Wave Rock

On the way to Perth there is not much interesting to stop by. In fact there is not much at all. Towns are still about 100-200 km apart and very tiny, some are more just stations than towns. One stop worth making is the Wave Rock though. It’s quite impressive, 15m high rock that thanks to erosion now looks like surfers dream (if it wasn’t a rock obviously).

Cestou do Perthu neni moc zajimavosti. Lepe receno tam toho vubec neni moc – cesnice jsou furt 100 az 200 km od sebe a nektery jsou spis farmy nez vesnice. Jednou zajimavosti je Wave Rock – Vlnova skala. Je to cekelm slusny sutr, asi 15 m vysky asi 100m do sirky a diky erozi ted vypada jako sen vsechn surfaru (teda kdyby to nebylo z kamene samozrejme).

 

The township nearby has an original way to tell it’s story – they made it out of metal. The figurines are gorgeous and the accompanying text tells the history really well. It is quite fascinating as well – the town was only connected to electricity in 1989 and had no mobile phone coverage until late 1990’s.

Blizke mestecko si naslo svuj originalni zpusob jak vypravet svoji historii – postavili ji ze zeleza. Figuriny jsou uzasny a doprovodny text nadherne popisuje historii osidleni. Napriklad elektrina sem zavedena az v roce 1989 a mobilni telefony tu nemely signal az do konce 90. let.

 

Esperance

From the wast emptiness of Nullarbor plains we longed for a change of scenery so headed south to Esperance, home of Australia’s whitest beaches. We found a very lovely caravan park outside the town centre and stayed two nights in this harbour town.

Esperance as such is not all that interesting, it really is all about the beaches here. And they are REALLY white. First day I went for a bike ride. Alone, to put some distance between me and Gordie. After two weeks of being within an arm length from each other we needed it. There is a lovely 40km circuit that took me along some of the finest beaches I have ever seen. Along most of it there was a bike path and as it was Friday morning, not much traffic at all. Which suited me well – it was up and down a lot and some ups were a little too steep for me liking but nobody saw me push the bike. Once the track turned inland there was one last up and then about 3k’s downhill – awesome. The last 15 or so kilometres were flat and unlike along the coast there was no wind so I felt like I was flying.

On Saturday we drove to Cape LeGrand National Park, which is where Lucky Bay is. Now for those of you who don’t know this – Lucky Bay was voted in 2006 Australia’s Whitest Beach. So obviously we had to see it. It is quite amazing. The sand is so soft that you feel like you are walking on white icing. Which made me feel like having cake but really, the beach is stunning. While we were in the park we went to Frenchman peak, steep climb but amazing view. Especially Gordie loved it because on top of the mountain was a topless chic sun tanning. Gordie kept talking about that view for the rest of the day and didn’t while there took quite a few photos, none of which show the park very well.

Po prejezdu Nullarbor jsme touzili po zmene krajiny a tak jsme zamirili na jih, do Esperance. Ta je udajne domovem nejbelejsich plazi v Australii.

Samotna Esperance az tak zajimava neni, ale ty plaze okolo stoji za to. Prvni den jsme vyrazila na projizdku na kole. Tentokrat sama, nebot po dvou tydnech co jsme se jeden od druheho vzdalili maximalne na par kroku, jsme potrebovali trochu prostoru. Nasla jsem krasny 40 km dlouhy okruh, ktery vede kolem nekolika skvostnych plazi a pak se vraci vnitrozemim k nasemu kempu. Podel vetsiny vedla stezka pro cyklisty a protoze byl patek rano, tak tam skoro nikdo nebyl. Coz mi dost vyhovovalo, nebot to bylo dost nahoru a dolu a obcas ty nahoru byly trochu nad me sily. Tak me aspon nikdo nevydel potupne tlacit kolo do nekolika useku. Kdyz se to ale stocilo od pobrezi, nasledoval asi 3 kilometrovy sjezd. Tak jsem se zakousla do riditek a svistela jak vitr. Pak uz to bylo po rovince az do kempu a protoze narozdil od pobrezi tam neradil vitr o sile tajfunu, jelo se uplne bajo.

