Going Down Under

A 52-day adventure by Michael Read more

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Going Down Under Traveler
Canyoning in the Routeburn Canyon
March 4, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
For my last day in Queenstown I had chosen something active and special. I went canyoning for the first time in my life. It was very much fun and I want to do it again in Europe. The canyoning tour started with a safety briefing in the office in Queenstown. We were ten participants. After the briefing, Andie, one of our guides drove us to the base camp were we got all the equipment like wetsuits, helmets and shoes. Then, we continued with all three guides - Andie, Pete und Rachel - to the start of the Routeburn track (more than one hour drive) where we put the wetsuits etc. on. We started going through a river. Then, we had to hike up for about half an hour to the Routeburn canyon. We were explained some theory about canyoning and abseiling and then the adventure began with an abseil. I had to get used to it. The water in the canyon was only about six or seven °C "warm". It was so much fun to just go through the water, to glide, to abseil and to jump from five meters or so into the water. In total, we were a bit more than three hours in and around the canyon. I would have loved it to be even longer. Back at the van, we changed into dry clothes and had some sandwiches and brownies for lunch. We were back in Queenstown at about 4:00 pm. I went for some souvenir shopping and then enjoyed a warm shower in the hostel. I ended my stay in Queenie with a burger and some beers in my favourite craft beer bar.Read more
Voll cool :) Respekt! Wollte ich auch immer schon mal machen.. LG Carolin
3/10/20Reply
TravelerSchöne Bilder auf denen Du auch zufrieden und glücklich aus siehst
3/10/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Speed hike to Kea Point (Mount Cook)
March 5, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Time to say goodbye to Queenstown and once again getting up early after a not really good sleep. At 7:20 am the bus to Mount Cook and afterwards continuing to Christchurch left Queenstown. I really do not know how many hours I have spent in busses and vans by now😄 Once more I had a bus driver, Tom, who gave a lot of interesting information on the trip, but he was not talking as much as Paulie😂 We had a first refreshment break at a fruit and vegetable store by the road with a beautiful garden and nice sculptures. Furthermore Tom made a photo stop on a beautiful pass. The landscape almost on the entire trip was amazing again. When we arrived at Lake Pukaki Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, came into our view. Tom said we were pretty lucky with the good view. After a photo stop at Lake Pukaki we continued to the Mount Cook village. Most of the passengers had booked lunch in the Hermitage Hotel, but I wanted to have at least some time in the nature. What I did not know before was, that I would only have about 100 minutes. There was a sign to kea point (viewpoint on Mount Cook) which would take one hour one way. I decided to do it anyway being pretty confident to be able to do it much faster. The track was not difficult, but pretty nice. After about 35 minutes I arrived at kea point. The view on Mount Cook was gorgeous. I had hoped to see keas here (the name of the track was very promising, too), but once again no keas. It probably was the last chance for me to see them. Well, I am a bit sad about it, but on the other hand this just means, that I have to come back to New Zealand😊After about 85 minutes I arrived back at the Hermitage Hotel (some 6km - it was a speed hike😁). After Mount Cook, we had a photostop at Lake Tekapo and a refreshment break in Geraldine. At about 8:00 pm, I arrived in Christchurch. I am excited about tomorrow. There is going to happen something special. Stay curious😉Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Tropical Cairns
March 6, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
Well, I did it😄I flew over the Tasman Sea and am now in Australia. What a difference between the New Zealand South Island with pretty decent temperatures between 15 and 25 °C and the tropical humid heat here in Cairns. I got up 3:45 am to go to Christchurch airport. Takeoff was at about 7:15 am. What a beautiful sunrise just after takeoff. The view over New Zealand was pretty good, but it took only about 20 minutes to leave the South Island behind. The flight to Brisbane was more than three hours over the Tasman Sea. In Brisbane, I had to go through customs and biosecurity as well as to change from the international to the domestic terminal. The busride from one to the other terminal took a few minutes. The heat and humidity was already in Brisbane pretty inconvenient. On the plane to Cairns I fell asleep before takeoff, but, unfortunately, woke up again only a few minutes later. Most of the flight it was cloudy, so I could not see very much. The flight to Cairns took another two hours. In Cairns it was rainy and cloudy during landing. I even saw a lightning. When we had landed the airport was closed for a few minutes because of the storm, so we could not disembark the plane and had to wait. Well, it is wet season here... Nevertheless, it is so hot and humid, it will take me a while to adapt to it. In the afternoon, there was a rather strong rainfall again, but I had to do some laundry anyway. When I went out to checkout the city a little bit, the rain had stopped again. Cairns seems nice, nothing very special though. I like the harbor and the waterfront as well as the palm trees. At the cruise terminal I saw the "Artania", the cruiseship of "Lust auf Meer" on "Das Erste". Anyway, I could not do very much because I am so tired. I am going to bed soon, but the hostel is a catastrophy. It is a party hostel with loud music (probably until late) and I am in an eight bed dorm. I am not very positive to get a good sleep this night.Read more
TravelerHi, Micha, super das du jetzt in Downunder bist, geniesse die Zeit, und wenn möglich Great Barrier... schnorcheln oder tauchen, es ist einfach phantastisch... liebe Grüße Gudrun und Damian
3/6/20Reply
Traveler... und dann von Cairns nach Darwin..... ! (geil)... Grüsse Damian
3/6/20Reply
TravelerDarwin ist leider zeitlich nicht drin...Es geht die nächsten Tage wieder Richtung Brisbane...
