Abel Tasman

After about a week, it was time for us to start exploring the country and so off we went, from Christchurch to the North of the South Island: Takaka (great name, isn't it?!) and the Abel Tasman National Park. On our way there, we gained a first impression of what this country is like and what can I tell you? We were ravished! It is fabulous to have the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, inbetween you have rolling green hills, little towns and farms, and... lots and lots and lots of sheep! Perfect! Sometimes you get the impression of travelling in a storybook!

Once arrived in the famous national park, we thought we might as well explore the whole thing and so we decided to do a four-day hike following the coast from the North to the South. As we had done massive sport by driving around Australia in a car during the last three months, we were convinced that we were in good shape to tackle the 55km and we set off with our big backpacks (which seems surprisingly heavy with the tent, sleepingbags, and the food for four days!!!) in a very happy and positive mood.

The first day, all went rather well, we tackled the numerous ups and downs of the track, met only a handful of people, enjoyed fantastic views, and we were only a little disappointed when it started raining at the end of the day. But hey, we are in New Zealand here, we can be lucky that it did not rain all day long! So, rather motivated we started our second and toughest day. 18km, two tidal river-crossing! The second part was the biggest problem because it meant that we couldn't walk at our leisure but had to press hard to make it to the two rivers during the three hours around low tide (otherwise the crossings are too dangerous because currents get too strong and the water too high). During this day, we were lucky with the weather, we made it through the rivers safely (as you might have guessed by me writing here...) but, seriously, you should have seen us arriving at the campsite at night! You would have died laughing, I am sure.

First, David almost killed me because of my choise of campground. There was one directly along the track but of course, when booking over the Internet, I did not pay much attention to details so unimportant, and I had chosen a campground mainly because of its beautiful name: Te Pukatea Bay. It's nice, isn't it? (Beautiful female logic, I know!) Well, David didn't quite think so because, already dead as we were, it meant continuing to hike another kilometer instead of dropping down where we were. Once we got to the campgroud, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the bay and our little private beach. Of course, David forgave me for choosing this one and we set about to put up our tent.

Second, after having cooked our delicious meal of .... pasta and tomato sauce, we tried to move but somehow our muscles had decided to go on strike. It was so funny to see us moving around like grandpa and grandma, I started laughing and just couldn't stop anymore. Later on that evening a group of four Czechs arrived, all with tiny backpacks and terribly equipped. It turned out that they had hiked the same distance as we had done, only that they told us about a nice daywalk, not strenuous at all! We are still not sure if we were talking about the same hike, the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk. Moreover, they told us that they were doing the whole hike within 2 days. (Do I have to mention that it took us four days?!?!) Consequently, the acquaintance with the Czechs turned out to be very nice but rather disastrous for our ego. ;)

Well, nontheless, we continued our hike and enjoyed the last two days enormously. The landscape was breathtaking till the end, we had less kilometers to do, actually could take the time to go swimming in the ocean, and our physical condition improved over time so that we did not fear the encounter of other hikers (particularly Czechs) anymore. After four days, it felt quite strange to enter into civilization once more and we were very, very happy not to have given up at the beginning of the hike. It was awesome just to be out there in nature, to encounter only half a dozen of people a day, and to be compleltely self-sufficient. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some of the other famous New Zealand overnight hikes in the Southern Alps. For now, we'll enjoy some more time with our new friends from Christchurch. But that is a different story.

Abel Tasman

Après notre départ de Christchurch, nous avons traversé les "alpes du sud" (si si, elle s'appellent comme ça, je vous assure !), et nous avons remonté l'île du sud jusqu'à Takaka (rigolez pas non plus, c'est pas une blague !). Takaka nous a ensuite servi de base arrière où laisser Casper le temps de se farcir une rando de 4 jours dans le parc national Abel Tasman. Le parc avait l'air bien sympa, et on avait du temps à tuer, du coup on s'est laissé tenter par la rando côtière... Et on ne l'a pas regretté ! ........... ou presque...

La rando côtière, c'est en gros 55km de montées et descentes dans les montagnes le long de la côte, souvent dans la forêt tropicale, parfois directement sur la plage, le tout sur 4 jours. (enfin en théorie c'est "entre 3 et 5 jours", donc nous comme on n'est pas des mickeys mais qu'on veut pas se la jouer superman non plus, on a coupé le kiwi en deux...). On en a chié comme pas possible.... (désolé pour les oreilles prudes que mon langage aura choquées, mais dit autrement, ça refletterait beaucoup moins la réalité...)

