Bye bye Australia

Unbelievably, our journey through Oceania is "already" over. We can hardly believe it, when we arrived in Perth on 26 March, there was still so much time ahead of us and we didn't even know how long our journey in the region would last. It has now been almost 7 months. Southern Australia with the metropolises of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. The impressive drive to Uluru and beautiful Tasmania. The two main islands of New Zealand. Warming up on Fiji and Cook Island. The varied east coast of Melbourne, Philip Island, the houseboat in Mallacoota, Canberra, the Blue Mountains and, of course, bustling Sydney. The beaches on the Gold Coast and surfers' paradise. Brisbane and of course Cairns, although we liked Port Douglas better. The somewhat shaky diving safari on the Great Barrier Reef was a really great experience. And, of course, our first experience of campervan life in the still very unspoilt Northern Territory of Australia. We were able to explore all these destinations extensively, everything went very well, we didn't have any breakdowns and apart from the odd cold, we were always healthy.

The many wonderful encounters will also remain a lasting memory. We met Manon from Sydney at Uluru and then again later in Sydney. Kathy and Ian from Christchurch, with whom we cooked and baked. We met Jenny and Brad in Fiji and later again in Brisbane. Markus worked with Miriam at Wüst, she lives with her family near Canberra. We met Stephan from Seedamm Plaza in Coogee Beach near Sydney for a chat. And, of course, the warm-hearted Michael with his two poodles and his friends on the Gold Coast.

What we couldn't capture in the many pictures were the ever-present many free-living birds and their calls at any time of day, the smell of the various eucalyptus trees and the calming rustle of the leaves of the many different trees in the botanical gardens or in the unbelievable vastness of this region.

We are returning to Mauritius with so many impressions and it will take quite a while to process everything, sort through thousands of photos and get used to "normal" everyday life again.

It was also very nice that you all accompanied us and that we were always able to keep in touch. We didn't miss work, but we missed our family and friends a lot.

By 1 October, we had flown 20 times in Oceania and stayed in 58 different accommodations. We spent the night in a campervan at eight different campsites. We rented eight cars, a houseboat and a campervan and drove around 10,000 kilometres. We booked an UBER 23 times and took a taxi five times.