Our First Australian Great Expedition was just about to end. We had some 750 km to cover, which we spread over two days. The kilometers were slipping away under the wheels and we became more and more aware that something was ending. We were already approaching the Sydney mountain range that separates the coast from the outback. The horizon outside the window changed from hour to hour. More cities, cars, people, trees and vegetation appeared. It turned green again here. It was nice after hours of staring at the prairie to finally see something else. We drove bended roads through dense, eucalyptus forests. On this side of the mountains they were heavily watered, lush green and rich and after crossing the range we could see forests dried up here from months. This is how this mountain range works here.
We started climbing the highlands and the weather started to change too. We left Queensland behind. It is called the Sunny State for a reason. In New South Wales heavy clouds circled the sky, but we didn't know if it was the storm or the puffs of smoke from the forest fires we were about to drive through. However, we were lucky again and we didn't encounter any fire. We spent the last night on a huge free campsite right at the foot of the mountains in the Yengo NP park in McNamara Park. Unfortunately, to much A/C for me and my body starrted to protest with fever that made me go to sleep very quickly that evening. The rest of the team took advantage of the last night before returning - sitting, eating, drinking, smoking and recalling the whole trip.
On the last day of the return journey we were accompanied by cloudy and quite cool weather for the middle of the summer. However, with great pleasure we drove into huge and rich vineyards region. As is well known, Australia is famous for its excellent wines. Around Sydney area you can spend whole days driving from one vineyard to the next, tasting so many wines until you are completely drunk. There are a lot of them here. And they are beautiful. Vine bushes of various kinds of grapes stretch as far as the horizon. An indispensable part of the vineyards are old buildings with a history hiding original recipes of wines, beers and ciders. And if you miss your favorite wine some vineyards have private heliports. We visited few of them, some of us bought a bottle or two, while I picked grapes straight from the bushes and they were delicious!
Then we went to Umina's beaches, a place where we ourselves, for the first time in our lives swam in the Pacific a year ago. It is a lovely little beach hidden at the end of the road. We hoped that at the very end of our trip we would be able to jump into the ocean, but unfortunately the weather was not good. It was a bit too cold and everyone seemed to lack strength.
And so we got home.
Koniec. Finito. The end.
Summarizing, we traveled some 4,000 kilometers in 11 days, including two days of diving on the Great Barrier Reef, two days of rest in a magical white house in Tannum Sands - including New Year's Eve and a whole day of lazing on the beach, one Tropic of Capricorn and one historical town from the 19th century, two nights in a backpacker's hostel in the heavenly town Airlie Beach, we ate the truest steaks twice, we spent one night in a barrack where the ocean escaped due to the tides and we saw for the first time scale of fires in Australia, one hippie town, one nudist camping, countless kangaroos and trucks, one night on true Australian farm, one at a motel, one rumpus, no car crash (YES!), no injured or killed, no kangaroos run over, no fires and only two nights in the wild - first and last! But also no koalas and wombats seen. Bit sadness. We rode the coast and the outback. We met tourists from all over the world and locals. We had torrential rains and unbearable heat. Sun and rain! Childish joy and normal fatigue. And a lot of positive vibe! Vibe that feels like you've done something big. And something just for yourself. And something that will stay with us forever.
So, in general the expedition turned out not to be as planned 😊. None of our plans succeeded. We had to make all decisions spontaneously and Australia continued to surprise us all the time! We were supposed to travel and sleep overnight in a completely different way, the cruise was not sure till very end, we had a completely different destinations and different places to visit, but life verified our plans anyway. And so it is with everything, not only with travels. Maybe that's why I got used to not making plans for the future, but living what the day brings and catch the wind in my sails, because as you can see from the present day... You never know when this one chance just given to you, may turn out to be the last one.
It was great! I love such trips. And I want more!!!
At the end, he gives the floor to our guests so that it is not only me who babble and babble.
As women have priority, I present you Magda at the beginning.
Magda is an alien from the planet Gelox. And when she was silent during the journey, we knew that she was just contacting the base and reporting to her alien brothers. Thanks to her, we knew we were safe and in case we got stuck somewhere in this desert her fellow aliens would come for us with UFO and save us. Thanks to Magda, the whole flight z PL to AU could take place at all. As a person from the flight industry she efficiently embraced all important topics and extremely attractive ticket prices and led the guys through these flights and transfers like a proffesional tour leader.
Magda wrote:
“In my innermost dreams, I didn't expect to experience the summer vacation of my life on the other side of the world! Australia has always felt too distant to me, although I thought it would be fun to see kangaroos, koalas or the Great Barrier Reef! I never thought it would be given to me! Almost half a year of preparation... Tickets, passports, visas (Poles need an electronic visa - ETA - Electronic Travel Authority), insurance, transfer in Singapore, hotels, city travels, maps, gifts! Okay, it supposed to be a few sentences. So the first "wow" was probably the first day, when we were sitting with beer by the bay near the Misiak's house. "Wow", because I was slowly realizing that after so many hours of flying and months of waiting, we are finally here! Another "wow" - opera and city center - here my brain slowly began to register that I really am in Australia !!!
I like the Aussie lifestyle - No worries! Everywhere smiling and happy people!