Donc premier jour : "mise en jambes"... un peu plus de 13km, 2 grosses montées + les descentes correspondantes, et un temps pas terrible. Le paysage était très joli (Angi était très enthousiaste, moi j'avoue que j'étais un peu plus blasé), mais on n'en a pas profité évormément à cause des gros nuages qui planaient sur l'horizon. On est arrivés au camping par un vent glacial et une petite pluie fine qui nous a pressés à monter la tente... On a quand même réussi à se trouver un abri pour manger, et à 19h on étaient au pieu sous la tente, bien au chaud dans les sacs de couchage. Moi j'étais un peu patraque, et on avait tous les deux les jambes en compote. Pas certain qu'on aille plus loin que ça :-(

Deuxième jour : finalement on a bien dormi, nos jambes se sont un peu remises pendant la nuit et notre fierté nous pousse à nous faire un peu violence pour continuer. (si on s'écoutait, on finirait en locques humaines :-p) Seul pb : ce deuxième jour est le plus dur, et c'est un euphémisme... 20 km jusqu'au campement (en fait, seulement 18 jusqu'au campement principal, mais Angi nous a choisi un campement secondaire "pour qu'on soit plus tranquilles" -_- >> 2 bornes de plus...) des montées et descentes, comme d'hab, histoire de bien nous casser les jambes, mais surtout, 2 passages d'estuaires à marée basse (cf photo dans le post d'Angi) qui d'une part nous forcent à partir tôt (bin oui, on choisit pas les horaires des marées), et d'autre part nous tuent les pieds un truc de fou : l'eau est gelée (je dirais dans les 5 ou 6 degrés, pas plus) et le sol est truffé de coquillages bien acérés qui mettent bien à l'épreuve nos pauvres pieds déjà mis à mal par la journée de marche. Ajoutez à ça le poid du sac à dos (dans les 18Kg) qui nous fait perdre l'équilibre dans le courant et résultat : le soir on ne peut plus marcher, on est morts, mais on a réussi, et le plus dur est fait !!


Les deux autres jours sont presque une formalité. Ils sont beaucoup plus faciles que les deux premiers, sauf que vu qu'à la base on a déjà plus de jambes le matin en partant, ça donne des journées assez "fun"... Par contre, grand beau temps pour toute la rando dès le deuxième jour, et pour tout le reste du parcour. Du coup j'ai mitraillé de photos, vu que le paysage est mmagnifique, pis ça nous a donné une bonne excuse pour faire des pauses fréquentes... J'vous mets ci-contre une photo d'un des emplacements où on a planté la tente (3ème et dernière nuit en l'occurence), juste histoire de vous donner une idée du panormama le soir au coucher du soleil, ou le matin en sortant de la tente... hé hé hé... ça vallait le coup de se faire un peu mal !! on en tire les leçons pour plus tard : ne pas se décourager, le jeu en vaut probablement la chandelle !

ayé, l'histoire est finie, la prochaine suivra bientôt..........

Christchurch

Bon ayé, c'est parti !! on est en Nouvelle-Zélande, et après l'avant-goût que n'aura pas manqué de vous donner le post précédent, voici le vif du sujet :

Tout d'abord, l'arrivée : après l'épisode de l'aéroport, nous avins eu droit a un accueil des plus chaleureux par deux nouveaux amis kiwis : Diane et Brian, qui nous ont fait le plaisir de venir nous récupérer à l'aéroport et de nous loger un peu mions d'une semaine dans leur superbe maison à Christchurch. On n'aurait pas pu rêver mieux ! Les deux sont absolument géniaux, sympas comme tout, près à nous aider pour tout ce qu'on a à préparer pour passer un bon séjour en NZ, et comble du comble : adepte de la bonne cuisine :). Ajoutez à ça un cadre assez luxueux (grande maison, piscine, jardin superbe etc...) et vous avez une idée de notre première impression de la nouvelle-zélande : "ça part fort !!!"

