After I updated my private weblog with a piece of nonsense about my first snake-encounter it's time to update SWS again. Dropped Nicky on another computer to do her webmail & other things (and to get her pictures on cd, which fails for 50% so probably the SD card is DEAD, if so that's kinda crappy, not only 150 images gone but also we'll need to buy a new SD card, which never very cheap...) and taking my turn to let you all know about the last few days in Tassie.
Well, here we go. Off course we made it on time to our boat, fortunately not beeing the very fast puke-vessile but the rather slow (9 hour, 21h00-06h00) "Spirit of Tasmania II". Had a quite good trip, not to bumpy and at night had my first taste of Tassie, beeing a glas of Cascade, one of the best beers I've tasted untill now... The night was a disaster however, though Nicky slept quite well on her seat, I was too long for these seats, had almost no sleap, dropped myself to the floor 3 hours before arrivel and slept there for another 1,5 hours. You can imagine the next day was horrible for me. Tired like hell and then having to drive for a couple of hours is NOT really like fun. But hey, I shouldn't complain beacause actually that day was a pretty nice one. We drove to George Town to get some gasoline (again!) and a decent map of the island. Beeing twice as big als Holland and containing the most beatifull nature you can imagine you can simply not do a usefull thing with your all-aussie map. So we got a quite detailed thing with all dirtroads, touristic spots and even small walks on it. The guy told us that doing Tassie in 1 week is insane, he sounded a bit annoyed even. As we're now in Hobart and our ship SHOULD leave tonight but telling you that it departs the 4th you can see that he WAS right after all... And even that is a little bit to short, you can spend at least 2 months here and not beeing bored whatsoever. Even better, I think you could spend a year on Tassie and having as much fun as you'll have when doing whole Australia in one year.
Anyhow, our end-station that day was a nature reserve on the north-east coast, inhabited by lots of walabi's. After a nice talk at a gas-station with a couple who actually did the same and where surprised that that wite van was ours and that we put a housenumber on it (42 off course, as you all already know) we went on to the dirtroad leading to our camping spot. 10 minutes before we left we noticed another van, no, a truck, a, well, something best described as "Mobile Home". It must've contained at least 3 bedrooms, a full-blown bathroom, a fully utilized kitchen and a living room and I wouldn't be surprised if it even contained a garage and a small towncar. SICK! But hey, not all people like the simple life like we do...
20Km of the best dirtroad ever later (driving 80Km/h over it, without any trouble) we found the spot and indeed inhabited by walabi's. Those fluffy tiny ones, curiously running around our van, scavenging for some food. (Not ours, not begging, they're absolutely wild animals, they simply where looking for their own food on the grond, whatever that may be.) Amazing spot that...
Went to the Columbia Falls & Ralph Falls walks, the first the highest(80m) waterfall in Tasmania, the second one a very sweet tiny (but HIGH!)stream falling down from a few rocks. The day ended at Binalong Bay, we only did an easy 100Km that day to have some rest. There we had some trouble, first the car got stuck in the sand where a very helpfull aussie helped us out with one of the biggest 4x4's I've ever seen. Even he had little trouble pulling out 1750Kg of car but after he got grip we where out... Next spot, firmer surface, another try. Smaller spot, more cosy, so we stayed there. While Nicky was getting the car night-ready I liturally ran to the sea and there it was, right in front of my eyes, dark brown/black, at least 1,5 meters long, 10cm thick and staring a little bit disturbed at me... A real wild aussie SNAKE. Hell, really something for me, my first encounter with a wild snake, and not a tiny one, no, directly this quite big variation... Well, I was obviously more scared than the snake, he/she looked op, I looked back and it decided to continue with what it was at, snaking around. Off course my walk back was little slower than the way to the sea.
