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Sonja's stories from Down Under, Melbourne (2026)

19/09/2019

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP – PART 4/4

How about we pretend that this post is not completely random and out of time 🙈
Well, I guess life happens sometimes 🤷‍♀️
Nonetheless, I’ve decided to FINALLY complete this Facebook project with part 4/4 of our road trip along the Australian East Coast, simply because leaving things undone is not really my thing 🙆‍♀️
Better late than never, right? 😅

I seriously can’t believe it’s been more than 20 months since I arrived back from Australia in December 2017. On the one hand, time has passed so quickly, it’s almost scary. On the other hand, the number of things having happened in between my return and now is absolutely crazy.
Looking back after all this time, I can say with confidence that my exchange semester in Melbourne turned my life upside down. I learned so much about myself and the world, discovered new passions and made friendships that I’m sure will last a lifetime.
I’ll be forever grateful 💗

Thank you so much for joining me on this exciting journey across Down Under and for not getting tired of me just yet. I promise there’s nothing more on the way 😅

And now, FINALLY, may I present to you part 4/4 of our 6-week road trip along the East Coast:

BRISBANE TO CAIRNS AND BEYOND

27 Nov – 14 Dec 2017

Brisbane – Noosa Heads NP – Rainbow Beach – Great Sandy NP - Fraser Island – Elliott Heads – Agnes Water – Town of 1770 – Yeppoon – Capricorn Caves – Airlie Beach – Whitsunday Islands – Magnetic Island – Jourama Falls – Wallaman Falls – Mission Beach – Cairns – Port Douglas – Great Barrier Reef – Daintree NP – Cape Tribulation – Atherton Tablelands

21/06/2018

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP – PART 3/4

Sydney to Brisbane
13-25 Nov 2017

Sydney – Blue Mountains National Park – Shelly Beach – Canton Beach – Birdy Beach – North Fraser Beach – Newcastle – Fingal Split – Shark Island – Port Macquarie – Coffs Harbour – Byron Bay – Gold Coast – Coolangatta – Surfers Paradise – Springbrook National Park – Redcliffe Peninsula – Brisbane

17/04/2018

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP – PART 2/4
Melbourne to Sydney
7-13 Nov 2017

Melbourne - Phillip Island - Wilsons Promontory NP - Cape Conran - Ninety Mile Beach - Cann River - Croajingolong NP - Eden - Murramarang NP - Pebbly Beach - Depot Beach - Sydney

10/01/2018

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP – PART 1/4

5-7 Nov 2017

GREAT OCEAN ROAD

Our 6-week-long East Coast road trip from Melbourne all the way up to Cairns started off on November 5, after a two-day speed introduction to Melbourne. On Sunday morning, Mathias picked up Denis and our beautiful Apollo campervan at the airport, and a couple of hours later, we were already on our way to the infamous Great Ocean Road.
The iconic Great Ocean Road is a scenic route that runs 243 km along the southern coast of Australia and is famous for its magnificent rock formations (especially the 12 Apostles) and some renowned surfing spots.
Only three days before we started our road trip, the Melbournian weather once again lived up to its reputation and changed from summerly 30°C to chilly 13°C degrees overnight (which is as cold as when I arrived in Melbourne back in July), so that I reluctantly unpacked my warm jacket that I had already stored at the bottom of my suitcase and packed some additional pairs of socks so that I would not freeze during the first couple of nights in the tent.
Another not so pleasant surprise was that we had planned our trip to the Great Ocean Road exactly during a long weekend, which – normally – wouldn’t be a problem, only that Australians are seriously crazy about camping and seem to use every opportunity they get to pack up their kids into grandpa’s caravan and spend a couple of nights somewhere next to the beach living a simple camper life. This fact didn’t appear to us until we were rejected at two fully booked campsites and had to pay ridiculously $88 for an unpowered site at the third one. If wild camping wasn’t fined by more than $100 per person, we might have taken the risk, but since the police regularly patrolled the area and a campervan with a roof top tent was not exactly the most inconspicuous way to hide, we decided otherwise. Fortunately, those $88 later turned out to be only an exception so that we typically paid between 0 and 10 dollars per person and night.
Apart from this first rip off, we were absolutely amazed by the stunning rock formations such as the ‘12 Apostles’, the so-called ‘London Bridge’, and ‘the Arch’, enraptured by adorable baby koalas and kangaroos, and generally dazzled by the natural beauty that can be found all along the Great Ocean Road. Hopefully you will be, too.

