Back to Down Under

After Merle and I took the plane to Sydney early in the morning on December 1st, we arrived at our hostel in the late morning. After enjoying complete freedom in New Zealand and almost always being alone at our campsites, we now had to share our room with 5 other travelers. This was noticeable in terms of space and smell. The room had three bunk beds, each placed against one wall of the room, suitcases and backpacks were scattered on the floor in the remaining space. Unfortunately, the kitchen and bathroom of the hostel were not particularly clean. The only thing that was acceptable for Australian standards was the price of €22 per person. Since we only had 2 days in Sydney, we headed into the city after checking in. We walked through the Botanic Garden to the famous Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Out of curious interest, we inquired about the evening program, believing that we couldn't afford it anyway. But surprisingly, we were given a discount and a ticket for a symphony orchestra which was only €30. We spontaneously decided to take advantage of this offer and visited the Opera House shortly afterwards. The orchestra was accompanied by various opera singers who seemed to sing in German, much to our surprise. The pronunciation of some German words could only be understood with a lot of imagination, but we really enjoyed the evening.
The next day, we went back to the city to visit the remaining sights. In the afternoon, it started raining and we decided to go back to the hostel and rest for the next few days.
The next morning, we had to get up early to take all our luggage back to the airport. From there, we picked up our rental car which we were allowed to drive for the next 5 days.
The first stop we made after picking up the car was Kmart and Aldi. Kmart is a large department store where we bought some camping equipment, such as an air mattress and a sleeping bag for Merle, as well as a cooler bag for essential food and Merle's insulin. At Aldi, we stocked up on groceries for the next few days. Once the shopping was done and we had completed all the errands, we headed towards Blue Mountains National Park at noon. About 2 hours later, we arrived at the first waterfall. We had our delayed lunch here. Another half an hour later, we arrived at our campsite. We set up the tent, which I had already slept in during my time in New Zealand. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.
The next morning, the day unfortunately started with rain and poor visibility. Nevertheless, we drove to the viewpoints of the park. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much due to the weather, so we decided to continue driving south. So we drove for about 6 hours towards Melbourne. We made a stop for our second overnight stay near Albury in the interior of the country. The next day was also marked by a long drive of another 6 hours before we reached the Great Ocean Road in the afternoon, a coastal stretch west of Melbourne known for its spectacular rock formations. Here, we first set up our camp and then visited several viewpoints. Finally, we enjoyed the sunset at the famous 12 Apostles. In the evening, we met a very nice Australian family and sat down for a cozy dinner together.
The next morning, we continued along the Great Ocean Road before continuing our trip to Wilsons Promontory Park. On the way, we stopped for a while to watch some koalas eating. Shortly before Wilsons Promontory, we camped again and early the next morning, we entered the national park. Merle and I went on a wildlife walk. We encountered numerous kangaroos, an ostrich, and even a little wombat. Afterwards, we visited the various bays and then decided on a very beautiful bay for swimming. We were still used to cold water from New Zealand, so we jumped into the waves of the crystal-clear water. That was a nice end to our small but fine road trip. Because after that, we headed towards Melbourne. We arrived at our Airbnb in the evening. We had booked with Toni, a Bosnian who has been living in Melbourne for 20 years and shares his large house with travelers. We stayed there for the remaining 4 days of our time in Australia. After returning the rental car to the airport the next morning, we took the metro to the city and visited an art gallery before returning to Toni's house and cooking ourselves a delicious dinner. The next day, we had an appointment with Tahnee, an Australian from Melbourne whom I had met over a year ago in Guatemala. Tahnee had offered to show us around the city. She showed us her favorite café, a nice shopping street, and some of the city center, including the street art district. In the afternoon, we went to the rooftop of a restaurant together and enjoyed the sun, a few beers, and a delicious meal before saying goodbye to Tahnee and returning to our accommodation. On our last day, we went to the city once again, where we mainly enjoyed the beautiful weather in the Botanic Garden. When we returned to Toni's place, he had invited some friends for a barbecue. After packing our backpacks for the next day, we joined the guests and talked to Toni and his friends. They were very interested in our travel plans and gave us some tips for our time in Japan. It was a very nice evening and a very successful end to our short trip to Australia. The next day, Merle and I went to the airport and then finally headed towards Vietnam. For the next 4.5 months, we will be traveling through Asia.

My conclusion about Australia is consistently positive, even on my second visit here. Although I saw many things for the second time on this visit because I had already seen some of them on my first trip, it was still very nice to meet the many friendly people and visit this fantastic country again. I also got to know Wilsons Promontory, a national park that I hadn't known before. The visit to the symphony orchestra at the Opera House and the meeting with Tahnee made the trip an unforgettable time.

I will report on the adventures in Asia in the next entries.
Until then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas once again :)

Your Fabian