Ich hab es doch tatsächlich endlich mal geschafft, hier wieder hereinzuschauen. Die Zeit seit Weihnachten scheint wie im Fluge vergangen zu sein und es ist auch wirklich viel passiert.
Zunächst möchte ich euch von meinem Roadtrip zum Ende des alten und Anfang des neuen Jahres berichten. Der ursprüngliche Plan für Neujahr war es gewesen, mit meinen Gasteltern, Despina, Sebastian, den Großeltern, Onkels und Tanten ins Bergland nach Queensland zu fahren. Aus organisatorischen Gründen war dies letztendlich jedoch nicht möglich. Da nahezu alle meine Freunde aus Canberra für diese Zeit des Jahres bereits verplant waren, mit ihrer Familie verreisten beziehungsweise am anderen Ende Australiens herumreisten, entschied ich mich schließlich, Neujahr ebenfalls nicht in Canberra zu verbringen und die Zeit zum Reisen zu nutzen. Das Reiseziel war recht schnell klar: es sollte zur weltberühmten Great Ocean Road an der Südküste Victorias gehen.
Sidenote: I did the Colour Run in Canberra and it was AMAZING!
Day 1 - Melbourne
Da ich den Morgen ganz für mich hatte, beschloss ich nach der Verstauung meines Gepäcks im Hostel, zum Melbourne Museum zu gehen, welches mir von Alli empfohlen worden war. Der Weg dorthin führte mich auch am Royal Exhibition Building und den Carlton Gardens oder auch "German Gardens" vorbei, welche wirklich beeindruckend waren und übrigens der deutschen Regierung gewidmet wurden.
Royal Exhibition Building, the "German Gardens" and the Melbourne skyline
Das Melbourne Museum war wirklich unglaublich gut - definitiv eines der besten Museen, das ich je besucht habe und jeden Cent des Eintritts wert. Neben riesigen Dinosaurierskeletten kann man hier echte Spinnentiere und Insektenbehausungen sowie unzählig viele ausgestopfte Tierarten bewundern, die Entwickung der Erde an Modellen verfolgen, die Geschichte Australiens sowie der Welt näher kennenlernen und die Wunder des menschlichen Körpers und Nervensystems Verstehen lernen. Durch kurze und bündige Erklärungen, viele Veranschaulichungen und Modelle wird es wirklich nie langweilig. Ich habe etwa drei Stunden gebraucht, um mir die verschiedenen Themenhallen anzusehen und somit war der Vormittag recht schnell verstrichen.
Melbourne Museum
Nach dem Museumsbesuch ging es zurück zum Hostel, wo Heidi bereits auf mich wartete und zusammen machten wir uns auf in die Stadt, wo wir den Rest des Tages verbrachten. Da ich bereits im September in Melbourne gewesen war und hier auch davon berichtet habe, fasse ich mich hier ausnahmsweise einmal kurz und bleibe dabei, dass Melbourne wirklich eine tolle Stadt ist :)
Day 2 - New Year's Eve in Melbourne
Der zweite Tag (Silvester) begann für uns recht früh, da wir unbedingt nach St. Kilda wollten. St. Kilda ist ein Stadtteil im Süden Melbournes und liegt direkt an der Küste. Neben vielen kleinen Cafes und Läden im viktorianischem Stil macht besonders der Hafen einen Besuch St. Kildas sehenswert. Leider war es an dem Morgen recht kühl und wir konnten das klare Wasser nicht ausnutzen, dennoch war es ein durchaus gelungener Morgen.
Day 2 - New Year's Eve in Melbourne
Der zweite Tag (Silvester) begann für uns recht früh, da wir unbedingt nach St. Kilda wollten. St. Kilda ist ein Stadtteil im Süden Melbournes und liegt direkt an der Küste. Neben vielen kleinen Cafes und Läden im viktorianischem Stil macht besonders der Hafen einen Besuch St. Kildas sehenswert. Leider war es an dem Morgen recht kühl und wir konnten das klare Wasser nicht ausnutzen, dennoch war es ein durchaus gelungener Morgen.
Visiting St. Kilda Pier
St. Kilda Pier and the Melbourne skyline in the background
St. Kilda Beach
Gegen Mittag ging es nach einem ausgiebigen Spaziergang entlang der Strandpromenade in St. Kilda mit der Straßenbahn zurück in die Stadt. Melbourne ist eine der wenigen Städte in Australien, in denen sie dieses Fortbewegungsmittel nach der Eroberung der Städte durch das Automobil nicht abgeschafft haben und das ist bei der Lage der öffentlichen Verkehrslage in Australien auch gut so!In Chinatown, wo wir zu Mittag aßen, traf dann auch Charlotte auf uns, die zuvor mit ihrer Gastfamilie aus Canberra campen war. Gemeinsam machten wir uns auf ins Stadtzentrum. Da Charlotte noch nie zuvor in Melbourne gewesen war, entschieden wir uns, nach einem Spaziergang entlang des Yarra Rivers, den Eureka Tower, das höchste Gebäude der südlichen Hemisphäre zu besuchen, von wo aus wir einen Blick über fast ganz Melbourne hatten. Ähnlich wie im Sydney Tower schaut man auch hier leider nur durch Glasscheiben. Ich weiß nicht, ob die Sicherheitsrichtlinien in Australien einfach strenger sind, aber ich muss sagen, dass es mir dann doch wesentlich besser gefällt, wie auf der Jenaer Keksrolle im Freien zu stehen. Dennoch war die Aussicht wirklich atemberaubend und man konnte einmal einen Eindruck davon erlangen, wie groß Melbourne ist - ein Ende war nämlich bis auf den Küstenstreifen nirgendwo in Sicht.
