Not m we didn’t stop at Adelaide, the last stop was Melbourne.uch difference, distance wise, 2700km. And
We stayed in Coolbelup for 5 days until we bought a car. Buying a car wasn’t as easy as we thought. We checked every single hostel in Perth and Fremantle for ads, also hung our ad looking for a car, made phone calls one after another, put an ad on Gumtrees. Finally we bought one, Luke took us to a car place and we bought this one (2000$), the first car I´ve ever owned!
I had quite an experience in Luke´s house. While I was making breakfast one morning in the kitchen, I saw a box with chocolate chips cookies just lying there. And since I was having my morning coffee and the eggs were still cooking, I automatically took one. Five minutes later Luke came over and said “by the way, these cookies over there are special cookies and they are quite strong, don’t try them unless you wanna get really high”…I told him ok and slowly processed what he just said..hoping that it wouldn't affect me…But Gosh, it affected me big time, fucked up my brain for the whole day. I
should have confessed in the first place that I ate one cookie, not a big deal
I guess but instead I decided to hide it. And when it hit me I got so paranoid
that they would find out that I “stole” one cookie that I couldn’t tell anyone,
not even my friends. It was so difficult to fight it, I was trying so hard to look normal that by the end of the day I was destroyed. Unfortunately that was the day - we were determined to buy a car. The whole day we were calling people up, looking
at cars and some decisions had to be made…when I was incapable to say anything
that make sense. Pesho and Foo didn’t realize it till quite late because Foo
thought I was angry at him and Pesho finally asked me “whats wrong with you,
are you stoned?” Then I admitted everything, as it was the biggest crime ever.
Can’t believe it now, Foo even got upset for not telling him so he could have eaten one as well. Well, I learnt my lesson, not eating cookies with
unidentified origin, especially in a house where the weed is used more used than water.
Before we headed south we took a day to go to Nambung National
Park, 250 km north of Perth and 17 of Cervantes, where thousands of limestone
pillars are scattered across a moon-like landscape – the Pinnacle dessert. It
originates from seashells, which compacted with rain and subsequently eroded,
formed the pillar, some up to 5 m. An ok gravel loop road runs through the
formations so you can stop to walk among them.
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| Our Honda in the middle of the pinnacles |
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| Playing with the sand on the windiest beach ever |
We went back to Fremantle, or
more accurately Coolbelup, spent the night there and in the morning after
breakfast, the road trip started. First stop was Margaret River – famous with
world class waves and world class wines J.
There was a surf competition going on but we didn’t bother seeing it, now
writing this from a surf beach in Peru, I wonder why. Stayed in the YHA hostel
in town and next morning left direction Denmark and Albany.
One of the coolest things I did in
Aussieland was to climb the Gloucester tree, near Pemberton. This
Bicentennial
tree looks so impressive from the bottom but fucking scary when you try to go
up (especially if you have a fear of heights.) I wanted to go down when I made
it to the half way platform but the guys were already at the top so I couldn’t
leave it there and be the “girl” in the team
. Felt really proud when I did it but until I touched the ground
couldn’t relax properly. It´s laddered with daunting metal spiral stairwell
that winds 60m climb to the top.
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| It might look easy but it was scary |
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| The view from the top |
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| Tree top walk. Me and Pesho in the distance |
Another cool thing to do in the area is the Tree Top Walk (6$). It is in heavily forested Walpole-Nornlup National park, where these majestic forests of giant tingle trees are. A 600m long ramp rises from the floor of the Valley of the Giants and at its highest point the ramp is at 40 m above the ground and the views are stunning.
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| One of the giants. Eating at least one big carrot a day was a must. Poor Foo really didn´t like that rule. |
We camped at a camp site on the
beach near Denmark and next day made it to Albany. There are a few things to see
there - the Natural bridge, The gap, Blowholes…
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| The Natural bridge |
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| The Gap near Albany, Western Australia |
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| The blowholes -water coming up between the rocks |
I wanted to spend more time on the beach in Albany but we had to leave quite soon because there were 300km ahead of us to reach Katanning. It is a small town in the middle of nowhere but a friend, Foo and I met in the Philippines, was living there and we promised to visit him. One unwritten rule in Australia is “Don´t drive when it´s dark” cos the kangaroos go crazy when they see the lights and jump straight into it. And they could be pretty big and once hurt, they might destroy the windshield and hurt you as well, plenty of stories there.
In Katanning, Scott and his friends were waiting for us with a crate of beer and BBQ just ready to start. It was nice to catch up with him and meet his flatmates – all Canadians working in nearby mine. They had a week budget for food (paid by the company) and so an immense amount of food in the house, part of which they insisted we take with us. So we left in the morning well stocked with provisions after having a good breakfast.
