We took the night bus from Sydney to Melbourne (12 hours ride) and arrived at Nadine's cousins house in the afternoon. It got so hot in Melbourne, without air conditioning Conny and David's house was hot inside too. Totally opposite from when we arrived. Two days later I had to fly back to Germany. Nadine stayed another month at her Cousin's, celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve in Melbourne and flew back to Germany end of January. Our Australia trip was GREAT, what can I say, do it when you have the time and money. It is absolutely worth it. One of my two best months in my life and a great 30th Birthday present. Too bad it is far away on the other side of the world ...
From Port Mac we took the first bus in the morning to Sydney!!! The plan was to meet with Nadine's friend Matt and spend a night at his parents house at Northern beaches. We already got to know his brother and dad and we were going to know the rest of his family. His sister was inviting us to her 30th birthday party. Yeah! Nadine's friend picked us up at the train station with a Mini! Gosh, how were we about to fit our luggage in this little car? Plus his girlfriend Anna was already sittting in the front seat. But we made it, I had to carry Nadine's suitcase on my lap and the rest was in the trunk. The four of us drove up north to Palm beach, one of the best beaches of Sydney. The high society is living in the north and we passed awesome villas where definitely the money is. In the afternoon we arrived at the birthday party. As Sydneysiders birthday were thrown outside with BBQ, of course! The birthday girl, Matts sister, was very sweet and she was pregnant. Matts family, with uncles, aunts, grannys and cousins really welcomed us and we had a great afternoon! We slept at his parents house and Matt drove us back to Sydney downtown the next day.
Our new "home" in Sydney was again a hostel. I actually didn't want to sleep in another hostel, after our nightmere in Surfers but Sydney is expensive as hell, so we checked in at Eva's backpackers. We actually booked a 3-bed-dorm but it was not available at arrival. The girl said we are going to sleep in a 6-bed-dorm the first 2 nights and can move to a 3-bed-dorm for the last 4 nights. Okay we had no choice! What can I say, the nightmere was back but fortunately we did not want to spend the whole day inside. The room was tiny as hell with only little bathroom enclosed! But we were downtown and ready to explore Sydney! We bought tickets for a sightseeing bus tour the next day and got an overview of how big Sydney is. It has more than 50 beaches and alot of suburbs far away are also Sydney. The main sights are in the inner city and fortunately we were able to walk there from our hostel. Yes, public transport is also expensive in Sydney. On our to-do list was a walking sightseeing-tour, a Bridge Climb on Sydney harbour bridge, a girls night out with friends, a day at Manly beach and maybe visiting an art museum, because the entry is free! The days passed by and we did all of those things. Number 1 for me was the Bridge Climb, Nadine skipped this part because she is afraid of heights, but it was safe the whole time. In a group of 13 people we climbed the Sydney harbour bridge while the sun went down. We were taught before, how to hold on and how to climb, we even got to wear special climbing clothes. On our way to the top we stopped 3 times and the guide took pictures of us, since we were not allowed to take along our cameras. The view of Sydney by night was amazing, I absolutely loved it. I can really recommand Bridge Climb, a MUST do in Sydney. All in all Sydney is a great city and you need to spend at least one week to see a few things. We could have stayed more days but our trip came to an end and I had to be back in Melbourne to catch my flight back home.
Pictures!
