Laurita

hello everybody

how are you?
greetings from Western Australia (WA), Perth
i'm here at Christina's place, the girl who lived in Plutolaan in the Netherlands in the same room as me but a year later
i met her, when i went back to visit Groningen in Oct when i lived in Maastricht
and now, 2 and something years later we meet up again in Perth (after shortly seeing her as well in Maastricht!)
so funny
and she is just my oasis after the 5 weeks of camping and moving lots, it is so good to be in someone's home and she is such great company
i enjoy my time here

well, about my trip:
I did leave Melbourne with Mat on that friday the 29th of feb
it was raining and cold and it was really time to leave melbourne apparently
we headed down the great ocean road (again.. heheh) to cape otway, where we camped the first night at blanket bay
really nice spot and we met some fishermen there and a few backpackers (belgium and swiss girls) and sat around the fire all night
they had a guitar and i played a bit after a long time of not playing
it was really great
guitars just go so well with camp fires :P

we saw the 12 apostels again, but did quite a lot of stuff west of that, that i hadnt seen yet, so that was actually pretty cool
we stayed the night in Glenelg NP at a river, really beautiful camp spot and met some other people there
always good conversations and sharing the fire
it was really cold though at night, i was freezing
thanks for your sleeping bag, Marie, I used it additionally to my other 2 :D lol

then we crossed the border to South Australia (SA) and finally i was in new territory
i hadnt been down the south coast of SA yet
so we went to Mt gambier and saw the magnificent blue lake (which is just really incredibly blue!!!!) and a few sink holes around that area, that used to be caves and collapsed

from there we went to our first wwoofing farm, Pete's fish farm
it was a really nice place with friendly people
they operated as a hostel as well for backpackers who worked in the orchards around picking fruit
so it was a busy place with some french canadians, german, taiwanese and japanese
learned a bit about taiwan, its history and so on, which was really interesting
so ignorant of us in europe to neglect all that part of the world so much at school, where we are learning 30000 times about the 2nd world war and stuff but only all the things happening over in europe
well, anyway, we did a lot of catching fish, gutting them, washing them and hanging them in the smoker and after we left we knew quite a bit more about fish than we did before
as a present we got 2 smoked fish to take with us and had the best camping meal that night
like kings :P
we continued cause we realized that we still had SUCH A LONG WAY TO GO (look at the map and u will see that even melbourne to adelaide is not very far compared to all the way we had to go to perth - and we werent even in adelaide yet)
camped at the Granites which was a beautiful spot right at the beach and sat at the dunes at night to watch the sunset and i went for a run in the morning on the beach and then a swim, and it was as if i was the first person to ever set foot on that beach
it just felt so new, so untouched, just incredible

then we got to Adelaide and all the accomodation was booked as there were about 7 festivals on at the same time
well, SA, the festival state, thats what it says on their number plates as well - now i know why...
we got a site in a caravan park outside of perth in the adelaide hills in a german village, called Hahndorf
really everything there was just so german, it was really funny
went to some of the wineries there and then into the city
the coolest thing about adelaide that i remember was the light constellations they had at north terrace, where they were shining all these different colours and patterns on these old buildings and lots of people came to watch
it was definitely something different
had never seen anything like it before
another funny thing about adelaide was that we ran into the same people all the time
i mean, adelaide is big, there about 1 million people living there, but we kept on meeting the same people all over the place in different spots all over town
how weird and random???

after adelaide we were on our way to port augusta and stopped at port germein and port pieri and went for a swim
port germein has the longest wooden jetty in whole australia, about 1,6 km long
it was fantastic out there
we camped near the road, which was not that great as trucks went past all night and even the train went by, so we heard all those noises, but it was difficult to sleep anyway, cause it was so HOT
we went thru the wwoof book and decided on which places we wanted to go to

the drive down Eyre peninsula to Port lincoln was just incredible HOT HOT HOT
it must have been like 50 degrees in the car, the water in our bottles was boiling, but we jsut forced ourselves to drink to not dehydrate
but it was difficult
we went for a swim, but were sweating just right away again
once we got to the campground at lincoln national park where Dean and Shamaya (i travelled with them thru the desserts last year down from alice springs back to victoria) were already waiting for us, i was about to die
but that places was just magic
we stayed in lincoln np 4 nights, so we had some time to relax and finally BE in one place again for a change, cause we were moving so much, we never got to really BE anywhere really
and it was great catching up with dean and shamaya as well
we went swimming a lot and did a bit of body boarding, sat around and talked and did a whole lot of nothing, which just felt awesome
tuesday we went for a run to coffin bay np and a bit around lincoln as well, saw huge sand dunes that shamaya and me climbed up and down until he lost one of his thongs and got bogged in really deep sand so we had to let the tyres down and pump them up after wards again
a REAL adventure
some serious 4 wheel driving!!!!!