Yarra River and Melbourne City
Eureka Tower - the highest public vantage point in the southern hemisphere
View from the top of Eureka Tower
Am Silvesterabend ging es dann ins Regent Theatre, wo wir das Musical Grease ansahen. Die Show hat wirklich für gute Laune gesorgt, die Songs gingen ins Ohr und die Schauspieler waren auch wirklich gut. Leider ist die Story im Vergleich zu anderen Musicals einfach zu flach, um den Schauspielern zu erlauben, ihr ganzes Potential zu entfalten und somit blieben richtige Wow-Momente leider aus, was ich ein wenig schade fand, aber es war trotzdem ein wirklich gelungener Abend, der schließlich am Federation Square bei Live-Musik (die leider mehr schlecht als recht war) und einem tollem Feuerwerk seinen Abschluss fand.
Grease is the word!
New Year's Eve fireworks in Melbourne
Day 3 - The Great Ocean Road Melbourne --> Lorne
Am dritten Tag war es dann endlich so weit - unser Road Trip entlang der Great Ocean Road sollte endlich beginnen und nachdem auch der Vierte im Bunde, Ashraf aus Bangladesh, beim Autovermieter auf uns stieß, hieß es für uns: Auf die Plätze, fertig - LOS! Und unser gemieteter Toyota Corolla rollte aus Melbourne hinaus und ins Paradies hinein!
Zur Veranschaulichung der Great Ocean Road für diejenigen, die sich mit der australischen Topographie nicht so gut auskennen, sei hier eine Karte der ersten zwei Tage unseres Road Trips angefügt :)
Map of the first two days of our road trip
Ready to go!
Uns wurde recht schnell klar, warum die Great Ocean Road ein so beliebtes Reiseziel ist. Die Straße ist übrigens das größte Mahnmal der Welt ist, denn sie wurde im Namen der Gefallenen des Ersten Weltkriegs errichtet. Neben der atemberaubenden Umgebung, welche die Great Ocean Road umgibt, macht besonders der Fahrspaß den Besuch der Great Ocean Road zu so einem tollen Erlebnis. Enge Kurven, rasante Abfahrten, steile Anstiege und wir haben sogar einen freilaufenden Koala mitten auf der Fahrbahn gesehen.
Unser erster Zwischenstopp war Bells Beach, ein recht kleiner Surfstrand nur ein kleines Stück außerhalb Torquays, dem Ausgangspunkt der Great Ocean Road.
Unser erster Zwischenstopp war Bells Beach, ein recht kleiner Surfstrand nur ein kleines Stück außerhalb Torquays, dem Ausgangspunkt der Great Ocean Road.
.jpg)
First stop: Bells Beach (from the left to the right: Ashraf, me, Charlotte and Heidi)
Enjoying the view
Beautiful cliffs
Wie wild diese Wälder sein können, wurde uns besonders bewusst, als Charlotte, Ashraf und ich uns auf eine etwa zweistündige Wanderung zurück nach Lorne begaben. Heide, die den freien Nachmittag lieber am Strand verbringen wollte, machte sich mit dem Auto auf den Rückweg nach Lorne und für uns andere begann eine Wanderung durch das wilde Dickicht, über und unter Bäumen hindurch und ab und an durch den Bachlauf hindurch - kurzum es war einfach wunderschön :)
Wir erreichten unser Tagesziel Lorne bereits am frühem Nachmittag. Da wir so früh noch nicht in unserem Hostel einchecken konnten, machten wir uns auf den Weg zu den Erskine Falls etwa 4km nördlich von Lorne.
Es ist kaum zu fassen, wie unterschiedlich die Landschaft und Vegetation nur so wenige Kilometer von der Küste sein können. Waren wir von der Fahrt noch steile Sandsteinküsten und strenge Winde gewohnt, befanden wir uns nun mitten im Urwald mit Regenwaldklimaten.
Erskine Falls just outside Lorne
All the possibilities to die at Erskine Falls - Welcome to Australia!
Für die meisten Touristen scheint eine zweistündige Wanderung bereits zu viel Zeit in Anspruch zu nehmen und so mussten wir den Pfad lediglich mit zwei Teenagern auf Mountainbikes (wie die zwei es mit den Bikes bis hoch zum Wasserfall geschafft haben, ist mir bei den teilweise sehr steile Pfadabschnitten immer noch schleierhaft) und zwei Läufern teilen, was wirklich eine willkommene Abwechslung zum Trubel an der Hauptstraße war.
Hiking through the rain forest
Our beautiful "hostel" in Lorne
DAY 4 - Great Ocean Road Lorne --> Port Fairy
Unser zweiter Tag auf der Great Ocean Road sollte uns ein ganzes Stück westlich führen. Da alleine die Fahrt laut Google fast vier Stunden betragen würde, verließen wir Lorne bereits recht früh am Morgen. Schließlich wartete ein volles Programm auf uns :)
Unser erster Zwischenstopp lag in Kennett River nur etwa 10km von Lorne entfernt. Hier sollte es angeblich ganze Kolonien von wilden Koalas geben und die wollten wir uns schließlich nicht entgehen lassen.
