Rain...

That's pretty much all I can write about at the moment. The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain. And elsewhere? In central Europe, massive floods. In Germany, very cold and miserable. And here in Sydney it's been raining every day since I came back from Broome two weeks ago, except for two days. Life is dreary and in this weather I need all my efforts, and lots of hot drinks and baths, to keep my spirits up. I wish they had a Therme here like those we have in Germany.

For some cultural uplift, I visited (again) the Art Gallery of NSW. It's not too big, but free entrance, and features a nice selection of classic art, which I like better than the modern art.

The rain photo above is (c) by dejan markesevic.

Goodbye Broome

Here come some last pictures from Broome.

The first is of the brightly orange coloured crabs in the mud of Roebuck Bay, where the Bird Observatory is. They hide quickly in their holes when you come closer.


Then comes a photo of what I think might be Broome's most beautiful beach: Reddell Beach. Peter and I went there on Sunday morning before he dropped me off at the airport.

Then we visited the port, where a nice breeze blew.

We also saw nearby Gantheaume Point (with the lighthouse and cliffs). At very low tide you can see dinosaur footprints there, but we were there at high tide, so we could only look at the plaster model of the dino footprints.


Finally we visited the Japanese Cemetery (Japanischen Friedhof) of Broome. The town had a considerable Japanese population because of the pearl diving and pearl farming industry.



My flight back to Sydney went via Perth and took about 8 hours in total. I took this photo just after take-off in Broome, an aerial view of Roebuck Bay.

My stop in Perth was only for 1 hour, so no time to see anything of the big city in Australia's west, other than from the air.

Now I'm back in Sydney. It's cold, dark and raining here. Brrr.

Cape Leveque

My Western Australia wilderness adventure continues: Peter and Toni kindly lent me their own car so I could go by myself on a two-day trip to explore the area north of Broome, the Dampier Peninsula.

The first photo is Cable Beach at Broome. This is the Indian Ocean. The beaches at Australia's west coast are differerent from those at the east coast: they are usually much longer stretches of beach uninterrupted by bays, headlands and rivers. Cable beach is 22 km long, so it will take you a while if you want to walk it... Further south is Eighty Mile Beach, which is actually not 80 but 140 miles (220 km) in length!

I enjoyed driving the four-wheel-drive Nissan Patrol! The 2.8 tons car ran smoothly and was comfortable (with automatic gear and air-con) and good fun to drive. I had everything I needed with me for this expedition: water, a tent, air mattress and blanket, a battery-powered refrigerator, food and drink, a gas cooker, a foldable table and chair.

I camped the first night at the very remote Middle Lagoon, a tranquil and picturesque campsite by the sea managed by an aboriginal family. I saw a most beautiful sunset there while collecting firewood, so I hurried back to get my camera!

The second day I reached the very tip of the peninsula, called Cape Leveque, and stayed at the popular tourist resort Kooljaman. I also visited the aboriginal villages Lombadina and One Arm Point (with a hatchery where you can see how they breed fish, shells and turtles).

Look at those marvellous red-white sandstone rocks, eroded by time, wind and water. The weather turned overcast and rain kept coming and going from Thursday on, so swimming and walking was a bit limited. I returned to Broome on Friday because the weather forecast had predicted heavy rains and I've been warned that the roads might then be flooded and hard to drive on. It turned out I was very lucky to have come back in time: today (Saturday) Cape Leveque Road has been closed for traffic, and I would have been stuck up there!

Broome

Endlich Urlaub! I took one week off from work and hopped in a plane (6 hours flight) all the way to the far north-west of Australia, to Broome in Western Australia. On the way I had a 2-hour stop in Adelaide, for breakfast with my friend and last year's travel mate Cori!

The climate in Broome is much hotter than Sydney, and dryer too. Much of the ground is dusty red sand. With day temperatures in the 30s and night temperatures around 20 C, it's perfect weather for a camping holiday.

Another reason why I chose Broome is that I'm visiting my friends Peter and Toni there. The two have taken up a job as wardens of Broome Bird Observatory. The area is a mekka for birdwatchers as hundreds of different bird species live here, or make stop here on their journeys to feed at the nutricious mud flats before going on the long way to Asia (Siberia) for breeding.

