Apr 2007

After another 3 hours drive from Kiama we finally arrived in Sydney!

First of all we met with our estate agent to sort out a flat near Bondi Beach (eastern suburbs). We weren't too impressed with the house in which the first flats were. It was obvious to see, that these flats were mainly used by backpackers who would only live there for 1-2 months and therefore would care more about the next party then the state of the flat.

So we looked at yet another place after agreeing with the guy to give him a call and to let him know where we are intending to stay.
Well, we weren't able to get hold of him for another 2 days and had to stay with friends and in a backpacker instead. In the end we managed to get into the flat and only then noticed that it was full of cockroaches!
The estate agent, who in the meantime turned out to be a real pain, wasn't very helpful with this annoyancy as well, so we had to take care of this problem ourselves. After 3 days of intense cleaning and spraying the entire flat with the worst chemicals you can imagine we got rid of the creatures but Julia had to deal with bad headaches and was feeling sick.

After shopping at IKEA we made ourselves a bit more at home and by now we really enjoy our flat which is actually quite cool (especially after the party gang that tried to break the house down every single night moved out a week ago : ) )

Also, the location is hard to beat: The beach and surf is in less than ten minutes walking distance and we have even got one room with view to the ocean. The area is hilly and green and there are quite a few nice restaurants, bars and shops just around the corner.

Slowly normal life kicks back in, we both started job hunting 2 weeks ago and it looks like we are going to be busy soon.

So, this is it folks! We hope we have entertained you well during the past couple of months – we enjoyed it very much!

Please email us about how you are doing and what is going on in Munich, London, Rotterdam or wherever you may be!

Take care and see you soon!

Julia and Frank

After another cold night on Phillip Island (this time we have been sleeping in the car, which was at least a little bit warmer), we packed our stuff and hit the road to Sydney. The further East / North we went, the greener and nicer the landscape got. This is a remote area with lots of national parks, but no special attractions. In fact it reminded us a lot of good old Bavaria only a lot bigger! On the way, we just stopped in a few small towns to buy food and some more camping gear.

The following night we slept in our car again near the fishing village Marlo in East Gippsland. We had found a really nice spot on a riverside to park our car. The river though did not only attract us, but also lots of massive mosquitos which were trying to devour us.

On the next day we moved on to Batemans Bay. Finally, we found a shop selling foam matresses and got one, that fits exactly in the rear of our car. The destination for this night was a beach in Murramarang National Park. The beautiful bay was separated from the main road by a few kilometers of gum and rain forest and surrounded bei Rocks and Hills.
The best thing however was that the camp site was full of animals:
At the nearby beach the were lots of kangaroos and on the way to the beach we had to get passed a bunch of very noisy parakeets.

Dinner time was then not only a thing Frank looked forward to but also all the animal surrounding us! As it was already dark by the time we started cooking, we weren't always able to see the creatures sneaking up to us. Sometimes a kangaroo, possum or the like gave us a well shock when it suddenly appeared in the light of our torch, only a meter away (frequently on our dinner table).

In the morning we left this lovely spot and hit the road for our final destination – Sydney!
On our way there we went through Kiama, a fishing village about 150 km South of Sydney. We had some delicious fish 'n chips before we headed to the famous blowhole. This is a kind of cave in which ocean water is pressed in by the waves and is sprayed out on the other side in a fountain that can reach a height of up to 60m when the sea is rough!
Kiama is a nice place which gave us some rest before entering the city.

The first stop on our way up to Sydney was Phillip Island, south-east of Melbourne. Halfway there, we had to drive back to Melbourne again as Frank had forgotten his photo camera in the hostel. Once we arrived on Philipp Island, we built up our tent for the first time – noticing only now, that a few pieces of it were missing (which we replaced with items from our second tent).

We still went to the beach for sunset and got to see our first kangaroos jumping around in the bush. The wind was already quite cold and got even colder until we had dinner in front of our tent. As we tried to sleep later on we found out that our sleeping bags we definitely not made for chilly nights. The fact that our inflatable matress went flat again and we basically had to sleep on the ground didn't make the situation any better.

Anyway, there's a new morning after every long, cold night. The next day we went to a wildlife park and had a lot of fun with the animals there.

In the afternoon, we did a costal walk to see the 'Nobbies' – some rocky islands just off the coast. Philipp Island also has some great surfing beaches to offer, but again it was far too cold to go into the water without a wetsuit.

For the evening, we had planned to see the island's biggest tourist attraction: The Penguin Parade! For only about 20 Dollars you're allowed to sit on the beach, together with a few hundred other tourists, to see the penguins coming out of the sea after sunset, waddeling to their breeding places. If you're able or willing to invest 3 times the ordinary entrance fee, you can sit on the VIP platform, which is also protected from the icy wind. However, as we saw all the people flocking to the beach and queuing at the entrance we decided not take part in this action.
Instead we spent the evening in the local pub to escape the cold.

Maybe Julia wasn't used to the strong Australian beer yet. When we left the pub she got confused with the gears (our deluxe car is automatic) and hopped right into the wall in front of us. Luckily there wasn't too much damage, only the front bumper which now looks a bit more aerodynamic then before.