And so, after nine days of traveling, we saw the ocean again. From inside the state of Victoria, we jumped onto the Great Ocean Road - a scenic 243 km long route that runs along the South-East coast of Australia, between the towns of Torquay and Allansford in the state of Victoria. The road with its national parks (including Great Otway National Park) and landmarks (including the Twelve Apostles) is one of Australia's most important tourist attractions and is on the Australian National Heritage List.
The Twelve Apostles, next to the Opera House, Harbor Brigde, Great Barrier Reef and the Urulu Monolithic, are Australia's most photographed and iconic tourist attraction. We could not miss it. Of course, the destination was the famous 12 Apostles, but we also stopped at many other interesting rock formations along the way. To really see them all, these 200 kilometers would have to be visited for three days.
We stopped every now and then to jump out of the car for just five minutes and quickly see a view and a rock formation. Why so quick?! Let me explain.
For the Melbourne area, we were lucky with the weather. This region is famous for experiencing the four seasons during the day. The weather here is very changeable and violent. Local residents are instructed to always have an umbrella when leaving the house and wear a lot of layers. We had a pleasant sun, but on the horizon over the ocean there were already heavy clouds in which flashes and thunder carried on the water. This front pushed warm, moist, sticky air towards the ocean.
Even violent gusts of wind did not bring relief. Such an aura is usually the season for the highest activity of any insect. Note for yourself that when it goes to rain, all flying things get + 100% to activity, so that they still eat before rain. Anyone who thinks the worst that can happen to you in Australia are spiders and snakes are wrong. The worst are ... the flies !!!!!!
What a nasty, annoying Australian pissing bastards! Australia's flies are a scourge. Literally. They are everywhere and there is no way to get rid of them.
There are over 6,400 identified species of flies in Australia, only a small handful are considered true pests - the so-called bush flies! These little assholes are a health risk because they transmit a range of diseases to humans and animals - from typhus and cholera to conjunctivitis. The problem is so serious that you cannot have any fruit or vegetables in your luggage or in your car when you cross state boarders. You can't actually get any food that comes not pre-packaged. Even sandwiches for the trip. Often there are patrols at the border, checkpoints are set and there are large containers where you have to throw anything that can transfer eggs or fly larvae. As if the flies adhered to these "human" boundaries ....
But what are these flies worse at than the others?
Well, the females of some species seek out humans because they are hungry for the protein they need to produce eggs. The sweat on our bodies - and the moisture around our eyes, mouth and nose - is a wonderful source that they desperately want to suck out.
To some flies, we probably look like delicious human milkshakes.
So as soon as you get out of the car, a real swarm gathers around you. In one moment, 10 of you are sitting on your back, the other 10 are trying to get to your mouth, nose and eyes, and another 30 are already circling, and already three are in your stomach - and to be clear, you didn't want to eat them. It is impossible to chase them away. They go mad, nothing will stop them, and they have no mercy for people or animals. The situation in innerland this year was so serious that farmers decided to put nets over the heads of cattle because they wnet crazy.
So just imagine what was going on there, especially when those flies were additionally excited by the impending storm. The first frame of our film shows Marcin shunning flies. We call it the "Australian Greeting", because when you see such a man, you do not know whether he is waving you to greet you, or if he is waving someone or showing you the way. Generally, such people look as if they have lost their minds, because in addition they either mumble curses under their breaths or even scream out of helplessness.
We visited these attractions quickly, oh quick. But it was worth it. I will go to the most famous one. The 12 Apostles are famous limestone rocks in Australia located near Melbourne. Under the influence of the enormous power of the ocean waves and the wind, several dozen meters high columns were created, which are now washing the waters of the ocean. They are located a dozen or so meters from the shore. The original name of this place was "The sow and piglets", but it was too "unattractive" so the authorities renamed it. Although there were never 12 rocks here, due to their relative closeness to each other, the place was called more "marketing" - the 12 Apostles. There were actually nine apostles - in 2005 and 2009, two more columns lost the fight against waves and capricious weather, so today we can admire seven monuments, which does not diminish the importance or charm of this miracle of nature.
