What happened so far (part 3)

Eleven damn degrees and our toes were already turning into ice cubes. Huddled together, under two sleeping bags and a thick wool blanket borrowed from a friend, Leo and I lay under the blue tarp and couldn't quite believe it. Melbourne was the coolest city we had visited so far - in the truest sense of the word.

We camped in the Docklands, with a wonderful view of the skyline and public barbecues where you could unleash your cooking skills. Believe it or not, you could find a free shower in the library.

What makes the city very likable are the 'free trams' that take you from A to B within the CBD. As we walked through the streets of the city center, every day a musician or band unpacked their repertoire on some corner and turned the sidewalk into a concert venue. Melbourne is mostly populated by young people, there is a wide range of nightlife options, and the art and music scene plays an important role.

Hosier Lane is the perfect starting point for an exploration tour through the labyrinth of small cobblestone alleyways and offers interesting, ever-changing street art graffiti through which the street artists express themselves, often addressing political issues and calling them to the people's attention.

Let yourself be carried away by the sight, passing funky little shops and hip cafes, until you reach ACDC Lane, where rock history was made.

After leaving Melbourne, in the following weeks we performed slave-like work on a tomato plantation, Kalle broke down three times, and we already tested the Great Ocean Road.

However, driving on the Great Ocean Road was not planned and I just wanted to surprise my brother and his girlfriend for a short time, as they mastered the GOR on wheels and then wanted to start their Southeast Asia adventure from Adelaide.

Neither of us thought we would see each other again, but Brudi didn't reckon with Malin. The job was quickly terminated, the 'seven things' were packed up, and then we followed our noses, following the two bikers towards the Great Ocean Road.

The surprise was really wonderful and the two were taken by surprise.

After a burst bicycle trailer tire and an engine failure, we all found ourselves back in Melbourne, who would have thought.

Kalle was sold with a lot of heartache and a new car was purchased. Lucy. A thick, white, flat-snouted madame with a slightly cross-eyed look and enough storage space in her belly. A van. One to fall in love with. A new home base, with a real roof, real walls, completely watertight. Just as I had imagined it in my coolest dreams.

Within a day, in the basement garage at Bunnings, Lucy was converted and a sleeping area was magically created inside.

And then it began, up on the Great Ocean Road and from Lorne via Port Campbell to Warnambool, grazed in a few days.

We spent the night at 'free campgrounds' in the middle of the forest, were laughed to sleep by kookaburras in the evening, and awakened by tapping kangaroos in the morning, and during the day we admired wild koalas snacking on eucalyptus leaves in the treetops.

You can tell that we are getting closer to the present, and I'm excited to soon report on my current adventures. Stay tuned! :)