3/6/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Great Barrier Reef
March 7, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Once more getting up very early, but for a great experience and adventure: snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. I went on the "Passions of Paradise"-tour on a big catamaran. It took more than 2 hours to go to the first snorkeling stop. I spent most of the time in the inside salon because it was so hot outside in the sun. There were some nice people sitting at the same table with me, so it was alright. For snorkeling we had to wear body suits to be protected from jellyfish and the sun. It was breathtaking to snorkel there. The colors of the corals and the different fish were amazing😊It is definitely something different to see the fish in their natural habitat than in a aquarium. Unfortunately, there were also many bleached corals. I saw clown and doctor fish (Nemos and Dories😉) and many more I do not know the name of. I spent about one hour in the water. There were so many things to see. After the first snorkeling stop there was a lunch buffet in the salon with different salads and two hot dishes. It was really good and I was quite hungry. It did not take very long to sail to the second snorkeling spot, the so called "Three Sisters". This time I took my waterproof camera with me. It was impressive again, but actually I was more impressed by the first location. Unfortunately, I cannot share any of the underwater photos because the SD-Card they are on is not compatible with my phone. The same goes for the underwater pictures taken of me by the crew photographer that I bought. I will share some pictures when I'll be in Germany again. After 40 minutes I actually only wanted to take my camera back on board and then go snorkeling again, but, unfortunately I was not allowed to go back in the water because the snorkeling time had almost run out already. Going back to Cairns took again about 2.5 hours. Russel, a dive instructor and marine biologist, did an interesting presentation about the Great Barrier Reef for about half an hour. I am very glad I came here to do the snorkeling tour at the Great Barrier Reef. It was a great experience.Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Flying animals in Cairns
March 7, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
After returning from the reef, I had the entire evening to spend in Cairns before I had to catch the 1:00 am southbound Greyhound bus. I was strolling a little bit through the city centre and then quite some time at the esplanade along the beach. With the sun being behind some clouds the temperature was quite convenient. It was beautiful walking there, in particular because there were so many different birds around. And, before the birds, I had spotted a tree hanging full of flying dogs and maybe other bats, quite impressive! The pelicans, I saw, were fascinating, but also some very colorful parrot-like birds, a white flamingo-like bird and some more. When it got darker (sunset is here already at about 6:30 pm), I could also see quite a few flying dogs flying above the esplanade, a little bit looking like vampires😄 What was pretty nice, too, was that there were not many tourists where I was walking. I was impressed by the many free to use facilities provided by the municipality like fitness devices or beach volleyball courts. Fortunately, I could have a shower at the hostel, even though I did not stay there anymore. Well, the effect was not so big. Here, just one minute after the shower, you start sweating again, because of the high air humidity. The rest of the evening was just waiting for the bus. I was very tired and would have loved to be able to go to bed early.Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Airlie Beach (Sunset Cruise)
March 8, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
The busride from Cairns to Airlie Beach took more than nine hours. Actually, I slept better and longer than I had expected before; until a meal break at about 9:00 am I had slept most of the time. Anyway, sleeping on the bus is not as refreshing as sleeping in a bed. From then, I looked out of the window most of the time. The area we were driving through was quite agricultural and green, e. g. I saw many sugar cane plantations, but not much cattle. At about 10:45 am, I arrived at Airlie Beach. It was very hot already. The sun here in Australia is so strong! At the hostel, I could already get into my room, an eight bed dorm again, pretty fresh because of the aircondition. I did a short walk in the main street to checkout if there was any possibilities for an afternoon program. There was not many options, but the sunset cruise on a sailing boat at 5:00 pm convinced me. Then I tried to relax and also had a snooze at the hostel. Unfortunately, there were quite a few clouds, when the sunset cruise started. Anyway, it was scenic also with the clouds. The boat, a wooden schoner, was nice. There were about fifteen people on board. We sailed out in the bay of Airlie Beach. A glass of champagne as well as some crackers with cheese were complimentary, further drinks could be bought. The light with the clouds and later the moon were beautiful, but we did not have a real sunset. There were two cruiseships in the bay. I am pretty sure, that one of them was the Artania again. It was also obvious, that it was raining at some places around. There was even a rainbow close to one of the cruiseships. Unfortunately, the rain reached Airlie Beach and also came towards us. Close before and in the marina, we got really really wet. It was a heavy rainfall for about five minutes. When the rain had stopped, I went back to the hostel to change my clothes and then went out for some dinner. However, it has been raining again and again the whole evening.Read more
Travelerimmer wieder aufregend Deine Berichte und Bilder , liebe Grüße aus dem kalten , verregneten Neukirch
3/9/20Reply
Karin Schwing, wunderschöne Bilder, danke, und liebe Grüße aus Viöl
3/9/20Reply
In Gedanken sind wir oft bei dir,und freuen uns was du alles erleben und sehen darfst.Es sind ja schöne Aufnahmen. Man könnte ein Buch schreiben.Ursula.
