Welcome to Tasmania

The day of my next adventure had arrived; I was very excited and nervous. But as most of you know, there are no adventures if everything works out smoothly and as planned. We will see how this will go. I am sure I will keep track of it again every day, because just now I realize the reason why I write so much when I travel and not so much when I am at places for longer: I don’t have internet. So I kind of put all my thoughts into this blog. Obviously not too personal ;)

I took the tram to the Port Melbourne. Of course they had track renewals on the route so I had to exchange twice to a bus until I finally arrived at the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry. I can tell you that after several weeks without running around with my backpack it was a very heavy feeling, but I have to admit I missed it. It feels nice and easy, no strings attached, being free is awesome. I can’t describe it differently.

I entered the terminal and only waited a few minutes until I checked in and dropped my bag off. The ship is stunning and huge. I haven’t been on a ferry since I was very young. First I did a tour through the ship; they have everything, from restaurant to cinema and casino. Well, in a very small version, but they had it.

My last day in Melbourne was great with a lot of sun and great people around me, which I will miss a lot. I dropped a few tears when I saw the lights of Melbourne fading away.

Melbourne is now behind me and I can see the skyline getting smaller by the minute. I miss it already.

I have a long night ahead of me, probably with a lot of thinking involved. I might do as well some reading after I finished writing this blog entry. Or just listen to music and dream away.

I have friends and a great family and cannot be thankful enough. I am happy that these people exist in my life, because without them it wouldn’t be the same. I love you all and miss you a lot. I know I am going to miss out on some great events in their life but will have at the same time my own adventure. So at this point I raise my waterglass and toast to being alive and living my dream.

Read you soon again.

The next morning
I had the most amazing trip on the ferry. Because I couldn’t sleep properly I got out on the deck around midnight and I have never seen so many stars shining so bright. It was beautiful and just that alone was worth the shaky trip on the Ferry.

The seats were quite comfy and luckily I only had one seat neighbour, so I could spread out my feet’s and legs for some rest.  But I am happy I booked a flight to Sydney, I couldn’t bare the thought of another night trip with rough sleep.

I arrived safely in Tasmania –Devonport at 6am, unfortunately way too early to check in into my accommodation. Luckily I found a nice  directly next to the Terminal. Of course I couldn’t resist to login to the internet (well only for 15 minutes/$2,50 -n Dockside café).

Around 11 am and quiet a few coffees later I arrived at my hostel. I was still a little bit pissed off with the tour operator. They haven’t told me that they could not pick me up at my booked hotel. I decided a few days ago that I deserved some luxury and actually booked a nice hotel room just for myself with a big comfy bed and ensuit bathroom. Only yesterday they told me that it wasn’t possible, so I had to rearrange my booking. Because of the cancellation policy of the hotel I was not able to get my money back for the room I booked. However, they owned a hostel in the area that the tour operator accepted. Well, I pay now a little bit more than the usual price, but have a room to myself anyway. Apparently the hostel has free wireless internet, but it isn’t working for me somehow. I will try it again later (YEAH it is working as you can see with this update).

After checking into the Gingerbread Hostel (http://www.gingerbreadhousehostel.com) and having a nice hot shower with refreshing cold shots in between I made myself on the way to the Devonport “City”. I had to take a little Ferry over to the other site which was only $2,50 one way.  I arrived in the “City” and had to giggle a little bit. It was such a small town and nothing really to see. They even had a visitor centre, however the information received were not really useful and I just walked around for four hours and returned. I have to say the town doesn’t offer a lot but the view around the town is amazing. Everything is very clean and natural. I had as well luck with the weather and enjoyed another coffee in the sun.

I will start my tour tomorrow morning and can’t wait to get finally some action.

Read you soon my dear follower. And for a change, why not leave a comment?

Versprechen bricht man nicht (Melbourne)

English version:  Google will be your best friend ;)

Nach einigen Wochen nun endlich wieder ein Blogeintrag von mir. Und dieser ist wie versprochen in Deutsch :) Ich denke das wurde auch wirklich mal Zeit nach ueber 30 Eintraegen.

Heute ist es soweit, meine Reise geht weiter. Ich werde Melbourne mit der Faehre verlassen und 10 Tage in Tasmanien verweilen. Die meiste Zeit davon ohne Internet. Das koennte sehr interessant werden, seit ich mich selber zu den AIS (Anonyme Internet Suechtige) zaehle. Aber ich habe mir selber versprochen auch endlich mal wieder ohne Internet auszukommen. Ihr werdet es sehen ;)

In den letzten Wochen war ich wieder etwas aktiver und habe ein paar Sachen unternommen und bin auch ab und zu ausgegangen :) War im Kino, habe leckeren Hamburger gegessen und war tanzen. So laesst sich das Leben auf jeden Fall geniessen.

