Hi there
Hope you found all your nests in the snow;-). Here still hot and usually blue sky with no clouds. Time is running really fast. I finally found some spare time to write a few lines, telling you my news and showing you the promised photos.
On Good Friday I went with Sarah and Beni to Swanbourne Beach, just north of Cottesloe Beach. The waves were huge, the sky blue, the beach beautiful and not crowded at all. We just relaxed and had a good time and finally enjoyed an impressive sunset.
Saturday I had to get up early. Jim drove me to the city, as the public transport on weekends is really poor. 7 am, we left from Wellington Bus station. Dave, our guide drove us southwards. Among the 22 participants of the trip were also 5 of my schoolmates. Our first stop was in Busselton, a small town with the biggest jetty in the southern hemisphere. The water is very shallow, that's why the jetty is around 2 km long. Unfortunately it was under construction, but it nevertheless it was impressive. In the backyard of a brewery we soon prepared our lunch, which we were carrying in our trailer. The next stop was in the Ngili cave. On a semi-guided tour we could explore the huge cave with its marvellous limestone formations. Later on that day, we visited 2 wineries near Margaret River. They have delicious wines. Guess, I have to buy some back in Switzerland (but didn't want to carry them along with me the next few months, so I just got a little bit tipsy there for free;-) ). Margaret River itself is nothing but a small village, famous for the wineries in its surrounding. The mouth of the river, called Prevelly, was it worth to stop and take a few pictures of the setting sun. After visiting a chocolate factory we drove straight to Augusta, where we stayed overnight. While roasting the chips on the grill for our barbecue, some heavy showers passed. In the evening we played a few funny games and went to bed quite early - we had to get up at 6 am the next morning.
Easter Sunday. We had to get up early, means 6 AM...Our first stop was at the lighthouse to take some pictures and stand at the south-western end of Australia. As soon as we were in our bus, it started heavily raining. We didn’t matter about it, since we had to drive now for quite a long time towards Albany. Near Pemberton we stopped for a coffee in a bakery before we stood in front of the amazing bicentennial tree, which is about 60 meter tall. If it was dry, we could have climbed up the iron sticks. But as it was raining all morning, the steps were very slippery and therefore it was not recommended to climb the tree. Some of us just climbed the first 10 to 15 meters, but it was really slippery, even with good shoes. Anyway, it was quite impressive. Later on, we spotted some kangaroos and emus (“iimjuus”) near the road. We could them almost stroke, so close they were. Later on we passed Whalepole, a small village where we had a short walk through the local market and finally made some burgers for lunch. In the afternoon our trip took us to the valley of the giants where we walked to the top of the trees at 40 meter above the ground and walked through trees with 7 to 8 meter in diameter. Another impressive experience. A bit later in the afternoon we stopped at Greenspool, a nice little bay with impressive rock formations, called “the elephant rocks”. After a short walk around the huge rocks, the weather was in the meantime better, but still windy, we slowly approached Albany. But before we stopped again in Denmark to enjoy some huge ice creams ( I guess the biggest and tastiest ones in the area) and later again on the coast to admire “the natural bridge”, another rock formation. Unfortunately it was almost dark and therefore difficult to take good pictures. After a long and interesting day we eventually arrived in Albany, where we stayed at the backpackers. Cooking some delicious spaghetti and going to bed early again, knowing that we had to get up on Monday at 5.30, that was the evening program.
After breakfast and short drive and walk on the top of a hill near Albany, we could enjoy the sunrise and an amazing view over the whole area. It was even before 7 AM. Afterwards our guide drove us to the Stirling Ranges where we started a hike on 500 meter above sea level. Equipped with full water bottles we started hiking the steep path. 70 minutes later I arrived with Beni and two other guys on the summit on 1100m. The view was fantastic, a view point in the middle of nowhere. At the time of our arrival it was still foggy and cool, but soon the sun showed up and compensated with an unforgettable panorama view for the climbing effort. Back on the car parking we took our lunch and started our long journey home to Perth where we eventually arrived at 7 PM. Tired but happy.
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