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outback-2-e
Katherine-2 20. October ’18
Onwards, back to Katherine, from where we took a boat trip through the gorges. I no longer write breathtaking, there are 13 lakes between the 100 metre high rock faces. You could navigate 2 lakes on the tour. From one lake to the other you had to climb over rocks again, well, how else?
To Western Australia 22. October ’18
Then onto the Victoria Hwy towards the west coast.
A short detour (approx. 80 kilometres) takes us to Lake Argyie. Artificially created by backwater, it supplies the surrounding villages – even now in the dry season – and agriculture with a continuous and reliable supply of water. A huge navigable stone dam dams the water and releases it into a river. -G.
All I can say about this route is,
IF PARADISE IS SO BEAUTIFUL, I WILL BE A BETTER PERSON
But as long as you’re not sure…… ??? -G.
Halls Creek 29. October ’18
Whenever we stay overnight in a small town, there are always lots of interesting things to discover nearby. Of course, we can’t go everywhere with our „truck“, as there are many unpaved roads that are out of the question for us, as we don’t want the thing to fall apart. But we can cover a few kilometres. When all the cupboard doors are firmly closed….
That’s how we got to the Great Wall of China. The China Wall is an imposing stone formation, completely different from those around it and stacked on top of each other like a wall.
With luck, a Chinese woman in the picture -G.
Termites
Now a little bit about the „spire towers“ or „heaps“ that are built up everywhere in the area.
In any case, we are fascinated by the termite buildings and also by the dimensions that these mounds of earth can take on. For long stretches, they look like small church towers, but they also grow into huge cathedrals.
To keep things interesting, there are these Magnetic Termites. They build flat, almost disc-shaped structures that are built exactly on a north-south axis to reduce the effect of the sun. I have no idea how they know where north is without a compass. These termites only exist here in Australia.
And last but not least, the guys who put almost „indecent“ piles in the neighbourhood. -G.
Geikie Nat. 30. October ’18
Another short detour into the Geiki National Park. Completely different rock formations and different rock gorges.
On the way there, we drove over the bridge – in the middle of nowhere. As almost always – not a drop of water, but a huge river bed. The sandy area in the centre picture should actually be the second river. In the rainy season, this road is often closed for days or weeks due to flooding!!! ????
Here we also came to the area of the bottle trees (Boab-tree). The Aborigines used these trees in many ways, especially the water they stored.
A special kind of derailment was made by the first Europeans, who used this tree as a prison for Aborigines who were deported to work as cheap labour (slaves) in the mines. -G.
Broome 02. November ’18
Have been in Broome for 9 days. Pure relaxation. It was necessary. You have to take your time and digest everything. We also have good access to the internet again. Gerhard has uploaded loads of photos and spent some time looking for shops that have special equipment for the car that they probably haven’t even heard of. After all, everything has to be in order and, as with the house, there is always something to be done.
So now we’ve been able to catch up on everything in the blog.
We are sitting here in an RV park (nothing works without air conditioning), directly on the Indian Ocean, in a bay with an unobstructed view of the sea.
Hey, first time at the Indian Ocean too!!! -G.
Crocodiles have not been sighted here for a long time, we were assured, but please let us know if …. the camera is right next to our place facing the bay, but who looks at it all the time? Or is that just so that you can inform yourself afterwards?
Yes, and aligned in such a way that the crocos have to run into the picture…. -G.
Well, we still enjoy the sea every morning and really missed it yesterday when we rode our bikes to the Sunday market early in the morning. There were lots of handicrafts and plenty of pearls. Broom is famous for its pearl industry. In the early 1900s and into the 1940s, Aborigines were captured, brought here in chains and forced to dive for the beads, which was a very dangerous endeavour. There are actually photos of this. Here in the north there are whole graveyards of the pearl divers who died. Well, at least they were still buried.
There’s also a brewery not too far from here that brews around 12 different beers, with cosy indoor and outdoor seating, and we visited it twice by bike. Poor Gerhard already had his second flat tyre. But Gerhard has now also learnt to appreciate the advantages of bikes and even goes out on his own to look for equipment. ( He’s a bit tall now… -G. )
Broome – Cable Beach
The name Cable Beach comes from the fact that an overseas cable was laid here from Java in 1889. This gave Australia its third cable with a connection to Europe.
Parrots
Here are some beautiful specimens, also feeding in a park.
To the Westcoast 12. November ’18
Tomorrow we continue towards Perth. This is probably the most strenuous tour. It’s over 600 kilometres to Port Hedland with no trees or bushes, just savannah. But I’ve always been a bit of a wuss through the outback, and then it was always different than expected and as you can see we didn’t starve, die of thirst or break down with engine damage. However, we did see a few rusty vehicles lying on their roofs at the extended roadside.
To put our monster on the roof, you certainly need driving skills that I don’t have. What’s the point? -G.