Ensuite, le planning de nos premiers jours au pays des kiwis : pour commencer, recherche d'une voiture. Ca nous aura pris la majeure partie de notre temps, et ça nous aura fait visiter un peu la ville adorable qu'est Christchurch. L'aide de Brian et de Diane aidant (ils nous ont emmenés sur tous les marchés aux voitures de la ville, nous ont donné un journal de petites annonces et nous ont très bien conseillés), nous sommes maintenant les heureux propriétaires de Casper (les francais peuvent prononcer Gaspard). Une Mitsubishi Mirage 3 portes toute petite, mais bien sympa, qui pour l'instant nous promène tout bien partout, sans boire trop de sans plomb : que du bonheur !!!

Pour finir, on a visité la ville et on a adoré. Christchurch est une ville assez grande (la plus grande de l'île du sud), mais beaucoup plus paisible que ce à quoi on aurait pu s'attendre. Il fait bon s'y promener, et les espaces verts sont nombreux et vraiment bien faits. Par ailleurs, d'après ce qu'on a vu au point info tourisme de la ville, il semble que les autorités locales soient en train de redessiner le centre ville pour le rendre plus convivial, et complètement piéton. Ca permettra notamment de donner au super tramway une place plus importante dans le centre ville, et je serais vraiment curieux de voir le résultat final... parce que le centre ville est déjà vraiment plaisant, et j'imagine qu'avec les futures améliorations, il va devenir carrément superbe. On a aussi visité le centre d'art, qui nous a beaucoup plus, de même que le jardin botanique (bon ça... c'était un jardin botanique quoi... y en a dans toutes les grandes villes, et celui-ci n'avait rien de bien spécial...). Ensuite, on est parti pour de nouvelles aventures, après avoir tout de même dit au revoir et à bientôt à nos 2 nouveaux amis ()vous allez comprendre pourquoi le "à bientôt" dans un prochain post ;-) )

Christchurch

Our first days in New Zealand


Hello to everybody from the Westcoast of New Zealand! It's been a while since we last wrote on the blog but we have been rather busy getting all settled here. So, before I continue to tell you some of our new travel stories, I have to introduce our new friend to you: Casper. He is a very sweet but rather old fellow and we hope that he will be as faithful to us as Josephine. Yes, you have guessed right, we have bought a new car, this time a small white Mitsubishi who has been getting us through those mountains here very, very nicely and whom we already like quite as much as Josephine.

While we were busy looking for a car and getting a first impression of the beautiful, small Christchurch with its fabulous parks and old buildings, we enjoyed the hospitality of Diane and Brian, two very nice Kiwis who were so kind as to let us stay at their place and to offer us the opportunity to get to know a large part of their wonderful and fun family. We could not have found better hosts and had a better start in this country, so: Thank you very, very much! At this point, it would be unforgivable not to mention David's new little friend and passion, the Pankhurst's cat Casper (yes, now you know where we took our cars name from) with whom he spent hours and hours playing. So for all of you who would not believe me telling you that David has made friends with a cat, here comes the proof:

!!! New Zealand !!!

Hello hello hello!!! Here we are in Kiwi-land! We arrived here safely (except for our tent which was confiscated at the airport and had to be sterilized!!!) yesterday and by now we have already fallen in love with the country and David has decided that we won't leave again. So much for our travel plans! :)

No, seriously, we have had the most wonderful welcome here and are living with a really, really nice couple who has already introduced us to New Zealand barbecue and four generations of Kiwis (the people here). The landscape with snow-caped mountains on the one side and the ocean on the other side is just breathtaking, as are the temperatures. So we have decided to drop the idea of biking through the country and will start looking for a car tomorrow!

In any case, I just wanted to let you know that we arrived here safely and I also wanted to remind you not to use the Australian address anymore because we won't receive any more letters from there. (Bjoern, deinen Brief habe ich leider nicht mehr bekommen; Silv, dein Brief ist an unserem letzten Tag in Sydney noch angekommen und ich habe mich wie ein Keks gefreut - Antwort bekommst du natuerlich bald). For all of you who used the Australian address so constantly, thank you soooo much. It was always wonderful to get some letters and news!! A little bit like Christmas when you were young. :) [edit by David : .................................... I've nothing more to say -_- ]

So, here we go for now! It's time to explore Christchurch! Take care everybody!

PS. I have already seen some sheep and Sansibar and Janis are loving it here :):):)
[edit by David : .................................... I've nothing more to say here either -_-]

!!! New Zealand !!!

