I woke up with a big smile across my face. At least I assume that I was smiling, I didn't see my face... Fiji at last!
It had always been my dream to come here even though I never quite knew why and after we had decided to go to South East Asia instead of the south pacific I thought I had to give up that dream. But now we're here...
We got out of bed at about 8:30a.m. because it was hard to stand the heat inside. We went next door, a partner resort, to have breakfast which was included in the price and we found that it wasn't much colder than in our dorm but at least a light wind cooled our skin and brought a change of air. The buffet was quite nice for such a small price and we enjoyed it sitting on a veranda right at the beach. Admittedly, the beach wasn't very nice, a man made stretch of grayish sand and rather dirty water, but the view on to some of the closer islands made up for it.
We wanted to get most of the organizing done on the first day so that we could leave to one of the islands on Monday and wouldn't have anything to worry about. The area we stayed in, where most of Nadi's hostels are located, is a little bit out of town but the buses rarely drove there and so we decided to walk in the direction of town and see how we went. We ended up walking the whole way, which took us a bit more than 30 min. and was quite exhausting in that hot weather.
We had just walked past the first shops into Nadi's city center when a Fijian man stepped out of his cafe and started talking to us with the typical Fijian heartiness (Bula! Bula bula my friend, how are you today etc.). He invited Bekki to a coffee and me to a beer and told us to go to one of the local tourist offices to get a good price. He knew the woman there personally and said we would get a particularly good deal with her... After the drink we followed her to her office where she actually did offer us a quite good deal, compared to what we heard from other travelers. She was very nice as well and gave us a few directions and even though you know that the friendliness is always linked to some kind of deal it is still real and not gone, all of a sudden, when you decline the offer, which was mostly the case in Indonesia.
We went to the big market place to get some food for the next days and found a huge fruit and veggie market. We bought 3 pineapples for 2 FJD (ca. 80 cent) and made some other good deals. Next to the fruit market was the Kava market. Kava is a drink made out of the root of the local pepper plant. The root is processed and the powder mixed into water which takes on the colour of rain puddles on a very dirty street. Read more about it if you like (Kava - Wikipedia) but all I can tell you is that it tastes the way it looks, it makes you feel very tired and sit in your spot for the rest of the night and, even though you don't really like it, you sit down again the next night and have a bowl or two ( I haven't quite figured out if that has to do with addiction or peer pressure).
The first time we tried it was directly after we left the market, in a local handicraft store (souvenir shop) into which we were dragged by another of those friendly people. They wanted to welcome us to Fiji and did that with the traditional Kava ceremony which was free and supposed to make us feel as if we had to buy something in return, which seemed to be the most common trick with the tourists.
We stayed in town til three o'clock and took the public bus back to the hostel. The bus looked like an old school bus, there was no glass in the windows and to signal the driver you just pulled a string above your head that rung a bell in the front but the best part was when we drove strait on to the beach and followed it for a while, about 5 meters from the water.
Later that afternoon, we walked back from the beach after a little read on the beach, I joined the guys from the hostel next door for a volleyball session. We ended up playing for several hours (and that in a country where you sweat when you move your pinky) and more and more of the local people came who were really good. It was an epic session.
Sunday, the next day was like every Sunday should be. Warm, lazy and relaxing. I woke up quite early, had breakfast after a while and packed my bags and went next door into a different hostel. We couldn't extend our stay in the first hostel because they wanted us to pay twice the price we had paid the night before but the hostel we went to was a lot nicer. Run by a very nice staff the atmosphere and the massive mango trees were very convincing. We spent the day at the beach and around the hostel, enjoying the weather and the good vibes. We were, like everything else on Fiji time.
In the evening we joined the Kava round under a little straw shelter and I think I drank a little too much, expecting a dramatic effect that didn't come. The only thing you feel is that your body calms down, everything feels heavier and you are even too fixed to the spot to get up and go to bed. In the morning however I did have something that felt like a hangover but it might just have been from all that stuff that was sitting in my stomach that made me feel sick...
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
So that is it. Out of Australia and in the air.
It has been far too short for me to see what I wanted to see and to do what I wanted to do but I will be back very soon to finish or continue what I've started. For now we had to leave behind what had been our home, our companion and our teacher of life experience.
We have had a great and unforgettable time on this beautiful continent with ups and downs and in betweens that have formed us for the future but now we're on our way to the airport with a ticket for two flights and a lot to worry about.
We had too much stuff! Because we had planned to send some of our luggage back home from Malaysia, where it is cheap to do that, but had waited til the last day, which turned out to be a public holiday, we have a lot to carry. Fortunately the bus wasn't as crowded as the last one into the city and we had enough space to pile our bags on the seat next to me. The next thing is to move that stuff around... We have a big backpack each (strangely they are both between 18 and 20 kg), a day pack per person, a bag with the stuff we wanted to send home and one surfboard.
It turned out to be too heavy as well but the lady at the check in was very nice and helped us move things around in the bags so it would fit (Bekki had 23.6kg, I had 23.8kg and our carry on luggage was far too heavy which she kindly ignored. 23kg was the limit...). We had to pay extra for the surfboard being a bulky item and were quite happy that it was only 50$.
The security check gave me the next shock. We had our longboard trucks and wheels in the carry on bags because of their weight and the security people found them disturbingly interesting and potentially dangerous. After having all that trouble before, I didn't want to loose them as well, all together they were worth almost 200€. They found them to be harmless in the end and we could finally proceed.
