Melbourne - Australia Day celebrations

Happy Australia Day everyone!

On the 26th of January 1788 the first fleet from Great Britain arrived in Australia and marks the first European settlement and the foundation of Australia. This day is celebrated all over Australia and I stayed in Melbourne until this day on purpose. So three weeks after I first arrived in Melbourne I got up not too early but in time to witness the flag raising ceremony at the Town Hall.

Melbourne - Job interviews and penguins

Servus everyone,

It’s Friday already! Where did the time go? One week ago I started to look for a job on the internet. I have sent my CV/resume to different Facility Management companies and applied for various assistant jobs throughout Melbourne. And this week I already had two interviews!

Melbourne - Guided walking tour and meeting people

G'Day people, 
This Monday marks two weeks of me being in Melbourne! Oh my god, time has past so quickly! Through the help of friends, the Lonely Planet and the information of the Visitor Information Center (and all the self-guided tours) I already think I know my way around the CBD. Nevertheless I thought it would be a good idea to participate in a guided walking tour. So Laura and I went to the State Library at 2:30pm.

There FREE guided tours start every day and you will recognise the guides by their green shirts.

Melbourne - Waterfront and Melbourne Star at night

Good evening everyone,
On Sunday evening Laura and I decided to hit the town at night to explore the fabolous lights. Although the camera does take some good pictures it was of course much better. But this gives you an idea.

Melbourne - A walk in the garden with Laura

Hello everyone,
On Sunday morning after skyping with Markus, I decided to help my new room mate Laura to purchase a mobile phone with an Australian number as her English is not so good yet. We walked to Bourke Street and after half an hour of deciding and talking to a staff member she purchased a decent phone with a Prepaid SIM card. Then we did a self-guided walk together which is called "Walk in the garden". Laura asked me not to post the picture of her, so unfortunately I cannot show her to you. The tour directed us into Hosier Lane which is full of graffiti.

Melbourne - Job applications and waterfront

Howdy partners,

It’s Saturday afternoon and I am finally feeling cool again at 23 degrees Celsius. It’s been over 40 degrees Celsius over the past three days. The sun was burning down, the wind was as hot as a hairdryer and you were thirsty and sweaty all the time whilst outdoors. Even in our 4-bed-dorm it was just horrible to stay in. So I decided to stay in the dining/internet/meeting area of the hostel where a ventilator was supplying a bit of a cool breeze and have a look for jobs on the internet. But it was hard to concentrate with all the people around, eating and talking.

Melbourne - Keeping busy and crocodile burger

Welcome to the next level of my adventure,

Because on Wednesday morning at 6:45am Markus left the hotel to go to the airport and I am now alone in big big Australia for the more challenging work part of my Working Holiday Visa. I cannot describe in words how sad his departure made me and of course I could not sleep after that. I checked out at 10am, left my luggage at the Miami Hotel Melbourne and began the incredible task to distract myself and get ready for a real backpacker life.

Melbourne - Markus' last day with James Bond, Burrito and Pizza

Hya people,

On Tuesday the 14^th of January 2014 the day finally came: Markus’ last day in Australia. Actually the sadness about this event grew in me over the past few days and I really could not deal with it too well. Despite this we tried to make the best of it and decided to go to the Melbourne Museum for the James Bond Designing exhibition as Markus is quite a fan of James Bond 007.

Melbourne - Australian Open

Cheerio folks,

Today is a big event day in Melbourne and we were part of it: The start of the Australian Open 2014! That’s what we bought the tickets for on Saturday. We got on the tram at 10:30am and headed to Melbourne Park where lots and lots of people where queuing up to get inside for some hopefully exciting tennis matches.

Melbourne - Secret Gardens, Albert Park and St. Kilda

Hi there,

The internet is very slow here, so it takes ages to upload a couple of pictures. Anyway, after the two-day-tour to the Great Ocean Road we were exhausted. So on that following Saturday we slept in, had some lunch in our hotel room while we waited for the pictures to upload in this blog and only went out at about 4pm to buy some tickets at Federation Square. What kind of tickets? You will find out in my next entry about Monday ;-)

We got to Harbour City where the newly opened Melbourne Star was operating. I have to take some pictures also at night because it is flashing like a lunatic in all sorts of colors and combinations.

