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Sardinia 2019
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Tag Archives: Markus
Morocco 2018
In 2018 we decided to spend our three weeks of summer holidays in Morocco. In order to have a more relaxed trip when driving there, we booked the ferry boat to Tanger from Barcelona.
We started our trip on 27 July. Since Daniela was on nightshift before our departure, we took the opportunity and she added another night shift as conductor of the Crocomobile. It is hard to imagine, how crowded the highways are during the night on holiday time: The parking area next to the highway was overcrowded at 3 o’clock in the morning. But bevor getting there, we had to deal with traffic jam between Lausanne and Geneva. At 11 o’clock the next morning we arrived at a pre-reserved campsite in Le Barcarès close to Perpignan. We relaxed for one day on the campsite with pool and waterslide before continuing the 200 remaining kilometres to Barcelona.
Once we arrived in the harbour, we realised the chaotic organisation. We arrived on time in the harbour and quequed up with the other waiting cars. But there was nobody from the ferry company. Finally one and a half hour before the planned departure, the people arrived and we could go through customs. We had hardly gone through customs Daniela received a message on her mobile phone that the ship would depart only three hours later – that means at 6 pm.
Be prepared for a long waiting time , but finally the ferry already arrived at 3 pm in the harbour and left the harbour at 5 pm. We could install us in our cabins for the 26 hours of ferry crossing.
In Tanger, we could pass customs quickly and tried to find an overnight place close to the Hercules Caves. Since the 30.07. was a holiday in Morocco, the camping site was transformed into a visiting parking place for the cave. We had to move on to the second campsite in town and could set up a tent only at 10:30 pm in the evening. After buying grocery supplies in Carrefour, we drove the first section of our trip to Chefchauen.
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In Chefchauen, it was the first real evening in Morocco, we started venturing through the small alleys of a Moroccan town. The characteristic feature of this mountain town is the blue and white colour of the houses. In front of the fortress (Kasbah), we enjoyed local food specialities for the first time (Tajine, Couscous, …). On the campsite we had Spanish neighbours who spread out around us and our car in an impertinent way. Finally, we talked to them and managed to ban them on the side where their Camping-Cars were places.
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The next day, we drove through the Riff mountains via Ketama to Fès, a Royal historical town, which is famous for its big old centre (médina) with its endless market. Due to its geographical setting in a valley , we got to experience Moroccos heat for the first time: 10 km before getting into Fès, we still had a pleasant thirty degrees – but once arrived in the city, the thermometer climbed up to 44°C. Later in the evening, a hot desert storm blew through the city and the campsite which made sleeping impossible till late in the night. Fortunately, we had the possibility to cool down on the campsite and the adjacent big waterpark the ext morning. We wandered through the little streets in Fès for two days and bought some Souvenirs on the market – but we had to struggle to get rid of some obtrusive sales persons.
The day after, we escaped from the heat into the mountains and could spend a cool and pleasant night in Azrou.
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Afterwards we started searching for Berber monkeys and also found some of them – but unfortunately, they were accompanied by obtrusive self proclaimed guides. When continuing our trip through the middle Atlas, we also got to see some wild Berber monkeys. Our next destination was Imilchil. On the edge of the lake Tislite we found nice landlords and next to their little hotel, we could enjoy a nice and cool evening right next to the lake.
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After waking up the next morning, they surprised us with puff pastry for breakfast. This address is definitely worth a visit. The next day, we drove through the mountains and over passes up to 2900 m down into the Dades-Valley. The little 4×4 Road is very nice, but pretty narrow if there is oncoming traffic. On the highest pass we got into a thunderstorm with hail and had to backward because of an oncoming truck.
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We drove through the canyons of the Dades and finally left The Valley 70 km further east wehre we spent the night in the Thodra-valley which became famous due to movies like „Lawrence of Arabia“. Unfortunately, due to the masses of tourists and salesman everywhere , there is not much left of the beauty of this valley. We only spent a short time there and continued our way into the direction of the sahara, to Merzouga.
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As a surprise for the kids and highlight for everyone, we booked a camel tour into the dunes of Erg Chebbi including an overnight trip. Before the tour, we could cool down in the swimming pool of the hotel. Later on, we had to climb onto our camels.
Fiona had to share a camel with her dad, Nora and Daniela received camels for themselves. Nora was afraid of the special manner the camel stood up, but after the first 100 meter of rocking around, she felt comfortable on her new means of transportation. She was surprised how secure the animals could move in the soft sand. After a two hour trip we reached the desert camp. We had the opportunity to try sand boarding and could enjoy the nice view of the beautiful sand landscape. After the sunset (which was partly obscured by clouds) we were called for dinner. Everybody received a huge serving!
We first received the traditional Moroccan tea (Green tea with mint), afterwards Moroccan salad, vegetables with chicken and rice and for dessert, we received watermelon.
We Lay down under the sky in our beds and could watch the stars while falling asleep. After a beautiful sunrise, we rode back to the hotel and received a rich breakfast.
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After taking a nice shower we packed up our crocomobile and drove around the dunes on the Eastern bypass Before turning on the 4×4 road towards M’Hamid. This road passes very closely to the Algerian border. On the was, the owner of a small hostel tried to bring us into his Hostel by Telinho us a horror story: He told us that three off-road vehicles got stuck in the sand when trying a river crossing lyimg ahead on our planned Route. After a Long struggle, they managed to turn round and gratefully, they spend the night in his hostel. But this river crossing was 40 km further on and was no problem for us for a 4×4 with enough ground clearance, We spent the next night with wild camping on a little side road. Later on in the evening, the weather surprised us with a desert thunderstorm with violent wind, thunderstorm and rain.
The next day, we continued the track and had to cross a military zone. On August 8, we arrived at Zagora. In Zagora, it was very hot with around 40°C. We only stayed there for one night to continue our trip the next morning through the Dra-valley and direction of the high Atlas.
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Our next destination was Ait-Ben-Haddou, a famous movie city. Initially, we wanted to visit the film studios in Ouarzazare, But after we had a traffic accident with a crazy scooter and afterwards, we had no motivation anymore for such a visit. The historical town of Ait-Ben-Haddou Is recommended to be visited in the evening light, but that was not possible in our case due to a lack of sunshine.
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When continuing our trip in search of a campsite, a vigorous rain started and we could not reach the previously select the campsite anymore due to landslides and floodings. Once there is rain in Morocco, there are landslides and floodings everywhere because the dry ground cannot absorb the water and there is no drainage system.
Finally on the other side of the mountain, we found a spot close to a hospital in Telouet. The next morning, we went on and wanted to do a lonely walk to the waterfalls close to Setti Fadma. But we did not realise that it was Friday and Moroccan school holidays. The whole valley was overcrowded with daytrip tourists and it was almost impossible to pass through. The people sat down in one of the restaurants which I had put their chairs into a river bed that the guest could cool their feet in the water.
We escaped and went 30 km further on to Oukaimeden, the Moroccan ski resort where the installations are going up to 3200 m. This place is supposed to be completely empty in summer but when we arrived, there also were a lot of people. We enjoyed the landscape and a little bit further down the road we found a little hidden place between trees at 2600 m where we spent a nice and cool night.
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Our next destination was Marrakech. Since all main roads are leading into the city center, Daniela chosen a route bypassing the city centre on little roads. But it was not marked in the map that this this route turned out to be a little dirt road passing through cactus fields.
