Wednesday
15th – Thursday 16th October
We left
Monkey Mia and drove towards Kalbarri National Park (the Aussies are crazy with
their National Parks – every big green area is classified as a national park!) This
day we reached Murchison River, just north of the park. Here we decided to get our
12 hours beauty sleep before exploring the park. Distance = 334km.
Thursday we explored
the bushland in Kalbarri National Park, saw beautiful gorges (think we have
seen enough of them now), and visited the natural rock arch called Natures Window.
The ocean drive south of the park, had some spectacular lookouts and impressive
eroded cliffs. We stopped several places and went for small walks on top of the
cliffs. In the afternoon we reached Geraldton and soon it was time to stop in
and have a rest again. We drove 429km.
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| Kalbarri National Park |
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| Nature's Window |
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| A commen blue-tongue lizard |
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| It was the same size as an big foot. We see them a lot on the roads. |
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| The west coast when it's best.
Friday 17th
– Saturday 18th October
We drove
out to one of Green heads beautiful bays and enjoyed our breakfast and the
morning there. In Jurien Bay, 35 km further south, we had lunch that almost got
stolen by a seagull – if it hadn’t been for Erik’s quick reaction we had lost
our toasted bread. At night we planned to watch the sunset over the Pinnacles
Desert, it was close by so we took it easy all day, and relaxed in the places
we went.
During the last two days had our car got a scratching sound from the
engine, Erik new what it was – and would change it (a bad bearing in one of the drive
belt idlers) when we would reach Perth in two days. But in Cervantes the bad
idler decided that it didn’t wanted to travel with us anymore. We just finished
a short walk on the beach and started the car again, when it started to smell
burned. The bearing in the idler was totally stuck, so the drive belt slided
over the idler wheel, instead of running together with it. Luckily Erik had an idea, he took
as much tension of the belt, so it still drove all the important things around,
but the pressure on the bad wheel was minimal, and to reduce it even more, he came
a bit of oil on the outside of the belt, so it slided almost friction-free over the stuck idler. Luckily, there was under 2 km to the nearest gas
station, where the helpful owner happened to have a big garage and some race
cars behind the gas station.
Erik got a used idler from the owner, who was
cleaning the garage just as we came, and he had just thrown the used idler in
the bin. When Erik dismounted the old broken one on our car, he realized that
it was exact the same size as the one the nice guy had. Just another shape,
Erik got around that problem pretty fast, so within 15 minutes the car was
running soundless again! It’s amazing how helpful and friendly the Aussies are
– In Denmark there would have been a charge on every single thing that we had used,
but here Erik borrowed the tools, and was given the wheel for free. We even got
a nice chat and a free beer while Erik replaced the spare part. In Denmark we
have a lot to learn from the sentence: What goes around comes around!
We were
on the road again, and on our way to the Nambung National Park, which is home
to the spectacular Pinnacles Desert. It’s thousands of limestone pillars that
rise up from the desert floor. A 4km loop road runs through the formations.
Just before sunset we started walking one of the trails around all the
magnificent stones. It was a very unique experience. We drove back to Green
Head and slept near the beach on a free campground. It was cloudy and we could
see a thunderstorm far away. We started cooking our dinner (pasta and pesto),
and soon it began to rain. The first rain we have had since we were in Cairns
(middle of July). We hurried up with our dinner and seeked shelter in the car
afterwards. Distance = 250km.
The day after we woke up to warm, windy and dry
weather. We explored the white sand dunes in the morning, and drove down to Lancelin.
Here we worked on the blog for a bit, and just when we started driving again,
it started raining again. A couple of days ago we had arranged to visit the
family we met in Karijini National Park, and they had time to see us on sunday. They live in Fremantle, south of Perth.
We didn’t want to book a hostel in
Perth for just one night, although it was tempting, taking the weather into
consideration and the fact that we were close to Perth. But NO, we stayed on a
free campground near Moore River. Luckily there was a concrete bench with roof
over, so we could cook our dinner without being soaked. We even had good
company from home (Erik’s mom, husband and aunt via Skype) while we were eating.
So frankly we felt like home (windy, rainy and well-known people). We drove
110km this day.
Green Head's surfing spot
Green Head Bay
Magic...
The invisible chair
This little fellow was just crossing the road when it got distracted by some stupid tourists.
What should I do without my travel partner...
 
The Pinnacles Desert
  
This was Erik's discovery.. He's pretty good at spotting wildlife!
Wild life on the roads - video
Sunday 19th
October
We made our
way to our friends in Bicton near Fremantle (Scott & Andrea and their two
children Ruby 12 & Sauley 14.) They had invited us to stay with them, so we
could get our laundry done and sleep in a prober bed for a few days. Again the Aussies
hospitality is amazing – we have learned a lot from their kindly and easy going
behavior. So we checked into our 5 star hotel room with free wifi, free rental
of bikes and a nice view over the park. We couldn’t ask for more.