It is worth seeing, these views are really impressive. However, the entire tourist envelope is less. There are a million people. Plus two million flies. Research suggests that about 6.5 to 7.5 million tourists come in every year. According to forecasts, by 2030 this number will increase by 2.4 million people. So it is very crowded. It's hard to park, you can't fly a drone, you stand in line with the flies. Moreover, the road is frequently renovated. Because the Great Ocean Road is a monument to Australian history - and in the literal sense, the route was created as a project of employing veterans returning from the trenches of World War I. Works started in 1919, and about 3,000 former soldiers worked here until the official opening in 1932.
If you want to avoid the crowds, flies and traffic jams, you can go to the 12 Apostles in winter, but then the wind will blow your head off. Your choice.
After that we set off in search of accommodation. It is much more difficult in these surroundings. With every kilometer we moved away from the ocean again inland, because most of the hotels and motels were booked or beyond our budget. In addition, we didn't want to tour Melbourne the next day, we did not want to crash into its traffic middle, because if you are not going to stay in such a city for at least a week's tour, it doesn't make any sense. After 130 km we got to a town with a familiar name: Sebastopol. Yes, the town got its name after Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, which was, is and will be Ukrainian. Slava Ukraini!
Unfortunately, I did not find any information from where and who gave the city such a name.
However, we found a hotel there, where we had a jacuzzi in the room! From the description we found it very attractive, even the suspiciously low price did not alarm us. The room with a private jacuzzi turned out to be a room with a bathtub next to beds built in Australian "no worries" style, but we used it anyway and it was very funny.
On the second day we moved towards the capital of Victoria and we wanted to avoid it so much that we... entered the very center of the city also known as Smellbourne (in fact, at times it stank terribly there, especially in the industrial suburbs). All in all, now I can say that I was and saw this city located on the Port Phillip Bay of the Indian Ocean. It is the second largest city in Australia and Oceania (after Sydney), with a population of 5 million. In the years 1901–1927 the capital of Australia. Recognized by "The Economist" for "The Best City to Live in the World" in 2011–2017. It is famous for its tolerance, multiculturalism and European climate.
And then we traveled for a long, long time in search of an ideal place, far from civilization. We did 750 km that day. And finally, behind the mountains, behind forests, across rivers, we found ourselves in the beautiful Tallangatta Valley. For me, the most beautiful one I have seen here so far. I was absolutely delighted with its location, the surrounding mountains, pleasant, slightly humid atmosphere, wonderful microclimate, warm short rains, rushing mountain rivers and picturesque cascades on the rocks, stunning greenery and, above all, the smell! Plus no mosquitoes and just a few annoying flies! We had a really nice evening there and spent half a day absolutely relaxing and soaking up these wonders.
I fell in love with this valley. I even forgot to take pictures. Fortunately, it's all in the movie.
In the afternoon of the next day we went to explore the valley, to see other campsites. We got carried away by the winding and steep road. We took turns climbing and and descending. We passed Glen Valley until we finally got out of those valleys, although it was not planned. But it was so good the drive and the views were so beautiful. And so we found ourselves again on the oceanic side of the mountains and we were immediately greeted by rain. It was starting to dusk, so we quickly crashed near the Mitte Mitte River, exactly the same as the day before, only 100 km away. It was cold. 16 degrees.
(sorry - no English translate in clips below)
Fortunately, it wasn't raining.
The next day we left Victoria for New South Wales, then quickly traveled through the Australian Capital Territory and the most boring capital in the world, which is the Australian capital, Canberra. Seriously, there's nothing there. I didn't even take a single photo. We spent the whole day traveling and we were already very tired, so we decided to stop in another place where we could rest a bit. This time we focused on the so-called holiday camping park. I love to spend the night in these caravan parks. The prices are very affordable and the atmosphere is unforgettable. There are parks all over Australia, where you can stay with your motorhome, pitch a tent or rent an atmospheric, tiny house. You will see more in the movie!