We stayed for two days in this city and visited its “old city“ (medina) with its small and chaotic little streets, the hand craft markets, the showmen, the snake evocators. We bought some souvenirs ,but we had to bargain hard to get a reasonable price. In Marrakech it was again very hot, around 40°C, and we drove onto the Atlantic coast where it was pleasantly cool. We stopped on the camping “De la Plage” northeast of Essaouira. The camping looked pretty nice with a swimming pool and a playground for children, but at 7 pm , directly next to the campsite at noisy generator started to recharge the electricity supply and it did not stop before 10:30 pm. The generator started again at 7:30 am in the morning. We were really annoyed by this, since it was one of the most expensive campsites in the whole country. We complained but since we had paid the camping fees directly on arrival, there was nothing to do about it. We will give it an appropriate rating In a travel guide book.
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In the meantime , it was already Wednesday of the last holiday week and we had to be back in Tanga on time to reach the ferry boat to Barcelona. We visited Essaouira, an Andalusian-type city. In the afternoon , we continued to the north to Mohammedia north of Casablanca. We drove past the big cities Mohammedia and Csablanca and Rabat and continued to Adilah where we passed the last night on Moroccan territory.
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Early on Friday morning , we went to the harbour. But we were again a lot too early. On arrival to Morocco we received a piece of paper indicating that we would have to be in the harbour eight hours before departure of the ferry boat. We arrived on the harbour at 8:30 in the morning, four hours before the official departure of the ferry boat, but the information desk was still closed. We finally received our boarding passes around 11 o’clock and queued up again in front of the customs. Since they did not have anything to complain when controlling the persons and the vehicle, we
could could go on to the unsheltered place under the sun in front of the ferry boat. There we were lucky to meet Christoph and Manuela, a couple from Zürich also with a Landrover 130 who were coming back forms out Morocco trip and we shared travel experiences with them.
There was again some trouble before entering the ferry boat: suddenly security staff started searching the cars for gas bottles. We proposed to empty our bottle in the harbour and to take it with us without the gas. But unfortunately , this was not allowed neither. So you were angry about the loft of the bottle when we entered the ferry boat. The kids already knew the ferry boat from the trip when coming to Morocco three weeks ago and explored it on their own. After a pleasant night in a real bed, they suddenly called out for a doctor early in the morning. So Daniela had some work to do (delivery of free time twins) .
As a reward, the whole family was invited to a dinner by the ship crew In the evening. Due to the medical emergency we only arrived in Barcelona at 10:30 in the evening and spend the night In the harbour before driving the 900 km back to Switzerland.
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Mataranka – Cairns
From Mataranka we drove along the Savannah Way on an unsealed but good track to Limmen National Park. The campgrounds in the northern part of the Park along Roper River are occupied by people doing fishing – but we found a nice Spot at Butterfly Springs, a permanent waterhole. Before wie had organized the key for the gate to the 4WD-track to the Western Lost City, we drove this bumpy, but otherway easy track the next morning. “Lost City” refer to sandstone formations of lots of free-standing towers.
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In the afternoon, we continued to the “Southern Lost City” (also sandstone towers), where we went hiking and spent the next night on the campground.
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Via Tawallah and Jangurrie wie headed first to Borroloola to refuel, we spent the next night at the shore of the Calvert River. Luckily, the little creek – an inflow of the Calvert River – was guaranteed free of crocodiles (a crocodile simply would not fit in!) – that we could get water for showering and washing dishes. The next day we continued eastwards, ate lunch at Domadgee Roadhouse and then made a side-trip to Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park.
The track along Elizabeth Creek/Hill Creek resembled temporarily an overgrown kangoroo-path, but the HEMA-map repassured us again and again to be on the right track and we arrived at our destination.
We already new in advance, the the campsite in the national park was booked out for the next few days, but we found a nice free spot at the shore of Smithys Grove. The next morning we walked despite upcoming rain through the beautiful park to a lookout and then down to the river. It would have been possible to canoe and to swim – but we found it too scary having to share the waterwith freshwater crocodiles..
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From there, we went back to the main track and spent the night at the Leichhardt-falls. On both sides of the river there were sand tracks leading to inofficiel camp spots and there were lots of other campers. In the night, it started raining, the next day it was cloudy and we had to pay attention because there were lots of kangoroos hopping over the road (which normally spend the day lazing under a tree and only become active at dusk). After filling up all our jerry cans and stocking up food supplies in Normanton, we had initially planned to drive for 300 – 400 km on the Burke Developmental Road and then cross to the Peninsula Developmental Road towards Cape York. But the weather upset our plans: with the rain becoming more and more intense, the officially still open Burke Developmental Road transformed into a mixture of a swimming-pool and a mud-bath in front of our eyes (and beneath our tyres!). Facing the several hundred kilometers of unsealed road with lots of river crossings we decided reluctantly to turn around – before it was too late.
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The detour on the tarred road (Kennedy Highway via Atherton and Mareeba) was immense, but was the only feasible solution. We spent the following night on a (tarred!) rest area with a shelterd table at the town entrance of Georgetown. In the course of the next day, it finally stopped raining – via the internet wie found out that the Burke Developmental Road Wagone closed.
To get a shower and compensate the kids for the additional driving, we went to Granite Gorge northwest of Mareeba. There, they could feed lots of cute Rock-wallabies (Mini-kangoroos). The nett morning, we had to fetch again some wallaby food for the next day and also did the short but difficult hike (involving some rock scrambling) through the gorge.
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Via the Mulligan Highway and Lakeland we finally reached the Peninsula Developmental Road, where we saw lots of vehicles coming down from Cape York which were covered in red-brown mud. We spent the night – again in the rain – at Musgrave Roadhouse. The unsealed road was despite the considerable amounts of rain in a relatively good condition. Normally, at least Markus would have loved to drive the famous and difficult “Old Telegraph Track” gefahren. But the track included several river crossings. After we were told several times – including at the Bramwell Roadhouse – that a winch is urgently recommended (to pull out the car in any case out of the Palm Creek and possibly out of other rivers due to the extremely steep and slippery river banks), we cancelled the idea. We did not have a winch, were without a second vehicle and did not want to drown our car in the river.
We drove the Bypass-road, with a side-trip to the “Gunshot” – obviously the crossing with the steepest and most dangerous river banks. We camped there but unfortunately, wie did not see any car passing…
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We swam at the Fruitbat-falls and Twin-falls before crossing the Jardine River by ferry and heading on to the north.
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We spent the night at Sommerset-beach and the next day, we went to the northernmost point Australiens, Cape York. The last few hundred Meters to the cape you have to walk, we went there along the beach by low-tide and came back over the rocks. By now, we had frightened the kids so much about crocodiles that Nora was to scared to have a photo tanken with her and the “Cape York” sign next to the water…
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Despite the complicated booking system of the Queensland National Parks, we had managed to reserve a site at the beautiful Twinfalls. On the access Track to the campground, we also got our deep water crossing: it was so deep that the car got into the engine lid and water entered through the side doors into the cabin. Luckily, everything else went fine (thanks to the snorkel).
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On the way back to the south, we spending night closed to Coen next to the river. Hence the Lakefield National Park was still closed due to flooding after the heavy rainfalls we went to Cooktown for two days. There, after a long time, we had again a hot shower, a pool and a descent supermarkt.
