back in Brisbane

Having enjoyed that shower and my decent meal I bought a 24h Internet voucher to update my blog at last. Sorry for the slight delay in terms of keeping you in the loop. A lot happened within the last 10 days and I had limited Internet recources ;-)

Unfortunately football sucked and I even got up at 4:00h to watch the game online. Had some money on Inter just in case our guys dont make it. I was right eventually but I'd rather have lost that bet. Anyway the double is nice too. At least there are no Italians around who could rub it in.

The exchange rate improved significantly during my sailing trip and so shopping and staying at hostels became just a bit plus bon marché (big shout out to Andi).

2moro I will check out the Gold Coast (I might visit my scuba buddy Nubia) before finally leaving Brisbane heading North. Initially, I didnt want to stay that long in Bris and rather go North but as it turned out I always had something to do around BrisVegas as the locals call it.

Also, I wanted to meet up with Suzi (the girl from the Nimbin trip). She was supposed to arrive in Bris yesterday but I havent heard from her yet. Maybe I'll see her on my way back from Surfers Paradise.

Sailing in Moreton Bay (May 18 - 21)

You guys might remember I was disappointed when I wasnt able to go sailing just before I went off to Byron Bay.

I stayed in contact with John, the skipper of the yacht and on my way to Nimbin I got the ok to start another adventurous sailing trip on Tuesday.

On Monday I travelled back to Brisbane and did some shopping for the trip.

On Tuesday I met with John (66, Aussie) and Liam (26, English) at the marina.

John, great Aussie bloke

this and that

Having done nothing today except watching UK's general election (all constituencies have yet failed to come in but it looks like the tories will make it. Not sure if this is good or bad)  I take this opportunity to note what came to my mind during the last days and weeks that never made it into my blog.

1) Neil Robertson beat Graeme Dott 18:13 in Snookers World Championship and became the first Aussie to clinch the title. It remains to be seen what impact that achievement will have on Australia's snooker but as usual a lot of young kids want to learn the game from now on. The final was even broadcasted live on Australian TV.

2) There are no 1-Cent or 2-Cent coins in Australia and so all the .99-amounts must be rounded when paying at the supermarket check out. Therefore you sometimes will have to pay more, sometimes you will be given a discount of 2 cents. Not a bad idea at all, at least your wallet stays light ;-)

3) I have seen this ad on gumtree the other day and called John straight away to see if there was still a place available. As it turned out I was first and we needed at least another 2 persons to go sailing. So far nobody else called in and John has now cancelled the trip. Real shame since this would have been a true bargain and a great chance to learn new sailing stuff.

4) Since I wont be sailing this weekend I decided to head for Byron Bay. Actually I wanted to skip that location in the first place but Matty basically insisted on me going there ;-).

There is a Padi school and so I thought I should start my dive training. Therefore I will leave Brisbane on Sunday and make my way down south.

5) Havent heard from my girls recently. Drop me a line in the comments section or write me an email. Hope you've been well.

6) It's F1time again. On Sunday the Spanish GP will take place at 22:00h local time. Just hope I will be able to see it and that it will be recorded just as promised (got that little hint, bro ;-))

I am really excited to see how they broadcast the F1here in Down Under. It's probably Webber everywhere.

Had some more on my mind but now that I am actually writing it down I just cant recall. Might complete it on next chance.

Nice to see I have six followers already. Dont hesitate to comment my posts.

The Treasury (May 4-6)

Coming back from my sailing trip I received another refusal from couchsurfing. So I booked some more nights at the YHA where I met three English guys from Cambridge. They were pretty funny and easy going. One of them was interested in learning how to solve a Rubics Cube and so I sat down with him and explained the algorythms to him. They stayed in Brisbane and went to another theme park on the Gold Cost each day. Not sure why they didnt book a dorm down there.

Steward is still in that YHA and this time I got to take a picture of him. He is a real germ.

Steward

Sailing in Moreton Bay (May 1-3)

Getting up at 6:00h is nothing out of the ordinary for me. Ever since I arrived in Oz I went to bed early and consequently got up early too. Of course, when you need to wake up early you could sleep much longer ;-). So I got up a little later than expected and checked out of the YHA. With all my gear packed in one plastic bag, one day pack and my suitcase I boarded the train and got down to Manly once again. Having arrived there I was able to store my suitecase and met my fellow sailors. Phil (skipper), James (lawyer from New York), Scot builder from Brisbane), Darryl (structural engeneer, originally from Malaysia) and Kuan (architect, also originally from Malasia). It was a great team with everyone being very polite and helping out as good as they could.

