Welcome to Australia

I had to change the time on my watch this year so many times and it is just March. I feel to thankful and blessed that I have the possibility to see all these great places. Do not believe that I take it for granted to collect all these stamps in my passport. But now or never. Travel as much as you can and as far as you can. Money comes back, time does not.

This post is about my trip to Australia starting last month lasting 12 days. I flew from Bangkok to Melbourne which is still a long-haul flight taking 10 hours non-stop. The whole journey was 12 nights and I subdivide this post into days for a better clarity and easy reading. Be warned that this post contains plenty of pictures. My BF is the best photograph I can imagine and he loves snapping shots since he got his reflex camera.

Day 1-2 Melbourne

The first two days we stayed in Melbourne. I forgot the name of the hotel but it was nothing to get excited about. Simple furniture, located more or less out-of-town with a parking garage. Our plan was to do a roadtrip through Southern Australia with stops in the cities worth to see but we had no exact route or any hotel booked yet. The more often you travel, the less you schedule your journey because spontaneousness bringt you the most gorgeous memories and I knew from my apprenticeship that Australia is the self-driver country and therefore well prepared for people looking for a place to sleep on their way to the next stop. Melbourne welcomed us cloudy, windy and coolish. This weather followed us until we were leaving Australia. We had really bad luck. Sometimes the sun came through the clouds and we as sun-spoilt Bangkok inhabitants dared to wear a tshirt. We had a range from 15-20 degrees down there but it felt worse. Fortunately we have a friend living in Melbourne and so we met the next day after sleeping in. He showed us some cool spots like a sweet little café situated directly under a footbridge. It is built around a pier and sells alcohol at fair prices. Afterwards we went to the Crown Casino downtown. Fascinating how people get attracted by gambling, slot machines, poker and ... blackjack. My boyfriend just had to try. He lost 20 dollars and gained them back with 2.50 dollar on top. Rich guy.

Day 3 Lakes Entrance

Somewhere between Melbourne and Lakes Entrance

On thursday we checked out early in the morning and drove along the coast until Lakes entrance. We saw beautiful beaches on our way but is was too windy to swim. The landscape looked like above and the farer we got, the more it reminded me of the Baltic Sea. We saw little ports with lot of seagulls and the ocean was rough, gleaming grey and smelling salty.

Late in the evening we reached Lakes Entrance. It was not so far from Melbourne but we rested lot of times for taking pictures, picknicking and strolling along the beaches. Lakes Entrance is a small village situated at lakeland area. The night we spend in a motel up on a hill overseeing the region - called Absolute Lakes Entrance motel. We enjoyed a stunning sunset!

sunset at Lakes Entrance

pelicans

Day 4 Warilla

We took our breakfast while watching the pelicans and seagulls. Then we rode on towards Sydney. 

The closer we came to Sydney, the more surfers we saw in the waves. In their swimsuits they lay on their boards looking so loose and relaxed always waiting for the perfect wave to come.

The sky was still covered with clouds however this did not take any of the oceans beauty. I let these pictures speak. They are louder than words.

me at the beach

Love of my life

sufer`s paradise

Despite we were on the road all day long we did not arrive at Sydney that day. Approximately 100 km before our destination we were looking for a bed to sleep in a dump named Warilla. It was already dark and the first motel we requested was fully booked. The navigation promised us another motel and we were led into disaster. For 100 AUD we got the most horrible room you can imagine. It was like in those bad horror movies. The motel was at the same time a pub and the reception practically  the bar. Alcoholics were hanging around, drinking beer and yelling.

The room was a catastrophe. Water dripped from the ceiling the whole night, the bed was comfortable like a hammock, the smell was musty - let`s say nothing about the bathroom. I found it so disgusting and could not fall asleep. For that price we could have asked for more. The owner was not an easy man to deal with so we decided to survive with a lack of sleep. Next morning the rain woke us up. Very adequate to the situation. Back at home I tried finding this hell at tripadvisor and guess what? It is not even registered. This place has the name Warilla motel and to my mind not the right to exist. Please tell this to everyone you know.

