Surfing trip and Australian farewell party

Now I have two days left in Australia before heading off to Thailand. On Sunday we had a farewell BBQ on Bondi Beach with some people whom I met during my travels and whom I already knew before.
I had ten wonderful months of traveling, saw some beautiful places, met many nice people. But I am also quite happy to get back to Germany or Europe, find a new job, flat and a city to settle. I am missing my friends and family a lot and I will be very happy to be closer to them soon :-)!

Our two weeks in Sydney and New Year's Eve

First thing was getting new haircut on December 31st from Christian - a German friend of Dirk and hairdresser from Duesseldorf ;-). Then Cigdem, Thomas, Tong, Norbert and me spent New Year's Eve in Balmain. We decided around 8 pm where to go to. We had a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant and afterwards we watched the fireworks from the jetty. We had a great view of the Harbour Bridge from there. The fireworks were quite short (15 minutes) but it was a great experience to see them live.

Now we are here since Christmas and we are really happy about Andrew's, Piyapat's and Thomas' hospitality. We got a room for the three of us in their house and it is so nice to have a place to stay for a while.
We visited some beaches, the Art Gallery, some pubs, different suburbs, markets etc.

Selling of the kombi and the last drive to Manly

On December 27th some people who were interested in the kombi came along and took some views. In the end a couple Michele (Swiss) and Neill (Australian) decided to buy the kombi and I was happy with this because they are really nice people.
On December 28th Cigdem, Norbert and me drove over the harbour bridge to bring the kombi to Manly where they lived. We had some farewell drinks in the Bavarian Beer House together.

We have seen around 309 other kombis on the roads within 23.700 kms. These were the road kills on the trip (only caused by other people):
Dead kangaroos: 909, dead cows: 35, dead sheep: 7, dead snakes: 2, dead wombats: 2, dead birds: 2, dead emu: 1

Drive to Sydney and Christmas BBQ on Bronte Beach

After a Mexican dinner in Fitzroy / Melbourne we started to drive towards Sydney.
During the three days of traveling around 1000 kms we visited Victoria's oldest vineyard Tahbilk, Wagga Wagga (a huge inland city) and the capital city Canberra. We didn't like Canberra so we only stayed there for some hours.
On December 24th around 6 pm we arrived in Lewisham / Sydney at Andrew's, Piyapat's and Thomas' house where we stayed the following two weeks. We had a huge dinner with around 25 people on the 24th. It was nice to experience a Christmas party with so many people in an open house. They had made delicious Thai food and we also had some drinks and nice chats.
On December 25th after exchanging of the Christmas presents and a yummy lunch Cigdem and me spent the afternoon on Bronte Beach with some drinks and watching and chatting to other people. On the beach we bumped into an Asian group and did some funny photos with them.

On December 26th Cigdem and me drove to Bronte Beach again and this time we had a nice BBQ on the beach. Later in the afternoon Dirk and his boyfriend Trevor came along, too.

The way to Cradle Mountain National Park and our hike there

We had another beautiful drive to Cradle Mountain. All over Tasmania we saw some really cheesy Christmas decorations like you can see on the photo. On the way we got into a sheep herd and had some problems to get through because we were taking too many photos ;-) The cowboys helped us to get through without hurting any sheep.

In the Cradle Mountain NP we were thinking about booking a helicopter flight but it was too expensive. So we walked around Lake Dove and enjoyed the awesome views of Cradle Mountain.

Our last night on Tassie we stayed in a caravan park in Penguin (that was really the name of the town).
On December 21st we took the daytime ferry to Melbourne but unfortunately we were freezing again.

Freycinet National Park and our visit of the Wildlife Park in Bicheno

In the Freycinet NP we found another sleeping spot right on the beach :-), Cigdem was really amazed about the Australian sky full of stars. We did a nice hike up to the lookout of Wineglass Bay and found a very nice spot for a short break in the sun.
In the afternoon we visited the Wildlife Park in Bicheno. Cigdem bought a bag full of animal feed. When she opened the bag two kangaroos with joeys came over and scared her a little bit so that she let the food fall on the ground and passed the bag over to me.

