Melbourne and back to Sydney

I took a bus from Melbourne back to Sydney and after a few days of much-needed rest with my uncle and aunt, I was ready to return to New Zealand to spend some time with mum. And so my Australian adventures came to an end! 

Adelaide to Melbourne: The Great Ocean Road

Before reaching Melbourne, I spent 3 days hitchhiking along the Great Ocean Road. Beautiful coastal scenery that reminded me more of New Zealand than anywhere else on this trip. The Twelve Apostles were the highlight. 

The pleasant beach at Lorne, near the start of the Great Ocean Road.

The bay at sunset, with the pier to the left.

Not a bad little camping spot, just outside of Lorne. 

Lovely coastal scenery near Wye River. 

 Approaching the first two of the Twelve Apostles. I walked the last 6 km from Princetown.

This beach is reachable via Gibson's steps. 

The view from the beach. 

The Twelve Apostles (or what remains of them) at sunset. 

Rain coming...

Loch Ard Gorge, named after the ship which ran aground here in 1878 with only 2 survivors.

Finally: Melbourne. Summer's long gone, unfortunately. 

Adelaide to Melbourne: The Grampians

On my way to Melbourne, I stopped off at Grampians National Park, famous for its mountain scenery and good hiking trails. I then headed south via Ballarat to the Great Ocean Road on Victoria's southern coast.

Nice scenery in the Grampians. 

The view from the rocky outcrop called The Pinnacle.

The view from Sundial Lookout.

Breakfasting with the kangaroos in the township of Hall's Gap. 

Crossing the Nullarbor from Perth to Adelaide

I found a ride across the Nullarbor Plain with Ulysse from France. We set off early on 22. March for the 2700 km trip from Perth to Adelaide. It took us 4 days. 

Still some trees so not yet the "true" Nullarbor (crude Latin for "no trees"). 

This picture is indicative of most of the journey. Straight and flat. 

A roadhouse and not much else. 

The cliffs just past Eucla were a highlight and we spent a night here. 

A quick lunch at Hancocks Lookout. Yes, I was here once before on my way down from Alice Springs. 

Arrival in Adelaide and back to civilisation! The building in the foreground is the GPO. 

From Newman back to Perth

On our way back to Perth we called in at the Whaleback open-cut iron ore mine near Newman, the largest in the world. The scale was incredible. Twelve 2 km long trains depart the mine every day with iron ore for export, and this is only one of several mines in the region. 

Back in Perth, we chose to stay in Fremantle.

The mine from a nearby hill. Massive dumptrucks are the size of ants. 

An idea of the scale of the equipment in use. 

Back in Perth (Fremantle) and yet another awesome sunset. 

One journey ends, another begins. After almost 4 weeks on the road together, it finally was time to say goodbye to Chris. We're standing infront of my ride across the Nullabor Plain to Adelaide.  

Karijini National Park and the Pilbara

On 15. March, we headed inland to the Pilbara, a region of Western Australia famous for mining and the amazing Karijini National Park. In the national park, we climbed Mt Bruce for an impressive view over the Pilbara, and explored several gorges, including the Weano Gorge, Knox Gorge, Dales Gorge and Hancock Gorge. This whole region was an absolute highlight of WA. 

Heading to the Pilbara, always under Clint's steely gaze. 

A brilliant desert sunset. 

On the way to Mt Bruce. 

The view of the Pilbara from half-way up Mt Bruce. 

On the summit. 

Peering down from Oxers Lookout into the Weano Gorge. 

Swimming in the Handrail Pool. 

Deep inside Hancocks Gorge. 

The first of three  swimming pools in Dales Gorge. 

A local inhabitant out for a hunt. 

Dales Gorge from above. 

The beautiful light is part of what makes this place so special. 

Monkey Mia and Ningaloo Reef

North of Kalbarri, the landscape becomes increasingly rugged. The beaches are thin slivers of white sand sandwiched between turquoise blue ocean and the ochre arid land. The real highlights are in the water: dolphins at Monkey Mia and elsewhere, and the whalesharks, manta rays, sea turtles and multicoloured fish around the Ningaloo Reef. I was lucky enough to spot all of these creatures while out snorkelling. 

Dolphins at Monkey Mia. 

Pelicans at Monkey Mia. 

Car camping at sunset. 

Snorkeling at Oyster Stacks, where the Ningaloo Reef comes closest to shore. 

North of Perth to Kalbarri National Park

By 6. March, we were back in Perth and ready to follow the coast north. We had two weeks avaiable and planned to drive as far north as Exmouth and inland as far as Newman. From there, we'd follow the inland route back to Perth. So we still had a lot of driving ahead of us!

The Pinnacles, Monkey Mia, Kalbarri National Park, Ningaloo Reef and Karijini National Park were the main places we wanted to visit.

The Pinnacles at sunset. 

The Murchison River, which flows through Kalbarri National Park. 

An impressive rock window overlooking the Murchison River.

Death to all flies.

Swimming at the bottom of the Z-Bend in the Murchison River, Kalbarri National Park.

After a day of adventures in the gorges, we drank a well-earned Emu and ate & chips on the beach. 

The rugged coast near Kalbarri. There were many shipwrecks along this coast in the early days of settlement.