Friday, the 12th of November:
I had long planned to take Caro to beautiful North Stradbroke Island as I thought she might like to spend a couple of days living like Robinson Crusoe on some tropical Pacific Island (with me). So here are a couple of pictures.
Sunday, the 14th of November:
Caro and I were very happy when Kathi (Caros sister) and her friend Karoline met us in Brissie. All together we went and explored the city.
Monday, the 15th of November:
Kathi, Caros sister, and her friend Karo(line) came to visit us in Brisbane yesterday morning. The four of us went through Brisbane and did some sight seeing. I hope I proved myself a good tour guide. It was fun to have the entire New Zealand crew at my place. We spend a nice evening together. Kathi and Karo slept in my little tent this night and the night after.
Monday morning Caro and I picked up our camper. Karo and Kathi stayed at my place and, being grateful for free lodging and a nice dinner, offered to clean my room for me (!). Reluctantly, I accepted :-)
Then, at around 2 pm, Caro and I could finally start our journey to the south. Kathi and Caro stayed one more night in the tent at my place. I was lucky to rent out my room in the last moment for half the weekly price.
15th of November; Day One: Byron Bay (New South Wales)
The first day we "only" made it to beautiful Byron Bay. We had very hot weather and found a nice spot to spend the late afternoon. At nightfall we found a nice abandoned and dark street to sleep. Our camper proofs to be a good companion and is comfortable. Again, I appreciate to live in a mobile home.
Yey, Byron is a freaky place. Some of my "smoking" friends would like it here.
Caro took a picture of me practicing a few new martial art moves. I practiced every day.
16th; Day Two: Coffs Harbour
- boring little town
- slept on some car park near the harbour
- met italian bee keepers
- was raining whole afternoon/night
- started to watch Californication
Our first wildlife Kangaroos.
Raining all day. Luckily we found a nice place to spend the night.
Food! Of course I am happy.17th; Day Tree: Newcastle
- lovely city, my favourite after Brissie
- old(er) buildings, nice cathedral
- nice beach, lighthouse
- met religios Aussie, who tried to explain his religion to us
- slept at Paddys Beach, nice ocean view, close to the city
Our nice little "chubby camper" has a little camping cooker, a tap and all sorts of other nice things in the back.
18th; Day Four: Windsor (Blue Mountains)
- nice little town near the Blue Mountains
- nice pedestrian zone
- slept in park next to bowling club
19; Day Five: Wollongong
- drove through Blue Mountains, sadly it was very clouded, misty and raining
- took a hike in the BM
- Wollongong is not a nice city, am glad not to have studied here
- wandered through town
- met two chicks, German and Austrian
Wollongong:
The only good thing about Wollongong: We saw a lot of dolphins.
20th; Day Six: Bakemans (aka Batmans) Bay
- slept at Bay near some playground with annoying kids
- nothing to see or do
On the way to Bakemans bay we passed Kangaroo Valley, of which a had heart a lot about. We tried to drive there and ended up without enough fuel. We panicked and drove back. I was kinda sad for a couple of hours.
Apperently, lots of people spend their holidays in Bakemans Bay. We wondered why. It's a... mind my language... shithole.21st; Day Seven: Lakes Entrance (Victoria)
- drove on to Narooma, lay on the beach for some time
- drove on to Gypsy Point on some tourist drive. Nice!
- decided not to call it an early night in the middle of nowhere and drove on for hours (!) until Lakes Entrance
- had Subway for dinner, McDs for desert, recharged laptop
- had stomach cramps
- watched Californication
We found a beautiful beach on our way to Lakes Entrance. We spend around to hours tanning at the beach.
22nd; Day Eight: Wilson Prometory
- Lakes Entrace is quite nice. Library is not airconditioned for once, thanks god!
23th; Day Nine: Wilson Prometory, Tidal Rivers
- I have no words except: AWESOME!
- went on a very scary track to the top of Mt. Bishop. Totally overgrown, were scared of snakes and spiders. I tried not to show. We shouldn't have done something that risky, but the view was perfect.
24th; Day Ten: Frankston, Melbourne
- A typical Melbourne suburb. Not really nice.
- We went to the cinema and watched Harry Potter 7 (Part 1)
- Spend the night on some parking ground - no toilets, which didn't bother us much :-P
25th; Day Eleven: Port Cambell, Great Ocean Road
- Saw millions of koalas going wild
- Great ocean road was nice, even though we had terrible weather
26th to 29th; Melbourne
- It was sooo nice to finally meet Loretta and Roger after almost 10 years. They have not changed at all. (For privacy reasons there will not be any pictures of them or there awesome appartment online)
- We spent a lot of time wandering through the city, working out in the gym or relaxing in the pool/spa/sauna.
- It was nice to have a proper bed (the same we have in Ger) for once.
- I was very sad when Caro left on the 29th.
Bye bye, Dirty Sanchez! (We received so many compliments for our camper)
I traded our Camper in for such little beauty. A decision I soon came to regret for our backpacks would wanna fit.
First night we arrived Loretta and Roger took us to this nice Asian restaurant. The asian kitchen is quite different over here (more like real asian, not fake german asian).
Caro and me had a 5-set-match in the Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian Open are played.
highest building in Melbourne - the Eureka TowerTHE END of our little trip down the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne. In total we drove about 2200 kilometer in 12 days.
(!) Deadly animals we met on our way south (dead or alive) in the wilderness:
- Kangaroo (dead and alive)
- Koalas (dead AND alive)
- Dolphins (alive)
- Snake (alive and deadly)
- Wombat (dead and alive)
- Crocodile (dead and alive)
- Porcupine (= Stachelschwein, dead)
- Hedgehog (dead and alive)
- Duck and ducklings (alive)
- (Ninja) Turtles (alive)
- Eels (alive)
- and a lot more
