New South Wales | Queensland | Northern Territory | Western Australia

On 08. April 2001 I came to Sydney. Its loud and overwhelming flair didn't quite fit to my imagination of the lonely and wide open spaces of Australia. So I went south, away from the metropolis, into the jungle of the Royal National Park. Already there I found the tremendous Australian hospitality (thank you Neville!). Slowly I absorbed the Australian mentality, although I understood the locals only partly. Who could have told me what was meant by "howsitgarnmait" or "weryahedn"... After red sunsets in Jervis Bay and lonely rides through the Morton National Park I headed off the coast towards Canberra and Snowy Mountains. At the beginning of May I went to climb Mt. Kosciusko from Thredbo village but I never reached its summit...

After two weeks in the Canberra Hospital and a surgery on my fractured leg I started recovering and walking upright again. All that I only managed supported by many wonderful people who I will never forget. Another two weeks later I left my accommodation in the capital still on crutches but this time on four wheels. After all I still had a healthy food to accelerate.

Back in Sydney I picked up my sister Christiane at the airport - she had brought 7 weeks and her bicycle for luggage. Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Sydney downtown. That time I enjoyed it as well. The Blue Mountains were rather a test for my physical conditions than the experience of nature itself. Together we left New South Wales heading north - to Queensland! Endless sugar plantations, subtropical rainforests and the Outback. We chartered a flight to see Fraser Island from above as my crutches wouldn't have walked on the sand dunes. Not until Townsville we left the tropical green to drive across the continent westwards. The endless distances and the vast emptiness of the Outback were almost incomprehensible from the steering-wheel of our car. For hours only straight ahead, along roads being hardly wide enough for two vehicles, always heading into the sunset. After Mount Isa we eventually reached back civilization in Alice Springs, although just to stop-over en route to the Red Centre. Tremendous, all-powerful, nearly magic and most of all red we found it sitting there, the heart of the continent - the Ayers Rock or Uluru as the Aborigines call it. Only slowly I gained an idea of the Aboriginal culture, which is spread all over the lands of the Northern Territory. Several hundreds of kilometres further north we hiked through the gorges of the Mc. Donald Ranges before we made our way to Darwin, the northern most city of Australia. My crutches burned like torches on the starry firmament. Christiane started counting her last days in Oz. But before we had to say goodbye we explored the wilderness of the Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks. 7 weeks are a short time.

I sold my Ford Falcon for more than I had originally bought it for. That way I restored my finances a little and made up new plans. I was able to extend my 6-months-visa and left Darwin on 07. August 2001 - this time in the saddle of my pushbike. Without air-conditioning and sunshade it took me a few days to be equal to the heat of Australia's winter. A canoe trip in Kathrine Gorge was welcome to cool me down. In Kathrine I left the Stewart Highway to the west along the Victoria Highway to Perth. Here I started my loneliest stretch across Australia. To the next town it was 500 km of steppe and emptiness, to Perth it was more than 4,000 km. The endless landscapes of Western Australia taught me new experiences I only knew of from reading in books. I didn't fight against hills and mountains, against the heat, the wind or the flies anymore - here I had to fight against myself. Against my mind always asking for the sense, knowing I wouldn't see much more than the straight shimmering road in the sun and the vast, flat lands for weeks. But as usual things came different - the local Australian folks changed my imagination. I experienced an unexpected connection between us fellows in the Outback, being welcome every evening when I stopped on one of the rest areas along the highways and when I sat down on the fire with the other travellers. Although my bike was sometimes heavier than 80 kg I fell in love with the endless trip, the tranquillity and the freedom. After having cycled 1,800 km since Darwin I reached the Indian Ocean in Broome. From there it was another 600 km along ocean and Great Sandy Desert to Port Headland. 200 km further south I was stunned by the probably most beautiful national park of Australia: together with Kurt from Swiss who I had met on the road, I rattled along nerve-racking corrugated tracks to the gorges of Karijini. Back on the West Coast I swam with colourful fishes in Coral Bay and on the way south I rested several days in Kalbarry to wait for new bicycle parts. There wasn't much left from the teeth of the bike gears and it was cheaper to get them sent from Germany. When I reached Geraldton on 15. October 2001 and walked into the post office, there was no trace of my parcel, yet. Unfortunately I caught a bad flue there and had to stay in my tent with 40'C fever. A meadow behind a little church seemed to be perfect to camp and to recover. When there had been no change after days I got nervous and dragged myself on my last energy to the doctor. If the antibiotics didn't have worked, I would have ended up in hospital again. In the meantime my "neighbours" must have discovered my tent and I got an invitation for breakfast the following morning. In the home of my dear hosts Ted and Kay I spent 1 month before I had recovered to be able to follow on my journey. I will never forget about that unbelievable hospitality and family-like atmosphere in the house of my two friends (and hope to see you soon!). Always the hardest of all is to say goodbye.

The last days on the way to Perth I followed along the Great Northern Highway to the odd Pinnacles and long white beaches to Perth. In Fremantle, the port of Perth, I got pleasure from the flair and social gathering and was once again welcome in a local's home. My brother Raphael wrote me he was coming to New Zealand in December so I booked my ticket to Auckland. The last month in Oz I spent in refreshing green South West Australia and cycled like intoxicated through tall Eucalypt forests down to Albany. At 09. December 2001 I left Australia from Perth.