Timo - Day 12 (17.3.)

It’s 17^th March; this day we’ve finished our trip to the Great Ocean Road. 

The day began at half past seven in the morning. We stayed in a hostel (Beach Backpackers Warrnambool) which was just 5 minutes away from the beach. We had our breakfast at eight o’clock. To my surprise the hostel offered us pumpernickel (brown bread) and – of course the Australians most favourite kind of bread ;) - toast. (Edit by Mrs Otten: Actually I bought the bread because some students were just fed up with toast!) We had ham, cheese, three sorts of jam and peanut butter to eat the bread with. I really enjoyed this variety of food during our trip.

After leaving the hostel, we went by bus to the beach with the intention of learning how to surf. 

All of us were very excited as none of us had ever surfed before. Each of us were given a wet-suit and a surfboard.

We ran along the beach to warm up and then stretched ourselves to avoid injuries. We were taught the names of some of the parts on the surfboard, a lot of new terms for me. First of all there was the nose of the board. The nose is the tip of the board which should be directed towards the waves. At the end of each board there is a fin. It helps you to get balanced at your board. It looks like a fin of a shark or a dolphin. 

We then learnt the basics of surfing. It will take a long time to explain them step by step but I’ll shorten it. Basically you should lie on the board. When you ‘feel’ the wave at your feet, you have to paddle for a few seconds, then get up quickly and clear. Try to ride the wave, but do it carefully, you need the balance otherwise you’ll fall off. Easy isn’t it? ; )

So we had our lesson for about half an hour. When we finished the lesson, we were allowed to go into the ocean to try surfing. We had best conditions possible, good waves, not too small, not too big, sunshine and about thirty degrees. It was awesome! All of us had difficulties in the beginning, of course, but everytime we tried we improved. Initially I underrated the power of the waves, they pushed me underwater and I tasted a bit of the salty Southern Ocean. This was not the best experience, but I improved my skills gradually. Bradley, one of the surf instructors gave me some advice. I used these tips when I was in the Ocean. After half an hour we found out where the best waves were. These ones were so big. About one or two metres high so if you were a good surfer, you had the opportunity to ride 10 meters away from shore. I was really happy as I got up the first time, just for a few seconds, but not bad for a beginner. 

Unfortunately, the time came to an end very quickly. We had to leave the water after one and a half hour. We took our boards back and had a very nice and cold shower. 

Then we ate our well-earned lunch. Surfing can be really exhausting which is the reason why we were all looking forward to getting some rest. 

At noon, we went to a city. It was a rather small city compared to Melbourne and we were allowed to go shop there for some souvenirs. We were given an opportunity to eat a meal and just hang out with friends. We spent about one hour in Warrnambool. I bought some souvenirs there and a birthday card for my exchange student’s little brother Jai. Jai had his eighth birthday on the 16^th of March 2016. After that my friends Bjarne and Jannis and me decided to go to an ice-cream shop, because of the heat. The ice cream was very delicious and cool of course. I bought two scoops of ice cream. I didn’t know the meaning of the word scoop before purchased the ice-cream. A scoop is like a ball. If you’re thinking about a ball like a football or a handball, don’t worry we didn’t eat such a big ice-cream. However, if you’re thinking about a tennis ball, you are correct. ;)

I hope you enjoyed this short summary of our last day at the Great Ocean Road.

If you’re interested in our next school day, read the following blog. ; )

Nil - Day 11 (16.3.)

The second day of the Great Ocean Road started with the alarm at 6:30 am, but after many alarms going off, my group (Roman, Nikita, Leon T., Enrico, Kenan) & I slept in. We finally  woke up at 6:45 am. The day before Mrs. Otten told us that we would meet at 7 am  at the entry of the hostel (Port Campbell) so that we can walk together to near by mountain from where we could see the sunrise. So my group had to hurry up but Leon, Kenan and I arrived 5 minutes later, so they left without us. I called Nikita and after some confusion about the trail we were able to find our way back to our whole group. So we waited together for the beautiful sunrise which was covered with clouds.

On our  return back to the hostel we had our breakfast.There was cereal, but when it was my turn to take some all the *good cereal* was already taken. I was happy that there were pancakes to eat. Then we made some sandwiches for the way in the bus.

The check-out needed to be quick because our day was very busy. We looked forward to arrive at Port Campbell National Park where John, our tour guide was waiting for us.

John Mc Cartney

John first took us threw the Low-Lying-Vegetations (bushes, grass, …) and telling us a lot about the plants and the bushfires there.

Loch Ard Gorge

On the way we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge. A wonderful place with much history. By the way, I won’t tell you anything about the history, because if I would do that my blog would be much more than one page! Most of us skimming the flat stones over the water. I was one of them who was really bad in it. Not to forget is taking lots of  photos of the location.

12 Apostles

Our next point was at the incredible 12 Apostels! You just have to look at the photo and know it’s a place which you can recommend to everyone. The Apostels are the rocks you see on the photo, but they aren’t 12 anymore because most of them eroded. However just recently some more were found below the sea level. The "12 Apostles" were formerly called "The Sow and Pigs" but that was not really attractive, so Tourism Victoria/ Government of Victoria renamed them.

London Bridge

The last rock we saw in the National Park was London Bridge. You see why it is called Bridge.

The National Park covered just the half of the day but we already saw so much, it was awesome!

The Bullant
I was sure that something dangerous will happen over our stay in Australia. And today it happened - Mrs. Otten got bitten by an insect on the way back to the bus. She was lucky that it wasn’t poisonous. 

