sabine auf reisen

2009-04-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm writing these lines using a university computer in Potsdam. Yes, I'm back home.

I spend 3 really great days in L.A. enjoying Mike's cooking skills as much as the Ghetty museum and the beach of course! Thank you so much again.
After that I was headed to Colorado. Where, despite the pessimistic predictions of some fellow travellers on the plane we could land. No snowstorm, so far. But once I got to Fort Collins, about 1 hours drive from Denver it started snowing, and it didn't stop till the next morning. Which was fantastic! A belated X-Mas for me :o) They even closed down the university on Friday by midday. So everything was looking good for Susan's and my snowshoeing adventure.
Once we got the car on Saturday morning we took off into the rocky mountain national park. But I have to tell you think twice before you rent a car with enterprise, at least in Fort Collins. We had agreed on a pick up at twelve. But when we got there this unfriendly looking woman told us we have to wait. After 30 min her colleague turned up, busy with handling another customer. She talked to him and then returned to us offering us a twelve seater minibus! Apparently that was the only car they had available. What the f..k. After having set our eyes on the monstrous vehicle we decided not to take it, not just because you cann't park it anywhere, but the petrol costs would have killed us. NO WAY. Disappointed and angry we asked for alternatives, but she couldn't come up with anything. So we went back inside the office, seeing our weekend plans vanished. But then there was tis third guy telling her there is another car 5miles away, thats available. So finally after waiting nearly 90min we could drive off in a malibu/chevrolet. Why did it take them so long to figure that out? This woman was just totally incompetent, as were her colleagues.
But hey. The waiting was worth it. Snowshoeing is so cool! We went down south as well, to the Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek and the royal gorge bridge. The highest suspension bridge in the world, but entirely for tourists. Yes, thats right. There isn't a use for her other than having tourists paying money to see the bridge, maybe cross it with the car. But it's not used as part of a public road? Don't ask, it's definitely worth seeing but still doesn't that make it less a bridge, if it's not used as a bridge? Like for normal traffic? Anyway I enjoyed the stay in Colorado very much and hope to go back one day. Maybe employ Sonia to be my guide then :o)
After Colorado I spent the last weekend in London, or better to say in Sutton, south of London. With my friend Steffi and the Chandler family. This has been so nice. I knew Steffi moved last year but I didn't ask where to, so it was a nice surprise to spent the weekend, with Claire and Neill and their 3 kids and Steffi. Arriving in London I went to Greenpark and had a quick look around Trafalguar sq. since Steffi wasn't free till 6pm. And what can I say being back in europe for only 3 hours, I ran into a demonstration. The last 8 months everything exiting as far as it concerns politics happend on tv. But being back in europe I instantly was surrounded by political activists. I didn't know but the G20 summit was taking place only a few km from me. I should've paid more attention, but then the news in the states only had the snow chaos as headlines. What can you do...
So, so much to my last adventures, I will put up some more pictures within the week. But as for writing I think until I start my next travels there will be no more posts. I enjoyed the time, the people I met and the different countries I went to equally. I recommend it to anyone just thinking about taking time off to go travelling, don't think twice, do it. You won't regret it. No matter how long, how far or on how much a budget. It opens your mind and your heart!

2009-03-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

During the last week I made my way up north stopping in Taupo, Rotorua and finally arriving in Auckland yesterday. In Taupo I stopped for 2 days, with the intention of hiking the tongariro crossing, but like it always is you cann't predict the weather in the mountains. So unfortunatly it was windy, raining, foggy and I could only see for about 100m. Then 2 days in Rotorua and then up to Auckland. On my way here I caught a cold, so I wasn't really up to anything today except go to the museum, which was really nice. Now I only have to organise my luggage and tomorrow I'm off to L.A. paying Mike a visit. I'm not sure how the internet is over there so you may have to wait a little bit for more news.

that's the descent to the emerald lakes, of which there are 3, but at the time i could only make out two :o( - the more a reason to come back and try again :o)

that's a maori cemetery in Rotorua, the stinky city. It's incredible you have to cope with the smell of rotting eggs constantly. It's in the same thermal active area as Taupo but here it just hit's you in the face once you get out of the bus.

a marae - maori meeting house, the carvings are so amazing

that's taupo again, at the craters of the moon park. That was the only place in taupo where you could smell the Sulphur, other than that there wasn't much action no Geysir, no explosions only some small boiling mudpools.
Which reminds me I could also smell sulphur on the Tongariro crossing. And that made me think of how it affects a climber since the amount of oxygen in the air is replaced by the sulphur? And we are talking about alpine hiking. any ideas?

And Taupo again, the further north the more maori culture.

2009-03-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

The last weekend I spend in Napier with a nice Couchsurfing couple and their dog Ngaru. That's maori for wave, and i just loved the dog. It's not a really good picture but anyway.

That's a famous statue of a maori pincess, appenrtly she drowned in the sea.

