Welcome to Overlander.ch

Jan 20st, 2023

G'day Australia!

Time is really racing - we are already since almost 4 months in Australia, visited 4 states and are about to enter Western Australia in a few days from now.

We landed in Sydney at the same time our travel mate entered the Harbour in Brisbane on September 24, 2022. Clearance and Biocontrol was taking a bit longer than anticipated (where did the cow dung come from on our chassis?!). But we could pick up the car on Oct. 6th, driving the first meters on Australian soil with our "leftie", back to the YHA in Brisbane. It took a few days to fit all travel gear into the car, finish the solar installation and a few other things on the carpark of the YHA.

Weather conditions in New South Wales was leading us to the decision to heading north, all the way up to Cooktown. Still no improvements on the flooding situation and continuous bad weather in the south east corner made it an easy call to aim towards Alice Springs, taking the Plenty Highway through the outback. Red center in the summer? Yes - it can be very hot and dry but also, there are almost no tourists at that time. Western Mc Donnell Ranges, Kings Canyon, Uluru and from there heading south towards Coober Peedy, Oodnadatta Track, Flinders Ranges - we found what we expected from the Outback! Except it was not red but green all over the place. One of the upsides from unseasonal rain in the area!

To be honest, Adelaide is so far our favourite city and we could definitively get a lot of organizational stuff and a haircut done there. Right on time for Christmas that was approaching rapidly. Taking a break on Kangaroo Island over Christmas was definitively a good decision - enjoying the Kangaroos on the campsite, Koala Bears above us in the trees and beautiful beaches and nature surrounding us. And of course we had a real little Christmas tree (that still travels with us now), freshly baked seasonal cookies and even a "Grittibänz" (fresh sweet doughy bread man).

Murray River, the main river that collects all water from southern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria was 6m above regular level and approaching the peak of the flooding right around the time we had to decide for either south east or western Australia. This river is a main travel destination and due to summer break, all locals had to find another place to stay and the campsites were hopelessly booked out. No need to experience overcrowded and sold out places like that.
We go for Western Australia.

Even in the Eyre Peninsula we ran into booking problems - and many Australians with the same issue, not knowing where to go. But we found beautiful places to stay and lovely beaches and tracks to explore.

Curious to see what comes next.

You are wondering why there is no diary yet? Against the initial plan and the desire to write a diary on a regular basis we simply don't prioritize that above quality time with family. That's why we are here. But very likely, we will catch up at a later stage.

Please visit instead our Facebook page where we post some impressions from time to time (www.facebook.com/overlander.ch).

Cheers