They said: Australian adventures to wild places – untouched and uncrowded! It was true!
Day 1
Clayton, our guide, picked us up in a hostel in Perth Northbridge area at 6:30 in the morning. We were 15 in the group, with some people from Great Britain, South Africa, Germany, Sydney, Japan and Iran.
We headed into York – and travelled across a varied landscape – the oldest inland town in Western Australia where I had my breakfast in a Cafe, before going Wave Rock near Hyden. We stopped and saw the dog cemetary on the way.
It’s 15m high rock with different colors, it’s about 350 km from Perth. Very impressive place where we stopped for lunch.
After we went south to the Fitzergald River National Park, where we unpacked our tents and installed our bush camp. This huge national (3300 square km) park is located along lovely coast. We had a hike in this biosphere, we had to clean out shoes before, in order to avoid the spread of dieback. Unfortunately it was too late for a swim, but I enjoyed the place.
I shared my tent with Michael, an Iranian guy who is very nice, and I slept very well.
Day 2
We left the national park and went to Esperance along the coastline. Then we went to Cape Le Grand National Park, where we unpacked the tents some meters from a beautiful beach. We had to share the place with two lovely kangaroos who were here. I had a wonderful swim there.
In the afternoon, we hiked the Frenchman Peak, from where I really enjoyed the beautiful landscape.
Camping facilities were excellent; they even had some showers
Day 3
I enjoyed walking from 7:00AM along the coast, then had a swim on one of the lovely beaches.
Then we went back to Esperance, then headed to Norseman and reached the Eyre Highway, ready to cross the Nullarbor plain. Nullarbor name origins is from latin for ‘no trees’. Eyre is dedicated to John Eyre, the European explorer who explored this area from east to west.
We stopped and played in a salty lake, then we camped in the bush.
Day 4
We stopped at the first petrol station, where we could take an enjoyable shower.
Then, we crossed the 90 Mile Straight: Australia’s Longest Straight Road (146.6
km), then the road turned left (private joke :>).
We stopped at Cocklebiddy to visit the Cocklebiddy Cave, the largest cave in the Nullarbor, where we had a swim in the undergound lake. The water seemed quite cold first, but once in, it was a real pleasure! Swimming is darkness is first weird, then very funny.
Then we saw the real Nullarbor plain, then went through Madura to fill the tank. we bushcamped in the middle of nowhere. At this point of the trip, I really realized how big and uncrowded this continent is.
Day 5
We visited the old Eucla, some picturesque ruins of a telegraph station, opened in 1877. It’s surrounded and inside sand dunes.
Later, we saw the Nullarbor cliffs, where we could see dolphins swimming in the sea. Later we saw the famous wombat/camel/kangaroo road sign. Then, we crossed the dingo fence in Yalata Aboriginal lands.
In the afternoon, we arrived in Fowlers Bay, near some huge sand dunes, where we’ve been playing in the sand (jump, run and sand boarding). I still had sand in my ears two days later.
Day 6
We stopped near Ceduna, then we went for a cruise on a boat, where we swam and saw the dolphins and sea lions. In the evening, we stopped in the town of Streaky Bay, where we ate and slept
Day 7
We visited Murphy’s Haystacks, a very old amazing rock formation. We had lunch in the outback, near a salty lake, where I ran around. In the afternoon, we headed into Port Augusta, where we had our first traffic light since the first day! In the late afternoon, we arrived in Adelaide, after over 3500 km of travel, which is more than London to Moscow