The story of the Candy Machine, der Norden und 2 Pechmarien

The first story is going to be in English for our friend Monsieur Julien de la France:

The Story of the Candy Machine

Once upon time there was a Candy Machine. She (since it was a special machine I'll call it a she) lived in a backpackers hostel in Fremantle that was called Sundancer Backpackers. She was a small candy machine, she had 4 different types of candy in her: M&Ms with and without nuts, jelly beans and chewing gum balls. Her life in the Sundancer's was pretty calm, not too many of the backpackers payed attention to her. Until some German people arrived and would often times especially during the nights give her a lot of attention:they would work on her and try to get candy off her without paying. And then one day her whole life changed. Two of the German girls were looking at the Candy Machine for a while, walking away, coming back again, discussing, giggling and then all of a sudden they just took the Candy Machine under their arms and carried it out of the hostel! She was thrown into an old white campervan and the girls drove away with her. From the talking of the girls, the Candy Machine got to know that they're driving up north. She got pretty excited because she would actually see something else than the hostel! Their first stop would be Wave Rock 5 hours East from Perth. This is a rock which is shaped like a huge wave and striped with different colours from the minerals in the water running down the rock. When they finally arrived there, the Candy Machine was put out of the car. It was really really hot and there were thousands of flies bothering the Candy Machine, she was pretty jealous of the girls who first of all took a little swim in the swimming pool on the camp ground. Later the girls went to see the wave rock, they took some pictures, climbed the rock and had a great view over the whole area from up there. This evening all three of them fell asleep early exhausted from the long day of travel.
The next day they drove back westwards, their destination was the Pinnacles Desert just 200km north of Perth as the Candy Machine heard from the girls. There, they planned on meeting two of their friends, a German and a French guy with who they wanna spend the rest of their roadtrip. The drive this day was again long and hot and the landscape outside changed a little bit as they came closer to the coast. It was only bushland nows and long straight roads with hardly any turns, just going on straight for hours. The Candy Machine found that really tiring, she even fell asleep as she watched the middlestripes on the road just going and going and going... She woke up again from the car shaking very hard and when she looked out of the window she saw that they were driving on a sand road in the middle of a yellow-sand desert! There were huge rocks standing around all over the desert, all in the same kind of shape. It looked beautiful and the wind and the clouded late afternoon sky made the atmosphere even more special! They stopped and the girls walked around in the desert and the Candy Machine heard that they were very amazed just by that special spot. They left the place again after a short time as the park was already closed and the girls were not supposed to be in there. On their way back through the national park road all of a sudden the Candy Machine heard the girls screaming really loud and when she looked out of the back window she saw this HUGE snake on the road, it was about 1,50 metres long, very massive and green-yellow coloured. On that point the Candy Machine heard the girls deciding that they won't spend their night inside the national park (this was not allowed anyways, but still in consideration earlier). There was one more problem: the plan was meeting two friends, the girls gt to know in the Sundancer, at the Pinnacles Desert that day. But there was no cell phone reception and they couldn't reach each other. So they spend the night on a parking lot directly on the ocean in a nearby village called Cervantes. Even though the whole day it had been pretty clouded, they had the most beautiful sunset while the girls had chinese noodles (65 ct at Coles) for dinner. This night, the Candy Machine got a whole lot of attention because the girls finally tried to crack it open. One of the girls just stabbed it with a swiss army knife and curved until there was a hole big enough to get M&Ms out. When she saw how happy the girls were about the candy, the Candy Machine quickly forgot about the unpleasant procedure..
The next day they got up early because they wanted to try finding the boys before leaving Cervantes. But first they needed some breakfast and when driving out of the parking lot of the supermarket, a white campervan with two screaming and waving boys was coming towards them. So they finally managed meeting just coincidentially. When the boys saw the Candy Machine they laughed so hard, that they almost started crying and the Candy Machine also smiled secretly about the whole sneaking-out-the-hostel action. Then there was a little shock, as the boys told one of the girls, that her credit card, which the car hire guy still had had, was lost. But then the real roadtrip started, after a morning swim and breakfast and an outdoor shower they headed off towards Geraldton. The next days and nights were tons of fun for all five of them. The Candy Machine saw dry outback areas, kilometres and kilometres of bushland and wideness, beautiful beaches, many campervans (actually there were hardly any other vehicles besides campervans on the road), kangaroos even with babys in their pouches (one of the girls kept talking about her wish to jump into such a kangaroo pouch..). In the evenings she could enjoy the magnificent smell of the meals, one of the boys magically created. She also got a lot of attention after these meals, as the four always needed some M&Ms for desert. She didn't mind, because they still were nice to her and she was just thankful for getting the opportunity to see all this beautiful spots. At one spot, which was called Monkey Mia, there were wild dolphins directly on the beach. In the mornings they got fed and would come really really close to the people standing on the beach. This was in the so calles Shark Bay, which is a World Heritage Area.