Andy (Andrea)
advised us to check out the sunday market in Freo (Fremantle). It was great -
it had a wide selection of homemade products, fresh and CHEAP fruit and
vegetables, and lots of nice little shops with paintings, souvenirs, clothes
etc. We stocked up on fruit and veggies and planned to cook dinner for the next
couple of days.
Freo has a lot of microbreweries and we sampled one of ‘Sail
& Anchors’ beers before we went back. Andy cooked us dinner that night and
we had a great time with the whole family.
This is one of the reasons why it's best to have a 4 wheel drive 'Down Under'..
Monday 20th
– Tuesday 21st October
Sleeping in
a normal bed made us sleep like little babies. It was awesome just to relax and
do nothing. In the afternoon we biked into Freo. It’s such a gorgeous bike ride
along the river, passing the harbours and the esplanade. Freo is such a
beautiful city with plenty of cafes, restaurants and small special shops. We
quickly fell in love with that place. We cooked Andy, Scott and their children
a nice barbeque and had another good night in their company.
The next day we
ventured into the city. We started in Kings Park and the botanic garden.
There’s a wonderful view from the top of the park over Perth city. The flowers
had just started to bloom, so it was quite beautiful everywhere. We then spend
most of the day wandering around in Perth city.
We found small hidden laneways
with plenty of food and beverage options – there’s a lot of Asian food options
all around Australia’s cities, and I must admit that we really like those
carbohydrate filled dishes, and especially because they’re the cheapest ones.
We got two dishes for $15 (78kr), that’s the same price as one burger without
fries would have cost us next door.
I found a cheap beauty salon (owned by
Asians, off cause) where I got my eye browns tinted for $15 (78kr). It’s one of
the only personal pamper treatments I can’t live without.
In the afternoon we
drove ‘home’ and spoiled ourselves, and the family with homemade pizza – and a
lot of it. They had provided us drinks for the first two nights, so it was now
our turn. The best thing we could come up with, was to introduce them to Carlsberg.
Yes, we can buy them in most liquor stores, but they’re expensive 45-47 dollars
(240-260kr) for a box with 24 bottles. Actually they’re the same price as most
of the Australian brands. They are all god damn expensive! Anyway, Scott knew
the brand, but didn’t know it was Danish. We enjoyed another night in their
company. It’s amazing how easy going they were, and their children were so well
behaved (maybe because we were there), but they really seemed like a solid
family with their hearts in the right place. They put a lot of energy into
remembering holidays and special moments together. One of the things we
especially liked, was their flat screen tv facing the kitchen and dining room,
showing pictures from all their holidays and funny moments together ALL the
time – No normal television on it!
Kings Park
 
View from Kings Park
Candy makers
 
London Court (a hidden laneway in the middle of Perth)
  
Near Cottesloe Beach
Happy Happy
Wednesday
22nd October
Our time in
Perth have all the time being dedicated to catch up with old and new friends. I
had some friends, who I met back in Canada that I wanted to meet up with, and
we both met another friend in Indonesia, who we were gonna hang out with as
well. It didn’t quite worked out the way we hoped, however they could all meet us
during the weekend, but none of them had time before.
We had some mixed
feelings about our circumstances, we didn’t want to bug Scott and Andy more,
they had already let us stay there for three days. I mean they probably had
other stuff to do, than to hang out with strange backpackers. We also thought
it was a long time, just to hang around and wait for people to be ready. We talked
about booking a hostel in the city and stay there till friday.
When we told
Scott and Andy about our situation, they were totally cool and ensured us that
it wouldn’t be a problem, if we stayed at theirs till friday. Pure luxury that was!
This day
we jumped on the bikes again, brought some fresh fruit and wine, and then we
were ready to explore some of the unique surroundings. This area is definitely
a place where we could see ourselves living, it’s got everything – it’s
surrounded by water, close to spectacular beaches, good diving spots and a nice
city, not too big not too small, but perfect. We just need to figure out a way
to earn enough money, to be able to live in one of the big houses. A part from
the daydreaming, we saw black swans for the first time. Erik wasn’t as excited
as me, but they were gorgeous.
We had a hard time finding a spot, good enough
to do some more daydreaming and consume the alcohol we brought. Here in
Australia you get fines for drinking in public areas – we didn’t want to risk
that, so we found a remote place on the beach, away from the big group of newly
baked moms and their new born babies. We got the world’s problems turned up and
down this afternoon.