At the gate we were interviewed by a government lady who asked a lot of questions about our trip and what we had done in Australia. It was interesting to review everything we had done since we had arrived back from Indo but I think it was a bit boring for her because we didn't do any of those tourist things, except for our time in Melbourne.
At last we boarded the plane, but not before Bekki had run back to get her jacket which she had left at the security check, and were looking forward to a relaxing six hour flight with free drinks and the latest movies. But the next shock was close. Our seats were... hmm, seats really, but they didn't have these great, little, private, inbuilt screens that we enjoy so much. I was devastated... No TV on the flight, only one stupid movie on a bigger screen 12 rows in front of me with a bed sound connection. The food was bad too but at least I could enjoy the beer, real Fiji beer which tasted quite good.
We arrived in Nadi on time, about 7 o'clock, ran into a woman who tried to sell us some package deal and helped us to find our shuttle, waited for our shuttle to leave (everything and everyone is on Fiji-time) and finally arrived at our hostel at 10:30p.m. It was a cheap dorm room, cheap in the price and in the facilities, but it was good to have a cold beer with some travelers and locals before we hit our beds after a at first disappointing and exhausting day, that turned out OK because we were on Fiji!!!
We have had a great and unforgettable time on this beautiful continent with ups and downs and in betweens that have formed us for the future but now we're on our way to the airport with a ticket for two flights and a lot to worry about.
We had too much stuff! Because we had planned to send some of our luggage back home from Malaysia, where it is cheap to do that, but had waited til the last day, which turned out to be a public holiday, we have a lot to carry. Fortunately the bus wasn't as crowded as the last one into the city and we had enough space to pile our bags on the seat next to me. The next thing is to move that stuff around... We have a big backpack each (strangely they are both between 18 and 20 kg), a day pack per person, a bag with the stuff we wanted to send home and one surfboard.
It turned out to be too heavy as well but the lady at the check in was very nice and helped us move things around in the bags so it would fit (Bekki had 23.6kg, I had 23.8kg and our carry on luggage was far too heavy which she kindly ignored. 23kg was the limit...). We had to pay extra for the surfboard being a bulky item and were quite happy that it was only 50$.
The security check gave me the next shock. We had our longboard trucks and wheels in the carry on bags because of their weight and the security people found them disturbingly interesting and potentially dangerous. After having all that trouble before, I didn't want to loose them as well, all together they were worth almost 200€. They found them to be harmless in the end and we could finally proceed.
At the gate we were interviewed by a government lady who asked a lot of questions about our trip and what we had done in Australia. It was interesting to review everything we had done since we had arrived back from Indo but I think it was a bit boring for her because we didn't do any of those tourist things, except for our time in Melbourne.
At last we boarded the plane, but not before Bekki had run back to get her jacket which she had left at the security check, and were looking forward to a relaxing six hour flight with free drinks and the latest movies. But the next shock was close. Our seats were... hmm, seats really, but they didn't have these great, little, private, inbuilt screens that we enjoy so much. I was devastated... No TV on the flight, only one stupid movie on a bigger screen 12 rows in front of me with a bed sound connection. The food was bad too but at least I could enjoy the beer, real Fiji beer which tasted quite good.
We arrived in Nadi on time, about 7 o'clock, ran into a woman who tried to sell us some package deal and helped us to find our shuttle, waited for our shuttle to leave (everything and everyone is on Fiji-time) and finally arrived at our hostel at 10:30p.m. It was a cheap dorm room, cheap in the price and in the facilities, but it was good to have a cold beer with some travelers and locals before we hit our beds after a at first disappointing and exhausting day, that turned out OK because we were on Fiji!!!
Leaving home...?
I can't help it but I start to hate the traveling part o the traveling.
To get around from one spot to another is always so time consuming and exhausting that you mostly need the next day to get over your "jet lag". I won't write too much about the trip down from Armidale because I seem to repeat myself in my complaints which pulls this blog a bit too much into the negative for my own liking. And if I try to filter out the positive aspects of the "only" eight hour bus trip I must say that it wasn't the worst we've ever had. Unfortunately my inability to sleep on the road kept me awake, or rather in some sort of light trance that provides some rest but keeps you aware of what's happening around you, but we didn't stop very often and each of us had two seats to ourselves.
Dylan picked us up from the bus in Narrabeen because he had to go to a costume shop for a Halloween party that night.
We had a quiet day. Dylan prepared his costume, Tim and Janelle were working and Lucy was at school so we relaxed a bit and went for a walk down to the beach in the afternoon. It was a cold and wet day but we were to tired to do anything exiting anyway.
In the evening Tim dropped us at Matt's place, where some of Newport's cool guys were drinking to get ready for the pub. It was cool to see them a last time before we left and to say goodbye properly. Back in 2007 my farewell had been a bit brief because I had skipped my last week of school and we didn't manage to get together before I left and it felt a lot better to do it the right way. We didn't go to the pub though because we had to get up early and I needed some sleep.
We had said goodbye to Dylan when he left to go to the party and to Tim after he dropped us of at Matt's. Janelle and Lucy got up with us in the morning and drove us to the bus stop where we shared a last coffee and finally parted as well. It was particularly hard to say goodby to the Barbers and the Youngs who we had called the day before because they gave us so much love, support and company during our time in Sydney and made us really feel at home there. It made our time there very special and I can't wait to go back and spend more time with them. Thank you.