We saw heaps of kangaroos, snakes, Tasmanian devils (which were quite ugly), emu, ostrich, birds, wombats, koalas etc. In the end we really enjoyed feeding them, they were gentle and tame.

Mount Wellington and Port Arthur

After Hobart we explored the region around Tassie's capital city. The kombi made the long and steep way up to Mount Wellington from where we enjoyed some fantastic views.

In the afternoon we drove towards Port Arthur where we found our nicest sleeping spot directly in a small bay. There was only one more camper van - a nice Australian couple. We had dinner and breakfast on the beach :-)

The next morning we visited the old ruins of the convict place Port Arthur. It was interesting to walk through the ruins and getting to know something about the life there over 150 years ago.

Our trip to Tasmania and our first stops

After a eleven hour ferry trip, snoring seat neighbors and freezing temperatures on the Tasmanian Spirit ferry we arrived in Devonport - in the North of Tasmania.
We first drove through the Western Tiers mountains to get to Hobart for the Saturday markets. On the way we visited some murals (wall paintings) in Sheffield, did a short hike to the Liffey Falls and enjoyed the beautiful and quite varied landscapes. Our first night together in the wildness we stayed in a small town called Kempton. At the rest area there you also get free power!

On Saturday morning we drove to Hobart to visit the famous Salamanca Market. On the way we searched for a place to take a shower and asked a girl on the street for advice. She told us to go to the local footie ground where they had a Christmas party. When we arrived there the girl had already told her boyfriend we were coming to take a shower and five guys welcomed us and wanted to show us the showers. They also wanted to take showers with us because they were already really drunk at 12 o'clock ;-)
In Hobart we visited the market and walked through town. On the way we saw a nice vet hospital and Santa Claus on a motorbike. We had some seafood at the Constitution Dock and left Hobart later in the afternoon.
Near Kingston we found a nice picnic area right at the beach where we decided to stay for the night.

Cigdem's arrival in Melbourne and my backpacker special present

I got up at 6 am to pick up Cigdem at the airport. First thing we did was having breakfast in Brunswick in a small cafe. Then we checked in a caravan park in Coburg - a suburb of Melbourne.
The following two night we stayed in a backpacker hostel in St. Kilda to be closer to town and explored the city. We visited Brunswick, Richmond, Fitzroy, St. Kilda, the city centre and some museums, e.g. the National Gallery of Victoria. We bought two cowboy hats and wore them a lot. When we went out one night everybody kept on asking us why we were wearing these hats and if we are from the countryside etc.

Cigdem, Kerstin, Flo and Jutta made me a backpacker special advent calendar. From December 12th to 31st I had to fulfill some special tasks like wearing a German accessory a whole day, creaming the back of two strangers with sun lotion, decorating a Christmas tree and some more embarrassing tasks. When I gain 20 points I will get a present when I come back to Germany. Because I didn't have my own laptop with me and we couldn't use a computer every day I still have two more days to fulfill five more tasks before Cigdem is finally leaving Australia.

Our drive with the kombi on the Great Ocean Road

Stewart and me decided that the Great Ocean Road is a Good Ocean Road because it isn't near the ocean all the time. Most of the time you are traveling through mountains etc. The landscape around there is beautiful. We visited the Bay of Islands, 12 Apostles and the Cape Otway National Park. We stayed on a Brimbi Caravan Park in the NP and right above us in the trees lived heaps koalas. With our neighbors on the campground (an Austrian guy and a Canadian girl) we made a hike to the Rainbow Falls on the beach and I found some really amazing shells.

On December 10th we arrived in Melbourne in the evening and stayed with Stewart's Scottish friends for one night.

Adelaide, the Barossa Valley and nearby sights

My second visit to Adelaide wasn't much nicer than my first one. I'm just not really impressed about the city. For me there is no atmosphere there.
Stewart played golf in the Barossa Valley and I visited some vineyards and tried some really fantastic Barossa wines. I also visited Bethany, the first German settlement of the Barossa Valley, a lookout of the valley and a German bakery and butchery :-) I had a really nice day with good wines, nice views and some good German goodies like Vollkornbrot, Bienenstich and Leberkaese.
Close to the Barossa Valley Stewart and me visited the Herbig Tree, where a German family lived in from 1855-1860. Unbelievable how they can live in a small tree like this.

