Tasmania

Hi folks, I'm back from the wilderness.
I've just arrived this afternoon by bus from Strahan but I will tell you everything step by step not to forget anything.

1. Hobart:
From Melbourne I flew to Hobart, which is the capital of the territory of Tasmania. It has about 200.000 inhabitants and the airport is very small. The bus took nearly to the doorstep of my Hostal. As it was still early in the morning I left my things there and went directly for a good healthy breakfast (eggs, ham, croissant and cafe latte). Then fully recovered I wandered around a bit to make myself familiar to this new city. It didn't take me that long, as this city is quite small. After a small siesta I followed the instructions of a brochure obtained in the information center and walked around the "old" town battery point of Hobart. I finished my day with a nice fish and chips dinner.
The next day I decided to prepare a bit for the Overlandtrack and did some training climbing Mount Wellington startiting in Fern Tree. This is a village half up the mountain I reached with the bus. From there it was first walking nearly half way around and then always up in zig zag. It was a great experience although half way through it started to rain and getting higher the rain even transformed into snow. First lesson learned, don't wear jeans on a hinking tour. Unfortunately when I reached the top it was snowing so heavily that I couldn't enjoy the so praised view, that's why I can only show you pictures from half up.

2. The Overlandtrack:
After having bought all the necessary provisions I finally made my way to Lake St. Clair where the Overlandtrack starts. This is a 85 km bushwalking track that runs from Lake St. Clair to Cradle Mountain or vice versa through a protected wildlife park. Already during the journey it was raining and got colder the higher we climbed. When I got of the bus I noticed the chilly air (around 5 C). In the visitors center I was introduced to the Ranger who informed me that there was quite a lot of snow on the track and that he absolutely not recommended me to walk it with the equipment I had (no waterproof shoes, no snowtrousers, no snoeshoes etc.) if I wouldn't want to suffer from hyperthermia. In the end he convinced me as I really don't want to die yet. So I got a plan B: I stayed for 1 night in the cabins of the Lake St. Clair's resort and did a 3 hours tour at the lake shore this first day. During this shorter hike I saw my first real Tasmanian animals: 1 Tasmanian devil (only from behind, looked like a black cat) and a Pademelon (I mistook it for a small Kangaroo as it actually looks a bit like a mixture between a kangaroo and a mouse). That was really exciting.
The next morning I started with some rain and a lot of excitement and a back pack of about 13 kg into the adventure. The first took me 6 hours through the rainforest along the lakeshore. I really cannot describe how breathtaking the landscape was. I made tons of pictures which are only partly showing the beauty of this spot. The track was quite challanging, I had to hop, hangle, balance and crawl over water pods or mud as I didn't want to arrive with wet feet already the first night, in the end, after the backpack felt heavier with every step and my feet didn't want to lift that high anymore I finally stepped into a big mud pool up to my knee. Well, shit happens. I finally arrived wet, exhausted but very happy at the first shelter, the Narcissus hut. Having carried my tent all this way I decided to sleep in my tent. During the whole time walking as well as at the shelter, I was completely alone and did not meet a human soul. Just me, the nature and the wild animals. That was quite some night, cold and with some very strange and unknown noises all around me. I didn't really sleep much but the next morning was worth all the tossing and turning, as when opening the zip of the tent a bright sunshine greeted me. It was just a perfect morning that's why I decided to make another tour. After packing up, I heaped again the backpack to my shoulders and walked off towards the next stop, the Pine valley hut, which was a good 3 hours walk away. This time the track took me through bushland with a phantastic view on the snowy mountains. Later I walked through pine forest with shined in differed shapes of green. I took my lunch in the Pine valley hut and returned upon my steps to the Narcissus hut. This time I wasn't alone and shared the hut with 7 others who where starting their trip. This time I decided to sleep inside, which was better as the night was very stormy. If I say hut, you have to imagine a very basic hut and then take all the comfort away. There where only wooden boards where you could put your mat on, an oven that didn't really heat up well and a toilet some 300 meters away which was basically a hole in the ground with a small hut over it.
Anyhow the next morning it started to rain, and it didn't really finish until late in the afternoon. Fortunately just before leaving the shelter, I got company and we decided to do the track together sharing the tea and our chocalate. Thanks to Morgan's company I managed the 6 hours walk in pouring rain. I think I never was wetter in my life. The shower I took after this day, was one of the best in my life.
So what more can I say about this Overland track Experience:
It was probably one of the biggest adventures I had in my life so far, very challenging for body and also soul (being completely on your own) and I am very proud to have done it, altough I didn't do the whole thing. Well next time then.
Conclusion:
Great experience, extreme challenge, 2 hurting knees, 2 blue toenails, 5-6 blisters, animals seen on the way: a lot.