To get around from one spot to another is always so time consuming and exhausting that you mostly need the next day to get over your "jet lag". I won't write too much about the trip down from Armidale because I seem to repeat myself in my complaints which pulls this blog a bit too much into the negative for my own liking. And if I try to filter out the positive aspects of the "only" eight hour bus trip I must say that it wasn't the worst we've ever had. Unfortunately my inability to sleep on the road kept me awake, or rather in some sort of light trance that provides some rest but keeps you aware of what's happening around you, but we didn't stop very often and each of us had two seats to ourselves.
Dylan picked us up from the bus in Narrabeen because he had to go to a costume shop for a Halloween party that night.
We had a quiet day. Dylan prepared his costume, Tim and Janelle were working and Lucy was at school so we relaxed a bit and went for a walk down to the beach in the afternoon. It was a cold and wet day but we were to tired to do anything exiting anyway.
In the evening Tim dropped us at Matt's place, where some of Newport's cool guys were drinking to get ready for the pub. It was cool to see them a last time before we left and to say goodbye properly. Back in 2007 my farewell had been a bit brief because I had skipped my last week of school and we didn't manage to get together before I left and it felt a lot better to do it the right way. We didn't go to the pub though because we had to get up early and I needed some sleep.
We had said goodbye to Dylan when he left to go to the party and to Tim after he dropped us of at Matt's. Janelle and Lucy got up with us in the morning and drove us to the bus stop where we shared a last coffee and finally parted as well. It was particularly hard to say goodby to the Barbers and the Youngs who we had called the day before because they gave us so much love, support and company during our time in Sydney and made us really feel at home there. It made our time there very special and I can't wait to go back and spend more time with them. Thank you.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Quality family time
Our trip up north was long, event less and boring. It took us almost 12 hours to get from door to door and even though that seems like a long time with a lot of "happening potential" I can not recall one thing that is worth remembering. Oh yeah... we made rice-cracker sandwiches with butter and salt and mine was super awesome(!!!), but that was pretty much the highlight of the trip. These Australian trains are so unbelievably slow. A lot of people we talked to actually said it would be nice to catch the train, because you get to see a lot of stuff on your way, but it does get boring after a while and the further inland you get, the more everything starts to look alike.
Never mind. We survived it alright and I had sworn never to insult the Australian logistic system again, after I've been to Indonesia.
We changed from the train to a bus for the last 30 min. from Armidale to Guyra and got picked up there from Gran.
It was really lovely to see my family again.
We stayed at Sal's place, so we could be there to help with the kids any time.... it didn't work out in the morning though, we always slept in too long. It wasn't really sleeping in though because I used to wake up at 8 o'clock but Bekki called it a sleep in.
We spent about two weeks in Guyra and enjoyed every moment maybe because it was so relaxing and we could always do fun stuff like riding the buggy. That was so much fun and you could do doughnuts on the paddock and the kids loved it when we took them for fast rides. We spend most of our mornings organizing things for our travels such as booking a hostel in Nadi and looking for contacts or hosts in CA, which didn't work out in the end :(
We often went to Gran and Pa for lunch had a chat and they helped me a lot with my passport renewal form... The second day on the farm Pa called to say that the little ducklings hatched, they were soo damn cute and reminded me a lot of our goose last summer. We helped Gran raking the leftover leafs from winter one day which was good for her and for us because my body needed some physical activity.
The kids usually got back from school in the afternoon and we played with them outside, did some drawing and helped with homework for the rest of the day. Sally worked a few days a week and got back late.It felt great to help and to take some work off her. We baked a lot and made ice cream when we didn't know what to do.
It was Amelia's 21st Birthday the first weekend and we all went to Armidale for a lovely family get-together. The food was beautiful, thanks to Ann, and we had three cakes for desert, one of them our first proudly self made ice-cream cake and definitely not our last one( A self made cookie-base, vanilla-malteser-crunch ice cream, raspberry ice cream and chocolate, chocolate-chip ice cream, garnished with fresh strawberries and chocolate) yummmm.
The whole evening was very harmonic. It felt so good to see how well everyone gets along with each other, which is a rare gift in such a big family, and the Birthday speeches for Amelia were literally eye-watering.
One day (it was hard to keep track which day of the week it was) we drove to the Wollomombi Falls about 40km from Armidale. They fall into a huge gorge that was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago and are with a height of approx 220m Australia's second highest waterfall. The view into the gorge was enormous. It is 200-300m deep and the track runs right along the edge. It was a very nice day, warm and clear but we couldn't get down to the water because the steep slopes down the hill were closed which was the only unfortunate thing about that day.
Ann invited us to her place over the weekend and so we drove there in her old car which we used while we were there. Saturday was sunny and warm and we decided to go swimming at "Bluehole", a series of rapids and waterholes flowing between huge rocks. We took Elly and her friend Maddie with us. It wasn't the best place to swim because the water wasn't very deep but we had a fun time climbing on the rocks, looking for rapids we could slide down and having a swim when the water was deep enough. Tim found a very long and wild rapid which he and Maddie slid down from half way because the top end was quite bumpy. Tim and the girls had an awesome game of Trouble (by the sound of it) and we made a pumpkin soup with too much garlic and pastries with too much salt for dinner.