Great Ocean Road - Helicopter flight and the surf coast

Greetings my friends,

On Friday unfortunately we had to get up at 6am as well for breakfast. Jude had to find a new spare tire and therefore she dropped us at the next spot for two hours and not the usual one hour. From this Loch Ard Gorge you can see the other three apostles which you cannot see from the main platform. There is also a beach where it is safe to swim and a cave you can climb into with a dramatic story attached to it when the ship named Loch Ard shipwrecked there.

Great Ocean Road - Flat tire and sunset at the 12 Apostles

Hallihallo everyone,

At 6am on Thursday morning we got up for our next adventure: a two-day-tour to the Great Ocean Road! This is the only tour that we found that takes more than one day to explore the Great Ocean Road and as it was designed for backpackers we should note take our luggage with us. We got picked up at 7:40am together with 19 other people, so we were 21 travelers and our tour guide Jude. Not everyone looked like a backpacker though.

Melbourne - From above, river and evening market

Good morning world,

On Wednesday we left our big luggage at the Miami Hotel Melbourne and walked down Spencer Street to the Yarra River for breakfast, then walked alongside the river in the nice sun with a great view on the Melbourne skyline and saw two black swans which only exist in Australia.

Melbourne - Cosmopolitan, Arcades and Lanes

Alrighty ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

This Tuesday we had ambitious plans for the day, so we wanted to start early. Well, didn’t work out entirely as we slept in but nevertheless we managed almost everything. It was still very cold at only 18 degrees Celsius, so we got our jeans and jackets and headed down to the famous Queen Victoria Market. It is a HUGE market with stalls and shops for food and non-food articles of all kinds.

Melbourne - Orientation and organisation

Cheers everyone,

After our little delay of three hours to arrive in Melbourne we slept all morning and only got out of our hotel at 12pm to get something to eat nearby. Oh and it was so cold! BRRR! Only 19 degrees Celsius and very windy as well. We got our jeans trousers out of our luggage and even put a jacket on. After lunch we walked to La Trobe Street which marks the Northern end of the Central Business District (CBD) of Melbourne. We got on a pretty full city circle tram as they are FREE of charge and run around the CBD during the day. We performed a full circle but did not take any pictures as the windows were dirty and we passed very quickly. So we got off and walked down Elizabeth Street to the famous Flinders Street Station.

Sydney airport - In terminals and planes

Greetings everyone,

On Sunday the 5^th of January we arrived almost on time at 5:45pm in Sydney with our Jetstar flight. We collected our luggage and headed to the Jetstar Customer Service Desk for more information about our next flight connection to Melbourne. Because the flight we were initially booked on had been cancelled. At the Ayers Rock airport we met another German girl Jenny who had exactly the same problem, so we teamed up and got in Ayers Rock some chocolate for our vouchers.

Well, in Sydney there were another three flights from other airlines scheduled to depart to Melbourne but to our total shock we were not booked onto the next flight but the last one at 10pm!

Outback - 6 things to consider

Servus folks,
Alrighty, I am on the plane from Ayers Rock to Sydney where we will hopefully get on a flight to Melbourne. This morning we got the information that the flight we were initially booked on was cancelled and we did not get any other information than to see the Customer Service Desk in Sydney to be booked on another flight to Melbourne. But don’t worry. We have been told that there are about five more flights scheduled for today from Sydney to Melbourne and none of them are completely booked out. Let’s see what happens.
Anyway, we have still another hour to fly and I would like to reflect on the three days in the Outback.