Melbourne part II

I forgot to mention that after having lived the cultural highlights of Melbourne at the museum and the town hall I went to see some kind of other show being enjoyed a lot by the Australians, the Casino. Having been to the Baden Baden casino and also the one in Madrid, where formal clothes are a condition to enter, in the Melbourne Crown Center this is not the case. They even let me enter in my casual backpacker outfit, so you can imagine that the standar was not very high. The best of it was that I got asked for my id for age proof. How I enjoyed this, hasn't happened to me since I got 18. The casino itself is huge, a lot of gambling machines and also black jack, poker and roulette tables and it was packed by gamblers, mainly Asians. I just wondered around a bit but all the noise and the flashing lights was just to much, I wasn't event tempted to play, so I left soon again.

On the following day I walked down to St. Kilda beach to have a nice breakfast with a great view.

I wandered around the area, along the beach and the promenade a bit and then returned to the city with the tram. As I will be going to Tasmania tomorrow I've bought myself a tent, which supposedly is very easy to erect, even for camp dummies like me, but I will let you know if it is really Katja proof after my first try. With the backpack full of useful camping material, I walked over the Queen Victoria market where nearly everything is sold from meat over fruit and vegetable to clothing and other useful or rather useless stuff. Back at the hostal, I've had a free BBQ that they offer here once a week for people staying at the Ritz for Backpackers.

This morning it was raining but as it cleared up soon after having finished breakfast, I rent a bike and did a bike tour of around 3 hours along the Yarra River. It is really amazing how well the city is prepared for bikes, the track was all the way very well done and also well signalized so it was even for me impossible to get lost. I had a nice (and very cheap) lunch at a former Abbey. Cheap because you could give what you thought it was worth, and being "schwaebisch" I only gave 5 $ for the lunch and a tea. (as an excuse, I didn't have more coins). After returning with the bike to the city center I went to the Aquarium and had a look around there. Nice sharks, hope to see some face to face in the ocean up north.....

Well early tomorrow morning I will be taking a flight to Hobart Tasmania to do the Overland Track, so probably there won't be any update until the end of next week. If you don't hear from me by then, get worried and call somebody, I might be lost in the bush.

Melbourne

Yesterday I've arrived in Melbourne. Thanks to my ability to sleep in moving vehicles, learned during all those business trips, I made the best out of my 9 hours trip in the bus and slept nearly throughout the whole journey. After a harty breakfast I went to the CBD (Central Business District) of Melbourne just in time to catch the homecoming parade for the Olympic heroes of Australia. I should have watched a bit more the games so I would have recognised some of them, but anyway, it was a good show. Getting once used to free entertainment, I watched a street performer at Federation square, who actually did a great job and was very entertaining. In the end he was able to gather rather a big crowd. Then I spend the rest of the day walking around and admiring the mixture between older (late 19th century) and modern buildings.

Today the sky was a bit cloudy and also the wind quite strong, therefore I took the opportunity to visit the inside of some buildings. My first stop was the Town Hall where they give free visits of more than an hour. The group was very heterogenious made up by 2 older ladies from smaller towns outside Melbourne, some military students from East Timor and Malaos and me, the clever German girl (I say clever, as I was prepared and could answer some questions that Ken the tour guide asked, as f.ex. how many people live in greater melbourne - the answer is 3,7 Million and I knew it thanks to the Lonely Planet.)

After the Town hall tour, I went to enjoy another free visit to the Ian Potter Centre NGV Australia to see Australian art, contemporary, from the last 2 centuries and Aborigenal art, being the last named the part which I've enjoyed the most as a non conoceur of art. After having satisfied the needs of the mind, I noticed that my stomach was also calling for attention and so I've filled it up in Chinatown with some noodel soup, much better than the chinese food we have in Madrid. Before I leave you again for today I have another trivia I would like to share with you. Did you know that Burger King is called "Hungry Jack's" in Australia. Sounds much nicer, doesn't it?

