WEEK 9c ESPERANCE - PERTH

After plenty of straight road I finally see the sea, and I mean THE SEA! Very exciting. I arrive in Esperance, a small town with around 20,000 people which is 10 hours drive from Perth. I was very excited on the approach into the town as I could see some very handy stores - including big car workshops, 4x4 drive shops, restaurants, Target, day spas etc. Pretty much all the amenities which I have not seen for a good while. I dropped off the two backpackers as soon as I could (at the local backpackers), as I wanted some much deserved ‘me’ time. I on the other hand decided to splurge out at an award winning B&B as I was feeling pretty rotten and under the weather. So, as the clouds were coming in over the bay, I checked into the place and had a much deserved hot shower and enjoyed the fluffy towels. 6 towels for me! Nice!

The next next morning I was feeling much better and the weather had cleared, I headed for the ‘Great Ocean Drive’ which I can truly say is up there with the Great Ocean Road in Victoria or the Ocean Drive located outside Cape Town (South Africa) in therms of good driving scenery. The beaches where out of this world! I could not believe the blue water that I was seeing. I have never seen anything like it. The fishing is meant to be brilliant as well and it is very popular to go fishing off the rocks. However, as so called ‘killer waves’ comes in, there are bolted points that can be used when fishing off these rocks so that the trip does not end in tears. I decided to give the fishing a miss for now has I have far too much fish in the fridge already and have plenty more to see - Cape Le Grande National Park next.

I drove to the Park (40km) from Esperance and went to check out the no 1 voted beach in WA - Lucky Bay. Well, OMG, this is something to write home about! Any of you out there, let me tell you. this is not to be missed on a trip to Australia. The water was amazing, and as I have seen some pretty good beaches before in my life, this is not to be missed. The colour of the water is like it has come from a new colour spectrum, turqouise, my favorite colour. 

Having had a quick dip in the ocean and some lunch at the beach I needed to get going. I had 10 hours drive ahead of me to get to Perth Airport on time to pick up Maria, my friend from Melbourne, who is joining me for the Easter break. I get to a small town called Rutherglen just after dark. I was stressing, because I desperately needed to get some washing done before getting to Perth. I had forgotten the washing powder at the last place I washed. Doh! So, I head on an excursion into the town. Well, all shops (it’s a 1 shop town) are closed and all I can see is the local hotel/pub with men in illumines clothing (miners in safety clothing) and a petrol station. They did not sell much at this station, but the lady behind the counter sorted me out with enough washing powder to last me 2 washes. Nice lady!

The next day I am very excited, I have 500km ahead of me including stopping off to see the famous ‘wave rock’.  I gave Maria a call about 5 hours before she was due to arrive only to find out that I have got mixed up with the dates and she is coming the day after. Bummer! Never mind, I am sure I can kill an extra day in Fremantle, Perth. Luckily the hostel had a spare bed and I got booked in. 

Well, this place was a very typical ‘backpackers’ which I usually try to stay clear off. But, beggars cant be choosers, so I was glad to have somewhere to stay for a night in the centre of Fremantle at the epicenter of all the pubs and restaurants and just down the road from Little Creatures brewery where we were planning to visit over the long weekend. I went to bed early and started chatting to this woman in my dorm. She was staying there due to having recently gone through some domestic violence which had resulted in getting stabbed by her ex-boyfriend, got both lungs punctured and then the boyfriend had hung himself! He had been involved with drugs and other dodgy things and I locked my valuables into my locker and thought ‘good night Maria, sleep tight’. Luckily she was gone in the morning when I got up. 

WEEK 9b THE NULLABOR - ESPERANCE

For further pictures click here: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626544258734/



Having left Guy behind in Streaky Bay, I hit the road and turned on my ipod. 1,900 km to Perth and 6 days to travel. Of course I was not planning to take the most direct route, and to head off-road a bit to see some good National Parks along the way.  After 2 days of driving across the Nullabor (the tree less plain) I stopped at a roadhouse for the night as it was Friday night and thought I would go to the pub and an interesting chat having not spoken to anyone and was going crazy just listening to my ipod all day in the car. I ended up meeting two backpackers (Dutch and English) whose car had broken down at the previous roadhouse. They had to leave it behind only to the roadhouse owners delight. I am sure that he would fix it and use it again much to the distress of the super tight dutch backpacker who had planned to live in the car for the coming few months. Ha ha ha I thought, they had been too tight to get it checked out at a garage even though it had smelt pretty bad of oil for the last few weeks and somehow the gearbox had blown. Hardly a surprise. 