Some art deco images

2009-03-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from my stay at "Maraetuna Farm" close to Havellock North

from a naerby lookout, in the background the pacific ocean

somewhere on the farm, don't askme where. It's just so big I couldn't say.

That's Mt. Ruahepuh (tangariro national park). that's a view from the farm close to Taihape. Yes they have actually two farms. And I was lucky to see both.

That's the homestead from a nearby hill

2009-03-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

a first glimpse of the Art Deco in Hastings

the famous opera house, and keep in mind in Hastings living only about 50.000 people. They are serious about Art.

Ok that has to do for now. I'm off to Taupo and the Tongario Crossing.

2009-03-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

on request of a certain friend - some more pictures

searcing for those "rings" spots

Wellington skyline

Cuba St. Carnival

traditional maori tattoo

free concert "Fur Patrol" - guess they found a new fan

maraetuna farm

2009-03-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, I made it from Wellington via Masterton to Hastings about 2 Weeks ago and there I got picked up by Sandra one of my hosts for the last 2 weeks. I decided to do a farmstay to experience the "true" New Zealand. And it worked out really well. Sandra and Ken live about half an hour from the next bigger town on a fairly big farm with cow and sheep and a couple of dogs, cats, chicken. Just like a proper farm. They even have a second one about 4 hours drive to the north west. We went there last week and it has an even better view. It's close to Taihape and once your at the homestead you are on the biggest hill sorrounding Taihape, so everywhere you look you look into the valley. We arrived there around 1am so we didn't see much and it was freezing and really windy. But the next morning the sun was out and the view made up for the unfriendly welcome. The next two days we were counting and weighing sheep, putting through a shower with chemicals against insects and all the other stuff that you do on a farm. Down here on Maraetuna I cleaning jobs and also some farmwork. And I can hardly believe it my time here is already up. It's my last day tomorrow and then I'm heading to Napier. A town well known for it's Artdeco building. Apparently around the 1930 there was an earthquake which destroyed the old town so they build a new in the recent building style. So I'm pretty excited.

But now it's diner time for me -lamb of course, so catch you guys later.

2009-02-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

one of the 3 sisters, from 20m away

the vally view

what it should look like

2009-02-27T18:44:00.000-08:00

like I said Sydney was overcast the whole time

2009-02-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

Well, well....

I spent 2 days in Canberra with a cs (couchsurfing) couple. Really nice guys. Thursday we had home cooked pasta and yummy wine and on Friday - you won't believe it we went to a burlesque-party. Apparently there was a fringe festival on, so free parties for every one. Really interesting. It was kind of burlesque dancing groups, comedy, theater and they even had a guy that could manage to put a 60cm long sword down his throat. And he survived, of course. He even told the audience that he holds the guiness-record for his sword trick, but I'm not sure, sounded a bit flaky. Anyway Canberra is smaller as I thought. Again. Somehow I had this impression that the cities in Australia are really big, but they are not. Even I thought Sydney is really small, compared to Berlin for example. The thing is, and I may repeat myself, Australians tend to have their own little house rather than to live in a flat, So cities tend to be really spread out. But compared to cities with the same amount of squaremeters the population is smaller.
I then shared a ride with one of Kristies frineds to Sydney and spent my last 4 days in Austrlaia in the capital. And unlike the weather in Melbourne it was about 20 degrees celcius and raining. YES! The one time I'm in Sydney it was raining the whole time, but for one afternoon. But still I got the opera and the habourbridge and all the other tourist stuff. I even managed to go to Katoomba - the Blue Mountains- somehow hoping that it's far enough away for a weather change, it wasn't! So I stood on top of echo point, looking into the vally and couldn't see further than 30meters. So no nice valley views, or pictures of the famous 3 sisters. Only when I got down the Giant staircase, below the clowds I could see further than the next tree. Oh well, it wasn't to be. I guess.
And then I was off to Wellington, New Zealand last Wednesday. Having spent the last 3 days here I really like it. I stayed with another cs-friend enjoying the Cuba St carnival.
I finally made my mind up on buying a SD-Card reader so I put on some pictures tomorrow.

2009-02-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

WOW it's been a month already since my last entry, sorry guys.

just to let you know, I'm not affected by the fires. As I said I moved down south the coast and all the fires so far are in the north. So lucky me.

But honestly I really am surprised about the casualties of just the last weekend. But probably so are loads of Australians as well. Given the history of the country one would have thought they would cope with fire far better but, as anywhere else you are only more wise afterwards. Sadly enough.