The Bloomfield 4WD-track south of Cooktown along the coast turned out to be a well maintained road.
But we had to cross a relatively large and fast-flowing river- the Crocomobile was used as a test object for the delight of everyone waiting (including the local fire brigade) and Managed the crossings without problems.
We went to Cape Tribulation, walked on the (unfortunately only partially open) walkways through the rainforest and spent the night at Daintree National Park. Fitting in the car and setting up our tent on the narrow site (reserved blindly by interne) had to be done millimeter by millimeter!
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We folowed the now very touristic coastal road further south, the Daintree River had to be crossed on a little ferry. Close to Miallo, we visited a smalltalk cocoa-farm with their own chocolate production and afterwards went hiking in the Mossman-Gorge.
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With the promise of nice waterslides at Glengarry Holiday Park close to Port Douglas the Kids walked faster than ever before.
After an afternoon of playing and splashing and a night on the pretty, but mosquito-infested campsite wie went to the tourist village of Kuranda. There was a little animal Park with unfortunately very well-fed kangoroos (the kids wanted to feed them) and wie got a family photo with Koala Charly. On the market we bought an own mini-didgeridoo and some souvenirs.
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Since we were again close to Mareeba, we spent again a night at Granite Gorge where the really hungry wallabies swallowed 2 full food bags in 15 minutes!! The next morning, we visited a coffee- and tea factory with unlimited Degustation and bought again some souvenirs.
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From there wie drove directly to the Coconut Resort in Cairns, a Giant campground with all imaginable Kidds’ amusements: waterslides and water playground, dry playground, indoor-playground, 2 jumping pillows, minigolf, a ride with the “Fire Car” on the campground…and for the adelst, there were at least to big swimming-Pool, a warm whirlpool, an oven for pizza and cake – wie have never Seen a similar campground in Europe.
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In Cairns we visited the Night Market and booked a tour to the Great Barrier Reef. The reef was really impressive: first we 90min by ship to a permanent pontoon, from the we could snorkel with stinger suits (jellyfish proof suits covering the whole body), do tours with a glass bottom boat and semi-submersible boat and watch the fish feeding. When Nora – equipped with snorkel and swimming vest – only went a few meters away from the pontoon, she had the great luck that Wallee (“pet fish” of the pontoon, a Giant wrasse) and the underwater photographer were prevent at the same time- so we got a wonderful photo. Unfortunately, Fiona did mit dare to leave the pontoon, but Even from there and from the boats she saw a lot of fishes and corals.
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Northern Territory
At “Kimberleyland Holiday Park” we had a nice site directly at the lake- in the evening, we saw a few pairs of freshwater crocodile eyes and heard them splashing around in the water only some meters away from our (rooftop-)tent. We drove on eastwards to Keep River Park, where we did the Gurrandalang Walk between interesting sandstone formations despite the heat of the afternoon. The nett morning, we did the 7-km Jarnem-Walk including a lookout with a view on the “Mini Bungle Bungles” and aboriginal drawings.
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The next national park, the “Judbarra/Gregory Park” unfortunately was a disappointment: all 4WD tracks were still closed despite the relatively dry wet season and that there were no obvious signs of flooding. When attempting to stay at least one night in the park on “Bullita Homestead campground”, we discovered a bush fire directly on the camp site and were finally forced to spend the night at the road (turn-off to the closed Limestone Gorge) and have our (Australian Raclette) there. In the eastern part of the park, we did the short “Nawulbinbin Walk”, where you can admire aboriginal drawings on some rocks. After another night in the park at Sullivan Creek we went to Katherine and staid for 3 nights in den Nitmiluk National Park.
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The 3-gorge boat tour was fascinating: in every gorge there is another boat, between them you walk. The partly narrow, partly wider gorges were beautiful, we saw several freshwater crocodiles and could swim ourselves at Lily Pond (without crocodiles ….).
The following day we got up early and started the hike to Southern Rockhole before sunrise to escape the unbearable heat of the day (which starts already at 9am!). The view from the lookout was well worth the effort- we saw the ship coming through the gorge we had used the previous day – Markus greeted it with his alphorn! The way back with a side-trip to the Barruwei-Lookout was only possible with thoughts of the cool pool at the campground which was waiting for us. The next day, we went swimming in the northern section of the park at “Leylin/Edith Falls” and drove on to Douglas Hot Springs – where were already lots of other campers.
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With a short stop-over in Batchelor for Diesel and ice-cream wie headed on to
Litchfield Park with a first stop at the Magnetic Termites.
Since already the parking at Buley Rockhole was overcrowded, we drove directly to the 4WD Camp at Florence Fall where the pool below the waterfalls was also crowded (the next morning, we had it to ourselves) – for the Australians, it was an extended week-end. On the campsite, we met Anita and Lukas who live a few kilometers away from us in Switzerland.
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We also visited the other the other accessible waterfalls with several short hikes of the park: Tolmer falls, Tjeataba falls and Wangi falls (where unfortunately swimming was prohibited !) – all 4WD Pisten were still closed.
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After spending the night at Wangi falls the next morning we visited the Cascades and then left the park towards the north to go on to Darwin via Berry Springs.
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There it rained already when we arrived- with humid-hot tropical air and countless mosquitoes we set up our camp at Freespirit Resort auf. The next day, our Crocomobile was schedulded for service at the Landrover garage. Unfortunately, the brake pads had to be changed and the parts had to be flown in from Sydney – therefore we were forced to stay in Darwin for the next 5 days. The city center is relatively small and there are neither major tourist attraction nor shopping possibilities. But with a visit to the water park, shopping centres, aquarium, city tour, aviation museum and zoo we and also the kids were occupied for that time. Nora and Fiona could also play again with Zoe and Suena Buchmann – by chance, we met the family again on the campground.
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After the brake pads were changed, we drove on to Kakadu-Park with an overnighter at “Mary River Park”. In the Kakadu Park, unfortunately almost all 4WD tracks and some walking paths were closed. Even if the wet season was relatively dry, there were daily significant amounts of rain while we were in Darwin…After visiting the Mamukala Wetlands we spent one night at Merls Campground, watched crocodiles at Cahill Crossing and the day after, we saw for one time really nice and impressive Aboriginal Rock Art.
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We went to the Bowali Visitor Center where we watched a good documentation movie about the park, saw again nice rock drawings on Nourlangie Rock (Anbangbang Gallery) and then spent the night at Sandy Creek.
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The next day we walked to Gubara Pool ( where we could not even make a short break for a pick-nick due to mosquito swarms) and went on to Cooinda Lodge (campground with Pool), where we haf booked a Yellow Water Boat Cruise for sunrise . The early getting-up at 5.30h was worthwhile: we saw lots of different bird species, several big saltwater crocodiles from a distance of only a few meters, buffalos and beautiful water lillies . Included was also a good buffet breakfast in the restaurant after the tour.
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Afterwards we went into the Maguk Gorge, where Nora and Markus hiked and Daniela staid with Fiona by the car (Fiona had a virus with diarrhea and fever, both of them were sweating and to cool down, they watched movies from Antarctica…it helped : Fiona was better the next day !).
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We visited a very nice not sign-posted gorge which locals recommended us as a secret and spent the next night at Kambolgie-Campground.
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After a stop -over Ikomarrwa Rockhole and an ice-cream in Pine Creek we went to Katherine for shopping and then to Mataranka. That was on the 15.5., Nora’s birthday ! We celebrated at the decorated Crocomobile and haf a swim in the thermal pool .
