Jürgen surprises me when he presents me with the Quantas flight tickets and a voucher for a camper. The trip is to go to Australia. As always, the decision comes at short notice, but I’m already used to that. Returning the tickets is no longer possible anyway, so there is only one thing that helps now……..to deal with the preparations for the trip.
Greetings
Anne
It wasn’t that short-term either…….after all, I had already organized everything 2 weeks in advance (flight tickets, motorhome, information material, etc.). In addition, you don’t have to worry about it unnecessarily and can start the journey with an open mind……..right?
Greetings
Jürgen
We reach Australia after a 30-hour flight (with stopovers in the United Arab Emirates and Bangkok). When we arrive at the airport in Sydney, we are pretty exhausted. First we take over the motorhome.
In the hustle and bustle and drowsy, we forget to take the vehicle documents from the rental company. We are already on the outskirts of Sydney……….so we go back again. In the meantime, 34 hours have passed. Finally we are out of the city again to the north. Now the most necessary things are bought in a small store. A few kilometers outside of Syndney we find a secluded spot off the road where we can spend the night. In a dream, Jürgen encounters a flying koala that shows him the way north on the Pacific HWY.
When we wake up the next morning at 8:00 a.m., we look into a cloudless sky and it promises to be a hot day. Showers are taken outside with a water hose. We realize that we have stopped right at the entrance to a cattle farm.
We make sure that we clear the property and set off in a good mood and reasonably rested. Freeway No. 1 takes you from Sydney via Newcastle towards Port Macquarie. Around noon we stop at one of the numerous rest areas that are located right next to the freeway in the middle of one of the nature reserves. These are equipped with fireplaces and wooden tables. The fire pits are even supplied with firewood by the local rangers. So we take a break here after a good 250 km drive. Here we have our first encounter with the local wildlife. A large lizard shoots out of the nearby bushes and runs away from a tree as we unpack our steaks. Of course, Jürgen doesn’t miss this and follows the lizard with his camera. It is a beautiful specimen. The lizard keeps an escape distance of only a few meters. A good opportunity to take enough pictures.
After this experience and the small delay, it’s now time to prepare the steaks we bought yesterday in a house butcher’s shop. As we realize, we have indeed purchased huge steaks that do not fit in the pan. Brigitte christens them “toilet lid steaks” because they really ……. are great.
Australia – Fireplace – Jürgen makes fire We have no choice but to grill them over an open fire. We are completely undisturbed here. Traffic is low. Every half hour we hear a car rushing past on the freeway in the distance. We leave ourselves enough time for lunch, after all, we don’t have a fixed schedule.
We have resolved to let everything come to us in peace. Slowly, after the long flight, the first relaxation sets in. It is a wonderful feeling to move here in the great outdoors away from all the tourist hustle and bustle. The first impressions of the hustle and bustle of the big city of Sydney are slowly fading. After eating, the fireplace must be thoroughly extinguished with water. There is a permanent risk of forest fires at this time of year. We read in the daily press that a huge forest area around Melbourne burned down just before our arrival.
It is already noticeable that we are moving off the usual tourist paths. Traffic away from the cities is becoming less and less. Vehicles rarely come towards us. The freeway is still paved, but is already getting narrower and narrower. The first yellow signs to watch out for kangaroos are on the side of the road. Shortly before Port Macquarie, a truck comes towards us with an unusual load. Without warning, the detached house rushes past us into the next town………… a rather unusual way of changing residence for our eyes. Here, as we learn later, this type of move is part of everyday life.
The next day, the freeway becomes even more lonely. It has rained heavily overnight and in many places the landscape is flooded meters high. We drive past large grazing grounds that are completely under water. Every now and then a lonely pick-up truck comes towards us, which is driven by a cowboy. The street signs are shot through by large-caliber weapons. Apparently, the cowboys use the signs as targets, which doesn’t seem to bother anyone here. Carrying long guns is legal for every citizen. Only for handguns do you have to apply for gun ownership cards. Outside of major cities, most domestic trucks and ATVs are decorated with rifles in the rear windows. For us Central Europeans, this is a rather unusual sight.
In the vast farmlands and endless wilderness, these are certainly indispensable tools of the harsh everyday life. The country is regularly covered by rabbits and hare plagues, whose population is completely out of hand. In addition, the populations of kangaroos, which are multiplying rapidly, must be controlled. In the coastal waters and ponds there are many saltwater crocodiles, which reach a length of 7 meters and are extremely dangerous.
Today we spend the night in a quiet spot right on the beach. Far and wide there is not a soul to be seen. A small sailboat lies on the beach, which was deposited here by its owner. We enjoy the magnificent sunset and the silence of the place. The sea is completely smooth. The slight sound of the surf lulls us to sleep after a hearty supper. The next day we are up early and have already completed a large part of our pre-calculated route by noon. Therefore, we take a good opportunity to make an extensive stop at one of the increasingly rare rest areas.
The flora here is becoming more and more tropical. The first large palm trees and banana trees can be admired. For today’s night we have chosen a regular campground, which also has the necessary infrastructure such as running water and an electricity connection. The facility is idyllically located and little visited. We look for a nice place directly under a large fan palm. The kilometre-long sandy beach is 30 metres away. We like the site so much that we decide to stay a few more days to explore the surrounding area. In this area there are hungry crocodiles and lots of “King Brown Snakes” and other poisonous creatures. On the beach we encountered several saltwater crocodiles with an impressive size of six meters and larger. After that, we became very careful. Even the small-caliber rifle bought by Jürgen in Cairns doesn’t help anymore (you don’t always have it at hand). Swimming in the sea is not necessarily recommended in view of the saltwater crocodiles (Meneater – man-eaters) and also because of the stingers, which are feared throughout Australia.