V sobotu jsme zajeli do narodniho parku Cape LeGrand, ve kterem je plaz jmenem Lucky Bay. Ta byla v roce 2006 vyhlasena “Nejbelejsi plazi v Australii”, tak jsme to jeli omrknout. Pisek je tam tak bilej a jemnej, ze mi to pripadalo, ze se prochazim po cukrove poleve. Diky cemuz jsem dostala desnou chut na nejakej dort. Kdyz uz jsme byli v te oblasti, rozhodli jsme se vylezt na Frenchman Peak, kopec, ze ktereho ma byt uzasny vyhled. Gordie byl vskutku nadsen, nebot na vrchlu se opalovala divcina nahore bez. O tomto vyhledu Gordie mluvil po cely zbytek dne. Nafotil toho tam sice celkem dost, ale nic moc pouzitelnyho.

     

Frenchman Peak

Lucky Bay

 

This is Whistling Rock – if you stand at the taller end you can hear the echo of the ocean.

Tohle je Piskajici kamen. Pokud clovek stoji u toho vyssiho konce tak je slyset ozvena oceanu.

Nullarbor

Oh well, we had to do it… It was after all the shortest way to get to WA. So we took a very deep breath and drove onto the Nullarbor. And yes - it is flat, more or less straight road that seems to get longer with every kilometre that you drive.

It’s quite hard to keep occupied when driving pretty much non-stop for three days, watching the distance count down on the GPS. When we got tired of music we tried doing crossword puzzles. I was reading the clues to Gordie so we can both guess. The roaring engine and fans make it a bit hard to hear each other properly and so when I got to one that said “cul-de-sack”, Gordie heard “cool-to-suck” and gave me some very inappropriate suggestions. After that we turned the music back on and stared out of the window.

One really cool place to stop is the Head of Bight, which is a place whales migrate to for winter. Apparently there can be more than hundred whales at a time but we were not that lucky. However lucky enough to see a couple, mum with a baby. They were pretty close to the shore so we got a quite good look at them. They didn’t poke out of the water much though, as we were later explained the don’t do it so close to the shore, because the mater is too shallow. There was another one farther away and that one waved the tail couple of time. Too quick to take a photo though.

Also travelling the Nullarbor is not cheap – petrol is about $1.70 a litre and on 1200k’s it shows. In the end we were quite happy when we were across. It’s an interesting experience and even though we just drove we still had a feeling of achievement when we finished it. We are nothing compared to some though – along the way we passed 3 cyclists. Now that’s hardcore.

Nullarbor je v Australii povestna silnice a postrach mnoha ridicu. Je to totiz asi 1200 kilometru napric pustinou. Jedinym rozptylenim jsou benzinky zhruba kazdych 200 kilaku, nicmene vzhledem k tomu, ze tam benzin stoji $1.70 (oproti normalnim 1.20 – 1.30), tak jsme se na tankovani ani moc netesili. Navic silnice je vicemene rovna, takze rizeni tam fakt moc zabava neni.

Jednou prima zastavkou ale je The Head of Bight, coz je zatoka, kam se na zimu stehuji velryby. Udajne je jich tam nekdy i pres sto, ale my takove stesti nemeli. Par jsme jich ale zahlidli, mamu a miminem, byli blizko pobrezi, tak jsme je dobre videli. Bohuzel ale z vody moc nevykouli. Jak jsme se pozdeji dozvedeli tak to ani u brehu moc nedelaji, voda je na manevry pry moc melka. Jedna velryba byla kus od brehu a ta obcas mavla ocasem. Bohuzel bez varovani, takze se nam to nikdy nepodarilo vyfotit.

Cesta pres ullarbor je zajimavy zazitek, ale nakonec jsme byli celkem radi, kdyz jsme dojeli na konec. A ackoliv jsme v podstate jen sedeli v aute tri dny v kuse, v cili jsme meli celkem vitezny pocit. Musim ale podoknout, ze proti nekterym jsme uplny masla – cestou jsme minuli celkem 3 cyklisty. Tomu rikam hardcore.

