On the road with our car - a short odyssey

After buying our car from two French women (which seems to be much easier here than in Germany), the odyssey began. It started with us buying new boxes at IKEA to store our things and kitchen appliances. Of course, we forgot to measure. Long story short: the boxes were too tall. But since we didn't feel like going back to IKEA, we just did a quick light check, as we had forgotten that during the test drive. All lights were working, so we went back to the apartment and killed some time, as we were planning to have Vietnamese dinner with our Airbnb host later.

When we were on our way to dinner, we could still show her our latest acquisition. It was even glowing - we forgot to turn off the lights. When we tried to start the car the next morning to exchange the boxes, it wouldn't start, so we had to walk to IKEA again, with the boxes, to buy appropriate ones this time. It worked :D

That took care of the first part, now we just had to get our car running again. Fortunately, a friend of our Airbnb host has a car and came by in the evening. So we drove around the city for a while and looked at Melbourne in the dark to somewhat charge the battery.

The next day around noon, the car was packed with two suitcases, two backpacks, four small boxes, and one big box; plus a bed, not to forget. Our Nissan Pathfinder has a second level built in, so we can sleep in it. It's not a king-size bed, but it's not a problem for two not too big people like us.

Our first stop on the trip was Phillip Island, southeast of Melbourne.
It was incredibly windy that day, but the small island has many attractions, especially the penguins and seals. When we arrived in the southwest of the island where the seals were supposed to be, it was probably too windy for them as well, so we didn't see any. But the surroundings of the 'Nobbies' (that's what the rocks in the sea on which the seals are supposed to lie are called) were really beautiful. There were several viewing platforms from which you could look out to the sea. We even saw (probably) a penguin in its cave, Tom is sure, but I think it could have been a rabbit too. We didn't see much of the animal.

Nearby, a 'penguin parade' is supposed to happen every evening. The penguins come out of the sea and walk across the beach to their nests to breed. But since it would have cost 25$ per person to see the spectacle, we skipped it.
So we went back and didn't see any seals and probably no penguins. And even if we did, it wouldn't count..

For our first stop, Ballarat, we had to go back to Melbourne and continue northwest. In Melbourne, we made a quick stop at Subway, which cost us 40$. Since we were parked in the parking garage of a shopping center/casino, which charges per day on weekends instead of hourly, we had to pay 20$ for an hour of parking. But, as in Singapore, might as well treat ourselves..

After that, we went to Ballarat. We had chosen a free camping site near Creswick to spend our first night in the car. But when we were supposed to leave the paved road in the dark at 10 p.m. to turn onto a gravel road into the forest, we were a bit unsure and drove to Creswick to find a spot to sleep in front of a hotel. We did have to move the car twice before we found the 'right' spot, but we also didn't want to stand out too much, as 'free camping', which also means sleeping in the car, is not completely allowed and desired.

So the first day of our road trip was a success :D
But the next day was even better.