Whale watching and Montague Island

I've just returned from my whale watching trip, and yes, we it was successful. We could admire 4 tp five of those beautiful hunchback whales that were swimming some kilometres of the coast. It is very exceting to see their fountain from far away and then watch them emerge from the water. Unfortunately my little camara isn't made for good wildlife pictures so the best I could do is this one.On Montague Island, which is a natural reserve and only accessible with a guided tour, I've also seen seals and at least the nests of some penguins.

Before I leave you again I wanted to share some trivia with you that could be put under the category of "things that one does not need to know" but maybe it could come handy to you. Did you know that you can ride a bike on the Australian highways (or at least parts of them)?

Narooma

Hi there again. As you have noticed I wasn't able to keep up with the dayly entries I've started with due to 2 reasons:
a) It is not that easy to find internet access
b) the weather is just to nice to sit inside and write
So get used to it :-)
After leaving Canberra I went by bus (with Murray buses and driver Phil) to Narooma. This time I didn't sleep throughout the journey as the street was quite windy going over some mountains and also the scenery was just too nice.
The I arrived a Narooma. I really don't know how to describe this spot, it just feels that wonderful, marvellous or any other adjective can not express the beauty of this place. The village of Narooma (6.000 inhabitants, rising up to over 25.000 during holiday period) expands over a hill surrounded by water. The ocean devides here in various bays pushing land inward to leave sand banks and swamp like areas, perfect for birds like the big and majestic pelican and marine wildlife. The water sparkles in the sun in different shades of blue interrupted by low stonewalls and sand banks. The beaches, Bar Beach and Narooma Surf Beach are beautiful and at this time of year nearly deserted.

Just see for yourself....

Upon my arrival I was brought by Phil, the bus driver, up to the front door of the YHA hostal. This is a very nice, motel-style place owned by Chris and Wendy that are just phantastically laid back and awfully nice people. As the weather was so great I grabed a bike and went for an exploration tour around Narooma. At the end of the day, I not only made many pictures but also had a sore bud (I am so not used to riding bikes anymore). The evening ended with a beer in the local pub. Just another perfect day.
On Sunday morning the sky was a bit clouded so I decided to take it easy and didn't get out of bed until around 9.30. Did I mention that I am staying alone in a 4 bed room with my own bath room. That's backpack luxury. When I started to walk towards the village I got surprised by a rain shower. This gave me the opportunity to get a cup of coffee and read a bit in my lonely planet. It is very strange but when I had this day ahead of me without anything planned and really nothing to do, I realized how dependant I became on always planning my days. There is still a lot to learn. So I started to relax and just go with the flow, went to the local cinema, watched the sunset, and made my salad for dinner. Luckily, Nathan, ex boatowner, and also living at the hostal but rather permanently, shared his steaks with me.
Today I am coping already much better with the doing nothing pressure. I had my first real beach day. It is amazing the things you can do when you have nothing to do and you have the whole beach for yourself. It is just great sitting in the sand, listening to music, even dancing around crazily or watching the clouds dissolve with the sky.
Tomorrow I will take a boat to Montague Island and hopefully will see some whales, dolfins and penguins.

Day 5: Canberra

The morning started with making the travel arrangements for tomorrow. I will be going to Narooma to enjoy some days at the coast. I hear it must be very pretty there. I'll see and let you know ;-)
Although Canberra has only a bit more than 300.000 inhabitants the city is very extense, so I rather preferred to hop on the explorer bus to take me to the main attractions. This way Barry the driver explained with a lot of humour the history of the places we were passing. The first stop to get off the bus was the war memorial and I have to say it was most amazing. As claimed by the Australians it must be one of the best, if not the best, war memorial museums there are. It has different sections about the several wars the Australians fought in like the WW1 and WW2 as well as more recent conflicts, always well explained, illustrated and even making you experience it with built up trenches, simulations of airraids at night and so on. It really made me shiver and even drop some tears.
The the next stop was the Parlament. The guided tour was great and I learned a lot about the Australian government. Just to give you an idea, the new parlament building is build the way that it is part of a hill, where everybody can step up and walk over the parlamentarians making it a symbolic way of saying that the people have the power over what is happening in politics, pretty amazing, isnt' it. There would be much more to tell, but I don't want to babble along for too long.
Last stop after driving through the embassy area, with really pretty buildings in the typical country style of the nation they are representing, was the national museum. It is also a building where the arquitecture is symbolic of what it is hosting. This museum is basically about the history of Australia, from the eary settlements to now. Very well done, but unfortunately I had to rush through it to make it to the bus in time. Again I was astonished about the friendlyness of the Australians, even the tour guides took their time to accompany me individually and talk to me about the expositions.
About all the above mentioned places, the most amazing thing for me is that there was no entrance fee at all, everything for free and with a smile. We can learn from that.
Now I will grap a bite.

Day 4: Goodbye Sydney, hello Canberra

I started my day with the salad left from the night before, you know low budget... but I have to admit salad and garlic bread are not that bad to start into the day. After this healthy breakfast I walked towards Daling Harbour past Haymarket the Chinese Garden, the Aquarium and so on. Pretty but fairly touristy. I enjoyed a lovely coffee and an ice cream sitting in the sun and watching the boats and the school kids. Then it was already time to go back to the hostal to pick up the luggage and make my way to the bus station. The Greyhound bus from Sydney to Canberra took a bit over 3 hours and was surprisingly cheap, only 26 Dollars. The trip was so quiet, that I fell asleep inmediately and could not really apreciate the landscape we were driving through, but I reckon it was basically bushland, and I will be seing a lot more of it. I arrived around 4.30 pm at the bus stop in Canberra and walked to the YHA hostal. Unfortunately I had to learn there that they were already full, that's for not booking in advance. They advised me to try the Civic Pub, where they also had rooms. I arrived there thanks to the help of a nice Canberra citizen as once again I prooved that orientation is not among my best skills. The room to share with other 3 wasn't really the nicest, a decorator would suffer from a heart attack about the interior design, but what can you expect for 25 $. After I got settled in I went for a walk around the center of Canberra. I have to admit, my first impression was that this city wasn't really worth a stay as it didn't seem to be a very lively place. Also being a European and not used to planned cities it gave the impression to me of not really being in a city as all the houses are low, the streets spacious and a lot of trees all around. I quickly returned to the Pub and had a great steak with salad (self grilled) for just 5 $. Having already experienced the openess and friendlyness of the Australians I wasn't surprised how easy it was to get into conversation with 3 real Aussie guys Ashley, John and Simon but I didn't expect to have such a blast. After having some drinks together we played pool, and although I'm probably the worst pool player ever, they were friendly enough to not kick me out. Probably one of the reasons also was that they could make me drop my pants. Supposedly there is this tradition, when there are still 7 balls left on the table from one color, and none but the black one from the other, the loosing party has to drop their pants and run around the table. I think they just made that up, but what can you do, one has to follow the tradition.....

Here is a picture of the "Aussie dudes". I really had a fantastic time and it really made me apreciate Canberra. Thanks guys.

Day 3: Walking Sydney

I have always wondered how a country with such little population like Australia could be so good in sports and win so many medals in the Olympic games, now their secret is out. It seams that everybody is doing sports. No matter in which park you go, and especially around during lunch break you will always meet runners, groups playing football or other sports.

Talking about sports, I have planned to walk less today and take it easy, but hey, plans change. In the end I made the route the normal Sydney tourist bus does by foot. It all started out crossing through Hyde Park on the way to Mrs Macquaries Point where you have a great view over the Opera House and the Harbour bridge. Then after watching an asian couple getting their wedding pictures taken in this amazing park I walked slowly towards Kings Cross. This a the so called red light district, but I would say a very light version with a lot of cool bars, clubs and so on. By the way here in Australia you can find coffee places or bars that don't have a guest toilet, not an important information but I found this quite curious. So after refreshing at a bar without bathroom, I walked towards Paddington on Oxford street full of boutique style shops (mental note: have to come back at the end of my trip to do the shopping) and as I was walking and saw a sign saying bondi beach I just had the great idea to keep going. It wasn't as close as it seamed though, after about an 2 hours walk, still there was no beach in sight, but abother sweet district with small houses. Around 4 o clock I finally arrived at the much talked about Bondi beach and I have to admit, it was worth all the effort and even the hurting knees (I hope it is just because I am no longer used to walking and not due to age :-) ) What could be more rewarding than sitting at the sunny beach, watching the waves and the cute surfers and then having a fresh "pure blond" bear from the tap.

As walking back wasn't an option, I took the bus back to central Station. Dinner was a healthy salad and garlic bread and another yummy "little creatures" beer. I can really get used to this.

Today is leaving day: At 13:30 I will take the bus to Australias Capital City Canberra which takes about 3 1/2 hours. So there will be not much to tell.

Day 2: Trip to Manly

Hi again. Had another amazing day (I really should stop using all those words like amazing, great etc. as I will run out of them). I went by ferry to the peninsula of Manly, it is a kind of suburb of Sydney with beaches and a lot of nature (big national park. Already the trip in high speed boat was great, giving a good view on the Opera House, the Harbour bridge and all the small beaches with sailing boats and beautiful houses all around Sydney. I hiked about 4 1/2 hours around in the most beautiful scenery, having a look at the old defense/ army station of WWII and the Quarantine station where the immigrants where brought after arriving in Sydney by boat to make sure that they are free of deseases. Did I mention that once again the sun was shining and the temperature was just perfect. What more is there to wish for. After an early dinner I headed back, taking the train from Circular Quay to Central as I was to exhausted to walk any further. I prefer to blaim the jet lag than the age :-). I went to bed very early so at least I could sleep some hours before I got woken up by my room mates that came home and started to rummage and then when finally installed to snore. Well, thanks to earplugs I survived the night and am now ready for the next marvellous day in Sydney. Will keep you posted.

Day 1: Sydney

I had the most amazing first day in Sydney. It was just perfect. After an exhausting long flight I arrived by train to the Central Station and walked over for just 5 minutes to my Hostal (the wakup) it is a very nice, clean and friendly place and best of all, they gave me inmediately my room (bed) and I could take a shower. I resisted the temptation to lay down as that would mean not being able to get up again after over 40 hours on the road. This way I was on my way to discover Sidney already at 8 o'clock in the morning and the city awaited me with bright sunshine and a nice (2nd) breakfast at the harbour. After this I took a walk up to "the rocks" and the Opera House passing by Harbour Bridge and so on. Sydney is really great, it is quite modern, but you can find older buildings, mainly churches in between the skyscrapers (here everything over 80 year is already old of course). I think the best way to describe Sydney is with the words that are written on a sign at the Botanical Garden "Please walk on the grass, hug the trees, talk to the birds..." everybody is so friendly and so open. The botanical garden was full of strange animals that we normally only see in zoos like giant (scary) bats or flying foxes that were hanging in masses from the trees, which was quite spooky, and more than 20 kakadoos flying around and making quite a noise. After this all nature experience and the walk back to the hostal I was quite exhausted and could feel my legs get heavier with every step. That's why I decided to take a siesta. In the end due to the jet lag I wasn't really able to sleep but at least I could rest a bit.
In the late afternoon I met with Anita, native Australian, who took me to for a beer to a bar with views to the opera house and the bridge and then for a real Aussi Pizza with kangaroo and crocodile. In fact canguru tastes quite like beef and crocodile has the texture of chicken but tastes rather like fish, very yummy. Now I'm going to bed as there is so much more to do tomorrow.

Kangaroo, Crocodile Pizza and little Creatures Australian beer with Anita and Erik

The first step into adventure

I can't believe it. Finally leaving date has approached and I am about to take the first step towards my adventure. Well I have to admit it is a really smooth step as I will get pampered for 3 days at my parents house, but hey, all journeys have to start somehow.
Until know I have been facing already 3 challenges:
1) decide what to take on a 4 months trip with different weather zones and seasons, reduce the number of items, reduce it again and again until there is practically nothing left.
2) pack everything into the backpack without making it to heavy
and then the 3rd and hardes challenge
3) saying godbye to friends and family
Number 1 and 2 are finished sucessfully but number 3 is partly still ahead. That's the only thing I'm not looking forward to but only by saying goodbye you can say "hello again" (isn't it Mr. Howard Carpendale).
Well I have to leave now as Stuttgart is waiting for me.
More to come soon....