Wednesday 14^th March, 2012

We got up already at 6am as a long day was waiting for us. First I called my travel agency in Sydney to tell them about our problem with Apollo. Allegedly we were unfortunate. They look now how Apollo may compensate us for the lost time. We just passed Kalbarri as we had already booked the camping in Monkey Mia. We will come back later. We drove a never-ending road through the outback to the Hamelin Pool and visited the stromatoliths. At the rocks there was an emu accompanying us. As we watched the shore we observed tourists walking on these living rocks which is forbidden. I think they also do not like to be kicked in the face! On the way back to the camper I saw a kangaroo jumping away, but not without shortly stopping for a picture. It was 40° C in the shadow and the heat made us tired. So we decided to drive without stop to Monkey Mia. There arrived we made first a break and drunk litres of water. In the resort emus were walking around. Towards the later afternoon we drove to the Francois Peron National Park. Only 4WDs are allowed on this road and the it got more and more sandy. We got a bad feeling and turned. As soon as we had turned the car we became stuck in the sand. Luckily there are saving angels. Two kind Australians explained us, that we should have let off air from the tires. Somehow we did not consider a sign at the entrance. They helped us and then they followed us until the park entrance. Somehow we cannot do it without adventures.

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.