Salut tout le monde !

Bon je sais, ca fait vraiment un bail qu'on n'a pas écrit beaucoup (surtout moi), mais notre arrivée en Nouvelle Zélande, et les deux premières semaines que nous venons d'y passer ont été tout sauf ennuyantes.... Rien que l'arrivée à l'aéroport fût toute une histoire, avec fouille complète des sacs et stérilisation de la tente par irradiation (si si, je vous jure, les néo-zélandais ont peur de la contamination de leur terre... c'est dire !!). Bon finalement on a bien récupéré notre tente et on a pu entrer sans problème sur le territoire des kiwis (surnom des néo-zélandais).

C'est parti maintenant pour 3 mois d'une toute nouvelle aventure !

fini les déserts tous plats et les côtes paradisiaques de sable blanc et fin, fini aussi les animaux dangeureux tous les 10km, et fini l'easy-going-itude (quoique ?)...

hello les montagnes eneigées (si si, y a encore un peu de neige ici), hello les paysages verdoyants et hello les moutons !

Une chose est déjà certaine : on ne va pas s'acheter de vélo et on va définitivement préférer une voiture pour faire le tour de la nouvelle-zélande, parce que d'une part il fait beaucoup trop foid, et d'autre part vu le relief du pays, c'est mort pour pédaler partout où on voudrait en 3 mois. Donc désolé pour tous ceux qui s'attendaient à nous chanter "à bicyclèèèèèèètttttttttteeeuuuuuuu", mais c'est mort d'avance :p

Par ailleurs, pour tous ceux qui ont envie de continuer à nous envoyer du courrier, n'oubliez pas de changer notre adresse et de prendre maintenant celle correspondant à la nouvelle-zélande.

Bye bye Josephine, bye bye Sydney, bye bye Australia

This post is dedicated to Joséphine, our wonderful former Car (capital "C"), who (and I say "who" on purpose) has driven us from Darwin to Sydney, all along Australia, without complaining, and always beeing nice with us.
Joséphine had travelled 10 000 km with us at the time we sold her in a car market in Sydney, near King's Cross station. We have slep in her, we have had pic-nics in her, we have escaped from rain in her (even thought this did not happend so often), and we finally made friends with a lot of people in her. So Joséphine, may your new owners (2 dutch guys, for what it's worth) be kind with you, and take care of you. We hope you will still see a lot of roads and a lot of beautifull places. We love you and will never forget you !




Moreover, here are 2 pictures of Australia, that we like but that I could not figure where to publish :



enjoy !

Sydney

Yessssssssss !!!!!!

Guess what ? I did it !!! I finaly caught up with Angi's posts, and I'm up to date !! (the last time was about 3 months ago :-p). So that's why I'm proud to post this text on Sydney myself. I'm so sorry for those who don't read french, but I'm going to let Angi type the english version, and I'll go on in French. Just scroll down and you'll have the translation :-)

Pour ceux qui n'ont pas pigé mon texte en anglais, je fais les sous-titres : j'ai enfin rattrapé mon retard sur Angi dans le postage sur le blog, du coup... "preum's" sur Sydney :-p. je vais avoir un post à mon nom aprés 3 mois à éditer les posts d'Angi :p . Et pour commencer mon post sur Sydney donc, je vais parler du trajet pour y aller. Le trajet en lui-même était un peu comme tout trajet en Australie : chiant :-p 800km d'autoroute, c'est jamais bien intéressant, même si on n'a pas vraiment eu à se plaindre des paysages magnifiques qu'on a traversés. Là où ça devient intéressant, c'est que si on a globalement eu du très beau temps pour tout le trajet, on a quand même dû traverser une tempête assez originale en fin de parcours : un ciel de fou avec le soleil qui perce quelques nuages, des nuages justement très disparates avec des formes brossées, et des arcs en ciels magnifiques. On a bien sûr pris quelques photos (en roulant, par la fenêtre de la voiture, une vraie performance) et vous en avez une ci-contre et une autre dans le texte d'Angi. J'aime particulièrement la photo ci-contre d'une part parce qu'elle est assez exceptionelle au niveau du contenu (à défaut de l'être au niveau artistique) : le ciel très bleu d'un côté et la tempête de l'autre (c'est domage que je n'ai pas un panoramique parce que c'était encore plus flagrant en nature); et d'autre part parce qu'elle me rappelle un montage que j'avais fait sous photoshop et dont les copains de forum-toshop.com se rappelleront peut-être : >> image