Ann had to work late on Saturday and early Sunday so we took Elly out to Dumeresq dam to meet some friends. We took a little kayak which turned out to be a good decision and we had a lot of fun paddling, swimming and sunbathing, even though the water was a bit muddy.
In the evening and over the next day we spent some time with Ann which was great. We had lunch together and went through Armidale's book shops on the search for a good traveling book.We went back to the farm Monday night after dinner. On Tuesday Sally took Jack on a drive to a unknown destination to get him a birthday present. They came back a few hours later with two little calves in the back of the car. Naturally we didn't do much else than be with them, feed them and let them out for a run.
Gran and Pa came over for dinner on Wednesday. It was our last evening on the farm and our second lat in Australia. The kids performed a dance act for us in which I had to join in in the end...
It was so very hard to leave my lovely family again but it felt good to know that it won't take me as long as it took me the last time to come back.
We drove Ann's car down to the bus stop and got on to the bus at 1:35 a.m. that should take us to Sydney one last time.
Never mind. We survived it alright and I had sworn never to insult the Australian logistic system again, after I've been to Indonesia.
We changed from the train to a bus for the last 30 min. from Armidale to Guyra and got picked up there from Gran.
It was really lovely to see my family again.
We stayed at Sal's place, so we could be there to help with the kids any time.... it didn't work out in the morning though, we always slept in too long. It wasn't really sleeping in though because I used to wake up at 8 o'clock but Bekki called it a sleep in.
We spent about two weeks in Guyra and enjoyed every moment maybe because it was so relaxing and we could always do fun stuff like riding the buggy. That was so much fun and you could do doughnuts on the paddock and the kids loved it when we took them for fast rides. We spend most of our mornings organizing things for our travels such as booking a hostel in Nadi and looking for contacts or hosts in CA, which didn't work out in the end :(
We often went to Gran and Pa for lunch had a chat and they helped me a lot with my passport renewal form... The second day on the farm Pa called to say that the little ducklings hatched, they were soo damn cute and reminded me a lot of our goose last summer. We helped Gran raking the leftover leafs from winter one day which was good for her and for us because my body needed some physical activity.
The kids usually got back from school in the afternoon and we played with them outside, did some drawing and helped with homework for the rest of the day. Sally worked a few days a week and got back late.It felt great to help and to take some work off her. We baked a lot and made ice cream when we didn't know what to do.
It was Amelia's 21st Birthday the first weekend and we all went to Armidale for a lovely family get-together. The food was beautiful, thanks to Ann, and we had three cakes for desert, one of them our first proudly self made ice-cream cake and definitely not our last one( A self made cookie-base, vanilla-malteser-crunch ice cream, raspberry ice cream and chocolate, chocolate-chip ice cream, garnished with fresh strawberries and chocolate) yummmm.
The whole evening was very harmonic. It felt so good to see how well everyone gets along with each other, which is a rare gift in such a big family, and the Birthday speeches for Amelia were literally eye-watering.
One day (it was hard to keep track which day of the week it was) we drove to the Wollomombi Falls about 40km from Armidale. They fall into a huge gorge that was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago and are with a height of approx 220m Australia's second highest waterfall. The view into the gorge was enormous. It is 200-300m deep and the track runs right along the edge. It was a very nice day, warm and clear but we couldn't get down to the water because the steep slopes down the hill were closed which was the only unfortunate thing about that day.
Ann invited us to her place over the weekend and so we drove there in her old car which we used while we were there. Saturday was sunny and warm and we decided to go swimming at "Bluehole", a series of rapids and waterholes flowing between huge rocks. We took Elly and her friend Maddie with us. It wasn't the best place to swim because the water wasn't very deep but we had a fun time climbing on the rocks, looking for rapids we could slide down and having a swim when the water was deep enough. Tim found a very long and wild rapid which he and Maddie slid down from half way because the top end was quite bumpy. Tim and the girls had an awesome game of Trouble (by the sound of it) and we made a pumpkin soup with too much garlic and pastries with too much salt for dinner.
Ann had to work late on Saturday and early Sunday so we took Elly out to Dumeresq dam to meet some friends. We took a little kayak which turned out to be a good decision and we had a lot of fun paddling, swimming and sunbathing, even though the water was a bit muddy.
In the evening and over the next day we spent some time with Ann which was great. We had lunch together and went through Armidale's book shops on the search for a good traveling book.We went back to the farm Monday night after dinner. On Tuesday Sally took Jack on a drive to a unknown destination to get him a birthday present. They came back a few hours later with two little calves in the back of the car. Naturally we didn't do much else than be with them, feed them and let them out for a run.
Gran and Pa came over for dinner on Wednesday. It was our last evening on the farm and our second lat in Australia. The kids performed a dance act for us in which I had to join in in the end...
It was so very hard to leave my lovely family again but it felt good to know that it won't take me as long as it took me the last time to come back.
We drove Ann's car down to the bus stop and got on to the bus at 1:35 a.m. that should take us to Sydney one last time.
Monday, October 17, 2011
A place to stay...
...for good?
I could really get used to this. Sitting on a big couch with a huge TV (Pay-TV), a kitchen, veranda, garden,a cat and a dog etc.
