Dɛn dɔn pablish am: 21.11.2016
After leaving Kangaroo Island, our next destination and final destination of the first trip was Sydney. However, it takes a little longer to travel the approximately 1300km than in Germany, as we only drive about 90km/h. Along the way, we stayed at three different places. Since we try to stay overnight as cheaply as possible, we first looked for a place near Swan Hill. We wanted to go to Swan Hill because there is an Aldi there :D The food is the cheapest there and we don't want to spend too much money in other supermarkets like Coles or Woolworths, which have a higher price level like Edeka in Germany.
At the campsite, there was even a free shower, so jackpot :D The shower was as follows: it was a kind of tin hut with a toilet and a shower platform. In order to get hot water, you had to connect a car battery to a water pump and a instant water heater. The water was ultimately rainwater, which was collected in a canister/tank. All in all, a very interesting construction. This particular campsite was run by a family who provided the battery, etc.
After that, we continued to Tootool. A very nice place that has their 'RV place', whatever that exactly means, but ultimately it means that the places provide free parking spaces or pitches for overnight stays, sometimes even with fireplaces. Perfect for fire lover Tom ;)
Finally, we reached Canberra. Since the city is a planned city, everything seems quite orderly, which in our opinion also has its charm. Everything in the city seemed very relaxed. On the first day, we went to the outdoor swimming pool, which was right next to the parking lot for the night. It was really hot that day, so we had a welcome refreshment. In the evening, we went to the city to an internet café and later to the cinema. We got tickets for 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', which was shown for the first time at 0:01 am. Great movie!
The next day we did a city tour and visited the parliaments and the War Memorial. On our 'walk' through the city, we also passed by Questacon, a science and technology museum where you can try and experiment with a lot of things yourself. In the museum, for example, you could play different notes on a harp - so, the harp consisted only of the bow and there were light barriers inside that represented the different notes. There was also a section on light and speed, where you could slide down an initially vertical slide or measure your own throwing speed. I also liked the Emu and Koala that always watched you. It was definitely great for playing. Canberra is also said to have an interesting diplomatic district, as each building was built in the typical style of the country. However, since that would have meant going through the whole city from the War Memorial (we drove there by car, walked to the parliaments and museum from the city center), we decided not to do it and headed towards Sydney.
But since both of us were so exhausted from the city tour that we wouldn't have been able to reach our actual accommodation for the night, we decided to find a new place on a whim - best decision ever!
Before that, we made a short stop at the hardware store.
When it rained in the evening on Kangaroo Island, we unfortunately had to realize that water was dripping in through our kitchenette hatch. The sun protection film that was installed there had pushed down the seal, so our car was no longer completely sealed :D
To fix this, we now had duct tape and a new sunshade.
When we arrived at our sleeping place at Badgerys Lookout, we had a crafting session. From our current point of view, the car is now waterproof again.
By the way, the view was really nice. It was a kind of canyon that we could look into and the sunset was also great! And in the evening, we had a little campfire. So, a beautiful evening :)
Since we had an Airbnb in Sydney from the next evening, we spent the next day swimming. At a felt 35 degrees, we struggled through the Royal National Park at 40km/h to get to Wattamolla Beach. Unfortunately, the ticket offices and kiosks from our direction were closed, where we could have paid for the car permission for the national park and thus also the parking fee for the beach. So, we had to take our chances, but this time we were a little luckier than in Adelaide! No parking ticket! In the parking lot, we met three Germans with whom we spent the afternoon at the beach. The beach was quite interesting because it was located exactly between the ocean and a lake.
However, the ocean was still quite cold, so I only dipped my big toe in. The lake, on the other hand, was pleasantly warm.
In the afternoon, we went to Sydney where we will stay for 4 days and explore the city. Once again, we are staying in an Airbnb :)