Ich habe es sogar noch geschafft eine Touristen Attraktionen zu besuchen, dass alte Melbourne Gefaengniss. Leider habe ich es nicht geschafft alles zu machen was ich wollte. Nun ja, einen Grund mehr nach Melbourne zurueckzukehren.

Ich  muss ehrlich sagen ich habe meine Zeit in Melbourne sehr genossen und bin froh soviele liebe Menschen getroffen zu haben und hoffe wirklich, dass ich mit den meisten in Kontakt bleiben werden.

An dieser ein riesengrosses Dankeschoen an alle, die diese Zeit fuer mich einzigartig gemacht haben und mir unbezahlbare Erinnerungen gegeben haben. Ich werde euch sehr vermissen. Danke auch an die Maedels fuer den absolut grossartigen Abschiedsabend. Ich habe mich koestlich amuesiert :D

Und wie immer an dieser Stelle, Bilder sagen mehr als Worte.

Work at Cafe Pronto in Richmond

Club Transport

 Grill’ed Melbourne Central

Hoyts cinema Melbourne Central

Hostel Dinner Goodbye Girls

 Lion Hotel Melbourne Central

Melbourn Old Goal

Breakfast Milk Bar

Random City Pictures

Ich hoffe das ich wieder jede Menge beim naechsten Mal zu berichten habe. Falls etwas sein sollte bin ich auf jeden Fall via Handy zu erreichen.

AUF WIEDERSEHEN MELBOURNE, HALLO TASMANIA

Up in the air (Melbourne - Great Ocean Road)

I can’t believe it’s been nearly three weeks since I last updated my blog. It looks like my life is getting boring again…just kidding. I do work most of the time and I am too tired to go on the road and explore the world around me. This is actually such a shame, but I will make sure that I do some more things before heading to my next destination Tasmania :)

I finally managed last week to book the Great Ocean Road tour for yesterday. Luckily it seems that I made the right choice with the operator of the tour, it was such a great and fun tour:

http://www.bunyiptours.com

I booked as well the helicopter for the tour and was so excited to fly the first time in my life in a helicopter that I couldn’t sleep properly the night before. I was really tired when I had to get up at 6am and headed towards the meeting point in the city.

The first stop was the Bells Beach, one of Australia’s famous surfing beaches, world renowned for the Rip Curl Surfing Pro. Unfortunately they had built up some construction works in front of the beach, so the view was limited. But the art on the toilet house wall was great ;)  

On the way to the Bells beach we saw some Kangaroos jumping around, but because we were driving and on a time limit we didn’t stop for pictures, so I just have the memories of this event, which is awesome :)

The actual Great Ocean Road starts just after Torquay, where we have been given the opportunity to learn more about the history.

This was followed by a stop at the Cape Otway Lighthouse. The tour guide was real fun and told us some funny stories about the traditional owners, the Gadabanud peoples.

We passed through the coastal cities Lorne, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell. During the whole tour we always had such a great view of the ocean or the wild life around us. I would absolute recommend this tour to anyone who is in Melbourne.

After that we stopped near a forest, where we were able to see some Koalas in their natural habitat. Sooo cute, I wish I could have taken one home to cuddle.

We continued to the rainforest where we took a quick stroll and enjoyed the scenery, of course not to be compared with the tropical rainforest in Asia but nice anyway.

The next stop was finally the Twelve Apostles at the Port Campbell National Park with a view of the famous and uniquely formed rock stacks. I was the only person on the tour that actually booked the helicopter. As soon as we arrived me and the tour guide headed towards the helicopter area. They normally have three people on each helicopter. There were only one couple waiting for the next round and because they booked the extended flight, I was allowed to join them, even if I only booked the short flight. How lucky am I? :D The view was amazing and I recorded as well a quick video for my fans out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz5IcHKJ60E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eozp1ZAUCZ4

As soon as I got back I walked down to the rocks and tried to make some awesome pictures and enjoy the scenery. The weather was ok for the day, I wish it would have been sunnier during the day; I was freezing most of the time. Good thing I took my jacket with me…

The next stop was the Loch Ard Gorge and we learned about the history of the Shipwreck Coast with a stroll along this historic beach.

The last stop for the tour was the collapsed London Bridge, where we took some group pictures :)

We finally headed towards home and only stopped for a little snack on the way. The noodles were really yummy :)

It was a long and exhausting day and I had to sleep a lot last night, luckily we had a time change and I had one hour extra to enjoy my “comfy” bed.

And now a promise to all my friends and family in Germany, the next blog entry will be in German. I miss you all very much and hope that some of the postcards have arrived already. Somehow I can't belive that it has been nearly two month since I arrived and that I only have another 10 month left on my journey, time is running too fast. I really enjoy my time here, but I am happy when I finally can move on and see more from Australia and its people. At this point, a big thank you to everyone in Melbourne that made my time here memorable ;)

Read you soon again with some more adventure.