Sydney

Apr 27, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey

Can you imagine that the only copy of the following pictures had been deleted? A mistake of mine led to this perfect scare.
The great day in Sydney, especially great on the pictures side, would be left only in my memories!
But thank god I knew a way to get pictures back even beyond the recycle bin on the computer…
So, this post is just as usual and seemingly for granted features pictures:

We got to spend a day of our journey in Sydney.
The biggest city in Australia was foreign to us both, so we parted and spend our day each the own way…

In the end I was more than satisfied, as my expectations got far more than exceeded!!

 

 

Surely the most popular sight of the city: The Opera House!

My goal: A nice cup of coffee, capturing the city for my readers, eat something nice and maybe even experiencing some culture inside the Opera House itself.

Sydney is the biggest city I have ever visited. That is why the skyscrapers made a huge impression on me. Also, some historic sites are well preserved.

 

 

The Strand Arcade is far older than 100 years and today prospers just as the founder must have dreamed of.

 

 

Bar Bellaccino. You just have to crave some cappuccino there, aye? 🙂

Hard to say whether the building look more impressive from the side or from the front…

Inside this 200 years old botanic garden I found HER!! 😀
But unfortunately, she didn’t want to talk to me. 🙁 (Maybe it was the Kiwi accent??)

The day was clouded by the prospect of rain and its foreshadowing clouds, because of which I didn’t plan on having much activity outside.
Nevertheless, I got a surprisingly fabulous sunset which I got to capture next to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

My thirst for culture was to be quenched by a visit at the seasonal Opera on the Harbour. This year, ‘Turandot’ would be featured. A Chinese tale about a horrifying princess, a stubborn prince, true love and heroism.
For a first-ever opera visit, it is no bad thing to look out onto the Sydney Opera House over the water, is it? For the stage is situated on the opposite side of the harbour.
And to have the first opera of your life backed with fireworks, feeling lucky about the bargain at the remaining tickets sale and having no rain at all, against the forecast; all that made the experience whole! On the premises they served Asian food in style, so I could satisfy my culinary needs at the same time.
What else can I say?

On the way back I got to a place I had looked for a long time now: A place above the highway at night. The conditions might have been less than ideal, but look at my Headlight-Stripes-Arrangement anyway:

 

 

For a single day I have experienced very very much of Sydney!

Bairnsdale

Apr 21, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey

There is no better headline for the last few days.

On the way to Sydney, where we have arrived and want to see the city tomorrow, we had to have our car repaired.
In the middle of nowhere we noticed some fluid leakage. This nowhere was Bairnsdale, an idyllic city 3 hours west of Melbourne.
As we noticed the things with the car on the Saturday night, we decided not to continue out of caution.
On Sunday, no workshop was operating, so we had a whole day to kill in that little town. Thus, you see one or the other cafe and shop from the inside, where you would have just zoomed by…

The special church in town with remarkable paintings.

 

 

On Monday, at the workshop we got promised the fix on the same day, but it would take some time. We could have a look around the city for the day, using a rental. And so we did; again. Some more places we visited and in the end we pretty much knew our way around Bairnsdale…

At half price (we noticed the coupon on the back of a receipt) an iced coffee is always welcome.

You couldn’t wish for a better looking rental! 😀

Up to Sydney, our way led us by some more attractions:

So you are driving around a neighbourhood just like that one night and there are kangaroos in the front yards!

The Kiama Blowhole. An awesome phenomenon! 🙂

That way, a plan gets mixed up a little and you just go with the flow, instead of surfing the big waves only. Pretty relaxing, I must admit…

My travel plans for the 10-Day-Southeast-Asia-Crash-Course get more important now. One adventure chases the other, you don’t get much time to catch your breath. But for that, time is just too precious, isn’t it? Mind agrees, body disagrees…

Great Ocean Road and Return

Apr 17, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey

In our car, we rode out of Melbourne then.
Direction Great Ocean Road.