But I'll let you catch up with me. We came back to Sydney because Dylan's next door neighbors asked us if we wanted to look after their house while they were away. We thought that it would be great to have a house while we were selling the car so we could get all our stuff out and set it up for potential buyers to look at it without seeing a terrible mess, and so we moved in on Saturday the 1st of October. It was a lovely old house, overlooking the ocean with a big back yard (with a trampoline) and a beautiful living area which used to be a huge veranda and, even though it's inside now, kept its beach house flair and its airiness.
We realized the advantages of having a house that very night, as a thunderstorm hit Newport with rain and cold temperatures. But we sat inside,in front of a lit fire, dry, warm and not squashed together without any space to move.
We enjoyed that week a lot. We cooked big meals, baked bread and made ice cream, we spread out all our stuff, we bought food for a few days in advance, we did all our washing and so on and so on...
It was a bit tough to get used to having a dog and a cat because that meant we had to get the feeding times right, go for walks and put up with barking and whining, but they where cute little things and it got better every day.
We also loved the company of our great neighbors, the Barbers, who we had over for dinner one night which was great fun.
Mostly the weather was beautiful in the mornings and cold and rainy in the evenings and we didn't spend much time outside. I had one surf on a quite big day which was a lot of fun but it turned out that Bekki's board was broken too. With both our surfboards broken we didn't have too many reasons to leave the house, apart from walking the dog.
We tried to advertise the car through the internet without any major success ( the only inquiry came after the car was already sold) and decided, after a few nervous days of waiting, to advertise it in the backpacker scene of Sydney. We made flyers and took the bus into town to distribute them in the backpacker hostels around Kings Cross and the central station. I didn't think we would have any luck with that but already after the third hostel three German backpackers came running after us who were very interested. They visited us in Newport, took one look and a test drive and bought it. We agreed on a price that suited both parties and they left us, car-less and with a big whole in our hearts. Don't understand me wrong though. We were very happy to sell it but it had been a good companion and friend for all of us over here and I'm sure he will have a special place in our hearts forever.
At the end of the week I finally managed to catch up with a few of my friends which was great, I borrowed a longboard and we had a long surf and a beach day and went out for dinner that night. It was cool to hang out with them again, it feels so much as if I had never left, and it's always a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed that time Newport. Having a house all to ourselves gave a little insight into how life would be living there and I loved it. I feel very much at home there and can definitely see myself living in that area one day. It is almost sad to leave that place behind again and to give up our house without a fight...
On Tuesday the 11th we took the train/bus to Guyra where we planned spending our last days on Australian soil. With still a lot to organize and book the farm seemed to be the perfect place and it would be great to go back to my family to spend some more time with them. The trip took almost 12 hours and we were very exhausted when we arrived at the bus stop where we got picked up by Gran.
It is definitely a different way of traveling when you have all your stuff on your back but we'll get used to it. The hardest part though is to decide what you keep and what you through away because of all the luggage limitations of airlines, transports and of course your own carrying capacity.
I could really get used to this. Sitting on a big couch with a huge TV (Pay-TV), a kitchen, veranda, garden,a cat and a dog etc.
But I'll let you catch up with me. We came back to Sydney because Dylan's next door neighbors asked us if we wanted to look after their house while they were away. We thought that it would be great to have a house while we were selling the car so we could get all our stuff out and set it up for potential buyers to look at it without seeing a terrible mess, and so we moved in on Saturday the 1st of October. It was a lovely old house, overlooking the ocean with a big back yard (with a trampoline) and a beautiful living area which used to be a huge veranda and, even though it's inside now, kept its beach house flair and its airiness.
We realized the advantages of having a house that very night, as a thunderstorm hit Newport with rain and cold temperatures. But we sat inside,in front of a lit fire, dry, warm and not squashed together without any space to move.
We enjoyed that week a lot. We cooked big meals, baked bread and made ice cream, we spread out all our stuff, we bought food for a few days in advance, we did all our washing and so on and so on...
It was a bit tough to get used to having a dog and a cat because that meant we had to get the feeding times right, go for walks and put up with barking and whining, but they where cute little things and it got better every day.
We also loved the company of our great neighbors, the Barbers, who we had over for dinner one night which was great fun.
Mostly the weather was beautiful in the mornings and cold and rainy in the evenings and we didn't spend much time outside. I had one surf on a quite big day which was a lot of fun but it turned out that Bekki's board was broken too. With both our surfboards broken we didn't have too many reasons to leave the house, apart from walking the dog.
We tried to advertise the car through the internet without any major success ( the only inquiry came after the car was already sold) and decided, after a few nervous days of waiting, to advertise it in the backpacker scene of Sydney. We made flyers and took the bus into town to distribute them in the backpacker hostels around Kings Cross and the central station. I didn't think we would have any luck with that but already after the third hostel three German backpackers came running after us who were very interested. They visited us in Newport, took one look and a test drive and bought it. We agreed on a price that suited both parties and they left us, car-less and with a big whole in our hearts. Don't understand me wrong though. We were very happy to sell it but it had been a good companion and friend for all of us over here and I'm sure he will have a special place in our hearts forever.
At the end of the week I finally managed to catch up with a few of my friends which was great, I borrowed a longboard and we had a long surf and a beach day and went out for dinner that night. It was cool to hang out with them again, it feels so much as if I had never left, and it's always a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed that time Newport. Having a house all to ourselves gave a little insight into how life would be living there and I loved it. I feel very much at home there and can definitely see myself living in that area one day. It is almost sad to leave that place behind again and to give up our house without a fight...
