Bondi, ballet and home....
This evening we went to the Opera house to see this ballet, The Condor. 3 completelly different plays. Really nice! I must say, what would Sydney be without its Opera house???? Not much I guess. And this the australians can thank a dane for!
Some pics from the 3 different plays:
Tomorrow at eight we fly out from Sydney. Home in lausanne by midnight local time... :( There are so many more things to see in Australia!!!!!! But to be honest I am looking forward to the flight. It is so nice to just sit there and watch nice films and beeing fed from time to time... :D
Thank you Collin for lending us your flat. And thank you Helena and Jono for your hospitality. Well appriciated.
Sunset over Afghanistan:
flying bats and muscle pain
24 november. Sydney. Rain. Took a very lazy morning. Then we walked and walked and walked and walked... probably more than 10 kilometers again. Ouch! Pain... but probably good for the health... We walked around town, the botanic gardens where we saw really cool flying foxes hanging like fruits in the trees:
war in germany? ... and venemous snails and the great ocean road
Cairns is quite a cute and clean town it seems and so far the only town we have seen which has kept some of the old collonial buildings and houses.
22 november. Birthday. Great Ocean Road. Rain... It rained as much in one day as it does during one whole average month of november in Melburne. Well, the good thing is that I got to use my jacket that I have carried around for almost 3 weeks. The bad thing is, I could as well have gone to sweden...
An other good thing is that my boyfriend remembered to say happy birthday (after reminding him several times the past week, last time yesterday when he assumed that we should cook dinner in the backpackers this evening!!!) The bad thing is, this is the 3d year when he forgot to organize a birthday present or anything else. Well I will make him invite me for dinner this evening at least... somehow... Kristina and Janne, did you never celebrate any birthdays in your family or is he just born like that???
So, the Great ocean road tour started with a visit to Bells Beach. Jenny, what are you on about? Bells beach was just a bay with some sand... But maybe with some sand and wellbuilt surfers it would look different? In fact, talking about surfers, they dont look like the ones I have seen on pictures. Total dissapointment... Hey aussie guys - shape up!
After several stops by beautiful view points completely covered in mist and rainclouds we got to a rainforest. Took a little walk and then back to the bus. Now this forrest has the worlds only venemous snails and the only cure is to burn the flesh after touching one!!! yyyaaaauuuck! After beeing 10 min on the bus a girl notices 2 of these on her flipflops. Scary things. Black, around 2 cm stretched out and 5 mm thick. We finally managed to get them into a bottle. Phew...
After we went to see some wild koalas. Well, wild... they sleep 22 hours/day so they dont look especially wild.... but they are sertainly cute. The kangaroos were jumping around on the fields like the deers would on the fields in skane.
Then we went to see the 12 apostels and london bridge. Absolutelly spectacular views! Unfortuanatelly the timemanagement of the tour (go west) was not very good so the time was too short. We took an additional option to see it from a helicopter (johan got his dosis of flying and some ideas about taking commercial flight certificat or helicopter certificat!!!) Great views!!! Can absolutely recomend to do that. But if you are going to see the great ocean road, rent your own car.
Could anyone tell me what is going on in Germany? 3d world war? Nuclear powerplant leakage? ... something serious it must be because half of germany seems to be in Australia... well, anyhow, who wants to be in germany when u can be in Australia...
During the trip here in australia I never experienced good toilet paper. To be honest it has been crap! Is that due to bad sewerage system or do the aussies just dont know how to make paper?????
lazy day on magnetic island and the great barrier reef
Today I spent the whole day under a tree by the pool. A short swim every now and then, reading my book,philosophizing and in between a bit of slumbering. Niiiiiiice.... that is holidays. Today was also the first time in 2 1/2 weeks that me and Jo spent more than 15 minutes separated. Johan went for a 2 hours "bush walk" where he could cuddle koalas, parrots, snakes lizards, crocs etc. That was enough time that I would miss him. Scary development... I mean, when I get home my days at work will be a lot longer than that... :O
the pool by the backpackers: magnetic island: the koala:
Johans wildlife tour:
In the evening before we would take the nightbus to cairns we tried to kill a couple of hours in Townsville. WOW... THAT seemed to be a real hill billy town. Thursday, a lot of nightlife and guys that drunk so that they could not even get in to the places at 22.30. Girls in mini skirts and highheels looking like they would "go to work" and actually not go for a drink.