We decided to stop at Port Macquarie before heading to Sydney. Nadine's friends brother is running the Flynn's beach caravan park where we stayed a week. We arrived by bus early in the morning and had to walk from the bus station to the park about 30 minutes. It was in the middle of nowhere but looked very welcoming. We booked 4 nights in advance and were placed in a comfy bungalow. After staying in hostels something different and we liked it alot. The caravan park was surrounded with high trees, we were told later that high up in the trees real koalas are living. Real koalas in the nature? Bring them on! We unpacked and walked another 30 minutes to the next grocery store, Coles of course! And guess what? Walked another 30 minutes back in the sun, packed with groceries. On the way back we checked out the neighborhood and the cute little houses and passed the koala hospital. Another reason why we wanted to stop in Port Mac (great short name!). We planned on visiting the hospital the next days. Since we were further south we wanted to go swimming in the ocean. The beaches of Port Mac are awesome, the black rocks and the white sand look awesome together. But unfortunately we were not able to swim. We were too terrified after a lady told us that there has been a shark attack the other day. No jelly fishes but sharks! Ahhh!!! So we only enjoyed the beaches by walking along them for hours, all the way up from Flynn's beach to Lighthouse beach, from where we took the bus back to the caravan park. The other day, as we planned, we visited the koala hospital. But it was very sad. About 20 injured koalas are recovering at the hospital. The guy told us that koalas are often burned down by bush fires or hit by cars. The hospital depends on money from visitors and on helping hands that work for free. He showed us some koalas and told us their stories. Sad, sad, sad. Of course we almost bought every single souvenir at the shop to help the koalas with our money. You were also able to adopt a koala! Something to think about. Nadine organized another night for free at the caravan park, since she is friend with the owner's brother and we planned our next big stop Sydney. Pictures!
We actually wanted to skip Surfers Paradise, since it is only a town with alot of skyscrapers and a beach. But it is my friends Des hometown and I really wanted to meet her again! Last time we have seen each other was in November 2011 at the Hanson concert in Stuttgart. We booked a hostel called Surfers Paradise Backpackers Resort but it was so awful, that we were not able to stay there! Unfortunately Nadine already paid the 4 nights but when we saw the mixed 6-dorm, really tiny and dirty, one bathroom with no lockers and 4 young guys inside we immediately left and looked for another place to stay. Around the corner, down to the beach we met a security guy who recommanded us the place he watches. It was a very tall 23-story building and after we have seen the superior apartment in 22nd floor, we decided to go for the apartment in 19th floor with skyline and beach view! The apartment was stunning! Sooo huge, with two bedrooms, big living room with open kitchen and even a washing machine room, and of course bathroom with bathtub! The balcony was big as well and we just fell in love with this place. For $ 620 for 4 nights it was worth it! No better place to stay for Nadine's birthday, plus we got pretty bad weather, it rained most of the times! What would we have done in the hostel? The outdoor area not even had a roof, so we would have been stuck in the tiny room with 19 year old guys playing card games? No thank you! After 4 weeks of traveling it was time for a break, a hostel break! We enjoyed staying at the apartment, even my friend Des came over and together we celebrated into Nadine's birthday, with champagne on the balcony, of course! Surfers itself has not much to offer, a shopping area, a beach, no sights at all, not even a history, well they do have a surfing history. On Nadine's birthday Surfers celebrated its 80th birthday. Together with Des we went up the tower Q1 and had a rainy view on the Gold Coast, afterwards we spent money at a huge shopping mall and in the evening had dinner at a Thai restaurant. All in all, the 5 days were kinda expensive but it was the best decision we have made! Now let's head on to Port Macquarie. Pictures!
Everybody was telling us different things about Brisbane and that we better only spend 2 days there, but we decided to stay 4 nights. Brisbane was only 5 hours away from Hervey Bay, so we took the Greyhound bus at 9 a.m. and got there around 2 p.m. On our way to the hostel "Aussie Way Backpackers" it started to rain. Well it was hailing, not raining for at least 5 minutes and then the sun came out again. A guy standing next to us said, it is always "raining" like that in Brisbane. Wow! Our hostel was in a residencial area, and was surrounded by old victorian houses. We booked a 4-bed female dorm but we were only 3 girls, guess what? Yes another German girl, also named Julie. We didn't see her often, since she was working in Brisbane. The room was in the 2nd floor and was really nice, we even had our own fridge! We loved Brisbane from the beginning, although there are alot skyscrapers, it has beautilful suburbs and even a river. It kinda reminded me of Frankfurt! We got to meet Juliane again, she spent her last days in Brisbane before flying back to Germany. Me and her booked a trip together, on Wedneday we went to Moreton Island, which is the 3rd largest sand island after Fraser Island. It also has ship wrecks and this time we were able to snorkel around the wrecks. We also got to see old bunkers from the world war and really enjoyed the sun, blue sky, blue ocean and white sand! Unfortunately Julie only took pictures, I left my camera at the hostel to prevent the sand coming into my camera. You have to wait for the Moreton Island pictures, but here are the ones from Downtown Brisbane: Pictures!