21/12/2017

24-28 Oct 2017

TASMANIA

It’s been quite a while since my last blog post and a million things have happened since then, but due to an increase in uni-related workload, an unexpected delay in delivery, and an amazing, six-week long road trip on the East Coast, I was forced to postpone some blog updates for the time being.
Finally, today, I managed to reduce the 600 something photos to a reasonable number to give you an impression of our Tassie experiences. Much to my regret, some eerily beautiful selfies and flattering snapshots did not make it into this selection, but may be exclusively viewed if requested.
Tasmania, or “Tassie” in Aussie terms, is an island around 400 km south of Melbourne and one of the six Australian states. Before I came to Australia, I thought that Tasmania was just a huuuge national park without any civilization – however, as it turns out, Tasmania is actually home to more than 500.000 people, has two airports, and a vibrant nightlife.
I got to spend four nights during SWOT VAC (i.e. the week before the exam period; SWOT VAC stands for study-without-teaching-vacation, or in our case, not-so-much-study-but-more-vacation-vacation) in stunning Tassie and explored the island with my three absolute favorite people over here 💙💚💛👨‍👨‍👧‍👧
Although pictures can unfortunately never account for the sensory, aesthetic impression, I hope they will give you a taste of the exceptional beauty of Tasmania.
_______________________________

Hobart-Tasman Peninsula (Cape Hauy)-Richmond-Swansea-Friendly Beaches-Freycinet National Park (Coles Bay, Wineglass Bay)-Bicheno-Bay of Fires-Binalong Bay-Launceston-Cradle Mountain National Park (dove lake)-Waratah-Great Lake-Russell Falls-Hobart

20/10/2017

21 Sept – 6 Oct 2017

WESTERN AUSTRALIA ROADTRIP

Perth – Pink Lake at Port Gregory – Kalbarri NP – Carnarvon – Coral Bay – Exmouth – Cape Range NP – Tom Price – Karijini NP – Hamelin Pool – Shell Beach – Shark Bay – Monkey Mia – Francois Peron NP – Geraldton – Cervantes – Pinnacles Desert NP – Perth

After roughly 4500 km of driving and two weeks full of camping, sunsets, beaches, hiking, manta rays, sandwiches, snorkeling, lots of coffee, no reception, gorges, Nutella, national parks, pink lakes, micro doses, 4 wheel drive tracks, burned skin, fainting girls, car dance parties, surfing, goon, suicidal kangaroos, Justin Timberlake, chicken treats, suitcase Tetris, rescheduled flights, emu exports, relentless quests for venomous snakes, kayaking, rooftop tents, natural pools, fence trails, outback hats, car accidents, granola bars, flat tires, tiger sharks, hospital visits, turtles, roads through nothingness, and a bunch of amazing friends, I want to say THANK YOU for this unforgettable trip.

Writing about all those exceptional moments and breathtaking places can only fall short of the actual lived experience, so I won’t even try to put my feelings about this road trip into words.
Hopefully the pictures will convey a little bit of what I can’t possibly describe.