Next day off to Hobart, the "big" city on the south coast of Tassie. Off course we had our walks and nature that day, should be no surprise as Tasmania's nature reserves cover 50% of the island, and after lots of dirtroads, rain an fog we ended up in a $$$ neighbourhood of Tranmere, South-Hobart. Actually we ended up in a $$$ lot of the neighbourhood, the next house was 500m meters away, at least. They where still developing the area. Our first plan was to park on top of a hill but with a "no camping" sign I didn't want to take the risk. So Tranmere. After a very restless night (for me that is, I was afraid like hell as some cars where across us, maybe having a drugdeal or as Nicky thought the more relaxing sex thing) we moved on very early. Though my night was extremely bad, I however got the chance to see a Hobart sunrise which was very beatifull and off course we had lots of fun with the idea that we actually parked (and peed) on an empty lot worth probably tonnes in a real upperclass area of Hobart. You can imagine that :-)
Sat, Jan 29th tells my next diary entry. The day we ended up in Bruny Island. Down from Hobart (which we skipped entirely) to the ferry and on to the island. Heading south to a lookout point in the middle of the island (only 40m wide, duny landscape) and on to a "small" walk on the south of the island (Adventure Bay) to wake up. Me joking about that we should be glad we didn't have to climb that hill (pointing to the quite high cliff to the right) we started the walk, beeing 3,5 hours according to our information. Well, now close your eyes and think of my nickname... Exactly. We DID have to climb that cliff, the total walk was around 5 hours and we took the hard-way up. Extremely steep uphill climbs, even hairpins on the walking track as straight-up was impossible. Nicky hates those climbs, I love them. They're way better than those nasty things downhill. After around 4 hours walking we reached the top, ~250 meters above sea-level. Gorgious lookouts though and absolutely worth the climb. Not only for the lookouts but also for the fact that we've beaten the mountain. Me tired as hell from the last night actually got enough energy to finish the track.
Somewhere in the evening, after that track to the camping at the neck of the island. There me with my tiredness messed up with our stove. Suddenly the whole thing went on fire instead of just the cooking pit. Reaction though was good and succesfull, first throwing sand over it to cut off the air supply, than directly shutting off the gas. The fire was gone within 5 secs and no serious situation occured but off course it was a little scary. Nothing to worry about for you guys at home, people make these mistakes when tired and we're both awake enough to prevent those. Well, this is how we learn. Next time I KNOW how to attach a new bottle and it won't happen again. Same with the car, I know what it can and can't and next time I can prevent those situations like getting stuck in the sand.
Good. 14:41 says my clock and we still have ~200Km to go before we're at our final destination tonight so we have to rush a little. Next day we moved back to the Tassie mainland, after seeing some more of the Bruny nature and lighthouse. Tried to make it on time to Hobart to develop our photo's and update the website. Hobart however still seems to live in the stone-ages, all shops where closed at 16:00 on saturday. So we bought some souvenirs and went off to our endpoint, a forest little south-west of Hobart. No sleap for Nicky this time, afraid as she is alone in the forst. (Poor girl, but opposite to me, I'm afraid in a city in our van.) Morning walk to a tiny lake and off to the Tahuna Airwalk, a construction 50 meters above groundlevel. Did the walk, which was great and dumped our car on the free camping spot very next to it. This one was actually guarded! Very very nice, 100% free and someone actually taking care of you and wishing you a good night. Lighted, flushable toilets and a very safe feeling we went into the night. Well, now we're here. Sitting downtown Hobart while it's HOT outside. Temperature changes rapidly over here, this night it was extremely cold, now the water drips from our foreheads. Tonight we'll be in the forest again, right in the middle of the biggest nature reserve in Tasmania. From now on we'll head north and within 5 days we end up where we started, Melbourne, actually celebrating our 6-month anniversairy on the boat to the mainland.
Plans are to get our car fixed again (still warranty, it still leaks oil and water), then head a little west and then north, into the red centre. But, that's a story for MUCH later as it takes weeks to get there.
Oh, a small addition, Nicky just uploaded SOME pictures to the gallery so you have some visuals of what we see here.
At last I want to say that it's absolutely great here, our van starts to feel like home now and we see the most gourgious nature you can imagine. So no regrets beeing here and finally really on the road and enyoing our adventure down-under. (But, still missing our friends and family at home, for sure that we think of you a lot!)