After 5 days of travelling they arrived in Coral Bay, a very small tourist village. They stopped there and the four went snorkeling in the Ningaloo Reef. In the evening the Candy Machine heard them talking about the thousands of colourful fish they had seen, about the crazy patterns of some of the fish, about the magical atmosphere under water, about the huge corals with their amazing forms. And all that was so close, they said, that the fish would come right up to the people in the water, even the really big ones. That evening, they put the Candy Machine out of the van, how they had done it every evening, to have more space in the van. Then they went to the free barbecues on the camp ground and had a huge tasty barbecue. But when they came back, the unbelievable had happened: the Candy Machine was gone!!! They figured,that one of the patrolling rangers would have taken it, as it was standing a little far from the campervan. They were very sad, especially the girls because they had gone through so much for and with this Candy Machine and they had really really started to like her (even though it was sometimes a little annoying, because she took a lot of space in the campervan). But that's just how life goes, they reckoned in the end..
The Candy Machine for her part, taken by a very nice and very fat Ranger, also missed the girls a lot. But she was just happy thinking back to the great times she had travelling with them. And that's just how life goes she reckoned in the end, it's a coming and going, a meeting and saying goodbye all the time when you're travelling.


Ja, das war dann wie gesagt das Ende unserer gemeinsamen Reise mit der candy machine. Wir hatten dann erst noch eine kleine Aufregung mit einem moechtegern Ranger, der uns weismachen wollte, dass wir illegal campen und mit Konsequenzen rechnen muessten, Anzeige, Strafe zahlen, Probleme beim Autozurueckbringen und bei der Ausreise. Gluecklicherweise erwies sich das alles aber als Quatsch, was uns etwas spaeter der wirkliche Ranger (der beleibte, der wohl auch unsre candy machine mitgenommen hatte) versichterte. Das andere waere der Campingplatzbesitzer gewesen, der alles tut um Geschaeft zu machen.. Traurig sowas. Den restlichen Tag und die naechste Nacht haben wir dann an einem total einsamen Strand verbracht, an den wir ueber 25 km Schotterpiste (eigentlich nur 4wheeldrive geeignet) gekommen sind. Es war wunderschoen, einsame wilde Natur, Kaenguruhs nur 10m von einem entfernt, riesige Sandduenen, huegelige Graslandschaft, Wellen... Die Jungs wollten unbedingt fischen gehen, hatten aber leider keine Koeder dabei. Also gabs eine kleine Krebsjagd am Strand, mit der etwas alternativen Methode, den Krebs zu 3. einzukreisen und dann solange Sand auf ihn zu werfen, bis er nicht mehr wegrennen kann. Sie habens dann auch geschafft einen Krebs zu erlegen und Julien hat sogar noch einen Fisch gefangen! Abends haben wir den Fisch gegrillt und Aaron hat Pfannkuchen mit Gemuese gemacht und wir hatten ein superdinner mit erst Sonnenuntergang und dann wahnsinnigem Sternenhimmel.