Cet apparté étant fait, plongeons nous au coeur de ce qui nous intéresse : Sydney. Nous y sommes arrivés Lundi 25 Septembre et le moins que l'on puisse dire est qu'on ne s'y est pas ennuyés ! Première chose à faire, vendre Joséphine ! on imprime et on photocopie des annonces à tour de bras, et on part silloner les rues de Sydney pour les placarder dans les auberges de jeunesse. 10km, 1 journée et 30 annonces plus tard, on est morts mais on peut se reposer chez Irina, notre hôte depuis notre arrivée. Irina nous a accueilli merveilleusement, et ses conseils de visite dans la ville nous ont été des plus utiles. D'autre part, la maison dans laquelle elle nous a accueilli avec ses 2,5 collocs (une moitié pour un coréen qui est parti avant nous :-p) est géniale et très bien placée : on peut garer Joséphine en attendant de la vendre et aller dans la ville en R.E.R. ce qui s'avère très économique quand on sait qu'une heure de parking dans sydney coûte pendant la journée dans les 15 euros.

Une fois déchargés de cette corvée, nous revoilà en train de silloner les rues de Sydney, mais cette fois-ci pour visiter. Bien sûr, nos premiers pas nous emènent du côté de l'Opéra. On le regarde pendant des heures et on ne s'en lasse pas. Sous tous les angles, de nuit d'abord, puis de jour et au coucher du soleil les jours suivants, c'est toujour magique ! Le clou en sera la visite : l'intérieur est aussi fascinant que l'extérieur, et la salle de concert avec l'orgue gigantesque (le plus grand du monde, excusez du peu; cf photo dans le post d'Angi) sont tout bonnement magnifiques. En extra bonus (ou "super-clou", c'est au choix) sera une projection sur écran géant depuis le parvis de l'Opéra d'un concert donné à l'intérieur par l'orchestre phylarmonique de Vienne. Mozart et Tchaïkovski au programe, c'est magnifique ! domage qu'on n'ai eu ni l'argent, ni le temps de réserver les places à l'avance pour être à l'intérieur... On a toutefois eu en compensation un geste très gentil de la part du maestro et des cuivres de l'orchestre qui sont sortis après le concert pour nous donner un échantillon dehors. Ambiance bon enfant, nuit étoilée, et souvenirs d'enfer !!!

Nous avons aussi pu admirer la vue depuis le "Harbour bridge" (littéralement : "pont du port"), qui offre un panorama magnifique sur toute l'embouchure, le port, l'Opéra et la silhouette de la ville, avec les grands buildings. On ne s'en est pas lassés non plus. La ville, que ce soit vue de près ou de loin, est magnifique, et absolument tous les quartiers que nous avons traversés nous ont beaucoup plu. S'il le coût de la vie n'était pas absolument indécent comme c'est le cas, la ville serait sans conteste un petit paradis pour s'établir quelques temps.

Mais si nous avons certe passé la plupart de notre temps a visiter des places plutôt culturelles ou en tous cas "de la ville" (bâtiments, buildings etc...), nous avons aussi profité de la nature tout autour de la ville, et plus spécialement de la mer. Pour commencer nous nous sommes promenés dans Darling Harbour, coin assez sympa mais quand même fortement axé tourisme, avec notamment toute une floppée de très bons restaurants. Le "I'm Angus" nous ayant séduit lors d'une de nos promenades, c'est finalement lui que nous avons choisi pour aller dîner juste avant de partir, pour goûter du kangourou et du barramundi (poisson local qui est apparement une spécialité et que nous avons beaucoup apprécié).

Par ailleurs, la mer c'est pas seulement des ports et des marinas, c'est aussi des plages, et à Sydney, il suffit de prendre un ferry, un bus ou un R.E.R. (suivant la direction dans laquelle vous allez) pour tomber dessus. Nous avons donc fait les deux : Ferry un jour et Bus + R.E.R. le lendemain, pour aller regarder les bimbos bronzer et les surfeurs surfer. Pour faire plaisir à môman, j'ai finalement laissé Angi me prendre en photo avec le vent (qui soufflait suffisament fort ce jour là pour qu'on sorte les pulls et les blousons) dans les cheveux. Le premier qui rigole se prend une baffe !!! (Greg !! t'es grillé ! et p'tite soeur t'es pas mieux !!)