Oh by the way... I'm off to Sydney, finally :o)

catch you later

2009-01-15T03:29:00.000-08:00

salut,

I moved to Geelong around 70km from Melbourne down the coast for a job. I spent the first week of 2009 together with Sonia looking for a job and thanks to her I did get one - in Geelong. There is this German restaurant called "Rheingold" and since there is no nightly public transport between Melbourne and Geelong I moved here 2 days ago. I found a room 30min walking from the city center in a house (with garden) sharing it with 3 other people and 3 cats. It's quite nice. Although it means a train journey of about an hour back into Melbourne.
In the restaurant I'm working as a waitress and also do some cleaning. And despite the name I don't have to wear the traditional south german dress, at least not for the near future, since Erik the owner has to order new ones first.
Last Saturday we had a full house 180 people. really busy. But rather busy than having nothing to do :o)

You have to check out the link to our x-mas trip pictures, Sonia put some more on.

2009-01-06T00:36:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

happy new year to everyone. It has been a while since the last entry, but there wasn't much to report. Sadly I'm still looking for a job, never imagined it to be so hard. But i did manage to get my mind off things at least for a little while. I went hiking with a CS friend, along the great ocean road. Very exhausting but also very pretty. Sonia is a web designer, so she took it into her hands to put our pictures up on the web on a special website. Hopefully the following link will work:

http://soniapowell.com/img_3396.html

As you can see we came across odd signs, interestings animals and a beautiful landscape. Oh and it's not a porcupine but a echidna!

We started on Christmas (on the 24th) in Princetown and made our way back to Apollo Bay - the offical starting point. As we soon found out we were going the "wrong" way. The Park administration put up a one way trail sytem for the Great Ocean Walk. We both never heard of such a thing before. So in the end we just kept on walking, getting weird looks from passing walkers.
Camping the first night on the beach. Yes - imagine spending christmas night on a beach all to your self. Ok there was this one couple that showed up aroung 10ish, scared the hell out of us. But since it wasn't a ranger we didn't mind.
The next days we went down the coast, camping in hike in campsite's provided by the park admin. There we were able to refill our waterbottles and use a simple toilet - but no showers of course.
The campsites were really good maintained, but the trail itself... Hardly any signs, only in one direction, no colour markings for different routes and the provided distance notes varied within one camp between three different lenghts. But anyway In the end we only spend around 4 hours in total trying to get the right track. And there were other issues that kept us busy.
Since we but didn't really have a clue for how long we are going, when we went shopping for groceries we ran out of food on day fourth. According to the map the is a shop at the lighthouse in Cape Otway. But they didn't sell anything useable besides postcards, maps and snacks. So we were making plans to go to a nearby village/store which neither of us was sure how far away from the trek it would be. But then lucky us, we shared the campsite with a church group from sydney. And thanks to them our last day was saved.
On our last day we walked back the last km's and ended up in a proper drive in camping ground, with showers. Yes. Just in time after cleaning time. So we got a free shower on the way as well. Just what we needed.
Although I was wondering how others cope. I mean Greyhound says in it's terms and conditions that they can refuse to transport you if you obviously haven't had a shower for some time. I don't know if the same applies to this transport company? Who know's.
So in the end we spent 6 days - 5 nights on the trail and were back in Melbourne just in time for New Years Eve celebrations. Hope you enjoy the pictures, there are more to come.

2008-12-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

after first X-Mas decorations in Townsville (around the 12. Nov) I arrived in Melbourne just to be one of the lucky one to attend the big Myer X-Mas Streetparty.

a huge crowd waited in brilliant sunshine for the things to come

and after various famous disneystars like Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Scoobydo

some alien Starwars troopers made their appearance. Rather friendly and kind, shaking hands and waving to the kids.
And like i said before after about 3 hours finally father Christmas rolled down the street in his sledge with loads of presents.

And all that still in November. I wonder how you keep your kids spirits up for more than 4 weeks. By then the parade will be probably long forgotten. Hm.

2008-12-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

One of the three koala's lazily sit-sleeping on a tree branch.

2008-12-13T20:01:00.001-08:00

finally some more long promised pictures:

That's what Bowen actually is famous for, even my hostel had it's own Mangotree in the courtyard. Unfortunately it wasn't quite the season, though.

The beach where Hugh Jackman or was it Nicole Kidman spent his family-days during the "Australia" shoot. And where we found a new friend!

really cute! But we couldn't keep him :o(

2008-11-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

hey, still in Melbourne, still unemployed :o(
Ok i do have a job tomorrow, but only for a day - selling...guess what....

German Sausages! Yes!
On a concertvenue so it's not to bad, hopefully. Although the band didn't ring a bell "Stereosonics" - or am I just not up to date? Does someone know who they are?

Anyway i did work on trail the last two days but same answer as before, they will call, hm. Apparently I'm not the only one, according to StudiVZ there are others with the same problem. But that's not really comforting. Wish me luck.

