About 15 kilometers from Fremantle (which is a 20 minute train-ride from Perth) lies Rottnest Island. The island ist only 11 kilometers long and approximately 5 kilometers wide. It represents a good spot for a daytrip or some longer holidays. Private cars are forbidden on the island which is why almost everyone hires a bike there and cycles around. So did we:





„Rotto“, as the locals call it, is perfect for swimming and snorkeling – the water is very shallow and all over the island you can find awsome lonely beaches and bays. I had a hot and sunny day there on Wednesday (cycling on the island) and a cool and tenseful one yesterday (diving around the island). It`s definitely worth a visit.

Finally! The french couple who bought our Freddy have finally picked him up yesterday. Good, means I have a bit of money again now... The two of them have been a bit diffucult. Nice, but difficult. The major problem was that they are not very good at English yet so they did not understand many things we tried to explain to them. Anyway. After a week of things-to-do like an official check-up, getting transfer papers etc. we had to say goodbye to Freddy yesterday afternoon. We hope he will be happy with them (and they with him, of course!). Freddy, we loved you! Thank you for going 13000 kilometers without causing major trouble! :-)

I'm in Perth since nearly two weeks now. Time is running, as always, even when I do nothing at all. What I have seen of the city so far is very lovely. You could say it was „love at first sight“. Perth may be the most remote big city of the world, but she has definitely charme. It seems one could live a good life here. :-) But no worries, the plan is still to come back to Germany in January.



As Brit was sick for a week and because we tried to sell Freddy and now it's my turn with having a cold, I have not seen very much of Perth. But I love what I have seen so far! Selling Freddy was successfull, by the way! A french backpacker couple wants him and paid a deposit of 1500 Dollars. They will pick him up on Wednesday and bring the rest of our money...

Four weeks after we left Darwin, we end our tour with Freddy in Perth, 13000 kilometers later. We have not seen much of Perth so far because Brit is sick and has to stay in bed for a few days. I play nurse to her at the moment. :-) Today I will hang up our „Freddy 4sale“ ads around the city in hostels and internetcafes. And then we hope that someone will buy Freddy soon and love him as much as we did. Pity we can't take him home... ;-)

Our last stop before Perth was at Pinnacles Desert. Faszinating: Yellow (not red, not white, yellow!) sand and hundreds, no thousands, of erected stones. Many of them really look like oversized penises, no wonder this place is a male „fertility whatever“ to the aboriginals. Many women who have sex around there get pregnant immidiately. Someone told us this story. We preferred not to try that ourselves to proof it right or wrong...





Brit was already sick there (Monday), so we stayed not very long and drove the whole way down to Perth the same day. Which was better for two reasons: In Cervantes (the village next to the Pinnacles) is just nothing to do even if they have the best backpacker hostel I have ever stayed in. So, if Brit is sick, I can't do anything there except getting bored. And: In Perth they have lots of doctors, too. And internet. :-)

On the way from Shark Bay down to The Pinnacles we thought very often things like: „We must have missed a turnoff. This is tuscany.“ Or „We are home! This looks like the Alpenvorland.“ Or „Oh, it is New Zealand, look at all those sheeps!“ It is amazing how the rough red landscape of the outback changes into soft green hills which have a big similarity to what we have @home. Or what I have seen in Italy or NZ. Funny. Does not look like Australia anymore.



We are lucky we drove down south in this time of the year. The more south we come, the more wildflowers can be seen. Lots of them, in all colors. Red, white, yellow, blue, purple, pink... Even if I may repeat myself: Beautiful! :-)

Now I have them for you: postcard pictures as you might have seen on cards from the carribian. But this time it's real for me and every time I stood on a new beach there in the Cape Range Nationalpark (a few kilometers from Exmouth) or on Coral Bay (between Exmouth and Carnavon), I thought „I must be in paradise...“ It is just absolutely fantastic. For swimming such as for snorkeling or long walks along these unreal beaches. Unfortunately, it was extremly windy all the five days we stayed in the NP and in Coral Bay. Camping next to the beach is nice, but for me there is a point where I think I will get crazy with that wind. There's no place to hide from it. Wuhaaaaa!



Especially Turquoise Bay is a great spot for snorcheling – you can access the Ningaloo Reef directly from the beach – just step in and swim for 20 meters and it is there. Hundreds of fish, octopus, turtles etc. Pity I don't have an underwater camera. I might get one of those use-once-and-throw-away cameras before we go on down south to coral bay.



I have buried the idea to learn diving for the moment. Pity, but I cannot afford to do it at the moment. Maybe I should go for some fruitpicking when I arrive in Carnavon – they have many jobs at the moment it seems. Well, there's a lot to see just with snorchel and fins (german: Schwimmflossen) – so I'll have to do that. And snorcheling gear is definitely not as expensive as a diving course... ;-)

Karijini Nationalpark is supposed to be one of the most beautiful NPs here in Western Austalia. We don't know that, of course, as we haven't seen them all. But we wanted to go there anyway. From Port Hedland Karijini is approximately 330 kilometers inland. Nor far in australian mesurements... As in so many other places all over Australia you can do mainly one thing there: Have long or short walks at different gorges, along cliffs and trough creeks. Stunning rock formations.



In Karijini there are also wonderful waterfall pools. Swimming is no problem – no crocodiles and no dangerous animals at all. The water is a bit cold but I jump in whenever I get the chance to do so. Very refreshing and it makes you feel like being in a little paradise. :-)

We left Broome in pouring rain on Wednesday morning towards Port Hedland. Brit, Gaelle (a french girl we take with us) and me were quite excited about that rain. We wanted to stop at the 80 mile beach for a swim in the afternoon and it did not look like it at all. But when we arrived there it was better. We did not swim then because the tide was very low and the water so far away – but just to be there was amazing. Beach wherever you look. Wow.



That beach is nearly 200 kilometers long but it can only be accessed via one little unsealed road. So Freddy managed his first unsealed road bravely – but even if it is only for 10 kilometers you think it never ends. Very bumpy and it was not even a „4WD only“ road...



On the highway you meet dead kangaroos ever few kilometers – if you don't hit one yourself, others will. We have been lucky so far. This one was already dead but we decided to take a photo and pretend it was „ours“... ;-)

After four days of driving (there is not much between Darwin and Broome we could access with Freddy – for the most National Parks you need a 4WD car) we arrived in Broome on Sunday afternoon. Just in time to see one of Broome's best known attractions: The Stairway to the Moon. In this time of the year you can see a quite interesting reflection of the full moon's light when the moon rises and the tide is low. It looks like a stairway to heaven – not easy to picture but maybe you can imagine:



Yesterday we went on a halfday kayaking trip with Dyana and Julia, two gilrs we have already met in Darwin. The water and the beaches and the coastline here are quite stunning. Amazing, and we have just arrived on the west coast.



Other than in Darwin it is possible to go swimming here! Hooray! No crocodiles.



Tomorrow we will leave Broome and go a bit further down south. More stunning beaches, amazing wildlife and lots of sun, fun and more...