Tag 088 - 093 'Midweek 🥺'

Hello dear companions,

We just realized with shock that the last time we wrote from Sydney. But now we catch up on a lot.

So after leaving the really beautiful city, our next big milestone was Brisbane.

We drove along the coastal road. Unfortunately, we can't visit many national parks as they are closed due to bushfires. Instead of national park hopping, we are doing beach hopping ☀️🤪. It's not so bad, but a mixture of both would have been an adventure too.

Camping under the open sky provides excitement in the evening *free of charge☝🏼 please*

With the turn of the year, the rangers seemed to have taken the motto of 'showing presence'

In our camp app, there was a parking lot and overnight accommodation in North Curl Curl. We took our positions with 4 other fellow campaigners and made ourselves comfortable. However, we were unsure about the signs. 'Is overnight stay allowed now or not?' A camper couple shared that they had been staying undisturbed in the place for 1 week. With this statement, we hoped to have the joker on our side.

Now it was 9 o'clock and 4 rangers in a battered Ford Combi rolled up. With their friendly and relaxed manner, they explained the situation and gave the campers 1 hour to vacate the place. The campers debated, questioned each other, and the statement was clear. 'The rangers are bluffing!!!' We played along and went all in.

So it happened that at around 10:30 pm, the rangers and their flashlights🔦 shone brightly and relentlessly into the nocturnal abode, and the eviction notice was distributed to us and about 8-10 other fellow campers😁. The sharp-eyed local neighbors in their houses had told on us👿. Apparently, there were more problems last year. Instead of paying 270 Australian dollars, we folded the tent, tired as we were, and drove to the neighboring village less than 1 km away. Same situation with the signs, but no 😈neighbors. The alarm clock rang at 6 am, as the signs indicated a parking time (to be paid from 7 am). So we made our third overnight stop in a parking bay on the main street and slept until 10:45 am 💤 😴 🤣

A highlight of the route so far was Port Macquarie. There is a koala hospital, which is currently unfortunately very busy. With a laughing and a crying eye, we looked at the modern and species-appropriate facility. Some koalas housed there will never be released into the wild again due to various diseases. But some are being nursed back to health and return. Currently, many bushfire patients are also there.

The fires are particularly bad for koalas, as they do not hop away like kangaroos to escape the flames... Luckily, there is a hospital here, and many patients can go home again 🐨🌿..

In the evening, 'The Riddler' got scared. Batman's 🦇 🦇 flying foxes were looking for food. We didn't count, but it took almost 15 minutes for the swarm to fly over us.

Everyday, there is a mix of beach, sun, sunscreen, local history, overnight excitement, and culture.

But we don't want to withhold a little highlight from yesterday ☝️🤭🤪 - we weren't in the mood for laughter until then.

The day went well. Sun, water, and waves - we also bought a bodyboard, and it's really fun. We headed to the evening shower. All doors closed, let's go. BUT STOP - something was jammed in the door. No problem. Open the door - the door stayed closed. Something had gotten stuck. It was the clip of the clothesline. VERY sturdy, and the door didn't move a millimeter. The shock was deep. The door stayed closed. Falk pulled, I pushed. I pulled, Falk pushed. NOT A MILLIMETER. Advice and ideas from fathers, brothers, brothers-in-law, and friends didn't help. The door stayed closed!

Until this afternoon when we found a mechanic who took a quick look at our door. We saw our travel budget flying away. We handed over our key and waited. A short time later, we were taken to the car, and the door was OPEN! CHILD'S PLAY. It was the right amount of force in the right place. We were so relieved. We thanked the friendly gentleman a thousand times and continued our journey. The day was saved and so was our budget 🤑🥳..

See you soon 🦘