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Susanne and MachielSusanne and Machiel
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  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 114

    The Pinnacle

    February 28, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    In the morning the Internet was working on the camping (it didn't the previous day). So we made use of that for our blog and some van research as we hadn't booked anything despite the flight to Perth yet. We also took a shower in a heated and modern sanitary block. So that was very nice.

    Our plan for the day: hiking in the Grampions. The hike was a loop of about 8km, with a 450 meter height difference. After 1km we had a lunch break at the Venus baths. They weren't as impressive as Cleopatra's pools in the Abel Tasman National Park but nonetheless not a bad lunch spot. The rest of the walk went through some narrow gorges, a section called the 'Grand Canyon' and by some narrow caves. Ultimately we reached the viewpoint, called 'the pinnacle' which basically a view of the entire Halls Gap valley. We could spot the town and our campsite of last night. It was very cool. A music festival just about started when we were on top of the cliff, and from there we could listen to it at a respectable volume.

    Being back at the car park, we decided it was really time to book a van in Perth. We called Britz, the supplier we favoured, just to hear that they were sold out for our dates. That was quite a shock as it made us realize that all these agencies apparently just look like they have vans from all suppliers available but in reality they only display them and once you book still need to check with the supplier if that's actually possible. It was also getting late and with all the kangoroos we didn't want to drive in the dark. We decided we had to go but because we don't have Internet in the forest, we needed to continue to the next town with a free campsite. About 60 km further we arrived in Dunkeld, ordered 2 pizzas and made a request for the same type of van we have now at Traveller's Autobarn via a German agency. Fingers crossed that this is actually available and we can do our road trip as intended. We parked at a stop next to the highway to eat the pizza and spend the night.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 113

    Camping safari

    February 27, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    After a good night's rest in Beaufort we continued our way west towards the Grampions. On the way we did some cheap grocery shopping at the Aldi in Ararat, and not too long after we arrived in Halls Gap. Here we had the choice between a free camping further south, or stay near Halls Gap. The positive reviews for a camping near the town convinced us enough to stay. We ended up on a fantastic spot on the edge of the campsite with nice nature next to it. We spotted some cockatoos and other birds while doing some much needed laundry.

    There's many hiking options in the Grampions, and for today we set out to do a small hike to the so called 'balconies'. The views on the way were already nice, with some cool rock formations. Getting to the balconies viewpoint, it was ruined a bit by other tourists climbing over fences illegally and spoiling the view for the rest, but it was still nice.

    Coming back from the hike, we checked how our laundry was doing. There wasn't much sun but the wind was trying its best. Then when walking to our camper spot we suddenly saw a new kind of animal crossing the road... kangaroos! 😊. Initially we were a bit careful from a distance, but we soon realized these guys were pretty tame and used to the attention. They spent the rest of the day feeding and looking around on the campsite. While we were enjoying watching them, a fellow camper let us know there were some deer and emu's at the other side of the campsite. We couldn't get as close to them as to the kangaroos, but it was still cool. At our camper there were loads of sulphur-crested cockatoos flying around, and later we also saw some long-billed corella cockatoos right next to our camper.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 112

    Trip restart

    February 26, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    We woke up to rain hitting our van. We took showers, and had breakfast in the common kitchen area, which wasn't full of pensioners this time. At 10:30 we had to leave the campsite, so that's what we did but all we then did was park immediately next to the street. We hadn't slept too well and we were increasingly unhappy with the van and worried about our health. With the windows closed in the night, we could just smell the mold. We also did some further inspection on the vehicle and found mold also on the ceiling and in the mattress. So we concluded quite quickly that we didn't want to continue in it. We called customer service and asked for our options. They proposed we could buy anti mold spray and new mattresses and declare all the costs for it. But we figured that would mean we'd spend a lot of time and effort and still not be comfortable in this van as the chronical issue would still remain. The better option seemed to be returning our vehicle to Melbourne to exchange it for a new one. We negotiated that we'd be compensated for 2 rental days and the fuel costs.

