New Zealand
Coromandel Hot water beaches -
We arrived around 5 a clock at the hot water beaches at the Coromandel coast which was slightly to late cause the tide was not on our side. First what is the hot water beach? The hot water beach is a volcanic beach with dark sand and at certain spots hot water is under the sand. So what you have to do is dig a hole or build your own sandy bathtub to enjoy a nice hot bath ;-)
Manuel and Fabian were extremely enthusiastic. They jumped into their swimming shorts and run off for the beach. Cuss, Frederico and me followed. The correct spot at the beach was easy to find as you could see already quite a few people lying in their homemade bathtubs. The tide was a problem cause the seawater started mixing with the hot water, which made it cold again... so we could enjoy the hot water only for around 15 minutes. Hmm pitty, but still very nice experience.
This night the boys were sooo up for a drink with „the locals“ so they persuaded us that we need to go to the next village and to hit the local bar. I wasn t convinced as I have explained, NZ is not too densely populated and they don t have bars everywhere, like in Europe. Wherever you go, every small village has a least one bar... not so. When we arrived in the so called „town“ we saw 3 houses!!!! Boy, did I laugh!! So back to the hot water beach, I nice glass of wine and off to bed.
The next day after we had hit the beach again we moved on to cove cathedral. Basically it is another beach with a huge rock with a hole in the middle. But you can t imagine, how beautiful these beaches were and how clear the water was! We had a nice walk around and made most of the sun!!! From this amazing beach we moved on to Tauranga, to Mt. Manganui. There you had simply an amazing view with a walk of 30 minutes. At the top Manuel met an Argentinian girl who worked in New Zealand as a Kiwi picker/packer. She invited us over for the night. Before we went there we found a BBQ place. LOVELY... first BBQ in New Zealand. Of course this is a men-thing, so the boys prepared the meat and the girls the salad ;-)
After that we grabbed two bottles of wine and went to the house of the Argentinian girl. It turned out to be Spanish evening which was fine for all of us except of course Fabian, as he doesn t speak Spanish. Well he made the most of it and declared it to be a very intensive Spanish lesson for him :-) We were too lazy to repark the caravan, so we slept next to a highspeed road at a parking space... nobody complained!!!
The next day we moved on to Rotorua, the capital of volcanic action ;-). It all sounded incredible, hot springs wherever you go. In the middel of the city in a part thermal action. Thermal to us sounded = spa = relaxing in a natural pool! But no!!!! These termal springs are to hot to swim in! The whole town is basically full of hot boiling water containing a lot of sulphor. Those of you who paid attention in chemistry remember that sulphor smells terrible... basically like a fart! So as the whole town was full of sulphor and thermal springs, the whole town smells like a big fart!!!!! Maybe interesting to visit but definitely not worth living in!!!!
But the views were really nice. As you maybe know New Zealand is the scenery were Lord of the Ring was made. Especially in Rotorua you felt like you were right in the middle of Mordor!!! Scary and steemy with disgusting smell!
Traveling in a campervan can be very nice but it is not easy either. It is especially demanding from a social point of view. We urgently needed some company ... the next place we were going to was Lake Taupo... we really had to go out there. For now we just went to a bar, which was almost empty again. New Zealand is just not a great place to party I guess, especially in the winter season.
So enough for today.
Kisses from Rotorua, the smelly place
Astrid
Montag, 30. Mai 2011
New Zealand Auckland - Coromandel Bay
ew Zealand
Auckland – Coromandel bay
On the 16th of May Fabian and me went to the Airport in Sydney to fly to Auckland (New Zealand). There we would meet Manuel (Fabian's brother), Chuss (my Spanish friend that I met in Laos) and Frederico (an Italien guy that Chuss had met in Thailand). So we were a quite merry party!
We had decided to rent a campervan and to cruise around New Zealand. It is quite cheap as you combine transportation and and accommodation. Moreover New Zealand is the kind of country where you need at least a car, cause otherwise you miss out on a lot!
After we met in the Airport we went to a hostel and started while having a couple of bottles of wine making a plan for the next 2 weeks. Moreover we selected the caravan that we would rent. It turned out to be really affordable cause a caravan for 5 people (actually for six) for 2 weeks would cost everybody 180 euros! Nice!!!! I like bargains. Usually it is not soo cheap to rent one in New Zealand but right now it is not exactly high season as the winter is about to start and it is supposed to be quite cold.
