Another beautiful island which was a “have to do” on our list… I have seen lots of Kangaroos so far, but the third largest Australian island is not only known for its kangaroos but especially for the wild pinguins, seal colonies and bats. With our tour guide we explored this isolated wonderful place of wildlife during day and night time.

Also the well known rock formations were impressing to see. Unbelievable what mother nature can do… see pics…

We definitely had some phantastic and exciting time over there!

For the next 9 day we travelled across the Nullabor Plain from Perth to South Australia’s capital city Adelaide with Adventure Tours Australia (http://www.adventuretours.com.au/perth-to-adelaide-tour). 3800 km of unforgetable adventure! Over the Darling Ranges to Wave Rock, Fitzgerald River National Park, Esperance, to magnificent coastal walks at the Cape Le grand National Park, sand boarding in Fowlers Bay, swimming with dolphins and Australian sea lions at Baird Bay, to incredible granite rock formations at Murphy’s Haystacks, surfing and hand feed tuna in Port Lincoln and lots of other amazing things which make this country so unbelievable perfect for me:-)

Wow I was so happy to be in Perth! First of all because I met my friend Dani from Germany, I haven´t seen her for 10 month but my stories and photos made her curious and I could convince her to join me for my last 2 month in Australia. Second because I met my good Australien friend Celeste again who I worked with on the East Coast. And last but not least I was proud of myself that I finally made the move to the West Coast! Dani and I stayed with Celeste for 10 days and got to see the most beautiful places of this great city. The beaches are stunning, the climate is great, the people are very kind and the landscape around Perth is beautiful. Thanks to Celeste we also got a wonderful guided tour to the South of Perth. From Margaret River to Denmark and Albany and back through the Stirling Ranges we had a few fantastic days with lots of sun and fun.

After the Outback trip I was realy happy to trade the tent for a bed in my own room in a real house, I lived with Jimmy, Kelly, Abby, Jack and 3 dogs for about 5 weeks in Townsville again. Besides a bit of Babysitting I didn’t do much work. I just enjoyed the beautiful city on the beach with over 300 days of sunshine a year. I definitey fell in love with the capital of Norh Queensland and it is for sure that I’ll spend more than just holiday time at this place. But since I’m here for travel AND work I had to stop being lazy…After about 2 month of traveling/holidays it was time to do some work again.

And where would it be easier to make some money than back in good old Tully…so I went back to the Bananas for a month. I couldn’t make up my mind where to go next, I still wanted to see the West and South of Australia but I was just not ready to leave the Tropics yet. I decides to go back to Townsville for a few weeks. I got a job as a kitchen hand, I met really nice people and I liked Townsville more and more. But it is to early to settle so I needed to keep going…

Destiny led me to Magnetic Island, a beautiful tropical island just 20 minutes from the Townsville coast. I’ ve been there quite a few times before, for diving, Full Moon Partys and things like that but I never thought about looking for a job over there. Well it just happened that they were looking for a kitchen hand/waitress and housekeeper at Bungalow Bay Koala Village (http://www.bungalowbay.com.au/). It was just perfect! I lived in paradise for the next 5 weeks. My bungalow in the middle of a tropcal garden with palm trees, lorikeets, koalas, cockatoos, wallabies, swimming pool, hammocks, Reggae music and just the most chilled out atmosphere. I did three hours housekeeping in the mornings for free accommodation, food and drinks and night shifts in the restaurant for saving money. I hardly had any expenses but a great lifestyle. I dreamed about spending Christmas and New Years in the sun at the beach all my life and finally after 26 years I made it happen! It was just great. I love the people I worked with, we were like a big family, I didn’t feel lonely during the holidays (what I was a littel bit afraid of) even though of course I miss my family and friends in Germany!

It was so hard to leave Paradise but again Australia is a big country, I had to keep going if I wanted to see it all. My New Years resolution was to make a plan for the rest of my time over here. And I did, after 9 month of living from one day to another I actually planned the last 3 month. And the plan is: Tully for one more month (…money…), Cairns for a couple of days to catch up with friends, flying to Perth (West Coast) on February 17th where I meet my friend Daniela who’s coming over from Germany and then we have 2 month to travel along the south coast from Perth to Sydney. Depending on how much time we spend in Perth, Adeleide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and all the other places in between and how much money we have left in the end we might do some more travelling to other countries/islands before we fly back to Germany mid of April. If I manage to fulfil my plan by the end of my trip I’ve seen all four coasts, the center, all six territories, all big cities, all kinds of seasons, climates and weather and then I will be ready to come home…

In the last 3 weeks I experienced a completely different side of Australia far away from the coast line. Between freezing my butt off with 0 degrees in some nights and sweating like crazy on some days with 40 degrees the Outback was very diversified, even though it was mainly about red sand, big rocks and desert…

Starting the trip from Townsville (QLD) towards Alice Springs (NT) in the center of Australia (2.500 km) we passed quite a few little towns like Hughenden, Cloncurry, Mount Isa and Tennant Creek, saw the first famous rocks – the Devil’s Marbles – and lots of wildlife like bugs, birds, cattle, camels and kangaroos (dead or alife…).

 

From Alice Springs we traveled  1.500 km in a triangle to Ayers Rock (Uluru), the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and Kings Canyon (Watarrka)….

 

…and from there head north another 1.500 km on Stuart Highway along Aileron, Daly Waters,Mataranka and Kathine up to Darwin. 

On the journey we put up our tent in the most beautiful National Parks like Elsey and Nitmiluk (except of Kakadu National Park which was the most disapointing Park ever!!!)  

All together it was lots of driving, lots of dust, lots of Aboriginals and lots of nothing but it was also lots of experience, lots of fun and definitely worth it!!!