On Tuesday me and Nadine went by bus to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, about half hour north of Brisbane. More than 60 koalas call this sanctuary their home and finally Nadine got to hold a koala! We spent 4 hours there and I tried to took as many pictures as I can, but since the koalas sleep 90 percent of the day it is hard to take a good picture of them moving around. Here are the best ones: Pictures!
We took the night bus again on wednesday to Hervey Bay. The Bay is 34 km long and from August to Mid October you can watch whales. Unfortunately we got there, when all whales are gone, only the big blue jelly box fishes were left in the ocean. Our hostel for 3 nights was called "The friendly hostel" and we were lucky, me and Nadine got upgraded to a double-room. It was actually a whole apartment, with two other room, a living room with tv, bathroom with shower and a huge and clean kitchen. It was really quite and we loved our room, so nice and bright! We went for a bike-ride the other day, which was a good work-out. Checked out the town, that has some restaurants and souvenir shops but no other attraction. From Hervey Bay the way to Fraser island is really short, that's why everybody is only staying there for a few days and then head on to Fraser. We did the same, we booked a Fraser day-tour for $185- Quiet expensive but we got picked up with a SUV and the group was small, we were only 11 people, the other 6 went on another SUV. We got shaked in the SUV, because Fraser Island is sandy, the worlds largest sand island (125 km long), so all streets are made out of sand. Our tour-guide was named Fritz, and he was originally from Austria. He was a funny old guy, that made jokes but knew his job. He drove us around on the island very well but it was still very bumpy in the car. We actually wanted to go up north to the ship-wreck but we got bad weather the other day plus high tide, so we could not cross Eli creek. We waited there for half an hour, hoped that the water will get lower but it didn't. No ship-wreck this time! We turned around and headed on the rainforest. We walked down to Central station and passed many old so-called Satinay trees, which are only growing in the Great Sandy region. After a nice lunch with sandwiches and champagne (!) our last stop was Lake McKenzie, one of over 60 lakes on the island. We went for a swim in the lake and enjoyed no salt water this time! YAY! What we did not see were Dingos, a wild-breed that look like dogs. But they are kinda dangerous, back in 2001 they attacked and killed a 8-year old boy! Pictures!
Finally we left Cairns on Thursday, 14 November. Our first bus ride over night with Greyhound was quite okay. Me and Nadine had each a double seat so we were able to spread out and have a good night sleep. We were on the bus for 11 hours, arriving Airlie Beach around 11. Got picked up by a scottish guy and checked in to "Backpackers by the Bay". We had a 4-dorm-girlie-room and the girls we met were so nice. During the 5 nights we got to know Natalia from Brisbane, Julie from Denmark, Juliane from Chemnitz and Sophie from England. We got along well and had good times! Juliane even joined us on one trip we booked: Ocean-Rafting to the Whithaven Beach. We also booked a flight over the reef, a sailing trip and a crocodile safari. Me and Nadine did the flight over the reef first and I'm glad we did it. You cannot really imagine how huge the reef is and what it looks like when you are only at the beach or on the boat. From the air it is so much better to see. Fortunately we flew at low tide, so we saw the corals coming out of the water and I definitely took awesome pictures. The flight lasted one hour and we even flew out to the heart reef! The reef is called heart reef because it has a heart-shape. We didn't see any sharks, the pilot was telling us, she saw sharks swimming around in the morning. Well I do not need to see them! Anyway check out the Pictures!
On Sunday I went on a sailing trip by myself. The boat was called "Derwent Hunter" and was designed and built in 1946 by Walter Wilson. The boat has been sailing the waters of the Whitsunday Islands for 20 years and even was chosen by Panama studios for a tv series. During the sailing we could help the crew with setting the sails, which reminded me on my sailing trip 2011. We stopped at two snorkelling locations, had lunch on board, and morning/afternoon tea. The day was really smooth and relaxing! I liked it alot.
