Back to Victoria!

Kingston, Robe, Beachport, Portland, Port Fairy are just a few coastal towns we have visited in the past few weeks. Each place had an incredibly beautiful view of the vast ocean, a cute harbor, and an idyllic little downtown. We couldn't resist trying fresh fish there. The Great Ocean Road was once again part of our route. Unfortunately, it was rainy again but still simply beautiful. Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles, The Razorback, The Arch, London Bridge, and The Grotto were all worth a visit despite the wind strength of 4. It was impressive and a bit scary at the same time to see the ocean so stormy. The waves crashed against the red cliffs with full force, spraying seawater several meters high. The currents would probably sink any boat. We ended the tourist drive on the Great Ocean Road with a shopping tour in the small town of Lorne and watching the surfers ride the waves in the bay. The campsite for that night was deep (in the true sense of the word deep) in the Otway National Park. The rocky path led us down the valley of a dense forest with big wide palm trees. When we arrived, all the spots were already taken. They were all backpackers and so we got into conversation with a few like-minded Germans again. The night was rainy and I could hardly sleep because I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get up the whole mountain again because the ground might be too muddy. Because the next day we had an important call to make. It rained buckets almost all night, but luckily the stones gave our tires enough grip so that we could easily get back on the highway. We were proud of our van for safely bringing us everywhere since we left the Northern Territory. The call was a job interview for a job east of Melbourne, on our travel route, that we were interested in. It went very well and we arranged to be there the next day. Unfortunately, not everything went as planned. We got up early the next day because there were still 300 km to drive and we were ready in the van until it stalled and wouldn't start anymore in front of the intersection. But once again, we were lucky. It's really incredible how many nice people we meet who always help us out of a jam. This time, too, a nice man, a former mechanic, happened to be out for a walk and came up to us when he saw us desperately trying to start the van. He offered us his help and promptly towed us to his little workshop in the garage. By a lucky coincidence, we were able to solve the problem and drive to a campsite just before Melbourne in the evening. The next day, we went to the meeting point agreed upon with Nina. When we arrived, we were in front of a small house where another backpacker greeted us kindly. He is also German, has been living there with his girlfriend for a year, and was able to answer some of our questions. Then we also met Nina and the other 15 backpackers. Here we were now. Ready for our next job. Ready for the dairy farm. Ready to milk cows. 🐮🐮🐮