This part of the coastal line offers many stations and didn’t leave us disappointed! On the contrary!
See here some impressions of the far and wide country:

 

 

Cockatoos on the side of the road like pigeons. The sacrifice of a bread roll in exchange for pictures and the experience was totally worth it! 😀

 

 

Exotic birds everywhere!

And sleeping Koalas.

This one had expunged all of his current radius and seemingly would rather take another nap than move on. Likeable beasts. 😀

Who started this one day??

Late that night we arrived at the 12 apostles, a remarkable chain of free-standing rock pillars, of which not all 12 exist anymore.
Punctually at sunset we joined hundreds of tourists to take our pictures…

 

 

Back in Melbourne, we followed the advice of our fellow travelers and ordered a ‘Freakshake’.
It’s something else… 🙂

 

 

The War Memorial. A place of remembrance.

The second highest building in Australia, the Eureka Tower. Almost 300 metres tall.

And this is what Melbourne looks like from above. The Eureka Tower has a visitor floor, which is worth it!!

 

 

 

 

Now we are on our way to Sydney. One of the many stations on my journey home…

The Dessert

Apr 12, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey

Up high.
Down low.

Scattered clouds. Window seat. Wing. Daybreak. Picton! Next to it Blenheim. The gate to the South Island. My heart is filled with content, seeing the country I have traveled for the last time at dawn of a new day.

 

 

 

 

The plane swiftly carries us over the sea towards Melbourne. We land there. And we are in Australia.

Suddenly, New Zealand is far away. And we find ourselves in a city that holds almost as many people as New Zealand as a whole.
Gigantic skyscrapers make our heads tilt. We realise very quickly: Australia is somewhat larger of an undertaking.

 

 

 

 

The first days I struggle through a clogged ear from the flight. It was to take a few days, until the water had vanished and I could hear the same on both ears.

Another hurdle we took and now we are owners of a massive backpacker’s station wagon. This car is to bring us up to Brisbane and to be Elvis’ loyal companion from there. Or to be replaced with an off-road truck. All up in the air. 🙂

The first stop with the new vehicle we took at the St. Kilda Beach. Fittingly, we arrived at sunset…

 

 

 

 

Thus, the adventure Australia awaits! I will let you know of all impressions.

Next to that, anticipation and longing for home rise every day. Soon I will wake up in my own bed again and only think back on how many beds I woke up in…
And I will cherish these memories.

 

At this point, saw news: Poppy (from popcorn), one of the chickens at the flat in Hastings, died. To her I said the last goodbye back then…

R.I.P. Poppy

Beloved Wellington

Apr 7, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey, Thoughts

‘It has been a great summer, the best summer of them all!’

For real. Back then in December, when the summer began I came to Wellington and now this summer slowly gives in to the harvest. Somewhere in there was some kind of winter and 16 months have passed by now.

Today, when the last sun set over Wellington, I finally have passed on my car to a local student. I have bid farewell to the last people I know here, as long as they were at home, and now my time here in New Zealand has come to an end.

In my last days I have made full use of Wellington where I could and got closure to my heart’s content. Where it all began, it should have an end.
Thus, the last entry from New Zealand on my blog shall be about my beloved city Wellington. See a collage of the loveliest places here:

With a number of friends and even with my parents I sat here at the production site of the ‘Six Barrel Soda’ and drank wondrous sodas.

The grand museum ‘Te Papa’ in which you can see new things all the way! It’s free of charge and a great meeting point! 😉

On my way to the hostel. As it used to be and as it is today.

The way up Mount Victoria coming from the Oriental Parade. Yes, I love to walk about at night.

A unique cafe hides in a street corner and shines with its cool concept and siphon coffee. You should google Lamason, I suggest. 😉

In this place, you find 4 amazing cocktail bars, which each impress with their individual ambiance and character. I always was together with lovely people and we had a sweet time!

