P.S. Ah, I forgot-Inga just mentioned something very important in her comment- believe it or not, but I lost another pair of sunglasses (my 5th pair???). I have decided to go into different colours now,green first as you can see (-: “Sweet as” as the Kiwis like to say…

Mhm, a lot has happened since my last entry:

John  came over and we explored the North island together. We rented a little campervan which was our little home for the next 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks we drove up North to the bay of islands where we went for a fantastic 24hour boat trip: fishing, night-kayaking, visit of an island, a great crew and a lovely diner-we loved it!

On our drive there we found fantastic scenery-john felt like jumping into the water at every beach.We were lucky with the weather, too, only a bit of rain inbetwen, but not bad for New Zealand. Well, john got introduced to my low-budget life: well,w hen I sneaked through the bushes to avoid paying 27 dollars to see a geyser he felt a bit embarrassed I think. Welcome to a traveler’s life (-: We saw boiling mud pools from the volcanoes and enjoyed 2 nights at a campground with natural hotsprings next door which was brilliant.We also enjoyed a visit in a maori-village where they use the hot springs for cooking and baths-that was a very interesting tour and we even got to see tha maori-dance-I really liked it.

Apart from that we just enjoyed the camping, John did the driving and cooking and I ..mhm, what did I do?oh yes, I did the navigating (”mhm, maybe right here…?”) and the organizing.I have to admit I really got used to john’s cooking-was hard to get to my pasta-habits after he had left (-; the 2 weeks went by quickly-so quickly he was back in good old London and I had to do the cooking again )-:

I then moved on to the South Island, I spent a day in Wellington which is a lovely town.But you could feel it getting colder already. I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton-and got the first stunning impression of the South island-the fiord at picton is amazing. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to do the long track through the fiord. I found a cozy hostelin Picton (free applepie in the evenings) with a hot tub. It so happened that i met Mira, Ed and “hart” ibn the hot tub which led to a diner and pub evening with drinks and a big bill for the boys-it was great. the next day I moved on to Kaikoura: again, a great hostel with interesting cozy beds. I signed up for a whale watching tour, but it was too windy that day.Instead I took a 3hour walk along the coast of Kaikoura which was brialliant. the air is so fresh and as it is autumn the colours of the trees are jus amazing. the scenery is fantastic!!!! I moved on with the trans scenic train which goes along the coast and ended up in Christchurch-and I fell inlove with Christchurch: just the right size of a town, just the right amount of green, shopping and entertainment.went to the cinema and watched a german movie. Unfortunately I had only a day in Christchurch, too. the next day I picked up my new home: a little wickedcamper called “poison”. Poison and I hit the road and enjoy traveling together since a few days. From Christchurch I made my way south and spent the first night close to lake wanaka where I was signed up for a skydive. well, the first night in the car was really snow-we have frost over night! but with a sleeping bag and 2 thick duvets I managed. just getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning is hard work! unfortunately the skydive was cancelled, too and so I spent the mornign in a maze-I managed to find the 4 towers, but I couldn’t get back to the exit-after 1.5 hours I ended up using the emergency exit (-: In the parking lot i bumped into Chris from Ireland who could give me a few nice tips for the road.

I moved on to Queenstown, signed up for another skydive and then explored the town. first I went to see the kiwis in the animal park-finally I saw a kiwi-they are funny birds!I took the gondola and up on the mountain you have a fantastic view over the lake of Queenstown. I know the pictures all look a bit the same, but it isn’t! you feel like taking a picture every 5 minutes as colours and light are changing. I took a ride with a luge and really enjoyed myself up there. In the evenings I usually drop dead by 9.On the way to Queenstown I stopped in Arrowtown, a great little frontier town in old style with the most colourful trees I’ve ever seen!By the way it’s getting colder and colder.

