National Parks on the second roadtrip

During the second roadtrip we passed the following national parks:

• Dandenong Ranges National Park

Located 40km east of Melbourne, Victoria, a rainforest. The Park has grown to 3500ha, and is famous for its Mountain Ash Trees (the tallest flowering tree in the world) and lush fern gullies. 

Kookaburras, cockatoos, crimson rosellas and other native birds call this place home.

On the way to Sydney

• Philipp Island Nature Parks

Located on Phillip Island which is 80km south of Melbourne.

Pinguins walking

Pinguin Parade

Wildlife koala

nesting spots of the pinguins

• Great Otway National Park

On the way from the great ocean road to Phillip Island we found a campground that is close to the road but not too far and noisy. We had to find a campsite because we were driving in the national park. Bush camping is not allowed in national parks except if it's an authorized campsite by the council.

Camping spot in the pure nature

• Coorong National Park

Located on the coast 156km south east of Adelaide. Part of the park is the Younghusband Peninsula. It's a 145km long, narrow, parallel to the coast peninsula.

It's characterized by sand dunes, lagoons and coast vegetation. Especially birds are home here.

Driving along the national park

Brisbane- impressions of the cities on the roadtrip

Brisbane

• Capital city of the state Queensland of Australia
• more than 2,3 million citizens (2016)
• most sunniest city of Australia
• UTC +10 hours
• rainy weather between January and March: 2011 heavy flood

It's the second time that I've been to Brisbane and it is still really nice, I'm not bored of the city at all.

Brisbane from above

Mount Coot-Tha

Albert Street Uniting Church

Art in Brisbane

Brisbane from Kangaroo Point Cliffs

One of a lot of lizards on the way to Southbank

Southbank with beach

100% me- Ice cream makes me happy

Brisbane itself is not directly connected with the ocean. The Brisbane river ends in the  ocean but beach access is difficult. The beach in southbank is a good option to cool down.

Mangroves in the botanical gardens

Wheel of Brisbane

On the way back to the Sunshine Coast without a car anymore

Yes we had to give back the car in Brisbane. But public transport in Brisbane or the sunshine coast is no problem at all.
It takes some time to get from Brisbane home because the speed of the train is more or less just as fast as a city train in Germany. But the landscape is nice- if it would't be dark.

Sydney- impressions of the cities on the east coast

Sydney

- capital city of the state New South Wales in Australia
- biggest city in Australia
- 5 million citizens (City itself 170.000 citizens)
- UTC +11 hours  (Oct-March), +10 hours (March-Oct)
- Sydney with its 650 suburbs is double the size of Berlin

We drove in one day from Wheelers Hill (suburb east of Melbourne) to Sydney and stopped at the Dandenong National Park.

Dandenong National Park

Typical trucks around Australia

Arrival in Sydney

 We spent two days in Sydney.

In the City with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the back

On the ferry to Darlings Point

Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Circular Quay and the Ferry Terminals

On the back of by dad trying to get a good picture of the Harbour Bridge 

Circular Quay and the Ferry Terminals from the Harbour Bridge

Thank you to the people that try to stop the fires in Australia

Aboriginal light show at Sydney Opera

Sydney at night

On the way to Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach Sydney

I would be a good volunteer for the TV series "Bondi rescue"

my surfing skills till now

The Lifeguard House is a main filming location for the Australian TV show

Manly Beach: It's not always sunny on the Coast...

Melbourne- Impressions of the cities on the roadtrip

Melbourne

- Capital city of the state Victoria in Australia
- second biggest city with 4,72 milion citizens 
- multi cultural city with a lot of Immigrants from Asia, Britain and Europe (Kroatia, Italy, Irland)
- UTC +10 hours (summer +11 hours), wich means even if it is geographically left of Brisbane, Melbourne is ahead of Brisbane

After Phillip Island we went to a suburb of Melbourne to park our car.

On the way with the train to Melbourne city passing the Tennis courts from Australian open

We chose the public transport because of the parking fees and that we don't have to go back to the car each time to go to a different place that is not in walking distance.

Parking in the city or as closer you get into the city is only allowed for a few hours and it's more expensive than the train and bus.
It was easy to get around with the bus and train after we had our myki card. this card is charched with money and works similar to the gocard in Queensland. 
We got a ticket for the whole day, which was only $9. (one way to our car $4,50)

Australian open stadium

Brighton Beach with the 82 Bathing boxes in the background

Bathing Boxes 

 
Reaching the city things we could see:

Train station Melbourne and old vs. new

Street Art Melbourne

Ponyfish Island Cafe under the Pedestrian Bridge next to the Yarra River

Mum and daughter walking along the streets in Melbourne looking like girls from the FBI

On top of Melbourne

Eureka Skytower viewing the train station

...on the 297 meter high tower with an amazing view to the Yarra River and Melbourne

The advantage of already staying in Australia was that I knew and also could easily have a look online for questions like how to get the public transport card, where to see Melbourne from above,... and I knew people living in Melbourne that I was asking where we should go.

Roadtrip no. 2: South Australia and parts of the east coast

Where: Roadtrip from Adelaide up north and back + along the south coast and a bit of the east coast of Australia
How long: 25.12.-20.01.2020 (almost 4 weeks)
Travelbuddys: my parents
Nationalities travelling together: German
kind of travelling: roadtrip with a camper van

my team

We had the same issue with the time so that we rented a camper van, too. It's really convenient and easy to drive, too.

Our plan is to go to Flinders Range National Park, kangaroo island, Philipp island, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the sunshine coast. If we have one day left we might climb one of the glass house mountains. That would be another great experience next to the wildlife and Nature of Australia.

I'm excited travelling with my parents might be different to the travel with "friends" or people with the same interest (backpackers, not holidays). And it's the first time since I left Germany that I meet my parents.

I didn't plan the trip, that was my mum. My dad helped her with the booking of the first accommodations, renting the car,...

It was hard to book or make a reservation ahead for some campgrounds because of the vehicle registration number that we just knew when we took over the car. 

So we had some reservations but inbetween we have to look for a place to stay. That's not a big deal in the outback now because it's not peak season. 

Camping in the National Park

We were lucky with that.

We don't have any reservations after kangaroo island so let's see what we will find to stay overnight.