Bon, les bimbos qui bronzent ça va 5 minutes, mais après ça saoule, pis les surfeurs étaient pas dans un bon jours apparement, du coup on est pas restés trop longtemps et on s'est rabattus sur les classiques : le port avec les gros bateaux et les jolis quartiers juste en bordure du-dit port (photo). On a pu flâner sur un marché non loin de là et s'en mettre plein les yeux, les oreilles, les narines et les papilles, on a aussi assisté à un festival de jazz et un autre de musique et de dances latines (t'inquiète pas Greg, j'ai des vidéos ;-) ) , et on a tout simplement profité de l'ambiance de ces quartiers pour prendre du bon temps

Pour finir on est retournés une n-ième fois regarder l'Opéra et le pont, prendre encore des photos (on doit en avoir dans les 250 rien que sur l'Opéra maintenant... -_-) et profiter de nos dernières heures dans cette ville magique. Sydney c'est fini, et l'Australie aussi du même coup. Le prochain post sera certainement écrit depuis la Nouvelle-zélande. On n'est pas tristes, pas joyeux non plus, c'est un chapitre qui se termine et un autre qui commence. A toutes les personnes que l'on aura eu la chance de rencontrer, que ce soit pour quelques heures ou quelques jours, qu'elles soient australiennes, dannoises, allemands, belges ou autres, je dis :

See ya mate !!! take care !

Sydney the wunderbar!

Sydney here we go!! Can you imagine that? We've made it! Three months and 10.000 km later, we are here, on the other side of Australia, at the final point of our trip through this fabulous country! I can't believe it. And this city is so incredible. Sydney! It's there, as magnificent as you imagine it, spendid, grand, impressive. Yeah, that's it. The whole city just says: I am here to impress and that's what I do!

When we first got here, after another long day on the road and the awesome spectacle of a thunderstorm, the city embraced us with all its might. 4.5 million people and everything that comes along with it, from the fabulous cultural diversity and offerings to the smog, noise, and concrete forests. I have to admit, it took me two days to get used to city life again but then we benefited from the advantages as much as we could while trying to sell our dear Josephine (which we finally did three days before departure) and arranging our further travels.

The first thing you'll probably associate the impressive Sydney Opera House. And of course we went there and I did even wear my German shirt, which resulted in us having a discussion with an Australian guy for about an hour and us missing our boat for a visit of the beach... but I was brave and you can see the proof here! We even participated in a tour to get to see the inside of the opera, which, in my opinion is a lot less expressive than the outside, excpet for the famous concert hall with the organ in it. And you know what the most difficult problem of a backpacker in a place like this is? Well, imagine THE OPERA SYDNEY and then imagine us with our old sneekers, worn out jeans, working T-Shirts, and big baggy sweaters. How the heck do you attend a performance in a place like that dressed like that?!?! But fortunately we where there at the right time, exactly when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra had decided to visit Sydney for the first time in 162 years. As they were very nice, they did not only perform in the opera but organized a transmission of their performance onto big screens in front of the opera where we were able to enjoy their performance for free! Can you imagine that? The skyline of Sydney in front of us, the opera behind us, above us the sky and the stars and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart (isn't that a nice coincidence that even if I am not in Germany or Austria I can celebrate his 250th birthday???) and Tchaikovsiki?! In the end, some of the players and the maestro even came outside and played there for us. Can you wish for a more special moment?

No, of course, this was perfect. But Sydney in general has so much to offer that we did not get bored one single minute. There all the different parks and botanical gardens, tons of museums (where we enjoyed not only an introduction to Australian painters but also a classic French movie in black and white), art wherever you go (for example a photo exhibition about contemporary Sydney life in one of the parks), festivals and concerts everywhere (for example a three day latin festival and a three day jazz festival), free concerts of bands in pubs, drumming sessions.... I guess we can say that we just lived culture and art here!