    By now it was 11:45 and we needed to make it back to Melbourne before 16:00. So we drove away immediately and after a few driver swap stops and a short lunch break, we arrived at 15:30. Halfway back we received a mail from Travellers Autobarn confirming the compensation. It took us a bit by surprise as they only wanted to refund the daily rental rate but not the daily insurance rate (which costs just as much). They also only wanted to compensate whatever was missing in the fuel tank but not what we had fueled the day before. Nonetheless, when we arrived, they were very sorry, agreed with the moldy state of the vehicle and swapped it for a newer slightly bigger van. So that was very nice. This time we had airbags, a central locking system, electric mirror adjustments, etc. Most importantly, it wasn't full of mold. We moved all our stuff and drove off again. This time a lot happier, we quickly realised that this had been the right call.

    We had decided to go to the Grampions now as we didn't know if our time was gonna be enough to see those and the Great Ocean Road again. 2 hours later we arrived in Beaufort where we decided to spend the night. They call themselves an 'RV friendly town', there were no signs disallowing us, so we parked next to a small park and public toilet building. We cooked some pasta and ate it outside on our camping chairs. When it got dark we went into our van. It has a very long bed (probably about 2.3m) and felt very comfortable and this time we weren't disgusted by touching the surroundings.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 111

    Koalas!

    February 25, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We woke up early and had breakfast in our rental van after figuring out how to transform the bed into a sitting area. Afterwards we drove to the town of Lorne to fill up our water tank. It was here when we realised that the filling system leaked but we weren't yet aware on how bad it was. So we drove up to a nice viewpoint of the coastline and further down the road had a small walk to a waterfall. The waterfall wasn't that big but the setting was pretty nice with the rocks surrounding it. In Kennet River we wanted to go and see some koalas. But here is when we realised that the water leak was apparently so big that the whole carpet in the back of the car was soaked. We decided to be annoyed enough now by leaks and mold and called the Travellers Autobarn to complain. They were trying to be nice and helpful but we got the feeling they were mainly worried about the leak rather than actually understanding that it was making us uncomfortable living in a moldy van. We sent some evidence, let's see what their final reaction will be.

    We started our koala walk and we indeed spotted two of them. They were mainly hanging in the tree doing what they are doing 20 hours a day: sleep. They're apparently the dumbest mammals in existence, and wouldn't recognise their only food as food unless they can eat it directly from the tree: poisonous leaves that they then spend most of their energy on to digest. But they're fluffy and cute. Once in a while they were moving an arm or leg as if to stretch before sleeping further.

    After a pretty late lunch we continued our way on the Great Ocean Road. Eventually we arrived in Apollo Bay and since we realized that there were 'no camping or overnight parking' signs everywhere along the way, we decided to go for a cheapish but official camping in the town. Originally we wanted to wash here as well but it was already a bit late and they predicted rain in the morning. So no chance to dry our clothes on time.

    We had a pretty great wraps dinner while a big group of retired Australians enjoyed their trip away from Melbourne. They were very nice and talkative and we benefited two great chocolate cake pieces from them for dessert.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 110

    On the road again

    February 24, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We left Geoff's place to do the one thing he told us would be a waste of time: travelling along the Great Ocean Road. To be honest, by now our expectations were also not that high anymore, but we still wanted to have a look at this part of Australia. With all our belongings on our back we made it to the tram. After a switch of trams in the city center, we reached the van rental place in Airport West after about 1,5 hours. Melbourne is big.

    Having jealously looked at all the people with vans in New Zealand, we were excited to finally get our own. We got the paper work done and then got an introduction into our rental van: how to check cooling water and oil levels, how the sink works, etc. Only when driving away we slowly realised that we didn't really believe this van was from the claimed year 2010. It doesn't even have electronic windows or airbags and looks surprisingly similar to the 20 year old van Susanne owned in New Zealand 10 years ago. We also really had to get used to the manual transmission, especially given that the shifter is on the left and had seen better days. But after awhile we got used to it.