Later when we biked back towards home, we found ourselves spending a lot of time, watching a bunch of kids jumping of 10m high cliffs. After two bottles of wine we were in a good mood. We agreed (luckily) to bike into Freo and try some of the local beers from some of the microbreweries. While we were sitting at ‘The Monk’ sipping our beers it started raining, so we moved inside. Here we started missing going out at home, and not have to worry about money all the time, but just enjoy it. We got hungry while watching other people eat, to save money we finished our drinks and went across the street, where they served CHEAP kebab, compared to the food prices at ‘The Monk’. The rain had luckily stopped when we decided it was time to go home, so we biked the 6-7km ‘home’ without getting soaked. Oh what a day!    
Thursday 23rd
October
We planned
to do as little as possible. We had to get our last laundry done, wash, vacuum
and pack the car before we were leaving the next morning. We just placed ourselves
outside on the terrace with our heads buried in our laptops, when our plans got
changed.
My friend Terry, who I met in Canada 6 years ago (he visited me in
Fredericia five years ago and that’s the last time we spoke) messaged us saying
him and his Misses (Nadya) could meet us in Freo the same afternoon. It was
great and exciting, but we had to begin working on getting the car ready then -
however getting away from our laptops can sometimes take a while. It all worked
out fine in the end, and we were only half an hour behind schedule.
We met up
on Norfolk Hotel and the afternoon and evening went by really fast with
chatting, catching up and drinking beers in the bar. They invited us home for
late dinner, but unfortunately we ran into a problem. We couldn’t get any big
cabs that could fit our bikes, and we got lost when we tried to bike to their
house. I was getting cold, and thinking about how early we had to get up the
next morning, made us realize it was a bad idea to drink more beers and stay
out later. It was a shame because we had a good time, but we also had a day
tomorrow (that’s a sentence you only say when you are getting too old for
drinking).
Friday 24th
October
We woke up
as planned, and definitely didn’t regret that we went home early last night. We
had absolutely no energy and our heads felt like a train crash. Thinking about
the food and wine tour we signed up for didn’t make us feel any better. Anyhow
we got our last stuff sorted in the car and said goodbye to Andy, Scott, Ruby
and Sauley. It had been a pleasure staying with them.
We went into Perth and
dropped our car off at the hostel we perhaps had to stay at for the night.
We
hadn’t planned any specific accommodation with my friend Tim (also one of the guys
I met in Canada – us travelers stick together, there may be years in between,
where we don’t talk or see each other, but we will stick together for a
lifetime – last time I saw Tim was in Copenhagen two years ago). So we left the
car at the hostel, and jumped on a free city bus to the city center, and then
further on to the ‘Food and wine tasting aka. Speed Grazing’ tour bus.
We were
lethargic and drowsy (no wonder after four days of constantly drinking – it’s
gotta stop at some point!). The tour was $85 (442kr) each and would take us to
9 different venues in the Swan Valley, just 30 min. out of Perth. We collected
new and fresh energy by napping most of the way out there. First stop was at a
coffee factory – still, none of us drink coffee, but it was a perfect way to
get the last bit of energy and get fit for fight, for the busy day ahead of us.
We visited a honey farm, different shops with all kinds of spreading, chutneys
and jams, a nougat factory, a chocolate shop, a homemade ice cream boutique –
all with free samples of cause.
We were a bit disappointed when we found out,
that we were only going to visit one vineyard (maybe it was for the best). The
Asians in our group poured most of their wine out in the buckets provided...
However we ensured that we got some value for our money. Clever people don’t
throw out alcohol! We got back to the city around 1pm, had a quick bite and
then went back to check in to the hostel. Tim finally messaged us and we
arranged to meet up the following day.
Erik had been chatting back and forth during
the day with Tony, a guy we met back in Indonesia. He was keen for meeting us
and catching up, all though he also had his parents from New Zealand visiting.
We were knackered and exhausted but it seemed like our only chance to catch up
with him. We met up in a park across the river - a beautiful spot with view
over Perth. Tony and his parents had already made barbeque dinner when we got
there, so we sat down and joined them. It was great and we got a new contact in
New Zealand. A win-win situation!
They planned to go to a jazz concert later
on. It was impossible to book the ticket beforehand, so we went to the place but
was turned away together with a lot of other people, apparently the tickets
were gone already, and the ticket sale had started an hour earlier than written
on their homepage. The jazz seems to be really popular here, maybe that’s our
key to earning money here – opening a jazz house! We found out that there was
some comedy going on at Brisbane Hotel, so after driving around the city,
killing time plus watching the sunset over the city, we went to watch
Australian comedy.
Erik was asked for ID at the entrance, but only had his MasterCard
with him – luckily the bouncer accepted and believed Erik when he with the
biggest smile ever, told him that he was 11 years older than the age limit.
What a compliment though! The place was the same size as ‘pakhuset’ I Fredericia, and
the comedy was great considering the money we paid for it, $20 (104kr) each.