Then there were the beaches to explore and the nightlife to relish. I guess we should have shown our beautiful bodies, gone surfing all day long, gotten a sun tan so that we could figure amongst the most fashionable of people going out here at night (seriously, I have rarely seen so many artificial people in my life)... but it was simply too cold yet to enjoy those "pleasures". So we just went for long walks, took some creative pictures, and went out one evening to finally taste kangaroo and barramundi (local fish) and to celebrate our two-year-anniversary. Of course, we did not chose some place or another, we went to one of the beautiful marinas here, called Darling Harbour and enjoyed not only the delicious meal but also the wonderful view.

What else was Sydney for us, except a fabulous place to enjoy civilization at its best? As I said in the beginning, Sydney also represented the end of our stay here in Australia. We spent the last three months discovering this beautiful continent and now we do have to move on, unfortunately. Not that we are not looking forward to New Zealand - that would be a shame - but we have learnt to love this beautiful country (even though the mosquitos bite you even in the shower.. can you imagine where>!?!?) and, which might be even more important, we have learnt to love the people. Which way-of-life could be better than the Australian "easy-going-itude" or translated their no-worries-mentality? Even if they are way off from any other place in the world (especially Europe), we could now imagine to spend a couple of years here (keine Angst, Mama, es ist noch nichts entschieden) and we are leaving with a smiling and a crying eye! So, as the Aussies would say:


See ya mate! We'll be back!

WWOOFing at Tandem

As you might have concluded from our last post, David and I were not too keen to restart another WWOOFing experience right away - we needed a little break and some time for ourselves - so Josephine led us directly into another new experience here in Australia: big cities! Brisbane was waiting for us and although we ended up spending only four days there, we enjoyed ourselves and the city enormously! Can you imagine us two, after about two months out there in nature, in the outback, in nation parks, on campgrounds, suddenly in the middle of thousands of cars, people in suits and cravats, skyscrapers, and, of course, for all how know the story: Starbucks!!! We actually were in heaven! I never thought that I would love to be in a city so much one day, but Brisbane just captured our hearts directly.

The city is very beautiful and although Australia's third biggest with about 1.5 million inhabitants, it succeeds in maintaining a wonderfully laid-back charm. We figured that part of it is due to the beautiful old and traditional Queenslander houses built out of wood with large verandas, balconies and windows. Then there is the river and the marinas and wharfts built alongside, the huge park areas, and the numerous little cafes, shops and restaurants. Truly, we both found that Australians are quite right in voting Brisbane the most agreeable Australian town with the highest standard of living! We could have stayed there much much longer.

But then, we had an appointment with our next WWOOFing experience, this time with the following constellation:

The farm: Tandem is situated about 200km South West of Brisbane, and includes large stretches of local forest (eucalyptus), a very beautiful damn, large vegetable gardens and wonderful flower and fruit gardens (the spring pictures from the former post were all taken there), as well as some chicken - once again very stupid -, several European and Australian ducks, and two dogs, Buca, a very beautiful fellow, and Aubrey, my favorite because he was so terribly funny that we could never stop laughing about all the incredible stupid things he did. Oh and of course, there was the hugest shed you can imagine that had all kinds of surprises waiting for us, and our dear little bungalow, where we slept.

The hosts: Bob and Marry were an elderly couple who had bought this beautiful place to live their passions and enjoy the pleasures of life together. Bob is originally Dutch but has been living in Australia forever and ever, Mary pure Australian, and both have travelled extensively and know the world, other cultures and people. Right now they live with their nephew Fred, who has been helping them out a little since a difficult knee operation of Bob. Fred is a really nice fellow, first a little quiet and shy, but a lot of fun and very agreeable to be with on the long run.

The WWOOFers: us again, but a lot less enthusiastic about the concept of WWOOFing and a little scared of what might be waiting for us this time!

The result: We spent the most wonderful time on this beautiful farm and with those most amazing and enriching people! The week we spent there will definitely figure among the best weeks of our whole travel experience and I am pretty sure that some of the experiences we made will follow us through life and still have some influence on us later on! We definitely are the most grateful to Bob and Mary and we do hope to see them again, either in Europe or in Australia or wherever our ways may cross each other again.

What can I tell you? This was true WWOOFing, the real experience of what life is like on a farm and close to nature, including tons of interesting work, many many learning experiences, the pleasures of quiet life, interesting conversation, and the joy of good food, drink, and good books.