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Since the campground did not have an oven and the kids insisted on a birthday cake, the campground owners were so kind to let us bring the dough to the restsurant kitchen where they baked it. After our meal at the restaurant in the evening, the cake was even brought to our table with lighted candles.
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Wiluna – Kununurra
On the North Road heading north from Wiluna wie discussed how to Continue our trip. Since we normally intended to drive the Canning Stock Route (CSR) from Wiluna to Kunawaritji and then leave und he CSR via the Telfer Mine Road with a side-trip to Rudal River National Park, we now had a different idea: to visit the
Rudal River National Park first, then try the CSR from Well 23 to Kunawaritji and decide whether continuing on the track up to Halls Creek or leaving on the Telfer Mine Road. To save 70 km, we turned into the track to Jigalong after filling up our tank at Kumarina Roadhouse and campend along this track. On the way, Daniela phoned the surprised head officer….of Jigalong (which tourist wanted to go to Jigalong??) WHO have us the permit without any problem. 40 km before Jigalong, we found ourselves on a deserted and overgrown track which surprisingly corresponded exactly to the track on the HEMA-map. At the turn-off to a bigger, regularly travelled route we read a hand-wrtten sign in the …mirrow: „Road closed“ – the track had been moved a few hundred meters. Via Jigalong and Walgun we came into the recently graded Talawana-Track. After another 170km we could turn into the sandy stony track towards the Rudal River National Park. This Park is situated in one of the most remote regions of the country – wie had it for ourselves and could witness a wonderful sunset.
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Since everything was ok up to now, we dared on the the 26.4. to continue towards the Canning Stock Route. The track was better than expected, we even met the grader on it and arrived already shortly after noon at Georgia Bore. With good bore water brought up with the hand pump we showered (with our solar shower, that is a water bag connetcted to a shower had and functioning by gravity) and washed dishes to save our drinking water. In the evening the Easter-Bilby (australian easter-rabbit…) visited our kids and the next day we started the adventure CSR and drove as the first car of this year from well to well.
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At the beginning of the last century they drilled altogether 51 wells for the cattle driven from the north into the gold mining towns in the south. Close to well 23, the first official CSR-Well we passed, is the fuel depot of the track (overall distance 1700km). We knew from the Capricorne-Roadhouse, that they have not done yet any fuel drop this year and we read from people in the internet who stocked up on remaining fuel. We also were lucky ro find several barrels with diesel and took the chance. We filled up our tank and all the empty jerry cans (100 l) and Procedere with 190 l of diesel for the remaining 900km.
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The condition of the track was better than we read in many reports, the corrugations were filled up with blown sand. After cooling down with the water from well 26 we reached well 28 that day. From well 24, the famous dune crossings started, but with the right tyre pressure we never had a real problem.
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Next we were heading to the intersection of the Telfer Mine Road (Wapet Road) and the Jenkins Track close to Kunawaritji where normally we would have had to fuel up (1 liter Diesel 3,40 $) – which was no longer necessary after our free refill. We also would have had the possibility to leave the CSR here via the Telfer Mine Road. The planend overnighter at well 33 was not possible since the well overflooded the campground and the track. A local man from Kunawaritji created us a detour to get back to the CSR. We were now heading to well 35 and had made the decision to drive the CSR up to Halls Creek!
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The next day we continued on the track and after well 39, we reached on of the crux of the track:Lake Tobin. If the lake was already dry??? Luckily, it was and Daniela could enjoy a smooth track over a dry salt pan. We even saw camels and a dingo.
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At well 41, we relaxed after an uncountable number of curves and dunes. At night, we heard dingos howling next to our tent and were happy to have a roof top tent..The advantage of being the first vehicle on the track were less corrugations, the disadvantage was that we had to clear it from fallen branches, trees (3x with the saw). Some termite tribes who bulit their homes directly on the track during the rainy seaon were carefully displaced with their complete termite mound.
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The second last day, we made it to Breadon Hills (between well 47 and 48) and, too early, we were happy about the easy ride. The next morning, we first discovered a flat tyre which had to be changed. What followed, was the most difficult and demanding section of the track: it looked nice on the map with only a few creek crossings, but deep washouts made our life difficult. Several times, we had to create new detours and find back onto the track afterwards. It took a long time to get to well 49 where the track improved. Now the question was, if it was possible to cross Lake Gregory. After a few hundreds meters towards the lake on a track which became more and more overgrown, we turned round and took the western bypass which was in a good condition. We even found some fresh tyre prints – meaning that another car passed through in this year! Civilisation! Shortly before our last night on the track, we met another cat driving into the CSR from the north.
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We passed the last horrible night with an enourmous amount of mosquitoes, rain and humid heat at the normally beautiful Stretch Lagoon. At least, we could use the lagoon to localize the hole in the second damaged tyre of our journey. Unfortunately, it was on the side where one of the many branches on the track had punched through.
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On the way to Halls Creek, we visited the Wolfe Meteor Crater, the Second largest Meteor crater in the world with a diameter of 5km. In Halls Creek, we could fill up again our gas bottle – it got empty on the CSR and we had to cook with our dirty fuel stoves for the rest of the time. And on the camp site, all of us had a shower.
Since they had no suitable replacement for our punched tyre and they could not repair it, wie continued our trip on the tarred road to Broome. We made a stop-over in Fitzroy Crossing where we hikes through the beautiful Geikie Gorge and enjoyed the nice campsite at Fitzroy River Resort with a pool.
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In Broome, first we organizes a new second hand tyre and stocked up on food for the next days. We staid for five days on Cable Beach Caravan Park. The climate in the city was difficult to bear for everyone: during the day we had up to 40°C – sweat was dropping down even when not moving. In the uncomfortable, sleeping-lacking nights it only cooled down very little and the humidity raised up to 90%. Apart from the city center, we visited the Malcolm Douglas Wildlife Park, did a camel ride with the kids at Cable Beach and visited the museum. On the campsite, many travellers were waiting for the Gibb River Road to open. Here, we met again family Buchmann and the children were happy about the company.
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On friday 08.04., we continued to Cape Leveque where we staid on the pearl farm in Cygnet Bay, and learnt a lot about culturing oysters and pearls. On the way back, we spent one night in Middle Lagoon directly on the cliff above the ocean where we could watch the gigantic tidal differences of 11m.
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After stocking up food supplies for the next 10 days and replacing tyre number 3 (a piece of the profile was torn out)( wie fuelled up (190 l) and headed towards Derby.
There, we visited the famous Prison Tree and made it on the Gibb River Road up to Poultons Pool. The next day, we drove through the former Devonian Reef to Tunnel Creek where the river has caved the mountain on a distance of 750m and you can wade through the water when the water level is low enough- a wonderful adventure for the kids. We staid for two nights at the Windjana Gorge campground. Only the first part of the hiking trail through the gorge had been used in this season , afterwards we had to beat us through the jungle. We alsp saw the first freshwater crocodiles here.
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Unfortunately, the King Leopold National Park was still completely closed – on our way to the East, we visited Adcock-Gorge, Galvans-Gorge and Barnett-River Gorge before spending the night at Hann River.
Since most accomodation and most of the side roads (also those to Kalumburu und Mitchell Plateau) were still closed, in the afternoon, we reached the Pentcoste-River which had to be crossed. Like all the river crossings on this road, it was not a problem at a water level of 40cm – there was relatively few rain in the last wet season.