We
were extremely tired when it was over, and called it a night. Now it was time
to get a rest and some prober sleep.
The hostel we stayed at, was owned by
Asians, very low standard compared to Australia, and all the visitors was
surprisingly, also Asians. It was like stepping back in time, if it hadn’t been
for this weird older woman staying in our room. At first sight she didn’t greet
Erik and when I entered the room she came out from her cave, her lower bunk bed
was covered in blankets and I didn’t see her before she asked me “How long are
you staying for? Usually we don’t have men in this room”. She didn’t even want
to speak to Erik, and she didn’t seem happy about his appearance. You could
tell on her hoarse voice and her nicotine yellow teeth, that most of her daily
consumption was consisting of cigarettes and a lot of them, probably quite an
amount of coffee as well. We ensured her that the manager was well informed by
Erik’s appearance in the dorm room, and she went back to her cave. We were happy
that we should only stay one night.
         
Saturday 25th
October
We felt fit
for fight after a long beauty sleep. There was breakfast included in the $25 (130kr)
we paid for each dorm bed, and honestly we knew we shouldn’t have high thoughts
about it – it was exactly what we thought it would be, toast bread with jam.
That wasn’t gonna keep us full for very long. You get what you pay for!
We had
arranged to go and see Timmy, he used to live in Perth, but is currently
staying everywhere and nowhere. His girlfriend is Canadian, so when he’s not
working in the mines north of Perth, he’s in Canada or staying at mates places
in Perth. At the moment he was living on a mate’s couch, so we went to see him
there. Funny enough this mate of his (Adam), was also in Canada when I was there.
I remembered his face and hearing his name sounded familiar, but we never
really communicated back then. I looked him up on facebook and found a picture
of him and Steffi hugging – so he had definitely been around at the same time
as me. Anyway now we were in his apartment, hanging out and doing some serious daytime
drinking. It was great.
In the evening we went out, first to a casino where
both Erik and I were asked for ID. I think it was awkward for the doorkeeper, because
she was at least 5 years younger than us. So the conclusion is: we might feel
old but, we don’t look older than 18. However I think the main reason was based
on our clothing. We don’t really have any ‘going out’ clothes, it’s all worn
out and a bit dirty here and there. After this coincidence it was probably most
clever to go back home and get our passports, so we could experience Perth’s
nightlife scene.
We went to ‘The Elephant Bar’ and got inside without further
problems, now that we had our passports. All though a couple of hours later, we
were leaded out of the bar by a bouncer, yes for some unknown reason, we were
asked to leave the bar – it’s probably for the same reason as it was back in
Sydney. We had too much fun, and according to their strict rules about drinking,
they didn’t want us there any longer. We went to grab a quick bite before we
headed ‘home’. Then the cab driver was giving us a hard time, and when Timmy
started swearing at him, he threw us out on the street. What a circus! Some
Aussies swear a lot though, and Timmy is one of them. After a while we got another cab.
There are no more crazy scenes to report from this night. We had parked Migaloo
just outside Adam’s apartment. We slept out there, and could use his toilet and
shower, as much as we wanted. So it was fine.
Perth by night - bad quality cause the picture is taken with an Iphone.
Sunday 26th
October
We were
feeling like crap when we woke up. Very shocking considering our big night out!
The day went by with recovering, feeling sorry for ourselves, eating unhealthy
food and watching movies. Timmy had been on about a “sunday session”, meaning
more alcohol and going out again. Frankly I wasn’t in the mood for drinking
anything except for water. All though in the late afternoon when Steve (another
guy from my time in Canada) and his girlfriend Natasha popped by, we were on it
again. I consider a sunday session to be more down to earth and relaxed than a saturday
night out. At least that’s how it was for us this day. We went into a pub in
the city, the guys called it a shithole, but cheap on sundays!
A random guy in
the pub had too much fun and wouldn’t leave when the bouncers ask him to. We
didn’t see the whole confrontation, he might have been acting provocative against
the bouncers and resisted to leave, but no matter what happened it didn’t give
the bouncers the right to beat the shit out of him like they did. They were big
enough to drag him out if they wanted, but they decided to beat him up in the middle
of the pub. It was crazy. The bouncers here are dedicated control freaks, they
use their power the wrong ways, and the worst thing is that they get away with it.
I guess we were lucky yesterday then! An there's a reason why they call it a 'shithole'. Terry came along just when the show was
over. We all sat down and enjoyed a few ciders together, and again time was flying and
soon it was time to say goodbye, to a part of the old Banff crew (Terry and
Steve). We went home to Adam with Timmy again and slept like babies during the
night.
Next morning we left Perth. It had been a crazy and drunk weekend and we
were beer’ed out. No alcohol or what so ever the next week or two.
Tim, Terry and Steve
Western Australia (North) Video |
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