West Australia, Perth to Kalbarri

We landed in Perth in the afternoon as planned, where the weather was already much warmer than the past week. Perth is the capital of West Australia, where we spent the next three days. When we arrived at our Airbnb accommodation, we were warmly greeted by Joan and her dog Zoe. We had a great time here. Our room was lovingly decorated, with a private bathroom and a shared living, dining, and cooking area with a terrace. We took the bus to the city center. Here, there were free city buses called CAT, which operated on four different routes, making it convenient for us to explore everything. We quickly realized that Perth is a rather manageable 'big city', not as bustling and busy as Melbourne, for example. We strolled along the beautiful waterfront, had a small picnic in Kings Park, and walked through the shopping streets. Kings Park is one of the largest urban parks in the world and offers a fantastic view of the skyline. Walking across Heirisson Island also revealed a good view of Perth, although we didn't see any kangaroos that are supposed to live here. Instead, we discovered many small springs in a lake. Just like in Melbourne, we found a restaurant where you can eat as much as you want and then pay what you think it's worth. But somehow, it was different here. Many homeless and poorly dressed people seemed to be having their only meal of the day. We quickly felt uncomfortable. Although the Indian food was really good, we left quite quickly.

The next day, we took a trip to Rottnest Island. Once again, we were almost late for the ferry and had to run to the harbor. This time, luck was on our side, and we made it just in time. What's with our punctuality and the ferries?! The 45-minute ferry ride took us to an island with beautiful bays and beaches, which we explored with our rented bicycles. The highlight here is the small, cute quokkas. The island's discoverer mistook these small marsupials for rats, hence the name 'Rat's Nest' or Rottnest Island. They always smile happily and are not shy around tourists trying to take countless selfies with them. Aren't they adorable?

On our last day in Perth, we got ready for the road trip along the coast to the north. We decided to explore the north first instead of the south, as we had concerns about the long distances. Three weeks could be tight, and because we were more attracted to the north until the Karajini National Park, we'll see how much time is left for the southern region around Albany. Saying goodbye to Joan and her dog wasn't easy because we got along really well and felt very comfortable. Our new home was now a camper again. But what a camper, my goodness! The 4W Toyota V8 was a real beast compared to our previous campers, named 'White Flash'. After a short detour to Fremantle and a visit to Aldi, the trip began. Armed with Knoppers and Pumpernickel, nothing could stop us.

Our first stop was Nambung National Park with the interesting rock formations called the Pinnacles. It was the first time we realized how hot Australia is. The sun was scorching, and we were grateful for every spot of shade. Hallelujah for our White Flash, which had air conditioning. Heading further north, we reached Lake Thetis. Here, the oldest known organisms in the world live. We had never heard of them before, but they are called Stromatolites and are about 3.5 billion years old. We treated ourselves to lunch at Lobster Shack, a restaurant known for its lobster. Fresh from their own fishery, it was served to us on our table. Each of us enjoyed half a lobster with fries and coleslaw - worth every cent! To cool off from the heat, we jumped into the water at Sandy's Bay with our diving masks and snorkels. The Indian Ocean was quite chilly! We had a little taste of the Outback at our campground at Lake Indoon. There was hardly any water here. Neither the 'lake' was actually a lake, but a dried-up basin, nor did the showers and toilets have any water. Only a small tap slowly filled our canister with water. Necessity is the mother of invention! One person held the canister high while the other showered under the trickle, and then we switched. That was fun!

On the way back to the highway, we saw two dried-up salt lakes. The earth here glimmered white from the dried salt crystals, and it crunched under our feet. In Geraldton, we gathered information about other attractions, booked our accommodations for Cairns, and planned our Fiji trip in more detail. We barely had any reception despite having a SIM card, so having Wi-Fi here was a treat. We then drove to Pink Lake. Due to the algae, the lake shimmers in various shades of pink depending on the sunlight. Before arriving in Kalbarri in the evening, we visited several viewpoints along the coast: Natural Bridge, Island Rock, Eagle Gorge, and Red Bluff. All of them offered great views of the coastal cliffs and the roaring ocean. To end the day, Simon snorkelled through the Blue Holes while I took a nap on the beach.

The next morning, we walked to the daily pelican feeding at the shore. Unfortunately, no pelicans showed up, but Brian still told us a lot about the birds. The volunteer, elderly man has been feeding the pelicans for years and knows a lot about them. Maybe we'll visit again on our way back to Perth. We're not just driving up the coast, but also back down, so we'll make some stops on the way there and the others on the way back. That way, we won't spend too much time just in the car. We spent today in Kalbarri National Park. With the Murchison River running through it, the park showcases beautiful canyons. The rock plates shine in red, brown, and orange. Here, you can find amazing rock formations like the Nature's Window. It was an extremely hot day, with temperatures reaching almost 40 degrees. Not only did that exhaust us, but the incredibly annoying flies as well. They constantly flew around our faces, which was really irritating.

But the landscape was so fascinating that at some point, we ignored how many flies were buzzing around us.

In the late afternoon, we drove straight on the highway to our next destination: Denham on Shark Bay. We had seen several documentaries about this region and were very excited about the UNESCO World Heritage Site and its national parks.