Blue Mountains with its beautiful scenery was our next stop before the big city. We spent two nights next to a little river joining an Italian traveler. He had collected plenty of fire wood so we could chill out at the bonfire with a glass of wine and the cold nights got a bit shorter.

The Gran Canyon Walk – thought the Gran Canyon is in the US – was mind blowing. A bit of the Alps combined with lush jungle. Three rocks emerging from a massive forest are called three sisters. It is said that there father turned them into rocks to protect them from an evil wizard. After his hunt he wanted to turn them back but the evil wizard keeps him away from his daughters.

We just had finished a 4 hours hiking tour so we also wanted to do the Giant Stairways. The signs where pretty clear about the level of the track -“very steep, very strong walkers only.” So off we went and the legs felt a bit like jelly afterwards. Heart rate was under control. Good that our campervan was parked away another 2.5 km.

It was just a great time and we would have loved to spend some more for hiking but the time had come to drive to Sydney. We have to sell our lovely campervan Mighty Boy. So let’s get to Sydney.

We had a bad timing about the place we wanted to stay at. One day before Tify flex to Brazil so he wasn’t in Canberra when we arrived. So we found a free campground just 15 km outside of Canberra. Since we arrived in the afternoon we decided to drive into the city and go to the Convention Park.

After a stroll through the park and at the lake we went back to our car. So we where just about to leave the park when Mighty Boy (our campervan) just turned off. After several attempts to start again we new, we have to call the road assistance.

No other way than calling NRMA (a company cooperating with the AAA) and a patrol man came out. Sure it was just after 5pm on a Friday, so everything already closed. It was the ignition coil and unfortunately the one he had, was to powerful for our car. So he got the towing company to bring it to a mechanic. All for free since we are members of the AAA.

Mark, the patrol man was so nice to organize a great hotel room for an incredibly great price. So we stayed in the Median, in an apartment with 2 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 dining and 1 living room, washing machine and dryer – for $ 99 p.n.

So you have to know a bit about accommodation prices in Australia. A dorm bed is about $ 39 (means p.p.) with shared bathroom. So why paying $ 80 and sharing room and bathroom when you can get this crazy luxurious apartment for $ 99?

Next morning we went to the mechanic and it was closed. We tried to reach several mechanics but on Saturdays they all seemed to be closed. So we tried to organize this coil which wasn’t so easy because Mark said, if we have the coil we should just call road assistance again and they will put it in.

The taxi driver was also so nice and charged only half the price to get us to the place to buy the coil. Back again we called the NRMA and another patrol man came out to put the coil in. So off we went. Or we thought so at least. After 3 km our car turned off again. 2 more times road assistance came out and figured out that our ignition modul is broken as well.

Got towed back to the mechanic and thankfully got this fantastic room at the Median for the same rate for another 2 nights. Finally Mighty Boy is running again, all fine.

So on Sunday and Monday we did some sightseeing in Canberra and we have to say, Canberra doesn’t have a lot of charm with all the dark skyscrapers and strange buildings. But the one which really impressed us was the Australian War Memorial.

The museum was huge and you could have stayed for another 2 days to explore. All the interaction and displays was a great way of learning more about the history, also for us big kids.

Before Mighty Boy becomes Naughty Boy again we have to move on. We are heading to the Blue Mountains since we have only one more week left in Australia. On the 27^th June we are flying to New Zealand.