Week 6 was the last whole week in Australia. After six wonderful weeks travelling through the driest continent on Earth, it is now time to say goodbye. It was an amazing experience and we will remember this time forever. We met a lot of friendly and open people here. In quite every situation, we felt welcome. I’ve never met so polite and helpful worker in a supermarket. That’s definitely something we, the Swiss citizen and our Tourism, could learn from. Of course, the Australians have also some difficulties with the native inhabitants, but I like this way of friendly behaviour.

As a short summary, I would like to give you a list of the things we love and we disliked in Australia:

Love: Pale Ale’s (Beer), various landscapes, local tour guides
Disliked: Wifi on Campsites, temperatures above 35 degrees, “Bodevolk” as neighbours on a Campsite

–> Like always check our map here!

Route

Day 39: Great Otway National Park – Allansford

Day 40: Allansford – Southend

Day 41: Stay in Southend

Day 42: Southend – Victor Harbor

Day 43: Victor Harbor – Tanunda (Barossa Valley)

Day 44: Stay in Tanunda (Vinery Tour)

Day 45: Tanunda – Hahndorf

special recommendations

Cave Tantanoola

We visited this cool cave during a hot day after some driving. It was just an interesting (the history of the discovery), refreshing (only 17 degrees every day, independent from the exterior temperature) and magnificent (look at the picture) excursion. After a short history-introduction, the guide explained some interesting facts & figures about the cave. Beside listenting the information, I also took some pleasure in taking astonishing pictures.

Dinner at Restaurant Piccolo in Warrnambool

After a long journey of about 400 kilometers, we were lucky to find this delicious and suitable restaurant. They offered a good range of Italien meals like pasta and pizza, but also some fish and salads. I took a salmon and Maggi (like always) a vegetarian pizza. The dessert – yes it’s possible after these meals- were just super tasty. Absolutely recommend – excellent (not high end) cooking for a reasonable price.

Quad Tour

After a quad experience in Naxos (a greek island), I was willing to do it again during our stay in Australia. Contrasting to the Greece Island, to drive a quad on a normal road was not allowed. So, the only way to “ride” a quad was to book a guided tour. Next to Victor Harbor was a farm which offered this kind of expeditions. We subscribed us for the scenic trip. The guides (there were two for about seven people) explained everything very carefully. To drive a quad was quite easy – but this feeling could be dangerous. Quads are the most risky vehicles on farms. Therefore we first had to go  on an exercise track. After ten minutes, we were familiar with the quad and had no problems on the further journey.

Wine Tour in Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley is the most important wine region in Australia. The valley has only a length of 45 kilometers, but includes more than one hundred independent wine producer and about eighty large and little wine shops – so-called cellar door. The wine farmers from the Barossa region are responsible for more than 21% of the Australian wine production.

We did a guided wine tour together with a small Scottish family and our guide. We tasted more than twenty-five dissimilar wines in five different wineries. It was quite impressive to listen to the stories about the German influence, the deep rootage of those families in the wine industry and how involved the whole economic sector is (including the supportive industries and services like the bottle fabric or the tourism).

The German Village Hahndorf

The region north from Adelaide was influenced by German families who were come to Australia because of their belief. The state South Australia was extremely liberal (so everybody could believe what he/she wants to). Some of the German established new farms or industries. They also built new villages like Handorf.

You can easily see the German impact in architecture, food and in the language. You can discover a lot of German street names or Restaurants.

Schwiizerdütschi Zämefassig

Biodynamische Wii immene chliine australische Dörfli z entdecke und dr Wiiverkäufer seit uf Nachfrag dass s biodynamische ufene östrichische Typ namens Steiner zrüggeit – schöne Momänt 😉