 

  Viewing platform at the Head of Bight.

Vyhlidka u Head of Bight

Nullarbor coastline.

Pobrezi podel Nullarbor.

The Big Kangaroo on the WA-SA border

Klokan na hranici mezi Zapadni a Jizni Australii

Nejdelsi usek roviny v Asutralii – 146.6 km kdy vubec nepotrebujete volant.

Eyre Peninsula

Instead of taking the inland shortcut we decided to do it properly and drove down towards Port Lincoln. Very soon we started to doubt our decision as we were driving in straight line through monotone landscape, no towns. But 400 k’s later we finally got to Port Lincoln, which turned out to be a lovely port town. The night we spent in Lincoln National park where we got camp spot right next to a beautiful beach.

After having a look around town we drove over to Coffin Bay. That is also a nice park right at the sea. Next day we took our bikes for a ride. The track was really cool, nice up and down with lovely views all the way.

Next morning we packed up and headed back up the coast. Again in a straight line. Along the way was a sea-lion colony. We had a bit more luck with photos this time and actually have some, unlike with those seals.

Namisto zkratky vnitrozemim jsme se to rozhodli objet poctive a vyrazili kolem pobrezi. O tomto rozhodnuti jsme velmi rychle znejisteli, nebot jsme jeli v prime linii a celkem monotoni krajinou. Ale po asi 400 kilometrech jsme konecne dojeli do Port Lincolnu, coz se ukazalo byt celkem prijemne pristavni mestecko. Noc jsme stravili v blizkem narodnim parku, kde jsme kempovali primo u plaze.

Rano jsme se podivali po meste a pak pokracovali do Coffin Bay. Tam jsme vzali kola na projizdku po super trase, krasny vyhledy.

Po dvou nocich tam jsme se zase sbalili a vyrazili podel pobrezi zpet na sever. Cestou jsme zastavili u kolonie lachtanu. Tentokrat jsme meli s fotkama trochu vic stesti nez tenkrat u tulenu.

 

Who can spot a sea-lion?

Kdo najde tulene?

    

Flinders Ranges

There is a bit of talk about Flinders Ranges so we went to check it out. In a book I read that if we were mere 60 million years earlier we might have attempted to climb the highest mountain on Earth. Too bad, bit late for that. Flinders are supposedly just stumps of what used to be a range higher than Himalayas. It’s very pretty though. On the way we stopped by a place called Flinders Ranges Information Centre and while they did have information on some small towns in the area, they didn’t know anything about the actual ranges, nor had they a map of walking tracks. So we continued towards the national park to a place called Wilpena Pound. Pretty sure that used to be a cattle station and now is a resort, the only one in the area that doesn’t belong to the Parks and Wildlife and charges pretty high fees for camping. We did manage to get some info there at the Parks and Wildlife Centre about the walking and camping in the area but again no map. To our disbelief we were told that maps for hikers are a waste. The fact that the office was otherwise packed with glossy brochures on just about everything didn’t seem to bother them. But maps for hikers are apparently a waste of paper. Anyhow, with a pathetic A4 print out with a sketch of the area we drove to a free campsite for the night. Now we can’t verify this but the campers next to us said that inside their van at 8.30am next morning the thermometer showed 4 degrees. Next day we tried to navigate with our sketch to a start of some walk and another campsite. We passed few signs on the way but none of them indicating 4WD track. In fact, according to one the campsite was 2WD accessible. So we were quite surprised when our poor van was suddenly crossing deep ditches and water. Not quite what we expected. At the camp we just dropped out of the car and didn’t even want to think about the way back. The walk was great though and the campsite beautiful. Next day we repeated our involuntary driving adventure and drove back to Wilpena as I refused to leave Flinders without seeing the actual Wilpena Pound. It looks like a huge crater and it’s really cool. After that we headed back towards coast.   