Day 5-7 Sydney

We left our honeymoon resort as early as possible and were looking forward to Sydney. From Saturday to Monday we overnighted at the Ibis hotel in Liverpool, a suburb town. Frightened by our last motel experience, we booked in advance for two nights. Saturday we visited the Australian museum due to the ongoing rain for 15AUD per person. The exhibitions were about the Aboriginals, Australian history, minerals, skeletons and dinosaurs. We were there with a bulk of children and as we all know most of them are loud, noisy, running around and going on their parents nerves. Moreover parking is hilarious expensive in whole Australia in general and in Sydney in particular. We had to go out every hour to feed the parking meter. Parking was about 6 AUD per hour. Parking garages can cost 20AUD per hour. It is not normal. We went to bed early and started the real sightseeing on Sunday.

Bondi Beach

 In the morning we went for Breakfast to the lovely Bondi Beach. This is the place to be for all surfers and tiny bikini girls. Everybody is running, lifting weights, surfing, stand-up paddling or doing pilates. You feel like in a gigantic gym. They are all sun-tanned and have natural highlights in their blonde hair. Our self-esteem shrinked the longer we watched all these beautiful people.

We informed about a surf lesson for beginners and found "Lets go surfing". For two hours they charge you 89AUD in low season including the swimsuit and the boards. Haphazardly we found another more inexpensive way to get our lesson. There was this cool guy Guilly. Guilly was sitting in his "HIRE" van letting the sun shine on his riduculous brown skin with curly hair and Rayban sunglasses on his nose. Hit the cliché. He gave us his number and organized a private lesson for us next day in the morning. What a luck!

The evening we spent around the harbor in Sydney. At that time, the Queen Elizabeth cruise was in the port. The harbor is Sydneys piece of jewelry. In the night the skyline, bridge and piers look breath-taking. By the way, to me "Aussies" look like sun-kissed, beaming Britons. In history the UK and Australia are closely connected and you can see that the first generation has been British.

Queen Elizabeth and skyline of Sydney

Sydney at night

On monday we took the first surfing lesson in our lifes. Never done it before and we did not know what to expect. Our teacher Guilly did not explain too much but throw us in at the deep end - literally! The hardest thing is not to stand on the board when the waves takes you with her to the beach, no. It is your struggles back to the place where you have waited for it to come. Prone on the board crawling back through the masses of water. From the shore it looks easy and as if they have everything under control and good surfers probably do but when you are out there in the blue wet and you see that broken white rush coming towards you like an avalanche it makes you scared to death.  However I loved it every minute and I want to keep trying as often as I visit places where I can do it. Note to myself: Use sunblocker before doing sports on water! Got burned so bad.

We with our boards at Bondi Beach

After lunch at Lush on Bondi, a sexy hotspot for all hipsters and plebs we left Sydney and hit the road in the direction of Adelaide - straight through the Blue Mountains in Sydneys hinterland.

Day 8 Gundagai

We reached Gundugai, a little village in the beginning of the Outback. My boyfriend has a great sense of humor and told me horror stories while we were driving along those lonely streets. Only trucks came against us from time to time. I was so happy and thankful when we found that motel Garden Motor Inn. The first impression was a proper, cozy, comfortable house with an open reception. We were welcomed so lovely. The owner even gave us milk for our good-night tea. We ordered breakfast and he said he bring it to our room the next morning. Luxurious! That was the moment we were introduced to the Golden Chain Motel group. I recommend every self-driver in Australia to inform before your travel about this awesome thing. There is a booklet where you find every motel in who joined this group. No matter where we gone afterwards, how small the village was, there was at least one of those temples in. The standard is almost the same in all motels. 