Monday was the totally opposite boat ride. We went on a really fast speed-boat. The trip was called Ocean Rafting and was sooo much fun. Juliane joined us on that trip and of course we got wet most of the times. It got windy while the boat speeded thru the ocean. First two stops was snorkeling where we saw sooo many colorful fishes and biiiig fishes! The crew put fish-food in the water and all the fishes were swimming next to us. It was such a great experience to swim with the fishes, really there were thousands of them. Fortunately no shark got attracted to the fish-food but some big fish, about 1 meter long swam by. After snorkelling we finally got to the Whitsunday Island but first went on a little hike to a lookout where we all took our hill inlet picture. The sand was so white, unbelievable. The sand consits of 98 percent pure silica and therefore is good at polishing up jewellery. we headed on to our lunch spot, right next to the Whitehaven Beach. You really had to wear sunglasses otherwhise you cannot stand the brightness! As you can see on the pictures we had lots of fun taking them: Pictures!
Tuesday was our day off, we slept in, did some laundry, went shopping and booked our next hostel in Hervey Bay. Plus I started to pack, we had to check out by 10 am the next morning, but I was picked up for the crocodile safari at 8:45 already. The trip was called the "Barefoot Bushman" and when we got there was indeed a barefoot man. He told us alot about the nature and the animals and even a snake is called after his dad, that discovered it. I finally got to see crocodiles, hugh ones!! And the barefoot bushman was sitting on the crocodile. Can you believe it? I was kinda afraid when we walked into an area which was not protected by fence and I stayed in the back, when the crocodile came out and got fed. We also got to hold a snake, little baby-crocodile and a koala!! YEAH- crossed that from my to-do list. The koala was sooo fluffy, I could have hold him forever and ever!! At the end of the day I also got to see a little kanagroo baby, named Kevin! He was also a cutey! Pictures!
On Monday, 11 November we took the shuttle bus back to Cairns and stayed 4 days in this touristic town. I didn't like it much, a lot of backpackers and tourists, all you can do is go to the shopping mall, bars or pubs. The lagoon next to the blue ocean looks like from a postcard, it is surrounded by palm trees. There are no historical sights which you can visit, except for the botanical garden. The hostel was quite nice, me and Nadine had a double-bedroom, which we did not need to share with other German backpackers (gosh, they are everywhere!). We did go on a tour, but did not book it: we went to Kuranda by our own. We checked out the local shuttle bus to Kuranda, and the ticket was onle 6 dollars. With the scenic railway you would have paid 70 dollars. Kuranda is a village in the rainforest about 30 km away from Cairns, touristic too, but since we got there before all other tourists did, we were almost alone. We walked all the way down to the Barron Waterfalls and were impressed by the view! The falls looked amazing! We headed on to another lookout, with view on Cairns and fortunately we met a nice australian couple there, that offered us a lift back to Kuranda. Thanks god, the 5 km in the heat we drove in an air-con car! Plus we saved time and were able to check out the local markets before the shuttle bus took us back to Cairns. The other day I went by myself to the Botanical garden and took some great close-up pictures of plants and trees. Check them out! Pictures!
We booked a sailing tour to an island called Low Isle, which is situated about 60 km from Port Douglas. Before we got on the boat we visited the sunday market which is right next to the marina. The had nice little things, like jewelery and hand crafted stuff- also typical tropical fruits. At 8.30 am we boarded the sailing boat, called Wavedancer. It was a huge catamaran, where at least 100 people can fit in, but fortunately we were only like 50, it gave everyone enough space. To get to Low Isle it took us about 1 hour, fortuntely we were not sailing by wind, otherwise it would have taken us longer. The crew gave us an introduction on how to snorkle before we got off the boat. Me and Nadine decided to go snorkeling although jellybox fishes were seen near the island two days ago. We definitely made sure to wear a stinger suit, so that we are safe. And I actually felt safe in the water with this suit, we looked like funny aliens, but who cares? So we did a guided snorkeling tour, where we saw many Nemos, turtels and corals. Some of our group also saw a shark, but I'm glad I didn't- After a very delicious lunch on board we went on the island tour, to get to know the history of the island and many interesting facts of the Great Barrier Reef. The guide made us aware, that the reef has been destroyed by human activities over the last years and we all need to care about the nature more, otherwise the reef will be gone in the future. Sustainability is the right word. The reef is really amazing although we haven't been to the outer reef, we got an impression on how the reef and its animals are living. Pictures!