I decided to give them a lift, as far as Esperance in Western Australia but after 2 hours I realized that the English guy was really nice and the Dutch guy was a tight arsed stingy backpacker who had not got the whole point of traveling. As I had come from the oyster capital of Australia, I thought I would share some of my world class oysters with them. The english guy tried one and made a big fuzz and face of how discussing it was. However, good on him for trying. The Dutch guy refused to even try it.... sometimes I wonder why people travel if they are not open for new experiences, at least give it a go. 

We drove on pretty rough dirt tracks all day and camped out at a salt-lake in the Cape Arid National Park as we could not get to the official campsite before it got dark. Luckily I followed my intuition and stopped as it was getting dark - it’s part of my safety policy to not travel after sunset. The next morning only 2 km from where we had set up camp some German backpackers in a Nissan Patrol 4x4 had got stuck in the mud. Salt lake mud is particularly tricky to get out of and they had absolutely no recovery gear with them..... not much food and water. Basically, not prepared for these remote locations and should not be there.  We where about 250km from the nearest bitumen road, services towing etc. I assisted them with my tow rope and skills. Two Aussie fishermen came to their rescue as well. Following this episode, the fishermen realised that I was on my way to go fishing at this amazing beach and invited me to tag along with them. It was brilliant! We camped with them at night and I went night fishing with them and caught seven 4kg salmons in 2 hours. It was pretty damn good fishing! We even think that we had shark on the hook... let’s just say the fish where biting.

9a Coober Pedy - Roxby Downs - Streaky Bay

For more pics click here: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626419588617/

Having left the boys behind, I did a few of the tourist attractions of Coober Pedy. This town is an interesting place and had definitely had it’s heyday. Now it is pretty run down and lots of drunk aborigines in the city centre shouting abuse to each other. The current situation with the aborigines in Australia is a tragic story and it’s shown very clearly here. I visited the typical tourist attractions including an underground historic home, modern home, old mining museum and underground church. I stayed a night at the underground campsite as I think this is just has to be done in my nerdy camping passion kind of way. 

I head south to a small purpose built mining town Roxby Downs to stay with a guy called Guy who I met on the Oodadatta Track a few weeks earlier. He is a miner in one of the biggest mines in Australia and I thought it would make an interesting place to go and see this town which is very much the opposite of Coober Pedy as this place has the highest average income in South Australia. The town is also like ‘a giant breeding machine’ with the highest birth rates in the country.  As the men go down the mines the women are at home with babies, what else is there to go when you are 300km from a major town? 

I went on the BHPBilliton mine tour and learned that this mine has the potential to be one of the biggest in the world. A few interesting facts I learned... 

1. the mine has underground taxis that take staff around to the various sites. Fancy that jobtitle; Underground Taxi Driver. 
2. over 7,500 pieces of clothing is washed everyday (that is a lot of staff, wonder if they iron them as well.? )
3. the underground cafe is called the Hard Rock Cafe. 
4. If the expansion was to go head which they mentioned, then this mine is to be the size of Sydney Harbor..... OMG, these guys definitely know how to mess with nature. To deal with the potential shortage of water for this mine whey would have to build one of the largest desalination plats of the world.

After a few days in Roxby, I continue through on the dirt tracks to Streak Bay where some of the best oysters in the world are farmed. I had a few lovely few days there just recovering from the outback journey. Guy joined me for a few days. We visited an oyster farm and went fishing and I caught a shovel head shark. As Guy knew the area well, he showed me around to some of the top spots around.  It was nice to not have to research an area and get shown around for a change. 

Week 8 Coober Pedy - Ayres Rock - Coober Pedy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626544295886/
Hung out a few days in Coober Pedy with Dave and Urban, the other two bikers headed off down the coast. As Urban was not in a position to drive his motorbike I suggested to them that Urban could come in Norbert whilst Dave drives his motorbike and that we head North for 5 days whilst Urbs injuries get better and he can get back on the bike. We drove Northto Uluru ( Ayres Rock) and I had a great time. We had some very interesting conversations as both of them were Jehovahs Witness. I learned a bit about their religion and way of life which made some very interesting conversations in the long hours in the car.  

