Donnerstag, 24. März 2016

Round 2.... Drive! - Mount Gambier, the famous Great Ocean Road and Apollo Bay

Luckily, we found a relocation offer from Apollo Campers which would bring us to Melbourne. Brian, nice as he is, was willing to drive us to Adelaide city to pick up our new campervan. And this time it was a decent one. We had three days time for this 1200 km ride. With Brian we already made our plan of action for these days so our first stop was Mount Gambier with the beautiful blue lake and the impressive sinkhole. Since we arrived way later than planned, we got to the sinkhole by night which was a fluke. We didn't know that the sinkhole is inhabitated by very cute possums, which only show up at night. Another animal to tick off our list. That night we found a very nice place to sleep, next to a forest wich was full of kangaroos. :-) We just love this funny fellows.

After a deep and comfy sleep in our really spacious new motorhome, we were heading towards the main attraction of this ride... The scenic Great Ocean Road! Literally a gorgeous stretch of landscape along Victorias south coast. We knew about this sights and wanted to do it earlier, but when our plans changed, we thought we would not be able to see it. Even happier we were, after we finally did it. It's breathtaking and highly recommendable.

For us the end of the GOR was a cute little town called Apollo Bay. It offers a nice beach and some simple restaurants or snack bars with a broad selection of fresh seafood. That night was probably the calmest we ever had while travelling with a camper. We drove a few kilometers into the rainforest and found a nice and surprisingly quiet place to sleep. Very pleasant night! :-)

The next day was already time to give back the camper in Melbourne. Time flew! Luckily we were only about 2,5 hours away from Melbourne. That gave us time to stop by a little lake, in a veeeery countryside town, to have breakfast. The lake looks like out of a horror movie and is quite spectacular. If you are lucky, you can even spot a platypus there. We unfortunately didn't. The rest of the way was easy and we gave back the camper at Apollo near the airport.

Unfortunately, that day the lake was more petrol than blue. But we saw pictures of it on a nice day and the blue color is amazing!

Sonntag, 13. März 2016

In vino veritas - Barossa Valley

Our second main target after the Australian open was to visit a vineyard in the famous Barossa Valley. Not only visit, but also work. With the support of Nadia's earlier manager we got in contact with the families Lanz and Thomson who both have a vineyard in the beautiful Barossa Valley. Luckily, we could stay in a very nice cottage with enchanting view, for almost three weeks. We helped out Brian in the vineyard and learned a lot about the production of Australian wines. Of course we also shared some nice bottles of wine to see, or better try, where all the work ends in. :-) We really appreciated the welcoming "treatment" ;-) we got! We almost everyday enjoyed the beautiful sunset while sitting outside having some finger lickin' food, some delicious wine and some good old chat. All with the picturesque Valley as scene in the background. :-) Anyway we had a great time and are very thankful for everything! A warm hello to Anne, Brian, Pheobe and Räff we hope you all are doing well!

Back to work after 6 months of "only" travelling. Could have been strange you think. :-) It surprisingly wasn't! After a few hours, we were back in "Swiss work-mode" and did not to bad we were told. At least we didn' t murder the vines. ;-) For us it felt like a mix between work and education. Really made the time fly.

We really hope we can come back one day to at least say hello again.

Cheers!

Nadia's amazing Birthday cake! ☺
Millie!! Nadia's new best friend! (First dog I'm not afraid of :-))

P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way - Sydney

There we were finally, in the big famous capital of Australia. Wait a second, capital? The capital is actually Canberra even if many people think it's Sydney. So did we!

However, we had probably the best stay possible in Sydney, better than we ever thought! All because of Kaila, David, Clara and Mario! A warm hello to you guys thanks again for everything and we already started to miss you when we were sitting in the plane! We had such an amazing time together! Hope we see you all again!:-)

Due to our great city guides we probably have seen all the most important touristic places. Like the harbour bridge, the opera house, Sydney harbour, some great sightseeing ferry tours, the Manly beach, the Rocks market, Darling Harbour and the chinese garden. We also went to a Dim Sum restaurant our friend Tim recommended to us and ate until we could't walk anymore. Three wonderful days which will ever stay in our minds.