trochu jsme toho slyseli o pohori Flinders a tak jsme se tam rozhodli zajet podivat. V jedne knizce jsem se docetla, ze kdybysme tu byli o pouhych 60 milionu let driv, mohli jsme se pokusit zdolat nejvyssi horu sveta. Udajne Flinders kdysi bylo majestatne pohori prevysujici dnesni Himalaje. Nicmene cas je celkem obrousil a holt uz to neni co to udajne kdysi byvalo. Cestou jsme zastavili v kancelari s napisem “Informacni centrum o pohori Flinders”. Tam sice meli informace o nekolika malych vesnicich v okoli, ale nic o Flinders. Nesehnali jsme tam ani mapu. Tak jsme pokracovali smerem k naronimu parku a mistu jmenem Wilpena Pound. Mam dojem, ze to kdysi byvala farma s dobytkem, dnes je to resort s predrzenym kempem. V tamnim informacnim stredisku jsme se sice konecne neco malo dozvedeli o tamnich turistickych trasach a kempovani v parku, nicmene k nasemu nemalemu udivu nam bylo mimo sdeleno, ze turisticke mapy netisknou. Pry jsou to vyhozene penize. Asi tu maji velmi levne zachranne vrtulniky, dokonce levnejsi nez papir. Navic to stredisko bylo jinak nacpane brozurkama o kazdym zapadakove siroko daleko, ale turisticke mapy jsou prej zbytecny. No nic, nakonec nam daly A4 s nacrtem oblasti a my vyrazili smerem kemp. Nasledujici sice nemuzu zarucit, ale nasi sousede nam dalsi rano tvrdili, ze uvnitr jejich obytnaku v pul devate rano namerili 4 stupne. Ja moc odhad nemam, ale je fakt ze jsem rano byla zabalena ve svym spacaku a odmitla vylizt dokud slunce plne nevyslo a nerozmrazilo nam okna. po snidani jsme vyrazila k zacatku znacenych tras a k dalsimu kempu. Cestou jsme minuli par ceduli, ale nebylo tam nic o narocnem terenu. Naopak na jedne jsme nasli znacku, ze kemp je dostupny i autum s phonem na dve kola. Tudiz jsme byli celkem prekvapeny, kdyz jsme najednou v nasi staricke dodavce prejizdeli vymoly, strme straze a vodni toky. Kdyz jsme se konecne dostali do kempu, z auta jsme doslova vypadli a razantn odmitli byt jen pomyslet na zpatecni cestu. Trek byl ale fajn a kemp krasnej a dalsi den jsme se nakonec uspesne opet probojovali nasim nedobrovolnym automobilovym dobrodruzstvim. Pred odjezdem z Flinders jsme se opet zastavili ve Wilpene a zasli se podivat  (=vydrapali se po ctyrech) na vyhlidku, odkud bylo videt cele pohori. Vypada to jako velkej krater a je to supr.

Ruins of s sheep station which at it’s peak held 40,000 sheep

Pozustatky ovci farmy, ktera kdysi chovala 40,000 ovci:

 

Aboriginal drawings in a cave describing an initiation ritual.

Kresby Aborigincu, ktere popisuji iniciacni ritual:

A tady uz zase chodime:

Hiking again:

   And the supposedly 2WD track:

A tady jsou flinderske silnice: 

 

Wilpena pound:

Leaving Adelaide/ Odjezd z Adelaide

From Adelaide we headed north towards Flinders Ranges. About half way we stopped for the night as it was getting late and we were tired. So we pulled up in a caravan park in Gladstone at about 8.30. The office was dark so we were going to take a spot and pay in the morning when the lights came on and a head appeared in the window.

“What do you want?” – Ehm, a site for the night.

'”Oh for f…s sake! What the f…k! Do you know what time it is?” –Ehm, yeah, it’s 8.30.

Why the f..k would you turn up so late?I don’t f…ing understand that!You know what? I’M MISSING BONES! And it’s the season final! – Ehm….sorry? ( note: Bones is crap!)

She then went on with lot more swearing which I won’t publish, took our money and kicked us out of the office. So that much for local hospitality. We left Gladstone as soon as we could the next morning.

