A Sudden End

 

English:
We were in a remote place near Goomalling (between Perth and Kalgoorlie) where we wanted to explore some rare rock formations. There we realized that we had to travel home to sort out some problems that were in fact more important than the completion of our trip.  It took 7 days to travel the 4300km back home through some very hot and windy conditions.


Giant Gumtree

The Eyre Highway was the most remarkable part. It is a long road that leads from Norsemen in Western Australia to Port Augusta in South Australia. 


I'm as thirsty as a goat.

 It covers a distance of 1664km and runs through the treeless Nullarbor Plain (Latin Null-Arbor=Zero Trees), along the Great Australian Bight.
Daytime temperatures around 45°C caused some sweat beads on my forehead, and hot wind at 40-50km/h shook our top heavy setup a bit.

Endless Wheat Fields for hundreds of kilometers



We were surprised to see that the Nullarbor plain is in fact only a small part of this long road; The rest of it goes through a mixture of mallee shrub (low bushland) and some tall gum trees.

It was in fact 146.6512km of straight, to be precise.

From Port Augusta the road went through some beautiful hills and huge wheat farms past Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Bourke, Walgett, Goondawindi and Warrick, to name some of the larger outback towns. 

The Birthday Baby... this year it's on the road.

The Gold Coast is a harsh contrast to what we had seen in the past 5 months and will take some getting used to. 

No level ground.. 

I am sure we will soon continue the trip and eventually make it around Oz. Thanks for following our travel blog!

The Great Australian Bight. GPS showed 196m elevation. Note the Camper on the left.

 Deutsch:  Ein ploetzliches Ende

Wir waren in einem abgelegenen Ort in der Nähe von Goomalling (zwischen Perth und Kalgoorlie), wo wir einige seltene Felsformationen erkunden wollten.

Airstrip for the Flying Doctors ahead...

This is the actual aircraft run way.

Es wurde uns dort klar, dass wir zu Hause ein paar Dinge aussortieren mussten, die in der Tat wichtiger waren als unsere Reise. Es dauerte 7 Tage, um die 4300km zurück nach Hause zu fahren, und es war fast ununterbrochen extrem heiss und windig.



Apostle Birds are the cutest things in the outback!
They always want to communicate and show off
whenever they catch a grasshopper or a moth.

Der Eyre Highway war der bemerkenswerteste Teil der Reise. Es ist eine lange Straße, die von Northman in Western Australia nach Port Augusta in Südaustralien führt. 

Next round about 1164km and only 3643km left to travel.

Der 1664km lange Highway fuehrt durch die baumlose Nullarbor Plain (Latein Null-Arbor = Kein Baum) am Great Australian Bight (Suedkueste) entlang


Finally sand dunes on the horizon!! Still 45°C and windy.

Tagestemperaturen um 45 °C verursachten kleine Schweißperlen auf meiner Stirn, und heißer Wind um die 40-50km/h schüttelte unseren Camper ein weing.


Yes, I know!

Wir waren überrascht zu sehen, dass die Nullarbor Plain tatsaechlich nur ein kleiner Teil dieses langen Highways ist; Der Rest geht durch eine Mischung aus Mallee Gebuesch (niedriges Buschland) und einigen hohen Eukalytusbäumen.


'Double Story Tree'... as we called them.

Von Port Augusta fuehrt die Straße durch einige schöne Hügellandschaften und riesige Weizenfarmen, durch Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Bourke, Walgett, Goondawindi und Warrick, um einige der größeren Outbackorte zu nennen.


Outback Toilet Humor

Die Gold Coast ist ein harter Kontrast zu dem, was wir in den letzten 5 Monaten gesehen hatten und es dauert etwas um sich daran zu gewöhnen. Ich bin sicher, dass wir bald weiter reisen und schließlich unsere Australien-Umrundung zu Ende bringen. Vielen Dank für Euer Interesse an unserem  Reiseblog!

Geraldton to Perth

Pinnacle Desert

ENGLISH:
After spending almost an entire day in Geraldton’s shopping centres we headed out east to see the Wildflower Country.

One of 22 wind turbines at Mumbida Wind Farm. The rotor is 100m in diameter and the tips travel at 280km/h. I get dizzy just looking at it. 

Note Tassie on the left end of the blade. Weight is just under 9000kg (the blade, not Tassie). 

Coalseam National Park is supposed to be one of the best places for wildflowers, when you come at the right time.

Unfortunately we missed the best part of this seasonal display by a few weeks, but the everlasting flowers were still impressive.

Near Lake Indoon is a cave that was well worth the 8km stretch of boggy sand and sharp rocks, because the best wildflower display was along this track.

Female Stumpy Tail Lizard wanted to be our pet for a few days

Bees in gigantic hives welcomed us at the cave’s entrance.

The town's pride and joy: These boots were made walking...through the wildflower fields around Mingenew

Back on the west coast is the Pinnacle Desert, a unique sandy landscape that is dominated by hundreds of pinnacle shaped rocks.

Endless salt plains at Yarra Yarra Lakes

Our next destination from here was Perth, where we visited some fellow travelers who we met on our long journey.

Murals depicting colonial Outback Australia

From here we are heading east to explore those less known wave rocks in the wheat belt region between Perth and Kalgoorlie.

The old Shire Council office in Mingenew

DEUTSCH:
Nachdem wir fast einen ganzen Tag in den Shopping Centres von Geraldton verbracht hatten, ging es weiter in das Land der Wildblumen.

Stockyard Cave near Lake Indoon. Thanks again to Joy & Gil for taking us there in their little 'Moon Buggy'!

Coalseam National Park ist angeblich eine der besten Plaetze fuer Wildblumen, wenn man da zur richtigen Zeit ist.

Cave Men..

Leider waren wir ein paar Wochen zu spaet dran, aber die Everlasting Blumen waren auch beeindruckend.

Big scale farming needs big machines.

 In der Naehe von Lake Indoon gibt es eine Hoehle, die es wert ist den 8km langen Sandpfad zu fahren, denn die besten wilden Blumen hatten wir an diesem abgelenen Pfad gesehen.

Pinnacle Desert near Cervantes.

Unser naechstes Ziel war Perth, wo wir ein paar Reisekumpel besucht hatten, die wir unterwegs kennengelernt hatten.

Where there are flowers there are bees.

Von hier aus geht es nun Richtung Osten, um die weniger bekannten Wave Rocks in der Weizenanbau Region zwischen Perth und Kalgoorlie zu sehen.

No idea what this is...