Sabine

2008-11-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

I'm still Melbourne and did find a room quite easily, it's only a matter of how much money you can afford. It's north of the city center, but still in the city. So now it's just about getting the money to pay the rent. And of course settling down a bit for the next two months or so. First thing i did was joining the libary - free internet :o) Unfortunately their computers don't have Cd- drives so no new fotos for the next time. The landlady is chinese from Hongkong, but spend some time in England and did her Phd in Melbourne.
Quite a bit odd for my reasoning, very concerned about saving water, recycling and not wasting to much energy. And thats me saying it. But i told myself it's only for a couple of months so i think i can cope with it. And the room is quite nice. She even offered to lent me her old Computer for free.

Hope everyone is well and getting excited for X-Mas.
Here there are going nuts, having decorated every major street and even had the first big Christmas Parade already. And it's only november?! I'm curious how they are going to top that.

2008-11-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

cairns esplanade by night

cane toad race in Cairns, although i couldn't place a bet (too late) was quite fun

cairns "beach"

2008-11-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

aborinal rock paintings

camp fire in the bush

Ayers Rock (sunrise 5.45am!)

2008-11-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

the olgas

Leagh our crazy guide on the Ayers rock tour doing a 3 dimensional lecture in the wild

Kings Canyon

2008-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

hey guys!

I'm sorry it took quite a while bust as promised some more pictures. just a few not in order just as i found them on the camera.

Well, finally I'm in Melbourne, spend about 3 days in Townsville after i left Bowen, to catch a flight down on Wednesday 12. Nov. Townsville was quite nice and guess what, i saw wild koalas, yes not only one but tree, well two and half one was just a baby, but still. Except i don't have the baby on camera, because some dumb-assed german guys had to climb up the tree and touch the mother, so the baby hid afterwards and wasn't to be seen for the next half hour or so. Great!
Anyway now I'm looking for a job again and for a room to stay, which is not in a hostel. I'm getting fed up with hostel, as nice as they might be, but to have some privacy for a change will be nice. So wish me luck.

Oh yes congrats to Bianka as well, excellent job.

2008-10-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, just a short notice. I'm in Bowen. Yes the very well known village, also called Bowenwood. As it is a place to be seen in the upcoming big Movieblockbuster this summer, at least in Australia. The Film is called "Australia" staring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine - X-Men). Supposed to be really good, showing all the interesting parts of australian history. We will see. Starts in November I think.
But anyway. I'm working! Yeah!
Sorting tomatoes in a really small factory. You know those sun dried, red ripe tomatoes in oliveoil, yeah those are the ones. It's the closest I could get to fruitpicking, something every Backpacker should have been doing while on a working holiday visa in Australia. So in about 2 weeks I will be finished and will probably fly down to melbourne. Thats it for now. I will put some more pictures on shortly.

Hope you are all well

P.S. congrats again Sabine, M.D.

2008-10-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Been to the great barrier reef and this time i even got around to buy one of those disposeable cameras. Excellent viewing conditions, although the weather was crap - rained the whole day. But since i was already in the water and wet it didn't really matter. The pictures turned out to be be pretty bluish, but that's the depth. The pictures from Dora and Zhushi are more colorful, but they were taken while snorkeling so pretty close to the surface. Spent the last days in Cairns with the two hungarian girls i met on the Ayers rock trip, i really enjoyed the company.

Cairns as a city is truly dedicated to tourism, every second shop is either some food store or a booking office for the various trips. But the marina and the sea esplande are pretty nice to walk along.

Now i'm trying to decide what to do next. going down south doing some fruitpicking on the way, since I'm running out of money :o(

or fly down south directly to Sydney or Melbourne, to get an office job there and start saving money for the NZ trip. Trickey question.

2008-10-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been to the rock. Did a 3 day tour with 21 other people and a very nice guide. We had a really good time, hiking trough Kings Canyon ( a proper canyon, not like the Grand Canyon in the States with is actually a gorge - at least that's what Leith said - a studied geologist for that part), hiking trough the Olga's and the valley of the winds and of course around Ayers Rock. We also went to see sunset and sunrise there. The Sunrise was awesome, especially since we had to get up at 4.30am to be there in time. But in the end we even got the best spot, so the early morning rise was soon forgotten.
The Sunset in the other hand was a bit disappointing -large groups of other tourists (some of them even equipped with champaigne and appetizers, how posh...) and the sky was pretty cloudy :o(
But anyway we got out our beer and had a fantastic chicken curry, cooked on the spot by Leith.

We camped in the bush two nights in a row amongst cattle and dingos (by the sound of the noise)and got to appreciate the bush television.

Sorry guys but pictures later on, since there is no cardreader nor a cd-drive at this internetcafe.

Ayers rock on it's own part was pretty interesting. The Aboriginals own the property sorrounding it but had to lease it to the government for the next 99 years that's till about 2080. I wonder if they will still allow tourists there when the time is up, since they still use certain places for special ceremonies.
Oh and you can climb it as well, but they ask you not to. One girl from my group, Holly she didn't know that you could climb it and got really excited when she heard it's possible, but when we got there the path was closed due to strong winds at the peak. Afterwards i even read in the lonely planet that you have to be really lucky to be able to climb there. They can close it due to the weather, as well as for aboriginal purposes. So it's a bit trickey to know beforehand.