18/10/2017

I'm so incredibly glad that my voting card arrived in time for the Austrian elections last Sunday
Shame on you, Austria!
Amazon does a better job

29/09/2017

When a suicidal kangoroo hits your car but your roadtrip needs to continue 🙈🔧🚙🇦🇺
A make-up mirror has never been more useful 😂💄

20/09/2017

8-10 Sept 2017

SURF CAMP #2 AT APOLLO BAY

My second surf camp (or rather, my first REAL surf camp 😉) took place at the Great Ocean Road at beautiful Apollo Bay. Claire, Johan, Tim, Simon, and I rented THE HOLDEN for the weekend (I told you it’s ours) and arrived at the camp site at around 7 pm on Friday, just in time for dinner (THE HOLDEN is written in capital letters to indicate the loud, manly voice you have to use when referring to THE HOLDEN🦁🔥).
After eating pasta and playing some rounds of billiards, the whole surf crew changed cabins and continued the party in the living room and kitchen of our bungalow.
We woke up in our bunk beds on Saturday at around 9 am, when some overly ambitious people were already running around in bikinis and wetsuits. The idea of squeezing myself into one of them and going into the freezing cold water didn’t exactly generate a lot of excitement that early in the day, so that I was not entirely unhappy to learn that they had run out of wetsuits and we had to wait for the second surf lesson at noon. Two cups of coffee later, however, I was more than ready to finally be able to tick off ‘surfing in Australia’ from my bucket list.
After receiving some basic instructions and practicing paddling in the sand (a very enlightening experience), we were released into the vastness of the ocean and its powerful and unpredictable waves. Well, admittedly, we didn’t get any further than the whitewash area, but this didn’t make the experience any less exciting. During the first 20 or 30 minutes, I enjoyed a lot of saltwater and learned firsthand what surfers meant by the washing machine feeling of being dragged underwater by a wave - but when I finally managed to stand up for a whole 3 seconds or so, I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio screaming “I’M THE KING OF THE WOORLD!!” (there is a possibility that I actually said that out loud).
We had genuinely planned to go back to the beach for a second surf session, but the warm and dry clothes after a really hot shower eventually felt a little too comfortable to be switched for dripping, cold wetsuits. Instead, we jumped into our Holden and drove a little further west along the Great Ocean Road and found some amazing lookouts.
Apparently, the initial plan for Saturday night was to go out to a local bar, but relatively unsurprisingly, we never left the camp site and went to bed at around 4 am after a number of late night peanut butter sandwiches. Partying in the room next to your bed is just too convenient (that’s also why you never leave the Pfeilheim kitchen after pre-drinks).
On Sunday morning, I learned the ultimate secret to being popular: always have instant coffee with you (disclaimer: I don’t know if instant coffee also works in different contexts, when coffee is not a scarce resource; you might have to invest in real one). After our second surf session of the weekend, we left the camp site at around 1 pm and took the scenic Great Ocean Road home to Melbourne. On the way, we made several stops to enjoy the picturesque landscape, do some Koala spotting at Kennet River, and bond with a bunch of cockatoos. We also stopped by the beach house of Tim’s relatives, who introduced us to their home-brewed beer and showed us the beautiful beaches around Point Roadknight.
We arrived back in Melbourne at 8 pm and rounded off this epic weekend with a not so epic dinner at a Chinese Italian restaurant. Note: As a general rule, you should never trust “Italian” restaurants that sell blue ice cream 🍝🍕🍧.

