Swimming under a waterfall again on the Great Ocean Road!

Between Christmas and New Year (December 28-30), I was traveling on the Great Ocean Road with two other German girls. On the first day, we drove directly from Melbourne to the Grampians, where we went swimming under a waterfall first thing - even though there was a sign that swimming was prohibited.... But it was fantastic! I had never been so close to a waterfall before, and I had never swum under one before. Luckily, Nina had her GoPro with her, so we have our waterfall action on video - which I'm really excited about. After that, we continued to Halls Gap, from where we did a short hike to Mini-Pools. We didn't expect that it could be so much fun to watch other people swimming. Then we drove to our campsite where we set up our tent first. Since there were only fire pits for cooking, our next task was to collect firewood. However, this was not so easy as everyone on this campsite needed firewood - but eventually, we had enough to grill our sausages. We also had Turkish bread with a dip, tomatoes, and cucumbers. And of course, strawberries for dessert. Shortly after dinner, we went into the tent - I was surprised at how well I slept.
The next morning, it was time for breakfast, packing up the tent, getting ready, and go - and then another 4 hours of driving to get to the Great Ocean Road. When we finally arrived in Portland, we went to the tourist information to get directions to the Great Ocean Road and learn about the best stops. And shortly after, we were already at our first stop - The Bay of Islands. After taking a few photos, we continued to The Grotto, which looks beautiful and is definitely worth a visit. Then we stopped in Port Campbell to refill our water bottles. In the end, we had dinner there too because there was a BBQ and a proper sink. This time we had a fresh salad with tuna, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, and again Turkish bread. So delicious!! And for dessert, strawberries with Nutella - just the right thing after a long day! After doing the dishes and a short playtime on the playground, we went to London Arch (which has partially collapsed). We took more photos here before continuing to the 12 Apostles, of which only 8 still remain. This time, I was there at sunset, which creates a completely different atmosphere and is also more impressive. A beautiful photo was taken here as well ;) From the 12 Apostles, I was allowed to drive - but only to the Loch Ard Gorge. This place is very impressive, especially when you know the story behind it. In 1878, a ship sank there, and only two people survived because it takes hours to reach the shore due to the strong rips. In my opinion, we took the most beautiful photos here. Then I was allowed to continue driving - yay! But now towards the campsite. After driving about 1-1.5 hours on gravel roads in the forest, we finally arrived at the campsite. However, it was already quite crowded, so we had neighbors (although they didn't know because they were already asleep). First of all, we had to set up the tent in the dark. And then we were all in the tent. The next morning it was raining... so we packed everything together in the tent first, ran to the car with all our stuff, packed everything, dismantled the tent in the rain, and left. No breakfast, no changing clothes, nothing - just go. When we finally reached the end of the gravel track, we drove a little on the Great Ocean Road until we reached a lookout point where we had breakfast (in the car because it was too windy outside). After our rich breakfast (toast with Nutella), we continued to the Great Otway National Park, which is known for koalas. Unfortunately, we didn't see any koalas this time. We actually wanted to visit the lighthouse, but it was very expensive, so we only used the public toilets and brushed our teeth there ;)
I was allowed to drive until this point, then not anymore (everyone wanted to drive, of course). Since it rained a lot that day and it wasn't particularly warm, our plan to swim at many of the beaches didn't work out. So we only did a short hike to a small waterfall, stopped at viewpoints to take some photos, and then stopped in Lorne to browse through the shops a bit. From Lorne, I was allowed to drive again. One of the greatest moments in the car was between Lorne and Torquay when all three of us sang 'Moana' - there is also a beautiful video of it. The atmosphere in the car was fantastic and there was a lot of laughter! Nina drove again from Torquay - and brought us all safely home! :)