I had to get up early for the Safari in the Daintree National Park. This time Nadine stayed at the hostel and I went alone. I got picked up by Nick with a cruiser car and he told me we there will only be another German couple booked on the tour. We picked up Fabian and Frederike in Port Douglas central and headed on north to the Daintree. We didn't go to Mossman, since Nick said it is too touristic, he wanted to show us the real wildlife! Alrighty bring it up!!! We did not have to wait long, there were crocodiles swimming in the Daintree river, when we crossed it with the ferry at 8 am. Huhh, there were signs everywhere, to watch out for crocodiles, so thanks god we were in the car. First stop was at a rainforest, where we went on a 45 minutes walk. Nick explained alot about the rainforest and even showed us animals, which I would have never spotted by myself: dragon lizards everywhere! I got a really good shot of two, they were sitting right next to the walking path on a tree. Awesome! The good thing about getting up so early, no tourists at all. The animals were not hiding! Did you know that the rainforest in the Daintree National Park is older than the rainforest in Amazonas? Next stop was at Cape Tribulation, an awesome white beach, that Captain Cook once named. we took pictures while Nick setted up the breakfast for us: self-baked muffins by his wife and Australian tea and coffee. While we were eating he told us about the cassowaries, which looks like a big big turkey, but is two meters high. This species is about to die out and only 55 are left in the rainforest. Nick has seen in his 20 years of working as a tour guide only 83 cassowaries. No chance we would see one.. but guess what? On our way thru the national park Nick suddenly stopped the car and pointed to something in the bushes. I could not believe it, but we really saw a cassowarie with two chicks! We accompanied them for 5 minutes and then they headed further into the bushes. The picture I took turned out bad, you can only see bushes and something black. That's the huge black body. Still overwhelmed from that experience we headed on to the ice-cream factory. The ice-cream is made out of real tropical fruits, without any additives. I had Jackfruit, Rasberry, Coconut and Mango! Oh my god it was sooo delicous!!! Ice-cream is quite expensive over here but I want to eat ice-cream constantly! Too bad! Filled with yummy ice-cream we drove further north to a creek. To drive up there you definitely need an off-road car, the streets are no streets, it is bumpy and sandy. Plan was to take a quick swim in the creek but I decided not to, since Nick was telling about freshwater snakes. It took him 2 minutes to point out a freshwater snake, and 5 minutes afterwards we spotted a green tree-snake. It came out of the water, passed us and up it went on the tree. Although they are not dangerous, I better not go in. Afterwards we went for out for lunch and I ate fish! Was very good!! At around 2:30 pm we were already awaited for the boat-ride. Me and the German couple got our camera ready, because the Daintree river is full of crocodiles, and locodiles. Never heard of a locodile? Well these are woods swimming in the river, that look like a crocodile but are not. So everytime someone sees a crocodile, it is only wood swimming, so called locodile. Actually it is hard to spot the crocodiles, they can stay under water for 2 hours and then suddenly attack an animal or even a human. Thanks God we had two guys on board, who's job it is to spot a crocodile. It took only 15 minutes, when we saw one, laying on the ground in the mangroves. When it is high tide, crocodiles either stay under water or relax and sunbath under the mangroves. The crocodile we spotted was at least 2m long, but hided very well. I tried to get a good shot but my camera always focussed on the branches. We went on but didn't see another croc, only locs. Need to make sure to go out for another safari to take a great picture of a crocodile. All in all the day with Nick was awesome, he taught us alot about the animals and the nature and he is kinda humorous. Pictures!