After a good night's sleep, we went to the Kościuszko National Park. The park is gorgeous. It really is beautiful. It covers the highest parts of the Australian Alps (Snowy Mountains), lying in the southern part of the Great Watershed Mountains, culminating on Mount Kościuszko (2228 m above sea level). As the locals say here: "Kozioszko".
Fun fact: there is also Kościuszko beer. Not bad even.
The area was explored and given such a name to the highest peak by an outstanding Polish traveler and scientist who, as the first Pole, individually circumnavigated the world - Paweł Edmund Strzelecki. So much for history.
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love mountain hiking and like me: mountains only in winter and only skiing downhill. I'm not a mountaineer. I don't like it and that's it. So, despite my sincere intentions, even after riding the chairs up 3/4 of the mountain ... well, nope. I am the man of the ocean. Or rather the beach and the sun.
We wouldn't have made it anyway, we arrived too late and it turned out that the trail would take 5 hours. Of course, you learn everything at the checkout, because why write such information on the park's website ?!
But we went up. Nice views. The weather was good. Marcin went to the lookout point, and I looked at the rocks and streams.
Just another day of our trip has passed. Last one. Everything good ends quickly.
We were 250km ahead of Sydney. We spent the last night on a rest stop because we were not lucky with camping. Or we were so spoiled after all those great spots in Victoria. In NSW, the closer to the city, the worse. For consolation, a whole herd of wild, fluffy rabbits with white rumps (not hares) were jumping around us.
Yes, Australia has never won the war against the rabbits they brought themselves.
THE END
II Great Australian Expedition - SUMMARY!
My dear:
We drove - 3881 km
We traveled - 14 days
We were in:
3 states - NSW, VIC, ACT
2 time zones
5 climatic zones
We experienced a temperature difference of 14 to 44 degrees Celsius.
We slept:
5 nights at three different motels and one caravan park
9 nights of camping, of which only three were a favor, the rest for free
We visited:
the only Mad Max Museum in the world
the largest waterfall in the state of Victoria MacKenzie Falls
Australia's highest peak - Mount Kosciuszko
Aboriginal caves
night sky observatory in the desert
the largest mountain range - Australian Alps
several salt lakes
7 remaining out of the 12 Apostles
Melbourne, Canberra and 141 other towns
hundreds of kilometers of endless steppes and deserts
dozens of national and state parks, rivers, valleys, beaches, cliffs, mountains, hills and meadows, deciduous, coniferous and rainforests
and I don't know what else anymore
We were bitten by a million mosquitoes and flies, and attacked by one drunken moth.
The only disappointment was the negligible amount of wild animals, because we saw only maybe five kangaroos, a few ostriches and rabbits, two turtles and one lizard that tragically ran under the wheels of the car. Zero wombats and koala bears, not even a single snake tail, which is very strange for such a space. It seems that after the great fires of two years ago, where almost all of this area was on fire, the animal population has yet to recover. It's a pity.
But it was great anyway.
Victoria has stolen our hearts. Beautiful state. It competes strongly in our ranking with the state of Queensland (description of the trip here "I Great Australian Expedition", if someone has not read it yet - I recommend it).
So we have 4 states out of 8. The remaining Northern Territory, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia.
I invite you to the final episode of our trip. There is a bit of rain, as if someone missed it. Unfortunately, there will be no spectacular ending, because you know what it is like when the holidays end. You are a bit tired and you don't want to come back a bit. We were at the coolest stage - every thing had already found its place in the van, we got used to being together 24/7, the kilometers running away from the wheels relaxed, and you fell into the rhythm of the journey - and that's when you had to come back!