Australia
S.T.W.1 Bore

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    • Day 133

      Dutch couples

      March 18, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

      We woke up with the news of the EU advising their citizens abroad to travel back home and messages of family to advise us driving right back to Perth and get on the next possible flight back to Europe.

      When we started this trip we had prepared for a lot. We read several travel insurance conditions and triple checked our health insurance. We counted on unexpected things like having to go back to Europe for some weeks because someone gets seriously ill. We didn't book a lot in advance because we did anticipate that things can change like riots in Chile or a huge earthquake somewhere. But how can you prepare for the biggest travel restrictions in history? And what do you do if they happen while you are on your worldtrip gap year?

      We have no clue. All we know is that no one knows. That this has never happened before. That news, restrictions, possibilities can change hourly. And that all possibilities really suck. If we stay in Australia and they close tourism altogether, that sucks. But going back to Europe where we have no job and no home doesn't sound any better to us right now.

      The evening before we had spoken to a Dutch couple who immigrated to Australia 45 years ago. They stayed at the same free camping as we did. When they heard of our situation in the morning they were very kind offering us tea and stroopwafels but also to stay with them should everything else fail. Apparently they have a super nice house at the sea south of Sydney. It was nice to share our thoughts and fears and hear their opinion. But mostly it just felt nice to also hear about their interesting adventures all over the world, taking our thoughts off corona for a short moment.

      Eventually we had to continue. We registered ourselves in the German Krisenvorsorgeliste. Then we decided to not go straight back to Perth and continue for now. We drove direction Tom Price. Either way around, Perth is still far. At one of 2 petrol stations on the way we came across another Dutch couple who were on a shorter trip. They planned 2 more weeks rental car in Western Australia and then a flight to Japan. They seemed very relaxed about the situation and wanted to continue as planned for now. Potentially skipping Japan if the flight there gets canceled but neither panicking nor worried.

      We felt reassured and travelled further. The way to Tom Price went through the bush. You might think we have seen that enough by now. But this was different. There were hills and some parts were super green. Apparently it had rained a whole lot lately and everything was growing. Would we have not been in corona depression mood, this would have been incredible. It was very hot and lots of flies as well by the way. So the view was nicest from the air conditioned car.

      In Paraburdoo we wanted to stop for the night. The second Dutch couple had recommended a very nice camping here where they had slept last night. It primarily offered accommodation to the mining employees, but apparently that wasn't too noticable. When asking at the office however, we were told that it had closed to non mining workers due to Corona. So there it went again our good mood. Our fears of not being able to travel much longer when deciding to stay in Australia was getting real. Defeated we continued to Tom Price, another 80km north. So after more than 350km of driving today we went to a campsite there. We bought groceries, made wraps and at the same time tried to get information about the Dutch and German government actions. Are they going to organise flights to get us back to Europe? If we would ignore those, would we lose all rights on support afterwards? So that seems to be a pretty obvious thing to take. Otherwise, isn't it better to just stay and travel here as long as we still can?

      In the meantime we got a call from Dagmar, a cousin of Susanne's mother who lives in Australia. We originally wanted to meet her during our time in Melbourne which didn't work out. Now we called to ask for emergency help should we need it thanks to being stranded in Australia. Always nice to know your options. During dinner then again, we meet another Dutch couple and joined their table after dinner to discuss the new favorite topic of the whole world. They have a flight scheduled for March 27th and they will simply follow their original plan until then. Sounds easy enough. Nonetheless nice to share some thoughts again.

      It got a bit later than planned but we still went for a shower. Thanks to the amount of rain they had here lately, there are lots of crickets, frogs, and other insects. It's pretty alive everywhere. Despite a fly screen we even shared the bathrooms with many crickets, a frog, and lots of smaller flies or insects. They mostly stayed at the entrance though, so it wasn't too bad.
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    • Day 18

      Karijini Nationalpark

      September 17, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Heute geht es für 3Tage in den Natipark. Bin gespannt was wir alles erleben dürfen. Ist das eine Begrüssung am Morgen !!!!! Das heisst 3 Tage ohne Empfang. Also macht euch keine Sorgen wenn ihr nichts von uns hört.Read more

