Tuesday 13^th March, 2012

A bit before 7am we got up and made us ready as we should soon be picked up. We waited until 8pm and nothing happened. Sandra called again Apollo and nothing was organised yet. After a few more calls the Roadside Assistance was here again and brought us to he garage. After an hour sitting there we learnt that we could not continue with this camper. So the next odyssey with Apollo started. To pass the time we visited David of the Roadside Assistance and sat about three hours in his office. We learnt that he not only organises tows. On the carpark there are stolen cars which were inspected by a police officer. We experienced a young annoyed lady which had to pay a lot to get her car back. The reason for the withdrawal was that someone else was driving with her licence and her car. This had caused 28 days without car and a fee for the “parking”. The original plan of Apollo was that we should exchange the car in the evening at the garage. But this met David's opposition as it can get dangerous in the industrial area after the business hours. So David negotiated with Apollo that we are brought back to the camping and will do the exchange there. Apollo paid us the taxi to the town and so we visited the HMAS Sydney Memorial. The warship left Geraldton before it was sank by a German warship. 625 men had died and that many steel seagulls form a hemisphere. Another woman figure looking at the sea and waiting for the husband is also part of the memorial. Then Apollo was calling and told us that the driver would be a bit later and we got now a camper for 4 persons. Then the driver called and said that he will arrive at about 10:30pm. We were not very fond as we wanted to get up early the next morning. As we had more time we stayed in the town for dinner. As soon as we were back at the camping, the driver called and told us that he is at the entrance. So we had to pack fast and move our stuff. The new one is the same model as the old one. Tomorrow we will have a close look and document everything ss we did not have a proper handover.

Monday 12^th March, 2012

Today we got up early as the garage to fix the camper opens at 8am. Shortly after we were there. No surprise that they did not know anything about us. Also we explained our problem and that they should have been contacted by Apollo. Steve mentioned something like “again an Apollo”. He told that it is normal that campers have to be fixed as I asked if they have often Apollos to repair. Steve called the Apollo office and told them that the problem was not caused by us. We finally continued our voyage by 10am. In Northhampton we had a late breakfast and did some sightseeing. Interesting was a catholic church and an old monastery. The church is from the same architect as the one in Geraldton. Some aspects, like the construction material, are similar to the cathedral. As the doors were closed we thought that we could not visit it. We asked at the information office and they told us to go to the school at the back of the church. There we found a kind lady which opened the door for us. Then we looked at the former monastery which is now used as hotel. We drove then to the small coast village Horrocks. We continued as there was not much to see. A gravel road brought us to the main road which leads to Port Gregory. Back at the main road Sandra had a problem with the clutch and could not change the gears well anymore. So we drove in the third gear to Port Gregory. We wanted to get to Kalbarri and let the car check there. On the side of the read there was a salt lake with little water. The water was rose and smelled not very nice. To get back to the main road we had take 500 meters of gravel road. At the end Sandra could not start driving again. As soon as we had the warning lights on an opened the hood a farmer stopped. He also tried to start and told us that the clutch is broken. He was so kind to call Apollo to explain them the problem. He left us after he was sure we had enough water. We got his mobile number and he invited us to wait on the farm. After the first phone call with Apollo we believed that we had to wait only for an hour and thus we stayed in the shadow of the camper. During the next 3.5 hours there were many calls between us and Apollo, Apollo and the Roadside Assistance and finally between the Roadside Assistance and us. We were very disappointed about Apollo as they often made empty promises and did not update us about the current state. But from the Roadside Assistance we got informed regularly about the current situation. Mainly David from the office in Geraldton did his best to free us from this situation. At 4pm our vehicle loaded to the tow truck and we god freed from the nagging flies. Greg drove us back to Geraldton and unloaded it at the camping. Originally we should go to another camping, but the guys from the Roadside Assistance called Apollo and explained that that one is too dangerous for two ladies. Beside the stress we had some fascinating experiences. The Australians are very helpful. A car stopped and told us that we are camping on an access road. We explained our situation and it was good. We even found a tree on which mussels are growing. And finally we now know that in Australia even in the shadow there is sunburn danger. For the end of the day we watched a very beautiful sunset. How this will work out, we do not know yet. Tomorrow at 7:45pm we will be picked up and brought to a garage.

