North of Perth

After days searching for the right car to get us around Australia, we found a nice campervan. A white Ford Econovan built in 1999. A German couple really did a good job in optimizing the inside of the car. So we just need a proper name for it. Any idea?

Since the campervan still has to go through a quick check and changing registration to Western Australia, Cynthia, Micha and me decided to travel a bit to the north of Perth with Anke and Pete’s Mazda – the Ambassador. So we packed camping stuff and bought some food and off we went.

Pinnacle Desert was the destination we were heading. Easy to travel on the new Indian Ocean Drive, after 3 hours we first stopped at the campground in Cervantes to set up our tents. Then we went to the Nambung National Park to see the formation of natural limestones known as the Pinnacles.

Practicing with our new camera, Micha took plenty of pictures. Unfortunately it was too cloudy so we decided to come back the next morning – at 5am. We just learned from Pete that some clouds are perfect for the picture because it defuses the light but too many. Well you also need some light otherwise the pictures get quite dark. So in the morning we had been the only one in the park except for the kangaroos and the emu, which showed up.

The next day we hit the road again and travelled south. On the way back to Perth we stopped at a beach to enjoy the ocean. We were in the mood of more kangaroos and koalas, so we went to the Yanchep National Park. Just after 4pm is the perfect time to see plenty of kangaroos. It was crazy how close we could get.

The koalas quite sleepy in the trees were a bit hard to find but one active fellow just munched away and didn’t bother about the pictures everyone was shooting. And so many different parrots chased around in the park, we didn’t want to leave. Just brilliant.

On Sunday we went to Fremantle with Pete and Cynthia. We strolled around the busy streets, bought Micha a Crocodile-Dundee-Hat and were looking for good places to take pictures. So we went to the Maritime Museum at the Fremantle harbour. Unfortunately Anke was busy studying at home since she has an exam coming up.

Since we haven’t seen much from Perth yet, this will be the next on the list – after picking up our campervan on Monday evening. Than the tour can start…