Unser erster Zwischenstopp lag in Kennett River nur etwa 10km von Lorne entfernt. Hier sollte es angeblich ganze Kolonien von wilden Koalas geben und die wollten wir uns schließlich nicht entgehen lassen.
Wie man es von Australien nicht anders gewohnt ist, war die Beschilderung des Koala-Pfades allerdings mal wieder eher schlecht als recht und wir endeten inmitten eines Feldes, welches aber zumindest einen tollen Blick auf den Ozean lieferte. Ein paar Koalas haben wir dann doch tatsächlich gesehen und noch dazu gab es ein paar Loris und King Parrots, die sich über unseren Besuch freuten.
My first wild Koala
Feeding the king parrot
Die Fahrt führte uns abermals an malerischen Küsten, weißen Sandstränden und wilden Regenwäldern vorbei. Bei solch einer Kulisse hatte sogar ich als bekennender Muffel wenn es ums Autofahren geht meinen Fahrspaß.
Beautiful Great Ocean Road scenery
Nach einigen kurzen Zwischenstopps an besonders schönen Ausblickspunkten führte uns die Great Ocean Road in den Otway Nationalpark hinein und damit ein wenig von der Küste weg. Wir wollten ursprünglich gerne zu einem Baumwipfelpfad fahren, doch nachdem wir uns auf einer Straße, die eher einem Waldweg glich wiederfanden, beschlossen wir, stattdessen doch lieber zum ältesten noch funktionierenden Leuchtturm Australiens zu fahren.
Neben malerischen Ausblicken gibt es hier auch Dinosaurierknochen sowie andere Fossilien zu bestaunen und auch der Leuchtturm an sich ist wirklich sehenswert. Jedoch war das Ganze nicht wirklich $18 Eintritt wert. Da wir nun aber schon einmal den Weg zum Cape Otway auf uns genommen hatten, wollten wir auch nicht wieder umkehren, ohne den Leuchtturm zu sehen.
Coast at Cape Otway
Cape Otway Lightstation
Nach einer kurzen Lunchpause führte uns unser nächster Zwischenstopp mitten in den Regenwald hinein. Melba Gully im Great Otway Nationalpark stellt eines der regenreichsten Gebiete Victorias dar und bei 40°C (!!!) Außentemperatur im Schatten kamen wir selbst bei unseren 2km-langem Spaziergang recht schnell ins Schwitzen. In der Tat war ich nach einer halben Stunde in dem Wald genauso durchgeschwitzt wie nach einem 5km-Lauf.
The rain forest experience at 40°C in the Great Otway Nationalpark
What was left of the Big Tree
Unser nächster Stopp führte uns am Nachmittag wieder zurück an die Küste und an einen der wahrscheinlichsten berühmtesten Orte Australiens: die Zwölf Apostel sowie die London Arch. Laut Wikpedia gehören die beiden Orte nach dem Ayers Rock zu den am meisten fotografierten Motiven Australiens. Die Kalksteinfelsen ragen geradezu wie Türme aus dem Meer heraus und werden vom Meer geformt und zum Einsturz gebracht. Als Folge sind von den ursprünglichen 12 Aposteln heute nur noch sieben zu bestaunen, was ihrer Schönheit jedoch keinen Abbruch macht.
Auch die London Arch ist durch die verschiedenen Erosionsprozesse stark gezeichnet. War die Formation bis 1990 noch mit dem Festland verbunden (damals trug sie noch den Namen London Bridge), so entspricht sie heute "nur" noch einem Torbogen aus Fels.
Aufgrund der nun noch weiter angestiegenen Temperaturen (42°C im Schatten - sowas hatte ich dann wirklich noch nie erlebt und muss es hoffentlich auch nicht noch einmal erleben) und den Massen an Touristen hielten wir uns nur recht kurz an den berühmten Steinformationen auf und verschwanden recht schnell wieder im Auto, dessen Klimaanlage an diesem Tag ein wahrer Segen war.
The "12" Apostles
London Arch
Den restlichen Nachmittag verbrachten wir bis auf wenige Zwischenstopps (in Port Campbell haben wir erst einmal die Eisdiele geplündert und uns mit ausreichend Erfrischungsgetränken versorgt) hauptsächlich "on the road". Die Great Ocean Road führte uns jetzt im Inland über weite Felder, durch kleine Orte und die typisch australische Steppenlandschaft. Kurz vor unserem finalen Ziel Port Fairy machten wir dann doch noch an einem Strand halt, um uns endlich im Ozean abzukühlen (dank unseres vollen Tagespensums hatten wir uns das vorher nicht gewagt) und erreichten am frühen Abend schließlich den kleinen Küstenort Port Fairy.
Finally cooling down in the ocean
DAY 5 - Port Fairy, the Last Volcano and the Grampians
Unser dritter Roadtrip-Tag sollte uns ursprünglich gleich früh am Morgen in die Grampians führen, welche etwa 2.5 Stunden nördlich von Port Fairy und drei Stunden westlich von Melbourne liegen. Ich selbst war bereits im September für einen Tag dort gewesen, wollte aber die Chance unbedingt wahrnehmen, nochmal in die Grampians zu kommen. Es lag ja quasi halbwegs auf dem Weg und so mussten wir nicht den selben Weg zurückfahren, den wir gekommen waren.