We set off to explore Australia. I was impressed by the distances, enormous country. It was a bit of a drive, but in good company time flies quickly. We had play lists prepared ;-). I will not hide either, sometimes I was able to turn off and swim into the depths of my thoughts, ventilated my head in new places, charged the batteries positively. I remember my first bath in the Pacific as a fight against huge waves and sand ... but I enjoyed it anyway, because I love water and I love swimming! Okay, no need to drag, the biggest "wow" was when we got to Airlie Beach, where we were supposed to transfer to a boat and admire the Great Barrier Reef. Here my brain went crazy and didn't know what was going on! Sailing, beautiful landscapes, just like from a fairy tale. The moment I dived into the coral sea will remain in my memory for the rest of my life, or at least I hope so. I saw the edge of the reef, but before I became interested in the reef itself I looked towards the sea. It can take your breath away. You see a great blue like from a Luc Besson movie. Deep inside you are also slightly afraid, because you do not know what will come out of this blue ... I started to swim among colorful fish and admire the corals. Amazing! The climax came when Alex (the skipper from our ship that Ania mentioned) started (once again) calling people because he saw the turtle. And I (again once again) was far away thinking that I was without a chance to see it. I kinda headed towards Alex, but it turned out that the group scared the turtle away and he it swam right at me! I think I stopped breathing. He was so close to me that I could touch him, but didn't want to scare him. He stared at me for a moment and he floated away into a big blue! Huge Sea Turtle! A beautiful creature! In the evening I tried to gather my thoughts somehow, the captain let us sleep on the upper deck under the open sky! I did not think for a long time, I took my place first. Despite the passing clouds, I couldn't get a good look. A beautiful sky full of amazing stars. I saw the Southern Cross! The stars fascinate me. Fact that I look into the past makes me goosebumps. All in all, I fell asleep quickly after an eventful day. I woke up from time to time and kept staring at the sky ... I was looking at the same stars as once famous sailors and pirates who could discovered new places thanks to them. Well, I could write and write like that, but it was only supposed to be a few sentences. It is difficult to describe such a trip in a few sentences ... Without a doubt, I am charmed by Australia and I hope to come back to it again. Dear Misiaks - thank you for your hospitality and great adventure!
Regards, No worries! "
The second participant was Hubert, our heart of the expedition, joyful sunshine even on the most cloudy day, who bravely led our campervan almost all the way (okay, the truth is that it was impossible to chase him out from behind the steering wheel) and he was delighted with everyone around like a child ! You also have to pay tribute to Hubert, because if it weren't for his willingness to record and photograph everything it would be very boring on this blog. 90% of all photos and videos are taken by him!
Hubert wrote:
"Hi.
My impressions of the trip.
First of all, thank you and Misiek for such an event in my life :). I am very grateful and appreciate your huge contribution to our arrival and our trip.
It's hard to say what I really liked because I think everything. Australia is beautiful and diverse and has great routes and trucks :) Everywhere is beautiful and there is no crowd unlike Europe, where even when it's beautiful, there is there is no room to swing a cat.
I was charmed by hiking trails, beaches, the Pacific Ocean and animals.
What I didn't like was probably those corpses (kangaroos, not people) on the asphalt :)
It would take a long time to write about all good impressions :)
Thanks again!!!!! "
Last but not least important participant was Gienek. I mean Marcin, that is his real name is. This famous "melepeta" from Rawa Mazowiecka (melepeta - an inhabitant of Rawa Mazowiecka - inner joke) he only stopped talking, singing, reciting, telling strange stories when he was asleep. During the ride he constantly entertained us with dubious quality jokes. 😊 Besides, he was very willing to distribute our moonshine to everyone he met, thus establishing interesting contacts.
Gienek wrote:
“Through the Rawa's melepeta eye.
Overall a misunderstanding and disappointment. The weather in Australia at this time is the worst possible. It is warm and sunny almost all the time. Sydney - terribly overrated. Water trams instead of normal ones on the tracks. There are no crows, only parrots. Strange creatures. Lots of coves and lots of annoying yachts and bridges. Unfortunately, the residents are very positive with a smile on their face and a constant "Noł łorrys" (No worries in polsih)...echh. Unfortunately, even quite the friendly hosts came up with a hopeless idea ... a campervan trip to Australia: /
Hundreds of kilometers traveled, lots of places visited, the largest beaches I could see in my life. Sleeping in a tent or in a vehicle that resembled a white sausage, or a sausage-long vehicle in the service of a yakuza. Tragedy!!!
The worst was yet to come. A completely mismatched team came up with a plan to go on a cruise through some old boat wreck. I was the only one against this escapade. Failure all along the line. Islands, beaches, fish, reefs and some other creatures. The lack of the "Paprykarz szcześcinski" (only poles will understand - sorry, I warned you about his jokes) completely let me down and put me down mentally.
I do not recommend a trip to these parts of the world.
The ONLY advantage of this trip was the noble drink prepared by Marcin ... at least that's it.
The Baltic Sea and Łuków (our hometown) offer many more attractions in the season.
To sum up:
TRIP OF MY LIFE !!!!!! 😁 "
And we thank you - Magda, Hubert and Gienek - for the fact that despite the great distance and considerable time, financial and emotional expenses, you decided to visit us. Not only that, you agreed to some completely crazy, exhausting trip, without any comforts, spontaneous and crazy.
Thank you very much for visiting us. You don't even know what a joy it is to see friends after a year and a half on the other side of the world. It took me a few days to finally realize that you really flew over to us, that someone visited us, that someone had done so much for us.
Thanky you very much!!!
And we invite you again! There is still so much to explore.
We invite you all. If you think that it is impossible, too far, too expensive, too long and any other "reasons for no" - this whole blog proves that the Antipodes are not so unattainable. Where there's a will there's a way. We will help and guide you in everything, and then we will go on another wild journey - maybe along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne to see 12 Apostles, maybe to Uluru dance with Aborigines, maybe to Darwin to see crocodiles or to Perth to to AC/DC festival. Or even, somewhere nearby to see the Three Sisters in the famous Blue Mountains or just laze all day long on beautiful beaches.
All is not lost yet. Anything can happen. Everything is possible.
Let your dreams give you strength. Always, even in these difficult times.
Thanks.