3/9/20Reply
Hallo Michi, ich hoffe es geht dir gut? schöne Bilder! Alles sehr eindrucksvoll... sende dir Liebe Grüsse. Carolin
3/10/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Bushwalk, beach and snorkeling
March 9, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Another day on and in the water... After not a good night - three idiots in my room were of the opinion that it is just normal to hold a long conversation (I would say at least half an hour) in the eight bed dorm at 3 am - my Ocean Rafting trip to the Whitsunday Islands began at 8:30 am. It was a daytrip with a speedboat. Most of the time we rushed over the sea with up to 30 knots. It was pretty fun. At the beginning, we were together with another speedboat of the same company and we jumped over their waves and they over ours. After a bit more than an hour we arrived at Whitsunday Island, the biggest of the Whitsunday Islands, where the short Bushwalk (about 15 minutes) to the Whitsunday lookout starts. Just before we arrived there, it started raining. Fortunately, the rain lasted only for some ten minutes. The view from the lookout was pretty amazing, however, I think, Europe has got islands that are similarly beautiful in my opinion. The bushwalk ended at the famous Whiteheaven beach. We went with the boat to a small bay that we had for ourselves. There, we had some lunch - mainly different salads - and a bit more than one hour beachtime. It was recommended only to swim with a bodysuit to be protected from jellyfish. I went for a short swim, but the water is actually too warm, not really refreshing. Well, the beer at the beach was good and cool though😄After the beach we went to a bay in front of Hook Island for snorkeling. Again, it was pretty beautiful to see the fish in their natural habitat. This spot was not so much for corals, but mainly for fish. We also went to a second snorkeling spot, as well in front of Hook Island. Unbelievable, it was so beautiful there: mainy beautiful corals, many fish. I think, I saw a stonefish (not sure if that is the correct name). My favourites where the loads of zebra fish I saw. Some bigger blue/turquoise and black ones where nice, too. And pretty much in the end, I saw two fish that had a pattern like a giraffe. At both snorkeling spots, I was the last one to go out of the water. Unfortunately, again, I cannot share the pictures that I took with my camera. Next and last very short stop was at another beach before we went back to Airlie Beach. Close to the marina, the skipper made some 360°-turns at full speed. In Airlie Beach, I had about two hours to walk around and have some food before I needed to pick up my backpack at the hostel and go to the bus stop. There I got to know from two Irish girls that our bus was expected to be 90 minutes late. Great - a 17 hours bus ride began with a delay🙃 Well, in the end we depsrted two hours late (even though the bus arrived with a bit less than + 90 minutes - the reason for that was a broken tyre that had to be changed) because the driver had to kick one guest out off the bus at Airlie Beach and was threatened by him. As far as I got to know, the man had smoked in the bus. The driver had to wait for the police, but the other one was gone by the time the police arrived.Read more
TravelerWow, ist das Wasser soooo.. grün??? Die Temperatur wäre für mich genau richtig
3/10/20Reply
Da möchte man doch gleich reinspringen.....Karin
3/11/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
17 hours busride - hopefully not again
March 10, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 20 °C
At 9:00 pm, the bus finally left Airlie Beach. After a nice talk with a Croatian girl, who lives in Stuttgart, in the row behind me, I could sleep unexpectedly well. Fortunately, I had two seats for myself. I awoke three or four times, but fell asleep quickly again. So, I slept until about 7:00 am, when we had a breakfast break in Gin Gin. The rest of the travel, I spent mostly looking out of the window - agricultural and forest areas as well as small towns. Anyway, from 10:00 am or so onwards, I was mainly annoyed from still sitting in the bus. More than twelve hours is just too long... After a lunchbreak at a place with a huge sculpture of a kangaroo with the name Matilda, we finally arrived in Noosa at about 1:45 pm. I felt a little exhausted.Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Noosa National Park
March 10, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
At about 2:30 pm, I arrived at the hostel. It was tempting to just go to bed and have another sleep, but I wanted to go to the National Park. Where else do you have the chance to go to a National Park almost next to the city centre? Furthermore, koalas live in the National Park and I would have loved to see them. The first animals, I saw, were bush turkeys. That was already at the hostel. You find them all around Noosa. I had to go up a hill to a view point to reach the barriers of the National Park. The trail up was already in a beautiful forest. The view from up there was pretty amazing. In the National Park, I went for a bush walk that apparently not many people take. It was a little adventure and, to be honest, I had a bit of an unpleasant feeling because - other than in New Zealand - in Australia you might encounter snakes or stuff like that. Well, fortunately I did not 😄, but, when I reached some wider tracks I was not sad either. The flora was beautiful. At Hell's gates (kind of a small rough bay) I reached the shore. It was pretty windy up there. The view on the Ocean as well as on Alexandria Bay with a beautiful beach was awesome. Two ospreys ("Fischadler") where circulating over the beach and the bay. It was amazing to watch them. I continued on the beach of Alexandria Bay and then back into the forest. I was limited in time because sunset was already at 6:30ish. Unfortunately, I did not see much wildlife except for the turkeys and ospreys, as well as some small birds and butterflies. No koalas🙁 When I had left the National Park, I got really wet - another hefty shower of the wet season. Back in the hostel, I did some laundry, went for a short walk in the main street, had a sandwich and did not do much more.Read more
