Australia and New Zealand

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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Feb 13, 2018
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 21 m
- Australia Victoria Melbourne West Melbourne Flagstaff -37.81006, 144.9570737°48’36” S 144°57’25” E
Day 1
Arriving in Melbourne!
February 13, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Today I arrived in Melbourne to start my tour of Australia. This was a day of firsts, first time on a plane by myself, first time finding my own way in a city, first time staying at a hostel and first time going on a travel tour !Read more
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- Feb 14, 2018
- 🌧 14 °C
- Altitude: 448 m
- Australia Victoria Colac-Otway Lavers Hill -38.68056, 143.3916238°40’50” S 143°23’30” E
Day 2
The Great Ocean Road
February 14, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
We set off from Melbourne along The Great Ocean Road. This road is actually a war memorial which I did not realise. It was built as a memorial but also to provide work for veteran soldiers from the first world war. We learnt the names for the different sections of the road, "the surf coast", "the green strip" and the "Shripwreck coast".
We first stopped at what looked like not much but it was a pleasant suprise too find lots of friendly (helped by food) Rosellas and King Parrots. The colours of these birds are beautiful and I got to hand feed one! I also saw my second wild Koala here.

After this we went on to the 12 Apostles and to Loch Ard gorge followed by a short rainforest walk which smelt great (eucalyptus). We finished our day in Port Campbell.Read more
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- Feb 15, 2018
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 214 m
- Australia Victoria Ararat -37.2183, 142.4015237°13’6” S 142°24’5” E
Day 3
The Grampians
February 15, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
The JOURNEY along the great ocean ended and we made our way to The Grampians mountains range. Along the way we stopped at London Bridge and a place called The Grotto which was an archway in the cliffs over a rock pool creating a great contrast between the still pool water with the rough ocean behind. As well as a stop at a nature reserve which had emus and more koalas!

While continuing to drive we happened upon an echidna which was brilliant, he was very chilled out and didn't seem to mind us so we were able to have a good look at him.

When we got into The Grampians we stopped for a hike up The Pinnacle which gave fantastic views at the top. The hostel we stayed in this evening was log cabiny and had a really nice and cosy lounge room. After dinner a group of us chilled out on the sofas and had a good old chat along with some other people staying at the hostel which was very enjoyable.Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Feb 16, 2018
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 138 m
- Australia Victoria Horsham Sawyer Park -36.72002, 142.199136°43’12” S 142°11’57” E
Day 4
Drive to Adelaide
February 16, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
This morning we went up to Boroka lookout to watch the sun rise, everyone was a little aprehensive as we were in cloud yet the sunrise was still beautiful as although we couldn't easily see it rising in the sky, the sun was reflected in a lake below making it beautifully golden.

We started driving and stopped at the "jaws of death" lookout before going on to Mckenzie falls. After viewing the main waterfall Emma and I carried on along the river to find some very pretty smaller waterfalls. For lunch we stopped in Horsham! Our last stop before properly getting into the drive was at a pink salt lake, this was very cool especially as I was not expecting expecting to see this.

When we arrived at Adelaide we went out to a nice Thai restaurant. Rasmus and I went for what was meant to be a quick nose at the river but we happened upon a lights display so we spent a fair while exploring this. Our favourite display was reminiscent of the northern lights, an effect created by fog and lasers which was mesmerising. We watched this for a good half hour before we got too cold and turned back to the hostel.Read more
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- Feb 17, 2018
- ⛅ 25 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- Australia South Australia Mitcham Adelaide St Frances Xavier Cathedral -34.9285, 138.6007534°55’43” S 138°36’3” E
Day 5
Adelaide - Gardens and Festivals
February 17, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Finally a lie in! After an easy start to the day Rasmus and I went to find the botanic gardens, on the way we found a big bat colony!

It was lovely to just stroll around the gardens and have an easy going day. The Adelaide fringe festival was on around the city so for lunch we went to "The garden of unearthly delights" and bumped in Aina who joined us. We then went to a 20 minute comedy juggling show which was very funny in it's sillyness. Six dollars well spent!

