Australia | Commonwealth of Australia | Down Under

We have arrived on one of the greatest continents on this Earth! Indescribable. The nature. The biodiversity. The impressions. You eat pies with Angus beef, birds stand next to cows and have a kind of symbiosis, there are rangers who control campers who want to sleep illegally on the roadside, parrots fly low over the landscape, barbeques along the beaches that you can use for free (these are grill plates with gas cylinders - almost a small kitchen in the middle of the beach), and much more. After just 2 weeks, we already feel a little bit like true Australians. "Hey, how are you?" We: "Not so bad, and you?" That's it... after these words, an encounter often ends. Interest as politeness - somehow cute after some time. The atmosphere is impressive, the country overwhelming, and the weather a surprise. But let's start from the very beginning when Australia was still the next destination on our long list:

We get off the plane. Fresh pleasant air welcomes us and I hear Stefanie take a deep breath next to me. We have landed. Unharmed. Very tired, but unharmed. The 2 hours of sleep only helped me not to see everything double when getting off the plane. Nothing more. The tired eyes press hard on the eyelids, making it difficult to see more than the small crowd in front of us, pushing through the corridor towards the airport. However, we are still happy. We have left behind the rumbling volcano, the storm during the flight, and the fever, and we finally feel completely safe again. The little uncertainty of a longer unplanned stay in Indonesia has burdened us a little more subconsciously than we thought.

I dig out the cellphone from our hand baggage and turn it on. The display shows "October 2nd, 06:15". "That can't be," I think to myself and nudge Stefanie on the hand. "How much more time...?" She looks at me bewildered and seems to want to fall asleep standing up shortly afterwards. "I don't know... 8, 9? Something like that?" Sleepily, we search the arrival hall of the airport, which seems relatively small for Australia. "8:15," she finally whispers to me and points to an inconspicuous clock on a smooth metal wall. I adjust the time on my cellphone and put it back in the backpack... "We're here," I whisper softly to Stefanie, "we're in Australia..."

Goosebumps. One of the most beautiful countries on Earth. Diverse, poisonous, and colorful. Here are our key facts: we are now traveling with the camper for 3 weeks from Cairns to Brisbane along the east coast of Queensland. Then another 2 weeks in Sydney, Airlie Beach, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne. So 5 weeks on this exciting continent.

At the airport, our luggage is inspected. We checked "shells" on the entry form, which we also had in our backpacks from Indonesia. These were meticulously examined for little creatures before being put back in our backpacks. To our annoyance, we then had to realize when packing that a bottle of NoBite mosquito spray had burst in Stefanie's backpack and soaked the clothes, shower stuff, etc. Great start.

After this first mishap, we enter the last section of the terminal with awe and are surprised to find that there is nothing... really almost nothing. A cafe, a counter for bus and shuttle tickets, a counter for rental cars without staff... that's it. No information, no taxis or friendly taxi drivers like in Indonesia who try to convince you to take a cheap ride, no reception committees with name tags for hotels, tours or hostels... We felt a little lost. So we quickly booked a shuttle service to our first accommodation (the prices were of course many times higher than in Indonesia) and went to our first accommodation, the Backpacks Waterfront Hostel. Second annoyance: the bus was already half an hour late - when you're tired and know that you still have to wash all your clothes, that's a lot of time...

After a few disagreements in the hostel with a Frenchman and the extremely uninterested hostel manager (who seemed to have had more than one facelift), we were finally allowed to wash and dry our stinky insect clothes. Maybe the tiredness was also to blame for our grumpy tone towards everyone and everything. But that was relativized. In the evening, we went to the beach, ate, marveled at the cleanliness of Australia, and went to sleep (zzZZZzzZ)...

The next day, we picked up the camper at "Travelers Autobarn," made ourselves comfortable, and stocked up on food and drink for the next few days/weeks. In the big supermarkets of Australia, we were relieved to find that the prices and the selection of products were much better than described in the guidebooks. The costs are comparable to ours, if not sometimes cheaper. Only the food in the bars, restaurants, and cafes is almost twice as expensive. But since we can cook for ourselves in the camper, we feel good about it.

