Great Ocean Road, Part 2

After we left Mount Gambier we did short excursion to the Glenelg National Park were we have been lucky to see some nice birds šŸ™‚

At Lower Glenelg National Park

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The next stop is Portland. The weather is still terrible. But, we get rid of all the cyclists on the road which slows down traffic very much:-) Portland is a small nice town and the owners of the motel are very friendly. So we went out for walk after we checked in according to the directions we got from themĀ Ā  .Ā  That was a pretty nice walk in the Cape Nelson State Park.

We saw a handful of Wallabies and and the light house is scenic too.

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Great Ocean Road, Part 1

ā€¦ or how do you get from Adelaide to Melbourne.

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After we left Hahndorf, we drove down on the Princess highway to Mount Gambierā€™s. The weather was pretty nice on that day. It was cold, but sunny. I had a nearly accident with a snake in the Coorong National Park, but fortunately the snake went into the bush before I stepped on it.

Our Subaru Outback, Susi in action

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Lookout at Coorong NP, Giant Lobster at Kingston
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When we arrived at Mount Gambierā€™s it started raining and we figured out, that there were bicyclists everywhere. It was hard to find some place for dinner in town. Later we were told that this was the beginning of the RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride. Around 6000 people joined that ride, wow! The next morning we went up to blue lake. Unfortunately the tour started up there as well šŸ™Ā  It was terrible raining and around 10 degrees; and these poor guys were on a 9 day trip from Mount Gambierā€™s to Melbourne. For no money in the world it would have changed with them…

More information about the ride: http://www.sustainablemelbourne.com/events/ride-the-great-ocean-road-the-racv-great-victorian-bike-ride/

Port Adelaide – Hahndorf

Before driving further from Adelaide to Hahndorf, we did a short excursion to Port Adelaide. It seems that there is not a lot of action during the week. šŸ™

@ the light house / on the beach

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Hahndorf is small touristic village in the Adelaide Hills and was built up arround 1883 by German migrants. The German influence is still recognizable. Everything looks like in Bavaria.

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For dinner, we went to the German Arms Hotel. We have been lucky, because it was Schnitzel Night: Every Schnitzel for only 10AUS$!
The Schnitzels there are huge, but we didnā€™t understand how you can order such crazy toppings like gravy, or ā€œHawaiianā€ with your Schnitzel!?!?

Adelaide

Probably, Adelaide is most beautiful city in Australia. There are lots of historical building and many of them are in a very good condition. Also, they spent a lot in the public area around the university campus. The botanical garden is pretty nice too. And last but no least,  the pedestrian area is excellent for shopping šŸ™‚

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Out of nothing, we were in front of a churroria, hmm šŸ˜‰

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We still canā€™t believe it that the aussies  decorate everything for Christmas in summertime!

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Great Barrier Reef

After we spent a week together with Stefan, Yoshie and the cute Kaya at Walter’s place in Kewarra Beach(Cairns) we booked a live aboard tour with Pro Dive Cairns.

More about the tour: http://www.prodivecairns.com/liveaboards.html

The tour was completely booked out, 35 guest on board and lots of them were students. The boat was huge and there was enough place for everyone.

The Great Barrier Reef is ok šŸ™‚ But, if I’m honest, I expected a little bit more of the reef.
The fish life was fantastic: lot’s of Clown Fishes, Sharks, Napoleons… But the most awesome thing was that huge, massive turtle!

You can find some pictures hereā€¦

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Here you find a map with the two reefs we dived on (Flynn and Milln Reef):

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Live aboard trip

The last three days, we spent on the ā€œScubapro Iā€ out on the Great Barrier Reef for diving and snorkeling.

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You can find more about the diving and the under water pictures on my diveblog here

They have also a nice video on youtube about those three day trips:

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We spent the last to days with shopping, check in at the dive school, barbecuing, going outā€¦

Now, weā€™re more or less ready for the live aboard dive trip šŸ™‚ Unfortunately, we will be the first couple the pick up tomorrow morning. That means we have to be ready at 5.45 šŸ™

You find some pictures of the week in the gallery below.

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Daintree National Park

Today, we spent the day visiting the Daintree NP. We drove all the way up to Cape Tribulation, and of course back again.

On the way up, we stopped at the Daintree Recreation Center where we saw the first unusual animal, a python! After a a small snack, we went for the tree top walk. It was interesting to see the differences between the all those layers of a rain forest.

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Link: http://www.daintree-rec.com.au

Close to Cape Tribulation, we saw that whale while taking some pictures of the beach. It is sad to see such nice animals laying dead on the beach!

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Cape Tribulation, where to road ends and the adventure begins…

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Kuranda – The Village in the Rainforest

After hanging around a day at the beach house, we went for a very nice trip to Kuranda by the Gondola. The crazy aussies built a 7.5 km gondola over the top of the trees across the rain forest! Kuranda is a very small touristic village, but nice.

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More about the gondola and Kuranda: http://www.skyrail.com.au

 

Kaya in her brand new pool šŸ™‚

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Paronella Park

Today, we did an excursion to the Paronella Park in the rain forest. This park was one of the first tourist attractions in Queensland and was built around 1930. It was the dream of the founder to create some kind of castle in the middle of the rain forest.

The old cinema & small turtles in the lake

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There were flying foxes everywhere!

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A nice group picture at the end of the tour.

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You find more about this park on the official website: http://www.paronellapark.com.au