next day: finally I get to go for my skydive: and I loved it!!! the good thing is that you don’t have to do anything_the crew puts you in a nice suit and harness, your instructor connects you to himself, you hop on a tiny little airplane adn as the green light comes on, the door opens and off you jump!!!the moment we sat in that open door I though: anja, you are mad, what are you doing????!!! but a second later I flew threw the sky and was amazed. It feels very weird but great and before I realized the parashoot was open and we had a smooth ride to the ground. I had some great pictures taken. seriously, I can only recommend it-it’s fantastic!!!After that I drove to Milford Sound and stayed at the most historic campground ever-out in themiddle of nowhere, electricity off from 10-8, candles, but a sweet kitchen and hot showers. It is run by Helen and Bill who were just fantastic. And there happened to occur another Anja-story: just down the road is a little grotte with glow worms, so I told Helen I would walk down there. obviously it was pitch dark and a dirt road in the rainforest. well, helen said there is no dangerous animals and there is no one around here except of people of the camp. well, I just walked for 5 minutes when I saw a light-(now that is scary already in a dark forest)-as it came closer it turned out to be a man carrying his haedlight in his hand and a saw in the other! I asked him politley where to find the glow worms, he pointed me the direction very friendly and we both kept on walking. a minute later I though:well, great, here I am , on my own, in the rainforest in the middle of nowhere and I just bumped into a guy with a saw!!! Well, I found the glowworms and made my way back. oh well, I thought that was quite funny and I told helen expecting her to say:”oh yeah theat was joey, ben, marc…” but no, she became quite worried and ben ended up driving down the road to find out about the stranger.  A big mystery. well, after a while the mistery was solved: the “saw” was actually a bow of one of the guys who stayed in the camp and happend to be a hunter.puh, lucky us! Helen, bill and I had a good laugh and I had a godd nights sleep!

This morning I went for a cruise in milford sound: on the way there I drove through the snowy mountains-amazing! It rains a lot more in that area and it is very foggy which makes it look very mystical. Mountains and fiords all over-I could have stopped every five minutes for a picture…after the cruise I slowly made my way back to Queenstown where I am staying tonight again. I will try to see mount cook on my way back to christchurch, but even though it is not many kilometres, it takes a long time as the roads are very windy and you can’t go too fast. Well, I fell in love with the South island of New Zealand-it’s brilliant. the pictures don’t really show the real dimensions-so you have to come here and have a look yourself!!!

And zack, I am in New Zealand! But let’s start from where I last finished. We arrived in Sydney on Thursday (don’t ask me which date) and had a great welcome from Vicky again. Enjoyed her “facilities” and a big bed!Well, Humphrey had to be cleaned and sorted, we needed to sort all the little things that we had collected on the trip and that took a while! wehn humphrey was presentable again we drove to Richard’s house and managed to be stopped by the police on our very last ride in Humphrey-we simply look a bit too hippie like in that car I guess. We sold Humphrey back to Richard quite quickly and found ourselves back on the street “homeless” without him )-:

On Saturday we chilled a bit and then went to Victoria’s first gig which ended in a drunk night with not many memories (-:

Inga left on Sunday and went back to Melbourne-so there I was, on my own all of a sudden. I had a quiet Sunday weekend with Victoria and Travis and then started sorting out my bits and pieces during the next days:

I closed my account, tried to sell some books, tried to unlock my mobile for New Zealand, booked accommodation for NZ and so on. Inbetween that I chilled out at the harbour of Sydney and had a great day watching the street musicians: one day 3 kids ended up danicing at the harbour and the guitar player then changed his  repertoire to childrens’ songs like “old McDonald” that lead to all passing people joining into making loud animal sounds!

Another day an old couple (78 and 80 years old as I found out later) were dancin Tango at the harbour-and they were really good!I wonder if they knew how many people smiled because of them dancing that day!!!

It is just fabulous to watch people on the street! well, after those few days my 2 boys, dave and julian, arrived from melbourne and we had a great weekend: diners, drinks in the evening. We went for the harbour bridge climb on saturday which was brilliant! You climb around that bridge in full gear to the very top while a guide explains the history and construction of the bridge. 3 hours and 1600 steps later we were back on the ground after we enjoyed some fab views from the top of the bridge!

On Sunday we took the ferry to Manly beach and chilled out until the boys had to leave to the airport again )-: If we will ever see each other again-who knows?!?! That is a weird though actually, but I still hope that the invention of “beaming” transport is not too far away (-;

The next day i flew to the Ayers rock or Uluru and spent 3 days wonderin around the rock-had a great time: went for a guided tour to the rock, saw it at sunrise (great colours!) and did quite a lot of walking: 10 km around the base, 2km on the mala walk where a ranger gave us some interesting facts about the rock, the next day I walked another 8km in the Olgas which is another formation of rocks close by. the colours of Ayers rock at sunrise and sunset are something that you have to see-a photo just doesn’t show it!

I am gald I went for it although it was veeery expensive! obviously you don’t have much choice in the middle of nowhere and they know it. I even went for an aboriginal dot painting workshop and I am finally able to see what the pictures express-that was excellent (and expensive (-;).

I came back last Thursday, had a goodbye-diner with Vicky and Travis and then packed my stuff again. Goodbye from Victoria on Friday morning (at least I will see her in a few months when she is in Europe) and then off I went to New Zealand-I managed to bring all my stuff but still not have more than 20kg in my chegged baggage (-;

So, here I am, in a hostel in Auckland. So far, I am just overwhelmed by so much information and people-the hostel is very crowded and I find that a bit stressful to be in a kitchen with 20 others trying to quietly have my diner.So, I decided to move to a calmer area tomorrow-puh, looking forward to it. There is many things to do here, NZ is a country of extreme sports-which is great, but also means that you spend hundreds of dollars for a short lasting adrenaline kick.john is coming in a weeks time and as we want to see most things together I will just chill out and explore Auckland. We will then rent a campervan and explore the North Island together. I went for a daytrip to Waiheke island with Denise and Kevin from the hostel which was a nice day out. I will go on a day tour in auckland tomorrow and there is a few mountains and museums I will explore within the next days.In the hostel here is a sauna and a spa-so I ended up sitting in a hot spa on the rooftop last night overlooking Auckland at night and just thought: life is sooo good!!Other than that I just walked around the town and got some information together what to do. Being on my own is o.k so far, I thought it would be worse, but you get in contact with others easily-at least there is enough people around me! But even outside of the hostel, I ended up chatting to a fireman at starbucks which was quite nice and interesting. It is actually hard to find some quiet time on my own as in the room there is always people coming and going, chatting, light on, light off and so on-have to get used to that. The weather has been good so far, sunny and warm (not hot). it is also weird to be without a car as now I have to think twice before I go food shopping and then end up carrying the heavy shopping bags around town!(-;

So much from New Zealand so far-more to come soon

We are now in Port Macquarie.After HerveyBay we had a great daytrip to Fraser island with a great guide who drove us around on the island and knew a lot about the place. We went for a bush walk, drove with the bus right at the beach on thebeach-highway and had a swim in lake McKenzie which is a freshwaterlake that exists of rain water only.

We then made our way further down the coast: brisbane was a shock: a big city, horrible to drive in if you don’t know your way around, expensive to park in and expensive to camp in as well. it was a bit of a stressful day and we were happy after a walk of 2 hours in town to leave the next day-back to nature. In Byron bay I finally had the chance to go kayaking: I saw one dolphin and a sea turtle-yeah! Loved the kayaking, too. We had 3 peaceful days in Byron bay on a loveley camping ground at the beach. Went for a swim and really enjoyed them big waves! We had a stop in Coffs harbour and just came back from the koala hospital in Port Macquarie which was really interesting: the lady told us all about the little patients and how the centre developed, we could even watch them being fed.

Just to give you an idea what our daily routine looks like: Inga usually wakes up at about 7:30 in the morning while I sleep until about 9. quick clean up in the bath, then we usually get the car ready the ride which means: packing up the sleeping bags and airmatresses, putting the back seat back up and then get the backpacks from the front seats into the boot and the other little things as well. then breakfast which usually includes a long talk about life and other things. after that we hit the road and drive to the next destination. depending on the time we arrive we only set up camp, have a nap or go to see a sight of that place. we then checkout the camping ground, set up our “beds” again and then have diner-either in a luxury camp kitchen or with our great camping stove  next to the car. We then eat in a luxury camp kitchen or in the back of the car. It gets dark at 7:30 -by then we are ready for bed as we often have no light on the camping ground or if there is light we don’t want to be eaten alive by the mosquitos. well, time to read a few pages in the book. We are often asleep before 10 and somehow we are very tired by then,too. but don’t think we would get an overdose of sleep, no no: during the night we always wake up when the other one moves or gets out for the toilet, the mosquito hunting the car can keep us busy half the night and so on…obviously this routine is flexible: we went out for diner the other day, we use the evenings for phone calls, we stop at internet cafes, hang out at the beach, wash our clothes… After the internet use we have to dicuss all news from home very detailed of course!

The Aussies: yes, they are laid-back. yes, they are friendly and helpful. What you will hear most of the time is: “no worries” that phrase pretty much IS  aussie-mentality. another one is :beautiful, no dramas (I love that one). They have an interesting sense of humor which obviously is delighting for the German non-humor: I had it several times that I was buying something when I was told something like: “oh, this book has a hole, I will have to charge you 5 dollars more then” which lead to the German reaction:”WHAT?YOU WANT TO CHARGE ME MORE??!!ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? oh, you ARE kidding me. how funny .(-:

Although I wouldn’t say I am that serious I have to admit I am still confused about those situations.Other than that we learned that the Australians are a lot faster with settling in than Inga and I are used to. Australians start thinking of getting a place and settling early (compared to me at least) They love sport, especially cricket (which I will never, ever understand)  by the way, Julian, what is Charmer doing (-:…-even the kids play cricket at the beach! Surfing is big at the eastcoast, they take care of their nature by having many national parks. they have water restrictions. the highest sun sreen level is 30, but it’s stronger then our 30.half of the australians eat veggiemite-if you ask me: it tastes as if it is toxic.their flies have no manners: they fly directly into your ears and eyes and stick to your eyelashes as if they would never want to let go. Their mosquitos are aggressive and can give you a fever. Their beaches are wonderful. Their wildlife is extraordinary. the heat in some places is unbearable and the rain in the north is strong. Altogether: a great place with great people!We certainly enjoyed this trip a lot!!!!

We are thinking of driving into Sydney on Thursday which will give me another full week there to prepare things for New Zealand….

Wonderful time at the Eastcoast: had a great daytrip to the Whitsunday islands with fantastic snorkling, a walk and a great beach (whitehaven beach)-I loved it. But being in a big group all of a sudden was quite a change for lonely Inga and me (-; In Airlie beach we went to have a Pizza at night and were completely overwhelmed by the life music in there! What a modern world eh? (-; After that day out we decided to leave-enough people for us. Well, we had planned to go to the Eunella National Park the next day, but as it was pouring down, we couldn’t pass the flooded road to the National Park-at least not with Humphrey we thought. It was raining that much sometimes that I had problems to see if i was actually still driving on my side of the road-quite scary-or maybe it was just the old wipers (spelling?)?? Well, we spent a night on a campground in the rain and managed to set up our sleeping area in the car hardly without leaving the vehicle which I found quite impressive. We had diner and breakfast in the laundry room onthe tables where you could fold and iron your clothes.

We then stopped in Water Agnes where we camped right at the beach and i had a wonderful swim there. We also had a wonderful evening sharing our wine and experiences with an older english couple-we almost had a bet about who of us was carrying the smaller tent-and: we have the same tent, but they really sleep in there every night -the 2 of them! We were impressed especially when they started talking about the tent freezing to ice in the States! Maybe we are not as tough(spelling?) as we thought we are…Well, we had a great chilled day and them moved on after Inga had seen a doctor for her throat infection-it’s her turn with the antibiotics again. By the way, I finally got rid of the fever and my nose looks close to normal again.

Well, in Agnes Water i became a victim again-this time more of the sandflies than the mosquitos. I made the effort to start counting the itchy bites: over 80 on my limbs, I am sure I am reaching a 100 bites on my whole body-and it is itchy!!!!

We then had a stop in Mon Repos-again right at the beach-from the campground we could walk over to the national park where we saw the little turtles hatching and paddling down to the water-it was sooo amazing to see them little creatures !!! We were even allowed to touch a few of them under supervision -it was sooo interesting. I guess that is something for a midwife (-;

So, we left Mon Repos the next day  and had a stop in Bundaberg to go and find out more about the ginger beer brew-that was a nice hands on exhibition where we could try the different ginger beers afterwards-mhmm.

Now we are in Hervey Bay in a great hostel/campingground: table tennis, hammocks (spelling?), a pool, close to the beach, a kitchen and lounge to hang out, sofas…which means: we don’t have to go to bed before nine because we can sit in a room with light!!!today we went on a daytrip to Fraser island which was brilliant!!! We went over by ferry, then had a tour with a 4WD bus with a great guide who gave us quite a bit of information. As the there is only sand streets the bus rocks you  and it feels very cozy. We had a walk in the rainforest, saw the coloured rocks and drove on the “beach highway”: the vehicles on the island may drive on the beach, so we actually were driven with the pacific ocean just next to us-that was great!! and any pedestrians on the beach may go first-so the vehicles have to pay attention! We had a bath in the Lake McKenzie which is pure rainwater and very clean. We also learned about the coffee stones which is black stones and called coffee stones because; if you rub them between your fingers they become and look like coffee ground. We saw a dingoe today, too. And, I forgot, I saw a big sea turtle close to the whitsunday islands! Actually, I think there is a lot I often forget to write about in my reports-well, it’s just a bit too much..so, yeah, a great day today. As our hostel is so nice we will stay a day longer and enjoy the facilities here.Beautiful!-as the aussies would say (-:

And there we are: at the eastcoast: went back through the  desert and were lucky again-clouds and quite cool. As I wasn’t feeling well Inga drove us through the desert: well done Inga!We made it in 2 days again with no problems, humphrey did well again. But, we thought we were tough without aircon and sleeping in the car, but when I saw people cycling through the desert I changed my mind-we are quite spoiled i guess!!! we then drove through the inland, back to Port Augusta and through the middle to Broken Hill. Well, 30 k before Broken Hill, humphrey died-he just wouldn’t start: another truck driver had to haelp us and resuscitated successfully-we then drove to Broken Hill where Humphrey got to his full recovery at the mechanic who gave him a new fuel filter. I had a chilled day in Broken Hill, but unfortunately my fever sticked to me and so I still felt a bit rough. We then spent a day in White cliffs where people live underground as it becomes so hot. But this year it was a “mild” summer with “only” 43 degrees. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes that night and I wole up with an infected mosquitoe bite on my nose…we had a look at Jocky’s undergraund home and he lead us around in his house. He is a crazy man , but lovely!We decided to leave quickly as heat and mosquitoes was not really what we were after… the next day my nose looked really bad and as I presented it to the pharmacist he made me an appointment at the doctor’s surgery straight away. well, I ended up with antibiotics. the fever she said might be from the mosquitoes as well and could stay for a while…it is still hihger in the evenings but I am feeling fine. after 6 days of treatment my nose looks halfway normal again (see pictures).Within 10 days we made our way slowly to the Eastcoast and we are at Ailie beach now. Ailie beach is pretty but full of tourists which we are not used to. we went on a full day boat trip today to see the whitsunday islands-went snorkling and had a great time at wonderful beaches. but we are both exhausted being surrounded by a group all of a sudden!We decided to not go up north any further. they had a lot of rain and floods recently and the North is supposed to be still very wet. we will head South to Sydney veeery slowly and hope to be able to stay in one place for a bit every now and then. Things are good,we enjoy our travels, it’s hot and humid on the Eastcoast and I am still loved by the mosquitoes, but nice beaches and again a lot to see!More to come soon

mhm, where to start? We spent a day on Rottnest island where we enjoyed the beach. We also had a wonder through Fremantle that day where I finally bought a boomerang in one of the little markets (but haven’t tried it yet).Humphrey had his checkup done and received a new exhaust (he is much quieter now) as well as an oil change. We then drove down to Margret River where we had a look at a winery. you can also get food for free if you go for as little cheese tasting (-: Anne and I wnet down into one of the caves which was really fun: with a helmet and a torch you can discover it on your own. there was no one else as we went and if you switch off your torch you are in absolute darkness!!! We had a few stops at beaches and capes, went for a swim every now and then and really enjoyed the trip. The next stop was Gloucester tree: a huge tree that you can climb up to a hight of 61 metres. As we paid for the entry we asked if it is dangerous:” well, the nails were put in years ago. by the current safety regulations it wouldn’t be, but it’s great!”well, that was reassuring!

Well, Inga and I climbed up and it is scary! we arrived at the top with very wobbly knees-the adrenaline kept us going for the rest of the day! After that follwed the tree top walk where you do a kind of boardwalk in 40 metres of hight-I loved it, but unfortunately we didn’t see any birds.