In the afternoon we visited the family Clezy in One Tree Hill. The Clezys lived in the same house in Wullenstetten where I lived from 1995-1997. They are an Australian family with eight kids and we had a BBQ in their garden. I really enjoyed the time we spent with them because they were so welcoming without even knowing us and we also played cricket there.
The next day we drove through Hahndorf and had a Weizen in the local pub.

Half Way Across Australia in Kimba

For me it was more than half way but Kimba is exactly half way between the West and East Coast of Australia. We spent some time in the Community Hotel and got some tips for visiting the Barossa Valley - the wine region near Adelaide. In the pub the Aussies tried to take the mickey of us because they told us about the dangerous drop bears ;-) Somebody told me the story about the drop bears that love backpackers and drop from the trees and bite them before so I just kept smiling. But Stewart was a little bit scared first and then realised the joke really fast. We could take a shower in the motel of the bar and slept on a rest area in town.

Longest straight road and the boarder to South Australia

The way through the Nullarbor Plain was really plain and boring. There was the longest straight road in Australia (146,6 km) and besides this not a lot to see. They announced all kinds of animals but unfortunately we couldn't spot them.

My new travel mate Stewart and our visit of the big mining city Kalgoorlie

For the travel from Perth to Melbourne I searched for another travel mate to share the long drive, fun and petrol expenses. There were some people replying to my lift offer and finally a Scottish guy named Stewart and me decided to travel together.
Our first big stop was the mining city Kalgoorlie where heaps of people fly in and out for work. It is in the middle of nowhere but the miners get really good wages there. So most of them fly there, work for two weeks and leave for the next week, then come back and so on. There are some bars where the waitresses serve in their underwear or even topless when they get enough tips. We visited the Hall of Fame - mining museum, the Superpit - a big working mine and the end of the Golden Pipeline Trail (650 km) which is running from Mundaring (near Perth) to Kalgoorlie. We were driving the whole way beside the pipeline.
In the Hall of Fame I was searching for gold and found a tiny bit that they probably put in there for satisfying the tourists ;-)

Becoming a boomerang instructor

During my stay in the Perth Hills and on the weekend of 25th-26th November 2006 in an extensive course Juergen showed me how to fly a returning boomerang correctly. He introduced me in all the safety expects and told me some stories of the development of the boomerangs and his work with the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people originally never used returning boomerangs because they only used boomerangs to hunt animals. We also handcrafted some boomerangs to take back to Germany.
On November 29th I got a certificate and now I am an official boomerang instructor and member of the Aboriginal Boomerang Association.
That's a very special professional training I gained in Australia ;-)!

My first drive of Juergen's Landcruiser

Last Sunday we did an excursion in Juergen's Landcruiser (model 1972). Juergen showed us his former home turf and he was surprised how much has changed since he has been there the last time. Our final destination was a boomerang oval where we got some more boomerang flying lessons. Tomorrow I will go to Perth City and look for some Christmas presents. Besides I will meet some people who are interested in traveling to Melbourne with me at the end of November.

Visiting our ranger from the lake in Secret Harbor

Chris is the ranger at the lake where we are staying. He is really nice and always offering us some jobs so that we don't have to pay rent for staying on the campground. Last Saturday he invited us to his house in Secret Harbor. After a drive that should take us around an hour we finally managed to arrive there after two and a half hours of driving. We had our bad working personal navigation system Juergen. When we finally managed to arrive there and we made the first steps in the house we were surprised how many children were sitting and running around. But they all were wonderfully happy and kind children. There were also two adopted Aboriginal babies because they couldn't stay with their biological parents. Chris' parents were taking care of them. Chris' dad also showed us around his property and we met some pet emus, kangaroos, nice birds, six puppies and kangaroos. It was a fun day and a nice day with a big Australian family - a whole new experience with so many well behaved Australian kids because normally they do what they want.

My new boomerang career

Knowing Juergen means also knowing an Australian known and official boomerang instructor. The last week we were practicing a lot of flying boomerangs. My shoulder already started to hurt but I am getting used to it now. Juergen is trying to educate us to some boomerang instructors. Yesterday we repaired and glued all his broken treasure-boomerangs and today we tried to fly them. Later in the evening we did a competition whose boomerang would land closest the person throwing it. And believe it or not but I won :-)!