On Tuesday the 11th we took the train/bus to Guyra where we planned spending our last days on Australian soil. With still a lot to organize and book the farm seemed to be the perfect place and it would be great to go back to my family to spend some more time with them. The trip took almost 12 hours and we were very exhausted when we arrived at the bus stop where we got picked up by Gran.
It is definitely a different way of traveling when you have all your stuff on your back but we'll get used to it. The hardest part though is to decide what you keep and what you through away because of all the luggage limitations of airlines, transports and of course your own carrying capacity.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
In the meantime...
Hi folks, here we are again and I know that it has been a while and for sure too long since my last update but it is just so hard to find enough time between doing nothing and being lazy. And there isn't too much to write about.
Anyhow, almost one month has past since we set our foot into Australia again but our Indo-adventure seems much longer ago and further away than that. It is incredible how fast time goes by sometimes and how quickly memories fade away when you don't keep them close. I notice this every time I travel but what I also notice is that those memories are saved somewhere in our brains and that they come out again, when you meet the people you shared those times with.
We spent the first week in Sydney and now that I try to remember what we did back then it all seems very blurry and uncertain but I remember that it was freezing cold and that we wished ourselves back into warmer weather. We drove up to Palm Beach to say "Hi" to Beck's old boss and she offered Bekki to help her out over the weekend. We also met a guy from Avalon, he overheard us talking German in the supermarket and invited us to his place for dinner. He was a very interesting guy to talk to and we're still planning on playing a game of Skat one day, when we find someone else to play with.
All in all the week there wasn't very exiting, the weather was bad and I didn't have much to do, so I was glad when we eventually hit the road on a very early Sunday morning. We headed south, towards Bega, a small town in south NSW which is only known for its cheese and near which the Leser-Family lives. They have a funny history with us German travelers that can be traced back to Jonas S. and his school exchange. Bekki had met them last year and promised to come back to spend some more time down there.
It took us almost 8 hours to drive all the way with a lot of breaks (...oh, I do need to go to the toilet) and a continuously aging car but we were welcomed very warmly into their home. The Lesers are such a nice family and we had a really great time staying there. Mostly we enjoyed really relaxed mornings with yummy muesli and coffee while the kids where at school and had busy afternoons playing football, helping around the house and doing stuff.
We got a lot of planning done too. We managed to book a flight to L.A. with a 10 day Stopover on Fiji, which is very exiting, we planned a trip to Melbourne and we got started on the big Project of selling our car...
I had a really great surf at Merimbula, not far from Frogs Hollow, which is a beautiful spot with nearly perfect and very long lefts, peeling down over a sandbar. It was small when we were out but still fun to ride and we had a good time.
On Thursday the 22nd we took a night bus down to Melbourne (from 11pm to 8:45am) to visit Till's and Jonas' friend Belinda. It turned out to be a bad decision to go on the night bus because I can't sleep on travels (have I already mentioned that...?) which meant I had another 40 hour day. Melbourne was great though. Because we arrived early we had a look for a nice cafe to get our morning coffee and we found a great place in a side street full of colorful painted walls with street art. It was a matching first impression to what we discovered the next days. After this first day in the city and with some thoughts about buying a PSP or not I ended up with a new pair of cool shorts instead.
We were happy to come to Belinda's place in Coburg in the afternoon, she picked us up from the train station and after a short unplanned stop, the tire went flat, we arrived at her house and were very thankful for a hot cup of tea and a soft bed.
We couldn't stop praising the well organized public transport in Melbourne, every suburb is well connected to the CBD through trams and trains and it is heaven compared to what you find in Sydney.
Over the weekend Belinda showed us some of the cool places around the city. We had a wonderful lunch in Brunswick which is a more alternative part of the town with lots of unique little shops and cafes, a bit like the Schanzenviertel in Hamburg. There was a small local art market with heaps of cool stuff like self printed T-shirts, cards and, best of all, a stand selling little cacti (Hahaha, how cool is the plural of cactus). The next day we had great breakfast at the Queen Victoria Market, a huge market with heaps of stuff, from food over any form of fabric and clothes to souvenirs.
We really enjoyed our stay in Melbourne and had a great time with Belinda, she is such a cool personality, and I'm definitely going back, even if it is only to surf Bells.
To avoid the hassle of another unslept night we took the train/bus link back to Bega where we spent a few more days before we drove back to Sydney. I had another surf at Merimbula bar which ended badly for my board which broke its nose. That was particularly annoying when you consider, that the board was just recently fixed and that this will cost me another 50-100$.
We took the long trip to Sydney in two stages with an overnight stop somewhere south of Wollongong. I wanted to go for a surf in Bulli where there is another world class wave but the swell came out of the wrong direction and it was far to windy so we kept driving. The road along the coast is really beautiful with great views from rocky cliffs and it was a nice, sunny day (you don't feel the wind in the car) and we did enjoy that part of the trip.
Sydney greeted us with great blue skys and quite warm temperatures. We had a good time being away but it still feels good every time I come back here.
I am very sorry for the lack of pictures, my laziness was absolute, but in a few years it is anyway going to be me who hates me for not taking any...
