Photo Galleries

Western Australia

Latest additions to my growing number of wildlife pictures

Our last days in Oz passed in a flash while exploring around Fremantle and Perth.

Perth, capital city of Western Australia. CBD and Elizabeth Quay. We spent a lovely day in Perth visiting Perth Mint (see blog), wandering through CBD and enjoying a refreshing drink at Elizabeth Quay

Fremantle markets – only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday but well worth a visit. Compact and lots of interesting little stores. The place we made our (unplanned)- mysterious purchase

Fremantle – Street Art. Seems every city or town we have been too has some amazing Street Art. But I was blown away by what I found in Fremantle

The Amazing Great South Coast

Stopping off in various places on our way to Bremer Bay, our furthest point east on the south coast of Western Australia, to explore, marvel at and be amazed by the vastness and beauty of the country

D’Entrecasteaux national park was named after the French navigator Antoine de Bruni D’Entrecasteaux who sighted the point on his way to Cape Leeuwin in 1792.
The cliff top walk at Point D’Entrecasteaux is a great way to experience the south-west’s wild and windswept coast and shows just how fragile the cliffs are.

Valley of the Giants, tree top walk 40m above ground giving a birdseye view of majestic tingle trees. These trees can grow up to 75m. Even on the highest point of the walk, the trees are still towering above you.

Valley of the Giants, Ancient Empire Walk. An easy walking trail that meanders across the forest floor in between 400 year old giant red tingle trees. The hollows of some of the trees are just gigantic and most amazingly, the tree continues to thrive.

Torndirrup national park – wild and rugged coastal park known for its spectacular wave-carved features – The Gap and the Bridge. At ‘The Gap’ you are standing literally above the abyss … a little scary when the sea is tossing below you

Albany is the oldest settlement in WA founded in 1826, almost 2 years before Perth and Fremantle.
The town has a big role in the ANAZ legend being the last port of call for troopships departing Australia in WWI.
Pictures from historic district, the Brig Amity, the ship bringing the first settlers, views from Mt Clarence and sunset over Princes Royal Harbour.

Enjoyjng the morning at Little Beach in Two People’s Bay national park before making our way to Bremer Bay

Exploring the South West

We came to Margaret River to enjoy what the area is famous for: good wine, excellent food and lovely beaches.

Definitely loved the beaches even if the weather was not always made for it

Totally underestimated the size of ‘Margaret River Region’ – it’s about 100 km top to bottom and there is much more to explore.

Clifton Lake – Thrombolites look like rocks but are ancient forms of microbial communities that photosynthesize (produce energy from sunlight). They obtain calcium carbonate from the water to form these structures that are about 2000 years old.

Busselton Jetty is the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere at 1,841 metres long

Canal rocks, part of the Leeuwin Naturalist ridge

And for the wine and food, we had plenty. Found the best fudge I ever had in CowTown, tried lots of chocolate, honey and jam. And we certainly had our fair share of tastings at breweries

South Australia

Adelaide

Whenever we are in a new city we try to find a walking tour with a local. No exception for Adelaide. Katina shared a lot of history with us (far too many dates to remember) and showed us some of her favourite spots.

Adelaide likes to be known as a culture, music and festival city. So why not start at one of the most recognised meeting places – the ‘Mall Balls’ (known officially as ‘The Spheres’)

Followed by a sculpture of a group of life-sized pigs, officially known as ‘A Day Out’ by Marguerite Derricourt. The four pigs – Truffles (the standing pig), Horatio (the sitting pig), Oliver (the pig at the bin) and Augusta (the trotting pig) – are depicted in lively poses as if they were walking the street, greeting shoppers, and sniffing out a bargain.

One can get the impression that Adelaide feels like the little sister of the more well known cities like Sydney and Melbourne with everything on a much smaller scale. And it tries hard to get out of their shadow … with everybody we met emphasing how fantastic everything is.

Adelaide town hall where ones a year all females called Adelaide are invited to a tea party

Some street art to point out (on a much smaller scale than Melbourne)

Lovely botanical garden. A tranquil place to while away the time in the heat of the day.

And there is a Central Market, billed to be the biggest under cover food market in the Southern Hemisphere

Adelaide is certainly a very relaxed place even if it was very busy when we were there with lots of events happening: Adelaide Fringe, Gluttony and Adelaide 500 (a motor car race). The city was buzzing !

