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OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

Herewith we show you our way through the country and the places to stay overnight.

Our route is marked in blue and the places where we stopped for one or more days are also marked in blue. We will update the route accordingly with every update.

SYDNEY

So and now arrived in Sydney. From 39° in Dubai to a wintry 5° in the morning in Sydney. Customs was not as strict as I had feared and as we were told on the plane. How could I have explained what EM was? I was close to throwing it away, I couldn’t finish it and without EM nothing works here. But all they did was let a drug dog loose on our luggage, we must have seemed extraordinary for them to put us through something like that, which we found very interesting again. But that probably spared us from having to explain our masses of Schüssler salts, vitamins and minerals that we still have from the USA.

Sydney 1. August ’18

We picked up the motorhome yesterday. It wasn’t even a „normal“ van but full comfort. Every time we came to the caravan site, the vehicle was bigger and bigger and yesterday it was so huge that even Gerhard wanted to make it smaller, but he couldn’t do it evenly but only on one side (see photo). So we had to go back and ended up with half a world trip behind us without having gone a kilometer further. It then took us a while to find a bus (there was hardly anyone left on the street) to a train station from where we arrived near our hotel, where we arrived quite late and half starved. We’d only eaten a quick banana in the morning to get there early, as all the paperwork had to be done at the office, but luckily we were driven there and it was done for us.

So now we’re sitting here waiting for the call from the Motorhome Center to find out what’s going to happen. And Gerhard was so proud, comfort had won the day. Everything that fits in terms of technology is inside, nothing with „1 pan – 50 dishes“, 3 gas hob, oven, grill, gas grill connection for outside. Well, now that it’s come out that the Germans are the European barbecue champions and even the rainforest is being cut down for it, it’s perhaps not quite so romantic to switch to gas. But if you think we only have gas – far from it – no – we also have diesel and solar. No, not one panel, no two, the caravan has 6 beds: 2 over the driver’s seat, a sofa bed for 2 and 2 in a pull-down bed above the seating area. Yes, that’s right, hello, under the bed are two midnight blue armchairs and the matching sofa bed. I still don’t know what happens if the technology fails: does the bed go up and you get crushed or does it go down and hit you on the head when you sit in the armchair, which you can do comfortably according to the instructions.

Yes, and now we also had the time and leisure for a little visit to the fish market in Sydney, which is obviously firmly in Chinese hands.

Now we hope to be able to move into our new „monster“ in the coming week and drive out of the Australian winter (sunny 20° – no envy, please!) to warmer climes.

Sydney 13. August ’18

We bought the bikes a few days ago, because we actually wanted to live in the VAN. Gerhard’s bike was to be delivered a few days later and then picked up in the VAN. The dealer was kind enough to store the bikes for us.

Phill, who sold us the van, takes great care of it, but our motorhome had to be driven to another service workshop. His initial assessment of doing as much as they can has not been confirmed, he had to transport the van outside, i.e. 2 hours across Sydney. Have now learned that the repair will take about 14 days. Oh God, and I only have a warmer sweater with me, where I alternate between washing just the sleeves and then the whole thing.

In the meantime, however, we had rented private accommodation – rented a car for 2 days, drove 2 hours to the garage, 2 hours back, put the large and heavy suitcases in the van, only with small luggage to the new accommodation. And what luck, it actually turned out that we hadn’t rented a room but only a bed. But it was very nice and comfortable. There was no space for suitcases and the 2 chests of drawers were full. Everything under the bed was full and there were old books on the floor where there could have been some space. A corner of the huge wardrobe was reserved for guests. But the bathroom was actually just for guests.

The man, an ageing hippy, dealt in books that he sold at markets and as we discovered, all the rooms were insanely full of them, including his VW bus. He was also very attached to his books and had a hard time selling them to me and I wanted to support him. Only when he was convinced that the 3 books were duplicates could I have them.

We were glad when the week was over and found a very nice apartment near the workshop. Even though a few things still went wrong until we got the minibus to pick up the bikes and the rest of the things we had already bought, including a warm sweater and a jacket, we arrived safely in the very nice and comfortable apartment, although there was no heating – like nowhere else in the houses – but at least there were two electric ovens and a kitchen and you can finally cook for yourself.

In the meantime, it turned out that the repair would take a little longer and that there were also some old problems. After some consideration, we decided to have everything done properly. For those who want to know more about our motorhome, here is the link to the detailed description of the car: https://www.caravancampingsales.com.au/editorial/details/winnebago-leisure-seeker-c2364-20951/

When we got there and I thought it was almost finished and I saw the motorhome, I could only cry and all the tension of the last few weeks came out. Chad, the boss of the workshop, was also a nice guy and didn’t know what to do. Well, it just had to be done. And to relieve the pressure we had put him under, we have now extended our stay here and agreed on the coming Monday. The last 3 weeks we were so busy with VAN, first with the purchase, then with the repair, constantly on the phone, now that everything is foreseeable, the tension is finally gone.

And now there was time to relax and enjoy Sydney and the surrounding area. As we had already bought most of the things for our tour (camping set – towels – bedding – dishes etc.) there was no need to stress about shopping. Here are a few pictures of Sydney.

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and our trip to the Palm Beach peninsula and the fantastic, but still ice-cold, sea and beaches.