Peter and Toni could take three days off from work and we three drove together into the great Kimberley, an area the size of Germany with a total population of 35.000. We passed by the coastal town of Derby, noteworthy for its high tides of up to 12 metres, and made stop at the Boab Prison Tree, more than 1000 years old hollow boab tree that has actually been used as a prison in the wild 1800s.

After a 350 km drive east, about half on bitumen and half on dirt roads, we reached our destination, Windjana Gorge. This gorge, carved by a river, cuts right through the Napier Range, a massive mountainous rock formation that stands as a geological curiosity with vertical walls in the otherwise flat landscape.

The scenery is magnificent. The gorge is also quite lush with vegetation. It's best to start early in the morning for the walk before it gets too hot in the afternoon. In the river we saw about 10 freshwater crocodiles. (They are not dangerous if you leave them alone.) We also saw a gecko and many birds.

We camped for two nights in a campsite just outside the gorge. Peter and Toni have a camping trailer, and I slept comfortably in a little tent. We sat around a campfire in the evening with guitar and songs. This is the real life!


Near that place we also visited Tunnel Creek National Park, where a creek runs through a natural tunnel in the mountain. It is possible to walk through this tunnel, which is 750 metres in length. You will be waist-deep in water (so best go in swimwear) and you should bring a torch (Taschenlampe) to experience this amazing walk -- it was a fantastic adventure! There are bats in the tunnel and stalactites that look like they might break off any minute.

The creek on the other end of the tunnel is very pretty too and perfect for a bath! (No crocs here.)

Le Concert

I watched a good movie in the cinema last night: The Concert (Le Concert). If you have a chance to see it, I can recommend it. A splendid comedy and beautiful classical music (Tchaikovsky). The film was released last November in France and this week in Australia; the planned release date in Germany is 29 July 2010.

Half-time

It's 1st of May, and for me it means: half-time for my six months work in Sydney!

Here's two photos from our house. First, the record number of Lorikeets we've had on our back-house balcony so far! (They like the two branches that I mounted for them to land on. But normally just one or two come, not nine at once.)

And this is a rhubarb pie that I baked last week.

Jenolan Caves

Deep in the Blue Mountains is a place where the magic is underground. It is a cave. But not just one. Literally hundreds of them. Embedded in limestone, connnected to each other by narrow passages and an underground river, they form the system known as Jenolan Caves. They are among the oldest caves in the world -- more than 340 million years old.

The first surprise that you get on arrival is that the main road goes right into a giant cavern, and through it! It is a natural tunnel called Grand Arch. After you've passed it you see a few pretty buildings, the big one is Jenolan Caves House, a hotel built in 1898 in Tudor style. This is where I slept for the night.

Tourism at the caves has started soon after they were discovered in the 1800s. Today there are more than 10 different guided tours you can book, each going into different sections of the caves. I arrived in the evening and decided to do one tour at night and one more tour the next morning.

What shall I say? The caves are amazing. To me, places like these are like cathedrals. Cold, still, old, mystical and awe-inspiring. Structures of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, straws, flowstone, and my favourite: those beautiful "shawls" that look like drapery hanging down -- or sometimes like bacon. They are only 5 mm thin (the width of a drop of water) and translucent. The material is calcite, dissolved from the rocks by rain water and deposited at the ceilings, walls and cave floors in layers upon layers, millenia after millenia. Pure calcite is white; the pink-orange-brown colours are caused by iron oxide.

Unfortunately the caves have suffered destruction from tourism. Especially the early visitors would with no hesitation break off whatever structures they could reach to take home a souvenir. The damage they have done, especially knowing how slow these crystals grow and how rare they are, is unbelievable. And all this despite the fact that the caves were officially "protected area" since 1866. In the interest of making the caves easily and safely accessible for visitors, they have poured tons after tons of concrete in, chiseled rock away to cut deep pathways, and of course installed electric lights. Today, 250,000 visitors come every year.

This giant cave opening is of a cave called "The Devil's Coach House". Compare the size of the path and the street lamp to get an idea how big it is. The ceiling must be 30 metres high.

It was an unforgettable trip. Now I'm back home, tomorrow I'll relax and let the impressions sink in.