Gesagt - getan. Das Hostel war gebucht, wir freuten uns auf unsere zwei Tage im Gebirge und dann erfuhren wir von der Buschfeuerwahrnung in der Region. Nur 30 Minuten außerhalb von Halls Gap, unserem Tagesziel, waren am Vortag Buschfeuer ausgebrochen und bei einer Vorhersage von 40°C war Alarmstufe rot angesagt. Das Hostel meinte dennoch, dass wir ohne Probleme nach Halls Gap kommen würden und so beschlossen wir, den Vormittag noch in Port Fairy und Umgebung zu verbringen, da dort "nur" 32°C sein sollten, und nach dem Mittagessen in die Grampians zu fahren.
Gesagt - getan. Das Hostel war gebucht, wir freuten uns auf unsere zwei Tage im Gebirge und dann erfuhren wir von der Buschfeuerwahrnung in der Region. Nur 30 Minuten außerhalb von Halls Gap, unserem Tagesziel, waren am Vortag Buschfeuer ausgebrochen und bei einer Vorhersage von 40°C war Alarmstufe rot angesagt. Das Hostel meinte dennoch, dass wir ohne Probleme nach Halls Gap kommen würden und so beschlossen wir, den Vormittag noch in Port Fairy und Umgebung zu verbringen, da dort "nur" 32°C sein sollten, und nach dem Mittagessen in die Grampians zu fahren.
Den Vormittag verbrachten wir größtenteils im Tower Hill Wildlife Reservat nur etwa 10 Minuten Autofahrt von Port Fairy entfernt. Ashraf hatte noch nie zuvor Kängurus gesehen und das musste natürlich geändert werden. Natürlich haben wir dann kein einziges Känguru auf unserer Wanderung auf dem Krater des "Last Volcanos" gesichtet. Stattdessen hatten wir die Ehre, auf ein paar Emus zu treffen und Kevin, den Koala zu bestaunen, der anscheinend immer auf dem selben Baum rumlungert.
Townhill Wildlife Nature Reserve
This wild emu walked straight past us
Kevin, the koala, chilling in his favourite tree
Den restlichen Vormittag verbrachten wir am Strand in Port Fairy und dann machten wir uns nach einer kurzen Stärkung zu Mittag auch schon auf den Weg in die Grampians.
Wer nun damit gerechnet hat, dass wir auf unserer Fahrt in das Gebirge auf Buschfeuer getroffen sind, liegt definitiv falsch. Statt Buschfeuern trafen wir auf unserem Weg auf ein Gewitter, das sich gewaschen hatte inklusive Sturmböen, Platzregen und Ästen auf den Straßen. Irgendwie haben wir es dann trotzdem heil an unser Tagesziel Halls Gap geschafft, wo die Buschfeuergefahr nun glücklicherweise gebannt war.
Aufgrund des Regens wagten wir uns an dem Tag nicht mehr allzu weit weg von dem kleinem Örtchen inmitten des Gebirges und so unternahmen wir lediglich zwei kurze Spaziergänge und ließen danach den Abend im Hostel bei Pizza, Apple Pie und Weißwein ausklingen.
Unser nächstes Ziel waren die Balconies sowie The Jaw of Death, welche ich ebenfalls bereits im September besucht hatte. Dieses Mal war die Sicht jedoch wesentlich klarer, wir waren so früh dran, dass sich sogar die Wallabies noch raus trauten und der Ausblick ist ohnehin einen zweiten Besuch wert.
Ich verspreche, dass ihr auf das nächste Update hier nicht so lange warten müsst. Schließlich möchte ich euch berichten, wie meine letzten Tage in Canberra sowie meine Reise nach Tasmanien waren :)
Bis dahin ganz viele liebe Grüße aus Brisbane,
Eure Kristina
English
The first big trip I still want to tell you about is my trip down to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road at the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. Initially, I had planned to join my Canberran host parents, Despina and Sebastian as well as their grandparents, aunties and uncles on a family trip to the Bunya Mountains approximately three hours west of Brisbane. Early in December, however, I found out that this was no longer possible. As most of my friends in Canberra were planning to travel over the holidays, I didn't really want to stay in Canberra on my own and therefore decided to see a part of Australia I hadn't seen yet. The destination was found quickly: I wanted to go to the world-famous Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide at the South Coast of Victoria.
Day 1 - Melbourne
I still can't believe how different the landscape as well as the vegetation were from the ones down at the coast even though we had only gone a couple of kilometres inland. While the coast was all about bold cliffs and strong winds, we now found ourselves in the midst of a beautiful and wild rain forest with a hot rain forest climate.
At Cape Otway one can not only visit Cape Otway Lightstation but also gaze at some dinosaur bones and enjoy the spectacular view. However, I still don't think that this justifies an admission of $18 but as we had already driven all the way there, it would have been a shame if we had just returned to the Great Ocean Road without seeing Cape Otway at all.
Our next stop led us into the middle of the rain forest again. Melba Gully in the Great Otway Nationalpark is one of the wettest spots in all Victoria and with a temperature of about 40°C even a short walk of two kilometres made us get out of breath rather quickly. As a matter of fact, I'd say that walking in the rain forest for thirty minutes made me at least as sweaty as a 5km run.