Our boat was a Jeanneau Odyssey 40 by the name of Capriccio, built in 2001 and owned by our skipper Phil. It is a great boat with a lot of space, four cabins, a nice living area, two steering wheels, a single line reefing system, a furling jib (not entirely sure this is the right word. It would be Rollrefffock in German).

Also it was equipped with a digital speed-o-meter and a gauge for depth, apparent and true wind.

Phil used to be a farmer for most of his life and after he had sold his parents farm he bought this ship for his family. Having saild more than 20k nautical miles with it there was no topic he couldnt give detailed information on. It was really dificult to understand ihs Aussie accent with all these English nautical terms but it was ok by the end of the first day.

Having not sailed for almost 7 months it was a great feeling having 25 knots of apparent wind in your face while standing on a jumping and heeling boat screaming orders to the head sail trimmer.

My body is full of cuts and bruises from tightening sheets and winching jibs.

Special highlight was 3 hours of night sailing on the first day. The helmsman ususally changed every hour and when I took over the wheel at dusk I was the lucky guy to steer until total darkness.

There are not many lights on in the Moreton Bay area and I would have been lost immediately. But Phil makes these trips for some years now and he didnt even need a map to point the right way. He just told me to follow the Southern cross.

What impressed me most was the brightness of the stars. I was warned by Andi but would have never thought it was that remarkable. You could basically see the entire milkyway with the Southern Cross up front (Southern Cross is the stars constellation that is shown on the Australian flag). There were even shooting stars to be seen.

So there I was standing at the helm in 18 knots with the boat heeling at 30 degree and calling the shots, above an absolutely amazing spectacle including shooting stars. I just wonder can it get any better? Is scuba diving in cairnes or skydiving over Fiji gonna beat this?

Me on the bow after just lowering the anchor on our first lunch break

at the helm in 20 knots

40 feet can be quite long when standing at the helm

"Manly, Manly station. Plattform's on the left side in the direction of travel"

I called Southern Cross (the sailing host) to confirm my booking when I was told that the course was full already. I should leave a contact telephone number in case of any late cancellations. Not that easy when you still dont know your Aussie number by heart ;-).

Not expecting any sailing this weekend I went to the agency office to collect some mail. I was sent an email telling me that I have received something. Gladly I got my new debit card including my PIN. Basically I am now set up for leaving the city. There is still an application out there for my tax file number but I dont have to wait for the physical mail and just need to get the agency's email.

While enquiring for a new couch to surf on ( maybe I am successful this time) I received a telephone call from Southern Cross telling me that there was indeed a late cancellation and that I could be on board if I get down there and pay up front.

So I withdrew some money from the bank and made my way down to Manly harbour. Shortly after leaving the train station I got controlled by the conductor. Having not been controlled in Munich for years I decided to always have a ticket from now on. Not that I didnt have one this time but I realized I shouldnt get in trouble in a foreign country over something like a ticket.

kids at a Manly elementary school playing dodge ball in theire blue school uniform

I secured my spot on the boat and went home for an extensive round of washing and packing for the trip.

This sure aint bon marché (shout out to Andi) but I havent been on a boat since Oct 4 and it is just time to get in touch with the element again.

Manly harbour (check out all the masts in the background.

There are more than 4000 boats in this harbour

Farewell my loves

Today I had to say good bye to Nadja und Kati. The girls took the train down south to visit a former co-worker (big shout out to Martina) while I stayed in Brisbane and tried to book a sailing trip. Not sure when I will see the girls again but since all of us are travelling north to Cairnes there will be a good chance that we will meet somewhere along the way.

Too late I realized that I still don’t have a pic of Nadja and her car of dreams.

So Naddel, take a picture and send it to me by mail. My readers demand that pic ;-)

In the afternoon I went east to Manly to look for a sailing trip in Moreton Bay. To my surprise there was just one company offering sail training. But I got lucky and secured the last remaining seat on the boat. It is a 3-day-trip to build up the basics of yachting. Since I only have skippered tiny 4m boats on tideless lakes, it might be a good advice to start at the bottom.