Murf
Because Murf is taking Yada under construction takes I will write a piece about the last week. For a start we weren't that lucky. We brought our car to the garage and we could pick it up that night. We tryed to pick up our Bali visas. Which went wrong because they gave us visas for the wrong dates. And because of the tsunami we can only change that on a later stage of our journey. So for now we have a visa till the 11th of april. :s After hanging around in the city. (internet!!) We wanted to pick up the car... Didn't work because the leak turned out to be a broken waterpump. So they were replacing it. We could pick it up the next morning. The next morning we got a call that it would be that afternoon because the waterpipes were leaking. And they had to be replaced. So we went shopping for some stuff for our journey. And went to buy some sandals for Murf. Which was a lot of calling from home because all the sizes go till 12 and he has size 13. But after 75 calls we finally got a store which sold them. So into the city for the shoes. (Which we got with discount!) And an early dinner because we couldn't pick up our car yet. During dinner we got a call that the temperature of the engine still was to high and the radiator was probably blokked. So we could pick it up the next morning... :-S Because they had to replace it. Next morning we gave them a call.. Ordered the wrong one, would be done that afternoon. We went that afternoon and finally got our car back. (phew!)
That night it was packing. And the next morning we hit the road. First to Bulli lookout. Stunning. Then to Kiama for the blowhole (hole that blows though the build up pressure of the waves in a cave underneath the hole) that could reach up to 60M. But off course when we went there, he didn't want to blow. After that we pretty much drove along the Princes Highway (main way down) with some touristic drives on the sides. Halfway the afternoon we drove straight into a thunderstorm. Which was so heavy with so much rain that we had an early stop that day. (because I didn't want to drive any further in that weather) So we parked at a picknick spot right after Batemans Bay and had food in the van. And as a toilet a hole in the ground. (which is the main picknick toilet along the road.) The next day we pretty much just drove. Till about Eden. Where we visited a killer whale museum. And spended just some hours in reading local fisserman stories and look at whale bones. That afternoon we just crossed the Victorian border. And set up camp. (a couple of K's before Cann river) Just a camping spot again. The next morning we had a 'cuppa' (cup of coffee or tea) with some fellow travellers. (although they already done this for at least 10 years) Had a nice chat and got an adress to stay over if we wanted to later in our journey. After a nice cup of tea we went driving again. With just a couple of touristic drives and a walk in a piece of rainforest. Eventually that brought us in the middle of nowhere along the beach. Where we set up camp behind some dunes.(Woodside beach) Was very cold that night. (The lower you get the colder the summer) But was fun and got some very nice pictures.(forgot to bring the discs so can't update any, sorry sorry sorry)
Yesterday we wanted to complete the trip to Melbourne and stay over in the city in our van. Before Melbourne just a stop at a little town to sort out our boat trip to Tazzy. After that went to Phillip Island. Where they have the smallest pinguins. (15 cm.) Was very qute. Although you can't tell the difference very good between an seagul baby and small penguins. So we were told afterwards that we saw both and not only baby seaguls. (as we thought) Because the have a lot of seaguls on the Island. And because of the breeding time ,which was when we were there, there were a lot of baby seaguls. Bought some little souvenirs and left for Melbourne. Where we discovered after a couple of hours that you can not possibly find a sleeping spot in your van in a big city. So exhausted and tired. Almost crying we drove straight out of the city. After some 'food'. (KFC) We felt a little bit better. But after half an hour drive we gave up and just parked somewhere next to a house and went to bed. This morning early up. To go to Travellers Auto Barn. Because yes our car gave us another signal. We were leaking oil. And some other minor problems. Instead of getting it fixed and go into town. We had to drive to some outer suburb to get it fixed. And stayed till late in the afternoon waiting till our car would be finished. After that straight into the city to get some internet. And we actually have to hurry at this point to get to our boat.
Love
Nicky and Murf
Murf just forgot the mention all the gourgious walks we done. (really a lot, good to build up some conditions AND losing some weight.) And next to that all the lovely sunsets/downs we say. And off course the beautifull thunder storm we enjoyed the whole evening. Which was an amazing thing to see from out of our van.
Love
Nicky
Well, from here it's up to me (Murf) again, to tell you something about those few days in the Blue Mountains. To begin with, weather forecast was horrible, to be more precize: extreme heat (30-40 degrees Celcius) and NO rain! Very good, sounds like a perfect stresstest for both us and our van, and it was :-) But hey, we're backpackers so we don't mind. First day we went off from Sydney to Katoomba where the famous "Three Sisters" rock-formation is. Halfway we got off the Great Western Hiway to visit the house Nicky's mom lived for 6 years, Carpenterroad 224 in St. Mary's. After the neccecairy proof we've been there (*CLICK!*) we went on to Katoomba. There we got out the car, had a few walks through the beatifull forest, took some pictures (DUH!) and after a couple of hours headed down to take the 45 degree "train" uphill. After that we where so tired that we headed off to the car which was parked 200m away from "Echo Point", from where you can see "The Three Sisters". Free from 17:00h-09:00h and with a perfect view straight over The Blue mountains. Had dinner, slept, had breakfast and before 9 we were on the road again. Had our morning 10 min away from Echo Point... The nature over there is really astonishing, found a small lake with a waterfall. Even got the chance to shoot a couple of Black Cockatoo's. (On photo that is...) Next up to the "Jenolan Caves". I really wanted to see those, Nicky had seen enough caves in her live but as we're doing this together we went there. It was somewhere around 2 hours of driving, straight to very steep and winding slopes. Well, driving winding roads might seem scary, the truth is that I really like it. You need 100% concentration not to make mistakes but it's fun, steering your 5 meter van around tight hairpins, up and down the hill. At evening we arrived, found a piece of tarmac used as a parking place and asked the local guides if it was ok and safe to spent the night there. It was, even better, it had a shower, bbq, toilet & even electricity! No other cars where there, we actually cooked on our (well, Anita's) mini-stove and had a great time. (and a *little* "fight" because we where both really tired) Next morning to the caves then. 9am after a 15 min walk downhill we found the entrance, payd $24,50 per person to get in (got discount on our VIP cards, normal price for this 2 hour, 1200 steps trip in the River Cave was $27,5) and at 10 we started our (guided off course) tour in the cave. In my opinion, it was absolutely GREAT. Beatifull reflections down there (at the underground river), lots of nice stalac*thingies* and a refreshing 15 degrees. Our guide was pretty ok, even told us about a nice mountain thing north of Melbourne where it's good to climb in the wild. (If I have the chance I will do that for sure, it would be my first nature-climb instead of the indoor walls I normally climb) At the local souvenir shop we got our Aussie-Hats, both at $55,- which is quite cheap for a good, suede hat.
Then up to Lithgow at around 13:00. With not really much gas in the tank we where a bit worried that we could make it to Oberon, the nearest town 30Km away from the caves. Off course you expect what's coming, there where some trouble getting there. Halfway an accident happened with a motor cycle, road blocked and at least 2 hrs before the road would be cleared. The other options was a detour of 10Km, partly over dirt roads. And off we went, not scared of dirt-roads we went back a few hundred mtrs and right on the dirt. Driving on dirt is strange, scary, but a great thing to do. You're driving on marbles and have to take extreme care not to get off the road, it really stresses your driving skills but that's exactly what makes the fun of it. Off course I was VERY carefull, but it was also a good test for our car (it was still 40 degrees celcius). Thanks we FOUND Oberon in time with still ~15 liters of gas left and headed off to Lithgow. As we wouldn't take the highway we took a small road, got a little bit lost on again more dirtroads but finally found Lithgow without too much hassle. (Ok, we had to stop the care once to refill the coolant-water, one of the few thins wrong with the car, leaking 2l every 100Km or so and liturally boiling over within 10 minutes.) Well, Lithgow was a bit depressing, so we went straight on. After an extra hour of driving we found Mount Wilson, still in the Blue Mountains, a few Km off The Great Bells Line of Road, ~15Km away from Bell. Up the hill was a parking spot (in the middle of the forest) where around 10-15 tents and campervans stood. Seemed like a perfect and safe place to spend the night and it was. Finally had some rain and thunder, really welcome after weeks of extreme heat. Next day (Sunday, day 4 of our little trip already) we went back to Sydney. The car had to be fixed on several points so we HAD to be back today to get it all done. And here we are now. Yesterday Anita was very happy to see us again, so was Rita (one of her neighbours) who was a bit worried, 2 kids on their own in the bush. :-) Had a good night sleep (it cooled down to 20 degrees here) and this morning we brought our car to the garage. They're now working on it (radio, cooling water, 3rd gear, etc) and with a bit of luck we don't have to take the train home. If that's the case we'll hit the road tomorrow morning to begin our trip around Australia. If not, hopefully wednesday. Well, that's it for now, I go to do my email and after that let Nicky write some more about our first 4 days on the road.
Bye,
Murf
The weekend we had a quite and relaxing time. I wanted to take it calm because we had a couple of rough days And Murf obviously had some struggles still with his jetlag. (just like me a lot of sleeping. No other serious problems) So we had a lot of rest with a lot of reading and talking. On Monday we got out last little bit of paperwork out of the way. We got free maps at the NRMA. Because of the membership we got with the car. So we left with about 10 maps of Australia. Then we fixed Murfs Medicard beccause last Thursday we didn't had the correct papers with us. But this time it all worked out dfine. After that we had a big surch in Maroubra. Where the Indonesia Counsil was. We arrove and filled in the paperwork. The most itime took us to find an ATM for some money because the Visa's were $60 each. So after an hour there we were already on our way back. We came home and were glad to have everything done with. Yestereday we started off with some big shopping at Marrickville shopping Mall. Around the corner of Anita. We got everything we could and especially could carry.. Which was mainly food and some small stuff. At 4 we rang to see if the car was already ready. Yes it was. Soo we went there. But after an hour trying and a lot of letting down of our plastic mondy we had to give up. Our daily limits gave us only enough t opay for half the car. So we had to go back by train. Dissappointed. The next morning we ended as soon as possible in front of the store for our car. And after some info and payments we could finally take our baby home. Driving went some insecurity. And a little tour through the city because I wasn't quick enough to point out hte turnoff. (and some roadworks after that) But we got home. The second time of shopping was our final stuff Which we succeeded for actually very fast. And fairly cheap. At home we sat down after soime packing. For realising that we had a KFC discount coupon. And exact 15 min to get there and order. So back to the shopping mall again. Murf got already more sure in hte van. (about twice the size of his own car) So in time. At home after dinner we started to pack the car. And it finally starts to feel more and more like our car. Tomorrow the finishing touch and 2/3 ddays to the Blue Mountains. But tonight we are tired. Also because of the hot weather which will stay to at least sunday. Bush fire alarm is code red in NSW and SA already had a fire with 9 dead. Most surprised in their car. So that will be an extra eye for look and ear for local news on the radio.
Love Nicky
Ok ok, entry... as a thing I grew quite jused to I entry everytime when I am behind a computer. With just one problem right now... The bunch of text below this piece... I could just copy it and post it for a second time, but that would be a bit useless. So next time I will just pull out a fight to see who can have the computer first and also has the right to write something here. Because having double stories would be a bit useless.
Love Nicky
Well, as you can see, here I (Murf) am... In Sydney, Australia that is. Didn't have the chance to update the weblog after dec 30th but now I'm in an internet cafe somewhere in Newtown, Sydney. Let's start from the beginning... The 31th I got one of the most rememerable newyear party's I've ever had. Lots of friends, lots of alcohol and lots of hugs from people I won't see untill august. It was really, really good. Thanks people to give me an incredible time with you. Next day Schiphol Airport. Almost everyone I wanted to be there was actually there. It didn't make my departure very easy, instead it was quite hard but it's all part of leaving. Friend who I don't see crying very often actually cried. Impressive. We had a few hours together before I went to customs and leave Holland. ~18:00h i gave everyone a big hug and left. The first hour was quite hard, I was sitting somewhere at the end of the airport just waiting for my plane to leave. I was quite lucky though, 25.3Kg in my bag instead of the allowed 20Kg, just because I had some presents for Nicky to bring with me. (Candy "drop" and a big book) Plane left as expected, a little bit more than one hour later I was in Germany. Next plane to Singapore, had dinner at around night, had a fairly good sleep in the plane (needed that, it was a long day) and landed on Singapore's Shangi Airport around 18:00h Singapore Time. The first (and obvious thing) was that it was HOT out there. Almost 100% humidity and around 25 degrees celcius. Minivan to my hotel at the end of the city and straight to my room. Went to bed as early as possible (~21:00) because the next day a city trip was planned. Because of some aftershocks (I think) I woke up 2 times in the morning, quite scared because my sheets moved. Kicked around, shouted and fell asleep again. 7:30 my phone rang, it was my tourguide to tell me she would pick me up at 8:30 at the hotel entrance. 9:30 the actual tour around the city begun. That was absolutely cool. Singapore is a strange city/country. It only has skyscrapers, even factory's are in those buildings and Singapore is GREEN. They spent around 16 million SGD dollar a year to keep it all in good shape. You really won't recognize the factory's, they're in exactly the same buildings as offices are. In there (we went to a gems & metal factory) you'll find the workers. Upstairs there was the showroom. It's really easy to spend 1 million SGD there, just buy a couple of "paintings" and maquettes, 50.000SGD each. Incredible. Also visited a Hindu Temple, right in the middle of Chinatown. After that we went uphill to a great viewing point on the second highest hill in Singapore (~150m above sea level) and from there you had a great view at the city's harbour (one of the biggest of the world), downtown Singapore and Sentosa Island. (The main attraction in Singapore for both locals and Singaporians with several beaches, an underwater world and everything you can imagine.) I used the public transportation the second day to get me around. No organized trip was planned but I didn't want to wait 8 hours just for my plane to leave so I went to Sentosa Island. Public transportation is GOOD over there. No timetables, just busses ariving and departing every 15min max and an extremely clean, fast and reliable underground system. From the hotel to Sentosa took me around 45 minutes. Not a very long time if you imagine that Singapore is quite huge, it has ~1.5 million inhabitants, and that I had to travel from the north-west end to the south-east end. Sentosa was strange but ok. Used the cable car to go up the same hill I went the day before with a great view again. It soars somewhere around 60 meters above sea level and the trip takes 15 minutes. Well, back at the hotel again and waiting for my minivan to take me to the airport. Had a good chat with the driver, it was the same as on the first day. It's absolutely forbidden to smoke in a vehicle but on the first day we did. It was sunday, no cops around and as simply dissapears in the wind was his excuse... Check-in at the airport went smoothly, again no complains about my 5.3Kg overweight, just a somewhat smiling officer. (They only smile over there, they're asians remember...)
Airplane took off, 7 hours later I suddenly was in Sydney at 6:10 local time. I got a little bit nervous then, to see Nicky again and to pass customs and the Immigration Office (for my Working Holiday Visum) but it all went extremely smoothly. No strange checks, no hassle, no nothing, just showing my candy (no problems there) and getting out of the arrivals to meet Nicky and her aunt Anita. Strange moment, a hug, a kiss, a few dutch words an off to Anita's house in Enmore. (a suburb of Sydney) From there English was the only language for us, even when just talking to eachothere. Even my diary changed to english now because I'm already so used to it that Dutch simply sounds strange. Didn't do much that day, had a walk, developed a film, had lunch in the local park, arranged my Bali and New-Zealand tickets (in fact Nicky did, I was way to tired to think and act properly) and went back because the next day WOULD be a very busy day. And it was. Hmmm, Nicky just reminds me that I forget one big thing. We actually went out that first night. Some of her friends where leaving Sydney and we might not see them agains. So we went to a bar downtown and had a great time. Drank some beer, had a talk, a hug and went home around night. Her friends where a bit surprised about a few things like the fact that we speak english to eachother and that even after a 7 hour trip and some jetlag I was not really tired and I joined Nicky to the bar. Nicky was surprised that I actually survived talking English in a busy bar... Ok, next day... (thursday) We arranged a lot of things this day. First we went to the Travellers Autobarn to have a look at a car and the rules. Took the rules with us, headed off to Hyde Park to have a lunch, arranged my Kiwi Experience trip at the Travellers Contact Point, got the address of the Indonesian Council, got myself a VIP discount card, and some minor things and headed back to the TAB to actually get ourselves a car. Well, at least try to. But... We succeeded. By next wednesday we'll be the lucky owners of a Ford Econovan from 1987 which is pretty young for a backpackers car. It's quite cool, has a big bullbar on it's nose, a 2-person bed and a stand-off at the back so we have a bench to sit on. I've had my few Km's of driving on the left. Quite scary but luckily I didn't hit anything and actually the driving went quite well. Which is surprising because it's quite strange to have the big part of your vehicle on the left side and suddenly driving a car about twice the size of my own 205. Well, Nicky just remembered me of the fact that officially this is my car as well. It's on my name. So now I have 2 cars, one in Holland, one in Australia. One quite new car from 1998 (my 205) and this huge thing. It's really cool to drive a minivan, we'll have plenty space to store all we need for the big trip and to live in it the next 5 months. We'll hit the road next thursday for a 2-day trip to the Blue Mountains to get used to camping, the car, the traffic and everything. After that we'll stay just one night here and then hit the road for the big trip.
Then yesterday (Friday), we went to the local zoo. Off course by public transportation which remembered me of the Singapore System. No timetables, just busses and trains every 15 min max. Took a boat the zoo entrance, had a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and had a walk through the zoo which was quite good. Went back, had a walk through the Botanical Gardens (with the famous flying foxes, maybe thousands of them) and headed off home again. Again another good night sleep and well, here I am... Sitting next to Nicky, enjoying the fact that I'm here and at the very start of the biggest and most exiting trip of my life. Really looking forward to the Blue Mountains and the rest of the trip. We'll keep you updated off course. To all the people up there, I really do miss you all and don't forget that I'm having a great time already.
Bye!
Murf
I drove up to Byron Bay with Mel and James. After a lunch in Byron. I and Jessica went to the beach. And Mel and James went over to some friens. (they ended up meeting up with a lot of friends and staying over somewhere. They came home in Sawtell the next day) The beach was to cold, but i did got in for a swim. After freezing to death and drying up a bit. Jessica was captured by a man that was making a sand sculpture. We looked at that for a long time. Micheal, Pat, Guy and the friends they went up for. (to Byron Bay) Pat and Guy wanted to be home before dark. So they went away early. I stayed with Jessica, Micheal and his friends. We ate at a restaurant which was very good. After a long goodbye. Micheal, Jessica and I went back home. It was already dark. We ended up on the wrong side of the road and went up to Brisbane.... We realised in time and turned around. Back to Sawtell. Still it took us more than 3 hours. We were home at half past 12. The next morning Jessica woke me up to see if I wanted to join her to the beach. To go bodyboarding. At the time we went Micheal joined us as well. Jessica let me ride her board a couple of times. Which went very well and I actually caught a couple of waves! Micheal went home a bit earlier then us and lent me his board so I could bodyboard with Jessica together. After a while we got cold and went home for a hot shower. In the evening I went with Micheal and Jessica to the carnaval. (kermis) Nearby Sawtell. I had a fun time with them. Seen lots of rides. Mel and James also dropped by for a little while. But didn't stay that long. The next day we (Mel, James and I) went home. And dropped by at Sophia for a little while. Because she stayed as a holiday in another house a little bit upcoast from Sydney. After that we went home and James and Mel went to a party of a friend of Mels'. The next morning I had my shower, breakfast etc. And went out for a long walk. Had already the feeling that something was hanging in the air at home. But when I came home I wasn't prepared for the letter there that asked me to leave. and that they would celebrate New Years Eve on their own. I called Anita to see if she wanted to take me in the house for the 2 weeks that are left for me here. (in Sydney) Wasn't a problem and I took all my stuff over to her. Annelies (my other aunt) was at Anita's as well. I called Michael because he had offered me a New Years Eve celebration as well. He wanted to see Anita and Annelies anyway. And was so kind to pick me up as well. So I still could see the fireworks. Also thanx to John a freind of Michael for the lovely evening. Michael and Jessica brought me back to Newtown and stayed there for the nicht as well. They left on New Years Day to go back home. (Adelaide) And I was completely out of business (exept for laundry) the rest of the day. Today I kicked myself. And I am repacking my back/day packs the right way. (in my hurry I messed that a bit up) Fixing some clothes. And went with Hans and Anita to buy some rugs for Hans' appartement at a sale. Did also did some groceriess with Anita. Wrote this updateand will soon return to my back/day packs.