Melbourne
Our trip started in Melbourne, which turned out to be a very cool and chilled city, unlike the big cities in Europe. The atmosphere around the river with the cool cafes is amazing. We ate so much avocado toast...
Our trip started in Melbourne, which turned out to be a very cool and chilled city, unlike the big cities in Europe. The atmosphere around the river with the cool cafes is amazing. We ate so much avocado toast...
On our last day in Melbourne we went out on a day trip to drive the Great Ocean Road. It has some amazing scenery along the coast, especially the 12 Apostles, and it was nice watching the surfers. It is amazing how much wildlife you can meet there - we had a close encounter with may parrots and a koala.
After Melbourne, we took a flight to Alice Springs which was our base of visiting Uluru. A must visit there is Brolga's Kangaroo Sanctuary - what a great (and a little crazy) man giving his life to save kangaroos.
Time for some Outback driving - it's about 400km from Alice Springs to Uluru - drive 200 straight, turn right, drive 200km straight. Occasionally, overtake a road train. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta are truly magical places with a very special atmosphere and some nature you don't see anywhere else in the world. The midday heat was tough, but the sunrise and the sunset at Uluru were amazing.
Time to go North to the tropical Darwin! It was so hot and humid, that we could barely walk outside. The highlight was watching the sunset on the beach - an unforgettable experience.
We spent 2 days in the Kakadu National park, where you can see all kinds of wild life, from birds and kangaroos to salt water crocodiles. One of the best places was Ubirr with very interesting rock art and views like from another planet. We also had a very special visit to Arnhem Land with a native guide, who told us a lot about the aborigines' culture.
Time to go back to the coast to Brisbane. Another chilled city with great food. We visited the Lone Koala Sanctuary, which turned to be more of a zoo, but still interesting.
We visited Gold Coast as a day trip from Brisbane - a very interesting combination of huge white beaches and a modern city skyline just behind them. Great place to watch the surfers.
Sydney was the highlight of the trip with so many interesting things to do and such a great, laid-back atmosphere. The area around the Opera and the Bridge is just so nice, you could spend a lot of time there. We got even more amazing views at the city from the water, on the may to Manly Beach. The coast walk starting at Bondi beach is stunning as well. And we ate the best banana bread ever!
A nice day trip from Sydney are the Blue Mountains, which really are kind of blue! There were too much tourists for our taste though. The Jenolan Caves were totally worth visiting as well.
At the end of the rather packed trip, we took a couple of day rest on Hamilton Island at the Great Barrier Reef. Even though the conditions weren't very good for snorkelling, the nature there is simply amazing. A great and to an amazing trip...