I'm flying out to Cairns today, so I'm a bit in a rush. pictures later.

Sabine

Greyhound

2008-10-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

having spend so much time on greyhound buses - and probably spanding even more on the way down the east coast. I thought i owe greyhound a special blog entry. It's not as legendary as the Ghan but there is something. It's the way of travel i reckon. Especially in a country like australia I want to see as much as possible, so being on a bus with big windows is the easiest way of doing that. Even though going by plane would be cheaper and quicker i decided to join the millions of greyhound customers. It's not only about going by bus, it's the drivers, each individualy skilled and able. If you are lucky you get someone like Granny (Minilya-Broome) who had a nice choice of music and films, and cared about her customers.
If not, you get someone like James (Minilya -Exmouth ret.) his whole vocabulary consisting of "get in, be back in 5, sit there, get out" No music, no films, no explanation on where we are in the middle of the night when we had to get off. Although his bus was the most compfortable one, old but compfy.
Or you get some like Dave and John, no music and no films for a 10h busride. Thanks mates. I know it's about the scenery, but still a change from time to time is nice.

But that's not all its the fellow travellers as well. Going from Perth to Exmouth i had this weird couple in the row in front of me. She thin, fairly good looking and long blond curly hair, him short, a missing teeth - worker type. We boarded and first thing they did, throwing a Jim Beam advert- blanket over their row. There is airccon in the bus, but still having a thick blanket on your knees doesn't improve things. Especially when your attempts to stuff the overhandging bits between seat and window is getting undone by this nice blond lady. But eventually we where settled, she is sitting sideways his head in her lap, no worries with that.
After an hour or so she starts complaining I'm sitting too close! What the f... . It's a bus for christ sake, not a 3 by4 kingsize bed.
After the second stops she asks if we could swoop seats, so they would have the last row, don't ask me why, they all have the same size and amount of space. But no problem with that. So at the next stop before getting out she starts moving her stuff, which takes quite a while. While I'm getting out of the bus, the driver having noticed the fuss in the back, asks me what she's doing. I tell him, no point in hiding the change. After the break the driver stops me and this couple before getting on, telling us that we have to ask permission. And since we didn't there is going to be no change in the seating arangements. She looks at me, and later asks me if i complained with the driver. Why would i, if i offer the seat in the first place?
Anyway in the end they got off the bus in some small town, although she told me they where going to Broome which is even further away from Perth than Exmouth, but they get out earlier than me? No idea. But the best thing is, you recognised the long blond curly hair? It was a whig. I had to look twice when she removed it, but in the end the whole appearance made much more sence.
But you can also meet travelmates on the way, like jess and sarah. We ended up in the petrol station in Exmouth around 5am, having to wait for the hostel to open. We start chatting and in the end they told me there is more people coming, and they will rent a car and i could join. How nice is that. We also went to Broome together and met in Darwin again, since they also booked the train to Alice springs. In the end we even did the same tour to Ayers rock. They booked months earlier. But i wasn't sure, and honestly forgot to call the agency. But calling them on Saturday if they have a free space for the next week, i ended up with Jess.
So taking the greyhound really is about having luck and being in good mode. Only afterwards i heard about the canadian story, that a young traveller got stabbed, beheaded even while driving through canada. Hm, gets you thinking.
Oh, one more thing the sleeping and sitting is difficult in the greyhound but way better than in the Ghan - so much for the legend. But the redsaver seats are just crap.

2008-10-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

hey everyone, sorry has been a while. I'm in Alice Springs now. Just got of the train. The Ghan - big issue out here, legendary even. It's all about the quality of the ride and seeing the landscape, compared the german trains and even english train it is slow! And then we even stopped twice for about 4 hours in some small town. They offer tours while you wait for the train to be ready, although i don't get why we stop in the first place. And the thing is, every trainstation is way out of town, some 15km. It's the only railwaytrek there is, everything else is being moved by ship or lorry. It's amazing coming from europe with a railnetwork as good as the roadnetwork. But then the history of the train explains how hard it was to get the trek here even in the first place.
Oh and as i said it's only a single pair of railtracks. Which made it tricky for the freight train passing us in the other direction. But eventualy they managed.
Back to Alice, it's hot here about 40 degrees, but not as humid as Darwin. Thank god. I definitely am not able to get used to the heat, at least up until now. Tomorrow starts a 3 day tour to Ayers rock. I'll let you know as soon as i'm back. - internet hasn't been as cheap as here for a while :o)

2008-09-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

I even went to the bush. It's amazing to see that despite the dry sorroundings flowers and trees still grow and even blossom. I heard from a local that the wet season after 2 day's of rain in january was finished. So you can imagine the only thing that you will not find in the bush is water. In oposition to that it's a peninsula, so it's sorrounded by the sea. Locals call themselfs sand groopers, some kind of animal, so that says it all.

