Thursday, December 23, 2010

Day 6 : Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound

Ahhh, we could sleep until 8am. That was good.
After the breakfast we drove to the Flinders Ranges National Park and walked through the Wilpena Pound.


After lunch we did another walk to Yourambulla Caves with Aboriginal rock paintings. The drawings are not regarded as art, but they tell a story or decribe Aboriginal rules.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Day 5 : Adelaide to Quorn

I had to get up at 5am. The bus was a little late and left at 6:20. We drove through the Clare Valley to Quorn and had lunch there.


In the afternoon we hiked 4.2km to the summit of Dutchman’s Stern with stunning views of Quorn.


Later we had a BBQ dinner with Kangaroo meat. Mmmm, that was delicious.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Day 4 : Adelaide

A free day in Adelaide. Just relaxing.
I slept long, walked along the shopping mile and had a muffin and a cappuccino. In the evening I met some friends who had booked the same trip.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Day 3 : Halls Gap to Adelaide

We had to get up at 5:30. It was still dark outside. I realised, how far we are in the wildlife, as we left at 6:30. Groups of kangaroo's had checked out the town and where everywhere. Even a deer crossed the road in front of our bus and went into the next garden.


We arrived at the Mackenzie Falls. There are quite steep stairs to go down to the bottom. The waterfall was really impressive.


Then we did a hike in Northern Grampians. The view was just phenomenal. It took's around 1.5h to go up.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Day 2 : Twelve Apostles to Grampians National Park

We slept in Port Campbell. It's a very small village. There is only one shop which sells everything.

At 8am next morning we drove to the London Bridge Lookout. We were about to leave, as a young kangaroo came along and hopped, between the people, down to the lookout. It was probably one that is raised by humans.



Then we stopped at Dunkeld near the Mount Sturgeon and had a visit at the Aboriginal Center. I took part at a Didgeridoo workshop but it was just a demo in the end. So i still can't play.
At the evening we arrived in Halls Gaps where we spent the night.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Day 1 : Melbourne to Great Ocean Road

The great ocean road has very beautiful views on the 12 apostels even there are just 8 left. It's a structure made of limestone. It looks just amazing. I took a helicopter to have a better view. It was my first heliflight. Wow that was coooool.

10 Day Melbourne to Alice Springs Safari

The Safari was just awesome!

After the car hire weekends around Sydney, I thought I know now how big Australia is, but that was nothing.
Imagine, 800 km in one Day and just few petrol stations and even fewer villages and a street almost completely straight. And that was just one of the days. We drove about 3000km just from Adelaide to Alice.
Often we had to get up at 4am to drive to a sunrise lookout. And the days were packed with events. So I had only time to update the blog during the drives but there were no net.

I will publish a post for every day, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

diving at the Great Barrier Reef

I dived at the Great Barrier Reef last Monday and Tuesday. Wow that was unbelievable!

I booked 2 one day trips, one on the Ocean Freedom and one on the Poseidon.
Despite the fact, I have the Padi Openwater and are allowed to dive to 18 Meters, I ordered a introductory dive, because i didn't dive the last 4 years.

My first dive in the morning was just great and the diveteacher sent me to the certified divers group for the afternoon.

The Ocean Freedom leaves from the Reef Fleet Terminal in Cairns whereas the Poseidon from Port Douglas, which means a 1h drive by bus.
The Poseidon is also a bit more luxurious than the Ocean Freedom but both ships are quite big and can carry many divers and the whole equipment. The support is similar on both boats.

To dive the Great Barrier Reef was amazing and everybody should do that, even if there is no certificate and if you really afraid of diving, do snorkeling.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Daintree Rainforest North Queensland

I flew to Cairns last Thursday and visited the Daintree Rainforest from Friday to Saturday overnight. I slept in the Ferntree Rainforest Lodge. It is that far away that you have no gsm connection. But the trip and the stay was just great and I had luck. It's wet season and it rains almost every day. But it was dry on both days. Although what means dry, the humidity is that high, that you get completely wet from sweating, without any movement.