m naechsten Tag stand uns dann unser groesstes Abenteuer bevor. Lisa und ich wollten uns an dem Tag wieder zurueck nach Freo auf den Weg machen, sind deswegen frueh aufgestanden und losgefahren. Zurueck ueber die Sand-/Schotterstrasse bis zum Highway. Und da blieb unser Van dann stehen. Und wollte nicht mehr. Kaputt. Breakdown. Wie sich rausstellte, war der fan belt, Keilriemen auf deutsch voellig zerfetzt. Und natuerlich kein Handyempfang. Also die Jungs 40 km zur naechsten Tankstelle, fan belt geholt, fuer uns 2 Stunden warten in der Hitze und den Fliegen, die einem einfach UEBERALL im Gesicht rumkrabbeln (auch gern mal in die Nase, Augen oder Mund), fan belt wechseln, oh nein falsche Groesse, nochmal losfahren, wieder 1 Stunde Hitzewarten, nochmal Rumschrauben, unters Auto waelzen, der andere belt ist auch die falsche Groesse, Strumpfhose installieren, losfahren juhu es geht, nach 50m wieder stehen bleiben, wieder kaputt, mittlerweile 4 durchgeschwitzte fertige verdreckt, verstaubt und frustrierte Menschen, den Van auf den naechsten Parkplatz schieben (schieben!!), mit Jungsvan nach Coral Bay, 20 Telefonate, 30mal Muenzen wechseln, von einem zum anderen Mechaniker verwiesen werden, ploetzlich die Summe von 600Dollar fuers Abschleppen, Tony vom car hire anrufen, die Nachricht, dass Tony im Krankenhaus liegt und unerreichbar ist... Mittags um 3 waren Lisa und ich an der Grenze unserer Leistungsfaehigkeit angelangt. Die Jungs auch. Am Ende war da dann ein netter Mechaniker, der fuer uns den fan belt von der naechsten groesseren Stadt geordert hat, der am naechsten Morgen kommen wuerde, Den restlichen Tag haben wir dann noch relaxt und den Paradiesstrand von Coral Bay genossen. Ab dem naechsten Morgen hat uns dann unsere Pechstraehne gottseidank verlassen, der belt kam, Julien hat ihn eingebaut und wir waren on the road zurueck nach Perth. Jetzt mussten km gemacht werden. Wir sind also gefahren bis 9 Uhr abends. Kurz bevor wir dann unser Nachtlager aufschlagen wollten, hat uns dann ein Riesenlkw ueberholt und es hat geknallt. Dann Lisa "shit Sarah, ich kann kein Gas mehr geben, es geht nichts mehr!!" Ich hatte erstmal einen Todesschock, weil ich dachte, dass auch die Bremsen nicht mehr funktionieren wuerden und wir jetzt gleich am Strassenrand zerschellen werden, wie sich rausstellte funktionierten die Bremsen aber noch und wir standen dann im Dunkeln am Strassenrand 10km ausserhalb von Northhampton. Das Auto ist nicht mehr angesprungen. Kein Handyempfang natuerlich wieder. Da sassen wir und haben Tony und sein car hire, unseren campervan und das Mobilfunknetz verflucht. Und geraetselt was fuer eine Panne das nun wieder ist, ob vielleicht der Motor jetzt komplett am Ende ist, warum grade als der LKW vorbeigerauscht ist, warum haben wir solches Pech verdient... Mussten dann die Nacht am Strassenrand verbringen, ich hatte erst ein bisschen Angst, rechts die vorbeidonnernden Lkws (ab und zu nur, da is ja nicht viel Verkehr auf den Strassen), links die Wildnis. Aber Lisa war ja da und was sollten wir machen .. Der naechste Morgen brachte dann einen der peinlichsten und krassesten Erleichterungsmomente jemals fuer uns. Wir hatten ein Auto angehalten, aelteres Ehepaar. Ja und dann die Frage "Habt ihr noch genuegend Benzin drinnen?" Dadaaaaa, des Raetsels Loesung, wir sehr peinlich beruehrt, aber wie gesagt, noch tausendmal mehr erleichtert. Mithilfe des netten Ehepaars konnten wir dann unseren Heimweg bald fotsetzen. Um 5 kamen wir dann in Fremantle an, hatten noch ein paar Probleme das Auto zurueckzubringen, wie gesagt, Tony war im Krankenhaus und sein Vertreter ne Pfeife. Schliesslich und endlich hatten wir es aber doch alles geschafft, waren voellig verschwitzt, fertig, erschoepft und haben uns nur noch nach einer Dusche und einem Bett gesehnt. Tobi, den wir ja ueber Sven kennengelernt hatten, hatte uns angeboten, dass wir die Nacht bei ihm schlafen koennten, was uns sehr gelegen kam und wir wollten echt nur noch zu ihm und uns ausruhen. Tja, damit war dann aber auch leider nichts, da Tobi uns eroeffnete, dass abends nochmal wild Party gemacht werden muss und wir in keinster Weise drumrumkommen wuerden. Nachdem wir gemerkt haben, dass weder betteln noch drohen seine Entscheidung aendern wuerde, haben wir uns auch noch diesem Schicksalszug gefuegt und hatten dann am Ende auch noch einen superPartyabend in Fremantle! Am naechten Morgen gings dann verkatert, uebermuedet aber trotzdem gutdrauf endgueltig in den Flieger nach Melbourne.
So war das alles mit unserem Roadtrip. sorry fuers lange brauchen fuer den Bericht. Und
Liebste Gruesse an alle!!