Already our first task, making honey, was the most interesting and resulted in the fact that David definitely wants to have bees himself one day now. It is incredible how much honey you can actually find in honeycombs! We first thought that with the 24 frames we had, we would not get more than 1-2 glasses of honey. But after having spun them around and around so that the honey just flies out (and sticks to everything and everywhere...), we ended up with about 40 liters of honey! And you know what? I, who usually never eat honey, just couldn't get enough of this one. It was soooo good! Of course, we ate so much while duing the honey, that we ended up all sick... :)

Other works included taking care of the vegetable gardens and other flowers, putting up protective screens around those gardens, building a wind protection for the chickens around their shed, planting trees (did not somebody clever say that once in your life you should plant a tree??) and protecting them against the chicken, taking out old fences and cleaning up fields, and (sorry Suse) cutting of the heads of some ducks, plucking and cleaning them and putting them in the freezer. Well, I have to admitt, the last work was not the nicest one but it was definitely interesting and seemed very natural and in line with the spirit of self-sufficiency.

Bod and Mary were very relaxed regarding the work loads per day and so most of the time, we worked about four hours a day and spent the afternoons exploring the region, eg. the forests of the farm, Bold Rock National Park, the cute little town of Stanthorpe, or we got ourselves organized a little, eg. getting a new registration for Josephine. Once in a while, it would also happen that we just got too involved in interesting discussions while having lunch so that we ended up spending half the afternoon chatting with Bob and Mary and afterwards David enjoyed the large choice of comics and bandes desinees that Bob has collected over the years and I was sur to find some interesting book in the extensive library of the two! Sometimes, however, we enjoyed work so much that we just kept going throughout the day. It is very satisfactory to do useful work, to be able to see the result at the end of the day and to learn a lot while doing so. Hihi, for example, I learned to drive a tractor, which is a lot of fun. As I said, Bob's shed provided tons of surprises for us, so we also spent some time watching him do his own beers and alcohol (very, very tasty) in there or studying the worm farm they had.

Of course, work was not everything at Tandem, as Bob and Mary are convinced that you should work to live and not live to work. The first wonderful surprise I had was on the first morning of work, when at around 11 o'clock Mary called us to enjoy some morning tea! Don't you think that's a wonderful habit, to take some tea and cake around 11 am every morning while sitting in the sun and watching the birds? Ha, I found that the nicest thing on earth! And of course, Mary knew how to make wonderful tea and bake the most declicious fruit cakes and biscuits!

In general, Bob and Mary were the best cooks I have met in quite a while. They enjoy good ingredients, good quality food, they know how to cook and they know how to enjoy their meals! For David and me, this was just paradise. I am not sure how many recepies I took away with me, but there are a few! Of course, we also did some cooking in the evenings (hihi, I made some Frisenkekse for tea) and I guess, we can be rather proud of the result, because everybody liked what we did. Most of the time, diner would start by tasting some of Bob's very good beer or with a glass of vine and we would then enjoy the meal and the interesting talk. You cannot imagine how good it feels to meet somebody who knows what is happening in the world and to discuss tons of interesting subjects! Moreover, we learned a lot regarding the Australian way of life, the development of the culture and country here, the present problems, ... it was truely enriching.

Now, imagine, after such a wonderful and satisfactory day, you sit down in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea (or a glass of vine), there is some classical music playing softly in the background, and you take up a good book. Can life be more beautiful? Well, yes, having to get up in the end, to leave the fireplace, creep back into the cold and unheated bungalow and to try and warm up your frozen bed might not be fun - but hey, we are tough, arn't we?! ;)

Truely, the time we spent WWOOFing at Tandem and in the company of Bob and Mary was wonderful. We enjoyed every second of it and we are very desperate that no other WWOOFing family in New Zealand will be able to live up to their standards now! But that's how our travel life goes, in the end, we had to leave again, new adventures, new cultures and ways-of-life, and new faces are waiting for us. But we will keep those two in mind and if ever we end up having our own little farm later on, I'll plant a Chinese vine as a reminder of them!



PS. I forgot to introduce my new friend to you!!! Imagine me taking down some old fencing. I am standing next to a large wooden post and cutting off the wire that attaches the fence to the post. I am standing quite close to the post because the cutter is not very long and I need to reach down very far. Suddenly, I raise my head and there he is right in front of me: a really large dragon about 15 cm from my face. I can proudly say that I did not scream, but the thing frightened the s. out of me! What's his business of creeping up there without making any sound and surprising me like that?!?!