Anyhow, almost one month has past since we set our foot into Australia again but our Indo-adventure seems much longer ago and further away than that. It is incredible how fast time goes by sometimes and how quickly memories fade away when you don't keep them close. I notice this every time I travel but what I also notice is that those memories are saved somewhere in our brains and that they come out again, when you meet the people you shared those times with.
We spent the first week in Sydney and now that I try to remember what we did back then it all seems very blurry and uncertain but I remember that it was freezing cold and that we wished ourselves back into warmer weather. We drove up to Palm Beach to say "Hi" to Beck's old boss and she offered Bekki to help her out over the weekend. We also met a guy from Avalon, he overheard us talking German in the supermarket and invited us to his place for dinner. He was a very interesting guy to talk to and we're still planning on playing a game of Skat one day, when we find someone else to play with.
All in all the week there wasn't very exiting, the weather was bad and I didn't have much to do, so I was glad when we eventually hit the road on a very early Sunday morning. We headed south, towards Bega, a small town in south NSW which is only known for its cheese and near which the Leser-Family lives. They have a funny history with us German travelers that can be traced back to Jonas S. and his school exchange. Bekki had met them last year and promised to come back to spend some more time down there.
It took us almost 8 hours to drive all the way with a lot of breaks (...oh, I do need to go to the toilet) and a continuously aging car but we were welcomed very warmly into their home. The Lesers are such a nice family and we had a really great time staying there. Mostly we enjoyed really relaxed mornings with yummy muesli and coffee while the kids where at school and had busy afternoons playing football, helping around the house and doing stuff.
We got a lot of planning done too. We managed to book a flight to L.A. with a 10 day Stopover on Fiji, which is very exiting, we planned a trip to Melbourne and we got started on the big Project of selling our car...
I had a really great surf at Merimbula, not far from Frogs Hollow, which is a beautiful spot with nearly perfect and very long lefts, peeling down over a sandbar. It was small when we were out but still fun to ride and we had a good time.
On Thursday the 22nd we took a night bus down to Melbourne (from 11pm to 8:45am) to visit Till's and Jonas' friend Belinda. It turned out to be a bad decision to go on the night bus because I can't sleep on travels (have I already mentioned that...?) which meant I had another 40 hour day. Melbourne was great though. Because we arrived early we had a look for a nice cafe to get our morning coffee and we found a great place in a side street full of colorful painted walls with street art. It was a matching first impression to what we discovered the next days. After this first day in the city and with some thoughts about buying a PSP or not I ended up with a new pair of cool shorts instead.
We were happy to come to Belinda's place in Coburg in the afternoon, she picked us up from the train station and after a short unplanned stop, the tire went flat, we arrived at her house and were very thankful for a hot cup of tea and a soft bed.
We couldn't stop praising the well organized public transport in Melbourne, every suburb is well connected to the CBD through trams and trains and it is heaven compared to what you find in Sydney.
Over the weekend Belinda showed us some of the cool places around the city. We had a wonderful lunch in Brunswick which is a more alternative part of the town with lots of unique little shops and cafes, a bit like the Schanzenviertel in Hamburg. There was a small local art market with heaps of cool stuff like self printed T-shirts, cards and, best of all, a stand selling little cacti (Hahaha, how cool is the plural of cactus). The next day we had great breakfast at the Queen Victoria Market, a huge market with heaps of stuff, from food over any form of fabric and clothes to souvenirs.
We really enjoyed our stay in Melbourne and had a great time with Belinda, she is such a cool personality, and I'm definitely going back, even if it is only to surf Bells.
To avoid the hassle of another unslept night we took the train/bus link back to Bega where we spent a few more days before we drove back to Sydney. I had another surf at Merimbula bar which ended badly for my board which broke its nose. That was particularly annoying when you consider, that the board was just recently fixed and that this will cost me another 50-100$.
We took the long trip to Sydney in two stages with an overnight stop somewhere south of Wollongong. I wanted to go for a surf in Bulli where there is another world class wave but the swell came out of the wrong direction and it was far to windy so we kept driving. The road along the coast is really beautiful with great views from rocky cliffs and it was a nice, sunny day (you don't feel the wind in the car) and we did enjoy that part of the trip.
Sydney greeted us with great blue skys and quite warm temperatures. We had a good time being away but it still feels good every time I come back here.
I am very sorry for the lack of pictures, my laziness was absolute, but in a few years it is anyway going to be me who hates me for not taking any...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Malaysia again
Back in Malaysia we discovered that KL has a third terminal, only for AirAsia flights, and that we didn't know how to get into town from there. It was easy to figure it out though and only took one and a half hours to get to our hostel. There we met Luci&Lorenz again, the couple from Munich whom we had met at lake Toba. To be honest it wasn't so much of a surprise because we had had some contact via email and had agreed to meet each other there. It was still funny because we arrived in KL on the same day and also all leave on the 4th. We also had mainly the same ideas about what we wanted to do in Malaysia without talking about it. We ended up sharing a 4 bed dorm to save money.