After 2 days of driving we get to ‘the Rock’. OMG it was amazing! Nothing can prepare you for its shear size and presence. We arrived just as the sun was setting and got to see how the rock changes colour and becomes this rich red which makes this rock so famous.  It’s a very touristic place and I guess I was prepared for this having read Bill Brysons book Down Under, but the amount of tourists did not really spoil the experience for me. 

The next morning we got up at 5 to go and see the sunrise from another side of the rock. This time it is equally spectacular and I turn into an paparazzi with my camera. There is no way that this place can get captured with a camera and make it justice. We continued to ‘the Olgas’ another amazing rock formation and find a campsite outside of the park. This place was just as amazing as the rock itself. I would not mind going there again if I would be passing by.... 

It’s took 2 days to drive back to Coober Pedy. I said goodbye to the boys and realise that they are some of the best travel companions that I have had on this trip so far. It’s rare to find people who treat  people with such respect, have lots of fun and laughter and have similar traveling mindset. I hope that I will meet them again sometime. 

Week 7 - Flinders Ranges and Oodnadatta Track

For more pics: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626544315128/




Having left Clare the real adventure began. I was starting to see the red dust more and more often. All the cars I meet are waving at me in an outback kind of way as a way of greeting as you are passing by. I spend the first two nights in Flinders Ranges National Park and thought I would try some 4x4 driving whist I was there as there are some very good tracks here on some properties that are privately owned and operated. I decided to do one of the longest most spectacular tracks of the region called the ‘Sky Trek’. This is 65 km of dirt road which takes you up and over some of the highest peaks of the National Park. I got my satellite phone ready and headed off. The good thing with these private roads is that they come and rescue you if I was to get stuck. :-) I found this very reassuring and set off. It was a hard days driving and the scenery was out of this world, bushland, along rivers, over mountains, and across some plains with some very rare kangaroos on it. 

I finished the day off by cooking dinner for a lovely gray nomad couple who had an electric guitar pedal making business in their caravan. I also met an English couple who where freelance photographers and did family portraits through out the outback. It never stops to amaze me how people make money on the road so that they can travel and get out of the cities.

I checked the weather and the Government website each day as I wanted to find out if the Oodnadatta Track would be open or not. I had been looking forward to travel this legendary outback track for the last few months and thought I would chance it and head North even though the track was closed. Perhaps by the time I got to the beginning of the track the next day it would open up.... I would chance it and headed to Maree. Maree is the main town to go to if you want to get a flight over the enormous salt lake - Lake Eyre. I had a beer in the local hotel when I got there and met a guy at the bar who I convinced to go flying with me the next morning. We spent the afternoon at a hot spring and went to see the dog proof fence. This fence runs for hundreds if not thousands of km to keep the dingoes out of the cattle stations.

The flight over Lake Eyre was magnificent and it had that spectacular pink colour which is created by the algae in the lake. We even saw over 100 pelicans on the lake. At the time I was there the lake was at 80% capacity and this happens about 1/10 years so I was really lucky. The next day I travelled in convoy with a great couple from Sydney who had all the gear and toys with them. At the hot springs, I met four off-road motor bikers who I got chatting to( 3 aussies and 1 swede) . As they where heading the same way as I was,  I asked if I could travel ahead of them just in case I got stranded. After a few km I got to a deep water crossing where I could get through, but not them. No problems for Norbert! So I continued a few km further to get through to William Creek, a cosy outback pub, Population 10 !  I had heard that the ‘ringers’ ( ala cowboys) had been in there the night before for a night out so I wanted to head there and see what that was all about. When I got there, the pub was closed! However, luck was on my side yet again and I got invited into the office of the pilots who runs the tourist flights over Lake Eyre for a burger and a beer. Had quiet dinner with them and went to the pub for breakfast instead. As the river had got down over night, I caught up with the motorcyclists again and we travelled in convoy to the next town Coober Pedy 230 km away. As we were 30 km outside the town, I slow down... I see a motorbike in the bushes. It did not look good. One of the motorcyclists ( the Swedish one) had got the front wheel in a rut and got catapulted over the handle bars at 90km/hr. He was not looking in a good shape and after a long rest we get him to to hospital.  A bruised, ribcage, fractured ribs and a very dodgy shoulder.....  I guess he won’t be riding for a while.