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We camped at the shore of the river. The next day we went on to El Questro, a beautiful resort with good hikes – on the 17.04. we walked through the El Questro-Gorge where wie could refreseh at Halfway Pool. On the way back we saw a tree snake and a young Black-headed python. The day after, we started early, visited Zeebedee-Springs and hiked through the Amilia-Gorge. Luckily, we had climbing belts for the kids as there were some exposed rocks requiring scrambling. But the reward was a nice natural pool with a 32m waterfall to cool down – what do you want more? The last day on the Gibb River Road we walked into Emma-Gorge, where we swam in a pool fed by a 65m waterfall. Pool badeten. After spotting a large olive python, nobody dared to approach the waterfall anymore.
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The same afternoon, drove on the recently graded road into Purnululu National Park to the Bungle Bungles. On the 20.04., we explored the southern part with its bungles-like rock heads on a hike. We hiked into the Cathedral-Gorge, where we discovered on of the most poisonous snakes, a King Brown. At the Picanniny-Creek-Lookout we had a good view onto the impressive rock formations. The 21.4., wie first walked through the Mini Palm Gorge (named after the Livistona-Palmen in the upper part of the gorge ) and afterwards Echidna Chasm Gorge. This crack is impressing, in some places you really have to squeeze through the100m-walls. In both gorges, Markus took advantage of the acoustics with a reveberant sound of 5 seconds to play in several voices with the alphorn – for the surprise and joy of the other visitors.
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After the Bungle Bungle, we continued to Wyndham and enjoyed te die 5 Flüsse am Five-River-Lookout before heading on to Parry Creek Farm and the day after to Kununurra.
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Perth – Wiluna
On the 28th of February, Daniela’s parents could pick up their rented campervan and wie met up at a shopping centre in the northern suburbs of Perth. We continued to the campsite at “Willowbrook Farm” close to Gingin, where we celebrated Daniela’s birthday with grilled sausages, salads and a self-made “crocodile cake” (Alemannia Café with Iring and a sugar crocodile). Unfortunately, the made-in-china-candles did not burn properly and Blei out with the slightest air breeze. Of the balloons produced in the same country, only few survived the inflation and none the next morning.
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t is not exactly known how these columns were formed, most probably they originate from petrified tree trunks.
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We spent the Night in Port Denison and the next day, we went to Kalbarri national park with interesting rock formations at thr coast. We spent the night some kilometres further south at Wagoe Campsite. The next day, we went snorkelling at the Blue Holes in Kalbarri Park where it is possible to go into shallow rock pools directly from the beach and observe colourful fish while standing – also Nora got to see a lot.
After a short drive we also hiked to the lookouts in the gorges of the Kalbarri-parkes before spending the next night at the 24h-rest area at Four Mile Pool on the highway.
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With stopovers at the Overlander Roadhouse (Hans-Peter spent a night there a couple of years ago) and the Shell Beach close to Nanga Station wie went on to Denham with our Crocomobile and the campervan. On the campground, Nora and Fiona practised swimming and snorkelling. Because the Francois Peron Park is only accessible for 4WDs and unsuitable for the campervan, we split up the next day: Mechthild was sent to the Denham aquarium with Nora und Fiona, Hans-Peter drove to the park with Daniela and Markus. We Even persuaded him to drive the Crocomobile himself through the Sand – he probably would have loved to change his campervan for a 4WD and would have continued…From Cape Peron, we saw manta Rays, a little shark and a ray.
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After a night with lots of flies next to a radio tower close to the high way, we went via Carnavaron to Point Quobba. The attractions there are on one hand the “Blowholes” – natural Rock holes where the water is squeezed through under pressure and Comedy up aus fountains – in the other hand the lagoon with ideal snorkelling conditions for the kids.
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In Coral Bay wie did 2 boat trips to nearby Ningaloo Reef (coral reef): first a glass bottom boat tour with all of us. We drove directly over the corals and colurful fish, saw giant turtles and our children got the chance to feed the fish.
This tour turned out to be a private one because nobody else had booked in. We got the opportunity to learn a lot about this underwater world.
Markus und Daniela did the snorkelling tour afterwards: it was impressing to swim over the corals among the fish and turtles!
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In Exmouth we discovered our car being next to another car with a Swiss number plate at the shopping centre. On the campsite we met the Buchmanns, a family touring Australia over the same time as we do (www.fambu5.ch).
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We spent two nights at Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort with a big pool and a water playground in town. The kids took the chance to play with Len, Suena und Zoe Buchmann. We continued to the Cape Range Park where we snorkelled at Turquoise Bay and at Oyster Stacks between lots of colourful fish and even Fiona got to see some fish through her goggles. One morning we hiked through Mandu Mandu Gorge.
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We left the park towards the south via Yardie Creek in the early morning (exactly at 06.09h, when the tide was lowest), drove along the coast back to Coral Bay – the campervan had to take the tarred road via Exmouth and we met up again in heat, storm and flies at the Barradale 24h-rest area. The next day we went to Onslow, a salt mining town, without any important touristic attraction. Because one campground (Ocean View Caravan Park) was a major construction site, we accomodated at Discovery HP Onslow.
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For the next 36 hours, the campervan and the Crocomobile separated :
unfortunately, the Millstream Chichester Park is only accessible on Travel roads which arerreichbar, die für das Mietmobil verboten sind. In Pannawonica we got the permit to drive on the road which is maintained by the mining company from Millstream Park to Karratha (permit is for free after watching a 20-min video). The western part of the park is like an oasis with its lakes and gorges compared to the surroundings, but we were the first visitors of the season and especially at night it was unbearably hot. Due to the temperatures and because not even the rangers had seen the condition of the walking tracks, we only did a short loop close to the visitor centre.
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We met Daniela’s parents again at Dampier Transit Caravan Park where they had already spent the previous night. The campground is next to the freight harbour where you can observe the loading of the huge ore ships. The Pilbara is known to be the biggest ore mining region worldwide and with trains of several kilometers in lenght the ore is brought to the coast. The next day, we had by chance a private tour at the North West Shelf Visitor Centre, where we learned a lot about exploitation, drilling, processing and shipping of the gas.
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In the afternoon, we visited the Aboriginal Art in der Deep Gorge in the recently founded Murujuga Park (Burrup Peninsula) before going shopping in Karratha.
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On the further way towards the East, we visited the abandonned town Cossack (former important harbour and economical centre for pearls) with police station, post office and shops and then went snorkelling at Honneymoon Cove at Point Samson. The bay was nice, but compared to Nigaloo reef there were disappointingly few fish.
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We spent the night at the Peawah-River and drove on to Port Hedland the next morning . There we tried to observe the loading of ore ships, unfortunately there a lots of fences and you cannot see a lot. We bought 3 additional plastic diesel jerry cans and a safety flag for the planned desert expedition (Canning-Stock-Route). The next stopover was the Karijini National Park. The campground at Dales Gorge is accessible on a tarred road, the rest of the park unfortunately only on gravel roads. The next morning, we squeezed into to Crocomobile to explore the western part of the park. The gorges are impressing, we walked the Weano Gorge with Oma and the kids and afterwards, Markus and Daniela walked through the more challenging Hancock Gorge. Here, in the lower part you can choose to climb over the rocks or to swim through the pools…Because Markus was carrying the backpack with the photo-camera, it was decided who walked and who climbed. At Kermit-pool, the backpack was deposed and also Markus refreseh by jumping into the water.