Chews Lane is a good place to spoon some takeaway or ice-cream sitting on the benches…

Oh, how many people I have ‘forced’ to THIS iced coffee! 😀 But everyone likes it, how else? It gets served at the Enigma Cafe and we got an extra portion marshmallows and cream for the last time. 

The ultimate cinema from the visitor’s perspective. At The Embassy we saw the Kiwi movie ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’. A worthy conclusion at my all-time favourite movie theatre!

And this is what it usually looks like stepping outside after the movie…

The Majestic Centre, the great anchor point for lost backpackers.

I loved to eat at Chef’s Palette many times, as pricing and concept make for a superb meal!

Cuba Street, one of the veins of Wellington.

And that’s the end of my trusty (and maltreated) car. A large burden is gone now!

This is the place where on the very first day I met my first friends in New Zealand. On this last evening I passed by it one more time…
At that moment, something had come full circle.

You have all been part of my great journey through New Zealand. With you I have shared my 16 months here and you were there. I want to thank you for that!

 

 

‘Many places I have been
Many sorrows I have seen
But I don’t regret
Nor will I forget
All who took that road with me’

The End Of All Things

Apr 5, 2016 | Photos, The Great Journey, Thoughts

After the great event in Wellington, about which I will tell further down, we went to Napier one last time. But this city you already know about sufficiently. 😉

State Highway 2 north of Hutt Valley.

Our last route was from Napier to Mahia. You will surely remember the road trip I went on there about half a year ago.
This place I revisited with Elvis one more time and we watched the sun rise:

The last corner of New Zealand I hadn’t seen yet, the East Cape, we went along after that:

We didn’t have much time for the last ride down to Wellington. Therefore, we took only small station at the most important places:

Rain clouds gathered in Rotorua.

The Juka Falls from above. Here in Taupo for the last time we met up with Tina and her friend and shared a campsite. That also was the last night camping in New Zealand…

A rainbow in the Tongariro.

Of unique experiences you can tell quite often on a journey like mine, but some of them are more unique than others.
That applies to the movie marathon we took part in.
That one was about the ‘Lord of the Rings’- and the ‘Hobbit’ movies, which were being filmed in New Zealand in every aspect and all.
So, the place we spent 24 hours in was located at the heart of all the studios and production sites, as well as the residencies of the workers. Even the cinema is owned by the moviemakers. Thus, it was being decorated magnificently by a employee of WETA Workshop.
The probably greatest works of the New Zealand movie industry you couldn’t possibly experience in a more special way!

 

 

Some people were quite serious about their costumes. 😀

That was the agenda. During the breaks we got rid of the coffee, got new coffee, got more sweets and got some fresh air. 🙂

Courtenay Place.

 

 

And now we are back in Wellington. The place where it all began.
Did you keep count of how many months on my blog have been filled with New Zealand tales? It is 16. An entire 16 months are going towards its end now.

The last burden is my car. But on that there is going to be a way, too. No matter the price in the end. The most important is that I enjoy the last days in Wellington.

And that is not that easily done to begin with. But the more I walk the well-known streets of Wellington and ponder about the times, I close in to the conclusion: It is plenty. Wellington is going to go on without me.

I want to go home. To a normal life with my family and my home.
Life as a traveler is an exciting, diverse and never-ending composition of goodbyes, new circumstances and the overall realisation that you are here IN ORDER TO experience something.
The people walking the city in the golden autumn afternoon sun all have a home to go back to. Every day, for a long time. They have people they know and see. Every day, for a long time. They have a place they live in and that they discover laid-back. Every day, for a long time.
And one day, the same I will have too. When I am home.

I like to compare New Zealand with a buffet. I walked up and down it and filled many plates. Now I scrape together the last bits of my last plate and enjoy the last flavour.
The dessert awaits in form of 3 weeks Australia with Elvis and after that the cordial (more like a cocktail, actually) is in sight over in Southeast Asia.

It doesn’t end. It continues!

May It Be. Long Ways To Go Yet. Into The West.