Coming back to a city you have already been to always feels weird to me. You feel confident because you're not completely lost but there's still so much new to discover although I tend to go to the places I know first. We went back to the Indian place first for lunch and started to discover new places afterwards. In the evening we met our companions and watched the new Harry Potter movie (they hadn't seen it jet). We spent some time those days to wander through malls and bazaars, imagining to be rich enough to buy a watch for 2000€ or a Mac/iPad etc. On Thursday 1/9 we took the bus to Melaka, a city south of KL with rich architectural heritage. It was a two hour bus ride in a bus at least a million times better than any bus in Sumatra, and a bit of a walk before we found a nice dorm room in the heart of china-town. We went on a sight-seeing tour that early afternoon and had a look at china-town and the old dutch, Portuguese and British buildings that are still left over from the colonial era and are protected by the UNESCO's world-heritage foundation. It looks good but isn't really that impressive than we thought. It was a cloudless day and it was really hot in the sun so we went back to our hostel to lie down a while. I also managed to get a cold from all the fans and A/C's which is really annoying and stupid. I mean... how do you manage it to get a cold in such a hot country? But I could get some rest and we set off again after dark to have a look at some more stuff before we went to a Pakistani for dinner. The food was really good, spicy but good, and we had a great evening together.
We continued our tour after a long sleep in but didn't see too much new things because we had decided to leave at 4 o'clock and I only had breakfast at about 1pm. It was another hot day which made it all very exhausting and we had to make a lot of breaks in between. The bus ride back was OK but we all were quite tired so I red the whole way and tried to sleep a bit. Our hostel offers a free dinner on the rooftop every friday night and we were lucky enough to be in time for that. It was a tasty buffet of rice and sauce combinations and really cool since we didn't have to pay for it. We decided to have a look if we found a movie we all liked which was harder than we thought and we ended up having a drink (not what it sounds like... we had tea and juice) at an Indian place. Bekki and I fell in love with the Indian food over the time we were here. We had always enjoyed the Indian cuisine before but at the moment it is almost the only food we eat. They make the best bread (naan and roti) and it is really cheap as well. I usually get up late and have a roti with banana or onions for breakfast and some naan or vegi-rice for lunch or dinner. I've started to eat only twice a day (with snacks in between of course) because it is a lot cheaper and I don't really need that much. I still feel hungry some times but I'm getting over it. That is really good for our budget but heaps of my pants don't fit me anymore.
We're spending our last days relaxing and shopping, I have no idea how that works together, and I'm still fighting my illness but don't worry, it doesn't feel like fever so no malaria. We might go and see a movie tonight or just have some Indian food but we have to go to bed early tonight to catch our flight at 9am and we have to be there at 7am and the bus to the airport takes 1.5 hours and leaves at 5.30am. I don't know why but I'm really looking forward to the flight. I think it's because we have spent so much time in small aircraft where we had to pay for our food separately and couldn't watch movies. Or I just like planes...
Coming back to a city you have already been to always feels weird to me. You feel confident because you're not completely lost but there's still so much new to discover although I tend to go to the places I know first. We went back to the Indian place first for lunch and started to discover new places afterwards. In the evening we met our companions and watched the new Harry Potter movie (they hadn't seen it jet). We spent some time those days to wander through malls and bazaars, imagining to be rich enough to buy a watch for 2000€ or a Mac/iPad etc. On Thursday 1/9 we took the bus to Melaka, a city south of KL with rich architectural heritage. It was a two hour bus ride in a bus at least a million times better than any bus in Sumatra, and a bit of a walk before we found a nice dorm room in the heart of china-town. We went on a sight-seeing tour that early afternoon and had a look at china-town and the old dutch, Portuguese and British buildings that are still left over from the colonial era and are protected by the UNESCO's world-heritage foundation. It looks good but isn't really that impressive than we thought. It was a cloudless day and it was really hot in the sun so we went back to our hostel to lie down a while. I also managed to get a cold from all the fans and A/C's which is really annoying and stupid. I mean... how do you manage it to get a cold in such a hot country? But I could get some rest and we set off again after dark to have a look at some more stuff before we went to a Pakistani for dinner. The food was really good, spicy but good, and we had a great evening together.
We continued our tour after a long sleep in but didn't see too much new things because we had decided to leave at 4 o'clock and I only had breakfast at about 1pm. It was another hot day which made it all very exhausting and we had to make a lot of breaks in between. The bus ride back was OK but we all were quite tired so I red the whole way and tried to sleep a bit. Our hostel offers a free dinner on the rooftop every friday night and we were lucky enough to be in time for that. It was a tasty buffet of rice and sauce combinations and really cool since we didn't have to pay for it. We decided to have a look if we found a movie we all liked which was harder than we thought and we ended up having a drink (not what it sounds like... we had tea and juice) at an Indian place. Bekki and I fell in love with the Indian food over the time we were here. We had always enjoyed the Indian cuisine before but at the moment it is almost the only food we eat. They make the best bread (naan and roti) and it is really cheap as well. I usually get up late and have a roti with banana or onions for breakfast and some naan or vegi-rice for lunch or dinner. I've started to eat only twice a day (with snacks in between of course) because it is a lot cheaper and I don't really need that much. I still feel hungry some times but I'm getting over it. That is really good for our budget but heaps of my pants don't fit me anymore.
We're spending our last days relaxing and shopping, I have no idea how that works together, and I'm still fighting my illness but don't worry, it doesn't feel like fever so no malaria. We might go and see a movie tonight or just have some Indian food but we have to go to bed early tonight to catch our flight at 9am and we have to be there at 7am and the bus to the airport takes 1.5 hours and leaves at 5.30am. I don't know why but I'm really looking forward to the flight. I think it's because we have spent so much time in small aircraft where we had to pay for our food separately and couldn't watch movies. Or I just like planes...
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