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On the way back, we realized a clapping and grinding somewhere on our car. At the campsite, Markus removed one rear wheel and saw the origin of the noise. The covers of the brakes were torn and were now only attached to a single screw after all the bumpy roads. After taking them off, the noise was gone. The nett morning, a dingo visited us for breakfast.
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In Newman wie brought these covers to a garage for welding and booked a tour for the Mount Whaleback Mine (iron ore mine ), which we found disappointing compared to the superpit-tour because we left the bus only at one viewing poinr far away from the mine and the guide only read their papers. But the amounts of ore which were mined were impressing: 14 trains, each one which 34200t iron ore in 259 wagons of a total length of 2.8km leave the mine each day towards the coast and fill up one ship.
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At Gascoyne River next to the highway we had a farewell sausage and farewell beer from Opa.
The next day wie quickly met them in Meekatharra for an ice-cream and then turned off to Wiluna while “Oma und Opa” slowly had to go back to Perth via the goldfields.
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In Wiluna we enquired about the condition of the planned desert track, the Canning Stock Route – we wanted to di the southern part up to Kunawaritji. At several official sites (police, shire, petrol station, campsite) we were told that there was an unusual amount of rain for the season in the last days and that nobody had done the Canning Stock Route so far in this season. This meant that it would be impossible ro get more concise infomation on the current condition of the track. They disadvised us to do it, dass the first groups were expected in mir-april. We saw huge puddles of mud next to the road around the town, we tried the first few hundred metres of the Canning Stock Route and indeed, again mud puddles (which wie could have passed easily) – but the question was how it would continue. We thought of the upcoming creek crossings, especially the Savory Creek at Well 19. We decided against trying it and for the moment we drove northwards on the North Road and later on the highway towards Newman.
Kalgoorlie – Perth
After we as parents recovered from an overdose of childrens’ movies at Mt Thirsty close to Norseman, we drove on to Kalgoorlie the next day. This town owns the biggest gold mine in Australia which we wanted to see. On february 14th, we visited the museum and the city which has a number of historic buildings remaining from the time of the gold discovery and we booked the 2.5h Superpit-Tour for the next day.
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First, we were afraid the tour being too long for our children, but the fun already started with the hand-over of the security clothing (vest, glasses, helmet).
When we saw the first big machines, the children were enthusiastic. The dumptrucks (CAT 793) were especially impressive: they came out of the 500m pit with 250 tons of stones each time. They are loaded by diggers (Komatsu 8000) which carry each time 50 tons in their shovel. Before, the rock was loosend before by blazing and according to the material drilled our for the blazing holes, they know the gold contents of each area.
When driving out of the Superpit (overall size 3500m x 1500m x 500m depth), the trucks are led to different depots according to the gold concentration in their load.
Currently, only material with a high concentration is refined- out of one truck load, they get around 80g gold.
The remaining matrial with a lower gold concentration is currently stored on the area next to the pit. For the processing of these stones, it is planned to let the mine continue for another 13 years after finishing the digging (probably in 2021).
We rarely had such a good guided tour, there was a lot of information and live demonstrations: we could observe the loading and unloading of the dumptrucks and we saw the machines for extracting the good when driving through.
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Our children got infected by the “mine machine virus” and after the tour, they received their toy dumptruck and digger for playing on the campgrounds. All of them have more than enough sand, dirt and stones- our children found that these vehicles were the ideal toys.
We had chosen the “Holland Track” leading from Coolgardie to Hyden for heading on. After the tour we made it to “Thursday Rock” which we had to ourselves – with at least 100 km to the next house.
The next day, the track continued with slalom around trees, passing through and around mud holes and over rocky sections.
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Finally, we arrived at the famous Wave Rock. After evening photos, a night at the campsite and a morning walk to the “yawning hippo” and to the top of the rock, we headed on south to Lake Magenta and Fitzgerald National Park.
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After visiting the beach, we staid here for one night at the campground “St. Mary’s Inlet”. We saw lots of interesting plants, many of them in blossom – some species only exist in this park.
The next morning, went straight through the park to Bremer Bay. The “continuous” road on the map turned out to be the crossing of an estuary and would have been possible only on absolutely low tide. But we arrived at Almosen high tide and Daniela got into the water up to her back when crossing it on foot. We had to go back 20km to leave the park on another road.
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Initially, we had planned to drive to Stirling Range National Park and to for a hike that day. We cancelled it due to the weather: there were grey clouds in the sky and with the starting rain, we did mit want to to on a hike on which we would not have had any view.
We went on to Porrongurup National Park, where there was no sun neither but at least no rain. We walked up to Castle Rock: there was the “balancing rock” (our childrens tried to push it down) and the skywalk- some scrambling over ladders and boulders to an overhanging platform beside the rock. Without the fog, there would have been a great view…
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After the night at Porongurup Caravan Park we went further south to Albany. There, we bought an annual pass for the parks in Western Australia and had our front tyres switched with the back tyres in a garage to prevent inequal usage. We visited the blowholes at Torndirrup National Park (by the pressure of the Waves, air is blowholes through a gap between the rocks) and Stony Hill, afterwards wie continued to the Giant Trees close to Walpole.
Instead of the famous but very expensive Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk (zu teuer), we did the also beautiful and free Tingle Tree Walk, where you Fan admire several of these eucalyptus giants and them went on to Crystal Springs.
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WFrom there, we reached d’Entrecastaux National Park on small Travel roads and finally sand tracks through the dunes at Windy Harbour. Some Kilometers before the village, there was another Landrover on the Track which got bogged in the sand. We helped them to get out (they had already done most of the work) and we passed the section without any problems due to a low tyre pressure. After a break at Windy Harbour, we drove on toWarren National Park and saw one of “Dave Evans Bicentennal Trees” an. This tree was one of the Fire lookout towers.
Over Windung stairs consisting of pegs drilled into the tree, it is possible to climb up to the platform 65m above the ground. We only did the first few meters. For the next day, we had planned a track along the coast up to Augusta. Again due to a sufficiently low tyre pressure, the deepest sand was no problem. After a photo stop at Cape Leeuwin, we went to Conto Camping at the Cave Road.
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After a rainy night, we had to get set up with helmets and torches at Calgardup cave and we climbed down into the depths of the Cave – the children in front as little spelunkers. We had 45minutes to visit this beautiful cave (selfguided) and it was always a struggle between the two kids who was walking in front. After another Crocomobile-drive, we reached Bunbury where we booked two nights on the Big4Campsite.
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We profited of its infrastructure and the three women baked bread, cake and biscuits. In the dolphin centre, we informed ourselves about these ocean mammals and weile we balanced the pros and contras of the a boat tour to see them, the Bell rang to announce dolphins at the beach.
Like all the other visitors, we immediately ran to the beach and really: directly in front of us, some dolphins were splashing in the water. Under instruction of the volunteers we could even get close to them in the water. Therefore, the boat Tour was no longer an issue and wie saved the 150$. On the was back to the campground, we did a short detour Mangrove Walk.
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In Perth, many tourist attractions were under construction and we liked the city only moderately. However, the ringing of the bells at Swanbell Tower was really nice.
