Road trip begins

On Monday morning, it was time to leave the hostel and head back to Perth. We threw my stuff in the car and spent some more time in the city. There was a small shop where they were giving out free burritos, so we lined up and waited for over an hour. In Germany, I would never have waited that long, but as a poor backpacker in Australia, you take what you can get. The burrito came from a vending machine that just warmed up the pre-made burritos. They weren't really hot, but they were edible. It was free because the machine was new and they wanted to draw attention to it. But soon, the burrito would cost $6, which is a bit much.

Since it was already past noon, we drove to my first hostel to check for mail. There was nothing in the whole pile. Why should I have any luck and everything work according to plan? But today's mail hadn't arrived yet. So we quickly emptied the mailbox, and what was there? My bank card! In that moment, I was so happy and kept thinking about how lucky I was. We quickly went to the bank in town to activate the card and select the PIN code, and we could have set off. But Dominik's acquaintance, who he also lives with, said it wouldn't be worth it to leave now, since it was already 2 PM. So we decided to start the road trip tomorrow. Luckily, I could stay with the acquaintance, otherwise I would have had to look for a hostel again.
In the vicinity, there was a street food festival in the evening, with small stands offering various foods. We drove there and after walking up and down the street twice, we bought a little something. I was really in the mood for fries again.

The next day, we finally set off. We packed our things calmly and said goodbye. We had to make a stop at the supermarket and the gas station. Once again, we took advantage of the cheap fuel prices in town (about $1 per liter). Since Dominik hadn't seen the Pinnacles yet, we drove there first. I showed him around and explained what I still remembered from my tour. We could buy a park pass at the visitor center, which allows us to visit all the national parks in Western Australia within 4 weeks. Since there are so many, the pass is definitely worth it. We paid $44 together, and the entrance fee for a park is usually around $12.
Today, it was windier than during my last visit, and there were clearly fewer flies. Dominik was still bothered by the flies, but for me, it was more pleasant.

Since we sleep in the car on a mattress and don't have to look for a hostel, we can sleep at free campsites. There are plenty of them in Australia, and an app shows them all, with ratings and photos. They are usually just small places with an outhouse and maybe a few picnic tables. Our first campsite was right on the beach. A small, cute bay, very quiet, and as always, no one around. Of course, we took some photos first and then started cooking our dinner. So we took out our camping stove and cooked noodles. Washing up is still a bit cumbersome because there is no running water. But we'll get used to it and it will work better soon. We sat down at the beach again to watch the sunset and take lots of photos. The colors in the photo don't reflect how beautiful it really was. Absolutely stunning. It quickly became very dark, and the starry sky was incredible. So many stars, so clear, you don't see that in Germany.
Now it was time for the first night in the car. It was still chilly, so I put on sweatpants, a fleece sweater, and thick socks. So at 8 PM, it was good night.