it was hard to say bye on thursday, but it was time to move on
that drive up to Ceduna was probably the worst day of driving of the whole trip
it had about 40 degrees, a hot north wind was blowing and we went to visit the thalia caves at the sea that someone had told us about
8 km down a dirt road and when we got there we just thought we were in the middle of the dessert
the heat and the sand, the hot wind... it is hard to explain what it is like
for sure really unpleasant and u can imagine that people die in that heat
it is like a fist comes down from the sky and smashes u to the ground
it was nearly unbearable
we made it up to Streaky bay where we swam in a shark cage they had at the jetty and went to a little museum where they had a replica of the biggest white shark they had caught in the waters just in front of streaky bay
u dont wanna meet that shark out there in the water, i m serious!!!!
it made it appearently into the book of record
just massive!!!

we spent the night at Laura bay conservation park, which we really only had to see because of the name and then it turned out to be the worst camp spot ever, cause there were so many flies as long as it was still sunlight (they were crawling into ur nose, ears, mouth, just EVERYWHERE) and once it got dark there were so many mosquitos, it was just crazy
speaking of which, late at night there were some crazy young people coming out there from town, drunk, and doing their burnies there, so freaked us out a bit, but after a few they luckily just left us in all the dust they had stirred up and that was it

from Ceduna all the way to Norseman in WA crossing the border is what they call the 'nullarbor' (latin for 'no trees')
it includes australia's longest straight road (146km without a bend)
and goes thru really dry and desserty kinda country
it was 2 solid days of driving, about 700 km's on that first day
the cliffs around there are amazing and we stopped at a couple of lookouts, but other than that we were just driving
we crossed the border and got into a weird kinda in between time zone, between SA time and WA time, so at all the road houses and petrol stations and other little stops where there were shops they always had 3 clocks with the different times
very confusing
i bought a sticker for the laser saying 'i crossed the nullarbor', which has paid off already, as lots of tourist had a look at it near Albany later on and couldnt believe that that car made it across the nullarbor (the laser was the biggest attraction in that national park.. hahahah)

all the 'towns' along the nullarbor were really only road houses with about 3 to max 10 people living there
it was fascinating
really different

then something really funny happened
i had tried to get in touch with 2 friends of mine, Michael and Sharon, who i worked with at gemtree, the caravan park in the outback, when i was near adelaide, cause that's where they live
but it happened that i drove into that little roadhouse on the second day in the morning and walked into the shop and there they were, looking after that roadhouse and working there.. they had no reception, so i couldnt call them
australia is such a small place
not in respect of size of country, no, not at all.. thats one thing i learned (again) from this drive
but in respect of running into people
you always meet people everywhere - and even ones that you KNOW!!!
so i had a good chat with them and then we continued with new certificates that we got from them, saying we crossed the nullarbor :)

once we got to Norseman the country changed a lot and it wasnt as dry anymore
we found a great spot for the night near a dry salt lake where there was nobody else and just SLEPT
the next day we arrived in Esperance, which i had heard a lot about before and it was just like coming to paradise
especially after the dessert of the nullarbor
we had a look around esperance and then went out to cape le grand national park
which was just amazing
voted australia's most beautiful beaches around there we ended up in Lucky bay camping for 2 nights
lots of islands just off the shore and some nice people around there
we met Paul and Mary, had a few beers and nice chats and the next day I climbed Frenchman's peak with Paul
the views from there were breath taking
I liked Paul's comment on the view: 'why would anyone wanna have a TV (no matter how many inches), if you can have this?'
we went for a swim and another walk in the afternoon and another swim
as you can tell, life is really hard :P

from esperance we headed further west to Albany, camped the night just 20 km before Albany at Norman's beach, a camp spot tucked away under paper barks on a river inlet - magic!!!
in the morning i went for another run on the beach and had a bath in the river
we spent the day in Albany, going to the big wind farm there, had some squid in the marina and went down to the np just south to see the gap and the natural bridge, rock formations on the coast

that night we slept in a bed again :) so good!!!!
we arrived in Denmark in the afternoon at the Mia Mia co opperative housing community
Basil and Nikki were our hosts on that wwoof farm for the next week
we did some weeding at the center for sustainable living, went to the wetland educational center they had there and cleared the forest from debry
easter was a great time to be in denmark and be part of that vibrant community
so much was on
an arts exhibition of an east timorese artist, Maria Madeira, who was present at the opening and told lots of stories to her paintings
i never learned so much about a country in such a short time!!!!

parts of the brave new works art festival were also a songwriter's evening, the opening at the visitor center with wine tasting and food tastings and bands playing
easter sunday we had off, went for a walk around the wetlands and then Mat and me got the bikes and went for a bike ride at the wilson's inlet
it was so interesting staying at Basil's and Nikki's place cause on friday we got to be part of a shabbat shalom friday evening celebrations as they were jewish (my apologies to everyone jewish, if i spelled that wrong.. i still dont know much/ enough about Judaism... but i m learning!)