2008-09-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Some of australias native inhabitants in their natural habitat

2008-09-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

That's the Navy Pier in Exmouth, one of the top ten diving sites in the world, And i dived there. Yes! After having to do a refresher course i was allowed to go diving. But the visibility was pretty bad so they canceled the second dive :o( But guess what, i went on wednesday at the ningaloo reef wich is just as amazing as the pier. loads of fish, seasnakes, reef sharks and turtels, and by the end of the day on our way back we even met some whales. Yeah.

going north

2008-09-18T03:37:00.000-07:00

Howdy, finally for me counting votes is over. Yippiehhhh. No more "smile and nod". Now I can think for my self again. I have to tell you i really got cose to the guys at work, working without them the last two days was really different. There's Lisa always up for a chat, knows pop music better than i do and provider of cookies and delicious brownies - can't wait to get the recipe. Karen introducing me to Marco Bublay - i hope that's how you ride his name. A Canadian singer, does anyone knows him? Than Gillie and Stuart first i didn't get it but they are married and Stuart just got a new job in Melbourne, how exciting. By the way in our group which was about twenty people 3 got a new job beginning within the next two weeks. Incredible, especially when you keep in mind how german CV's look like. Traineeship at firm a and than working there till retirement. But yes i know it's changing nowadays. I was wondering if you can make out the year/decade when it started to change. I would reckon after the wall came down plus 5 years. After that the mentality of employers and workers changed. But thats me thinking.

Yes, I did change plans and stayed a little longer in Freo than planned, but hey thats how it goes, isn't. Anyway I'm leaving to Exmouth tomorrow - 20 hour coach ride - I can't believe i really do this, and i don't even like going by coach. But i want to see the country side and thats the only - quickest way. Since i have to be in Darwin on the 4th of October to catch a train to Alice Springs.
So hopefully on sunday i will be able to have a look at the ningaloo reef from underwater. Reactivating my diving skills.
Leaving also means leaving aileen behind. She staying in Perth maybe jobbing at the perth royal show. Sounds pretty impressive but from what i heard its just about cows, sheep, agriculture and fairground things. But hopefully for her good money.

Hope everyone is well, enjoy the autumn.

P.S. Bianka calm down, you will get to it. No point risking health problems.

2008-09-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

went to see an australian football match just by chance. but it was nice and i think i got the rules. It's pretty different to the normal german soccer. It's not about the elegance and fitness of the one or two players in front, but about the team. A fact i really like. Also spant a day in one of the brewery's, tasty beer, hm. Have to take Aileen. Yes she got the job as well in the end, which makes the stay even nicer. Although she is really suffering having to cope with her supervisor. This women is so awful. Luckily i got my little french cheeky from toulouse, used to sell wines in his own store!- Anyway it's really good money and I am even staying longer than i first intended. I'm leaving to the north next week.

2008-09-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

this is a quokka. a mixture between a rat and a kangaroo. BUT CUTE!!!! Met three of them on Rottnest Island. The only place where they survived. And they are the name giver of the Island. Apparently when a dutch Sailor first set foot on the island he saw them and said something about rat's island and as time went by it became rottnest. A story every native knows say's Lisa. A working colleague = i should better say also a victim of boredom. You would not believe it. I've been counting votes since Monday in double shift's and it is tremendously dull. It's not the counting itself, it's sitting around for everyone to be ready . Waiting having a cup of tea, waiting again. I know i shouldn't complain, hell you get paid for sitting around. But i tell you having actually something to do is a relief at least during this week.

2008-09-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

isn't that beautiful. At least i hope so - the computer I'm working on has got a problem in showing the proper colours. But anyway that's sunset at Cottelsloe Beach. Awesome!

2008-09-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

Hey, hey,

leaving to Fremantle tomorrow :o) Although the guys in the hostel are really cool. I'd like to see a bit more than Perth. And .... guess what I've got myself a job! Thanks to Eileen, she told me about it and than i just went there to check it out. And when I left they said - see you on Monday. Now I feel really bad because Eileen doesn't know if she is going to work there at all. Not that i got her job in the end? That would be really mean, wouldn't it?
It's admin stuff, helping during the WA elections but still 20$/h. The best offer so far. :o)

2008-08-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

just a few images from where I am now. The top two are from Cottelsloe Beach - where i went swimming and than the skyline of Perth. Right now I exploring the city and the surroundings. Next week I might go to Fremantle. It's supposed to be an artist city, pretty laidback and friendly. Will see if "the bible", aka lonely planet is right on that.

2008-08-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

spend the last two days organising things and doing practical work. But i'm almost done now. Went to the indian ocean today. Beautiful! Even though it was freezing cold I couldn't stop myself and went in for a swim. Nice. And great waves, seems to be a good place to learn surfing.