Climbing Diamond Tree (51 meters) and our spectators

Down in the southwest you can climb a really old Karri tree near Pemberton. The tree is called Diamond Tree and a former fire lookout. There were some metallic steps in the tree so that we could climb up to the viewing platform at 51 meters. The way up was a little scary or at least increased my adrenalin level a bit. But the way down was quite easy.

Wine/cheese tasting and visiting Cave Lake near Margaret River and Denmark

Near the famous wine and wind-surfing town Margaret River we had some nice wine tastings. The best wines and port we found were at Lamont's and Mad Cow. But the greatest spot for wine tasting was the Denmark Cheese Cottage because we could try wonderful cheeses there and some wine in between.
We also did a guided tour through Cave Lake and got a spectacular lightshow in the cave.

Our visit of the Busselton Jetty and Underwater Observatory

Unfortunately we had to realise that we weren't able to swim with the dolphins in Bunbury so we decided to visit the Underwater Observatory in Busselton. The jetty to get there was really long: around 2 kms. Down under the end of the jetty we did a guided tour and saw some nice corals and fish. One "suitcase" fish was coming really close to the watching window and said "hello" ;-)!

Traveling southwest with Norbert and Gudrun and our first nice sunset at a place called Australind

After some "interesting" experiences with travel-mates in general (not only my ones) I decided to visit the southwest with some people whom I already knew. I met Norbert in Cairns because he was writing me a text message when I was looking for a travel-mate asking me if I am serious about traveling around the whole of Australia in an old kombi van. He is a car mechanic from Germany and was really surprised when I told him that I am serious about this plan. Norbert's sister Gudrun came to visit the first two weeks of November and then we travelled southwest together. I had many ideas and suggestions where to travel to and they were happy to have their personal tour guide. We spent ten days and realised that down there all the town are really close to each other. Compared to my former travels in Australia there were no distances at all.

My long-term stay at a lake in the Perth Hills

I really did meet Rebecca in town and we had some cocktails together, It was great because I could stay at her place for a night and the next day use their internet for free.
Most of my time before (24.10.-04.11.) and after the trip southwest (13.11. until now) I stayed at a lake about 45 kms out of town. It is a beautiful landscape and during the week we have the campground for ourselves. I am staying there with Juergen whom I met in Broome and Norbert whom I met in Cairns. We can do some work in the park like raking leaves etc. and then we can stay for free. Today we worked around three hours each and this gives us about a week of free rent.

Arrival and stay in Perth

On October 23rd after a night digging the kombi out of the sand near a rest area ;-) we arrived in Perth. It was quite strange to be in such a big city after four months in smaller cities and the outback. Tine and me booked into a hostel in Northbridge and had a fun night going out until 2:30 am. She first invited me for dinner in an Italian restaurant and afterwards we went for beers and dancing to a crowded bar. The next morning I drove Tine to the airport and we had to say goodbye after such nice holidays together :-(
I spent the last week at a lake out of town because it is much cheaper. Tonight I will meet my neighbour Rebecca Schulte from my hometown who is working in Perth for half a year.

Kombi cruising through the Pinnacles

After visiting Kalbarri National Park with some nice gorges, lookouts and cliffs we drove on to Cervantes. There we got some information from the Visitor Centre and drove to the Nambung National Park. Unbelievable we could actually drive through the Pinnacles as you can see on the photo. I thought that it is so stupid that they let people drive through this beautiful landscape and at the same time it was fun to do so...

Shark Bay: stromatolites, Monkey Mia and Shell Beach

We drove to the Shark Bay Peninsula. On the way to Monkey Mia we visited the stromatolites in Hamelin Bay. Stromatolites are considered "living fossils". living microbes that build the stromatolites are similar to those found in 3,500 million-year-old rocks which are the earliest record of life on earth. Shark Bay is one of only two places on earth where living marine stromatolites exist. In Monkey Mia which is a real tourist spot we encounted pelicans and dolphins. On the way back we visited Shell Beach which is made up of millions of tiny shells.