After sleeping peaceful like babies, we got up and got ready for the Outback! Wooot!

road sign

On tuesday we left proudly 1000 km behind. We did not dare to stop in the middle of nowhere. Always tried to keep our tank full. My boyfriend refused to buy an extra can for an emergency. He loves the thrill. The landscape sometimes looks like dry steppe in South Africa. The thermometer climed up to 38 degrees. 

sandsturm in the Outback

We saw some spectacular natural phenomenons: sandstorms, wind roses, heavy rain and the blue blue sky. Unfortunately during our whole stay the kangaroos were hiding from us, except the dead ones for sure. We looked the streetsides so concentrated but they did not show up.

On the road

In the evening we arrived at the winefield regions of Adelaide. In a radius of 200 km around Adelaide there are vineyards over vineyards. We looked up for a motel in our Golden Chain bible and found the Wineyards Motel with simple but spacious apartments. A pleasant place to sleep.

Day 9 Barossa Valley/Adelaide

Between the winefields of Barossa

Barossa Valley is one of thousand of vine valleys around Adelaide. We chose this one because my boyfriends father knows a particular winery named Thorne Clarke and told us to do a wine tasting if we came around. That is what we decided to do right the next morning. 

Red wine tasting

We are no experts at all with wine but they treated us really kind and explained every single red wine. Our favourite was the port wine Rare Tawny. It is so sweet almost tasting like Baileys. You can even put it over ice cream.

After our visit we drove on to Adelaide. Everyone we know who is living in Australia told us not to go there because it is not worth to see. So our expectations were low and guess what? We loved that place. This is what I love about travelling. We do not see the things like they are - we see them like we are. This quotation is absolutely true. Adelaide has a fantastic seaside with posh living areas around. One villa next to the other. A little cute small harbor for sailing yachts, piers, free (!) parking at the long beach and dunes. 

Seaside Adelaide

Maybe is is not so famous because it is quiete calm and more a place for families and couples than for singles looking for adventures. Before our trip I always thought I would live one day in Australia and I learned that I cannot imagine Sydney or Melbourne as my residence but in Adelaide I could settle down. Maybe one day..

Driving on the beach - men`s dream

car tracks in the sand

We did not stay overnight in Adelaide because we already started our way back to Melbourne. Our flight back was on Saturday and we did not want to get under time pressure. Our residence for the night of Wednesday was the Riverport Goolwa Motel. 

Day 10 Goolwa to Warrnambool 

The next thing to do on our list was the Great Ocean Road. We heard many good stories about this route between Warrnambool and Melbourne that we were so excited about getting there. But we were still hundreds of kilometers away. The landscape was very flat and we could not drive directly at the sea simply because there was no street. So we drove more interior. The Blue Lake in Mount Gambier and a field with cangaroos were our only good snapshots.

Blue Lake in Mount Gambier

cangaroos

Day 11 Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is a stunning road wiggling around cliff rocks with a beautiful view about the breaking waves. A mixture of turquoise and brown. Unhappily the weather was on it sad climax and the road is not really fun when the sky is cloudy, you freeze all the time, fog takes your view and you you are always afraid of rain while going to the scenic lookouts. We were a bit vexed at the end of our journey, thinking we would see beautiful nature in the warmth. Hopefully we have the chance to do that tour another time when the sun is shining.

12 apostles

Great Ocean Road

The last night we spend in Melbourne St. Kilda. The hotel "Easystay". A handy hint for everyone who is searching for a hotel around St. Kilda but not wanting to go in a hostel with 12 other people. 

Very stylish, modern and puristic - even with carparking for 12 AUD per day.

All in all Australia is a good idea. Many friends of me dreaming of going there or undertaking a work&travel year down under. No doubt, it is a beautiful and interesting country but to me with all the pictures in my head which did not approve a bit overrated. It is just the romantic vision of a place far away from home. Interestingly many Australians dream of exploring Europe one time with a backpack.

What spoils the enjoyment mostly is the high price level. Parking fees, entrance costs, overnight stays and nutrition are hilarious expensive. Backpacking is a challenge here because you have to work as soon as possible to survive. My opinion is subjective and I just saw a small part of Australia. 

I come back for sure. I am excited about the North and the Great Barrier Reef! 

Cheers, mate.