Karin Schwing: wunderschöne Bilder und Video. Man erlebt deine Reise richtig mit. Danke und liebe Grüße
3/12/20Reply
TravelerDas Hostel sieht ja gut aus, war es auch so ? liebe Grüße aus Neukirch
3/12/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island
March 11, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
I had to get up once again at 5:00 am. At 6:00 am I was picked up for a tour to Fraser Island. We were about twelve people in the van. The drive was quite scenic, mostly on a small road, partly even a dirt road. Cheeso, one of the guides, told us we should look for koalas or kangaroos. Anyway, the speed was kind of too high to find koalas in the trees if there were any. However, a kangaroo jumped in front of us on the road and there was another one on the other side. Yeah, I saw a wild kangaroo😁However, it was not possible to take a photo. A little later, there were a few more kangaroos on a meadow about maybe thirty to fifty meters away from the road. At least, I think, it was kangaroos. At about 8:00 am we arrived at Rainbow Beach where six more people joined the group and where we changed the van for a heavy and huge four by four vehicle. Fraser Island is the largest sand island of the world and you need a respective vehicle to drive on the sand and dirt roads as well as on the well-known 75 mile beach. At Inlet Point we had to wait for the ferry. There is no harbor, it is just a beach where the ferry stops for loading and then goes back to the island. While we waited we could watch a lot of seabirds. On the short ferry transit, I shortly saw two or three dolphins. They were not very visible - no comparison to the dolphins in New Zealand. On Fraser Island the ferry just stopped on the beach again. Then we went for a long drive through the bush of Fraser Island. Honestly, I got a little annoyed from all the driving because you just see the landscape flying by. Furthermore, I got pretty tired. Part of the trip to Lake McKenzie was also on the 75 mile beach. By the time we arrived at the lake we had been driving for almost five hours from Noosa. On Fraser Island there live wild dingoes and you need to be cautious and are not allowed to take food with you when you go to the lake. My mood was not that good after the long drive, but that changed when I saw the lake. It is so beautiful😊 What a blue and turquoise color! I also went for a little swim; crystal-clear fresh water! The "white" of the beach was also amazing. After the beach- and swimtime we had lunch (sandwich and soft drink) in a fenced, dingo-safe area. After lunch, I watched two birds - I guess a female and a male - who were "flirting". At least, it looked like that🙃Read more
TravelerSuper Strand und Wasser, wäre wohl auch etwas für Matze,
3/13/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Bushwalk on Fraser Island
March 11, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Well, Lake McKenzie was actually not my highlight on Fraser Island. After lunch, we drove about half an hour to so called "Central Station". From there, we went on a 1.8 km bushwalk along a creek. That was so amazing in the rainforest - the different greens, the different trees - some of them very high -, the ferns, the creek. I could have stayed for hours😊 Being on our walk it in fact really rained. However, we did not get very wet because the leaves of the trees kept most of the rain away. Impressive! We saw two pretty big lizards, the rest of the group also saw a big spider which I did not. After the walk we had to drive back to the ferry, about 45 minutes mostly on the 75 mile beach which had not been possible in the morning because of high tide. At the beach we saw a dingo. It looks like a big dog, something in between dog and wolf. Unfortunately, I could not take a picture because I was sitting on the other side of the car, but I am happy to have seen one. Back on the mainland, we had to change the vehicle again und Cheeso drove us back to Noosa where we arrived shortly before 6:00 pm. This time I did not spot any animals except for cattle and horses, but I also fell asleep for some moments from time to time
In Noosa, I went to the beach where I had not been yet. I made it just for twilight, so that I still could see a bit. It is a nice beach. There were some surfers in the water that I could watch. After dinner from an Asian takeaway, I "fell" into my bed. Lucky me, incl. me there were only two out of the five beds taken.Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
A little koala paradise - Lone Pine
March 12, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Since I am probably not going to see any wild koalas, I had decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. What a wonderful place it is - a real paradise for koalas and other animals. The koalas are so cute, I could watch them for hours! They have very nice enclosures at Lone Pine. I am sure they have a good life there. They also have other animals at Lone Pine. The tasmanian devil was cool to watch, the dingoes were very lazy just lying in the corner. They also have a sheep station and some pigs and goats. At the sheep station I watched a sheep dog show. Impressive, how the dog (a three year old Australian kelpie) obeyed and was able to navigate the sheep. I also enjoyed being close to the kangaroos. You are allowed to go on the meadow where they live. One kangaroo was very curious and came very close to me. There also was a feeding of wild lorikeeti. What a chaos and noise! The birds in captivity were interesting to watch, too - especially the kookaburras and the black cockatoos. Anyway, the stars of Lone Pine are the koalas and I very much enjoyed to watch them.Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Beautiful Brisbane