Mossman Gorge is located in the southern part of Daintree National Park about 15 minutes away from Port Douglas. We booked a shuttle bus to take us there, but we had to go thru the rainforest by our own. It is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Eastern Kuku Yulanji people, with who you can book a guided tour. After we have crossed the Mossman river we did the 2.4-kilometre circular rainforest walk. The first animal we saw was the Australian brush turkey. It is harmless but tourists should not feed it. Well we met some tourists who where like: "hey you wanna give the rest of the cookie to the turkey?".. that's why the turkeys walk up to tourists and try to get food. Not good for them! More than 430 bird species have been spotted in the Gorge, but we didn't see any, we only heard them. In the rainforest are so many trees, bushes, farns, you could hardly spot any animal. The walk thru the rainforest was nice but we didn't really know what kind of fauna & flora is there. Need to do another walk with a ranger, who can tell what is that tree and that birds name. Pictures!
The last night in Melbourne we spent at the airport. Our flight to Cairns was at 6 am and we arrived around 8 am (Cairns time). Unfortunately we had to wait 2 hours for our shuttle bus to the hostel but we met a girl from Hamburg. Around noon the shuttle finally picked us up and brought us 60 km north of Cairns to Port Douglas. The town is totally touristic with a long 4-miles-beach, several bars and restaurants and many expensive resorts. Our hostel Dougies was located at the beginning of the town and looked really nice: huge garden with hammocks, pool, open BBQ-Bar-Kitchen facility, around the area the rooms where situated. We booked a 4-room, so we had to share it with two other people: one australian guy from Brisbane and a German girl from Dessau (how small the world is). The room was small, with two bunk beds, one little table and chair, one wardrobe with 4 shelves and 4 safes. We unpacked a little and walked about 20 minutes to the next super market: Coles. Gosh it was so expensive, we only got musli, milk, fruits, crackers, bread, eggs and cheese and payed $30. A little shocked we put everything in a fridge-box, except for the milk, which didn't fit in. Well, the next morning, only 200 ml of a 3 liter bottle was left. Somebody else drunk our milk, because it wasn't labeled. Reminder: Always label your food, some even did lock their food away! You cannot actually trust anybody anywhere, how sad is that? I took some pictures of the beach and of the town itself: Pictures!
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Thursday at 11:50 our A380 plane took off from Frankfurt to Singapore. Nadine and Me had two seats in the upper deck next to the window, which was great, we had space for ourselves and do not have to worry about other people next to us. 5 movies, 6 trips to the loo and 1 hour of sleep later we arrived at Singapore Airport 10 minutes late. We had to beat the clock to catch our connecting flight to Melbourne. A little sprint thru the airport from terminal A to B made it possible. We had to go thru the security control again and made it to the plane in time. Wonder how old people do it? The master plan was to catch some sleep in the next 7 hours but that was difficult. All around us where sitting baby and kids that were crying the whole time. But who needs sleep? After 6:10 pm Melbourne time we finally landed! Nadine's cousins Conny and Franzi picked us up with the car and it took us another 45 minutes til we arrived in Ringwood North, a suburb of Melboune. Conny and her husband David are living in a really nice house with big backyard, where their son Flynn can play. We got to bed at 10 pm and slept until 10 am on Saturday.
The plan for the first day was a trip to Yarra Valley, a winery area near Melbourne. We stopped at Domaine Chandon, where we arrived just in time for the winery tour. We learned the wine and champagne is made: did you know that champagne needs 3,5 years to be ready for sale? We wanted to do a wine tasting but before that we relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the wondeful view on the wine yards. To cool down we drove further into the so-called bush, which is actually a wood. The Black Spur lives up to his name, because some of the trees haven't regenerated since the big forest fire in February 2009. The trunks are still black and are burnt to a cider. Without success we were looking for coala bears in the trees but nothing. Conny said she hasn't seen any coala bears in nature for the past 11 years she is living in Australia, only in the zoo. In the evening we relaxed at Conny's house and had a yummy BBQ in the backyard. Next tuesday is another BBQ, where I will try kangaroo steak! Pictures!
Can you believe it? 10 years!!! Ten years ago I been to the States where I met my girls Aga, Elli and Steffi! Without them my Aupair year would not have been that awesome. Together we survived a year on another continent. We all lived with a host-family, had to learn to cope with problems in a foreign language, far far away from home. It all made us stronger and you can actually say that we grew up. I remember good times, like our road trip thru four different states, the boat-trips with Jamie, the clubbing and shopping Downtown. Many movie-nights at the movies or in the basement, gym work-outs at YMCA's, scrabbeling at coffee-shops, eating soft-shell Taco's at Tacobell, meetings at Rockland, I could go on and on...