Wave
Rock. Perfectly shaped like a wave about to break, the 15 m high and 110 m
long multicoloured granite Wave Rock is worth the few hours trip (no matter
where you are coming from, it is always at least a few hundred kilometers
away).
Nearby was Mulka´s cave – we were
expecting to see more aboriginal drawings in the cave but they were quite small.
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| Me on the top |
Just off the Goldfields highway you can get to a platform lookout to see the
Super Pit, one of the biggest open cut mines in the world.
Tried to do the famous brothel tour but unfortunately, it was full. But at least we went to one of the skimpy bars in town (barmaids in underwear). The guys loved it, we discussed the barmaid´s “features” for a bit and after a while it was just like any other bar.
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| The Super pit - the biggest gold open pit in the country, large enough to be seen from space |
After Kalgoorlie we headed to South Australia on
the famous Eyre Highway. The 2700km highway crosses the southern edge of
Nullarbor valley. It was pure desert in front of us, the longest distance
between fuel stops is 200 km. This is not a good place to run out of petrol and
we tried to get a full tank at every possible place despite the price (in the
dessert it increases significantly). The first 160 km from Balladonia to
Cocklebiddy includes one of the world´s longest stretches of straight road –
145km, the so called Ninety Miles Road. We took turns driving and each one of us
drove for 50 kilometers. We entered a new time zone a few times, always with 45 minutes difference and at the end nobody knew what
the time actually was (and no one to ask). And on top of that there was a daylight saving time
clock change. A few days later, already in Adelaide, we realized that we were 2
hours behind.
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| Quite straight, isn't it? |
Camped in Eucla (South Australian
border), saw the Telegraph station and the sand dunes. Crossing to South
Australia we had to get rid of all the fruits and vegetables (well, we kept
some carrots and onions under the seat) cos there are food controls at the
border, we got stopped and checked but I captivated the guy with lots of
questions and he did it very superficially.
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| Eucla sand dunes |
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| Eucla sand dunes |
"Who´s darker" contest
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| Bunda cliffs in Nullabor plain |
Coffin bay National park.
After a few days of camping wherever the night caught us, we made it to the
park where lots of animals could be found. And on the track we walked, there were quite
a few kangaroos and emus, birds and goannas.
Coober Pedy, Opal capital of the world. 850 km north of Adelaide, it´s best known for its unique style of underground living. It gets so hot here that the residents have built their homes underground. There were opal mines everywhere, both
sides of the road leading to the town. Looks like that everyone living in
Coober Pedy has a mine and they can kill you for digging into their mine. I
just don’t know how they distinguish them cos to me all of them look exactly
the same – just big piles of soil. You can try your luck at "noodling" at various spots around town, it´s free to do it and no threat of being killed there. We were told that a backpacker found an opal last year there, worth 20 000$! There were lots of Eastern Europeans working in the opal shops, easy to recognize by the accent. These must be stubborn people because they live in the middle of the desert with hardly any water, seasonal dust storms and considerable summer temperatures.
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| Serbian Undreground church in Coober Pedy |
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| Drove a 70 km loop on a dirt road to Breakaway reserve |
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| Moon plain near Coober Pedy |
The opal mines on the right.. And more opal mines
Stayed in an underground hostel - Radeka´s Youth Hostel/Backpackers, our room was at 6m under ground.
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| The dorm |
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| Aboriginal rock art |
Flinders Ranges National Park. Almost killed an Emu on the way, actually 2 of them, just popped up from nowhere. On the way we went to see some aboriginal rock art in cave and saw
yellow footed rock wallabies. Camped there (Wilpena pound), played rummicub
with a guy from Melbourne also camping and having dinner at the same kitchen area (the camp site had even hot water). We were visited by a few groups of kangaroos and emus in the camp
site which was cool, they werent scared at all. Next day was April´s fool – told Foo that an emu stole my hat while I was
waiting for them to come back from Wilpena pound and he believed me. First time in years I managed to trick someone.
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| The yellow footed wallabie |
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| Adelaide |
Adelaide – we had a kind of a black period there. Stayed at Ivan´s
amazing flat – one of Pesho´s classmates who moved to Australia years ago. Foo
decided to go to Kangaroo island by himself because Pesho and I figured that
200$ per person is too much (only for the ferry and petrol) and he took the car
and left. Imagine our surprise when he got back by bus, carrying all the
backpacks and everything (almost) we had in there. And the only remnant it - the registration plate. The car broke down and he left it on
the island (our baby Honda ).
We had to quickly buy a new one - a Ford Falcon (1500 Au$), running on gas,
hoping that we can sell it for more before we leave. It was just before
Easter's long weekend and we made the mistake not to change the name while in
South Australia which brought us lots of problems when we made it to Melbourne
(Vic) and wanted to register it.
