Tuesday 27^th March, 2012

In the morning at 8am Sandra wanted to exchange a book at the camping reception, but it was still closed. We thought they maybe have changed to winter time here in Western Australia without us knowing it. We knew from former Australia visits that the time changes can be different in each federal state. I asked at a petrol station and learnt that Western Australia does not change the time. Relieved we drove to Beekeepers Nature Reserve to see the salt lake. The salt shimmers in the light like snow. Left and right of the road is a huge area of salt. Then we drove with a few stops to Yanchep National Park. On the way we saw a grass tree with eight seed sticks. That we have not seen so far. At Yanchep National Park we first booked a guided tour to the flowstone cave. On the way to the cave I observed two Kookaburras in the tree. After watching them for a while we went into the flowstone cave. I was interesting to hear how they develop. We could touch a broken down peace of the rock. It looks like ice, gleams in the light, but feels like stone. After the tour we went to the Koala colony. We saw a few of them sleeping. In the same trees there were many, many black and white cockatoos. They made a huge noise and were flying around all the time. As it was already after 3pm we wanted also to see the kangaroos. Here in the park there should live some Western Grey Kangaroos. As we did not met any on our walk I wanted to go back to the Koalas. This was a good decision then one of them walked down the tree to get to the fodder. We watch it very long and had then do decide what we want to do now as we still did not see any kangaroos. I called the camping of Midland and reserved a place as we wanted to drive there today anyway. Immediately after the kangaroos passed jumping. We were fascinated by these animals which did not let themselves disturb by humans. Then we drove to Midland to pass our last night in the camper. In the camping we did not find immediately our place as we did not see any numbers. A kind man explained that they stand on the side of the road and we realized that his car is standing at our place. We put our camper so that his car fitted beside it. In the evening we started to put our stuff together.

Saturday 17^th March, 2012

Shortly before sunrise we awoke as I wanted to take pictures of the sunrise. But according to Sandra I was not allowed to get back inside of the camper. Already inside I heard the flies buzzing and when I went outside I was surrounded by some of them. Now I understood Sandra's warning. Soon we continued driving and enjoyed the morning atmosphere around us. Far ahead a kangaroo crossed the road. Our first destination was Carnavon, a seemingly nice town. Unfortunately the road was under construction in the center. We enjoyed a breakfast and went shopping and filling up fuel. Then we drove to the blowholes where a nice coast awaited us. The blowholes produce only small fountains as the tide was not yet in. We thus decided to drive to Lake Macleod, a salt lake. After we came back again to the blowholes, but now the fountains were gone. After the next fuel stop we drove to Coral Bay. While driving I saw some strange rocks and asked Sandra, if they might be termite mounds. With some distance, we did not know if these animals attack, we made a few pictures of them. Later we saw a emu crossing the road, good luck we did not need to slam on the brakes. In Coral Bay we were looking for a camping. Unfortunately we could not rent snorkel equipment for today anymore, thus we have to wait until tomorrow. Shortly before sunset we took a refreshing bath in the sea. For the sunset I was back at the shore, but Sandra stayed in the water. During dinner we go a show as a silly German remove this clothes and run from the kitchen. I did not really see it as it was behind my back, but Sandra had a VIP place.

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.