As five signs indicated the place to go at Melba Gully was an ominous Big Tree, so we of course had to check out what exactly made that tree so special. Turns it turned out, the Big Tree used to be one of the tallest trees in that area. However, in 2009 a massive storm made the 60m-tall tree fall over and tourists now only get to gaze at its remains.
The Great Ocean Road had slowly led us back to the coast and we all were looking forward to our next stop and two of the most famous places in Australia: The Twelve Apostles as well as The London Arch. According to Wikipedia, there is only one place in Australia that people take more pictures of and that's Ayers Rock. The limestone stacks almost seem like towers growing out of the ocean. Wind and water have shaped them for centuries now and sometimes makes one of the stacks collapse under its own weight. As a result, the twelve apostles are actually only seven apostles today which, of course, doesn't mean that they are any less breathtaking.
The London Arch has also been marked by several types of erosion. Until 1990 the rock formation was actually still connected to the coastline. However, wind and water made it collide and only the arch of the old London Bridge remained.
When we arrived at the information centre of the Twelve Apostles the temperature had reached its maximum that day. 42°C!!! Now that really was something I never had experienced before and I hope that I'll never have to experience it ever again. Both the temperature and the fact that the place was ridiculously crowded made us decide to not spend too much time near the beautiful rock formations and to get back into the car with the air condition (I'm so glad we got a car with A/C) and on the road.
Apart from a couple of stops along the Great Ocean Road (mainly for cold drinks and other refreshments) we spent most of the afternoon in the car. The road now led as away from the coast again and we passed wide and dry fields, small villages and the typical Australian steppe-like landscape. Once we got closer to the coast again, we took a bit of a longer break to finally go for a swim in the ocean (we didn't stop for a swim earlier that day because we knew that we had quite a long drive ahead of us and we really didn't want to drive on the Great Ocean Road after sunset) and, I swear, the cold water was a blessing.
It was early evening when we arrived in Port Fairy where we would spend our night not knowing that it was gonna be a rather restless night thanks to an Australian dude who thought it might be a good idea to get so ridiculously drunk that his snoring would keep the whole dormitory awake.
Day 5 - Port Fairy, the Last Volcano and the Grampians
We had planned to head to the Grampians early in the morning of the third day of our road trip. I had already been to the Grampians, a range of mountains about three hours west of Melbourne, during my last trip to Melbourne but I definitely wanted to go there again if possible as it was pretty much only an Australian stone's throw (aka a couple of hours) away and that way we wouldn't have to go back to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.
We were all excited for our trip to the mountains when we heard of a bushfire warning for the area only thirty minutes from our destination Halls Gap and the weather forecast (40°C) didn't really look like the situation was gonna change anytime soon. The staff at the hostel promised us though that we wouldn't have any troubles getting there and so we decided to go spend the morning in Port Fairy and its surroundings where it were only going to be 32°C that day and to drive to the Grampians in the afternoon.
We spent most of the morning at the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve just a ten minute drive from Port Fairy. Ashraf had never seen kangaroos before and that certainly needed to be changed. Of course we didn't see any kangaroos on our short hike along the rim of the "Last Volcano" - instead, we had the pleasure to say hello to a couple of emus as well as Kevin, the koala, who apparently stays in the same tree all the time.
Before we headed off to the Grampians we made sure to stop by the beach in Port Fairy to cool down in the sea and to enjoy the beautiful coast for one last time.
Now, who expected that we saw bushfires and smoke on our way into the mountains couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, we drove through pretty much the heaviest storm I had experienced in Australia so far - lots of squalls, pelting rain and tree branches on the roads inclusive! We somehow managed to make it to Halls Gap safely. As it turned out, the bushfire risk had pretty much gone down to zero in that area.
Due to the rather unpredictable weather, we didn't dare to go for any longer hikes in the mountains that day, so we only went for two shorter walks just a little bit outside of Halls Gap and spent the evening sitting over a glass of wine, pizza and apple pie.
Day 6 - The Grampians: MacKenzie Falls, The Jaw of Death and the Pinnacle
Beach time in Port Fairy
Aufgrund des Regens wagten wir uns an dem Tag nicht mehr allzu weit weg von dem kleinem Örtchen inmitten des Gebirges und so unternahmen wir lediglich zwei kurze Spaziergänge und ließen danach den Abend im Hostel bei Pizza, Apple Pie und Weißwein ausklingen.
Lake Bellfield
DAY 6 - Grampians: MacKenzie Falls, The Jaw of Death and the Pinnacle
So und damit sind wir auch "schon" fast am Ende unserer Reise. Am letzten Tag ging es wieder recht früh los, denn wir wollten vor unserer Abreise zurück nach Melbourne so viel wie möglich von den Grampians sehen.
Zunächst ging es nach einer sehr kurvenreichen Autofahrt zu den MacKenzie Falls, die wir im Gegensatz zu meinem letzten Besuch im September, dieses Mal ganz für uns alleine hatten. Dank der kräftigen Regenfälle am Vortag war das Wasser extrem klar und der Strom war wesentlich stärker als dies noch im September der Fall gewesen war.