When we all came back to Europe we stayed in contact and visited each other every year. 10 years later, some of us need Aupair's themselves: The girls are all married, except for me. They have wonderful kids (or expecting one) and we are all grown-ups! Time for an Aupair anniversary in Berlin! I'm glad we figured out a date and had a great weekend in Germany's capital. We couldn't really live up old times since we were busy with sight-seeing! Aga never been to Berlin before, so most of the time we went from A to B and back. It was one of the hottest weekends this summer and little Antonia was brave, she actually wanted to go swimming! Who can blame her? THANKS GIRLS - for still being in contact after so many years! I really hope we will still sit together in a coffee shop when we are old and grey!!! Pictures!
I cannot remember the last time I visited the "Europapark" but it must been years ago, when I was twelve or thirteen years old. I remember, that the adventure park was less funny than the Heidepark in Soltau. But this time I was mistaken: The park is really big now and you have several roller coasters and funny rides. We got there really early in the morning since we had ticket for a music-show that is broadcasted live every Sunday morning. The music show is actually for old people but it is fun to watch and my Grandmom liked it alot. So we decided to be part of the show! We took our seats and I blew up a huge yellow plastic hand. I waved with this hand the whole show, so that my Grandmom was able to see me. And she saw me waving live on tv, yeah. I took photos with my new camera, which turned out great, plus I got me autographs. The rest of the day we spent in the park and had alot of fun. On Saturday we visited the highest waterfalls of Germany. They are situated in the black forest, south western of Germany. Actually they could not impress me, I've been to the Niagara falls in Canada and those waterfalls are huge! But since it got really hot that Saturday, it was a nice place to cool down. Pictures!
Besides meetings I used the free time I spent in Heidelberg to explore the old town. Years ago, with Jamie, I been to the old town, but I hardly remember the great view to and from the castle. The way up to the castle is exhausting so I decided to take the tram further to the so called "Königstuhl". Pictures!
Hamburg is turning to one of my favorite cities in the north! Everytime I'm there I love the fresh air from the sea, the seagulls and the big boats at the harbour. It always feels like you are about to go on vacation. This time me and Nadine went shopping at Globetrotter for our trip and we booked our Greyhound bus ticket! Another To-Do done! With this bus pass, we can travel from Cairns back to Melbourne within 90 days. It is a hop on, hop-off ticket, so we are 100% flexible and can stay longer at one place if we want to. The bus is going down the coast 3 to 4 times a day, no panic if we miss one. The only thing we are still not sure about, is the luggage. Are we taking the big backpack, a big bag, a trolley or a backpack-trolley? The backpacks are sooo heavy, I do not want to carry 20 kg around for hours. A backpack-trolley is a great idea, but it costs $$$. Maybe I will go with a bag-trolley, my Aunt has one and if I want I can borrow it. That way, I have a bag on rolls and if I need to, I can carry it. Right now we are looking for hostels for the first two weeks. We plan to stay in Port Douglas for at least 5 days to explore the Great Barrier Reef and then in Cairns before we head south. Anyway I took a few shots in Hamburg: Pictures!
30 is a BIG number! Of course me and Anja threw a BIG Birthday party!!! We rented a huge location in Dohna, where Anja lives and we invited about 80 people. This time not only friends, but also family. The party started already in the afternoon: our families came for coffee and cake and our friends joined in later in the evening. We had a lot of fun but what can I say, it was also exhausting! Too many things to take care off, too little time to talk to every guest. We hope our guests enjoyed the party, thanks to everyone who came! And also thanks for all the great presents!!! Next party will be with 40 *hehe* Pictures!
~*~ With you in your dreams ~*~
I turned old: 30! Time for a quick review and status update: A third of my life is gone, most time of this third I spent at school, all in all 18 years. 5 years of working and 7 years of playing. I achieved alot, got my high-school-diploma, my gaphic/design/webdesign diploma, my university degree in media. I also got around: in 30 years of my life I have seen 3 continents and 20 countries, how many cities I been to is not countable. I have a family that loves me, a great boyfriend and many many awesome friends. With 30 I'm not married and have no kids. The next decade will start off with my second dream: Australia. A continent that is far far away but worth to spend a day on a plane.
