What a privilege that Andrea entrusted us with her pretty home in the middle of Denmark! We had settled in comfortably when our hostess came home and we greeted her in her garden🙃.

In the evening, we were invited to accompany Andrea to the village association’s community dinner and join her hiking group the next day. Thank you so much, Andrea! It’s incredible how much goodwill and trust is shown to us all over the world… a wonderful experience!

After our long break, we were well rested and got back on the saddle. The journey continued on the Lower Denmark Road to Albany, where we spent half a day shopping and drinking coffee. We enjoyed the comforts of civilization one last time before villages and supermarkets became rarer again. No problem with that, though, as we were approaching real mountains, albeit small ones. What a joy for the Swiss heart😊!

To get started, we cycled into the hills of Porongurup National Park and climbed the peaks, which were only 600 meters high, in one morning. From there, we could already see the next mountain range of the Stirling Range National Park. That same day we reached the starting point for the hike up Toolbrunup and camped there illegally. Early in the morning we packed everything up and hiked up the stony path to the summit, where the thickest fog prevailed. As the slightly larger Bluff Knoll was also shrouded in clouds, we waited in the next roadhouse over coffee until it cleared up. Then we cycled to the foot of the mountain via the far too steep access road. The most strenuous part was now over, as the wide hiking trail to the summit led up pleasant steps. Once we reached the top, we felt right at home… lots of the summiteers spoke Swiss German😉.

After the long days of hiking, we stashed our running shoes well down in our luggage… there was no use for them in the foreseeable future. The onward journey took us through Western Australia’s wheat belt with endless fields of grain and huge granaries. Fortunately, the harvest had not yet begun and the roads were quiet. We only had to watch out for the Magpie birds, which aggressively defended their territory, swooping over our heads several times and attacking David’s helmet with their claws. Luckily, October is the last month of the swoop season!

A few days later we reached Esperance, known for its beautiful white sandy beaches. We were planning our next steps outside the local information center when we were approached by Kate and Graham, who we had already met south of Margaret River. They asked us if we would like to visit Cape Le Grand National Park? We said no, as the campsites were fully booked and the distance was too far for a day trip. Would we like to share their pitch with them? Hmmm… of course we didn’t turn down such a tempting offer, especially because of the company of Kate and Graham😊.

And we didn’t regret the extra kilometers for a moment. White beach with turquoise sea as far as the eye can see… absolutely stunning! The only thing was that the kangaroos didn’t want to eat seaweed on the beach like in the brochure, but preferred to enjoy the lush leaves on the bushes.
The evening with our hosts was really fun and sociable. To avoid being recognized by the ranger as unlawful additional guests, we pitched our tent next to the caravan only after dark😉. We enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee for breakfast and didn’t hesitate to accept Kate and Graham’s suggestion to go on a 300 km scenic drive into the Cape Arid National Park to even wider and more secluded beaches. We would never have gone there by bicycle!

Back at the campsite, we packed our bags and said goodbye. We wanted to ride back a bit towards Esperance to make sure we didn’t miss the opening hours of the Woolworth supermarket the next day. We had to do a lot of shopping for the long stage ahead…