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

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!!!

Litchfield - Wangi Falls, Cascades and Buley Rockhole again

Dear swimming lovers (once again),
On Day 27 of our tour Charlotte and I got ready to visit the Wangi Falls at 9am. We brought all our bathing stuff with us and were ready to jump into the water when we discovered this sign.

Kakadu - Maguk waterholes and Aborigine rock art

Dear swimming and rock art fans,
On Wednesday morning we drove with Katherine, Shaun and Phil at 7:45am towards Maguk, a place in the Southern part of the Kakadu National Park and again only accessible via a dirt road where 4WD should be engaged. We arrived at 8:30am and then took on the hike through some monsoon forest.

Kakadu - Cooinda, Cultural Center and Yellow Waters

Dear National Park lovers,
On Monday morning Charlotte and I got our passes for the Kakadu National Park. While you have to pay a small entrance fee of about 10 AUD per vehicle at nearly every national park in WA, in the Northern Territory there are only two national parks where you have to pay 25 AUD per person: the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Kakadu National Park.

Southwest - Albany, rock formations, Tree Top Walk and find the big tree

Hallihallo friends and strangers,

You cannot possibly imagine how cold and tired and miserable I was when we had to get up at 5am again on Thursday morning. This time we had to pack our swags, tents and stuff away before we could have breakfast. Nearly on time at 8:10am we sat off towards Albany, the first settlement of Western Australia. On the way there Damian suddenly started to break and as I looked to the front of the bus I saw a fairly big kangaroo jumping across the road quite leisurely from right to left.

Tasmania - Falls, sand dunes and secret lake

Howdy partners,

We all had breakfast at 6am and headed to the west coast of Tasmania at 7am. After some driving and picking up some lunch to take with us we stopped for an easy but muddy three-hour walk through the rainforest to the Montezuma Falls.

Tasmania - Falls, Mount Field NP and bushfire detour

Hi there everyone,

On Tuesday morning five persons got picked up at my hostel and we had to navigate through the rush hour in Hobart to pick up another five people until our coach was full with the tour guide Renate and 21 persons. Then we set off to a small village to grab some lunch to take with us and after some driving we arrived at some rainforest for an easy walk past the Horseshoe Falls and the Russels Falls.

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.

Daintree Forest - Crocodiles, boardwalks and ice cream

Cheerio folks,
I know, crocodiles, boardwalks and ice cream is a strange combination. But I will explain in a minute.
On Sunday morning we first went shopping for our picnic lunch which we have planned to have in the Daintree Forest National Park. Then we set off to the Daintree River and arrived just in time for the next Crocodile Express River Cruise. This is basically a one-hour boat tour in a zig-zag on the river and the skipper tells you more about the river, the environment and the animals, especially crocodiles. And lucky enough we spotted two, the first one a bit hidden and the second a rather small one:

Fraser Island - Bumby drive and flight

G'Day everyone,
On Friday early morning we were picked up by the Fraser Explorer Tour at our motel and driven to River Heads where the ferry departs to Fraser Island. It took about half an hour across and then we got onto our 4WD (four-wheel-drive) coach. The ferry was absolutely full, about 4 or 5 coaches and several jeeps were waiting for all the visitors.

Our guide Butch advised us to always were the seat belts and after a few kilometres we knew exactly why: it was very, very, VERY bumpy!

Byron Bay - Walking track along the beach

Servus,

Finally the sky cleared up and we got some nice blue sky with only a few clouds and some 28 degrees Celsius. We drove about half an hour from Ballina to Byron Bay and parked right behind the Tourist Information which was a good choice. Because we could park there all day for free whereas you have to get a ticket everywhere else. We got a map of the city and walked to the beach which was luckily not too crowded. We followed the walking track up Cape Byron to the most easterly point of the Australian mainland and the lighthouse of Byron Bay.

Blue Mountains - Scenic World

Hi there everyone,

On Sunday the 15^th (the third advent) we checked out of our hostel on time to be at the Scenic World at 9:30am, just half an hour after opening. There was no big queue at the cashier and so we went straight to the Skywalk. The middle part of this has a glass-floor.