Monday, 01/01/2018
Sydney is not our favourite city, but does come pretty close to Melbourne. We liked the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House the most, but the city itself is also worth a visit! A small tourist circuit turned into a one-day trip around and through Sydney. It was far too hot, but there was no way we could miss this major metropolis.
Tuesday, 01/02/2018
The next few days were just as much of a highlight! We set off together with Luca and Josh to the Blue Mountains, an hour away from Sydney. We hiked for ages and enjoyed beautiful views. As it was very warm the days before, there wasn’t much water left in the waterfalls, but still the views were breathtaking. Of course, we took all the typical hiking trails and also saw the Three Sisters. To avoid the crowds of tourists who came to Sydney for the fireworks on New Year’s Eve, we drove to a Secret Lookout. We didn’t expect to be surprised with such an amazing view!
The car park was empty and we thought the lookout might not be as special as we had imagined. We hiked for half an hour and came across this wonderful, deserted spot. There were no belays or railings, which made it seem more dangerous, but also more natural. There was not a single tourist around us and we couldn’t believe that actually nobody might know about this place.
I struggled a bit with my fear of heights, but the view made me forget everything! The boys showed no fear and sat down at the edge of the cliffs. We spent several hours in this place, which we didn’t want to leave – however, dusk was coming and we still had to hike back the way we came, so we left with heavy hearts.
Wednesday, 01/03/2018
The next day we set off for the Figure 8 pools. We had hiked over 10 kilometres every day for the last few days, which didn’t go unnoticed by my ankle (torn ligament). Nevertheless, I didn’t want to miss it and we headed off. Like the last few days, it was very steep and stony, which made the whole thing even more challenging. After the hike in the forest, we went over long walkways with lots of stairs to the beach. A cooling for the ankle! Then we had to climb over huge rocks to the Figure 8 pools. That was too much for my ankle and when several people came towards us with bruised knees or wrists, we decided to head back. I wasn’t even that sad not to have seen the pools, as they seemed to have been slightly flooded that day. When we arrived at the car, we were both totally exhausted and I had time to cool my ankle a bit.
Thursday, 01/04/2018
One day later, the boys finally wanted to go surfing. We left in the morning and looked for a suitable surf school that wasn’t overpriced. Many surf lessons are really expensive and you shouldn’t be fooled. The three guys decided to just rent surfboards and try it themselves without any help. The people at the rental shop were super nice and showed the boys the basic rules before they got into the water. It was really funny to watch! At the beginning, no one managed to fight the waves, let alone stand up. But in the end, all three managed to get on the board and ride a wave for a few seconds. What a success! The boys came out of the water with beaming smiles and were in a great mood.
In the evening, we made our way to the next available campsite. We drove to the one that was supposed to have free-roaming wild wombats. And indeed there were! As dusk fell, the wombats came out of the woods. There were so many of them and the idea of finally seeing these animals living free and not in zoos like everyone else was great! The wombats weren’t alone either, because they were joined by kangaroos. The animals hid under the car and showed an intense interest in us humans. Perhaps it was also the food.
Friday, 01/05/2018
The next day we separated from Luca and Josh and made our way back to Melbourne – with a stopover in Canberra. There we visited the Australian War Museum, which was impressive! It was very different from all the other museums we had visited and the War Memorial was huge. Australians are proud of their soldiers who fought for their country and express their gratitude and pride with their many war memorials. Each name on the endless wall is also read out by a computer voice. We arrived in Melbourne late in the evening.