We spent another day in Auckland walking around, visiting the harbour and checking out Devonport. Devonport is an island right across from Auckland. Well nice but nothing special, just a bit of walking around, enjoying nice views and excellent coffee :-)
On May the 18th we picked up our campervan! The boys were very nervous about the fact what brand it would be, cause they really wanted a VW!!!! So while I was busy with the rental procedure they kept on interrupting inquiring about the brand !!!!! But they had to be patient! :-)
Fortunately we got a VW, so everything was good and everybody was satisfied. Officially 3 people are allowed to drive, so we signed up the boys. I don t feel very confident driving on the otherside of the road AND a vehicle that is much bigger and heavier than an average car. Neither is Chuss very keen on driving especially after our little accident in Indonesia. Therefore we were quite happy to pass on the responsibility of driving to the boys.
New Zealand consists of two main islands, the northern and the southern island and together they are about the size of Great Britain. Soooo BIG but New Zealand has only 4 million inhabitants. Now you can imagin how densily populated it is..... NOT at all! It is VERY VERY quite with a lot of nature. As it is soo big and we had only 2 weeks time and we didn t want to spend all they long in the caravan, we decided just to visit the northern island. Yes I know, everybody who has been to NZ, will now tell me that the southern island is soooo nice and it is such a pity..... Yes it is a pity BUT we simply had a lack of time!
First we made our way up to Bay of Islands. There you have the opportunity to go dolphin watching and sometimes you can also swim with them. I was sooo in for that !!! :-)
After a wonderful breakfast at the beach I checked out the offers for dolphin watching. Eventually Chuss, Fabian and me went to see some. Swimming with dolphins is only possible if they have no babies... NZ law. WHY? because dolphin babies have to eat every 3!!! minutes and if they have human buddies to play with, they get so excited that they forget to eat and that is harmful to them! Okay anyway it was cold and windy so I didn t really feel the urge to go swimming in the sea.
Yes we saw dolphins and they had a baby... so no swimming. Lovely creatures but difficult to take pictures of them. Moreover we saw sea lions hanging out on an island and a few tiny penguins. So a very successful afternoon.!!!!
After we came back we moved on to the ninety mile beach. This beach is really 90 miles long and at certain spots you can dig into the sand to find clams which you can eat immediately. So of course we had to see that.
@wild camping in NZ is also illegal so we had again the same problem like in Australia. Find a safe spot somewhere, where the police won t find you. Hmmm but this time with a huge campervan! Fortunately it is not high season, so the police actually doesn t care to much. The boys found some pretty random spots, but we never got woken up by the police or received a fine....!!!!
So after we spent the night close to the ninety mile beach we had breakfast at the ninety mile beach (there was absolutely nobody except us!!). Afterwards we started digging for clams.. but no luck!!!! well.....
From there on we went back to Auckland passing by our rental company cause our heating didn t work. At their agency they explained that the heating works only if we are plugged to electricity. Hmmm therefore we would have to stay at a campsite.... No way, far to expensive!!!! Ahh and well in NZ it is not sooo easy to find a shower, as you can t shower at the beach, or you can but it is just too cold, so I grabbed the opportunity and took a shower at the rental company (the offer free shower incl towel!!!).
Next we went to Coromandel Bay. We went along the coast as this is supposed to be a very nice scenery. And BOY it was!!! black beaches, blue sea and the sunset. What more can you ask for. Nobody expected such beautiful beaches in New Zealand even though we were wearing hats and jackets at the beach ;-)
Kisses from New Zealand
Astrid
Auckland – Coromandel bay
On the 16th of May Fabian and me went to the Airport in Sydney to fly to Auckland (New Zealand). There we would meet Manuel (Fabian's brother), Chuss (my Spanish friend that I met in Laos) and Frederico (an Italien guy that Chuss had met in Thailand). So we were a quite merry party!
We had decided to rent a campervan and to cruise around New Zealand. It is quite cheap as you combine transportation and and accommodation. Moreover New Zealand is the kind of country where you need at least a car, cause otherwise you miss out on a lot!
After we met in the Airport we went to a hostel and started while having a couple of bottles of wine making a plan for the next 2 weeks. Moreover we selected the caravan that we would rent. It turned out to be really affordable cause a caravan for 5 people (actually for six) for 2 weeks would cost everybody 180 euros! Nice!!!! I like bargains. Usually it is not soo cheap to rent one in New Zealand but right now it is not exactly high season as the winter is about to start and it is supposed to be quite cold.
We spent another day in Auckland walking around, visiting the harbour and checking out Devonport. Devonport is an island right across from Auckland. Well nice but nothing special, just a bit of walking around, enjoying nice views and excellent coffee :-)
On May the 18th we picked up our campervan! The boys were very nervous about the fact what brand it would be, cause they really wanted a VW!!!! So while I was busy with the rental procedure they kept on interrupting inquiring about the brand !!!!! But they had to be patient! :-)
Fortunately we got a VW, so everything was good and everybody was satisfied. Officially 3 people are allowed to drive, so we signed up the boys. I don t feel very confident driving on the otherside of the road AND a vehicle that is much bigger and heavier than an average car. Neither is Chuss very keen on driving especially after our little accident in Indonesia. Therefore we were quite happy to pass on the responsibility of driving to the boys.
New Zealand consists of two main islands, the northern and the southern island and together they are about the size of Great Britain. Soooo BIG but New Zealand has only 4 million inhabitants. Now you can imagin how densily populated it is..... NOT at all! It is VERY VERY quite with a lot of nature. As it is soo big and we had only 2 weeks time and we didn t want to spend all they long in the caravan, we decided just to visit the northern island. Yes I know, everybody who has been to NZ, will now tell me that the southern island is soooo nice and it is such a pity..... Yes it is a pity BUT we simply had a lack of time!
First we made our way up to Bay of Islands. There you have the opportunity to go dolphin watching and sometimes you can also swim with them. I was sooo in for that !!! :-)
After a wonderful breakfast at the beach I checked out the offers for dolphin watching. Eventually Chuss, Fabian and me went to see some. Swimming with dolphins is only possible if they have no babies... NZ law. WHY? because dolphin babies have to eat every 3!!! minutes and if they have human buddies to play with, they get so excited that they forget to eat and that is harmful to them! Okay anyway it was cold and windy so I didn t really feel the urge to go swimming in the sea.
Yes we saw dolphins and they had a baby... so no swimming. Lovely creatures but difficult to take pictures of them. Moreover we saw sea lions hanging out on an island and a few tiny penguins. So a very successful afternoon.!!!!
After we came back we moved on to the ninety mile beach. This beach is really 90 miles long and at certain spots you can dig into the sand to find clams which you can eat immediately. So of course we had to see that.
@wild camping in NZ is also illegal so we had again the same problem like in Australia. Find a safe spot somewhere, where the police won t find you. Hmmm but this time with a huge campervan! Fortunately it is not high season, so the police actually doesn t care to much. The boys found some pretty random spots, but we never got woken up by the police or received a fine....!!!!
So after we spent the night close to the ninety mile beach we had breakfast at the ninety mile beach (there was absolutely nobody except us!!). Afterwards we started digging for clams.. but no luck!!!! well.....
From there on we went back to Auckland passing by our rental company cause our heating didn t work. At their agency they explained that the heating works only if we are plugged to electricity. Hmmm therefore we would have to stay at a campsite.... No way, far to expensive!!!! Ahh and well in NZ it is not sooo easy to find a shower, as you can t shower at the beach, or you can but it is just too cold, so I grabbed the opportunity and took a shower at the rental company (the offer free shower incl towel!!!).
Next we went to Coromandel Bay. We went along the coast as this is supposed to be a very nice scenery. And BOY it was!!! black beaches, blue sea and the sunset. What more can you ask for. Nobody expected such beautiful beaches in New Zealand even though we were wearing hats and jackets at the beach ;-)
Kisses from New Zealand
Astrid
Great Barrier Reef
Cairns – Diving at the Great Barrier Reef
One goal of this trip to get my open water diving license and of course it would have been already possible to obtain it in Indonesia or Thailand but somehow something always came in between like a volcano or another excursion. So this time I would definitely go for it!
Okay we planned to spend 7 days in Cairns, 5 days diving and 2 days hanging out at the local lagoon (cause you can t swim in the sea due to the jelly fish). We had gotten a nice hostel with pool and a sort of „patio“ (social backyard) for quite a reasonable price. Fabian and Tim wanted to go diving as well but somehow it always takes ages until they decide when how and with which company... and they tend to postpone the decision.... „manana manana!!“ But as we were only staying 7 days and the course takes 5, i figured that there was no time to be lost. So I simply asked the reception guy which company he would recommend... ProDive! Okay excellent, as there was anyway not much price difference I went for ProDive. As the course on Saturday was already full, I started already on Friday.
They picked me up in the morning to take me to their diving center where I would have theory classes and some pool practice. The theory and pool practice takes 2 days and then we would spend another 3 days out in the reef, sleeping on the boat! EXCITING!!!!
Okay maybe 2 days of pool practice and theory is a little bit too much cause in other dive schools around the world they do they whole course in 3 days. Anyway it is the Great Barrier Reef and God knows how long it is going to be there from now on (pollution, Chinese tankers crashing into it, global warming etc...). To be honest the pool practice and the classes are quite boring and nothing special. At the end I had to pass an exam... haha!!!! If you don t pass this one, then you have a serious mental problem and you didn t pay attention at all!
Fabian and Tim had also finally decided to go for diving. Tim selected though another company and Fabian would join me for his diving experience in the Great Barrier Reef. He is already an advanced diver, so he doesn t need a course or an instructor. So for him it was of course cheaper, especially as he got a special offer :-)
Before we actually went to go diving in the reef, the diving school took us to a dive shop. Surprise!!!!! the dive shop belongs to the school or the other way round. For days they kept on telling us how important it is to have your own gear and that it is absolutely worth it! Of course we would also get a VERY special price, which is such a bargain that one would be stupid not to buy your own gear. WELL... the set of fins, snorkel, mask and shoes (for the fins) would have cost ONLY around 400 ADS! SUCH a bargain! I simply cut of the discussion about whether I would buy something or not with the sentence: „sorry I am broke“. Issue solved!!!
Okay Great Barrier Reef experience: Just wonderful! 3 days on a boat doing the following: diving, food, diving food, diving food, sleeping! on the second day we also squeezed in a night dive. so 4 times per day diving! That s a hell of a lot of diving! Once you are in the water everything is just very calm and relaxed. Wonderful colourful corals, fish swarms passing by, turtles moving calmly through the water and once in a while a few bubbles from fellow divers. Really nice and relaxing! The only pain are the diving preparations! Put on your cold and wet stinger suit, maybe put on your wetsuit as well (in case you feel cold in the water), put on your gear, clean your mask, check out from the boat (the have a list, to make sure nobody is left in the water) and finally get into the water. To you that might not really sound like an effort BUT the stinger suit is such a bastard to put on, it takes for ever, meanwhile there is a quite chilly bries, your are fighting with the bloody stinger suit until you are finally in but your diving instructor walks over to inform you that you have put it on the wrong way, so again getting out and in (another 15 minutes). Meanwhile freezing your ass off (excuse my language).
Anyway the first 2 days we could not really explore the reef as we still had to do some diving practice and exercises. But finally on the second day after the second dive we were „certified divers“!!!! Hurray = my buddy Inga (from Holland) and me could go on our first dive alone! I was sooo hoping to see Brian, a giant turtle that hangs around at that area.... but no luck!!!
This night we went for a night dive.... Uh thats slightly scary, cause first of all everything is damn dark and secondly before we got into the water we could see already a few sharks circling our boat. Wooaaa SHARKS nice!!!!!!! they are so calm and when you see them in the water (if you can) you instantly relax and stop everything to admire them! Amazingly beautiful creatures. And for those of you who start to freak out cause they have seen recently some documentary where a great white attacked somebody and was seen with an arm in his mouth.... these sharks weren t great whites and they don t attack human beings!!!!
The next day i participated in the adventure diver course, which enables you to dive up to 30 metres. Okay maybe not absolutely necessary, but what the hell...
So of course we had to do a deep dive (30 metres) and for those of you who are not too familiar with diving: the deeper you dive the more nitrogen you ll have in your blood. Sometimes that leads to a small overdoses, which makes you feel a little bit as if you were drunk. Everything is very funny, and you start making silly things. Which is in general if you dive in a group of 6 people no problem, cause it will happen to maybe one of them and the others can take care. But let us assume that you dive down to 60 meters only with your dive-buddy, and both get „narced“, that might be dangerous, as the situation could get out of control. Divers have been reported to believe that they can breath under water, cause they got „narced“.... I think you get the point!!!
Anyway we went down and guess what I got slightly narced. Okay nothing to worry, I just thought it to be hilarious that a fish ate a tomato that my dive instructor had brought. Good experience!!!
The last dive that we did was a foto dive. So I had the opportunity to take some underwater fotos. It is REALLY difficult. You have all this nice scenery BUT you have to come very close to take a good fotos. PROBLEM: if you try to come close to a fish, it will disappear. So I kept chasing various colourful fish in the Great Barrier Reef. My diving instructor got almost crazy with me, as I got lost several times! AAAHHHH, but you know... I saw Nemo and of course I had to have a foto of him ;-)
Anyway, it was a really nice trip but of course everything has an end. We celebrated the nice trip with a couple of ciders in a local bar in Cairns!
Kisses from the Great Barrier Reef
Astrid
One goal of this trip to get my open water diving license and of course it would have been already possible to obtain it in Indonesia or Thailand but somehow something always came in between like a volcano or another excursion. So this time I would definitely go for it!
Okay we planned to spend 7 days in Cairns, 5 days diving and 2 days hanging out at the local lagoon (cause you can t swim in the sea due to the jelly fish). We had gotten a nice hostel with pool and a sort of „patio“ (social backyard) for quite a reasonable price. Fabian and Tim wanted to go diving as well but somehow it always takes ages until they decide when how and with which company... and they tend to postpone the decision.... „manana manana!!“ But as we were only staying 7 days and the course takes 5, i figured that there was no time to be lost. So I simply asked the reception guy which company he would recommend... ProDive! Okay excellent, as there was anyway not much price difference I went for ProDive. As the course on Saturday was already full, I started already on Friday.
They picked me up in the morning to take me to their diving center where I would have theory classes and some pool practice. The theory and pool practice takes 2 days and then we would spend another 3 days out in the reef, sleeping on the boat! EXCITING!!!!
Okay maybe 2 days of pool practice and theory is a little bit too much cause in other dive schools around the world they do they whole course in 3 days. Anyway it is the Great Barrier Reef and God knows how long it is going to be there from now on (pollution, Chinese tankers crashing into it, global warming etc...). To be honest the pool practice and the classes are quite boring and nothing special. At the end I had to pass an exam... haha!!!! If you don t pass this one, then you have a serious mental problem and you didn t pay attention at all!
Fabian and Tim had also finally decided to go for diving. Tim selected though another company and Fabian would join me for his diving experience in the Great Barrier Reef. He is already an advanced diver, so he doesn t need a course or an instructor. So for him it was of course cheaper, especially as he got a special offer :-)
Before we actually went to go diving in the reef, the diving school took us to a dive shop. Surprise!!!!! the dive shop belongs to the school or the other way round. For days they kept on telling us how important it is to have your own gear and that it is absolutely worth it! Of course we would also get a VERY special price, which is such a bargain that one would be stupid not to buy your own gear. WELL... the set of fins, snorkel, mask and shoes (for the fins) would have cost ONLY around 400 ADS! SUCH a bargain! I simply cut of the discussion about whether I would buy something or not with the sentence: „sorry I am broke“. Issue solved!!!
Okay Great Barrier Reef experience: Just wonderful! 3 days on a boat doing the following: diving, food, diving food, diving food, sleeping! on the second day we also squeezed in a night dive. so 4 times per day diving! That s a hell of a lot of diving! Once you are in the water everything is just very calm and relaxed. Wonderful colourful corals, fish swarms passing by, turtles moving calmly through the water and once in a while a few bubbles from fellow divers. Really nice and relaxing! The only pain are the diving preparations! Put on your cold and wet stinger suit, maybe put on your wetsuit as well (in case you feel cold in the water), put on your gear, clean your mask, check out from the boat (the have a list, to make sure nobody is left in the water) and finally get into the water. To you that might not really sound like an effort BUT the stinger suit is such a bastard to put on, it takes for ever, meanwhile there is a quite chilly bries, your are fighting with the bloody stinger suit until you are finally in but your diving instructor walks over to inform you that you have put it on the wrong way, so again getting out and in (another 15 minutes). Meanwhile freezing your ass off (excuse my language).
Anyway the first 2 days we could not really explore the reef as we still had to do some diving practice and exercises. But finally on the second day after the second dive we were „certified divers“!!!! Hurray = my buddy Inga (from Holland) and me could go on our first dive alone! I was sooo hoping to see Brian, a giant turtle that hangs around at that area.... but no luck!!!
This night we went for a night dive.... Uh thats slightly scary, cause first of all everything is damn dark and secondly before we got into the water we could see already a few sharks circling our boat. Wooaaa SHARKS nice!!!!!!! they are so calm and when you see them in the water (if you can) you instantly relax and stop everything to admire them! Amazingly beautiful creatures. And for those of you who start to freak out cause they have seen recently some documentary where a great white attacked somebody and was seen with an arm in his mouth.... these sharks weren t great whites and they don t attack human beings!!!!
The next day i participated in the adventure diver course, which enables you to dive up to 30 metres. Okay maybe not absolutely necessary, but what the hell...
So of course we had to do a deep dive (30 metres) and for those of you who are not too familiar with diving: the deeper you dive the more nitrogen you ll have in your blood. Sometimes that leads to a small overdoses, which makes you feel a little bit as if you were drunk. Everything is very funny, and you start making silly things. Which is in general if you dive in a group of 6 people no problem, cause it will happen to maybe one of them and the others can take care. But let us assume that you dive down to 60 meters only with your dive-buddy, and both get „narced“, that might be dangerous, as the situation could get out of control. Divers have been reported to believe that they can breath under water, cause they got „narced“.... I think you get the point!!!
Anyway we went down and guess what I got slightly narced. Okay nothing to worry, I just thought it to be hilarious that a fish ate a tomato that my dive instructor had brought. Good experience!!!
The last dive that we did was a foto dive. So I had the opportunity to take some underwater fotos. It is REALLY difficult. You have all this nice scenery BUT you have to come very close to take a good fotos. PROBLEM: if you try to come close to a fish, it will disappear. So I kept chasing various colourful fish in the Great Barrier Reef. My diving instructor got almost crazy with me, as I got lost several times! AAAHHHH, but you know... I saw Nemo and of course I had to have a foto of him ;-)
Anyway, it was a really nice trip but of course everything has an end. We celebrated the nice trip with a couple of ciders in a local bar in Cairns!
Kisses from the Great Barrier Reef
Astrid
Roadtrip to Cairns
Road Trip and Cairns
After the Whitsunday Islands we had to hit the road hard... we had still some km to cover until Cairns, where we would return the van. We decided though to make a stop in Mission Beach which is famous for its tropical forest that reach right into the town. When we arrived there, the town seemed to be dead. We had difficulties finding a coffee place!!!!!
Eventually we found one and the guy working there explained that the floods had damaged most of the restaurants and shops around and they were still fighting with the insurance company. Therefore most of all business were still closed. What a pity .... and slightly boring for us! We wanted to have another BBQ at the beach, as we had already bought a lot of meat. So we were in need of a public BBQ place, which are usually abundant in Australia on the beach... but also all the BBQ places were destroyed by the floods and had not been rebuilt again!!! SUCKS.... so eventually we checked into a campsite, to be able to cook and also take a shower! LUXURY!! Nice nice!
The next day we started visiting the forest and the waterfalls around. After all the waterfalls that I have seen so far on this trip, they are not sooo spectecular anymore but.. they were still nice. Uhh I forgot to mention the incredible beaches in Mission Beach. Empty beaches... for miles... palm trees... white sand and again no people. It would be paradise if you could acutally swim in the sea, but as it is still jelly fish season, you can t. It is such a pity, these Australians have just marvollous beaches but they can only swim in the sea during winter. Jelly fish are not like in Europe, they hurt but its nothing serious, here a „mate“ told us, that recently 2 kids died from jelly fish. They are really nasty bastards here and you really don t wanna get in touch with them. You will even find all along every beach vinegar, to be able to offer first aid, just in case.
After 3 different waterfalls, we decided to sleep somewhere a little bit before Cairns. Fabian and me were defensively not willing to pay a cent for the last night, our German friends though were slightly worried. Anyway we just drove into a field were we wanted to stay overnight. Just in the middle of the field there turned out to be the farmers house, but maybe he would let us stay there anyway. So I went to his house to ask, but I could not really find the main door and I am definitely not entering his house via the terrace. Fabian was following me but suddenly the farmer let his dog out for a piss and the dog spotted us immediatly. Slowly (I as though terrible scared) Fabian and me went backwards to the van. Okay no luck so far.
Okay maybe the field was not the best idea. Therefore we went into Cairns were we first had dinner at the beach next to the Lagoon. Scrambled eggs with ham (we had to finish all our remaining food from the van). Afterwards we started again the search for a place to sleep and we found a perfect place. Just in the middle of the city but hidden between two trees. This night it was very humid and hot, so the inside of the van felt like a sauna. Tonight is was Tim's turn to sleep at the front seat but he could not really manage so eventually he went outside to sleep on a bench :-)
The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast outside of the van. It was a lovely but quite intensive time in the van. If 4 people spend all their time very close together... it takes a lot of effort not to get too much on each others nerves. For those circumstances, we managed I guess quite well. We checked in into one of the hostels along the beach and the boys returned the van.
Kisses from Cairns
After the Whitsunday Islands we had to hit the road hard... we had still some km to cover until Cairns, where we would return the van. We decided though to make a stop in Mission Beach which is famous for its tropical forest that reach right into the town. When we arrived there, the town seemed to be dead. We had difficulties finding a coffee place!!!!!
Eventually we found one and the guy working there explained that the floods had damaged most of the restaurants and shops around and they were still fighting with the insurance company. Therefore most of all business were still closed. What a pity .... and slightly boring for us! We wanted to have another BBQ at the beach, as we had already bought a lot of meat. So we were in need of a public BBQ place, which are usually abundant in Australia on the beach... but also all the BBQ places were destroyed by the floods and had not been rebuilt again!!! SUCKS.... so eventually we checked into a campsite, to be able to cook and also take a shower! LUXURY!! Nice nice!
The next day we started visiting the forest and the waterfalls around. After all the waterfalls that I have seen so far on this trip, they are not sooo spectecular anymore but.. they were still nice. Uhh I forgot to mention the incredible beaches in Mission Beach. Empty beaches... for miles... palm trees... white sand and again no people. It would be paradise if you could acutally swim in the sea, but as it is still jelly fish season, you can t. It is such a pity, these Australians have just marvollous beaches but they can only swim in the sea during winter. Jelly fish are not like in Europe, they hurt but its nothing serious, here a „mate“ told us, that recently 2 kids died from jelly fish. They are really nasty bastards here and you really don t wanna get in touch with them. You will even find all along every beach vinegar, to be able to offer first aid, just in case.
After 3 different waterfalls, we decided to sleep somewhere a little bit before Cairns. Fabian and me were defensively not willing to pay a cent for the last night, our German friends though were slightly worried. Anyway we just drove into a field were we wanted to stay overnight. Just in the middle of the field there turned out to be the farmers house, but maybe he would let us stay there anyway. So I went to his house to ask, but I could not really find the main door and I am definitely not entering his house via the terrace. Fabian was following me but suddenly the farmer let his dog out for a piss and the dog spotted us immediatly. Slowly (I as though terrible scared) Fabian and me went backwards to the van. Okay no luck so far.
Okay maybe the field was not the best idea. Therefore we went into Cairns were we first had dinner at the beach next to the Lagoon. Scrambled eggs with ham (we had to finish all our remaining food from the van). Afterwards we started again the search for a place to sleep and we found a perfect place. Just in the middle of the city but hidden between two trees. This night it was very humid and hot, so the inside of the van felt like a sauna. Tonight is was Tim's turn to sleep at the front seat but he could not really manage so eventually he went outside to sleep on a bench :-)
The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast outside of the van. It was a lovely but quite intensive time in the van. If 4 people spend all their time very close together... it takes a lot of effort not to get too much on each others nerves. For those circumstances, we managed I guess quite well. We checked in into one of the hostels along the beach and the boys returned the van.
Kisses from Cairns
Whitesunday Cruise
Sailing Trip Whitesunday
I think all of you know that I really enjoyed my trip in Asia but there are certain things that I don t miss at all like: If you ask for help at the reception, it is usually a simple question like, where can i maybe buy a charger for my computer. The person behind the reception will smile sweetly at you and tell you „I don t know“. Whenever they don t understand or are not a hundred percent sure they will tell you... „I don t know“ but meanwhile smiling so sweetly that you can t even be angry. Okay to be honest I am quite surprised by myself cause in those 3 months I developed a patients, that I never thought I could have... smiling even sweeter at them... encouraging them to think once again.
You don t have those issues in Australia. The people are super confident and basically the are a service nation like most European countries. Moreover I am very happy not to hear any „Chinglish“ anymore. I very much enjoy to be in a country where menus are not continuously misspelled and where you can be sure that you are able to talk to anybody in case there is a problem. Traveling if you speak the local language, is just sooo much easier.
Anyway I wanted to tell you about the Whitsunday sailing trip. Whitsunday is the area that Mr. Cook arrived at when he discovered Australia. As he thought it was a Sunday and the sand is extremely white, he named it Whitsunday ... again not to creative I have to say. So we were on a sailing boat with 22 other guys mostly from Germany. I don t know why but these Germans are everywhere and especially in Australia. There are not too many European tourists in Austrialia, mainly I guess because it is simply very far. Not too many OTHER than Germans.
After we had all selected a bed we started sailing. We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and nice cause the days before it had been raining and foggy. Even though it was sunny due to the wind it was rather chilly but of course I could not put on my jacket cause otherwise I would not get tanned...
After 2 hours of sailing we arrived at a bay of Haven Island where we went for snorkeling. We all had to put on stinger-suits cause even though it is not high season for jellyfish anymore, there are still some in the water. I got my first impression of the Great Barrier Reef and its fish and corals. Uhhh very promising, I am soooo going to finally get my diving licence here.
From the snorkel spot we moved on to a calmer bay were we spent the night. All of us were crazy hungry so we were delighted by the vast amount of food they presented us with. The rest of the night we spent talking and drinking on deck. Some of us wanted to sleep on deck but I wasn t conviced, no matress, no serious blankets and a quite chilly night.... I will sleep inside.
The next day after we had breakfast we started sailing to Whitsunday islands. The beach there was simply amazing. I have never seen any sand that has been whiter than this one and the water was soo clear that you could see sharks swimming around the island. Unfortunately the wheather suddenly changed and it started raining.
After lunch we started sailing back. As on the first day I had been a bit seasick, I decided to take a few pills as a precaution. Hmmm maybe I should have taken just one, cause I sort of underestimated their impact. I got sooo tired that I passed out for an hour on the boat. On the other side that might have been a good thing cause during that time, Fabian was navigating the sailing boat... :-)
Around 5 we arrived back in Airlie Beach. Michael and Tim wanted to stay for the „after sailing“drink in a local bar with all the participants. So we had some time to kill. I went back to the hostel to ask them whether I could use their shower once again. Well after 2 days without shower just salt water and no prospect of any fresh water shower soon, that should be very nice. And I was lucky. They were generous enough to allow me to use it... even without paying.
Finally we went out for a couple of drinks (Fabian was not drinking cause he was taking Antibiotics and he would be the driver for that evening). As we arrived at the bar, the bouncer seriously asked me for my ID!!!!! For those who don t know, I am 25!!!! Yeaahh baby, After a couple of drinks, we (fabian and me) finally convinced Michael and Tim that we had to leave. So we went back to the hostel where we parked our van before the sailing trip and went to the next rest place next to the highway. Unfortunately after we had gotten already sort of comfortable (I was sleeping on the front seat, so not soo comfortable) the police arrived and informed us, that we are aloud to have a rest here but not to stay overnight. So again we had to hit the road and find another place. Finally we were lucky 40 km further and nobody woke us up this night.
I think all of you know that I really enjoyed my trip in Asia but there are certain things that I don t miss at all like: If you ask for help at the reception, it is usually a simple question like, where can i maybe buy a charger for my computer. The person behind the reception will smile sweetly at you and tell you „I don t know“. Whenever they don t understand or are not a hundred percent sure they will tell you... „I don t know“ but meanwhile smiling so sweetly that you can t even be angry. Okay to be honest I am quite surprised by myself cause in those 3 months I developed a patients, that I never thought I could have... smiling even sweeter at them... encouraging them to think once again.
You don t have those issues in Australia. The people are super confident and basically the are a service nation like most European countries. Moreover I am very happy not to hear any „Chinglish“ anymore. I very much enjoy to be in a country where menus are not continuously misspelled and where you can be sure that you are able to talk to anybody in case there is a problem. Traveling if you speak the local language, is just sooo much easier.
Anyway I wanted to tell you about the Whitsunday sailing trip. Whitsunday is the area that Mr. Cook arrived at when he discovered Australia. As he thought it was a Sunday and the sand is extremely white, he named it Whitsunday ... again not to creative I have to say. So we were on a sailing boat with 22 other guys mostly from Germany. I don t know why but these Germans are everywhere and especially in Australia. There are not too many European tourists in Austrialia, mainly I guess because it is simply very far. Not too many OTHER than Germans.
After we had all selected a bed we started sailing. We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and nice cause the days before it had been raining and foggy. Even though it was sunny due to the wind it was rather chilly but of course I could not put on my jacket cause otherwise I would not get tanned...
After 2 hours of sailing we arrived at a bay of Haven Island where we went for snorkeling. We all had to put on stinger-suits cause even though it is not high season for jellyfish anymore, there are still some in the water. I got my first impression of the Great Barrier Reef and its fish and corals. Uhhh very promising, I am soooo going to finally get my diving licence here.
From the snorkel spot we moved on to a calmer bay were we spent the night. All of us were crazy hungry so we were delighted by the vast amount of food they presented us with. The rest of the night we spent talking and drinking on deck. Some of us wanted to sleep on deck but I wasn t conviced, no matress, no serious blankets and a quite chilly night.... I will sleep inside.
The next day after we had breakfast we started sailing to Whitsunday islands. The beach there was simply amazing. I have never seen any sand that has been whiter than this one and the water was soo clear that you could see sharks swimming around the island. Unfortunately the wheather suddenly changed and it started raining.
After lunch we started sailing back. As on the first day I had been a bit seasick, I decided to take a few pills as a precaution. Hmmm maybe I should have taken just one, cause I sort of underestimated their impact. I got sooo tired that I passed out for an hour on the boat. On the other side that might have been a good thing cause during that time, Fabian was navigating the sailing boat... :-)
Around 5 we arrived back in Airlie Beach. Michael and Tim wanted to stay for the „after sailing“drink in a local bar with all the participants. So we had some time to kill. I went back to the hostel to ask them whether I could use their shower once again. Well after 2 days without shower just salt water and no prospect of any fresh water shower soon, that should be very nice. And I was lucky. They were generous enough to allow me to use it... even without paying.
Finally we went out for a couple of drinks (Fabian was not drinking cause he was taking Antibiotics and he would be the driver for that evening). As we arrived at the bar, the bouncer seriously asked me for my ID!!!!! For those who don t know, I am 25!!!! Yeaahh baby, After a couple of drinks, we (fabian and me) finally convinced Michael and Tim that we had to leave. So we went back to the hostel where we parked our van before the sailing trip and went to the next rest place next to the highway. Unfortunately after we had gotten already sort of comfortable (I was sleeping on the front seat, so not soo comfortable) the police arrived and informed us, that we are aloud to have a rest here but not to stay overnight. So again we had to hit the road and find another place. Finally we were lucky 40 km further and nobody woke us up this night.
Abonnieren
Posts (Atom)