    • Day 53–55

      Meekatharra - Newman - Tom Price

      January 3 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 41 °C

      Vorgestern ( 03.01.2024) haben wir uns auf die Weiterfahrt Richtung Newman gemacht. Natürlich haben wir bei Meekatharra Rocks wie geplant nochmals für einen Fotohalt gestoppt. Auf dem restlichen Weg genossen wir einfach die schöne, sich immer wieder ändernde Natur. In Newman angekommen gab es nach dem Campingplatzbezug nur noch eines, ab ins Freibad. Da die Autovermietung noch keine Garage für den Radwechsel oder die Radreperatur gefunden hat, haben wir uns kurz vor Feierabend selber auf die Suche gemacht und fanden einen flotten jungen Mann, der uns den Pneu, zwar als Schwarzarbeit aber egal, geflickt hat. Eine Schraube war der Übeltäter für unseren platten Reifen. Gestern führte unsere Reise weiter durchs Outback nach Tom Price. Unterwegs sahen wir immer wieder dunkle, kleinere und grössere "Hügel", von der Form her wie Pinnacles. Wir haben erfahren, dass das Ameisen- bzw. Termietenhügel sind. Beim Stopp im Karijini National Park liefen wir einerseits zum Fortescue Falls und dem Jubura Fern Pool. Der Wasserfall ist der Einzige in dem National Park, der das ganze Jahr Wasser hat. In beiden Pools besteht die Möglichkeit zu baden. Bevor wir dies aber machten, machten wir uns auf den Dales Gorge Trail, dieser führte entlang des kleinen Rivers durch die Schlucht. Nach einer Weile mussten wir uns aber geschlagen geben, da man definitiv nicht mehr sah, wo der Weg hindurch führte. So kehrten wir um und nahmen das wohlverdiente Bad. Es war einfach nur herrlich. Das Wasser war klar und schön warm. Auf dem Rückweg zum Camper entschlossen wir uns noch den Gorge Rim Trail, oben am Canyon zu machen. Von da hatte man tolle Ausblicke in die Schlucht. In Tom Price angekommen, besuchten wir das Visitor Centre und mussten leider erfahren, dass wir im National Park nichts mehr weiter anschauen können. Teilweise waren die Wege Gravel Road oder gesperrt und auch die anderen Pools nicht mehr zum Baden geöffnet, da sie kein Frischwasser mehr haben. So richteten wir uns auf dem Camping ein, wurden von Rosakakadus umlagert und genossen am Abend den Ausblick auf einen tollen Sternenhimmel. Heute ist der Tag schnell erzählt. Der Campinplatz hat zum Glück einen Pool, welchen wir ausgiebig genossen haben.Read more

    • Day 1,095

      #217 Bullara Station > Tom Price

      September 28, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Fahrtag 😅🤣😂, mal wieder. Nächstes Ziel auf den Weg nach Broome, der ca 600 km
      (ca. 7 h) entfernte Karijini Nationalpark. Ja, nach dieser Strecke waren wir echt froh am nächsten Tag eine Tour zu haben und nicht selber fahren zu müssen 😆.Read more

    • Day 39

      Snorkling in Cape Range Nationalpark

      May 14, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Today we left Exmouth to explore some beautiful beaches in the park. At Oyster Stack beach it was beautiful for snorkling in the shallow water of the inner reef. We spotted a black tipped reef shark, a scorpion fish 🐠, two blue dotted rays and many more colorful fishes. Another stop we made at the marvelous Turquois bay (aerial pictures).Read more

    • Day 142

      Karijini Nationalpark 1 - Hancock Gorge

      June 18, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

      Gestern Abend sind wir 21:30 Uhr auf dem Campingplatz angekommen und haben unsere Zelte bezogen. Da die Tour nicht ausgebucht ist, hat jeder sein eigenes Zelt bekommen. 😊
      Heute morgen ging es dann um 7 Uhr los. Nach einem leckeren Frühstück, sind wir in den Nationalpark reingefahren. Der Karijini Nationalpark ist der zweitgrößte Nationalpark in Western Australia, mit vielen Schluchten, Wasserfällen und Felsbecken.
      Unsere erste Wanderung führte uns durch die Hancock Schlucht, an deren Ende sich der "Kermits Pool" befindet. Die Wanderung war eine super Mischung aus Spaziergang, Klettertour und Kneipp-Therapie 😅 und der Blick auf "Kermits Pool" am Ende war fantastisch.
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    • Day 142

      Karijini Nationalpark 1 - Knox Gorge

      June 18, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

      Nach dem Mittagessen sind wir weiter zur Knox Schlucht gefahren. Auch diese Wanderung hatte es in sich. Der Abstieg in die Schlucht war durch das lose Geröll ziemlich anstrengend und der Aufstieg am Ende war wieder eine schöne Kletterei aber es hat sich gelohnt. Der Weg durch die Schlucht ist einfach toll. 😊
      Am späten Nachmittag ging's zurück ins Camp, wo wir den Tag mit einem typisch australischen Abendessen (Burger) beendet haben.
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    • Day 36

      Day 36 Tom Price

      May 19, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Today we left Exmouth and drove up towards Port Hedland. We got about halfway, to a town called Tom Price.
      Along the way we stopped twice. The first stop was just a stop to stretch our legs, have lunch and enjoy an ice-cream. The second stop was at a giant haul truck called Terex. It had been used for mining iron ore.
      Finally we arrived in Tom Price caravan park. As we had arrived at the park late we didn't get to do much.
      Tomorrow is my sister's birthday and we are going to celebrate her 11th birthday by exploring Karijini National Park.
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    • Day 37

      Day 37 Tom Price

      May 20, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      Today we explored the area around Tom Price, which includes the mines and Karijini.
      It was my sister's birthday. We woke up early to sing 'Happy Birthday' and give her her presents. We got her a whale shark soft toy, a Rubik's cube, a really fun card game, called 'Super Fight' and some clothes.
      After the presents we fed the friendly park galahs outside. Next we went down to the visitors' information centre where we booked tickets to go on the Rio Tinto mining tour.
      The mining tour was very informative and interesting. We learnt about how iron ore is mined and how everything in the mine works. We even got a souvenir piece of iron ore.
      Next we drove off to the Karijini National Park visitor information centre. Here we learnt about Karijinis' history and Aboriginal history.
      After the information centre we drove off to some waterfalls called the Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool. After hiking around the Fortescue Falls we were all very exhausted.
      Once we arrived back in the park we had Jessica's choice for dinner which was pizza, cake and the movie, 'The Sound of Music'.
      Tomorrow we're leaving Tom Price to explore some more of Karijini National Park.
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