Kings Canyon - Hard and easy walk

Hi,
I am not a morning person at all and getting up at 3am (this time really exists??? Aussies call this stupid hour) certainly makes me grumpy. But we were determined to not miss our coach at 4am which will get us to Kings Canyon. After a three-hour-drive where I slept a bit more we reached Kings Canyon Station where we ate some breakfast before we headed to Kings Canyon itself.
The two guides would each guide a group of people but down two different tracks. The Rim Walk is the far more difficult one with a length of 6km and having to climb 500 natural steps to the top of the 160m high Canyon. This is considered a difficult walk, exposed to the sun most of the time and not suitable for unfit people. You also have to carry at least 3 liters of water with you which the guide checked before you had to sign a waiver and could join the tour. The other Creek Bed Walk is a lot easier, you stay in the canyon and it is only 2.6km long. I did not feel too well and decided to do the easy walk together with nine other people whereas Markus went up the Rim Walk with the other 26 folks.

Ayers Rock - Outback Sky Journey

Hi there to all of you,
This day was really packed with lots and lots of activities and at 9:30pm we met at the Town Square again and were lead to a set-up dark site nearby behind the car park. The tour guide explained some basic things about the Outback Sky and why it is so special: there is almost no light pollution in the Outback and it is very flat. Therefore you see about 3000-4000 stars with your naked eye! And it was an incredible sky, I can tell you. We were lucky as the moon was not up, absolutely no clouds whatsoever and it was very cool at about 25 degrees Celsius! With the help of a green laser pointer, two high-tech telescopes, some binoculars and an iPad with the StarWalkApp we learned a lot about the stars, planets, galaxies, the constellations, the birth and death of suns and so on. Here a picture that I took of the iPad.

Ayers Rock - Spear and boomerang

G’Day mates,

After the sunrise viewing of the Uluru and the base walk in the morning we had breakfast in the Town Square of the resort and then got some lessons in how to throw a spear and a boomerang! Markus and I were not too bad at the spear at our first (and only) try (there were too many people to do another try as this daily activity is free of charge). Nobody hit the kangaroo though.

Ayers Rock - Sunrise

Greetings to the world,

On Friday morning at 4am (WHAT TIME????) it is fairly busy at the Ayers Rock Resort as the people get ready to see the sunrise. And today we had some cool 26 degrees Celsius! There were two coaches picking up people from the various hotels of the resort at 4:45am. We actually wanted to do the Desert Awakening Tour which would have been in a small group and at a secluded viewing area but that was booked out, so we had to go with the big crowd to the common viewing area. I paid our National Park tickets with the specially folded 50 AUD-note that my friend Karl gave to me (see here: 3 days left). Thanks a lot for that Karl!!! I know you have never been to the Ayers Rock and I think you should go there – but not in summer! After a 20 minute drive we arrived at the viewing ground and directly headed for the main platform at the highest point.

Ayers Rock - Camel riding to sunset

Palya to everybody,

This means ‘Hello’ in the Aborigine language of the Anangu. These are the ones who are the traditional owner of the land around Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We left Cairns on Thursday the 2^nd of January 2014 very early in the morning. After a 2.5 hour flight we landed at the Ayers Rock Airport at 37 degrees Celsius! Oh yeah, that was really hot. On the courtesy bus transfer to the Ayers Rock Resort (where we are staying at the Outback Pioneer Hotel) we got told that it will get up to 43 degrees Celsius in the afternoon! Due to this heat in summer months we are advised to drink one liter of water per hour per person whilst outdoors! So we did our maths and after checking into our hotel we bought 27 liters of bottled water! And it is quite expensive even in the supermarket at the resort.

Cairns - Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you have celebrated New Years Eve and the beginning of the New Year safely and enjoyable. Markus and I drove early in the morning from Port Douglas to Cairns, returned the rental car and then walked one km to our next hostel, the Caravella 149. Our room was not ready at 11pm, so we stored our luggage and went grocery shopping in the city center which is not very far away. After lunch we checked into our room which is really huge for the price. It is very warm and humid here, so we stayed in the air-conditioned room and after dinner headed into town again. At the promenade along the seashore and at the street (The Esplanade) were a lot of people. Families on huge picnic blankets, with camping chairs and tables and an incredible amount of food with them. Also hundreds of bats were flying over our heads!