Travelling to Adelaide

To break up the journey, we stopped at a small town along the Limestone coast – Robe. As everywhere there is a lot of history with some remarkable stories and every town seems to make the most of it.

Robe is one of the oldest towns in SA. It was declared a port in 1847 and by 1856 it was the second major colonial out-port making it a prosperous place. Nothing that one would recognise today as it’s more like a little country village.

Making use of all modes of transport available. Catching a ferry across the Murray River at Wellington, shaving an hour off our trip. And nobody needs to pay the ferry man 🤭

24 hour ferry service across the Murray River – free

Melbourne & Victoria

Great Ocean Road

Not quite at the Great Ocean Road yet but a few pictures from Mornington Peninsula and Bellarine

Day 1 on the Great Ocean Road saw us travelling from Torquay to Apollo Bay, stopping along the way to admire the scenery and do a couple of walks. Here are a few pictures to get started

Pictures from Split Point Lighthouse and WB Godfrey Memorial, Separation Creek

Day 2 travelling from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell stopping at numerous places to enjoy the beautiful coast (in much better weather than the day before), walk enchanting rain forest, visiting Loch Ard Gorge and learn about the tragedy that unfolded in 1878 …

Pictures of rain forest in Melba Gully State Park

Loch Ard Gorge, the name is no coincidence: In 1878, a large clipper, the Loch Ard, ran aground on nearby rocks. Unfortunately, only two of the 54 passengers survived, one of whom was a nineteen-year-old apprentice sailor named Tom Pearce, and the other a nineteen-year-old Irish girl called Eva Carmichael, who was travelling with her family.

Tom was first to wash ashore at the sandy beach. Hearing a woman’s cries nearby, he bravely headed into the waters and rescued Eva. The two soon became famous in Victoria, with Tom being welcomed as a hero and lots of people expected them to get married. But after about three months, Eva decided to return back to Europe where she went to marry an aristocrat. Tom remained a sailor and returned to England where he died at the age of 49, known as a hero of his time.

Loch Ard Gorge in Port Campbell National park

Found some interesting snippets of information/artefacts about Loch Ard when visiting the Flagstaff Hill Maritime museum in Warrnambool:

In the 1960’s the shipwreck suffered from looters who dynamited the wreck and stole important artefacts like the ships bell and items that were meant to be exhibited in the 1880 international exhibition in Melbourne. Only in 2006 did an anonymous person return the ships bell

Loch Ard artefacts – Flagstaff Hill Maritime museum

On day 3 we travelled from Port Campbell to Port Fairy (which is technically no longer on the Great Ocean Road) again stopping at numerous places to enjoy the scenery – out of car,look on in awe, back into car, drive … repeat 😉

Pictures from The Arch, London Bridge, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Islands and The Grotto

A bit of Trivia about London Bridge: The bridge collapsed in 1990 unexpectedly, leaving two shocked tourists on their own on the newly created island. Eventually, they got rescued by helicopter … not many mobiles around in these days.

Not only beautiful scenery but plenty of wildlife to be spotted and enjoyed along the Great Ocean Road …

And not to forget the Aussie Magpie who makes a sound like R2D2. very weird, especially when you can’t see him. You don’t believe me, listen to him on YouTube.

Melbourne

Loved Melbourne. Seems to be an easy going city with lots of green spaces, culture / art, lots of people of course but still feels spacious

Shrine of Remembrance is the National War Memorial of Victoria, a monument dedicated to all those who have served in armed conflicts and peacekeeping operations in which Australia has participated. It’s a sombre and impressing site.

St Kilda became a favoured suburb of Melbourne’s elite during Victorian times and many palatial mansions and grand terraces were constructed along its hills and waterfront.

Today it’s home to many of Melbourne’s visitor attractions including St Kilda Pier, several theatres and many of Melbourne’s big events and festivals. We just missed the St Kilda festival.

Apparently, St Kilda Pier is the perfect place to capture Melbourne’s skyline … if the weather is clear

Melbourne’s skyline from St Kilda Pier …

Tasmania

Bay of Fires Walk

After a two hour bus journey from Launceston to Stumpy’s Bay we are all raring to go. About 10 km and 4 hours walking along on beaches in front of us. Changeable weather conditions with a couple of heavy showers. But such beautiful scenery

Day 2 saw us set off at 9am after a hearty breakfast again prepared by our guides. Walking along Deep Creek, around Picnic Point, up to Eddystone Lighthouse, across the Bay of Fires and Shelly Beach before reaching our goal for the day – Bay of Fires Lodge. Roughly 18km and 7 hour walk but plenty of breaks to refuel.

