of the wild life gets hit by passing trucks at night. In the past we have seen many crows feasting on the carrion, (road pizza to my Kiwi friends), but this trip we watched several families of wedge tail eagles joining the feast. ... read more