MacKenzie Falls
The Balconies
My favourite animal in Australia - the wallaby
Sitting on the Jaw of Death
Nach unserer waghalsigen Kletteraktion auf dem Jaw of Death - ich hab mich dieses Mal bis ganz an den Rand getraut und das trotz starkem Wind - ging es auch schon an unser letztes Tagesziel in den Grampians. Im Gegensatz zu den ersten beiden Orten, war ich am sogenannten Pinnacle (dt. - Zinne) noch nicht bereits gewesen und ich freute mich auch sehr auf die kurze (1.5h) Wanderung dorthin.
Wie sich herausstellte, war unser Zeitplan wirklich perfekt. War es an den MacKenzie Falls am Morgen noch etwas diesig, so konnten wir nun Sonnenschein pur genießen und hatten damit atemberaubende Aussichten über die teilweise skurril geformte Felslandschaft, die doch ein wenig an die Sächsische Schweiz erinnert.
Hiking to the Pinnacle - View over Lake Bellfield
Beautiful rock formations
Typical Grampian rock formations
Standing on top of the Pinnacle
Nach unserer Wanderung hieß es für uns leider auch schon, dass wir die Rückreise zurück nach Melbourne antreten mussten, da Heidi am frühen Abend zurück nach Melbourne fliegen wollte. Ich wäre wirklich gerne länger in den Grampians geblieben, aber ich denke, wir haben das Beste aus unserer kurzen Zeit dort gemacht.
Im Nachhinein bin ich wirklich froh, dass das mit dem Familienurlaub in Queensland über Silvester nicht geklappt hat, denn sonst hätte ich all diese wunderschönen Orte an der Küste Victorias sowie in den Grampians wahrscheinlich nicht besucht und hätte und somit einen der schönsten Teile Australiens nicht gesehen hätte :)
Ich verspreche, dass ihr auf das nächste Update hier nicht so lange warten müsst. Schließlich möchte ich euch berichten, wie meine letzten Tage in Canberra sowie meine Reise nach Tasmanien waren :)
Bis dahin ganz viele liebe Grüße aus Brisbane,
Eure Kristina
English
Yay, I've finally managed to log back into this account. It really seems as though time has been flying since my last update at Christmas (oops, shame on me) and there's so much to tell, omg.
The first big trip I still want to tell you about is my trip down to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road at the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. Initially, I had planned to join my Canberran host parents, Despina and Sebastian as well as their grandparents, aunties and uncles on a family trip to the Bunya Mountains approximately three hours west of Brisbane. Early in December, however, I found out that this was no longer possible. As most of my friends in Canberra were planning to travel over the holidays, I didn't really want to stay in Canberra on my own and therefore decided to see a part of Australia I hadn't seen yet. The destination was found quickly: I wanted to go to the world-famous Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide at the South Coast of Victoria.
I started planning immediately and tried to find some travel mates as none of my friends were around to travel with me. Thanks to the amazing network for backpackers, au pairs and other travellers on Facebook, I soon found three travel buddies who were keen to join me: Charlotte (a French au pair in Canberra who had already joined me on my trip to Sydney in October and had also done the Colour Me Rad Run in Canberra with me), Heidi (Finnish au pair in Canberra) and Ashraf (an international student from Bangladesh). Together we decided that we'd stay in Melbourne over NYE and to head to the Great Ocean Road which starts only an hour south of Melbourne on the first day of the new year - what an amazing start into the new year :)
Day 1 - Melbourne
I left Canberra in the evening of the 29th and arrived in Melbourne the next morning. As Heidi was not arriving in Melbourne until the early afternoon, I had the whole morning for myself. I decided to use that time to visit the Melbourne Museum which Alli had highly recommended. On my way there I passed the Royal Exhibition Building and the Carlton Gardens which apparently are also called the German Gardens as they were allocated to the German Government.
The Melbourne Museum really is spectacular and definitely one of the best museums I have ever been to. Apart from huge dinosaur skeletons on can also marvel at real spiders, bee hives as well as countless stuffed animals. They also have amazing models of the earth and its development in the past, present and future, heaps of information on the Australian history as well as the human body and brain. With lots of experiments, on-point explanations and illustrations and amazing models it really never gets boring. I think it took me about three hours to walk through the different exhibitions and I am quite sure that I didn't even see all the museum had to offer.
As it was already past lunch time when I left the museum, I decided to head back to the hostel where I met Heidi. Together we walked into the beautiful (but busy) city centre where we spent the rest of the day and evening.
Day 2 - New Year's Eve in Melbourne
We got up quite early on our first (and last) full day in Melbourne as we wanted to go to St Kilda and St. Kilda Beach. St. Kilda is a suburb in the south of Melbourne and one of the most popular tourist spots as it's right by the sea. The place really has its own charm which is created by many tiny but beautiful cafes and shops, gorgeous Victorian architecture as well as habour and piers. Unfortunately, it was quite cold that morning and we didn't really feel like a swim in the clear water but even just walking along the beach promenade was worth getting up so early.
Around lunch time the two of us took the tram back into the city. Melbourne is one of the few cities in Australia where they didn't get rid of the trams after the car had been invented and considering how horrible and unreliable public transport can be in Australia that really was a smart decision.
We decided to have lunch in Chinatown and Charlotte who had been on a camping trip with her host family before joined us there. As Charlotte had never been in Melbourne before, we decided to go for walk along Yarra River in the city centre and to visit Eureka Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The view really was spectacular. Unfortunately, just like on top of the Sydney Tower we again had to look through walls of glass. I don't know, maybe they just have different safety guidelines in Australia but I definitely prefer standing outside like on the JenTower in Jena. Anyway, the view was still phenomenal and it definitely helped us to get an idea of how huge the city is. There really was no end in sight.
