Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

(Nora writes)
Finally - off we go....19th of October 2005

...Our first "Big" Trip with the van was to the giant supermarket to stock up with food and water. We bought a dozen tins of HEINZ baked beans (believe it or not but in 2 years living in England I have never touched them....now i love them and eat them every day - the only drawback: They make me fart!! --> Aeron, you can back me up on that one, huh?!

We also bought loads of dried stuff such as pasta or rice dishes...

people keep telling us that Geralton 400km north of Perth is the ONLY place where you have big supermarkets. You should really have 40l of water and 10 days worth food supply in your car if you head north from there as it becomes very very hot....

...our 2nd stop was Lancelin, a lovely quiet little place on the coast. we went to a local pub which was massive but completely empty. The staff was so friendly they allowed us to park at their carpark for our "1st overnight stay in the wild". --> remark to all Austrians: Ratet mal was das 1. war was ich im Australischen Fernsehen gesehen hab? Antwort> KOMMISSAR REX, hier INSPECTOR REX genannt! Awesome!

20th - 22nd of October 2005 - Lancelin

After our 1st breakfast in a lovely picnic area with clean toilets and showers we explored the area. Lancelin has some marvellous dunes where you can sandboard and a lovely beach...

After an overnight stay in Dongara we head to Geralton, a 'huge' city which again gave us the impression to be dead! After 6pm when it gets dark you hardly see anybody. Our sleeping pattern has changed completely - sometimes we go to bed at 8pm as there is nothing to do....

The landscape on the Western Coast is amazing - there is so much of nothing but still an awful lot to see....

...on one day we drove 6 hours without passing any city - just one petrol station. the scenery outside changes all the time - from light yellow sand to dark red, from bushes to wheat fields, but all along in the dry desert are these amazing wildflowers in all different bright colours...

In Greenough we visited the most complete example of an early Australian settlement.

When we left Lancelin a few days ago a lovely Oz lady gave us stuff for our car and the advise never to drive from dawn to dusk as the danger of hitting kangaroos will be big. They are night active animals and everywhere.

We havent seen a kangaroo in oz so far, so we were eager to see one.

However, even 2 days later we still havent seen one. that means we havent seen a LIVE kangaroo...if we were counting the dead ones we have seen (and smelt) on the side of the road we would be in the 100s...

But this should change!

24th of October

We were just about to arrive in Kalbari National Park at 4pm when i saw this HUGE thing jumping out of the bush right in front of our car!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Marc made an emergency break and the car stopped. we looked to the right and this huge Kangaroo hopped away.

How close! Our 1st kangaroo encounter almost ended fatal!

As you cannot camp anywhere in Kalbari National Park we had to stay in a caravan park for a few days.

The next day we explored the coastal gorges and also went for a sunset walk where we saw all in all 10 kangaroos - all too far away for a nice photo though...

On the way to Kalbarri we made a trip to HUTT RIVER PROVINCE, a principality established 30 years ago by a single wheat farmer called HRH Prince Leonard who was unhappy about the Australian government legislation on wheat export.

Prince Leonard welcomes you at the office and stamps your passport with entry and exit visa. He even has his own stamps and currency...

...however he has clearly lost his mind
--> TIP FOR TRAVELLERS IN WA> Go there, it is dead funny!

The day after we went to do a 9km trek within the National Park itself...
....Nobody told us that you need a 4WD for this 27km ride! The entire road is corrugated so it was a real nightmare travelling it with POSH! So we 'drove' around with a maximum speed of 19km/h, being constantly asked by people overtaking whether we are alright or need help....and arrived after exactly 2 hours at the beginning of the trail (27km away!)

...but you have to see the positive sides as well: Without us going so slow we probably would have never seen the thorny devil on the way back.

The trek itself was great - you are on top of mountains and have stunning views over the gorges...

it says everywhere that you should not climb the edges but i couldnt resist which wasnt too clever...

and we saw some great spiders - didnt want to get too close though....

The next day marc tried some horse riding (he still complains today that his butt hurts...) and he saw at least 50 kangaroos from close-up. (unfortunately no cameras allowed during ride)

we also met some nice french (salut pascale et jerome), 2 austrians (servas matthias and martin) and a crazy norwegian bloke who shipped his norwegian motorbike here to travel oz with it (he has done 25 000kms so far - keep on going, helge)

after 4 amazing days it was time to move on....