Byron Bay to Melbourne – off the beaten tracks

So off we go, back on the road with our „Mighty Boy“.

Since we didn’t want to stay on the big highways we decided to travel inland through several National Parks. We followed the Waterfall Way with its “alpine-like” roads as it was mentioned in the Lonely Planet.

Well the Australians haven’t been in the mountains yet. Still the scenery was beautiful and the roads were adventurous.

At the Dorrigo National Park, its informative Rainforest Centre and the picnic area Never Never, we went trekking to different waterfalls. On our trek we met 3 young German backpackers who had been travelling most of the time by foot. Wow, the Never Never Picnic Area is situated 20 km in the middle of nowhere. Respect!

Here it comes, our first frosty night. On a river bank armed with winter hat and gloves we prepared our dinner since it got really cold after sunset. Getting in our sleeping bags quickly, watching a movie on the laptop and then went to sleep. The next morning our windshield was iced even from inside.

Those are moments you just want to go in a nice, warm room but this will be just a dream for the next months. We have to get used to those temperatures as it is winter time in New Zealand.

Since we love to sleep away from the big streets, we discovered this nice off-road Wenham Camp at the Warby-Ovens National Park. And we had been alone. The next morning we went trekking and observed beautiful, colorful parrots.

On our trip down to Melbourne we have seen so much nature and animals again. We had thousands of crazy colorful parrots and cockatoos as well as a red-bellied black snake. The problem with those snakes is the quick speed they get to run away from you, so no picture.

So let’s go to the second biggest city in Australia.