We spent most of New Year's Eve at the Regent Theatre where we watched the musical Grease. The show really was a lot of fun, the songs were catchy and well known by the audience and the actors were really good too. In comparison to other musicals, however, the story simply lacks opportunities for the actors to shine and to create those wow-moments that make usually make musicals such amazing shows. We still had great fun and continued our New Year celebration at the Federation Square where we got to enjoy some pretty average live music as well as the definitely non-average fireworks on top of the skyscrapers of Melbourne City.
Day 3 - The Great Ocean Road Melbourne --> Lorne
On the third day it was finally time to say goodbye to the city and hello to the Great Ocean Road. We got up quite early, headed to the car rental service centre where our forth travel mate Ashraf from Bangladesh joined us, hopped in the car and headed off to paradise.
For those of you who don't know the Australian topography that well, there's a map in the German part of this post where you can see the first two days of our road trip.
Soon it became clear to us why the Great Ocean Road is such a popular destination for travellers. The road road is not only the biggest war memorial in the world built in the name of the fallen soldiers of WWI it is also surrounded by a breathtakingly beautiful landscape. An additional fun factor is the driving. Sharp corners, steep hills and the one or the other koala on or next to the street make the Great Ocean Road one of the most popular drives in the world.
Our first stop was Bells Beach, a beautiful surf beach just a couple of minutes from Torquay where the Great Ocean Road starts/ends. As it was raining a bit and generally quite cool that morning, we didn't really feel like going for a swim but the beach as well as the cliffs were definitely worth the visit.
We reached our destination for the day - Lorne - in the early afternoon (Initally, we had planned to go a bit further that day but there was literally no accommodation available anywhere near Apollo Bay). As we couldn't check in at our hostel that early, we decided to go to the Erskine Falls about 4km north of Lorne.
I still can't believe how different the landscape as well as the vegetation were from the ones down at the coast even though we had only gone a couple of kilometres inland. While the coast was all about bold cliffs and strong winds, we now found ourselves in the midst of a beautiful and wild rain forest with a hot rain forest climate.
These forests really can't be compared to the European forests. Especially if you walk a bit further than most of the tourists do, you find yourself in a forest that seems completely untouched and wild. Charlotte, Ashraf and I (Heidi took the car back to Lorne as she wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach) got to experience the beauty of this beautiful natural world when we decided to walk back to Lorne down a path that probably only 1% of all GOR tourists find or walk on. We chopped (okay, not really but sometimes it seemed like it) our way through the undergrowth, climbed over and under trees and followed the beautiful stream that went all the way from the Erskine Fall to Lorne. In a nutshell, we had a blast and it was probably one of my favourite activities of our trip.
It seems as most tourists don't have or don't take the time to go on a two-hour hike, so we only had to share the path with two teenage boys on their mountain bikes (I still have no idea how they made it up the at times really steep and rough passages of the path) and two runners which really was a welcome change as the Great Ocean Road can get quite busy at times.
Back in Lorne, we made ourselves at home in our hostel (or bungalow for that matter) and enjoyed some delicious pasta as well as some white wine and later a cocktail too.
Day 4 - The Great Ocean Road Lorne --> Port Fairy
We had quite a full program on our second day on the Great Ocean Road as we wanted to go all the way to Port Fairy which, according to GoogleMaps, was going to be a four-hour drive even without stops. Hence, we had an early breakfast and soon found ourselves back on the road again.
Our first stop was in Kennet River only ten kilometres from Lorne. Apparently, Kennet River is the place with most wild koalas in Australia and, of course, we didn't want to miss our chance to see our first koala in the wild.
As usual in Australia, the signposts and walking track maps were not really helpful and so we soon ended up in the middle of a field which, however, offered a great view over the ocean and on our way back we actually managed to see one or the other koala as well as some king parrots :)
On our drive we went past picturesque coastlines, white sand beaches and wild rain forests and even I have to admit that I actually enjoyed driving a car for a change.
After a couple of stops at particularly scenic lookouts, the Great Ocean Road led us into the Otway National Park and away from the coast. Initially we wanted to drive to a tree-top walk in the national park but after getting lost on a road that didn't even deserve being called a road, we decided to go to the oldest lighthouse of Australia at Cape Otway.
Our next stop led us into the middle of the rain forest again. Melba Gully in the Great Otway Nationalpark is one of the wettest spots in all Victoria and with a temperature of about 40°C even a short walk of two kilometres made us get out of breath rather quickly. As a matter of fact, I'd say that walking in the rain forest for thirty minutes made me at least as sweaty as a 5km run.
As five signs indicated the place to go at Melba Gully was an ominous Big Tree, so we of course had to check out what exactly made that tree so special. Turns it turned out, the Big Tree used to be one of the tallest trees in that area. However, in 2009 a massive storm made the 60m-tall tree fall over and tourists now only get to gaze at its remains.
The Great Ocean Road had slowly led us back to the coast and we all were looking forward to our next stop and two of the most famous places in Australia: The Twelve Apostles as well as The London Arch. According to Wikipedia, there is only one place in Australia that people take more pictures of and that's Ayers Rock. The limestone stacks almost seem like towers growing out of the ocean. Wind and water have shaped them for centuries now and sometimes makes one of the stacks collapse under its own weight. As a result, the twelve apostles are actually only seven apostles today which, of course, doesn't mean that they are any less breathtaking.