On my 30th Birthday I got up at 9 am, took a shower and was surprised to see a big blow-up palm tree in the living room. A lot of presents were laying around the tree, i.e. a teddy kangaroo, tons of chocolate, a wine bottle labeled with 1983, a over-30-party-game, birthday cards and much more. The plan for the day was: RELAXING! After a breakfast with champagne me and my Mom went to have an 1-hour-massage. It felt great to get the whole body massaged. The therapists were pretty good and the oil they used smelt awesome. Right after we got our hair done and then went grocery shopping for the evening. We awaited my friends Anja and Enrico at 7 pm, so we were in a hurry to head home. We arrived just before them and I got more presents. After dinner we discussed the catering for our big party in March. Surprising how everything sums up, you know it is not easy to organize a big party! Fortunately we already booked the location in October, so next step was catering! We knew what we wanted, so now we need to book it and then wait 5 weeks for the party to begin! Thanks to everybody who sent me birthday congratulation, via Facebook, SMS, E-Mail, Telephone, Card or in person.. you all made my day! Pictures!
Guess what? Nadine and I booked our flight to Australia!!! Now it is offical and we cannot wait to take off. We booked a round-trip Frankfurt - Melbourne - Frankfurt, with Singapore Airlines. Actually we got a pretty good deal, only a little more than what I paid to the U.S. last year. Not sure if it is an early-rate but I'm glad we booked Singapore Airlines. We also checked flight-schedules on Emirates and Quantas Airlines but the overall flight-time is longer than with Singapore Airlines. Our plane will be a A380 and I'm already excited to fly with such a big plane! Nadine will fly back beginning of January 2014, she wants to spend Christmas and New Years Eve with her cousin, who lives in Melbourne. I'm sure the months will pass so fast until end of October, we need to plan our trip, read alot of books and save money! Because Australia is expensive - but who cares I'm only living one time.
Every year in January the annual Stock Exchange Exhibition takes place in my hometown. Me and my colleague Enrico rocked the 9-hours-day! This year it was very crowded, about 6.000 people visited the Exhibition, including my friends Anja, Enrico, Susi, Moni and Christian. Fortunately we had alot to do, refill give-aways, answer questions and look professional *hehe* Next exhibtion will be in Dusseldorf on February 23. Meet me there!
It is also Birthday time from January to March: My grandmom started off with her 83 birthday, followed by my uncle Heiko who turned 42. My boyfriend is next, turning 33 end of January. Me and my Mom's birthdays are on a work-day this year. Mom has to work on her birthday but I will take off work and head home to be with my family.
Special shout-out to my lovely penpal Noell! She turned 30 on January 14 and had the best birthday present ever. Guess what? She spent her big day together with HANSON! Yes!!! Hanson invited fans to join them for holidays on Jamaica. She slept in the same resort with Hanson, met them every day, listed to their concerts and got her picture taken. Even her husband Matt went up on stage with Hanson! How crazy is that?? Noell, I'm sooo happy for you that your dream came true on your 30th birthday!
Welcome to 2013! 2013 will be my year: I will turn 30 and therefore I want to travel to Australia! After America, Australia is my second favorite country! Ten years after visiting the U.S.A. I will spend 7 weeks in Australia. The plan is to leave Frankfurt end of October and come back for Christmas. I will be traveling with my friend Nadine, who is also able to take off such a long time. Together we want to visit Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
New Years Eve was fun: we made pizza at Nadine's friends house and went to see the fireworks in Dresden. Oh wow - how I missed the Dresden skyline, it looked so beautiful at New Years Eve, when everything was lighted up. Together with Nicole we went clubbing at "Downtown" until 6 am. Imagine, we were in bed by 7 am and got up at noon. The clubbing was fun and I'm so glad I was able to stay up so long. My normal going-to-bed time is 10 pm! But with a little alcohol, good music and dancing everybody can stay up. Me and my boyfriend drove back home on January 3, and got some days for ourselves before staring work again on January 7.