Australia 1: Melbourne & Great Ocean Road

Our first stop in Australia was Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia. A city that has as many inhabitants as the whole of New Zealand, which subconsciously also gave us the feeling that we are back in civilization. Goodbye peace in New Zealand. But if we were honest, it was also good for us. We immediately fell in love with Melbourne. Such a dreamy city, with so many beautiful corners and possibilities. For example, we finally saw the penguins that we had been waiting for in Dunedin, New Zealand in vain. You can observe them on the promenade of St. Kilda, a trendy suburb of Melbourne. There is an artificially constructed dam, built for the 1956 Olympic Games, where the little penguins now live. To be precise, it is the smallest penguin species in the world. They are found exclusively in southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. They are between 25 and 30 centimeters tall. You can only see them after sunset as they are foraging for food during the day. So we were there just in time for the sunset and were able to observe a whole lot of cute little penguins.

Next to that, we also had a perfect view of the Melbourne skyline and visited the nearby Dendy Street Beach, with its Brighton Beach Boxes (also known as "Bathing Huts"). These are 82 small colorful wooden beach huts. Some of them have the Australian flag, motifs, patterns or numbers. The huts are over 100 years old and they all have different owners. Unfortunately, you can't rent the huts.

In addition, we took a trip to Sorrento, where we swam with dolphins and seals in the sea. All in the wild without any animal cruelty, of course.

From Melbourne, we then started the Great Ocean Road and visited all the tourist spots. So as not to go beyond the scope with explanations of the highlights, here is a brief list of all the places we visited: Lorne (Teddy Lookout), Apollo Bay, Kennett River, Castle Cove, Triple Falls, Gibson Steps, 12 Apostles, The Razorback, The Arches, Port Campbell, London Bridge, The Grotto, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Islands, Port Fairy.