16th - 24th Dec: Back in Denmark

So now I'm back in the calm and relaxed Denmark. But on the first day, things got really busy. The annual Christmas parade with a Christmas market took place. We also operated a stand where German-style sauerkraut with bratwurst was sold. The preparation was done using the 'Gulaschkanone Emma'.

Since it's summer here during the Christmas season, the Christmas market was a bit different from what's known in Germany. No mulled wine, no crepe stands, no clove or cinnamon smell. But there were frozen strawberries, an open-air concert by the river, or the aforementioned Christmas parade. However, the latter felt more like a carnival procession to me.

The initially mentioned 'calm and relaxed' will soon change. As it doesn't get as hot here in December/January as in the north, this place becomes the tourist hot spot after Christmas. My German hosts Matthes and Antje told me that the number of visitors easily exceeds 10,000. Roughly speaking, that means there are about 5 tourists per resident. For me, it means I can enjoy the magnificent coastlines in a peaceful atmosphere for the last time. We will only come here during the peak season between the years. So we could still enjoy the Denmark River, the Greens Pool, and the Lights Beach in their full idyll. But there were also unknown places to me, like the Elephant Rocks or the Boat Harbour, which can only be accessed by a 4x4. The latter was a great spot for snorkeling. Once you dived into the underwater rocks, you felt like being in a different world. Red starfish, fish with zebra-like stripes, and sparkling green water plants. I'm really looking forward to the Ningaloo Reef, which is said to be even more colorful. Unfortunately, my camera, like my phone, is not waterproof (see entry Cottesloe Beach), so there are no pictures of this. However, I took pictures of the landscapes above sea level.

I would also like to dedicate a section to the spiders that appear here, as I encountered larger or more extraordinary specimens this week. There were various species, from the small but colorful Christmas Spider (maybe named after a Christmas tree ornament?) to the Huntsman Spider. Don't worry, none of them are dangerous to humans.