Easterbunny-macerator-Hitop discovering the Road at the Ocean :)

A CAMPERVAN FULL OF EASTERBUNNIES
We woke up early to get our new car: a little van to replace the Toyota. Pick up time: 08:00. Drop off time of the Toyota: 11:00. Plenty of time, we thought....
We didn't get the promised small van, we got an upgrade: a lovely hitop that was nice. But somehow it took ages and ages. We had to watch an instruction video of how to set up our car....?! Instead of telling us the important things about where the gas bottle is, how much liter the water tank has, etc. we were forced to look at something which had the intelligence level of "please do not put your cat in the microwave". We were growing impatient. When we then finally got our newly washed car at 10:25, we had to hurry. Unfortunately, the new rental place was not in the city center as the old one, so we really had to rush through the traffic. Jan in front, Mar driving behind. It's sometimes hard not to forget that your steering wheel is on the right (wrong) side. Only one near collision. Without a scratch we finally delivered the Toyota at 11:10. Sadly enough, we forgot our swiss army knife in little pocket at the front console. Number 7 of important items that we really lost. No one answered the phone at Hertz, and of course no one handed it in as found.  In other words: annoying!!!

Our car stacked full of chocolate Easter bunnies that were on sale at Aldi!! just like home and they were GGOOOODDD :), we headed off towards Geelong, the first "bigger" city south of Melbourne. It's biggest attraction being a number of (over 100) colourful wooden bollards, created by local artist Jan Mitchell. (Meaning wooden pillars in the shape of people). We slept 10 minutes in the park and decided to move on. Our "free" camping guide did not give many options, it was going to be a long way. Every beautiful beach, where you could be staying perfectly with your car, had a little sign "no camping - fines apply." For those that were clever enough to say that a little tent sign doesn't apply to a campervan, they invented a "no sleeping in cars"  sign. A little car with three zzzs and a rend strip. Very, very disappointing. What else do you have a campervan for?? I can understand it when too many people leave rubbish etc. or not use the public toilets (there are many!), but still it was sad. We tried every bay, with the same results and a frustrated driver. We ended up on Hammonds Track, which is 10 km into a dirt track, in the forest. You drive the Great Ocean Road to be with the ocean, not the forest :(

SHOPPING SHOPPING SHOPPING
But at the campsite, we did meet 2 other couples and started a large campfire together. Eucalyptus leaves burn like dynamite I can say; it's not hard to understand that bushfires spread so fast, with all the oil in the leaves firing up the heat. I burnt a hole in my brown skirt :( We tried to bake our sausages, many turned out really black :S  One of the couples had just come back from Torquay (where we were) and went shopping. What we hadn't seen was the great Easter sale of wetsuits and everything else at the Quicksilver and Billabong headquarters. So when we heard about this in the morning, we decided to drive back. It's not too far, and if you really want to, you could do the Great Ocean Road in one or 2 days. It will just be really stressy. So off we drove, back to the surf epicentre south of Melbourne. We had just missed the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition, as the waves had been really good, and they didn't need to extend and wait for better wetter (as had been in the previous years). But: we did end up with a garbage bag full of stuff, including a new wetsuit for Mar for 25% of the original price. Not a bad deal. Sad that we almost didn't find anything for Jan. And.... a new hat for Mar (as she kept burning the tip of her nose). 

FUZZY GREY FRIENDS
So, armed with a bag full of stuff (how on earth are we going to get that into the 20kg allowance of Tiger Airways?), we continued the same way we came; back to the south, past Aireys Inlet (with a beautiful lighthouse) towards Cape Otway, the most southern point of our route. At Kennet River, we quickly turned into the Grey River Road, and already after 20 meters we were really lucky: 2 Koalas were hanging less than 2 meters above the ground!!! They are really cute mammals, furry and lazy looking. All they do is sleep and eat, change tree and eat, and then sleep again oh ja and poo :D. We were surprised that when they are active, they are actually not as slow as you think. One ran over the ground to get to his new food supplies with swift movements! By the way, don't mix the koala up with the Australian drop bear ;). The koala is harmless, while the dropbear likes to drop down from the tree, killing tourists ;). 
Near Cape Otway (the lighthouse really is a tourist trap), the koalas hang high in the trees; if you know where to look you will see many!!! Here we were again really lucky, finding two koala's really close to the ground, willing to pose for a picture. A Chinese lady had to touch the bear of course. Grrr. She received some really angry looks from us. We found another nice spot in the trees to camp freely, called Parker Hill. This time with a little bit of view over the ocean. 

LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN, FALLING DOWN.....
We continued to what the highlight of the Great Ocean Road is supposed to be: the Twelve Apostel, a group of limestone rocks out in the water. It has never been 12 though, as it is a continuous process that destroys rocks, and washes out new ones. The yellow striped cliffs are similar to those in the south of Portugal. Beautiful, but somehow not as impressive as expected (maybe because we've seen something like this before?) and sadly enough full of (Asian) tourists (that drive on the wrong side of the road). 

We somehow didn't get far that day. We spent some time at London Bridge, a limestone bridge that used to have two arches. When it crashed in the 90s, leaving two horrified tourists trapped on it, it turned into an arched island. It is here that a second penguin colony houses (the other is at the 12 Apostel). At last, about 40 minutes after sunset, the penguins appear from the water. Little black and white figures shoot out of the water amd waggle onto the beach, sometimes having difficulties to keep standing when the waves crash in again. They form a group, sheltering behind a rock. After a loud squeaking concert, they part from each other, waggling on to their nests, protected by the dark.

HEARTBEATS IN OUR THROAT
We stayed that night on a parking space, in a little covered side track that was not to been seen from the road. Careful not to make noises, light etc. we watched a movie when a car with full lights on pulls up close. Actually two cars. Our hearts thump. Could it be police? Soon we notice it's other campers. And now we do understand why they start forbidding freedom camping, even though it annoys us extremely. These campers were the loudest, most ignorant idiots ever. Taking flashlight photos for half an hour, shouting loudly and leaving ALL their trash behind. So thats one of these examples where a few idiots ruin it for all overs... How can you be so stupid!!! ??? Arriving around 23:30 and then leaving again at 05:00 with the same theater. Jerks, no other words for it. The only positive thing: we were up early enough to see the penguins again. It's amazing, you hear them before you see them in the dark. The husbands say goodbye to their wifes and then form a group again. The obliged squeaking starts again, and like little bullets they disappear, as invisible as they came.

TURNING AROUND AND LOOKING BACK
We came as far as Peterborough. Had breakfast in bed with the hatch open - breakfast in bed so to say :) and fished for a while without catching anything. It was at the London Bridge where we met the Stuwe family again, from Hamburg. A wonderful thing, meeting people from home in a place that hardly could be further away from home. 

We spent the last three days together, the time flew by. We trialed Mar's new wetsuit when surfing, bought some better bait (pipis, little shells) and tried more fishing. We bushcamped on Johanna Beach and watched a gorgeous sunset together. We laughed about doing-your-thing-in the bushes on the other bushcampsite further down the road (Jamieson Track) and ate pancakes for breakfast. We boogieboarded and shared stories; it was like home. Thanks for the good time together and see you soon :))

And so we looked back on us. Did we change in the last months? I guess the answer is both yes and no. When meeting with familiar people and things in an unfamiliar environment, still the same patterns exist; so no. I'm still me, we're still us. We look the same, sometimes act the same; but still we look through the world with different eyes and we observe ourselves in a different way. I've learnt, a bit at least. To observe more without judgement. To reconsider things and give it a second chance. To be patient (a bit). To trust again (while being careful). To have confidence in nice people around the world. To stick even more to that what my heart and stomach say. And to laugh more and worry less. And sometimes, it's these familiar circumstances that make you realize you did change, even though not much. And that both persons in you are there: the old you and the new you. And it's both ok.

So a week flew by and we returned to Melbourne, sadly not only having to say goodbye to the Stuwes, but also to Nadine, and with that to a bit from home again. We checked 2 bags in with 20.4 and 19.8kgs. Not bad. Surfer's paradise, here we come!!