Z Adelaide jsme vyrazili na sever smerem na pohori Flinders. Zhruba na pul cesty jsme zastavili na noc, nebot zacinalo byt pozde a my jsme byli utahani. Zajeli jsme tudiz do kempu v Gladstonu. Bylo asi pul devate a na recepci byla tma, tak jsme chteli zaparkovat a zaplatit rano. Najednou se ale rozsvitilo a v okne objevila hlava.

“Co chcete?” - “Ehm, kemp na noc.

“No do pr…!Vite kolik je hodin? Do hajz..” – Jo, je pul devaty.

No do pr…! Proc jedeta tak pozde? To nechapu! Vite co? Prichazim o Bones!!! (=trapny americky serial, totalni nuda)

Pak nam jeste chvili nadavala, vzala si od nas penize a vykopla nas z kanclu. Tak asi tak pro mistni pohostinost. Rano jsme se sbalili a vypadli jak nejrychleji to slo.

Adelaide

Adelaide was awesome. It is actually a very beautiful city. We were a bit surprised as we haven’t heard about Adelaide much but it would have to be our favourite OZ city so far. We met with Lara, Gordie’s friend, for breakfast and then strolled through the city. We also bought a new camera – finally! We were basically just wondering around the city and eating for two days. So yeah, awesome.

Adelaide je super. Je to nahodou moc hezky mesto, coz nas trochu prekvapilo, protoze jsme o Adelaide moc neslyseli. Zatim je to asi nase nejoblibenejsi australske mesto. Sesli jsme se s Gordieho kamoskou Larou na snidani a pak jsme se toulali mestem a konecne koupili novej fotak. V podstate jsme se dva toulali po meste a jedli – proste supr.

Over to SA/ Prejezd do Jizni Australie

From Grampians we headed back to the coast, to Portland, where we tried to get a new camera but haven’t found anything we liked. After a night there we went to have a look at a seal colony nearby (I love seals!). It is meant to be a colony of 600 seals, well I counted about a dozen, included one that really wasn’t moving. But it was nice to watch the small ones play in the water and the walk there was very nice along supposedly Victoria’s highest sea cliffs. We tried to take a photo of the seals with our video camera but for some reason it didn’t come out. In fact this is the only photo the camera actually recorded:

The seals are down at the sea and you can’t see them on the photo.

Another cool thing they have in Portland are white kangaroos. They are bred in SA’s Bordertown and are actually totally white. Not albinos, real white kangaroos. There are few pic’s under the Czech text.

From Portland we headed to SA and in the afternoon crossed the border and were in another state. Yay! First stop was Mt Gambier. Again we tried to buy a camera and again we didn’t like anything that was on offer. The night we spent in Tantanoola, which has pub that became the final resting place to the Tantanoola tiger. He is stuffed and overlooking the bar now.

 

Z Grampians jsme zamirili zpet na pobrezi, do Portlandu, kde jsme se snazili koupit novej fotak, ale zadnej se nam nezdal. Dalsi den jsme se jeli podivat na kolonii tulenu. Udajne tam zije na 600 tulenu, ja jsem napocitala asi tucet vcetne jednoho, kterej se vubec nehejbal. Ale je hezky pozorovat ty mlady, jak si hrajou ve vode a ten trek tam byl taky moc fajn. Snazili jsme se neco vyfotit nasi videokamerou ale bohuzel nic se nenahralo. Jedina fotka, ktera vysla, je tahle:

Ty tuleni jsou dole u more, na ty fotce nejsou videt. 

Dasli super vec, co maji v Portlandu, jsou bili klokani. Chovaji je v Jizni Asutralii a jsou opravdu bili, ne albini, opravdu bili klokani. Dole je par fotek, ktery nastesti vysli na kamere.

Odpoledne jsme prekrocili hranici mezi Viktorii a Jizni Australii. Hura! Opet jsme se snazili koupit fotak a opet se nam nic nezdalo. Na noc jsme zastavili v Tantanoole, coz byl kdysi domov tantonoolskeho tygra. Nebo vlastne jeste je – dnes je tygr vycpany a vystaveny v mistni hospode.