On 26.2., wie visited Fremantle which we liked more due to its charming city centre. Also the guided tour through the ancient famous prison was very interesting. We had planned to buy a didgeridoos at “Didgeridoobreath”. We got a professional advice and finally acquired a very nice didgeridoo made from eucalyptus tree – made by Jesse we had met on the campground in Tasmania. In the evening, Markus went back to the store to do some recording with didgeridoo and alphorn with Sanshi (owner of the shop).
Here are the 3 Pieces:
Markus & Sanshi 1
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://crocomobile.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Markus_Sanshi1.mp3″]
Markus & Sanshi 2
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://crocomobile.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Markus_Sanshi2.mp3″]
Markus & Sanshi 3
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://crocomobile.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Markus_Sanshi3.mp3″]
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On 27.2., wie met Daniela’s parents at Ibis hotel in Perth and visited again the city centre of Perth and the Kings Park. On 28.2., wie headed on to the north…
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Melbourne – Nullarbor Plain
After the ride in the ferry, we went to Sundowner Campground in the western part of Melbourne – this time with two frozen princesses (thanks to face painting on the ferry). The next day, we had a few things to do: Noras hiking boots needed a cobbler, we had to pick up two new iPads from Apple (Daniela’s old one was stolen or found and immediately taken at South Cape in Tasmania- and Markus had discovered the advantages of an iPad…) and Nora’s arm had to be xrayed again – luckily, it is healing well.
On the ship we heard about Ballarat, an old gold mining town. We visited the place the next day, we could wash gold ourselves in a little river, they showed craftsmen around 1850 und – for the children- there was a sweets making show with degustation. The Kids had the opportunity to be rich for some seconds, while holding a freshly poured goldbar of 3 kg (150’000$AU) in their hands!
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Via Geelong we drove towards the Great Ocean Road, where you drive along the ocean for quite some time. We spent the next night at Cape Otway on the “Bimbi – Camping under koalas”and indeed, we discovered some grey furballs in the trees.
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After another 150km Great Ocean Road, in Warrnambool we turned inland towards the Grampians. We spent the night at Plantation Campground and the next day, we hiked to the “Pinnacles” before continuing to Lake Albacutya, where we spent the night.
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It was considerably warmer than at the coast and also our old friends – the sandflies! – were back. The next day, we went on in deep sand into the Wyperfeld National Park. We had to lower our already low tyre pressure at one dune to climb it – at another dune, Markus was so fast that a wine bottle broke and we lost the rear number plate. Fortunately, we realized it 25km later, drove back and found it (since the front number plate is already a fake one!).
Afterwards we continued further northwards to the Murray-Sunset park to the “Pink Lakes”, where we spent the night at Lake Hardie, a dry salt lake (it is really pink, due to betacarotin-producing algae!). The next day we drove on sand- and dirtroads through the Murray-Sunset Park and crossed the border to South Australia close to Meribah. We had to eat up all fruits and vegetables before – each state has its own regulation for the import of plant products.
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We went on towards Port Augusta and passed a night with the so far most mosquitoes (huge mosquito swarms right after sunset) close to Port Pirie at “Newoora Playground” – no wonder, there was a swamp right next to it.
In Port Augusta we visited the “Wadlata Outback Centre” – a good exhibition with interesting films and information concerning the outback.
In the swimmingpool of the Big 4- campground we could cool down and even Nora (the “one-finned fish” with arm Ding) and Fiona were again clean. Since the campground had an oven, we had self-made cake and bread !
The next day, we went to Port Lincoln, where we bought fresh fish and prawns before heading to “Mikkira Station”. There are currently living around 100 koalas (they were brough there 40 years ago). We slept under an eucalyptus tree, saw a few animals and the next morning, two koalas were even watching us having breakfast.
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When we visited Lincoln National Park the next morning, there was a seal splashing around right next to the shore at Cape Donnington and some of its friends were sitting on the nearby island. We drove back to Eyre Highway and they towards the Gawler Ranges and spent the night at Pildappa Rock.
The rock has a similar shape as the west australian Wave Rock, only smaller. Therefore, we had it to ourselves and climbed up at night to admire the stars. The next morning, we went on to the “Organ Pipes” (basalt formations in shape of organ pipes – just those we saw in Namibia were more impressive).
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In Ceduna, we filled up our tank and the jerrycans, the next night we spent at Cactus Beach – around 80 km west of Ceduna.
Now the Nullarbor Plain was waiting for us. For the kids, we installed our laptop between the front seats to watch movies – with Mickey Mouse, the Jungle Book and Blinky Bill the time on the 1000 km long distance in two days passed rapidly.
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Tasmania
We started our side-trip to Tasmania with a night at Horsehead campground in Devenport. Since the weatherforecast was bad for the next days (finally, it staid dry and there were huge bush fires), we decided to first visit the eastern part. After the city-stress from Melbourne and the ride on the ferry, we relaxed in Kelso on the Big4-campsite (jumping-pillow, swimming-pool and lots of wombats).
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The first park wie visited was Ben Lomond National Park and the next day, after a really cold night, we climbed Legges Tor, the second hightest peak on the island. On the way back, we followed the road out from the ski slopes down Jacobs Ladder (mountain road with 6 hairpin bends).The impressive rock towers animated us to start again some rock climbing and by chance, we met two climbers on the parking who borrowed us their Tasmania climbing- guidebook for the next 3 weeks (thanks to Mark Feeney).
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We continued our trip on little roads via Upper Esk to Fingal (Goldmine-Region). The next day will be remembered by all of us: we drove to the Freycinet-National Park to Whitewater-Wall, were we went rockclimbing with the kids directly above the sea – they climbed in the rocks like koalas on trees and had fun. Even Fiona lost her fear of abseiling and hung herself into the rope with her back first.
By bedtime, our little ones were still playing in the rooftop tent instead of sleeping (as so offen). When Nora wanted to go to the toilet, she forgot to step out of her sleeping-bag and fell down the ladder. All that ended with a terrible screaming and crying. When she still did not move her arm the next morning, our borddoctor suspected a fracture. We interrupted the visit of the park and drove to the nearest Medical Centre in Swansea hoping they had an xray. The doctor there informed us that there were only two xrays in Tasmania – one in Hobart and the other one in Launceston and he sent us with the same suspicion to Hobart. There, the team of the Croco-ambulance dropped the patient and the house doctor at the Emergency Department of Hobart Royal Hospital and organized some food in a bakery in the meantime. 2,5 hours later we all left the hospital – with a sling decorating the patient’s arm for the next 6 weeks.
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The left humerus right below the shoulder was fractured, probably favoured by the insufficuent calcium-intake of our milk-hater. Since then, one yoghurt every morning is obligatory.
Luckily, hiking is also possible with a broken arm and with some help, she could climb the ladder into the tent. The same evening, we went to Dunalley (towards the Tasman National Park) – and after everything what happened, dad drove too fast when leaving a village and caught by the police who gave him a warning.
The next day, the mood got better and we continued to Fortescue Bay in the Tasman National Park. The campsite is directly at the beach and the sites were nice and even. The same day, we hiked to Cape Hauy to see the the impressive rock needles of the Candlelight Stick and the Totem Poles. On the way back, we even saw a snake.
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The next stopover was the southernmost point of Australia, South Cape Bay. We drove through the region southwest of Hobart (which is famous for its fruits and vegetables) to Boltons Green Campground, a campsite at the mouth of Cockle Creek under nice trees with overhanging branches.