(Edit by Mrs Otten: Fortunately it was not poisonous but it hurt quite badly. That bullant flew into my cleavage and bit me four times. Really? Once would have been enough! On the photo it does not look that mean, but I can tell you, it certainly is a nasty bite!)

Mrs. Otten also brought us an ice cream because it was so hot. The weather was so hot, that even some people got sunburn on their feet. I was lucky because I don’t get sunburnt so easily.

Nick’s feet

After another long bus ride we went to our next hostel in Warrnambool where I was in the same room groups like in the first hostel. Near to our hostel was the beach so we went all together to the beach. We enjoved the very very cold water and the music that we played on our speaker. It was an extremly good feeling! 

Beach

You think it’s over now but until yet we had something to do. After having a fast shower cause their where just three shower cubicles for the boys we went to another National Park called "Tower Hill Reserve" were we walked on the top of the volcano to have a great view.

Top of the volcano 

That was the last place we went today. When we were back at the hostel we ordered some pizza, talked and played some games. A great way to end this awesome day!

But I think I have forgot to thank our busdriver Neill who drove us everywhere and stopped when ever someone saw a Koala.

I am looking forward to have more of these great days!

New words to add:

Brolly: Another word for umberella.

Skimming: The verb that you would use when you throw a stone over the water so that it bounces.

Thongs: Another word for Flip-Flop

Målin - Day 10 (15.3.)

Today we started our trip to the Great Ocean Road. 

I stood up at 6.30 am and I went to school with my host dad by car.

We met at 8.45 am at the Keilor Campus. At 9 o'clock we hit the road by bus. 

I was very excited for the long bus tour and the excursions.

First we visited the Great Ocean Road entrance sign and we took a lot of photos.

After that we had a short break to eat and to go to the beach. Again we took a lot of photos.

The next stop was at a waterfall and we had to walk downhill because the bus wasn't allowed to drive on this road. Lynn and Yasmin were taken by the car of Mr Atkinson because they were in pain and on the way back almost everyone could go back by car. 

We were able to go on the stones and rocks around the waterfalls. But the waterfalls weren't very wet because in the last few months the weather was very dry.

Sometimes we could see free-living koalas next to the road and stopped to take photos of them. Everybody was very excited about seeing koalas but after the second time of seeing them it became boring except for Mrs. Otten! 

Later we went to the Cape Otway Lighthouse and climbed upstairs to go out and take photos of the wonderful view. It was so windy outside that the people who wear glasses had to take them off. 

Finally we arrived the hostel and had to move into our rooms. All of the 12 girls had to sleep in one room! The boys were split  up into two rooms of six and seven people.

For dinner we had sausages, steaks, some salads and bread. That was similar to a barbecue which is called 'Barbie' in Australia. The dessert was different kinds of cake.

You can check out the website on Facebook of our hostel 'Port Campbell Hostel' because they took some pictures as well and put them on their page. They even used our hashtag #bremengoesmelbourne2K16!

I also learned that sweets are called 'Lollies' here. 

Tonight we went to the beach which was near the Hostel and watched the stars.

Tomorrow we will drive on and I'm looking forward to the next days of the Great Ocean Road!

Jannis - Day 9 (14.3.)

Today is Monday 14^th March and it’s Labour Day. That means everybody has a day off. 

My exchange family and me went to Phillip Island yesterday and Daniel and me stayed overnight. Jason’s and Bjarne’s exchange families stayed with us at a rented house on the island. We played some German, Australian and Vietnamese card games until 1 a clock in the night. It was great fun and we laughed a lot. We went to bed and in the morning woke up, ate breakfast and packed our stuff to leave. On the way back home we stopped two times. 

The first time we stopped to go a Chocolate Factory called “Pannys Amazing World of Chocolate”. 

It is a very small but nice factory, not comparable to Germans. 

They explain how chocolate is made and there are a lot of things displayed which are made out of chocolate e.g. a miniature train. 

There was a glass showcase with Milka and Hachez chocolate inside!!!!! They also have some funny games to play for chocolate as reward. If you manage to win in a game, you get a little ball made out of wood which you can change in chocolate. We found out a way to win every time and how to get unlimited free chocolate. 



There was a really, really nice machine to make chocolate by itself. You can choose your flavour between Cola, Strawberry, Wasabi and of course Vegemite!!! I had some cola chocolate, but I didn’t like it. The chocolate fabric was a great experience and much fun. It is a exhibition with lots of fun and you could do many things by yourself. It was not just watching and getting facts and figures it was doing by yourself and getting to know to the chocolate world on this way. 

The second time we stopped was at the “Royal Children’s Hospital” because Ethan’s mum (Jason’s exchange Student) works there. The hospitals in Australia are completely different to the German ones. They don’t have the special hospital look as we are used to they are open and look friendly. E.g. they have a large aquarium to distract the children from their diseases. Jason’s guest mum took us around and we became V.I.P’s in her workplace. It was really interesting and I have never seen things like this before. Sadly we were not allowed to take some pictures, so I can only present you some pictures from the chocolate factory. 

Later we drove home and I packed my stuff for tomorrow. We will go to the Great Ocean Road for three days. I hope it will be a great experience, which I will never forget. For more information about the Great Ocean Road and what we are doing, read our blog tomorrow ;) 

We had dinner a few minutes ago it was really delicious. We had fish, which tasted like in Germany and I felt like back home. 

Diving-Tauchen

Weightlessness- Schwerelosigkeit

Sac- Test