6 am: Perth airport! With just a little sleep, we took the transfer shuttle bus to the city centre, but didn't get too far. The bus, with us two as the only passengers, broke down and had to stop. What a start down under. After having a little chat with the bus driver, we hopped on the next bus taking us down town. Next destination: Catching a power nap in the Rydges Hotel! Regained strength, Antje's Perth shopping tour could begin.
Shop
till ya drop! I was happy there still was some time left for grabbing something
to eat in between. Nah, wasn’t that bad! But there have been some chances to
get rid of too much money. Next morning, we left the hotel and took the next
bus going to 1 Miller Street, home of the Wicked Camper office (and garage).
After waiting 1 hour or so in the queue, we got a skimmed introduction (including
safety induction) in our cars’ handling (i.e. keys, and returning it clean,
otherwise 200 $ fine). Then we saw it, the Mars Attacks vehicle, more colourful
than hippies in the 80’s would have been able to imagine. It was running for
more than 350.000 km already. No night driving allowed, no accidents with
animals involved covered by insurance. Simply said, we’ve bought the reduction
B additional insurance for nothing! I mean, what’s the chance of hitting
another car somewhere in the outback when being happy seeing one single car
after driving for 5 hours straight? Anyway, that little bus was our home (bus,
kitchen, bathroom, sleeping room, dressing room and cupboard at once) for the
next two weeks.
So
we hit the road, first stop: Petrol station – we had to refill the tank due to
cars will be returned empty, or better said: as empty as possible. We went to
Fremantle next, including, guess what, shopping of course! And had some really
tasty fish ‘n’ chips. We went further south, and found a suitable spot near the
beach. At 7 pm, it was already getting dark and the first night somewhere
between mangroves and sand was awaiting us. With having no light, things to do
were limited. Advantage: Getting up earlier than usual. We took a walking tour
on the Busselton jetty (1,8 km one way) and got sunburned, although we’ve put
sunscreen on! The perfect beaches didn’t help to get some protection.
After
staying on a National Park campground we decided to visit the Grand Cave, a
self-exploring cave. Being there quite early (not even the ranger has arrived),
we read the information board. It sounded promising. We got a hard hat and a
torch, each of us. Then we stepped down the main entrance hall. Walking a few
steps further, we found ourselves in total darkness (when having the torch
switched off). Kinda scary. The path was getting narrower until we had to crawl
though such a little gap where people easily could get stuck. We had to climb
then, up and down again a bit later, sometimes with the help of a rope, if
there was one. Some 60 minutes later, we were happy to see the sunlight again.
Quite adventurous and cool!
Time
to go on then. Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.
And Hamelin Bay, diving with huge 2m sting rays, which got as close as touching
distance. I expected them to be more rough, more solid. They’d rather feel like
jelly.
In Pemberton,
we climbed the Gloucester and Bicentennial Tree. They stuck metal steel pipes
in the trunk, which leads you, by following step by step, to the tree top and
an extraordinary lookout. Everything on your own risk, no safety stuff, if you
slip, you fell deep, depending on the level where you’re at. Still so much
worth it.
The
tree top walk in the Valley of the Giants was listed as next highlight. And
beaches: Conspicuous Cliffs, Greens Pool, Ocean Beach, Frenchman Bay and Goode
Beach Torndirrup National Park, just to name a few. One of them needs to be
mentioned separately: Little Beach in the Two Peoples National park – white
sand, blue-greenish water, idyllic and remote. More than beautiful.
We
left Albany (eat a Burger at Dylans on the terrace, it’s a must) and went
north, passed Porongurup National Park and the Stirling Range before getting
caught by going on straight roads for hundreds of kilometres. A little rest was
needed and we stopped in Ravensthorpe, had to shop something for dinner
(pre-boiled rice and Indian butter chicken sauce) and noticed, when starting
the engine again, the oil warning notification lamp was illuminated. Saturday,
5 pm. Shops won’t be open that long out there. We didn’t have many options. One
of them was going back to the petrol station and asked for the oil the car was
using. Luckily, they didn’t sell any of those we needed. Instead, they sent us
back to the supermarket where we were just coming from. Running around in
circles. But at least they had the stuff, in a 5 litre plastic tank. The camper
van (we called him Hitchy) was thirsty, swallowing 2 litres at once. And this
kept us going on.
The next
morning, we entered Fitzgerald River National Park. The beaches were wide and
white sanded. With no one else there than us. Still, a strange feeling was a
side effect. And as a brown-black snake was suddenly showing up right next to
me, looking at me, holding in and moving forward then finally, it was time to
find the way to the final destination: Esperance!
I’ve
never seen beaches like that. Shallow water, for some hundred metres,
crystal-clear water, blue saturated, fine white sand all over the place, with
kangaroos picking up grass leaves. The postcards sold everywhere were true;
they represent how it really is. I didn’t believe so, but that’s how it really
is. All this topped everything up. A lovely place to stay a couple of days – or
a couple of days longer.
Every time we entered the car, this sticker reminded us kindly what to do before hitting the road again. Thanks Wicked!!!
The sunsets were amazing, one of the highlights travelling along the west coast.
There
almost was nothing on the way back to Perth. One attraction only, one thing to
see: The wave rock. It’s about a hundred metres long, 10 – 15 m high and the
rest of a stone formation the wind didn’t blow away. Quite impressive, as the
whole country is.
Thank god
it’s Monday. This must have been the thought of my boss looking for someone
going to Estonia as soon as possible. I got the permission from the project,
booked flight and hotel and the next morning, I was on my way to Tallinn and
Rakvere later that night, going even more east. The converter station site had
an outage for two days (i.e. it’s switched off completely for maintenance
reasons) and the customer wanted to get some things done. We were there to
change some thyristors and fibre optics, visual checks of the three valve
towers included. The job went smooth and they brought the link back into
operation Thursday night.
