Sydney - Last day climbing the Harbour Bridge

Dear Sydney lovers,

I AM BACK!

After Markus and I arrived first in Sydney on the 11th of December 2013 I am now back in beautiful Sydney on the 22^nd of November 2014. I got changed in my last hostel for this journey and then I walked through the city.

I headed to the Paddy’s Market and went crazy on buying souvenirs! It was so cheap, so many things on offer and I felt the urge to take a piece of Australia with me (and I needed some gifts for my beloved ones ;-) ). Anyway, at 5pm I was finished with my shopping orgy and got on the FREE shuttle bus to Circular Quay. Ah, the majestic Sydney Harbour Bridge!

Canberra - Discovering the Parliamentary Zone and a shocking feeling

Dear capitol lovers,

It was time to get into the Parliamentary Zone of Canberra! But first I had to close my Australian bank account which only took about 2 min. The bank clerk asked me how long I have traveled and admired that people like me are not afraid of quitting their jobs to travel for so long. Quite true, it isn’t easy to do it but definitely worth it.

After that I was on my way across the Commonwealth Avenue over Lake Burley Griffin. It was such a nice day and due to the low humidity (in contrast to Malaysia) I didn’t mind the long walk in the sun (but I put on sunscreen anyway).

This is the National Library as seen from the bridge.

Canberra - Australian War Memorial

Dear capitol lovers,

Believe it or not: I finally made it into the very capitol of Australia!

In case you didn’t know: neither Sydney nor Melbourne are the capitol. As a tiebreaker a completely new city has been created: CANBERRA! The problem with it is (in my opinion) that it is a little bit hard to access. I mean, all the cities in Australia are a bit far from each other and all that. But although Canberra is only about 300 km away from Sydney there are not too many flights going there and no direct train connection available. So you have to get one of the coaches like Greyhound or Murray’s to get there. And that’s what I did.

Australia - Birds in the wild

Dear loyal readers of my little blog,
During my time in Australia I had the chance and a fairly good camera to take pictures of lots of different birds in Australia. At one point during my Au Pair time in Perth I had enough time and the energy to look up their names on the internet (it was raining a lot, so no point in going out and exploring the country, right?).

I start with the most beautiful birds in my opinion: the parrots!

Here is a Carnaby`s Cockatoo which I encountered in King's Park in Perth. Only when I saw a picture of it in a Avon Valley brochure I recognised it as an endangered black cockatoo.

Malaysia - Langkawi island - Relaxing pur and last organisation

Dear island lovers (again),
In my third week in Malaysia I decided to get to the next island, further North. I got on the 2pm ferry from Penang island to Langkawi island. The clouds were pretty dark and it rained as well during the three-hour-trip but luckily it wasn't too rocky and I didn't get seasick.

Malaysia - Pangkor and Penang islands - Nice beaches and amazing food

Dear island lovers,
After exploring Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and the Cameron Highlands I decided to head towards the West Coast of the Malaysian peninsular as it was supposed to be drier there. And they have beaches :-) Lots of beaches. My first stop was Pangkor island where I arrived after taking two buses, a ferry and then a motorbike ride to my guesthouse. OH YES! Three Malay-Chinese guys who spoke to me on the second bus helped me to get me and my 20 kg suitcase to my guesthouse in Teluk Nipah on two motorbikes. How nice! After checking in and refreshing I went for a first walk along the beach.

Malaysia - Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Cameron Highlands - Dutch, chaotic and mossy

Dear Malaysia lovers,
After my week in Bali and my week in Singapore it was time to move on within Southeast Asia. From Singapore I took the bus across to Malaysia and into Melaka (also known as Malacca). This town which is about 120 km South of Kuala Lumpur is a listed World Heritage City due to its rich history. Mostly because of their Dutch occupation but the Portuguese have been there as well and many buildings have been preserved. I had a good look around. Luckily everything is very close to each other and easily visited within a day.

All the trishaws are as heavily decorated as the ones on this picture

Australia - Compared to Singapore - my impression after a week

Dear Singapore lovers,
Guys, Singapore is like SO freaking different to Australia but than in some ways it isn't. I spent a week there after I finished my six months as an Au Pair. Luckily I was able to stay with my friend Eva whom I met in Adelaide in February.

Let's just get a few facts right about Australia and Singapore to give you an idea of how different they are: