Australia - A few things about domestic flights that might surprise you

Hello everyone,

I am on the plane from Melbourne to Perth which will take just about 3.5 hours to get there. I have already taken a few domestic flights within Australia, mainly with Jetstar but also with Qantas: Cairns to Ayers Rock, Ayers Rock to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, from Melbourne to Hobart and return and from Melbourne to Adelaide and return. It is almost a completely different experience in regards to the security procedures at the airports. Whereas in Germany you still have to undergo the known restrictions to fluids and liquids that you take onboard and you cannot pass the security to enter the main terminal gates without a valid boarding pass. Here in Australia they don’t care about what fluids and liquids and how much you take with you!

How similar is Australia to the UK?

VERY!

I have lived for 18 months in Manchester, UK and I found a lot of similarities to Australia in the past four months. Here are some examples:

-          Of course the language is similar.

-          Both drive on the left side of the road.

-          Australia belongs to the British Commonwealth.

-          The Parliament structure is similar to the British one and some of the procedures and the furniture in their two houses are in accordance with the British measurements.

Melbourne - Yarra Valley Wine Tour

PROST!

Although I have already done a wine tasting tour in Australia (in the Barossa Valley Wine Tour near Adelaide) I thought it would be great to compare that fantastic experience with some wineries from the Yarra Valley near Melbourne. As life is too short for bad wine I didn’t decide on the cheapest wine tour and went with the recommendation of Carly to do the daily public wine tasting tour with the Australian Wine Tour company. What I especially like about these wine tours is the fact that they don’t start before 9am :-)

Melbourne - ACMI and Berlin Bar

G’Day mates,

On Saturday I slept in and only got up in time for lunch. Ahh, that’s good. After lunch I walked to Federation Square and into the Australia Center for the Moving Image (ACMI). The entry is FREE and although it is not allowed to take pictures in there lots of people did and so did I.

Australia - Job search experience

Hi there everyone,

As my loyal readers know I have been trying to find a job since Markus left Australia to fly back to Germany. This was Mid January 2014. Surprisingly enough and very motivating I got two interviews within a week of sending out my resume / CV to various Facility Management companies around Melbourne. (I have studied and worked in the Facility Management field since 2005 if you count my dual studies).

Melbourne - Footscray Park and Maribyrnong River

Hi there,
It is Wednesday the 19th of March. One week ago I got back to Melbourne from Adelaide and I am lucky enough to still stay with Tim and his funny flatmate while I am trying to find a job. I had a few promising phone calls and a nice chat yesterday to someone who might have the right contacts. While I have to wait for an answer back I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk to Footscray Park which is only a 10 minute walk away from the house. And I most say: I was very surprised by how nicely done it is.

Melbourne - Formula 1 Grand Prix

Cheerio friends,
I couldn't sleep any longer as I was so excited about this day. I got up early and was at Gate 8 of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park at 9:30am. So one hour before the gates open and there were already long queues.

At 10am it got really full and they had to form three queues and they were about 4-5 times as long as you can see on the picture above.

Melbourne - Pocket watch at Melbourne Central

Hi there,

On Friday afternoon I was by coincidence at 2pm at Melbourne Central when I heard this clock playing a melody. This was surprising especially as it did not work before. Elina told me that it would play every hour and the lower part comes down to show the birds and the two figures playing an instrument each. It was really nice.

Melbourne - Community day at Grand Prix

WRUMM! WRUMM!

That’s the all-day dominating sound of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne and I was part of it on the Community Day which is absolutely FREE! I arrived there at about 1pm and walked along the track which is set around the lake which I hardly recognized (Markus and I have been to Albert Park two months ago).

3-months-Australia-Quiz!!!

UNBELIEVABLE!

I landed in Australia 3 months ago. OMG! Where did the time go? I am asking you my friends 20 questions about my time in Australia until now and who answers all the questions right by 31^st of March 2014 at midnight Melbourne time will win a fantastic prize:

A self-cooked Australian three-course meal at Markus’ and my place in Stuttgart for you and a partner/friend.

