12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road to Melbourne

It was time to change locations again. We drove from the Grampians toward the coast, through endless expanses, thousands of sheep and cows on vast pastures. The vastness is really hard to imagine for us Central Europeans. And the space that the animals still have—well, our animals can only dream of it. At times we saw such large sheep herds that I thought not every sheep within the herd knows each other. We were a bit unlucky with the weather that day; in the morning we made ourselves comfortable in front of our artificial fire, watching the animals outside our window, and when we left, the car thermometer showed 7°C in the wind and rain. We were lucky during our hike yesterday! The weather didn't really improve on the drive, but just before we reached the Great Ocean Road, the sun came out and we took the opportunity to visit one of the most famous viewpoints for the 12 Apostles. For the first time since the beginning of my journey, I was again among many tourists at the same place. Now it's still the low season, and I don't want to know how many people crowd these spots in summer. The view of some of the Apostles is definitely special. And the forces of nature, simply gigantic. The sea was even more agitated than usual due to the wind; the waves crashed furiously onto the shore. Just watching this spectacle was breathtaking. Before the next rain came, we set off for our new home for the next two days. This time we weren't greeted by kangaroos or koalas in front of the house, but rather bunnies, which were also super cute! Our house was large, had a great porch—and luckily an air conditioning system that also provided heating, because it was pretty cold. And the wind howled, causing the wooden house to shudder. It creaked through all the cracks; insulation is not really a thing here. After a short dinner, we enjoyed our living room and made plans for the next—unfortunately again—rainy day. And this time the weather forecast was accurate; it rained and was windy, quite unpleasant. Nevertheless, we were lucky to catch a rain break most of the time when we arrived at another viewpoint for the Apostles. To see something despite the rain, we drove 1.5 hours to the next village and saw a lot along the way. We drove through Beach Forest, really a rain forest, totally beautiful, diverse, and with winding roads that made us feel almost at home. We passed an all-in-one bakery, gas station (luckily we were running on reserve), souvenir shop, meeting point for locals, and more, before making our first stop. The great thing was that we could observe cockatoos and parrots at feeding spots while warming ourselves up with coffee and hot chocolate. The friendliness of Australians is incredible; you walk in as a complete stranger, and after a few minutes, you've already made connections and are chatting about everything and anything. The targeted village was okay, nothing special, but the journey there was unique. On the way back, we visited one of the oldest lighthouses in Australia—in pouring rain—and then drove back leisurely. The next day, we set out on the highly praised and super famous Great Ocean Road—for me, the only disappointment of the nearly 4-week trip. This section was really nothing special for me. In the evening, we arrived in Melbourne, our last stop before heading home. We were lucky to meet our colleague, whom we last saw 10 years ago in Vietnam. We had a lovely evening together and enjoyed a fantastic dinner. The last day consisted of an extensive visit to Australia's oldest market, the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, established in 1835! At this market, you can buy everything from pots to vegetables and fruits, meat to fruit juices, and souvenirs. Since the weather was simply beautiful today, we enjoyed a leisurely hour in the park before it was time to pack our bags and drive to the airport with the rental car. What an incredible journey! It will take some time to process all the impressions, experiences, and encounters.

A huge thank you to our friends who made the trip in Tonga even more unforgettable!