The Rottnest Express that we took from Fremantle to Rottnest Island (or Rotto, as people call it).

The view from Rottnest Island.

Bathurst Lighthouse, the smaller one of two lighthouses on the island.

The first quokka that we came across on the island and the main reason why we visited to begin with.

A quokka mother with its joey in the pouch.

The little animals aren't shy at all because they have no natural enemies on the island (apart from the side effects of human civilization, that is).

The view back to Bathurst Lighthouse with the Perth skyline in the background.

One of the many bays around the island. In the background is Longreach Bay.

The island contains a number of salt lakes. This one is Lake Baghdad.

Lake Baghdad with Wadjemup Lighthouse in the background.

Biking is the most common form of transportation because, apart from public transport, no motor vehicles are available on the island.

The remains of a quokka.

The beautiful beach in Parakeet Bay.

The City of York Bay.

Pearse Lakes, one of the salt lakes at the center of the island.

I was originally worried we'd be eating too many burgers on our trip. But it turned out the food was one of the highlights of the trip. We had a lot of good food and good hamburgers like this just never get boring.

Apart from the fact that you'll have a hard time reading 8 km/h on a speedometer this is an island pretty much without cars!

Rainbow Lorikeets sitting in a palm tree back in Perth.

Grigson's lookout, a bit south of Geraldton.

A salt lake in the distance.

Lake Thetis which is famous for its stromatolites (those tower-shaped structures).

Sand dunes along the highway. It was so hot that I barely had the energy to get out of the car to take a few photos. :-)

View along the Brand Highway.

Pinnacles, the drive-thru national park!

There's really something weird about driving through the major attraction of a national park but the area covered by pinnacles is so large that it almost makes sense. Then again, I prefer having to earn my view and that's what we did after parking our car and revisiting on foot.

The pinnacles come in all shapes and sizes ...

From this photo you can get an idea of the are covered with pinnacles. Mind you, it continues to the left ...

The coastal area of the Kalbarri National Park is just as beautiful as the inland one.

This is Mushroom Rock ...

... but somehow no matter from which side you look at it ...

... it looks more like a table to me. So I'll call it Table Rock.

There are all kinds of amazing rock structures along the Rainbow Valley trail.

A Banksia tree along the highway.

Close-up of a Banksia's flower spike.

Hutt Lagoon, one of several pink lakes in Western Australia. The color really looks very weird and it's hard to believe that it's natural.

Of course, the sign of a large chemical company right next to the lake does make it look even more suspicious, but apparently the color is caused by the presence of a particular kind of algae.

In Geraldton the water color looks much more normal again.

The lookout tower along Geraldton beach.

The beach in Geraldton.

The HMAS Sydney memorial in Geraldton.

The dome is made out of 645 steel seagulls, one for each person aboard the vessel when it sank.

The bronze statue of a woman looking towards the ocean, waiting for the HMAS Sydney to return.

The highway into Kalbarri National Park (the paved part that is).

The lookout at Nature's Window and entrance to The Loop, which was destined to be our hike for the day.

The Murchison river, today unfortunately in the color sand-brown because there had been some rain upstream.

The trail towards Nature's Window and The Loop trail.

This is what Nature's Window looks like in the morning when the temperatures are still at levels that tourists can generally bear. We figured we'd just go ahead with our hike and take photos later instead of getting in line!

All the warnings almost make you want to turn around ...

The Loop trail first follows the cliff before eventually leading down to Murchison River.

The rocky trail.

Approaching Murchison river. This is where the trail is the most beautiful.

Now imagine the water being blue-greenish! :-)

Somehow the rock formations along the river just kept reminding me of thousand-layer cake.

I'm not sure if these "water falls" have a name but I've seen similarly tiny falls labeled with tourist information signs elsewhere in Australia. :-)

The sandy part of the trail where there's no wind and where for every two steps forward you make one step back.

Nature's Window in the midday heat with just enough tourists to avoid a queue and always have someone to take your picture. :-)

The gravel "highway" between Nature's Window and Z-Bend.

This gorge is called the Z Bend although it escapes our eyes why that is so.

One of the many galah cockatoos in the little town of Kilbarri.

A little bit of shade along Highway 1 on our way north to Kalbarri.

A spray-painted mural on the side of the grocery store in Eneabba.

One of the two emus that suddenly appeared on the highway. You can see that they don't just put the warning signs there for fun.

Australian highways may be virtually endless but they are photogenic nonetheless.

The beach at Kalbarri where we just arrived in time for sunset.