 

And here are the questions:

Gawler - Volunteer ranger at Para Wirra

Howdy partners,
Today I got up in time to be ready to be picked up by a South Australian National Wildlife Park Ranger! If that doesn't sound cool I don't know what does :-) Meryl is a friend of Heidi and offered me last week that I could come along with her for a day. So we drove to the Para Wirra Recreation Park in the Southeast of Gawler. She is one of two rangers there for six weeks now. So Meryl herself has to get used to the park. Para Wirra comes from an Aboriginal phrase meaning "river with scrub".

Port Adelaide - Dragonboats, dolphins and broken camera

G'Day ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
This weekend started very early on Saturday morning as I joined Heidi to her Dragonboat Training! I have seen some dragonboat races in Germany but have never done it myself. It actually started with me mentioning that I wanted to see the Adelaide River Dolphins and Heidi said that they sometimes see them during their training. So at 8:30am I had a paddle in my hand, a safety vest around my waist and was prepared to get wet!!!

Gawler - A dog, new houses and job-searching

Cheers everyone,
I left Kangaroo Island one week ago. Honestly, where did the time go???
Back in the CBD (Central Business District) of Adelaide I met lots of new great people in the hostel and as it is Mad-March in Adelaide a lot is on. So everyday I had something else to do and spoke to new people about the same things: where are you from, what are you doing in Australia and why are you here?

Adelaide - Beach, cleaning and concert after Clipsal 500 race

Cheerio friends,

It is VERY busy in Adelaide. The Fringe Festival (artist and fun etc), the Adelaide Festival (music) and the Clipsal 500 (V8 racing) are in town. I only got into a 10-bed-female dorm but at least it is very central. And I get to know many people in a very short time.

Together with Eva, Sébastien, Teresa, Pauline and Holly we got by tram to Glenelg where the beach of Adelaide is situated.

Adelaide - Free concert for Adelaide Festival

Hello world,

On Friday morning when I thought that my back would kill me we drove off from the camping ground at 9:15am to be too early at the ferry terminal in Penneshaw. We waited for the 10:30am ferry, boarded and were told to expect some rough sea and better sit in the back of the ferry. Luckily we really moved to the back of the ferry as it was going up and down a lot and I actually felt a bit sea-sick.

Kangaroo Island - Platypus walk and beach-hopping

Hey there everyone,

On Thursday morning we did not set any alarm but still got up at about 8:30am because you couldn’t sleep any longer on this hard mattress and with the noise outside (from birds and possums). We packed our stuff pretty quickly and headed back to the Visitor Information Center to get rid of our rubbish. Then we sat off for the Platypus Waterholes Walk. We walked around very quietly and searched around the water for signs of Platypus but we were not lucky.

Kangaroo Island - Rocks, seals and sunset

Cheers mates,

On Wednesday morning we got up at 7am and after breakfast we sat off for Hanson Bay. It was very cloudy and windy when Sébastien and Jan set off for the 9km Hanson Bay Hike.

Kangaroo Island - Seals, sand-boarding and wild animals

Howdy partners,

The next morning we got up at 8am and had to rearrange our luggage so we would not have to shift everything around to find our belongings. Anyway, we made it to the Visitor Information Center of Penneshaw at 9:30am and got lots of information about camping grounds, opening times of attractions and some useful tipps about the island. Then we drove to the first attraction of the day: Seal Bay! This is a bay on the South coast of the island where the endangered species of Australian Sea Lions rest after their three-day hunt and also breed. We decided for the self-guided boardwalk as it was a lot cheaper than the guided beach walk. This meant we could not get to go to the beach but we still saw a lot of seals.

Kangaroo Island - Roadtrip, beautiful bay and rooftent

Kangaroo Island calling!

Okay, Monday morning it was time for my first self-organised tour with someone else than Markus. Sébastien, Jan and I met at shortly past 9am at the WickedCamper depot in Adelaide to get the payment, the paperwork and the equipment ready for our five-day trip to Kangaroo Island. As there was no Toyota Corolla available we got a (fairly ugly) Nissan Cube instead. But in regards to our luggage it turned out to be good enough to fit everything in.