tuesday we moved on from Denmark to Walpole, just about 60 km further west but a bit more inland
thats where the Valley of the Giants is, the biggest trees and such an ancient forest
we went to one last wwoofing farm there
the Deep River Ecological Community was our home for another few days
Mike & Penney were great hosts, they were spoiling us :)
we stayed in a railway carriage that was nicely made up and really cosy
deep end was also home to 5 pet kangaroos that we used to bottle feed in the mornings and evenings
after work we went to do the tree top walk in the valley of the giants and saw some massive tingle trees and karri trees, beautiful old really big trees that had a real mystic feeling about them
the next day Mike took us for a walk around their shared property
it was a 3 (!!) hour hike thru all different kinds of bush and past a few old houses where the hippies who first came to the property used to live
it was like a journey thru space and time
and Mike just knew everything about everything (well, he is the president of the historical society)
one of the stories he told us:
apparently rednecks from walpole used to drive past the community back in the days when they lost their jobs because they stopped all he logging and they shut down the mills and they used to shoot into the property
how crazy? people can be so awful...

anyway, we learned a lot about the local history and Mike took us on a 4WD trip thru the nearby forest and down to the beach for some fishing and to see the sunset
they were just the best hosts!!!

from Walpole we didnt have far to go to Perth anymore
we went inland thru Pemberton, where we climbed the highest tree top lookout in the world on the Biencenntial tree
that was up on 75 m height, climbing pegs around and around higher and higher.. it was pretty scary!!! and the cabin up in the top of the tree was moving... even I'm not scared of heights that WAS pretty close to scaring me, no serioulsy: I totally freaked out, but i still made it to the top
:)

we went bushwalking around that area and did some pretty good, long walks
good exercise!!
once we got lost and couldnt find our way back anymore
so we were looking for our footprints until we finally managed to find them and find back to the track
getting lost is always fun...

it started raining when we were in a town called Manjimup (lots of places around that whole south-west area end with '-up' (Nannup, Yallingup, Kudardup, Gnarabup, Wilyabrup,...)
it is aboriginal for 'place'

it rained for a solid 24 hours which is not nice when you are camping
luckily we met some very friendly people, Tom & Therese, at our campspot in Alexandra bridge... they invited us to sit under their tab, so we didnt get wet
and then they even cooked up a nice meal and invited us to eat with them
so instead of having a real miserable evening sitting in the car and waiting for it to get dark, so we could go to sleep in the not water proof tent, we had a lovely evening and a good feed (well, the curry we had was really hot and i m not the best person handling hot food, but i just couldnt refuse it, even i was crying, my eyes/nose everything was running and my mouth burning..)

In Augusta we met Paul again who spent the next few days travelling with us
we went to see the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian and the southern ocean meet
we took the next 4 days to explore the whole area between the two capes, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturalist
there are all these beautiful beaches, great forest, lots of caves underground and the town of margaret river
we went to 2 of the caves and had our own little adventure exploring them, as it was a self guided cave, so we only got helmets and torches and off we went
it was amazing and we really took our time and saw all kinds of really interesting stuff
Giants caves were so exciting, we had to crawl thru little openings between the rocks, clim ladders and so on
real good value!!!!

friday after having had jaffles (=sandwiches u put in an iron and heat them over fire... just soooo yummy!!!!) for lunch, we said bye to paul and headed further north
we camped north of Bunbury, only about 2 hours from Perth
it started raining again, so we stopped all our sightseeing and went straight to perth
i dropped Mat in Rockingham, just a bit south of Perth, where i also met Mick, a friend of mine who i met in gemtree a year ago
i continued to perth and arrived at Christina's place saturday afternoon
you simply CANNOT imagine how good the hot shower felt after such a long time (you dont wanna know how long we were going without a shower!!!)

now my time here is over already again
we had a great time together, got to know each other much better and might even travel up north together for a bit once i get back from cape york in far north queensland where i am heading now
i ll fly out of perth on thurday, Dave is gonna pick me up in Carins friday and then we will drive up the cape to Archer River (Cape York Peninsula is the area where i stayed last year up on that little tropical island near the aboriginal community and so on, u remember?)
from there we will take a boat down the archer river, do some fishing and hunting and adventuring around and make our way down to the sea and then up along the coast to weipa
the whole trip is gonna last about 2 weeks and we will camp along the way, next to the crocodile rivers (thinking about it I must admit I'm getting a bit scared, but as Dave used to be a crocodile hunter back in the days I feel kinda quite secure... just hoping no croc will come and get me out of my tent... *fingers crossed*)

well, yeah, these are my last adventures and my new plans
the time in perth was way too short
i did have a look around freemantle for a little bit, went to an asian food festival with indian music and stuff (very interesting!!!) and monday Sandy (the sea kayaker lady who we rescued from a croc up on the island last year) took me for a trip with a double seated sea kayak to penguin and seal island just off the coast
really amazing trip
yesterday i just ran around town getting stuff done and today packing and finally finishing this monster of an email
i dont know if anybody is gonna be able to read this
if you managed to make it to the end, as always: my respect!!! :) lol

i think about all of you a lot
sorry i havent written for a long time

there are new photos here as well
i wasnt able to upload all of them yet (unfortunately) but there are some to have a look at from the first weeks of the melbourne to perth trip
enjoy them!

all right, send u all my love and hope u are all good
take care, enjoy life and try to be good, if you can't, be safe :P

love ya
big hugs and kisses
yours Laura

PS: when up in far north queensland i wont have reception with my phone and no access to the internet for a while
but i cant wait to come back and read your replies
miss ya!!!!!