The London Arch has also been marked by several types of erosion. Until 1990 the rock formation was actually still connected to the coastline. However, wind and water made it collide and only the arch of the old London Bridge remained.
When we arrived at the information centre of the Twelve Apostles the temperature had reached its maximum that day. 42°C!!! Now that really was something I never had experienced before and I hope that I'll never have to experience it ever again. Both the temperature and the fact that the place was ridiculously crowded made us decide to not spend too much time near the beautiful rock formations and to get back into the car with the air condition (I'm so glad we got a car with A/C) and on the road.
Apart from a couple of stops along the Great Ocean Road (mainly for cold drinks and other refreshments) we spent most of the afternoon in the car. The road now led as away from the coast again and we passed wide and dry fields, small villages and the typical Australian steppe-like landscape. Once we got closer to the coast again, we took a bit of a longer break to finally go for a swim in the ocean (we didn't stop for a swim earlier that day because we knew that we had quite a long drive ahead of us and we really didn't want to drive on the Great Ocean Road after sunset) and, I swear, the cold water was a blessing.
It was early evening when we arrived in Port Fairy where we would spend our night not knowing that it was gonna be a rather restless night thanks to an Australian dude who thought it might be a good idea to get so ridiculously drunk that his snoring would keep the whole dormitory awake.
Day 5 - Port Fairy, the Last Volcano and the Grampians
We had planned to head to the Grampians early in the morning of the third day of our road trip. I had already been to the Grampians, a range of mountains about three hours west of Melbourne, during my last trip to Melbourne but I definitely wanted to go there again if possible as it was pretty much only an Australian stone's throw (aka a couple of hours) away and that way we wouldn't have to go back to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.
We were all excited for our trip to the mountains when we heard of a bushfire warning for the area only thirty minutes from our destination Halls Gap and the weather forecast (40°C) didn't really look like the situation was gonna change anytime soon. The staff at the hostel promised us though that we wouldn't have any troubles getting there and so we decided to go spend the morning in Port Fairy and its surroundings where it were only going to be 32°C that day and to drive to the Grampians in the afternoon.
We spent most of the morning at the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve just a ten minute drive from Port Fairy. Ashraf had never seen kangaroos before and that certainly needed to be changed. Of course we didn't see any kangaroos on our short hike along the rim of the "Last Volcano" - instead, we had the pleasure to say hello to a couple of emus as well as Kevin, the koala, who apparently stays in the same tree all the time.
Before we headed off to the Grampians we made sure to stop by the beach in Port Fairy to cool down in the sea and to enjoy the beautiful coast for one last time.
Now, who expected that we saw bushfires and smoke on our way into the mountains couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, we drove through pretty much the heaviest storm I had experienced in Australia so far - lots of squalls, pelting rain and tree branches on the roads inclusive! We somehow managed to make it to Halls Gap safely. As it turned out, the bushfire risk had pretty much gone down to zero in that area.
Due to the rather unpredictable weather, we didn't dare to go for any longer hikes in the mountains that day, so we only went for two shorter walks just a little bit outside of Halls Gap and spent the evening sitting over a glass of wine, pizza and apple pie.
Day 6 - The Grampians: MacKenzie Falls, The Jaw of Death and the Pinnacle
As we hadn't seen much of the Grampians the day before, we wanted to see as many places as possible before heading back to Melbourne around lunch time and so we were pretty much the first people to leave the hostel that morning.
Our first destination were the MacKenzie Falls. While there were hundreds of tourists visiting the falls during my last visit in September, we got to enjoy the beauty of these spectacular waterfalls by ourselves this time. Due to the heavy rain the day before the water was as clear as it can get and the stream carried much more water than it had been carrying in September.
We then went to the Balconies and well as the Jaw of Death which I had also already visited in September. This time the view was even better than the last time as the air was much clearer, we were so early that even the wallabies hadn't been scared away by the tourists yet and, of course, the spectacular view is always worth a second visit.
This time I even made it to the very end of the Jaw of Death which, looking back and considering how windy it was that morning, might have been a little bit insane but the picture was definitely worth the risk.
Our last destination of the day was the Pinnacle which I actually hadn't seen during my last visit as it takes too long (2h) for day tours to go there. As it turned out, our schedule that day was simply perfect. Had it still been a bit misty when we went to the MacKenzie Falls in the morning, we now got to enjoy the most beautiful weather which allowed breathtaking views over the at times oddly shaped rock formations.
Sadly, this was already our last stop before we had to go back to Melbourne as Heidi had to catch a flight back to Canberra in the late afternoon. I would have loved to spend more time in the Grampians but I think we made the best of the little time we had.
Looking back, I am actually glad that my plans of joining my host family on their trip to Queensland didn't work out because otherwise I would probably never have seen this beautiful part of Australia. It really was an amazing trip and I can only recommend checking out both the Great Ocean Road and also the Grampians if you are in or ever get to go Australia.
I promise that you guys won't have to wait for the next update as long as for this one. Life has just been really busy lately but I definitely want to tell you about my last days in Canberra and my trip to Tasmania last month :)
Until next time,
Kristina :)