2008-08-24T04:22:00.000-07:00

Hello from Perth, around 20 degrees celcius and blue sky. Yes, spending the last four weeks in countries with monsoon season and pretty high tempratures this is a welcomed relief. As it turns out I'm not a tropical person. Finally I am in Australia.
Despite my worst fears going trough customs was a piece of cake, if i may say so. I even spend 5 AUS $ for a quick printout of my bankaccount at the airport in Bangkok but they didn't even want to see my return ticket.
Anyway i haven't been around the town but that's the plan for the next week or so. Also getting all the paperwork done.

Sabine

2008-08-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hi from Bangkok. Did arrive on time on thursday and spend the last 2 days sightseeing and shopping. I think Bangkok is going to be one of my favorite towns so far. Really nice people, a river trough the middle and a skytrain (like the greenwich-lightrailway). Speaking of it it does remind me of London. I went to a weekend market today, that was just like Camdentown in its old days with an asian touch. Really big and really busy. Loved it.
Kie, the couchsurfing host wasn't really around due to her work but anyway i did get some Thailand insights from her. Seems i missed the most famous thai soup, something for next time maybe :o)

Hope everyone is doing well, next time from Perth.

Have to leave at 5 am tomorrow, ouch.

2008-08-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey,

I'm back in Kathmandu, after a nearly 10 hour busride. Man, it's not the distance thats the problem, but everybody driving at 35km/h. Can you believe it? Going up and down the mountains as slow as that. And the so called highway is a "Landstrasse" in bad shape in my opinion. But thats nepal i guess.
Pokhara is so much nicer than Kathmandu. Not so crowded and right next to a lake. And since I'm a kind of water person i really enjoyed going swimming. We, that's Jessica and me, she joined me for the last 3 days. We thought about renting a bicycle to explore the surrounding villages, so much for the thought. But we just couldn"t find a decent bike. It wasn"t only the hight of the bicycle, but also the quality of the brakes, having air in the tyre, having pedals that are tightly adjusted to bike, i could go on and on.
I'm still wondering, so many nepali people use to ride a bicycle every day, in what shape are their bikes. Maybe we are to picky? We both are used to ride a bike on a daily basis. Jessica even worked on a program to set up cycle paths in the states.
Anyway we ended up going shopping and having ice-cream in an Italian restaurant.

Now I'm back in Kathmandu, back to the hard uncomfortable mattress, preparing to leave for Bangkok tomorrow. Even in the mountains the mattresses were softer than here. I don"t know why. Oh and i even got a TV in my room, yes, since i left Germany i haven't watched television, except for the dvd nights in Pokhara. There was a restaurant, that had a film on every night. Bad copied but I was able to follow the chipmunks voices. So since i payed for a budget room before i left for Pokhara they upgraded me to a Standard room.
Yeah 3 weeks are over already. Hard to believe. But my flights are reconfirmed, so I just have to get to the airport in time and I'm off. I found a couchsurfer in Bangkok I can stay with, so hopefully she has a good internet connection and i can upload some more photographs.

Next time from Bangkok.

2008-08-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

getting henna hands in the old town of Pokhara.

2008-08-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

That's what it looked like most of the time. In between the cloud's and rain starting around noon. So having taken 3 pairs of clothes, it just wasn't enough. By Wednesday I ran out of dry clothes - no heating in the mountains - But anyway I liked it very much. The scenery is impressive and would be even more so without the mist but I can hardly tell.

I regrouped with Jessica, she decided to come to Pokhara as well, so we go swimming, shopping and cycling. Taking advantage of the last monsoon days in Nepal.

2008-08-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guy's I'm safely back. I shortend the route a bit, because i got sick on the way as well as my guide. So i decided to take a quicker route back.
I didn't go up Poon hill since everybody kept telling me that there was no view at all. And the weather is not going to change for next week. But i got this nice view of the Annapurna mountains.

So I'm back in town enjoying the civilisation.

2008-08-10T04:51:00.001-07:00

Thats me, Idoia and Maier two bask/spanish girls i met on the bus ride to pokhara and Alex a chinese guy on a sort of pilgrimage /holiday trip having a cocktail in Pokhara last night.

Latest recent picture in case i go missing :o)

2008-08-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, it worked. Took nearly 5 Minutes but nevertheless. This is rushhour in Kathmandu. Although it`s Monsoon season it`s already crowded with tourists. Imagine a lot of cars, rikshas and sometimes buses and everybody has a different tune for its horn and is using it every 10 seconds.
Anyway I am in Pokhara now and about to go trekking, therefore the next post will be in about a week. So I`m still alive and survived the jungle ressort in Chitwan - saw a one-horned Rhino, wild monkeys, lots of birds, rode an elephant and nearly saw the back of a tiger. Well a least the guys in front of a ten people jungle walk group said they had a glimpse, so it counts for me as well, doesn`t it.

