September 29, 2023 – The last few weeks in Australia

We wanted to make six more stops on the way along the south coast to Sydney. These include Esperance, where there are the most beautiful beaches in Australia, the Great Ocean Road and a small place called Baird Bay, where you can swim with sea lions and dolphins. We had planned around four weeks to cover the 4,000 kilometer route. After leaving the farm, our first destination was Denmark. The small town is located at the south-eastern tip of Australia and is best known for its wine-growing regions. And that's exactly what we wanted to look at. Before I get to our experiences in Denmark, let's take a quick step back. About 20 kilometers before Denmark is the “Valley of the Giants” right next to the highway. As the name suggests, you can look at something big here, something very big in fact. The valley is home to one of the largest tree species in the world, the Red Tingle or Eucalyptus jacksonii. Nowhere else in the world do these giants grow. With a circumference of up to 16 meters and a height of up to 75 meters, they tower over everything in the immediate vicinity. We looked at the jungle both from a lofty height and from the ground. A tree top walk took us into the treetops to a height of 46 meters, but in some places you still had to tilt your head back to see the tops of the largest trees. In addition to the Tree Top Walk, there is also the “Ancient Empire Walk”, which means something like a walk or educational trail. Here we were able to take a close look at the trees from both the inside and the outside. By the way, the fact that the trees are hollow on the inside doesn't mean much. Although Red Tingles are completely hollowed out with age and only their bark remains, they can live on for hundreds of years, supporting their treetops and leaves. The reason for this is that the trees reveal their innermost being during bushfires, which often occur here. The trees here, which are up to 400 years old, have survived many bushfires. The very old tingles in particular usually only have one bark. The fact that the trees do not fall over is due to the large root systems, which are widely branched on the surface of the earth.

Let's come back to Denmark and wine: As part of a wine tour, we took the bus from winery to winery and tasted our way through the wide variety of white and red wines. At our first stop alone, we tested six red and white wines each - and that at 11:30 in the morning. In order not to be exhausted by midday, we stopped at a cheese dairy for lunch. There was a large selection of different regional cheeses. In the afternoon we visited a small cidery, because in addition to grapes, many apples are also grown in the region. Unfortunately, the weather didn't quite cooperate as we had imagined. Which is why we set off the day after the tour to continue driving towards Esperance. On the way there you automatically drive through the town of Albany. We made a stop to stretch our legs before the five-hour drive. And we also went high again in Albany. The two observation decks, The Gap and Natural Bridge, offer excellent views of the Southern Ocean and Australia's most exposed coastlines. At a height of 40 meters, “The Gap” rises well over the edge of the rock, so that you stand directly above the granite gully and the raging waves. We were lucky because when we got there, strong squalls swept over the sea and caused the waves to crash against the granite rocks with great force. The “Natural Bridge” is right next to “The Gap”, which is a granite formation that looks like a huge rock bridge. This "bridge" is the result of the gradual erosion of the granite rock by the sea. After spending some time there watching the big waves, we headed out around midday to hike part of the Bald Head Walk Trail. We discovered this via a video on Instagram. The track is 13 kilometers long in total and the highlight is a small ridgeline that offers breathtaking views of the Southern Ocean on one side and King George Bay on the other. And what can I say, the Instagram video didn't promise too much, the view was really outstanding. In the late afternoon we set off towards Esperance. Because it was already getting relatively late, we spent the night at a rest area halfway and didn't move on until the next day. We finally reached Esperance early in the morning. In the neighboring Cape Le Grande National Park we had booked a camping spot directly in Lucky Bay for three days. Two years ago the adjacent beach was ranked seventh among the best beaches in Australia. The anticipation was correspondingly great. But as is sometimes the case, in the end things turn out differently than planned. Before we wanted to drive into the national park, we made a quick stop at Nine Mile Beach. And this is where the disaster began. When we got out of the car we noticed a smell of something burning. When we saw smoke in the area of the rear tires, it was clear to us that something was wrong. This impression was then confirmed by an Australian who happened to be a retired car mechanic and had parked next to us. So we had no choice but to call a tow truck. After a full five hours he came and towed our car into town. At the same time, we had already called a few workshops to take care of our problem. However, we received the same response from everyone: “Appointments will only be available in two weeks at the earliest.” Phew, we had to process that first. Luckily we had car insurance that also covered the hotel costs, so at least we didn't have to worry about that at first. After sleeping on it one night, the search for a mechanic continued the next day. At the same time, we were already looking for other accommodation because the hotel room was too small in the long run and we needed a stove and refrigerator to process all of our food. And here we were lucky in misfortune. On the one hand, we found a mechanic in Jarod who was able to look at the car at least a few days later and identify the problem, and on the other hand, there was still a bungalow available in a holiday park that still fit into the budget provided by the insurance company. Nevertheless, we had to be prepared for at least a week. And in the end it was. We would have liked to use the time to take a rental car to see the beautiful beaches of Esperance, but all rental cars were fully booked during this period. So we had no choice but to spend the time in our accommodation and make a few plans for the coming weeks. We also came to the decision that we would skip the planned stops on the south coast and drive straight through to Sydney. Somehow our confidence in our car had waned a bit and we wanted to sell it as quickly as possible. No sooner said than done, after we got the Pajero back repaired, we set off. 3,500 kilometers in four days, three time zones, the longest straight road in Australia (146.6 kilometers completely straight, without a single curve) and crossing three states lay ahead of us. We spent our days driving from morning to evening, and our nights we slept in rest areas next to the highway. We spent the last evening at a beautiful campsite with a great view of a large valley. And then we were in Sydney, the place where it all started almost five months ago. Somehow a very strange feeling that this part of the journey has now come to an end so suddenly. Were we sad that we didn't make any more stops on the south coast? No way! We have seen so many incredibly beautiful places in Australia and are so grateful that we were able to experience it all in this way. Even if the car was a bit fidgety every now and then, these little challenges are just part of traveling. And after all, the Pajero has been around for 20 years, so it's completely normal for some components to break due to wear and tear. It drove us safely through Australia for almost 20,000 kilometers, whether on the highway, water, beach or off-road track. And now it was time for someone else to have this experience.

After our arrival in Sydney we visited a few workshops. New tires, a new windshield (the road trains have several stone chips on the windshield) and a kind of TÜV certificate were on the agenda. We had already put the car up for sale on Facebook in Esperance and received a lot of inquiries. In the end, a young German couple secured the services of our vehicle. After we sold the car, we enjoyed two more days in Sydney. Among other things, we were able to fulfill our wish of seeing an event at the Sydney Opera House. As part of the Cantabile music festival, a total of 600 primary school children from New South Wales performed on stage with pieces, some of which were specially composed.

For the last few days in Australia we went back to Melbourne before saying “Goodbye Australia”. I was traveling Down Under for a total of eight months and circumnavigated the continent once with Helene. We met incredibly great people, were attacked by dingoes, swam with whales, got to know the culture and saw incredibly fascinating and varied nature. In the end, all that remains is incredible gratitude that we were given this opportunity. Now it's time to immerse yourself in new cultures and countries. So we got on a plane again and flew to...