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Taken away on the break down truck :((
|
Another “great” experience was
after Foo’s great planning. We sat in the car for 8 hours on the way and back
to Coorong National park and saw nothing (the access to the beach was only for
4WD) and that was the only place where we could get into the beach.
Stayed for another day in
Adelaide, Ivan´s flat was hosting a party before Easter and we decided that we
deserve a break after all the hustle with the car breaking down and buying the new
one. It was a cocktail night, I must
have tried at least 6 different cocktails, have to admit that not all of them
were successful (at least the ones I made), I think I ended up having something
as simple as rum and coke.
It was Easter and we painted some
eggs following the good old Bulgarian tradition, and even had the egg fight in
Foo’s honour – he was really excited to be part of it. Well, he wanted us to
get Ostrich eggs for the occasion but the normal ones did the job. Of course we
broke one third of them while painting them.
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| The amount of alcohol they had in the house was insane (that´s just a part of it!). And the biggest living room ever! |
Finally we slept in real beds, in a hostel in
Port Campbell, all warm and nice (after all the camping) and next day "rumbo a Melbourne".
Melbourne - first night we stayed in YHA hostel in North Melbourne cos we got there quite late.
For the next days we had a couch with Nick, all three of us,
not far from the centre, made the regular moussaka for all the occupants of the
house and used the last few days we had left in Oz to explore Melbourne and the
area. Melbourne is one of the cities I could see myself
living in (but holding a Bulgarian passport I don’t see how that would happen
unfortunately L).
The city has a good vibe, lots of pubs, nice beaches (a bit cold tho), parks,
trams, galleries, graffiti, penguins…all that one needs.
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| Federation square |
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| In the famous trams |
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| On the way to Philip island. Since we are leaving, Foo has to learn how to refuel (not that I know...) |
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| The only remnants of the first car |
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| Last photos of the car before leaving |
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| At St Kilda harbour, Melbourne. The littlest penguins in the world |
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| In the aboriginal art gallery. I quite liked it not being a big art fan |
We took one day to go to
Philip island famous with its beautiful beaches, the penguin parade, sea lions...It was a bit too touristic and busy for my taste but still...
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| Goodbye Foo |
More than 11 000 km from Perth to
Melbourne, an epic road trip, lots of cool things done and seen, I think it was
worth it!
One of the coolest things I did in
Aussieland was to climb the Gloucester tree, near Pemberton. This Bicentennial
tree looks so impressive from the bottom but fucking scary when you try to go
up (especially if you have a fear of heights.) I wanted to go down when I made
it to the half way platform but the guys were already at the top so I couldn’t
leave it there and be the “girl” in the team. Felt really proud when I did it but until I touched the ground
couldn’t relax properly. It´s laddered with daunting metal spiral stairwell
that winds 60m climb to the top. 
Coober Pedy, Opal capital of the world. 850 km north of Adelaide, it´s best known for its unique style of underground living. It gets so hot here that the residents have built their homes underground. There were opal mines everywhere, both
sides of the road leading to the town. Looks like that everyone living in
Coober Pedy has a mine and they can kill you for digging into their mine. I
just don’t know how they distinguish them cos to me all of them look exactly
the same – just big piles of soil. You can try your luck at "noodling" at various spots around town, it´s free to do it and no threat of being killed there. We were told that a backpacker found an opal last year there, worth 20 000$! There were lots of Eastern Europeans working in the opal shops, easy to recognize by the accent. These must be stubborn people because they live in the middle of the desert with hardly any water, seasonal dust storms and considerable summer temperatures.
Leaving Adelaide, we drove to Mildura, crossing the
frontier between South Australia and Victoria (had to hide carrots and onions
again) with the plan to see the oldest steam boat in Australia. Instead we saw another
one and the tour was too expensive so we didn’t go. There was a Farmer´s
market near the wharf so we spent some time there and went to see the sand dunes after that. Someone gave us some cardboard but I couldn´t really slide down on them.
Great Ocean Road. One of the world's most scenic coastal touring
routes with panoramic views as the road winds along cliff tops, up to
breathtaking headlands, down onto the edge of beaches, across river estuaries
and through lush rainforests. Along
the way we saw the rock sculptures of the 12 Apostles – magnificent rock stacks
that rise up from the Southern Ocean, the mystical Bay of Islands and the many
viewing points along the Great Ocean Road. Every 10 minutes we had to
stop to go to another lookout and each one of them was simply amazing.
Melbourne - first night we stayed in YHA hostel in North Melbourne cos we got there quite late. 
Amazing, you literally doing around the world journey. Ah,Peru is my top destination. Have a good time there.
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