2008-08-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry guy's but this just doesn't work, i need to find a better internet connection. I'm trying to get at least one photo uploaded, but even the resized version cracks the connection. I've wasted my time for one hour already and I'm giving up now.

I'm going to Chitwan National Park tomorrow (6am...ouch) and since they don't have electricity for the whole day I guess the next news you will get will be around Sunday.

Went to Patan yesterday, a smaller town/suburb of Kathmandu. Smaller but higher up on a hill and with better air. As you might have guessed quite a few of the NHO"s and some of the consulates have their facilities there.
As it seems it was a Vishnu festival day yesterday. Nearly every temple was crouded with women wearing red saris and giving offerings.
They also have a huge pond, the first one I've seen so far but it's not in use. Probably due to the water shortage it's impossible to take care of public water ponds, that are only used for show.
On the way back a couple of UN-SUV's passed by. One had a blue writing and the others all had black writing on, I was wondering if anyone knows why that is. My first guess was while
that the paint didn't last, but that seems even for nepal a bit hard.

Oh and we met a nice nepali couchsurfer yesterday also. He is working for the government to set up a system for hydroenergyplants. As it seems although Nepal has a huge potential because of the surrounding mountains they haven't used it until today. Hard to imagine while having expierenced two electricity blackouts in 5 days.

Sabine

2008-08-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Wir waren heute am Affen Tempel in der Naehe von Kathmandu. Wir, das bin ich und Jessica, eine Amerikanerin die bis vor kurzem noch in Sri Lanka gearbeitet hat. Eine hilfreiche Quelle was die Benimmregeln und aehnliches in Asien angeht. Zurueck zum Tempel, offensichtlich Buddha (vom Buddhismus) gestiftet. Ja, es gibt noch einen anderen Buddha und zwar im Hinduismus die achte Wiedergeburt von Vishnu. Dieser ist im Buddhismus aber nicht anerkannt. Zurueck zum Tempel, Affentempel weil ja genau dort unheimlich viele Affen leben und sich von den Opfergaben ernaehren. Als es geregnet hat war zwar keiner zu sehen, aber danach kamen sie in Scharen. Fotos leider erst spaeter, habe keinen Kartenleser. Oh und wir waren im National Museum. Neben unheimlich schoenen Stein-, Holz- und Metallarbeiten - alle stellen eine andere Gottheit des Hinduismus und des Buddhismus dar, ich habs erstmal aufgegeben, die alle auseinander zu halten- gab es auch einen Raum mit Glaskaesten voll Puppen. Alle mit verschiedenen traditionellen Kleidern, die verschiedenen Laendern zu geordnet waren. Sogar eine Puppe in Sorbentracht! Allerdings ist nicht ganz klar wie gut sie aktualisiert wird. Russland war noch als USSR genannt. Und die Ostblockstaaten fehlen gaenzlich.

It's kinda strange sitting in a cafe in Kathmandu the other day and just watching people going by. The longer we sat there the more you recognised the tourists. One group obviously an american college group, then lots of couples. Also a few groups of italien tourists. I saw some of them on the plane actually, sharing the first class seats from Doha to Kathmandu with me. I still wonder how on earth I got the upgrade.
I haven't been able to get a look at my fotographs but that's on the list for tuesday, so by tuesday night there should be some.
I'm planning to visit chitwan national park, apperntly they have quite a good monsoon deal so I thought why not. After that I'm on my way to Pokhara hopefully the true nepal. Kathmandu has to be different to the rest of the country.

2008-08-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

Namaste, wie man hier so schoen sagt.

Also ich bin gut angekommen und war auch schon kurz in der Stadt unterwegs. Kaum vorstellbar das Kathmandu eine Millionenmetropole ist. Naja die ersten Fotos werden euch ja dann einen Eindruck vermitteln. Fluege habe ich gut ueberstanden, beim zweiten sogar in der buisiness class - extra viel Platz und richtiges Geschirr zum essen, allerdings war mir um 1 Uhr nachts nicht nach Huehnchen und Curry! Habe auf dem Flug noch eine interessante Bekanntschaft gemacht. Miriam aus Berlin geht nach Tansania um dort als Krankenschwester zu arbeiten, und da hab ich mir Sorgen gemacht :o)

LG aus KAT. Sabine

2008-07-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

2008-07-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

2008-07-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

2008-07-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

Und hier auch schon der erste Beitrag zur Abschiedsparty am letzten Samstag. Ich hoffe es hat allen Spaß gemacht, ich hab mich auf jeden Fall gefreut. Vielen Dank nochmal für die Geschenke, obwohl ich doch hoffe sie nicht unbedingt einsetzten zu müssen. Ich bin immer noch ganz gerührt das ihr euch so um meine Gesundheit sorgt :o)

Schönen Dank fürs Kommen und das nächste mal werden dann die Foto's ausgewertet.