Beautiful weather for most of the day apart from the gale force winds and sandstorm (unexpected exfoliation for all exposed skin) in pouring rain when crossing the Bay of Fires Bay. Luckily it only lasted for about 20 minutes and we dried out very quickly when we reached Shelly Bay

Finishing Day 2 at Bay of Fires Lodge and being made to feel very welcome with a soothing foot spa and some bubbles. We definitely deserved it!

All the walking on day 3 felt like we were walking on air as we didn’t have to carry our ~10kg backpack. What’s more, we spend more on water than on foot, kayaking down the river to Anson’s Bay.

The only picture we have of the day. Thanks to Kyle for capturing the moment

After walking back across the dunes we got back to the lodge in plenty of time for some rest and recuperation. Some of us even making use of the Spa facilities

Beautiful setting of Bay of Fires Lodge. We were lucky to have the lodge just for us and had lots of fun playing Articulate in front of the fire. “What happens in the lodge, stays in the lodge” 😏

Day 4 started very relaxing with us enjoying the sun and scenery while our guides had to tidy up and clean the place for the next group arriving in the afternoon. We went from breakfast to Elevenses without any effort apart from choosing which deck chair to sit on

We set off at lunch time for a casual walk (with backpacks) through the forest to meet our pick up to take us back to Launceston

Highland Lakes Road

Travelling from Hobart to Launceston, we took the scenic route through the Tasmanian Midlands and Highlands. Vast amount of empty space all looking rather dry. With 40 degrees heat and strong winds, bush fires are not really a surprise. There are some bush fires to the north of Launceston, luckily not too close but close enough for the air to smell smoky

The Steppes Sculptures – a homage to the wildlife of Tasmania. Created by Stephan Walker. Nothing very exciting but an opportunity to get out of the car

Hobart

Hobart is a harbour town – a port city, where the world rushes in on the tide and ebbs away again, bringing with it influences from afar and leaving the locals buzzing with global zeitgeist (according to the description in the Lonely Planet)

We experienced Hobart as relaxed city full of history and an abundance of places to eat and drink.

Hobart – Battery Point, an old maritime village packed with small lanes and cottages, looking rather English

Sightseeing on Tasman peninsula, the company best of all.

Tasman peninsula – coastal route to Port Arthur

Some more pictures from our day at Port Arthur and the harbour cruise

Hobart’s waterfront around Victoria Dock (a working fishing harbour) and Constitution Dock (chock-full of floating takeaway-seafood punts), is a brilliant place to explore. Apparently, the obligatory Hobart experience is to sit in the sun, munch some fish and chips and watch the harbour hubbub. Who are we to argue?

Singapore

A city living up to expectations: hot but thankfully not too humid, lots of things to do, masses of people, rich (ranked #7 for GDP per capita) and … on the list for ‘coming back’ even if it’s our 3rd time already.

There are endless shopping options from far high end to mid range. Couldn’t find anything truly cheap apart from our first breakfast

Amazing city skyline and unexpected pockets like Emerald Hill Road with old colonial terraced houses

Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay deserve much more time then we could afford. Mind you, quite a lot of our time was taken up by queuing. Best to get here not on a bank holiday w/e!

A few (more) impressions from Chinatown

Huge variety of food – from cheap road side eateries/hawkers to the best Peking duck in town

Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Towers, KLCC (KL City Center), Eco Forest park (the oldest protected piece of jungle in Malaysia) and inside of Suria KLCC (one of the MANY shopping malls; so big that even Fergus – who is good at orienteering, got confused)

Merdaka square (Independence square, which is still being used as a place to play cricket, Chinatown and Thean Hou temple. Got there early to avoid the masses who will no doubt descend there for Chinese New Year eve celebrations

And me, trying my luck on the fortune-telling sticks. Who would have guessed, my number is 13 🤭

Food food food – so much to choose from. Particularly at Jalan Alor – the night food market

KL is a city changing faces very quickly. Building sites everywhere. Not many of the traditional Malay village feeling left. But it still exists – rather a stark contrast between old and new