First stop: Kuranda. First drive on the "wrong" side of the road. Namely, the left side. Wtf? But after some initial practice, we quickly got used to it. In the dark, we finally reach our first campsite, anxious and searching. Familiar faces from the airport are already there and eagerly help us with the first important information. A weight is lifted off our shoulders. Power and water are connected to the camper. Shortly afterward, we discovered the first snake (right next to the toilets and showers). Rather surprising, as Stefanie stands at the fence, looking at the pool - the snake is curled up in a rain gutter next to her. Judging by its colors, it may be venomous. After that, we had our first encounters with wild birds (gupplguppl) who seemed to be investigating us without any shyness. The next morning, we already had the first problem with our alarm system, which seemed to be running constantly (fortunately only very quietly). Technician came > didn't fix anything > we have to go to a workshop the next day > only a small modification. During the day, we drove to the first rainforest, which we could see in about 3 hours with a train ride through it and a cable car ride back. Many tourists on board. The feeling is more like a rip-off. We don't see more than with a train ride through the Salzkammergut. Only the ride back with the cable car over the rainforest was interesting and impressive. We didn't make that mistake a second time...

Next stop: Billabong campsite. First contact with kangaroos in the wild. See the photos and marvel.

Koala Garden: see the photos.

Next few days: Alarm system removed; Mango wine from a mango plantation for 25 AUD. Heading north, destination: Cape Tribulation. Arrival in Daintree Village, crossing a river by ferry to the first large rainforest.

The REAL rainforest: We drive through the rainforest with the camper. Really. A small road (the only one there), with many different animal, nature, and all sorts of warning signs. Beware of crocodiles, beware of kangaroos, beware of cassowaries, etc. Just impressive. Beaches; deepest, highest rainforest; rainforest is the oldest on Earth; animals everywhere. Amazing. We take different paths (boardwalks)... but also see the photos. We stayed there for 2 days. We bathed in a freshwater "pool" in the middle of the rainforest... Spiders the size of a palm; beautiful birds and parrots; ants like big beetles. Beaches with palm trees, soft thin sand, perfect sea... BUT NO swimming... because the deadly jellyfish (box jellyfish) and other jellyfish, crocodiles, etc. don't allow anyone to enter the water. Too bad. But still beautiful to see and enjoy.

Then back to Cairns: preparing for snorkeling at the "Great Barrier Reef" with the sailing catamaran "Ocean Spirit." Out to Michaelmas Sandbank. Countless birds, fish, an ancient turtle, huge shells, corals, a shark swimming around Stefanie, stingrays, and more. The waves upset our stomachs a little, but we quickly recovered on the island. But see the photos again. In the evening, we had a beer with new acquaintances, as well as feeding reef sharks at Cairns Beach. Thousands of flying foxes circulate over the heads of the residents in the city in the evening. Impressive.

The following days:

Traveling across the country to various waterfalls. Even though no one was in the water, we ventured into the unknown and swam to our first big waterfall. Turtles, fish, and birds, as well as amazed tourists, watched our daredevilry. We spent the whole day at the waterfalls.

Visiting the largest living coral reef aquarium in Townsville with a turtle hospital, poisonous animals, as well as the new realization that not only everything in Australia seems to be deadly, but also the shells that we used to collect eagerly in Indonesia are immediately deadly if there is an animal inside... nice to know that now and we no longer collect shells.

Continuing on to "Airlie Beach" where the islands with the whitest beach on Earth are waiting for us. We pondered for a long time whether we should take a boat to the islands again to snorkel and visit beaches... In the end, we decided to see all the islands at once (including the island shaped like a kangaroo)... a skydiving :D. What an experience. From about 5,000 meters along the coast...

Afterward, we cooled off in the lagoon at the beach (these are basically free public swimming pools) before making our way towards Brisbane. We covered about 1200 km in 3 days, stopped in Rockhampton to visit the freely accessible botanical garden / zoo until we finally arrived in Beerwah yesterday and fell asleep tired in the middle of the rainy landscape after a delicious homemade Angus beef burger, accompanied by heavy rain. It has been raining here ever since. Today is already the second day. It seems that the rainy season has come early.

Current status: 8-hour time difference, about 20° temperature, about 2500-3000 km driven. In general, the internet is rarely, if ever, available here.

But now, on to the new photos: