Friday, January 24, 2003

This is just not my day, my camera has been broken (but fixed again...), my phone doesnt want to send text messages and I cant get into my hotmail account !!! Also I burned myself on a coffee yesterday so my mouth is very sore... one good thing about that is I cannot eat crisps with salt and vinegar, which I am addicted to since I met my darling Debbie. I thought only Seamus was in the Globe hostel in Perth but Pete and Jan were there also and the day after Debbie and Anne Marie came as well, so we had a BIG reunion. (My mates I traveled with from Cairns to Perth). I went to Rottnest island with my train buddies Dave 1, Dave 2 and Stu and we had a fantastic day there, we cycled around the island and saw a lot of quakkas... ohhh, they are adorable sweet animals. Yesterday I came back from a two day tour around the south west corner of WA (Western Australia). I climbed a 50 meter high tree which is used to spot bushfire and we walked among the treetops in the Valley of the Giants. We also went into the most spectacular cave I have ever seen, Lake Cave. It is beond description, so beautiful. The boat trip we did was very wet but we saw a lot of dolphins. This trip also tested our tastebuds because we went to a candyfactory, cheesefactory, chocholatefactory and tasted wines in a winery, mmm... lovely ;) Tonight I am catching a bus to Denham, near Monkey Mia where I will be the next couple of weeks tracking wolylies (brushed tailed bettongs).

Sunday, January 19, 2003

Two days in the train and now I am in Perth. I met some great people in the train and that made the trip a lot more fun. There was a two hour stop in Kalgourlie and we used that time on the local pubs since it was saturday night ;) It was quite funny trying to hide redwine in the train from the trainguards... but in the end we got busted...
Seamus (my irish mate and one of the group members I was traveling with between Cairns and Perth) is working in the hostel in Perth and it was great meeting him again. I have only seen him for like 5 seconds though and have to go and try to find him again. I want to explore the area south of Perth and Rottnest island in the next days. Cant wait to see the quokkas in R. island. One guy in the train was talking about using quokkas as a ball (quokka sokker) but I cant think about that without getting tears in my eyes ;)

Friday, January 17, 2003

Kangaroo island... what can I say? It was definately one of the most memorable trips I have taken in Australia. The group was very good and we had the greatest guid ever, Joel ;) Thousand kisses to you for being such a great person. The wildlife on the island is amazing, we saw one very cute penguin, dolphins, Kangaroo island kangaroos, wallabys, possums, New Zealand fur seals and Australian sealions. The island is supposed to be stuffed with Echidnas but unfortunately we didnt see any, I dont think I am supposed to see them in this trip... I think I have to stop looking and then hopefully I will see one ;) We also did sandboarding and quad biking... absolutely fantastic !!! We slept in swags under the stars, ate kangaroo meat, took a ride on the trailor, got stuck in the sand, walked on gorgeous beaches and had so much fun ;)
Tonight I am catching the train back to Perth and there I will meet Seamus again, looking forward in seeing you again mate ;)

Monday, January 13, 2003

Just waiting now for the bus to pick me up and then Im off to Kangaroo island for 3 days ;) There has been a slight change of plans now. Friday I will take the train back to Perth and see Rottnest island and go south of Perth and see limestone caves and giant trees. Then I will go to Monkey Mia to find little marsupials called woylies (brush tailed bettongs) for two weeks. More about that later ;) Now its kangaroo time, and I reallly reeeeeally hope I will see some Echidnas !!!

Sunday, January 12, 2003

Friday I went to a moonlight cinema with Nicole and her two friends Michiel and Sara and my dormmate Mike. We brought redwine and snacks there and had a great time. Adelaidians are obviously used to picknicking, some people had gourmet meals there, Yesterday we went to the beach and now Nicole has gone to Sydney.
Tomorrow I am going to a 3 day Kangaroo island tour, I will hopefully see a lot of animals there, kangaroos, penguins, seals, sealions, echidna and platypus (fingers crossed).

Friday, January 10, 2003

Now I have left Melbourne and all the good people who took care of me there ;) Yesteday Fred and Judy drove me to the fantastic Hanging Rock, north of Melbourne where parts of Crocodile Dundee II was shot. After a night in the train I finally made it to Adelaide, my hostel is very small but cosy and friendly. When I opened my bag a shampoo had opened and more or less everything in the top was soaking, including Cool Banana (my baby emu). Awfull, and now Banana is just hanging to dry... I am thinking about a day tour tomorrow to Kangaroo island and will take the train to Alice Springs monday. Sunday it will be 39`C in Adelaide...

Monday, January 06, 2003

Ohhh... bad news... My videocamera is broken and they said 2 weeks just to identify the problem :( Horrible feeling to leave it in Melbourne and not beeing sure how long it takes to mend it. I cannot wait for it so I have booked the train to Adelaide on thursday and the train to Alice Springs goes sunday. The videorepairguys will call me as soon as they have identified the problem and then I will decide where they will send it for me to pick up, Sydney or Brisbane. It sucks big time not having the camera at Uluru (Ayers Rock) but there is nothing I can do... :( :( :( :(
I have seen alot of Melbourne and it is a fantastic city. Me and Nicole sailed on the Yarra River which runs through the city and yesterday we sat for hours and listened to a concert in fantastic weather. One of the artist is called Xavier Rudd and he is fantastic, playing didgeridoo, guitar, drums and singing... all at the same time !!! Ofcourse I bought his CD ;) One interesting area in Melbourne is Fitzroy, Brunswick street. A bit hippy atmosphere and a lot of cosy, interesting cafes and shops. One of the cafes is decorated upstairs with a old TV, old sewing machine and loads of comfortable couches. The icecream shops serve ice cream with green tea and plum pudding flavours and the houses are decorated on the outside with colorful sculptures. Yesterday I said goodbye to Nicole, she is going the Great Ocean Road but we will meet again in Adelaide.

Friday, January 03, 2003

HAPPY NEW YEAR ;) I am still in Melbourne and have seen a lot since I got here. Fred and Judy have been amazing. They have shown me all Melbourne and around, and Peter took me sightseeing as well. Christmas was great, I loved being a part of this big Aussie Christmas family celebration with a lot of good people and fantastic food. Sunday we went to Freds and Judys holiday house in Queenscliff and stayed there for 2 nights and spent New Years in Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road with Janice and Colin. I went surfing with Peter and it was so much fun, I have to do that again soon ;) New Years day was fantastic even though the weather was not very good, we saw loads of koalas and the spectacular 12 Apostles. Great Ocean Road is absolutely amazing even in bad weather ;) On the 2nd we went back to Melbourne and on the way is a beautiful lake called Lake Elizabeth which we walked to. The lake is only 50 years old and was formed when a damp burst (I think) which made the river stop flowing. Nobody witnessed this but they sent troops into the forest to see what was going on and they came across this newly formed lake. It still has old treetrunks in it and it contains PLATYPUS, which we unfortunately did not see :( They can be spotted in dusk and dawn. We also tried to see Echidnas (hedgehog like animals) but with no luck. Platypus and Echidnas are mammals, marsupials (like koalas and kangaroo) and monotrems (laying eggs). Both extreeeemely cute animals which I HAVE to see !!!
Bad news of my videocamera, it is broken... It has been bad since Darwin but I was always hoping it would be better and I thought it was dirty but it is broken. Me and Judy spent the whole morning driving around trying to find a repair place and finally we found a place which could identify the problem and I have to take it to yet another place Monday morning. I hope they can fix it soon because I want to go to Alice Springs as soon as possible.
I want to thank you, Judy, Fred, Peter, Anna, Greg, Janice and Colin for making my time in Melbourne, Queenscliff and Apollo Bay so fantastic. I will repay your hospitality when you come and visit me in Iceland ;)