Australia 2001 / 2002
Sunday, October 21, 2001
Finally, I have some time at hand to write a summary of my last two weeks. The photos are already online and as you can see I traveled quite a bit.
My father arrived here and we spend the first few days doing some sightseeing in Sydney. I showed him the Opera House, The Rocks, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour and so on. Actually, we quite much saw everything. We went to the Aquarium on the only rainy day and later rented a car for a weekend. This was really great. We drove down the south coast. We stayed for a night in a really cool Motel in Kiama. This is just a very small city, but has some beautiful places and is just a nice place. The next day we visited Currarong which is a small place at Jervis Bay with a beautiful beach. Later, when we arrived in Batemans Bay, we turned to the west and headed for Canberra. This street was really awesome: some very steep mountains, woods, valleys and huge plains. I very much liked the scenery. Australia's nature is really fabulous!
We then stayed in Bungendore ? a place with about 1000 inhabitants. The Motel there was even cooler: they wanted no name, no address, just AU$ 66 cash and that's it. And don't forget the Holy Bible in the desk. Just like from the movies.
On Sunday, we arrived in Canberra and visited Capital Hill with the House of Parliament. Quite a nice building. But not as impressive as the National Australian Museum which we went to afterwards. There was an Aboriginal Festival going on infront of it.
When we came back in the afternoon, we decided to rent the car for another day to go to the Blue Mountains. Great idea, because otherwise we wouldn'?t have found these places! First we went to the Wentworth Falls where Charles Darwin once walked around to find new species. Later we drove to the famous Three Sisters rock formation and took a walk down the Giant Stairway ? more than 1000 steps to the bottom of the rocks. This walk took us about three to four hours and we took the Scenic Skyway ? a cable car ? back to the top of the mountains.
But the best thing really happened by chance: we came through a small city and just didn't yet want drive back. So we followed a sign to Point Evans. Kick arse! What a view! Really really impressive! Just take a look at the photos. Damn, one hell of valley lay infront of us? really beautiful.
Well, we spent the remaining days in Sydney again and visited the Olympic Park and Taronga Zoo or just enjoyed the city.
This is much shorter than I thought it would be, but well, it's late already and I just wanted to have some text for the photos.
posted at 00:21
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Gee, I've been travelling for the last weekend and the rest of the time I spent sightseeing with my father. He's leaving on Friday again. A report will follow later. For now, there are heaps of new photos.
posted at 05:32
Sunday, October 07, 2001
Remeber that I mentioned a restaurant called Dada Da Dhaba and found that it is a funny name?
Jayant - a guy from India whom I met in the Sydney Central Youth Hostle - explained it now to me:
DADA is used to address a male wsho you like, very much like your dad, brother, friend etc. DA in Punjabi (an Indian language) means "of". And DHABA means restaurant.
posted at 23:49
Tuesday, October 02, 2001
Been to A.I. tonight. Don't go. Just don't go. It is a waste of time and money. This movie is just plain boring and doesn't even have some nice story. It's just lame. Did I say, don't go?
Beside that, the new photos are online. Enjoy.
posted at 09:58
Monday, October 01, 2001
Gee, this was one hell of a long weekend. Here's a somewhat detailed report how I spend it. (Photos will follow tomorrow, I hope.)
Fri 07:30 got up and left to work at 8:30. Work is really great at the moment. I am actually fixing bugs and this is a nice feeling. :-)
Fri 18:00 came back from work
Fri 20:00 left to the City and met with Thomas, Frank, Sebastian (other German students) and Gro (a friend of Thomas, she's from Norway) and Miriam (a friend of Gro, she's from Germany...). Well, we went to a Pub for a beer and later took a train to Newtown. There we met Thomas and went to the party. The party was really cool. It was Natalie's and Danielle's birthday and their flatmates partied with them. They are living in a nice house and nearly the complete house was prepared for the party. Really cool.
Sa 06:30 finally in my bed...
Sa 10:00 for some reason I can't sleep longer.
Sa 13:30 I arrive in the City and do some crazy shopping at Utopia Records. They had a moving sale and at some time I wanted to buy six t-shirts and a bunch of CDs. Well, I bought three t-shirts (tool, no fun at all and a nice "caution - mosh pit" one) and two CDs ("at the drive in" and "snuff"). I spend the rest of the day figuring out how to spend the evening until I finally get a call from Quy that I can go on some 4WD with him and his family. I just have to be at Eastwood Station at six the next morning... there are a lot of preparations left and so I have to hurry and rush around for the rest of the evening.
Sa 21:00 I finally go to bed because I am really really tired.
Su 04:00 I get up and catch the train to Eastwood
Su 07:00 We finally start at Quy's place with his family and meet a Chinese couple that comes with us in their own car.
Su 11:00 After a wonderful drive past Botany Bay, Kiama and Norwa. We arrive in Yalwal. Take a break at Danjera Dam and then begin our four wheel drive through Morton National Park and the Yerriyong State Forest. Wow, this really kicks arse! Driving through terrain I can hardly walk down is really great fun.
I have one of the greatest views I had in my life from the top of the mountains in about 1500m altitude. There are lakes and bush land. There is an old gold mine and there are great forests. It is just amazing! I really don't know the words to describe this day. The photos I have on my photos page can hardly transport the impressions you have when you are within this wonderful place?
Su 22:30 I arrive back at home and I am really tired now.
Mo 10:00 I get up and prepare to go to the beach because it is a public holiday in NSW. Thomas, Ina and me want to met at Bondi Beach. Well, we actually spend about one minute in the water because the pacific is just damn cold. After some time we decide to leave and get something to eat in China Town. This is the first time that I actually eat with sticks! It is great fun although I had a very hard time in the beginning, I really managed kinda well. The waiter gave up fork and spoon "just in case" (his words) anyway. We then walk around Darling Harbour for a short time and now I am finally at home... :-)
posted at 04:36