19/09/2017

16 Sept 2017

FITZROY MARKET, BRIGHTON BEACH, AND TOUR DE CHAMBRE

On Saturday morning (I am still struggling to find a word in English that fully expresses the concept of ‘Vormittag’, since I always feel so dishonest labeling 11 a.m. as ‘morning’ haha), Anja and I went to the monthly Fitzroy market, which takes place in a local primary school (I wasn’t aware that toilets can be so ridiculously tiny).
When it comes to fashion in Melbourne, it seems like anything goes. Melbournians are a level beyond ultra-hipster and look like the perfect personification of a thrift shop. And the magical thing is – it actually looks fancy. The Fitzroy market was the epitome of this fashion randomness. It was absolutely fabulous.
Although we hadn’t really planned to buy anything, both of us left the market with more clothes and fewer dollars than we had entered it with. I guess that counts as obligatory souvenirs.
After a 7-Eleven coffee and checking out the infamous rooftop bar ‘Naked for Satan’, we continued our journey to Brighton Beach, which is a 25-min train ride away from the city center. Have you seen all those touristy pictures in front of brightly colored boat houses (especially popular is the one with the Australian flag)? That’s Brighton Beach. Did we also take those pictures? Hell Yeah :p
Later that day, we organized a so-called ‘Tour de Chambre’ in our house, which is essentially a pub crawl from one room to another, where everybody prepares a game and drink in their room. It was soo much fun. We absolutely need to establish this game in the Pfeilheim :D

15/09/2017

"I'm going to cut exactly what you asked for"
- no hairdresser ever

whoop whoop 🙌👭💇‍♀️💕

14/09/2017

1-2 September 2017

CAMPING AT ‘THE PROM’

Tim, Johan and I started our journey to the Wilsons Promontory National Park (or in Aussie terms ‘the Prom’) on Friday evening in our amazing new family car – let me introduce you to ‘THE HOLDEN’ 🦁🔥.
Technically, our Holden still belongs to the car rental company, but spiritually we are deeply connected to it.
Initially, we only planned to do a day trip to Wilsons Prom, but when we realized that driving three hours in one direction wouldn’t leave us with a lot of time to actually explore the National Park, we spontaneously decided to go there on Friday evening already, so that we could at least spend all Saturday hiking.
The car ride to the camp site was an adventure in itself. Not that I know anything about cars or particularly care about them, but even I noticed with all of my senses that this car had quite some life experience under its belt. Sometimes I doubted whether we would make it to the Prom AND back without having to call the breakdown service, but the Holden didn’t let us down.
On the way there, we stopped to buy food, booze, firewood, and some quality dinner at Subway (how can you possible ask that many questions about a freaking sandwich).
We arrived at the camp site at around 10.30 pm and set up the tent with the help of the Holden’s headlights. (This may come as a surprise, but we actually learned our lesson from the last camping trip and packed the tent WITH matching poles. Pretty genius, right?)
After collecting some tree branches and opening up the first beer of the evening, our personal Bear Grylls (aka Johan) used his magic scout skills to set up a campfire, which we didn’t leave until 4 a.m.
As you can probably guess, our plan to get up really early and hike all day long didn’t quite work out, so that it was probably not until 10 a.m. that we finally left the camp site (after a peanut butter-Nutella sandwich breakfast) to get some much-needed coffee at the tourist office.
Nevertheless, we really seized the rest of the day and enjoyed a stunning view from the top of Mount Oberon, protected our lunch against some hangry seagulls while picnicking at the beach, and took the three-bays walk along the coast.
We also had the pleasure to meet some emus, kangaroos, and wombats on the way.
Wombats are such funny creatures. They look like a combination of a hamster, a pig, and a bear and waddle through the world with their tiny legs. Their poo is cube-shaped, they have a downward-facing pouch and apparently – that’s my favorite fun fact – they can reach up to 40 km/h
ahahaha omg I can’t even imagine
I think I would die laughing if I spotted a sprinting wombat
Before we left the Prom on Saturday evening, we had a very interesting conversation with a kangaroo researcher who was studying the social life and behavior of kangaroos by approaching them and noting down the distance at which they jump away. Fascinating, huh? When we gently cut him off after 20 minutes of outlining his research, he actually said: “Sorry, I haven’t talked to people in a while.” What a life haha.
On our way back home, the boys allowed me to drive for a whole 15 minutes, so I could finally experience the weirdness of driving on the wrong side of the road :D Luckily for all of us, one of the guys took over before we hit the highway, so that we and our beloved Holden actually made it home alive.

Sonja's stories from Down Under