20 november. Today we took a boat that took us out to the outer great barrier reef for some more diving and snorkelling. Nice. Of course these dives could not live up to the Yongala dive but anyhow it was a really nice day we spent out there. Fuckin hell... we have dived on the great barrier reef!!!! the biggest reef in the world!!! cool hey?
birdattack, wreckdive and withsundays.
We spent 2 days and 2 nights on a katamaran sailing trip. We had some nice dives. Johan 4 and me 2 due to the really ugly cold that I got (why on my vacation?????) we went snorkelling and to the withhaven beach where we took some beautiful and very funny pictures. Sorry that you will have to be patient with that... The sand is made of silica and was used for the Hubble telescope. The staff and the boat (Wings 3) was great. Can highly recommend it if you would pass by Airlie by any chance...
Johan enjoying himself:
Pocket size girlfriend:
Yummy!
Yesterday we came to magnetic Island in the evening. This place is full of animals. On our way to the hostel there was a koala crossing the road with her little baby on her back and the kangaroos were jumping around next to the road. The possums are eating from our hands on our bungalow and the birds, bats and what ever else it could be are keeping Johan terrified awake at night. There was also a bird who wanted to share the shower with me today. I guess he was slightly more scared than me. He flew around, I crouched down and he landed next to me with his whole wing lenghs covering most of the shower floor. He managed to squeeze under the door but came back once more before he managed to get out of the bathroom finally. Poor thing...
The possums: The bird in the shower: The pool and the backpacker:
Johans wildlife tour:
Today we made 2 fantastic dives on the yongala wreck which sank 1911 together with 122 people. Today it is a fantastic aquarium.with huge turtles, seasnakes (apparantly the most poisonous snakes in the world), sharks and huge schools of trevellis, groupers and soooo many other fish. Such a nice dive! One of the top divesites in the world apparantly.
Blogging about Johan I noticed that it payed off. Double as many hits as on a normal blogg about our trip.... Hm... I guess that I should add a little chapter only for this subject. Johan beleives he has a broken ribb. His ears are full of wax. Despite his hypocondric side he is a great dive and travelbuddy!
Curing a cold in Airlie beach
So we have spent 2 days in Airlie Beach waiting for the sailing tour which is starting tomorrow and we are coming back on tuesday. This is what we will se: On this boat:
YYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will that be soooo great??????
I got a cold yesterday and have a bad throat pain and yesterday a bit of sinus problem... I sooo hope that it will disappear for tomorrow so that I can dive...
And yes, I did have some australian food! Tastless, unhealthy and overboiled... they seem to put a lot of ketchup and other stuff on it to make it taste something. Nope, I will stick to the asian food and the m & Jo's kitchen. Tonight sushi. Yes, I can not have too much sushi...
I have heard so much of the famous australian barbeque. I can tell you m & Jo's barby by lac leman is much better. Often they seem to do the barbeque on parkingspots. How great is that?????
What does a backpacker look like???? Give me some hints and I'll give you the answers on my next blogg. :) Looking forward to that! Just as a first hint... they usually carry backpacks...
skepp o'hoj!
coming back from paradise
It's 21.00 and I am sitting on the nightbus from Hervey bay to Airlie beach. We have had 2 beautiful days on Fraser Island. We did some nice trecks in the rainforest (fraser has 4 different eco-systems) and an other one passing a huge sanddune leading down to a green lake - lake wabby where we went for a swim together with the catfish.
Sunrise at Fraser Island with wild dingos:
Next day we went to indian heads, a nice viewpoint from where we could see huge schools of dolphins, sharks, mantas, stingrays and other types of fish. We visited the wreck of Mahino which stranded on the island 1935:
We went for a swim in Eli's creek, a river of only rainwater:
In the afternoon of the second day, our last stop, was lake Mc Kenzie with beautiful white sandy beaches. Like in paradise! 