And then I had one of those days: As we drove out of town I was stopped by the police for speeding. there was a 40-zone between 2:30 and 4 o’ clock. it was 2:33 at the time and as I was passing I didn’t manage to read the times. well, I gave the police guy a big smile and he let me go with a warning (”watch the speed limits) the funny thing is that I am usually more a reason for others to honk as I am going so slow! Well, as I parked the car a bit later, humphrey rolled and scratched the car in front of me.oh well, and a bit later as I was backing up I really didn’t see that tree behind us: humphreys back is a bit deformed now. But as my driving teacher would say: be thankful you didn’t drive into a mercedes: always go for the trees instead-that’s a lot cheaper!

We stopped for a coffee in Denmark (the world is so small) and even drove through bornholm!!

Next destination was Albany where we had a last relaxing day with anne before she had to head back to Perth to catch her flight from there.For her last diner we tried cangaroo meat which I really like! Around that time Inga and anne started a throat infection while I started a fever . Big goodbye from Anne on Sat morning-we will miss her!

Now Inga is driving while I am lying in the back of the car trying to get rid of the fever.Yesterday we went to Hyden to see the rock wave which was impressive even with feverish eyes. There is so many different sceneries in Australia and all of them are impressive. And Anne, I told you, we are still using the tent! (but more because of my fever) (-:

As Inga was driving, a stone flew onto Humphrey and now we have a crack in the front screen: he slowly becomes a real backpacker car…After Melbourne it is weird to be without a phone and internet again and so we tend to run for an internet cafe so looking forward to hear from friends and family (-:

Tomorrow we are going back through the desert and I think it will be hotter this time-so, good luck to us.

Hope you are all well

Anja

Hey guys,
are back in Perth now after our trip to the shark bay. as there is now 3 of us traveling we had to rearrange things a bit in the car and my tent finally is really useful!
Our first stop was at the pinnacles where you will find single rocks all over the place shaped by wind and sand mainly-it looks amazing as the sun goes down!so, one of us would sleep in the ent, the other 2 on humphrey. with our air matresses it was actually quite comfortable, a pity that 2 of them ended up with a hole within the first 3 days…(-: I guess I don’t have to mention that my back hurts..oh yes, I did try to repair them, but the funny plasters you get with the air matresses turned out to last for about 5 minutes.we drove up to the shark bay and spent a day in Monkey Mia where we went snorkelling and saw some dolphins.we also wand for an aboriginal walk where we would learn a few tales and stories at a campfire about the life of the aborigines-that was really nice: if you travel you have to show respect to the area by rubbing sand on your hands and arms for example. the guy played the didgeridoo and we could try to get a sound out of a huge shell.
The weekend we left the caravan parks were that busy that we ended up sleeping on a golf court next to a restaurant-the next morning our tent turned out to be a bit in the way of the golfers, but luckily no major accidents occured…(-:I think anne (Inga’s friend )had to get used to our primitive way of traveling at first, but now she starts looking and smelling like us and is as happy as we are about a clean shower.Up in shark bay the water is very salty ans so is the tab water which we realized when we had our first coffee-mhmhmm.
It is damn hot! we had to take more breaks for Humphrey to make sure the engine doesn’t overheat. while anne is sun bathing and so much enjoying the sun , I discovered the first heat blisters on my skin. whenever we have to stop somewhere or stay for a little while I am fleeing to the shade straight away. One day at the beach under a shelter and I ended up with red stripes(I am using sun screen 50 by the way!)-just the shape of the shelter ceiling…oh well, I am just not made for that kind of weather.so, now we are back in Perth and we enjoy real beds in a hostel.
The other day Inga and I were playing a card game about australia and realized how limited our knowledge still is about this country (do you have the “pygmi possum”-what is that by the way???)we decided to go to the zoo today. well, such a pity that the animals we wanted to see are noctural and so hiding in there caves…but in front of the zoo we discoverd a whattle tree which was part of the card game too (-: Then we went to a science discovery centre where you would find us playing hand-on games surrounded by all the kids the games are acutally made for-good fun!
I am now starting to feel the exhaustion of our homeless state, am really tired as soon as we hit 7 o’clock.tomorrow we will go to rottnest island and sunday we will be on the road again. Humphrey has a check up appointment on monday in busselton.
More to come soon
anja

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