Finally on the road heading north

The past few weeks in Melbourne, I have actually spent opening my bank account, applying for an Australian tax number and organizing an Australian mobile number. The rest of the time, I explored the different neighborhoods of Melbourne. I especially enjoyed St. Kilda Beach.

On July 29th, my girlfriend finally arrived in Australia. Since I already knew the city, I could be her tour guide. So we spent the first 2 days walking around Melbourne, exploring some landmarks such as the State Library of Victoria, St. Paul's Church, Hossier Lane (where various graffiti artworks are located), Cook's Cottage (the cottage of the discoverer of Australia), and St. Kilda Pier.

On August 1st, we picked up our new home for the next 3 weeks. After driving around the block to get used to driving on the left side, we went shopping to make sure we didn't starve or get thirsty. The meal plan mainly consists of noodles and rice haha xD. Before heading to our first campsite, we visited the Brighton Bathing Boxes and took some pictures.

The first night in our campervan was colder than expected, but it was bearable with enough sleeping bags. Since the sun woke us up quite early, we left early to head to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade in the evening. At the beginning of Phillip Island, there is a small chocolate factory that we visited. They explained the process from cocoa beans to the final chocolates and we could see various chocolate sculptures and even a small chocolate village. After the tour of the chocolate factory, we headed to the campsite to prepare our lunch/afternoon snack. The campsite was right on the beach, so we had a beautiful view of the sea while eating. In the late afternoon, we went to the Penguin Parade so that we wouldn't sit in the back row. The Little Penguins only come back to the beach, to their nests after sunset so they don't get eaten by eagles and other birds of prey and prey animals. The penguins were accordingly cautious when they came out of the water, sometimes they even turned back and went back into the sea. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the penguins because the flash would confuse them and they might not be able to find their nests. The next day, we headed towards Sydney or rather to our next place that we want to explore in more detail.