… Meeting one of the most venomous snakes of Australia: King Brown/Mulga and Sascha became finally a welder himself
Heading direction Port Hedland we turned after about 450km into a gravel road to cape Keraudren at the sea side. Already on the way we saw several kangaroos and when we reached the coast with a fresh breeze we saw them all around in the dawn. We had a walk along the wonderful beach cliffs at low tide and after tea (this is how they call dinner over here) we were watching the amazing stars while listening to the waves. With the sunrise we explored the cape, observing the kangaroos and birds and as well a sea turtle. It was already noon when we left…
Port Hedland is an industrial city and we only went shopping and taking fuel to continue the road inland direction Karijini National Park. With the dawn we were looking for a place to stay and we found a nice place in the bush close to the highway where we settled for the night. Early next morning we reached the roadhouse to fill up the last time fuel and water before entering the park. We stayed at the Dale Camping from where we could hike the whole day long. The Dale Gorge is just spectacular! We had several swim; at the waterfall, at the fern pool and after a hike through the gorge at the circular pool once again. While hiking through the gorge we met one of the most venomous snakes of Australia: The King Brown/Mulga (The mulga is the heaviest venomous snake in Australia and has the largest-recorded venom output of any in the world – delivering 150mg in one bite;) which was just half a meter in front of us. Of course we did not know that at this time but we showed respect anyhow, stepped back and let her go her way. Nevertheless we were a little bit shocked when we showed the photo to the ranger and got known what we met. “Death within 2 hours if not treated immediately”. So once again a lucky day…
When we were packing the bike to explore more of these beautiful gorges… guess what we saw! Yep, once more a broken part of the pannier holder!!! Luckily a ranger just passed by and he said we could come to their workshop which is close by. We went there and another ranger, Brandon, was already waiting for us. He gave a short lesson on welding to Sascha and after a few samples Sascha did his first “master piece” on his own ;-) We filled up all our water bottles and left direction Hancock Gorges. This dirt road was full of corrugations and therefor the best check for Sascha’s first welding part… and it exceeded expectations! When we arrived we changed clothes and started climbing down the gorges… and this one was just striking, breathtaking!!! We would say it is the most impressing place we have seen so far in Australia!
After climbing back up we met Phil and Sue on their Suzuki V-Strom. Phil could tell us a nice place around the corner for the next night stay and probably we will meet them again when we are around Perth. Putting up the tent up on a hill with a great view we recognized dark clouds at the horizon but we were not really worried about them. The next morning we woke up with raindrops and a real strong and chilly wind. We packed everything fast together; Kerstin had even to abstain from her morning coffee and we drove direction Tom Price fighting against the strong side wind. At the fuel station in Tom Price we called Annie and Wayne. We got their number from Max and Fleur in Broome, they are cousins. When we reached Annie she immediately said of course we can stay with them and explained the way to their house. We were warmly welcomed by them and their son Mitchel and got served a hot coffee to warm up our selves. We put up the tent in the garden and Wayne did a nice tour with us up to the view point of Mt Nameless. From there we had a stunning view all around and as well to the mine site of Rio Tinto and we got all the interesting details from Wayne as he is working for them. Wayne is catching snakes if they come close to anybody’s house and we could have a real close look at some pythons at their neighbors’ house and we got an interesting lesson about all the different snake species and what to do in case of…. In the evening we had a “Barbie” together and a few glasses of wine. The next day we could do our laundry, having a bike check, giving a major cleaning to our kitchen equipment and Wayne helped us to strengthen the pannier holder with welding additional bars to it. It is already now at least one kg more than we started the trip ;)
Today is our last day in Tom Price with Annie, Wayne and Mitchel and we really enjoyed staying with these lovely family! Thank you so much again for everything!!!
And finally we took the chance to work on an update for you… Enjoy ;-)
