Esperance-Melbourne. The South

Esperance was the last "real" city before crossing the "Nullarbor" (from null arbor in latin, got it?) plain, so we just enjoy the last moments of civilization, get supplies, check the car, you know, these things you really get used to do before driving in OZ. But, before that we visited the awesome Cape Le Grand National Park: White sand, cristaline water (the best beaches in Australia says the advert...) and some small peak with capricius shapes.

Taking pictures for this blog!!!

Close to the French Peak summit with Le Grand beach in the background.

No big dramas crossing the Nullarbor, some overheat engine stop, but everything under normality with this hot. Here you can find the largest straight in Australia, close to 150 km. (yeah, a bit boring, but the music was good).
After the Nullarbor we looked for some place to stretch our legs and the Flinders Range is a bush walking paradise, so we spent a couple of days there, enjoying the landscape and the peace of these small towns.

Adelaide was the next stop in the road. A nice surprise, I must admit, I expected something diferent and the city received us with its best weather and we really had some good times. The botanical garden is a "must" in the city.

An artistic photo I took in the magnificient Botanic Garden. Man, I love that picture!

From Adelaide, we drove to Mt. Arapiles, the "Meca" of climbers in Australia. Too many pictures for the trip post, so I decided to create a special post for Arapiles. Have a look if you want to see big rocks, ropes, nuts, smiles... Just tell you that the initial plan was to spend there just one night and finally we stayed there three (and it's in my black list to come back and spend...)

So, as Mt. Arapiles is close to The Grampians National Park, this NP was our next stop, we did some normal tourism, hiked and climb a peak with great views.

From The Grampians if you drive 150 km south you find The Great Ocean Road, another "must" for the OZ tourist. I don't want to explain to much, but after the solitude of the west, the quantity of tourists of this place stressed me a bit. Anyway, I must say the place is spectacular, see the pictures...Yeah too many, but, it was so difficult to choose...

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road Coast. No comments.

Great Ocean Road. Twelve Apostols.

The Great Ocean Road lead as to Melbourne, after a freak night in a service center 50 km of the city, I won't forget that free hot shower in my life...

What to say about Melbourne...mmm...difficult, but I can say that I feel great in this big city where you can have "four seasons in one day" (Now I know why!) Still some experiences to live here so I'll updated that when I'll leave the place.

The guys of the funny face :-P

Melbourne. Views from the Observation Deck.

The City from the South bank of the Banka river.

Climbing in Mount Arapiles

Yes!! This is the paradise of the traditional climbing: Strong rock, Heaps of gear to protect, no bolts and heaps and heaps of routes.
I arrived just wih my rock climbing shoes and an harness, so I neede to find someone to climb with. This is not problem in "The Pines" campground, plenty of climbers looking for partner.
We stayed there just a couple of days but the climbing was intense and I met some cool people to climb with.

Zack and Ander, a couple of americans I climbed with the first day. Nice and strogn young people, I hope to see them again...

Abseling from the end of the climb route D minor.

Ben, my climbing buddy from Brisbane. F. good climber, strong and wise. Awesome climbing day!! Non stopping.

That's the typical belaying station in Arapiles, not many blod on the rock, but plenty of gear, you see...

Awesome views from the Gnull Major top.

Climbing in a "3 stars" climb , mate, too much adrenaline! Great feelings.

Suffering to arrive...not fit enough...

Finally, at the top of route, really satisfied.

Happy end for an awesome climbing days!! Thanks Ben!!

Perth-Esperance. The southwest coast

I stayed in Perth a bit more than planned (as usual!) and enjoyed the last hours enjoying the company of my friend Patri. I knew the time doesn't stop and there is still a long drive to Sydney.

Last day in the park with the famous black swans (the symbol of Perth).

Next stop in the Southwest was Chubby's place in Donsborough, a small village with money and surfers, an strange combination... Chubby is a surfer-artist-painter who has an enviable life style. Beatiful place, nice people, peaceful enviroment, awesome beaches and surfing made the place too perfect to stay there just a couple of days. So, waiting for my new trip partner I spent my days in this enviable life.

A photo of my host, Chubby, surfing. He's a great surfer, I can assure, I saw him riding pretty big waves!

Yallingup beach is one of the spots where I spent more hours in the water "riding the waves". Awesome experience.

Once Claire, the belgian girl who join me to this last of the trip, arrived we drove south looking for Margaret River, its winneries and surfing spots.

Beatiful landscape in conto's beach. Next morning surfing with rain, love it!

Affer saying goodbye to Chubby and Nina, we drove south, to the last end of Southwest Australia, and then west looking for the famous nature of the great southern.

The Southwest cape of Australia is where two ocean meet: indian and Southern
(as you can see ;-P).

The summer(and the hot) in the south has still not arrived but in spite of a bit of cold and rain, the land shows its most wonderful dresses.


Heaps of beautiful wildflowers around!!! See the pictures of them in other blog.

Some of the trails we walked with absoluely no one around, just the wildlife.

Of the creatures of this forest, this giant Marri was one of the most impressives.

Bluff Knoll, the moutain we climb to "enjoy" the wind and the wet in the summit.

Beatiful landscape in the Stirling range. Maybe to much fields and not much bush, but this is what white men has done here: fields and golf course give more money than the bush...