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!!!

Darwin - City, parks, museum and beach

Dear city lovers,
On Day 28 of our tour, so exactly four weeks after we left Perth Charlotte and I made our way into Darwin. We first stopped at the Charles Darwin National Park at 10am.

This park is a mangrove park and I really didn't expect to see bombs and bunkers along the way and lots of boards about the wars and especially the bombing of Darwin.

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.

Litchfield - Swimming at Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls

Dear swimming lovers (again),
On Thursday morning we made a quick escape from the mosquitos of the Merl campground down the Arnhem Highway.

After 40km we stopped at Malakuta to have breakfast but we didn't do the walk there as we wanted to visit Litchfield National Park. I drove the 250km to Litchfield and stopped first at the Termite Mounds.

Kakadu - River crossing, Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls

Dear 4WD lovers,
Upon getting up really early we were greeted by mosquitos during our breakfast... We got ready to meet Shaun the tourguide, his sister Katherine and her husband Paul at 7am and to drive towards the Twin Falls on a 4WD track. Shaun has approached us the day before to come along with them as they had two free seats in their rented car. Despite the 60km/h limit signs Shaun drove at around 100km/h but still managed to spot this two meter long python next to the road! AHHHH!

Katherine - Gorge lookout, hot springs and lots of birds

Dear bird lovers,
On Sunday the 13th of July I drove the last 110km to Katherine where we headed for the Visitor Information Center. Luckily we were able to use their FREE Wifi for half an hour and so we connected to the world again! We had no internet for the last ten days. After some grocery shopping anf fueling up we drove to the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park for lunch at 1pm. There we were surrounded by bats just hanging around in the trees...

Tasmania - Port Arthur and Tasman National Park

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night, wherever you are,

On Sunday morning we left the hostel at 8am (finally we could sleep a bit longer) to head first to Richmond, a historic town which is 200 years old! Again, Australia is a fairly young settlement… We saw the oldest bridge of Australia and grabbed a coffee and some lunch for later.

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.

Port Douglas - Wallaman Falls and Coastal Drive

Hallihallo,
Saturday morning and Townsville is very deserted. We searched a while for a fuel station and then headed north until Ingham. There we detoured towards the west to the Wallaman Falls, the highest single-drop waterfall of Australia. So we thought we should see it but we did not know that it was such a steep and winding road. And a few kilometres of the road are not sealed... But we made it within one hour and had a fantastic view around the area although the waterfall was a bit low on water.

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.

Blue Mountains - Waterfall and Three Sisters

Hi there hiking fans,

This morning we checked out of our hostel (Wake Up Hotel, close to Sydney Central Station) and got back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We had a few issues with it because they want to charge us 400 AUD as one-way-fee because we will drop off the car in Cairns and not return it to Sydney. But in Germany we specifically asked about this and we have been reassured that we do not have to pay this fee. We need to clarify this but got the car anyway. We drove towards the Blue Mountains in rainy weather. Yes, exactly: it RAINED!