    After some stops for grocery shopping, lunch, and a few navigation mishaps, we made it to Geelong. A couple of nice retired volunteers gave us some booklets and tips about the region. We decided on a free campsite near Lorne. On the way we stopped at Bells Beach to look at surfers catching some quite big waves. Then in Lorne we first had a stop for buying ice. This supermarket in particular had an 'ice room' where you could pick up your bag of ice. ❄️

    The campsite was pretty great for a free one. In a quiet forest they had plenty of camping spaces, and toilets too. The forest also had some mystic atmosphere with the clouds hanging in the trees. It was time to prepare our van bed for the first time and find out how to cook with the stuff we got. We got one of these suitcase-like gascookers. They seem more wind resistant than our hiking stove, so that was great. We found storage space for our backpacks, found decent pillows and a bed sheet. Together with our sleeping bags that made the bed. The mattress itself wasn't that amazing as it was quite thin. Also, the curtains looked like they had a bit of mold everywhere. So that wasn't that great either. Nonetheless we fell asleep early.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 109

    Walking the lap

    February 23, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today was the big day! Visiting Albert Park, traditionally the hosting venue of the first Formula 1 race of the season. Machiel was so excited he was already awake at 5. Or who knows, maybe he really had slept enough after 7 hours like he claimed 😏 Susanne wasn't aware of that, so we actually only left the apartment at 10. A short tram ride brought us close to the park, after which 5.3km of walking were waiting for us. The preparations for the race in just 3 weeks were fully going on. That was nice as it meant that it was largely closed for normal traffic so we could walk just on the track itself. We entered the circuit just before turn 13 in the 3rd sector. It was interesting to see the poor state much of the asphalt and kerbs were in. Not sure if that's still getting some maintenance in the next 3 weeks. The gravel traps weren't ready yet either, but the gravel was already delivered. We tried to sneak into the pit entrance, but were unfortunately stopped by some security people.

    Walking onto the start/finish straight there was a supercar meetup of some sorts, with some of them also driving on parts of the straight being loud and looking expensive. We continued into sector 1, where the usual road cuts out a part of the circuit, which in everyday life functions as a parking lot. In sector 2 we spoke to some painters who were painting parts of the Pirelli logo on the wall, turns out they had to do hundreds of them. We continued but it was getting tough as it was very sunny and around 25 degrees. Before completing our lap we had a nap under the shadow of a tree along the back straight, right next to the golf course. After that we only had the challenging turn 11-12 complex to go, which didn't look as impressive because they straighten it a bit for the normal road traffic. Laptime: around 2,5 hours, including a nap.

    Most of the afternoon we spend in the apartment before heading out to St. Kilda for the evening. We walked along the beach boulevard and had dinner at a nice vegan restaurant.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 108

    Guitar lesson

    February 22, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    In the morning we were finally able to book the first part of our Australian leg. Our favourite scenario from the previous day still sounded good to us. So we rented a van for a week in the Melbourne region and booked a flight to Perth on March 2nd. This relaxed us a bit and made us able to visit Melbourne without worrying about the next days.

    We took the tram to the centre and there had a look around. We walked over the Federation Square, saw some street art in the streets around and then crossed the Yarra River, which splits the city in two. The view on the high modern skyscrapers with smaller older buildings in between was quite nice. Walking alongside the river we started seeing more and more rowing teams on the water. There were also loads of people running and cycling. We had lunch watching the rowers. Then we made our way back to the centre and took a tram to the Queen Victoria Market. After walking a bit around there and buying some fruit, we once more went to the river. Now the rowing practice had stopped and the actual competition had started. We walked further towards the Botanical Garden. It was huge and so green it was hard to believe we were still in a 5 million inhabitant city. Not surprisingly there were also lots of people running and cycling. After a short break on the very soft grass, we continued our way home. We didn't yet see enough sport today, so it came in handy that we passed by cricket practice 😊. The day definitely gave us the impression that Melbourne loves sport.

