Namburg National Parc, in the Pinnacle desert...

Today the weather was a bit cloudy, so we headed to the Namburg National Parc, around 260 km north of Perth. It was a drive of a bit more than 3 hours, but was really worth it. Before arriving at the parc, we made a stop in the tiny fisherman village Cervantes, where we did not see don quijote but had some fresh crayfish and I found a cute old car:-)

The Parc is famous for its Pinnacle Desert (funny limestone formations in a sand ground, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinnacles_Desert). One can walk through and the view is amazing, we even met several cockatoos (a colourful cousin of the parrot). On the road back to Perth some wild kangaroos were jumping around us next to road, and we really felt close to the wildlife of Western Australia.

Meeting the locals...

Western Asutralia (with Perth as capital) is so big, that inside one can easily fit Germany, Switzerland, Austria and New Zealand. This part of the Australia has more wild flowers than the rest of the world too!

The Whiteman Parc is an enormous protected area (north from Perth) including a wildlife farm, where we went to stroke, tickle and see some of the most common locals: the kangaroos, the koalas (spending 20 hours a day sleeping), the kookaburra (is the bird kingfisher) and plenty of others known and unknown creatures.

Arriving and discovering Perth

We made it down under-after 18 hours on 2 planes and a bit of a complicated landing in Perth.
The first sight of Australia was red, white and deep blue (the northeast top of the continent):

Getting down to Perth, the landscape started to get greener. The city, hmmm, it feels like being in a quiet and cozy English town, actually a million-city looking like a village with 2 skyscrapers in the middle:) The people are really friendly and the B&B where we are staying is lovely. Jet-lag is there though too. Around 4 a.m. Australian time we were awake starving (good news: there were plenty of things in the kitchen:) This morning Santa Claus was already having a Sunday-drive in town in a golden car and ringing the bell:

Hello from Singapore

Just a short note from Singapore airport (26 degrees at 7am, sticky and humid outdoor), after 13 hours on the board of the first flight(and some international movie-marathon...) In 1,5 hours here we managed to strech out legs, backs and arms, to enjoy the orchids garden and to change terminals, now 5 more hours left before reaching Western Australia, Perth.

Already packing...

We are getting closer and closer to the start of the big trip: 4 more days to go! The travel itinerary (when and where? red=by car/blue=by plane) including the typical locals of the area is to be found above (just click on the image for bigger view:-)...

The more detailed summary:
7-13.Dec Perth and around
13-20.Dec Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, http://www.heronisland.com/
20-23.Dec Sydney
24-31.Dec Melbourne + around
1-7.Jan Tasmania
(The tour is Hobart->Strahan->Cradle Mountain Parc->Freycinet->Port Arthur)
7-25.Jan NZ: North Island
(9-11.Jan Sailing cruize in Bay of islands, http://www.ecocruz.co.nz/)
25-31.Jan NZ: South Island
(only the top of it: Picton->Nelson->Abel Tasman Parc->Kaikoura->Christchurch)
1.Feb back in Amsterdam

The long flights to Australia and back from New Zealand will be with SingaporeAir:
Amsterdam-Singapore/ Singapore-Perth and Christchurch-Singapore/Singapore-Amsterdam.
Within Australia and to NZ we will fly Quantas...

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janaaroundtheworld@gmail.com
neckel0@gmail.com