... are to be seen in Port Hedland, a few hundred kilometres south of the 80 Mile beach. In Western Australia there are hundreds of Iron Ore and other mineral mines, and the goods have to be carried to the West Coast via train. Port Hedland is the main destination of these trains, which can be as long as 3 kilometres!!! We've seen some of them on our way into town. Christian took a video of one train rolling along from a bridge above the track and it took about 7 minutes for the train to pass by completely.

Besides that there's not much to see in Port Hedland, so we decided to make it to a camp site another 100 km south of the town called Indee station. When we got there we discovered that this "caravan park" was indeed a cattle station and mine that was offering camping facilities for tourists. Well, we were the only campers there and due to the guestbook the first visitors for the last six months!!

But we soon discovered that it was a really good choice because the owner showed us a small dirt road which from the cattle station a few kilometres inlands to a place called 'Red Rock'. After making sure this road is accessible for a 2 Wheel Drive, we decided to find out what this Red Rock is about. What we found was a really astonishing mini version of the Uluru (former Ayers Rock) just inbetween the nothingness of the Outback. There was no other house, car or even person in sight, just this rock and an amazingly beautiful countryside around it. We climbed the mountain and sat on top of it to enjoy the sight of a sunset in the outback. Occasionally we spotted cows and kangaroos and other animals around us.

When it got dark we decided to go back to the station and make something to eat. We had the kitchen and the toilets and everything else for our own (and it was astonishingly clean and in good shape for an outback campsite). This was definitely one of the best moments I ever had (and there were more to come as you'll find out soon) ...

cu

Ingo

I'll put some pictures online as soon as I can, but I suppose

Hey everyvody. I've made it safe to Perth now. Since Darwin I've travelled about 6.500 km by now and I've seen sooooo many things on the journey. Since I'm in Perth now the Internet fares are cheaper here so I can keep you informed a bit more.

So I will give you all the details of my travel so farbit by bit in the next few days. Here is part one.

We had a little bit of trouble leaving Broome because on a Friday afternoon we heard that our car made strange rattling noises. That wouldn't have bothered us much if it wasn't a fact that there is nothing but Outback for the next 600 km in the south. So if our car would break down there we would have a really hard time getting a pickup, not to speak of a garage where we could fix the problem. So we stayed in Broome til Monday and went to the garage there. The guy told us we should come back next morning, he would have some time to check the car then. We were in a really bad mood because we thought the gearbox would be broken (Deutsch: Getriebe kaputt). That would have been the end of our trip with that car.

So we brought the car to the garage next morning, and the guy told us he would call us when the car is ready. We went to the city (which wasn't big at all) and tried to kill the time there. In the afternoon I received a message that the alternator (Lichtmaschine) is broken and they have difficulties in finding a new one because Mitsubishi doesn't produce them any more. He told us we had to wait maybe for a few days until they've found one.

The next day was really boring because we couldn't do anything without a car in Broome. So we stayed at McDonalds and the Internet Cafe the whole day. But at the end of the day we got a new message: They've found a brand new alternator. It would be there next morning and we could pick the car up at noon.

Meanwhile we've found a new travel companion, Melanie. So we gathered her up the next day and continued our travel to our next destination, the 80 Mile Beach. This Beach is from north to south 80 Miles long and has very pure white sand. We spent the night at a caravan park directly at the beach, where we could see traces of turtles coming to the beach layibg their eggs.

Besides, this guy on the right is one of the deadliest creatures in Australia, the box jellyfish. Fortunately it was already dead when we found it. When you get in contact with its tentacles, you can say goodbye to this world.

Next one's coming soon...

Ingo