The island is world heritage marked by UNESCO an is the worlds largest sand island. It has huge fantastic sandy beaches and NO roads so 4WD is the only option. The rides are quite bumpy but puts you nicely asleep like a baby. :)
We took over 200 pictures. There has been some requests for that. It will come! ... when we get home. Until then use google pictures. :) Now sailing on withsundays is on the timeschedule! :)
jo's arrival and Australian zoo
Today we took a walk in town and went to the beach surfing. Well, Johan was brave and tried to and I.... nja either I can blame the big waves or just admit that I am a chicken. So, no surf for me... next time I will just have to take a class, then I have no choice...
Saturday I went to the Australian zoo. There you can see all the australian animals and more. Crocodiles, koalas, otters, tasmanian devils, wombats, all types of snakes and birds, elephants and tigers etc. I spent 6 hours there studying the animals. They are doing a great job to save the animals on earth. Do a donation for the good sake. Fantastico! The tigers behaved JUST like Dayo and Indi, just in super mega size. I SO WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!! Tigertrainer would be my dream job... can I put that in my development plan???? IKEA ZOO .... Ingvar, I have a new business oportunity for you!
otters, Harriet the huge, snakes.... some animals are more cuddely than others... scary to know that these guys are out there wild... But the green one is really not as venemous as it seems! It is generally the black, the silver and the brown snakes that are deadly. So I just have to stay away from those...NO WORRIES!
And my future collegue:
The really nice backpackers we stayed at: and a cool tree in noosa national park 6.00
Tomorrow we are off to Hervey bay to see Fraser Island in a 4W drive! :)
My first observations of Australia
Australian pricing - Did they take over the norveigan pricing? Expensive like hell. This will be my most expensive trip so far, hopefully ever... will have to live on potatoes and lentils for a few months after this...
Lifestyle - Australians are so cool and laid back! I love their attitude - positive, friendly and happy. They are so enjoying life. They are organic too, and proud of it! Yepp, I could live here! Easily.
Food - summa summarium so far, sushi two times, japanese nudles, thai nudles, indian, lasagne, nachos, thai green curry.... so far.... where is the australian food? And what the hell is it?
Architecture - Is it rather towards asian???? Still with some american influences? Again, I should go and check before doing this harsh statement. What is clear is that they should get some landscape architects into the country, or anyhow some architects. It seems like they are allowed to build anything anywhere, like in asia. In Brisbane for example, they have destroyed the river with highways crisscrossing it. In surfers paradise is surounded by skyscrapes. I dont mind skyskrapes if they look good and if they are in the right placement. But there... If you are a good architect... Australia needs you...
and beaches beaches beaches!!!!!!!!!!!! Wonderful!!!! :D But where are the mochito bars on the beach??? Lojsan, you must know that?
heading to Noosa Heads
wow, it took one week! one week only until I started to speak to myself. I do like these conversations. Good questions, good answers and extreemly good thoughts and comments. well, I do speak to you from time to time. but hey, no answers no comments! Is anybody out there?
So I spent a day at the gold coast but did not find any gold so I decided to continue up the coast. So I am back again on the bus - again with the gestapo driver. Is he following me? Is he trying to freeze my toes off?
I like to take the bus. It really makes me feel like I am on the way, even with a gestapo driver... I was told so many times that flying is so much better in australia. I dont agree.
Surfers paradise on the gold coast for sure has an absolutely lovely beach and nice waves for surfing. But thats it. So quickly I decided that next stop is Noosa Heads, where I will go to meet my man on sunday. :)
So today I have spent the afternoon strolling around in Noosa and the beach. Niiiice. I can easily spend some days here... And the hostel is fantastic too:
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/471918.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.panoramio.com/photo/471918&usg=__qVkPGHEE5odZXUxx_tSfnsPJdn0=&h=1704&w=2272&sz=1407&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=eMbTTispOsy7fM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnoosa%2Bheads%2Bbackpackers%2BYHA%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
Tomorrow I will go to the australian zoo... to work on my spider and snake fobia?
meeting the big shark and the 6 vesicles day
ouch ouch ouch... 6 vesicles and pain in the muscles is the result of yesterday. I walked up to the lighthouse towards dawn. A lovely view in the sunset! It was worth it I guess.... or was it? Anyhow now I can tick off to have been to the most easterly point of Australia. 
This morning I went for a dive. First a quick fresh up in the pool and then hop away to go and meet mister shark!
And here he is! gray nurse shark. I dont know how big he was but at least bigger than me. Sooo cool. Of course we saw a lot of other things but I dont remember anything of it. I have only mister shark in my head and my heart now (sorry Johan...;) )
Do you know, Chiara, that your sister works as a diving instructor in Byron bay?
Australians... do they naturally have bigger and more wellshaped breasts than europeans??? Or is just plastic surgery less expensive here? Just a question. And do they dress like british or americans or a mix? I guess I would have to go to america to find out... that is a GOOD reason. At least fysically they are quite brittish, just a bit wider and tanned. Food... nope that will have to be tomorrow. Now I am off for dinner! hej hopp!
Melburne cup och Australiens mest ostligaste udde.
Steg upp i ottan, at frukost och drog ner till playan direkt. Gick en lang runda pa stranden anda till den mest ostliga udden av Australien. Jatte vackert och jatte harligt. Bodysurfade sedan lite. Stooora vagor eftersom det blaser sa mycket. Vadret har ar ungefar som basta skanska sommarvadret. Grymt.
I eftermiddags fick jag uppleva nagot ganska speciellt. Melburne cup. Kan ni tanka er att ett hastrace far en hel nation att stanna upp???? Nej, tankte val det. Det ar till och med helgdag i melburne och i resten av landet stanger affarerna kl 12.00. Alla gar satsar pa en hast och samlas sedan pa pubar och barer och det ar varldens folkfest. Hela dagen i princip. Super weird.
AUSTRALIEN!!!!!!!!!!! SA JAVLA COOLT ATT JAG INTE KAN FATTA DET!!!!!!!
Har sitter jag i Byron Bay och skriver. Klockan ar halv nio och jag har precis varit och atit lite japanska stir fried soba nudels. Jatte australiensiskt. Har sedan jag kom i lordags inte stott pa nagon typisk australiensisk mat alls faktiskt. Fast det ar kanske bra eftersom kangurustek inte later alls natt gott. Vad ar mer australiensiskt??? Har ingen aning faktiskt.
Jag kom till Sydney i Lordags. Kom till lagenheten vi lanat vid ett tiden och deckade direkt. Hade ju stallt klockan att ringa efter en timma. Klockan fem vaknade jag... oj da. Gav mig ut pa en liten tur i Sydney. sag den dar kanda bron (kanda broar finns i alla stader tror jag) och tog lite turistbilder pa operahuset som faktiskt var ganska skitigt och inte alls sa imponerande som jag hade trott.
Pa sondagen tog jag en bat ut till Manley. Vandrade lite langs kusten, gick runt lite i stan och kollade alla surfshopparna. At en english vegetarian breakfast. Mums! Det var nog sist i London skulle jag tanka... Sen blev det lite playa. Tyvarr inget bad eftersom det fanns bluebottles dar.
Pa kvallen lamnade jag lagenheten och tog bussen 13 timmar till Byron bay. 13 timmar med en gestapo busschaffor och en aussie hippie som laste bibeln pa franska som rese kompanjon... kom i alla fall till Byron och hittade ett riktigt sjyst backpackers http://www.yha.com.au/hostels/details.cfm?hostelid=14
Lanade en cykel och tog en tur runt omradet. Gick sedan och skulle bodysurfa. Hade jag tankt i alla fall. Upptackte till min forvaning att jag formodligen blivit schweizare. Snopet. Det var sa mycket vind (ungefar sa mycket vind som det brukar vara i Sandhamaren) att jag fros och inte ville ga i! Jag vet, det ar ingen som tror pa det men jag lovar. Faktiskt. Men i morgon blir det nya tag. Da ska det javlar i det bodysurfas!