March 12, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Goodbye Noosa, at 8:10 am I hopped on the bus to Brisbane. Just a 2.5 hours busride this time😄Arriving at Brisbane I already felt that I would love the city. Well, and so was it (except for the awful traffic)😊 A shame that I basically only had half a day here! I dropped my bag at the hostel, bought a ticket for the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at the reception, and then headed out into the city. The weather did not mean it that well with me, there were rain showers all day, but they mostly were not lasting for more than ten minutes or so. I only had time for a little stroll around the city centre and at the river, before I got on a little boat taking me to the koala sanctuary. The boat ride was a bit more than half an hour and I enjoyed it so much! Brisbane is so green and the neighborhoods along the river are just beautiful, but probably also very very expensive🤔 My visit to the koala sanctuary, I cover in a separate footprint. After the sanctuary, I had to wait quite long for a public bus back to the city. The bus ride was awful. All this traffic! What was supposed to take 45 minutes took more than 75. In the same building like the hostel there was a nice pub. There, I treated myself with a steak and a stout, went for another short stroll to take some night pictures and then went to bed for a very short sleep...Read more
TravelerDie Stadt gefällt mir auch, liebe Grüße
3/15/20Reply
Karin Schwing grüßt Michael !
3/15/20Reply
Lieber Michael dir alles Gute wünscht Ursula.
3/16/20Reply
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Going Down Under Traveler
Walking tour in Melbourne
March 13, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C
The night was short. At 02:00 am my alarm went off because I had ordered a taxi for 02:45 am to go to Brisbane airport. My flight to Melbourne was at 05:10 am. It was very quiet at the airport and the counters did not open before about 03:45 am. Checkin and security check were fast and then I had much time to enjoy a croissant and a coffee. The sunrise after takeoff was beautiful once again. At about 08:00 am I landed in Melbourne. From Melbourne airport I took the Skybus to the city centre and then went to the hostel. Of course, I could not go to the room yet, but I left my luggage there and went on a little stroll around the city. Honestly, I was not really motivated because I was pretty tired and exhausted. I would have loved to spend most the time, until I could checkin, in a nice café, but I just did not manage to find a nice one in between the skyscrapers. From my first impression I did not catch the vibe of Melbourne. For the afternoon I had planned to go on a free city walking tour, but first I returned back to the hostel. It took still a while until I could go to my room and then I had immediately to go to the starting point of the tour again. And, except for the rain that came down every now and then, the tour was really nice😀We were told interesting facts about Melbourne, saw nice Victorian and other buildings as well as beautiful parks and just went on the "right" path through the city. I figured out, that in the morning I very often had just turned left or right too early before I would have reached the nicer areas🙃We also went through Chinatown, which is the oldest in the world, as well as through impressive small laneways full of bars and restaurants. The tour ended after about three hours at a place where we had a beautiful view on the skyline. The concept of the tour operator is, that it is in general free, but that you give in the end what you consider the tour was worth to you. I think, it was a great tour to get insights into Melbourne. Anyway, I was still tired and not very motivated to do much after the tour. I walked around the city, grabbed a bite and returned to the hostel to fall asleep soon...Read more
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Going Down Under Traveler
Hidden Bars Tour
March 14, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
After a pretty good and long sleep, I headed out into the city again. At the Queen Victoria Markets I treated myself with a good breakfast and then walked a bit around this huge market area. Afterwards, I took the tram 35 to take a little tour around Melbourne downtown. In Melbourne all trams are free in the city centre, and the particularities of tram 35 are: it goes in a loop around the city, interesting information for tourists is provided, and it is operated with historic trams. I did the whole loop for about an hour and then went to Brunswick Street which the guide from the day before had recommended to visit and to go for a bite or a coffee. I had coffee and cake in a nice little coffee shop.In this coffee shop the corona crisis was "visible" for the first time on my whole travel. They only used takeaway cups and did not accept cash anymore because of the virus. Then I made my way through the area and a beautiful park with a dolphin fountain towards the meeting point of the hidden bars tour I had booked and that was supposed to start at 03:00 pm. We were twelve participants and went on the tour with our guide Sara. Pretty much in the beginning we passed a small street called "Meyers Place"😁Sara even told us about a hidden bar in a takeaway pizza place in that street, but we were not going there. The first bar we went to was in a small alley with some streetart. Apparently, it was famous for its Pisco Sour, so I tried it and had a Pisco Sour for the first time. It was good! Our second bar was in China Town. There I had a Singapore Sling, my favourite cocktail. Our next stop was in a very nice old pub. This time I took a beer. The fourth and last bar was even located on one of the main streets of Melbourne. I am not sure if I had recognized it if I had been on my own. We arrived there a bit after 6:00 pm. Sara did not stay very long (it was the official end of the tour), but I had a