The last trip with our van

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Our last part of the trip with the van started at the 9th of january. Jonas girlfriend flew home that day and it was time to leave sydney. The first day we drove about 3 hours south to jervis bay. This time we took katt, a girl we met in sydney. She organized some couchsurfing in Jervis Bay. We stayed 3 nights there as it was just an amazing place. The guys we stayed with were between 22 and 28 and worked all as mechanics or electricians on helicopters for the navy. We had some crazy night at their houses and some really good days at the beach. Hayman Beach is supposed to be the whitest beach in the world (I couldn’t tell where the different was to Whitehaven beach, which was the clearest, or Fraser Island but whatever still a great beach).
We didn’t want to leave Jervis Bay but we had to get going. Out next stop was in Cobargo, couchsurfing again. This time we stayed with a nice family but just for one day as it was 15km of f the coast. It was the hottest day ever, as soon we left the coast it got very very hot. It was 43 degree and the wind which came from the outback was even hotter… so we drove back to the coast and went in the cold water. Water was getting colder and colder as we drove south (it is about 17 / 18° where I am now). Jonas left the remote control from the car in his pocket and took it swimming in the ocean. It didn’t like the salt water at all and we couldn’t start the car without it as it has an immobilizer. After some research on the internet we found out how to start the car without it (you got to turn the ignition on and off and a special way several times). Luckily the remote worked again after some cleaning and with a new battery.
After fixing that problem we left New South Wales and entered Victoria. On the way south we stopped at some nice national parks and did a lot of km’s as the weather wasn’t great. We picked up Chris a hitchhiker and took him with us to our next couchsurfing place. This time in Paynesville, on the shore of the lakes district. Sam’s house was just a few meter away from the lakes, but as we arrived quite late we didn’t do very much the first day. The next day we went to Raymond Island, a very good tip from Sam. We saw A LOT of koalas which was really great. We had the luck and found one sitting on the ground and we got very close, we even managed to touch him very carefully (they are a bit slow as they are drunk all day)… At the night Sam had a bbq at his house and and many of his friends came over. There was a campfire in the garden and some his friends played guitar, didgeridoo and the drums.

We got up quite early the next morning as we wanted to do a lot. We drove about 3 hours to Wilson Promotory National Park. It was as far south as we would get in oz. The “prom” was really beautiful. We did a little hiking trip to the summit of mount … and view was spectacular. Katt arranged a meeting with 2 guys (couchsurfers) at Phillip Island for the same night so we couldn’t spend that much time in the prom. Tom and Rueben are living in Melbourne but came down to Phillip Island for a festival and surfing. We met them Friday night and after we found some firewood we had a great campfire and camped at the beach. The surf is the best really early in the morning as it isn’t that windy so we got up around half 6 and went surfing. Tom had two wetsuits and a shorty and longboard with him so Jonas and I could have a go as well. After surfing we went to the festival. It was rather small but still really good. The scenery was just amazing; to have this festival on the island and you could see the ocean behind the stage…
We drove to a friend’s house of Rueben afterwards and stayed the night. The weather wasn’t that great the next morning but we still went surfing for a bit. Unlucky tom second wetsuit broke so I had to go without so I was frozen after nearly one hour in the water… Our next part of the trip was the great ocean road. As we wanted to do some camping at the great ocean road and Katt didn’t like the idea a lot, she went back to Melbourne with Rueben and Tom. So just Jonas and me headed further west in the afternoon. We didn’t want to drive through Melbourne so we decided to take the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. It was rather expensive but it saved us a few hundred kms of driving, petrol and to go through Melbourne. Unluckily we just missed the last ferry at 7 o’clock. They actually did shut the gate just in front of us, so we were stuck in Sorrento for the night. The weather wasn’t great anyway so we went to bed early and got the first ferry at 7 the next morning. It is just a few kms from Queenscliff to the start of the great ocean road. Our first stop was Bells Beach. Bells Beach is one of the top surf beaches in the world. The waves were pretty big so we wouldn’t even gone in there if we had boards…
We spend three days at the great ocean road and yeah it was just great. The weather was quite cold the first day but got really good afterwards. We went to all the main spots but also found some lonely places where we did some hiking tracks. After we finished the great ocean road we drove straight back to Melbourne. Tom invited us to his house so we stayed there for a few days.
He also told us that we have to go the Australian Open so we went there the next day. You can buy a ground pass for 29$ which allows you to go everywhere apart from the centre court. 13 hours of tennis and sitting in the sun does make you tired but it was really fun. We saw some really good players and matches. Haas played a good 5 set match against a Serbian guy…
As we want to sell the car here in Melbourne, we worked on it a bit. Tom’s dad let us use his tools and we bought some rust converter, filler and paint so it’s looking a bit better again. We posted at some websites and put signs up in hostels so we have to see what is happing. I guess it won’t be very easy to sell it, too many cars for sale. Well we will just have to wait and see what happens.

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