When I walked into my room I met a new roommate named Steward. I introduced myself and was wondering how Steward was doing. Instead of saying something like “allright, how ‘bout ya?” I got a 45 minutes monologue about his “mission” in Brisbane.  He was 79 years old with no teeth in his face and a real thick accent. Another real Aussie bloke and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. After he noticed I was not a native speaker he adapted and it was manageable to get the gist. He was in Brisbane to have the doctor checked on his heart.

Cliffnotes:
- girls are gone
- Steward

Guided city tour

We went on a free tour through Brisbane today with our guide Ryan. A real Aussie bloke who travelled the world and now hosts guided tours on a tip-only-base. Wearing a Panama hat and flip flops he explained to us the history of the town, how settlement started in the early days and how the aboriginals have been oppressed over the years.

He did a great job telling the stories and answering questions and was rewarded accordingly.

Afterwards I went to the library to upload all the pics and to update this blog. It took ages but you are worth it ;-)

The day my blog became official

The girls decided to sleep a bit longer today and so we couldnt hit town until past noon.

At 14:00h there was a job training at the agency that I attended. It was basically a how-to-apply-in-OZ guide. Nathalie (yeah, bet you remember her) offered to check our résumés for typos but since she has been in Oz for only 5 months… you get the point.

Today I have discovered that there is free wireless Internet at the library. Glad to have a place where I can write this blog and keep in touch with the world. Talking about my blog, today it finally went online. Sorry again for just using the template, I just ran out of time back home.

Good news: Cell’s working again.

My mobile was not able to send any text messages although you could receive them and also make normal calls.

It bothered me a great deal and today I finally walked into the Vodafone store where I got a new SIM card. With the phone back to normal it feels a lot better. Lets see when I can put this feeling to good use and actually send my first text.

Apart from that there is actually not much to tell. It was a much more relaxed day than the ones before. I will try couchsurfing at the end of the week and try to get invited 2moro. We’ll see how that’s gonna work out.

Cliffnotes:

Cell phone is working again

Blog adress has been published

Walking, Walking,Walking

Today we ended up walking for almost 7 hours without any major breaks. It was a long and tiring day but finally everybody knows the streets by heart

By now I have also figured out the issue of the cars I was talking about a few days ago. Apparently Nadja’s favourite is a Mazda 3 hatchback in blue and Katja wants a Mazda 3 notchback in red. We’ve managed to take a pic of Kati with her fav but haven’t been lucky with the other one. Pics to come.

We went to Coles again for a little shopping and I realized for the first time how cold it is in there. Last time I was wearing my raining gear and didn’t notice. So, kinda surprised when the girls took out their jumpers in front of the store.

We went to China Town but due to its little size we were a little disappointed. It took us just a few streets to have seen it all.

Shelf at a Chinese store

Brisbane taken from Storey Bridge

The Storey Bridge is one of the most notorious “attractions” in Brisbane. On almost every postcard you can see that bridge.

Storey Bridge at Dusk

Cliffnotes:
ChinaTown
Storey Bridge

ANZAC Day

ANZAC (Australian NewZealand Armoured Corpse) Day is a public holiday here. People honour the Australian battalions, regiments and also other nations that have fought on the same side in the last wars. They seem to be quite patriotic about that. We went into town to watch the parade. Just off Ann ST we found a nice spot to watch the spectacle.

Today I am not in the mood to tell a lot of stories so its pics only.

Enjoy!!

 

2 soldiers holding a banner identifying the battalion followed by the veterans

many bands played the unofficial national anthem: Waltzing Matilda  

After the parade we decided to have a look around

  City Hall at King George Square Albert Street Uniting Church, built in 1888

 

lily pond in the Botanical Garden

You got any idea how close I need to bring my crummy cam to take a pic like that? ;-)

You can find these IBIS on every green spot in the city. A nice alternative to the pigeons in our towns.

us taking a break by the pond

 Brisbane River and the public transportation catermaran called City Cat

 South Bank: A recreational area just next to the river with pools, restaurants and BBQ.

Created for Expo ‘88

Cliffnotes:

ANZAC Day Parade

Botanica Garden

South Bank

 

LIM

9 hours of sleep really helps a lot when you are as knackered as I was. I tried to stay up as long as I could but the sandman finally won the battle at 19:30h local time. Hence, I was up at 4:00h with everybody else still sleeping.

I made some breakfast and started writing this blog. