New Pics from Maik & Doreen

            in Australia

Travelling on the East coast was so much fun!

Visit Kodak gallery to see our new pictures:

Good bye Melbourne:

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     Federation Square, Melbourne

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3rd March, 2006

The Way to Tasmania and Back (25-27th March)

Stunning view out of the plane - on the way to Tasmania

Port Arthur "Historic Convict Settlement" from 1830s to 1870s (left) and hike to Wineglas Bay Lookout (right)

Oyster Farm in Tasmania - I ate fresh oysters the first time in my life and I think: "It's not too bad"!

                               Lunch with a mate, Wineglass Bay (left, right)

On the way to the Wineglas Bay Lookout we met a Wallaby, which was hopping around near the Lookout point... we made friends and were able to get close to the Wallaby!!! Hey guys in Germany! Don't worry, of course I will bring it back to Germany...

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21st February 2006

Great Ocean Road

The most scienic route in Australia - The Great Ocean Road

Devi, Travis, Andrew, Maik & Me @ the beach in Loch Ard Gorge (left) and the 12 Apostels (right)

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9th February 2006

Our Trip to Wilsons Promontory National Park - Sth. of Melbourne

Our hired car (left) and Maik & Me on the "Whiskey Beach", Wilsons Prom (right)

We climbed up to Mt. Oberon, which is in Wilsons Prom as well.

On the top we've had a wonderful view.

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24th January 2006

Hang Out in St. Kilda After Work

Sunset in St. Kilda (Melbourne)

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13th January 2006

Our First Experience in New Zealand

Our trip to New Zealand started on December 18th, 2005 at the airport in Melbourne. As we got off the plane in Auckland after 4 hours, we were looking forward to do sightseeing and some shopping. But unfortunately they wanted us to open our backpack. They picked up two “Australian Fuji apples”, which we have got from Aldi. Because it is prohibited to bring fruits to NZ from somewhere else, we had to pay $200!!! We were so pissed… there was no way to get out of this – we tried though. That was the first time when our credit card has been used in NZ.

I could not believe that it happened to us. We should have eaten both apples very quick… *smile*

However we did some touristy things in Auckland, like the pier and sky tower. It was a wonderful view from the skyscraper especially during the sunset. After a spicy and cheap Chinese food we went back to the "XBase Backpacker" hostel to get some sleep.

3000 km Road Trip – Our Car, Our Home

We rented a silver Nissan Pulsar from the “New Zealand Car Rentals”. Very comfortable when you consider that we spend 7 nights in this car!

So we started our Road Trip in Auckland to go up north.

Swim with the Dolphins

In Paihia we went swimming with the dolphins, which was really exciting. So we jumped into the water (17-18°C-very cold!!!) equipped with snorkel and goggles and tried to swim next to the dolphins! The funny thing was that there was a boat trip right before we went into the Bay of Island and they could not see any dolphins. I guess we were really happy to see & swim with the dolphins on our boat. And lucky “Froehlich” was next to me…

Cape Reinga

A good but little creepy place was the Cape Reinga (north point of NZ) where the Pacific and Tasman ocean become one. The sign says: “Welcome to Cape Reinga – Gateway to the spirit world, please do not consume food and drinks beyond this point“. We arrived there midnight and it was really, I mean really dark. The only thing we could see were the stars, which were amazing. I haven’t seen this before! Creepy and romantic at the same time…

In the next morning we’ve got up at 6 am to walk to the north point to take some pictures. In California they said taking tons of pictures must be a German thing…

More South, in Kawakawa we did a quad adventure. It takes about three hours or so and you can drive with the quad into the forest and through small rivers… That was fun!

NZ also has gorgeous beaches (black & white beaches) – you can stop at so many points to take pictures and have some picnic…

Black Water Rafting in the Waitomo Caves

Another thing we did was abseiling, rock climbing into the caves and black water rafting and we also could see the glow-worms in the caves. We’ve got some wet suits to keep us warm in the f* freezing cold water.

Christmas with the Whitlow’s

For Christmas (24th Dec) we decided to go skydiving near the Lake Taupo – the best thing ever!!! The 12,000 feet jump costs just $145! I was really excited before we’ve got there. But then the time went by so quickly that we couldn’t think about it anymore. We’ve got some suits, goggles, gloves and they set us up for the Tandem sky dive. The guy, called Jared, I did the Tandem with, comes from California and the guy who jumped with Maik was German. He was freaking crazy, man. When everybody was ready to go, we hopped into the plane - all the guy’s were squeezed in there. Maik was the first and I was second! When I hang over my feet out of the plane I was thinking: “Am I really doing this right now?” One, two, three and JUMP! The free fall took 45 minutes, ups, I mean 45 seconds and you accelerate more than 200 km/h! That was pure adrenaline. The weather was perfect and the view over the lake and the iced covers mountains, which are well known from the movie “Lord of the Rings”, was amazing as well.

Then we called home to tell our families. It was kinda sad not celebrating Christmas back home but we’ve had a blast in NZ and it was just different from former traditional Christmas in Germany. Maik & I celebrated Christmas Eve with some white wine and “Starburst Wine Gums” and did overnight in the car. I told you, our car is our home…

In the next morning we had a nice breakfast on the beach. We’ve got used to have some random toast with tomato/pepper-dip. But for this time we’ve had something special because it was Christmas time. We bought some Kiwi flavoured honey from the gift shop and it is supposed to be something traditional in NZ. I should have got one for Germany as a souvenir… Damn. Then we drove to Napier (east coast) and visited Ana, who I first met in Melbourne. So we celebrated Christmas with her family and had a nice Christmas dinner in the garden under the huge Avocado tree.

Both of us were surprised that Jane (Ana’s cousin) gave us the keys for her house in Wellington. She gave us her address and offered us to stay at her place for a couple of days over New Years. Awesome!

Wellington – our last stop

Back in Wellington (south of the north Island) we just relaxed and did some touristy things like visited museum and ate ice cream…A soft cone costs only $0.50. I am not sure about this but I think we had a soft cone almost every day. I wouldn’t say we are addicted to that ice cream… it is just cheap and we want to defend our credit card.

Wellington is a pretty big city so we thought we would see huge fireworks. Unfortunately we did not. Moreover, people were not allowed to drink alcohol on the streets. Little disappointing to us because nobody went nuts… Anyway,

Happy New Year!

Our Last Experience in New Zealand

On January 1st 2006 (after 15 days) we went to the airport to catch our plane. They demand $25 per person to pay right away as a NZ airport tax. I couldn’t believe that we needed to get cash again… Usually you pay the tickets inclusive all the taxes. I think it’s a rip off.

But all in all it was a gorgeous vacation with so much adventurous stuff, pure nature, beautiful beaches and romanticism.

To view all the pictures from New Zealand:

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24th November 2005

Australia – Down Under

Long trip to Melbourne… 12 h to Hong Kong and after a day in Hong Kong we got onto another plane… another 12 h flight…

Now we are doing well in Melbourne. We rented a neat place in South of Melbourne so it takes us about 50 mins to get to the city centre of Melbourne by train. It would be too stressful to drive with the car. Even when we go out, there is a Nightrider bus, which goes all night only for $6/person!!! We enjoy the summer time because the beach is right behind the house and it is also nice to go for a run.

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OUR PICTURES 2005!!!!!

To see the pics from Hong Kong, Melbourne and our Accommodation, click on the link below:

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More pictures from Clubbing in Melbourne, Art Centre, Wildlife Australia, Federation Square, University of Melbourne:

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