Week 6 - Adelaide and Clare Valley

For more pics see: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626544196178/


Once mum had left me I went to check into a hostel in the city. The friends who lived there had sorted me out with ticket to the Adelaide Fringe Festival. It’s an Aussie version of the Edinburgh Fringe and it was a great experience. We went to see this very rude show from this comedian called A Small Perspective where he videoed himself around town doing various things and capturing peoples reactions. The only thing different about it was that the guy is only 3 ft tall! It was funny and thought provoking, that is for sure. The next 3 days was a long weekend and WOMADelaide festival was in full swing. (World of Music Arts and Dance) I bought a 3 day ticket and went into explore the event. As I am not usually into festivals, I was curious to find out if there was anything I would enjoy. Well, I had a great time! I particularly liked the Chai Tent and sitting around in the afternoon sun watching world bands. I think it had most things that I would want from a festival - clean toilets, interesting shopping, good bands and alternative people. I also bumped into freinds from Melbourne who where there. Small world. 

Having partied hard, I headed North to Clare Valley to see a woman whom I had met at a campsite in Tasmania a few weeks earlier. Helen had invited me to come and stay with her in this well known wine region. She had an Italian wine maker staying with her as well for the vintage season. I had a great time and I helped Helen in the garden with her roses. I also helped to pick two buckets of figs which we then took to one of the top local restaurants and swapped for a lovely afternoon cream tea and a bottle of local wine. I would say that was a good deal! Clare was a lovely town and I felt very much at home. I went for some lovely meals with Helens friends and cooked some dinners at her place which we ate with Fabio when he came home dirty from the wine cellar after his 12 hr shift. His English was somewhat limited but we worked on it and he got much better after just 6 days. I relaxed there for 6 days but was excited about the real adventure of the outback. 

Week 5 South Coast of South Australia

For more pics see this link: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626419457107/




We finally made it into South Australia. I was really excited about going to Robe as this is where I had done my 4x4 driving course and the scenery around this part of the coast is outstanding. We crossed the border into SA and headed to Southend, a very small hamlet (township) right on the coast. Mum went for her first swim as it had been too cold in Victoria to swim (even for her which is unusual). We spent two nice days exploring the Canunda National Park and I took mum off-roading for the first time and we went to across some lovely sand dunes to a remote beach. It was a really nice day out. 

As the weather was getting colder and colder we decided to skip the rest of the coast and head straight up to Yorke Peninsula. 

Innes National Park, Yorke Peninsula

For more pics see: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59119397@N04/sets/72157626419659637/


We checked into a nice caravan park at Port Brougthon and mum got excited of all the amenities that they had - hot showers, BBQ, camp kitchen, TV room, fish cleaning area and even crab cooking! Needless to say, this town is renowned for good fishing so we went to the local supermarket and got some crab nets and put the alarm clock on 6 am for the next morning to try and catch some crabs. As we did not really know what we were doing, we got chatting to some locals who helped us out. It’s amazing how helpful the local aussie people are when they realise that you are a tourist and trying something new. In the end, we ended up with the local town mayor coming to help us out and gave us some gear so that we could catch some crabs. Excellent! We went home with 11 crabs of legal size and must have thrown in a further 70 or so, there was definitely no shortage of crabs. We made some friends on the jetty as well who were also staying at our caravan park. They were also ‘gray nomads’ and they invited us over for a glass of wine at night in their luxury cruiser. This couple had a massive ‘fifth wheeler’ and had sold off their swimming pool business and was how living on the road for 9 months of the year. They even had a boat with them and was heading up to the Northern Territory to go fishing for barramundi, my favorite fish. 

After successful crab fishing we headed to the south tip of the Yorke Peninsula to Innes National Park. This is a very beautiful park and we saw emu on the road as soon as we got into the park. Mum says...... ‘I though emus only existed in the cross words’ - classic! I guess this is Australia and there are some wonderful animals here. We camped for 2 nights in the national park and the one night we got surrounded my bogan (chavs for you english) tattooed tradie aussies who were there on a stag do which made an entertaining evening the other night we had dinner with a very seedy man who I could have done without. We were happy to leave Innes National Park just to get rid of him. 

Before leaving we spent an amazing day on a famous fishing beach and I caught a ‘double header’ ( 2 fish on the same line) of salmon. It was a memorable day. 

Then we headed back to Adelaide to have a final night in a nice restaurant before mums flight back to Sweden. It was nice to get back into a city after the time in the bush and it was sad to see mum leave.