Sunday 11^th March, 2012

This night was better than yesterday. Sandra called again the Apollo hotline as had not been called back from them by 9:30am. We learnt that there was no note left from yesterday and on Sunday there is nobody available to have a look at it. We insisted that this was promised us yesterday evening. First he told us we were not allowed to continue, but he also did not want to provide us with a rental car for a day. Our problem that we have a problem in the weekend and we have to wait for next day. We got the repair address and we will go there tomorrow morning. The explained also how we should fasten the roof with a special system. Thanks to the help of the camping manager we realised that it was a clamping set. So we drove to by one. A huge shopping mall for construction material was open even on Sunday. The best thing about the clamping set is that I had told Sandra yesterday that we had got one for Christmas. After we drove about 10 km back as we had seen there a few laying trees. We took pictures of a very beautiful one. This kind of laying trees exist only in Western Australia. After we visited an animal park with local animals. I made a few blurred pictures from the animals and the according sign to know the individual parrots are named correctly.

After a short lunch break we drove to the St. Francis Xaver Cathedral. First we watched the Spanish style cathedral from the outside. An interesting and beautiful building on which many parrots were sitting. We went inside and Sandra asked if it is a catholic one. I told her that I had read in the travel guide something different. But the holy water at the entrance irritated me a bit, but the picture of the pope made clear that it is catholic. It was also interesting from the inside and had many nice windows. The parrots on the roof created a sound as if someone was walking there. Finally we went back to the camping and tried to put the clamping set. We put a washcloth below to avoid scratches on the finish. Shortly before the sunset we walked to the light house and then to the beach. We observed a wonderful sunset.

Saturday 10^th March, 2012

After a night with little sleep, it was loud and could, we went northwards. First we drove a bit back as I had seen a road sign pointing to stromatoliths (living rocks). A sand road leads to Lake Theatis and the stromatoliths and we raised a lot of dust. A short path and boardwalk lead to the stomatoliths. We saw those rocks formed by micro organisms partially in the water and partially on the land. When we arrived a cormorant flew away. We hoped he would return as he would be nice on a photo. How should it be, after a while the bird came back. Our trip led with short photo stops to Jurie Bay. Here we granted our feet a cool bath in the sea. At time there is often a warm wind which makes the temperature more bearable, but we do not feel then how strong the sun is burning. On the way I stopped shortly to take pictures of trees which were partially burned from the last bush fire. When leaving the car I hit a wall of heat. We decided to drive to Geraldton As it was already late afternoon. At the tourist information we realized that the roof of the car was not completely closed. A closer look revealed that a clamp was missing. With the help of a ladder we saw that the moveable strut was bent and thus the roof could not anymore be closed completely. Many bird voices accompanied us on this carpark. In the trees we saw many white parrots. After we went directly to the camping to stay there overnight. The owner gave us the hint to immediately call Apollo and to explain the problem. Sandra called as her English is better. They explained us that it is too late to send someone to have a look. The office would contact us tomorrow. With a fine dinner and Australian wine we finished this evening.

Friday 9^th March, 2012

Short after 10am we went with the bus to the Apollo rental office. Because of a huge building site along the road some of the bus stops were closed. So we had to walk with all our luggage for about 30 minutes. The stress continued at the rental office. All forms were filled out and we should deposit the deposit. As I have already an insurance for the excess in case of an accident, I had to deposit CHF 7500. Already back in Switzerland I had told this to my bank and they had raised the limit. But it did not work. I guess the monthly limit was raised, but not the daily limit. So we had to pay for an insurance to reduce the deposit. After we tried all credit cards and the system played up, we got to see th Camper. OK, 4WD is cool, but I realized that it has to be shifted manually. Good luck I am already used to drive left so I could concentrate myself on shifting the gears. Now our trip to the west coast could start. First we went shopping. I was lucky to find a nice tasting spelt toast as I cannot eat wheat. Our destination for today was the Nambung National Park. Occasionally we stopped and enjoyed the landscape. At the beginning we saw many grass trees. It looked great. In the late afternoon we reached Nambung National Park. Here are the Pinnacles, most long and pointy rocks standing straight. We passed these rocks on a sandy road. The sun was already deep, the best time for pictures. We made many. At the end of the circle road Sandra realized that there is another road leaving from this one. So we went there and this was a good idea. There live emus and they enjoyed themselves close to the road. Then we had to rush to not let the sunset pass as the light shining very nice at the rocks. After dinner at the carpark of the National Park Sandra went again to the Pinnacles to take picture with moonlight, meanwhile I enjoyed the bright moon. Then we drove another 30 minutes in the dark to Cervantes. The reception of the camping was already closed, but a sign said that we may ring on the door of the next house until 20:30. A look at the watch said that we had exactly 4 minutes left. We had luck and got a place to stay overnight.