Many little weekend trips...

Since I haven't written any posts lately, I have to summarize 3 trips in one post.

The first trip was to Lakes Entrance and then along the coast back to Melbourne. Lisa and I took beautiful photos, the water looked gorgeous and so did the photos ;) We spent a lot of time in the car. I had fish and chips for dinner, then we camped for free in the car. The next day we started early towards Melbourne (along the beach), so we could stop at a few beaches. Then we stopped in a small town to quickly go through the shops, when a nice couple gave us a secret tip - without tourists. And it's a small island where you can see lots of wild koalas - and there's even a Koala Walk!! And we were guaranteed to see a koala within the first 10 meters or so - and that's exactly what happened! So we took many great photos with the koalas and even touched them a little (we were afraid they might feel attacked and bite - after all, they are wild animals...). Then we actually went back to Melbourne, where we arrived late at night.

My second trip - a relaxation trip with Giada. Her host family lent us their Subaru Forester, so we could finally use our Christmas present - to pet a koala, a baby kangaroo, and a snake. We left on Friday evening. After briefly checking out the free campsite, we went shopping. Then back to the campsite, where we set up our tent. We had a great night, without children crying and whining - it was all about sleeping through. The next morning we went to Churchill Island, where we did the North- and South-Island Walk, so we walked across the whole island. Then we went to the Maru Koala Park, where the three animals were waiting for us... First the koala, then the joey and finally the snake. Luckily, it was only a very small snake, so even I dared to touch it. With the big snake, I would probably have declined ;) After successful photos with the animals, we went to the beach, where we took a little nap before continuing to the second free campsite. Unfortunately, there were a lot of mosquitoes there... but we still had to set up our tent. This night was also relaxed - we really enjoyed the peace and our wonderful sleep, especially since I don't even have my own room anymore... Sunday morning on our way back to Melbourne, we stopped at a park where we ate our snacks and rested in the beautiful surroundings before returning to our children.

And finally my third trip - again with Giada. This time to the Grampians - and with my car. I actually bought a Toyota RAV4, with which I will travel the South and West coast of Australia in a few weeks. Just arrived in Halls Gap, we started our first hike: 3.5km up a mountain to enjoy the view. It wasn't easy, so it took a while to get to the top. We didn't meet a single person in the first 3 kilometers, only on the last few hundred meters a group of girls crossed our path. Once at the top, we took a break before finally taking the photos. After some time, we started our way back, which was again 3.5km long. Unfortunately, after only 200m I slipped... and first I just held my knees, before I realized that my pants were torn and my knee was bleeding. Well... somehow I had to make it back to the car for the remaining 3.3km, so a plaster had to work wonders. With limping and hopping, we finally reached the bottom after a while. Then we continued to McKenzie Falls, where we had to walk down many stairs - and of course back up again. Unfortunately, this time we couldn't go swimming because the waterfall had too much water and was very strong. And so the day was almost over. Off to the free campsite, which is really great, and setting up the tent. Then we had dinner and brushed our teeth next to the tent before going to bed at 10 p.m. After midnight, I woke up a few times because I heard kangaroos hopping next to the tent. Soooo cute! After breakfast the next morning, we went to the Wonderland Carpark, from where we did a 2.3km hike to the Pinnacle Lookout. Actually, it was more climbing rocks and stone stairs than a normal hike, but this time we also made it to the top. However, photos were not the priority - our lunch had top priority for once. So we immediately found a nice spot for our picnic and then ate. When we were nicely rested, we took care of the photos. The view was too beautiful not to take photos. Since we didn't feel like going back yet, Giada braided my hair on top of the mountain - in the wind and without a hairbrush... not easy, but still beautiful considering the circumstances! Then we went back to the car and back to Melbourne. It was a super relaxed trip and neither of us knows why we go hiking to relax ;)