I learnt how to cook pizza on the hob after getting back to the hostel to find no oven! It was edible but fair to say practice may be needed!

It was back to the fringe after this to see a show called "baby wants candy" (an improv musical). This was great fun, a title was given by audience members to which the performers created a musical with. This evenings title was " Survivor: Mormons v's Lepers" which was highly amusing. The performers were extremely clever in their ability to create on the spot, making the whole audience burst out laughing.Read more
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- Feb 18, 2018
- ☀️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 280 m
- Australia South Australia Flinders Ranges Quorn -32.34354, 138.0379232°20’37” S 138°2’17” E
Day 6
Drive to Quorn
February 18, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We started the drive into the outback today, on the way we stopped for wine tasting and saw a big group of baby emus with their dad ( the males take care of the young). We stopped for lunch in a town called "Clare" and also drove past "Murray Town", in Quorn they had an "Emily's bistro" now I just need to find a "Nigel" something!

We had dinner, watched the large group of cockatoos flying around, then an early night ready for sunrise in the morning!Read more
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- Feb 19, 2018
- ☀️ 32 °C
- Altitude: 235 m
- Australia South Australia Beltana -30.82003, 138.4131930°49’12” S 138°24’47” E
Day 7
Heading further Outback- Beltana
February 19, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Devils peak was the mountain we climbed this morning to see the sunrise. The climb up puffed you out yet the rock scrabbling was good fun with the view at the top being incredible. We then started the drive to Beltana stopping at a failed settlement ruins.

Willpenia Pound was our lunch stop, we sat out in the shade and watched all the birds that had come to check out our food, it was a really relaxing area to stop and eat! We went on to a photo opportunity of Willpenia before continuing on to our home for the night- Beltana sheep station.

Beltana was fantastic- stunning location, we all jumped in the pool when we got there and had races on inflatable horses as well as floating about on a giant flipflop lilo. The owners cooked us up a big bbq with meat from their farm, it was delicious, I very much appreciated having some proper food again.

Before bed we all watched the sunset, Sophie, Kata and I stayed out on the deck watching the starts. You can see so many more stars out here, making it tempting to stay out all night yet bed was definitely needed. Touring is tiring!Read more
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- Feb 20, 2018
- ☀️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 70 m
- Australia South Australia William Creek William Creek Airport -28.90784, 136.3420628°54’28” S 136°20’31” E
Day 8
William Creek
February 20, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
A massive cooked breakfast to start the day off followed by saying bye bye to Beltana and Choco (the lairy lama)! Talc Alf's house in pretty much the middle of no where was our first port of call this morn. A very peculiar man indeed that I didn't really know what to make of. Basically an elderly guy living in the outback, off his rocker, with some kind of hippy theory about symbols and alphabet and the meaning of words/life etc. I didn't quite get it but he did make nice sculptures out of a talcy like rock. The landscape has now become what I was expecting it to be, a strong red dirt with a vividly blue sky to contrast. Our next stop was Ochre pits which are layers of different coloured rock that is traditionally used by aboriginals for paint, in particularly for body paint during ceremonies.

We continued along the Oodnadatta track to William Creek stopping at Lake eyre and a bubbler along the way. The short walk down to the salt lake was a harsh one as it was scorching hot with a fair few opting to stay back. Two minutes into the walk I realised I'd left my camera on the bus but there was no way I was going back for it. It's astonishing how anyone manages to trek through the outback! I was behind the group and as soon as your own footsteps stopped you could here nothing. It was probably the most silent silence I have ever heard which was pretty cool.

Just before we arrived at William Creek a speedy young emu joined us on the road sprinting alongside the bus. This was incredible as he was keeping up with the bus really easily, a very quick bird indeed. Once we arrived at William Creek we had a fancy dress party with the theme "never would I ever.... wear this" in the one pub of this tiny village along with all of the five people that lived there.Read more
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