    When we came back to the appartement, Susanne got a free guitar lesson from our host Geoff on 3 of his 4 electric guitars. Then it was time for dinner, finance calculations and bed.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    Day 107

    The Australian puzzle

    February 21, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Before going on our world trip we left a goodbye present for our nephew Morris: a puzzle of the world. Australia is one piece of his puzzle, but for us today Australia seemed like a puzzle of a thousand pieces. The locations on our wishlist seemed impossible to combine within budget and time. We were starting to be OK with going a bit over budget knowing that except for Fiji we had stayed below the whole time. But the next problem wasn't far. We learned that single vehicle accidents were simply not insured with any van rental company that had an open office in Alice Springs or Broome before April. So that meant our original plan of three weeks Melbourne-Alice Springs and then three weeks Broome- Perth was simply not possible because Alice Springs and Broome had closed offices. Next we considered making it one big road trip Melbourne- Alice Springs- Broome- Perth. Then we learned that sealed streets between Alice Springs and Broome could very well be flooded until the end of March (explaining why most van rental offices there are closed until then). So if we didn't want to repeat our Fjordland experience from New Zealand, this wasn't really the way to go either. We ended up researching 8 different route scenarios with estimated kilometres and costs. In the end we had one favourite option: 1 week van rental to travel the area around Melbourne, a flight to Perth, 3 weeks van rental to do a round trip north of Perth and then a final flight to either Adelaide or Alice Springs to rent another van traveling the way to the Ayers Rock, Olgas and King's Canyon. We weren't entirely sure about the exact dates yet. So we decided to let it sink in a bit and have a nice evening walk to clear our minds after hours of tough research.Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    1
    Day 106

    Melbourne

    February 20, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Last night we noticed signs hanging around the hostel buildings with a warning for people that needed to go to the airport in the early morning. The president of Israel was flying in for a visit and that meant the roads to the airport would be closed between 5 and 7. Our flight was at 8 though so it didn't matter too much, but we did arrive quite early by taxi just to be sure. We had breakfast at an airport café and then waited for the flight. Then we discovered that while Fiji welcomes you with songs and flowers, on the way out they quite literally leave you high and dry. Right before getting onto the plane they stole everyone's water bottles, which was quite mean for a 6 hour flight. Unfortunately our 'window seat' couldn't put the smile back on our face either. But at 12:30 local time we landed in Melbourne, and after 9 days in high humidity and airco's we were able to breathe in relatively normal air, so that made us happy.

    The Melbourne Airport SkyBus brought us to St. Kilda, where we were picked up by Geoff, our AirBnB host for the next 4 nights. He's a friendly guy who also immediately made sure we'd get a transportation pass. Once at his home, we got a tour of the house and got to know that he really doesn't mind sharing everything including his guitars, books and food. Despite being very tired from the journey, our stomachs were begging for some proper food so we walked to the nearest supermarket through the rather nice Chapel shopping street. It wasn't hard to fall asleep after that.    Read more

  • TravelerHalf around the world and back
    3
    2
    Day 105

    Preparing for Australia

    February 19, 2020 in Fiji ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We stayed in bed long this morning. Our stomachs were not too happy for already a while. So we decided to take it slow with food now that we actually could decide the eating times ourselves and had to pay for it by choice of meal rather than for a daily package. After a late breakfast and Susanne being addicted to a book, it was time to face reality. In less than 24 hours we were gonna be in Melbourne and apart from the first 4 nights, we had nothing booked and no real plan on what to do and how. Panic set in, especially when we realised that no matter how we looked at it, it was gonna be more expensive than our daily budget.

    We researched anyways and got a global idea of what we wanted to see in the coming 7 weeks. Currently that means 3 weeks for the route Melbourne - Great Ocean Road - Adelaide - Ayers Rock - Alice Springs, then a magic transfer to Broome or Perth and then another 3 weeks for the route Perth - Broome or Broome - Perth. We haven't decided yet nor booked anything. So we'll see in the next days what we end up with. We had a late small dinner at the hostel restaurant, packed our big backpacks again and got ready for our early flight tomorrow.    Read more

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