nice conversation with Chris from Minnesota. His wife and he had come to Melbourne because of the Formula 1 Grand Prix which had been canceled the day before. After two beers, Chris and his wife, an Australian couple, a Dutch woman and I continued to another bar Sara had recommended. It was themed like "Alice in Wonderland", but it was pretty dark so you could not see all the details, but it was nice anyway. It was not our last stop. In fact, we went to Meyers Place then to checkout the hidden bar in the pizza place. Sara had told us, that you have to ask for the "special menu" to get entry to the hidden bar. Well, that somehow did not work. They did not let us in and we went to the bar next door. Then it was time to eat something. We ended up at "Hungry Jacks" the Australian "Burger King". It must have been about 11:00 pm by then. I joined the others for one more beer at a bar the Australians knew from the day before, but then I said goodbye and made my way home to the hostel. After a very nice day I fell asleep in the hostel at about 01:30 am.Read more
TravelerDas muß ja eine tolle Tour gewesen sein, liebe Grüße
3/17/20Reply
Super Michael.Gruß Ursula.
3/17/20Reply
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Italian quarter,prison,robotic ice-cream
March 15, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
I had to be out of the room by 10:00 am. Well, I made it just in time😄 Another day in Melbourne was waiting for me. I caught a tram (do you remember, it's free👍🏻) to the Carlton Gardens, which I wanted to visit again with more time because we were a little rushing through them on the city tour. The Royal Exhibition Building in the middle of them is pretty impressive. From the Carlton Gardens it is not far to Lygon Street in the quarter of Carlton which is the main street for Italian food in Melbourne. There are many Italian restaurants just next to each other. Melbourne has the largest Italian community outside Italy. I had some yummy pasta with prawns for lunch there. Then I made my way back towards the city centre and visited Melbourne Gaol, the the former prison of Melbourne, operating until the 1920s, which today is a museum. Very interesting stories about 19th century and early 20th century criminals are presented. Many of the prisoners in the Gaol were sentenced to death, like Ned Kelley, apparently the most famous Australian criminal. He and his gang commited some bank robberies, but are nowadays also partly seen as heroes. For some people Ned Kelley has an image as kind of an Australian Robin Hood. In the visit of the Gaol is also included a little tour through the Watchhouse, another prison next to the Gaol for prisoners waiting for their trial in the court next door which had been operating until the 1980s or 1990s. Part of the tour was also that all the men and all the women were separtedly arrested in one of the cells. It was a nice entertainment😀 Afterwards, I went once more to Federation Square, a very stylish modern square which only has existed since the early 2000s. Around the square are located some art museums and restaurants. And, there is also one of my highlights of the day: a robotic icecream bar. That was pretty cool and I had to have an icecream there😂 My next stop should have been a nice souvenir shop we had passed by on the city tour the other day, but unfortunately it was already closed for the day.Read more
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Melbourne from a wheel - Melbourne Star
March 15, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Well, after having bought a t-shirt and some postcards in a regular souvenir shop, I jumped on a tram to the docklands. I wanted to explore this part of the city a little bit and I wanted to see Melbourne from above. For this I had chosen the Melbourne Star. One round takes about 30 minutes and I was kind of lucky with the weather. The view was pretty good. The ride on the Melbourne Star was a brilliant finish of my stay in Melbourne, a pretty nice city whose vibe, however, I afterall - I do not exactly know why - did not completely catch. After Melbourne Star, I took the tram back, headed to the hostel, got my big backpack, and made my way to the Southern Cross Station. At 10:00 pm, I left Melbourne on the Greyhound overnight service (12 hours) to Sydney.Read more
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Beautiful downtown and harbour - Sydney
March 16, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Well, from now, Corona was present everywhere. Of course, I had followed the German news already the last days and was also updated by some of you guys😉, but now it also got really present here in Australia. On the bus to Sydney, some people wore face masks. The guy sitting next to me was equipped with a helmet - well that one probably not against the virus🤔 -, but also a mask, and big bottles of desinfection spray as well as hand sanitiser. And, he was spraying quite a few times during the bus ride. Furthermore, I had found out on the bus, that New Zealand would foreigners only allow into the country anymore if they went for fourteen days into self-isolation. Well, my flight to Wellington was planned in two days, the return flight to Germany from Auckland only five days later. Do the math - that cannot work. Since, the measures taken in Europe also became stricter and stricter - as you all know - I decided, I had to book an earlier flight home from Sydney. So, after having arrived in Sydney at 10:00 am, I spent the first three hours or so in the hostel to search and book a new flight from Sydney to Frankfurt via Abu Dhabi, and to cancel my flight and hostel bookings for New Zealand. However, afterwards I wanted to start exploring Sydney even though the weather was rainy. At 2:30 pm, I went on a free walking tour with the same tour operator as in Melbourne. Already on the way to the meeting point as well as during the tour, I felt that Sydney somehow caught me more than Melbourne. The tour was excellent, the guide told us many interesting facts about Sydney and showed us beautiful places. Even the rain, that was pouring down almost the entire first half of the tour could not affect my mood of enjoying the tour. In my opinion, Sydney has kind of well managed to fit together the old historic buildings with the modern skyscrapers that certainly dominate the downtown area. I also was impressed by the beautiful Hyde Park (in a hefty rain shower😄). One of my favourite places was a little laneway that was decorated with many hanging bird cages (no worries, there are no real birds inside, but artificial bird noises though). According to our guide this was meant as a short-term arts project, but, since the people of Sydney liked it so much, it is now permanently there. In the second half of the tour, we covered the area close to the harbour. Well, I guess, all of us have seen Sydney harbour, the bridge and the opera house on TV and/or on pictures, but is still different to be there! I was fascinated and we were also lucky with the weather because the sun had shown up now. This tour had definitely turned a day that had started badly, into a nice day😁Read more
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The Rocks - the place of the convicts
March 16, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
Ha, the city tour was not the only tour I did. Just a bit more than half an hour later I joined the "The Rocks" tour of the same provider. "The Rocks" is the area next to the harbour (opposite of the opera house) where the British convicts used to be brought to. So, it used to be kind of a rough place. The tour was only half about sightseeing and half about stories, e.g. about governor Bligh who was victim to mutiny several times in his life - the first time as commander of the Bounty -, a convict who later became a rich butcher or the youngest ever sent to Sydney convict, a fourteen year old girl who later became known as the "mother of Sydney"; when she died in the age of 82 she had more than 350 living descendants. Very interesting also was an "archeological" site from the 19th century which shows the remainings of the butchery of the before mentioned butcher. Today, one of the youth hostels of Sydney is well-integrated into the historic site. Right for sunset, we had climbed up "Observatory Hill" - amazing views, even with a rainbow at the Harbour Bridge👋🏻. During the tour we also passed by three pubs, each of them claiming being the oldest pub of Sydney🤔 The tour ended just under the Harbour Bridge with a nice view on the opera house again. It was dusk by then, some big bats were flying above us - what a great atmosphere for the mystic "The Rocks" tour. After the tour, I stayed a little longer in the Rocks area and then made my way back through the city to the hostel. However, I stopped for dinner at a Nepalese restaurant😊Read more
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Not at all the best day of my journey
March 17, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
Puh, the second last day of my travel did not all turn out as I had expected it before. Actually, the plan was to go either to Bondi beach or, as the tour guide of the city tour had recommended, to Manly which combines a nice ferry trip, beaches, cliffs and a brewery. Well, no surprise, I had decided for Manly, but in the end I should never go there. The day had started quite well. I had slept relatively well and long - in my single room in the hostel😉. Then, I made my way to "The Rocks" again because I wanted to go to a small souvenir shop that I had discovered the night before. By the time I had been there - and had bought some gifts😂 - it was already 12:30 pm or so; a good time to checkout the Australian hotel that serves an emu and kangaroo pizza and a bavarian "Helles" (a recommendation of the guide of last night's tour). Well, this lunch was the turning point of the day. Unfortunately, I was checking the German news because I had wifi at the Australian hotel. So, I got to know about the planned closure of all EU borders and, to be honest, I started a little panicing. Even though it was really really good, I could not enjoy the pizza anymore. I googled the way to the German consulate in Sydney and walked there after lunch instead of taking the ferry to Manly. I hoped that I could get more information from them. The consulate is located in a high tower, but I could not even pass the security on the ground floor because they told me that the consulate is only open in the mornings. According to their webpage you can phone the consulate between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. Well, I tried it at 2:35 pm, but there was only an automatic voice telling me that they were not open. I decided to go back to the hostel to do more research about the situation on the internet as well as to call the consulate again. By 4:30 pm, I had called them several times, but never reached anything else than the automatic voice. Well, I needed a few hours to kind of convince myself that the chances to get to Abu Dhabi tomorrow and then also to Frankfurt were not so bad. Anyway, I also had doubts the rest of the day. At about 6:00 pm I decided, that my last full day of my journey could not end like this. I went to the beautiful Hyde Park and made my way from there to the Sydney Opera House. So far, I had only seen it from the other side of the harbour. It is pretty impressive to stand just in front of it. And, it is also a great place to just have a rest with the cool architecture and the location at the waterfront. The location and somehow also a little bit the architecture reminds me of the Oslo opera house. I concluded the day with a last guiness (St. Patrick's Day😉) and some nachos at the "Three Wise Monkeys" pub - probably the last pub, bar or restaurant visit for a long time😒 - but, hey, hopefully we all stay healthy!Read more
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Coming home - hopefully!
March 18, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
So, it has come... My last day in Down Under! A wonderful journey is about to end - not the end I had wished for, but now I am just hoping to reach Germany as soon as possible. When I woke up (I had slept way better than expected!), it was a fact: Germany had closed the borders - no surprise at all, but still a bad feeling when you get the assuredness. Anyway, I was relatively convinced that I would make my way to Abu Dhabi and, since there would probably also a lot of Europeans be booked on the flight to Frankfurt, hopefully also to Germany. Anyway, after waking up, taking a shower and packing, I directly went by train to the airport - way to early, but a better feeling to be already there. A very good sign was that the flight to Abu Dhabi was shown as being leaving on time at 5:00 pm. I used the spare time to write the postcards that I originally had planned to write the next days when I would have been back in New Zealand. I am really sad, that I could not go to Wellington again - the city that caught me most during my entire travel. Anyway, I am sure I will go there again one day😊. I was relieved, when I got both boarding passes at the checkin, to Abu Dhabi as well as to Frankfurt. Still no guarantee, but the next very positive sign that I gonna make it back home. The plane to Abu Dhabi took off almost on time. I am on the plane😁Read more
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Abu Dhabi
March 19, 2020 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
I am in Abu Dhabi now and the flight to Frankfurt will be going. I am very relieved! The flight to Abu Dhabi was rather unspectacular. Average food, I could not sleep very well, but I did not feel very much like watching movies either; anyway I watched the film Frozen. I used quite a bit of the flight time to catch up with my blog entries of the last days🙃 I will be home soon😊Read more
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The End
March 19, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
This is the last textual entry to my blog of my wonderful journey to New Zealand and Australia. Since the late morning I have been back in Koblenz. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Frankfurt was good. I watched two movies (Le Mans 1966 and Frozen 2) and slept a little bit. In Frankfurt there were no special checks because of the virus; just non-EU citizens were separated from EU-citizens at the border control. I had to wait very long (90 minutes or so) for my luggage, but the most important thing is that I've made it to Germany! The trains from Frankfurt to Mainz as well as from Mainz to Koblenz were pretty empty. Back home in my flat, I was pretty tired and slept the better part of the afternoon.

My amazing journey is over. It has been seven weeks of great adventures and amazing places. I am glad and thankful for all the experiences I could make. The memories will last for a long time. The end was not as expected, but in this global crisis it was the right decision to return home a few days earlier. Let's hope and do everything for that we gonna win the fight against this awful virus!

P. S.: Probably, I am going to share a few more photos, that I did not have access to on my mobile phone during my journey, in some more footprints within the next days or weeks. So have a look from time to time if you are interested😊Read more
TravelerBin ich froh, das du wieder in Deutschland bist, auch wenn es 500 km von uns entfernt sind und wir uns nicht sehen können, liebe Grüße aus Neukirch
3/21/20Reply
Lieber Michael, ich freue mich, daß Du wieder daheim bist. Liebe Grüße aus Viöl von Karin
3/21/20Reply
Hallo Michael! Vielen Dank für deine schönen Reiseberichte! Immer wenn ich sie gelesen habe, war es wie ein kleiner Kurzurlaub für mich. Und ich freu mich auch, dass du wieder gesund und wohlbehalten nachhause gekommen bist! Schöne Grüße vom Bodensee, Martin
3/22/20Reply
Ursula ist sehr froh das du alles so gut gemacht hast.Niemand kann dir diese schöne Zeit nehmen,aber es werden gute Gespräche folgen.Ich freue mich auf unser Wiedersehen.
3/22/20Reply
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Trip end
March 19, 2020