When talking to other campers, we found out that our neighbour, Jesse Lethbridge, Building didgeridoos and does a lot of music himself. We made an appointment for making some music with alpine horn and didgeridoos together after the 2-day hike with a night at South Cape Bay. It was great to see the high waves and und wild beaches of the ocean and in the evening, we even saw a quoll next to our tent.
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When we came back, Jesse and Markus climbed into the big tree which served the older children as playground and for climbing. We figured out that didgeridoo and alpine horn match together very well and we attracted an audience from the whole campsite.
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Because we intend to buy a didgeridoo, we asked Jesse what to pay attention to and where and from whom the best ones are available. The next morning, we did a little recording before heading to the thermal pool at Hastings Cave.
Afterwards, we went to the Mount Field National Park where we saw our first rain in Tasmania on the normally pretty humid island – at least in the Western part. We did two hikes: the first day, we went via Dobson Lake to Tarn Shelf and the second day to Mount Field East. On the way down, Nora spotted a rare white-lipped-snake and the next morning, we saw for the first time a platypus in the creek on the campground.
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We heard about severe bush fires in the north west, in the Cradle Mountain park and the Walls of Jerusalem Park due to the dry weather and many roads were closed. Unfortunately, also the roads in the South West park were concerned and so we went to Lake Burbury. By chance, it was Australia day the next morning (26.1.) and the campground served as a ground for the celebrations including several childrens’ activities.
We continued to Macquarie Harbour with the famous Hell Gate, the narrow rocky entrance of the harbour. We drove northwards and crossed the Pieman River to Corinna by ferry, but the planned route via the Western Explorer Road to the north west was closed due to bushfires. Even the campsite at Savage River was closed and eventually, we spent the night at the beautiful Hellyer Gorge Reserve where Daniela spotted two platypus on her night walk.
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On 27.1., we went to Cradle Mountain National Park intending to hike to the summit the following day. But on arrival, we learned the park was closing due to a changing direction of the wind (risk of spreading fires from the neighbouring and already closed „Walls of Jerusalem National Park“ ) and they were deciding whether reopening the park the next morning.
The next morning, Markus was at 08:00 am at the information centre and fortunately, the situation had calmed down a bit and some trails were open. Despite clouds and rain, we walked from Dove Lake via Wombat Pool and -Peak to Crater Lake and Ronny Creek. Because we were wet anyway, Daniela also hiked back through the valley to the campground. Unfortunately, wie did not have any views or -in other words – only one view: grey fog!
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On the 29th, we continued to the Gunns Plains with stopover at Leven Canyon. We visited the Gunns Plain Caves – wonderful caves with a very good guide making plenty of jokes. He even demonstrated how Fionas blinking shoes coud provide light for orientation in case of a breakdown of electricity.
We spent the night in the nearby Wings Wildlife Park in pouring rain. Fortunately we had chosen a spot in the upper part close to the shelter- the proper campsite down at the creek got flooded during the night- several tents and campervans had to be evacuated and their chairs and tables swam away.
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After visiting the wildlife park the next morning we drove back to the coast where we could watch a platypus for over an hour splashing around in the river in Ferndale Reserve at Burnie.
In the evening we went to the „Penguin Observatory Centre“ to see their arrival at the beach. Unfoertunately, there were only two penguins this evening, but the free guided tour was very good and the place a lot nicer and less touristic than Philipp Island.
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At 10:15 pm we went back to Devonport for our last night in Tasmania, from Girdlestone Park we had only 5 minutes to the ferry the next morning. Loading and departure were without problems (interestingly, there are almost no quarantine regulations when returning to Victoria from Tasmania). The strong wind which already stopped us from sleeping the previous night let the ferry rock when leaving Tasmania but calmed down later on.
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Victoria Highlands – Melbourne
We made a short side-trip to the coast to warm up. To escape the crowds of tourists and exaggerated prices in places like Lake Entrance, we chose smaller campground near Paynesville. We read about the good chances to spot koalas at Raymond Island – and indeed, after 5min on the ferry and some steps on the island we saw the first ones. We discovered lots of these mostly sleeping furballs on the 1,5 hour round walk which were worth the visit.
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We continued again towards the Victorian high-country (Buffalo National Park) via Dargo with one night of camping at the Two Mile Creek. This region is – especially during holidays periods – crowded by 4 WD-enthusiasts. The low fuel-level on the one hand and Danielas fear of sliding down a hill with the fully-loaded car and to end the holidays here stopped us to try the steep tracks. After a short hike in the lower section of the Mount Buffalo park in between huge crowds of tourists we drove to the „Nug Nug-reserve“ a chap campsite which was pretty ok apart from the the fact, that there a only cold showers and that some campers cut down the trees for firewood.
On New Year’s eve we „climbed up“ Mount Buffalo (only 15 min from the parking lot) and searched for climbing routes suitable for the kids (it is a well-known climbing region). This was pretty difficult because the routes did not have any bolts and the access was difficult. And at the rock with an easy access, the two complaints about ants and pricky (??) grass so that we stopped the attempts, went hiking for a little while and had a swim in a lake. New Years eve at Nug Nug was relatively calm, the children went to bed after some kids’ sparkling wine at 10 pm and we endured till midnight to open a „real“ sparkling wine.
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The next day we first went to Lake William Hovell for a swim on minor roads and then via tHE Buckland Spur Track (steep and washed out at the beginning, easy on the top) towards Mount Buller to the „Sawmill Settlement“ campsite. The following day we went to the ski resort at Mount Buller and climbed up to the summit, we returned just before the rain started.
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We escaped te rain at Lake Eildon where we spent the night directly at the lake. From there, we went – mostly through rain and thick fog – on narrow roads towards the „Baw Baw National Park“. We spent the night on Merringtons Campground outside the park. The next day, we went back to the coast – because the campsite „Tidal River“ at Wilsons Promontory was booked out and very expensive, we spent the night at Yanakie-caravan park close to the park were we went to see some Wombats in dawn.
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We had planned an overnight-hike to „Sealers Cove“ for the next two days. Our backpacks (too small for such a trip) were filled with a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, cooking utensils and food. The kids had to carry their own peluche animals, jackets and some light things. Luckily, the weather improved and we stayed dry on the hike trough very nice scenery which was not tooling for the children (9.5 km each way).
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To see penguins, we went to Philipp Island. Unfortunately, the natural happening (arrival of the penguins from the ocean to the beach and walking to their sleeping spots) is overcrowded and money is made out of: you pay an entrance fee and have to share the wooden planks with hundreds of people.
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Lacking a campsite with an acceptable price we spent the night afterwards behind a petrol station and went on to Melbourne the next morning (Sundowner Caravan Park): There we visited Queen Victoria Market and the city centre, bought a bigger hiking pack for following trips, visited the Sciencework-museum (science explained for children) and planetarium, the beach of St Kilda and – as a special event – the musical „Cats“.
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Furthermore, we had figured out that Aldi Australia is selling imported Swiss Gruyère cheese – and because Nora and Markus were missing this cheese, we stocked up.
On the 11th of January, we got up before 5 am to be in time at the ferry for Tasmania – thanks to Markus swiss perfectionsnismwith a freshly cleaned car (the import of soil and plants is prohibited). On the 11-hour ride, the children were kept happy by a playground, childrens’ movies and face painting (their faces were painted like those of cats – see photos).
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