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.

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.

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:

Bali - Great but not as relaxing as intended... I blame Australia!

Dear Bali lovers,
I flew to Bali in Indonesia!!! Who would have thought I would do that when I arrived in Sydney exactly 10 months ago? To be totally honest, I felt a bit like I'm betraying Australia when I headed to the Perth International Airport. But than, it is a typical Aussie get-away right? I planned this to be a totally relaxing, slow-paced cultural holiday to regain some energy for my further travel. Well, that didn't quite go to plan.
After a smooth flight and a long immigration queue I got picked up by the owners of the homestay which I chose in Ubud. I arrived there at 8pm and settled into my room before I went out for dinner. I was a bit overwhelmed by the hot and humid weather and all the noises, smells and looks. Visiting any part of Asia is so different to any Western country or Australia. I know a bit from our family holidays but I haven't been to Asia in over 10 years. (Shocking, I know!)
The next morning I enjoyed a Banana pancake on the terrace of my room. That's how a holiday should be like!!!

Fremantle - With James at Little Creatures

Dear meeting up with friends lovers,
This is my fifth month in Perth and finally James (who I got to know on my Tasmania tour back in February) and I managed to meetup. I totally forgot that he lives here and thanks to Facebook he replied to one of my pictures of the Pinnacles that we should meet up. Due to his holidays in Europe and my West Coast tour and then the birth of the fourth baby of my hostfamily it took us quite a while.
But we managed to find a convenient time for lunch and we decided to go to the Little Creatures brewery in Fremantle.

11.9.2014 - 9 months in Oz!!! What's next?

Dear date lovers,
Today is again a little milestone in my travels around the mighty country of Australia:

9 whole months ago I finally arrived here after waiting for over 10 years!!!

Time has passed way too quickly for me, so let me recapture on the last three months: what have I done?
Well, actually heaps of stuff to be honest :-) I made it safely all the way from Perth up the West Coast, swimming with Whalesharks, through the Pilbara, past crocodiles in the Kimberleys and into the very Top End despite our van brokedown and all the mosquitos, snakes and spiders :-)

Perth - Why I am back

Dear Perth lovers,
Why did I decide to go back to my host family in Perth to work there for a few more months instead of just finishing my travels? Do you have any idea of how expensive Australia is???
My West Coast Tour has cost more than I expected but I would like to do some more traveling and therefore need to earn more money. My host family is supadupa nice, I got used to the children and why look (again) for another job if I already have a good one?

Darwin - Car return, beer and a night at the airport

Dear last day lovers (do they exist?),
On Day 30 of our West Coast tour Charlotte and I got up early (I HATE getting up early...) again at 7:15am. It was a warm night in the car and I didn't sleep well. We hand-washed our Johnny Cash car in the Noonamah Tourist Park before we went for a search of a car wash where we could use a hover to get the last dust out.

Broome - Batman van, coastline and beer

Dear easy life lovers,
I can tell you: it wasn't an easy life for us driving our "new" Batman van. What? Where is Tankgirl? Well, read the sad story about her here in my last post...
The batmobil had a manual gearbox and not an automtic one. That's not the problem as such, the problem was to get into the gears, especially the third one was difficult. The steering wheel wasn't straight, the brakes didn't seem to be how they should be, it had over 430,000km on its clock and pieces were falling off everywhere.

Coral Bay - Drifting off in the current

Heyho reef lovers,
Everyone knows about the Great Barrier Reef on the East Coast of Australia. But nobody ever told me about a big reef system on the West Coast called Ningaloo. I was very surprised during my research before this tour to find out about it. Surely it is not as big as you could see it from space but everybody here was raving over it.
Anyway, as we drove the last 100km to Coral Bay from our free camping overnight stay we bought some snorkel equipment there. After lunch we headed onto the really nice beach and took some pictures with Charlotte's underwatercamera.

Kalbarri - Memorial, a pink lake and coastal cliffs

Alrighty folks,

On the morning of our second day after a seriously freezing night with just two hours of sleep we at least had a very nice breakfast and then I drove us into the city of Geraldton where we visited the HMAS Sydney memorial.

Swan Valley - Delicious food-tasting for Christine before heading back

Alrighty everyone,
On Monday morning on the 9th of June I took this picture. Why? Because I am allowed to drive these three cars at the moment :-) To the left the shiny new rental car, in the middle the old Saab and in the very back the really cool but fuel consuming Holden (4WD 7-seater).

Anyway, Christine and I navigated the rental car through the morning Perth rush hour back to the rental company and then took the train and bus back to Manning where we arrived at 9am.

Perth - Speed-sightseeing, wild food and cocktails

Cheerio ladies and gentlemen,
On Saturday morning Christine and I took the bus into the CBD of Perth where we first visited the Bell Tower at the Barrack Street Jetty.

As I have already been on it twice and the last time has only been on Monday (WA Day), so just five days ago where I had to wait 90 minutes to get in for FREE, I decided to wait in the foyer for Christine.

Fremantle - Exploring tunnels with Christine

Hurray everybody!
I got a visitor last Friday! My friend Christine who I met in Melbourne and whom I have been in contact with eversince has taken a flight very early in the morning (poor girl!) to get to Perth, WA for the first time in her life. I picked her up at the airport at 9:30am and we headed straight for Fremantle. We had so much to talk about!!! And actually it was a little bit hard for me to speak completely in German again.
As she will be here for only four days we already planned the visits for each day and I can tell ya: they are jam-packed! I parked the Saab of my host family near the Fremantle Arts Centre and we had a brief look inside.

New Norcia - The monastic town with a great story

Cheerio folks,
On Sunday after an eventful week (it was Adeles 5th birthday, the oldest child of my host family and they had a big party) I finally made it to New Norcia, the only monastic town of Australia. At 8:45am I sat off in the Saab to the 140km journey up the Great Northern Highway in cloudy weather. After one hour and 45 minutes I arrived at 10:30am at the Museum & Art Gallery of New Norcia where you will be greeted by this.

I got a ticket for the 11am daily tour.

Perth - Aquarium of WA: SHARK ATTACK

Alrighty mates,
This weekend I actually had three consecutive days off and tried to find a bunch of sympathic people to do a trip into the Stirling Ranges for some hikes. As I couldn't find anyone suitable I looked into going to the Goldfields. By train to Kalgoorlie to visit the SuperPit but tours wouldn't take place this weekend. So I stayed in Perth and on Friday morning I got on two trains and a bus and after one hour arrived in Hillarys Boat Harbour to the AQWA: the Aquarium of Western Australia!

I arrived at shortly past 10am when they just opened to make the most of the quite expensive entry. Right at the beginning little children screamed: "LOOK! There is NEMO!"

Manning - Beer, sweets and birds: How I pass my time

Greetings to the world,
As described in a lengthy blog post before I pass my time in between looking after the children of my host family and doing really cool things in Australia with beer...

... combined with sweets...

Swan Valley - Indulgence pur... well, almost

Dear beloved food, wine and beer lovers,
On Sunday I grabbed the Saab in the morning to finally set off to the Swan Valley (actually I already wanted to go on Friday but then I had to draw up a Plan B with the Crown Casino and the City of Perth instead).

After a short stop to the Visitor Information Center in Guildford I set off to the award-winning Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail up West Swan Road.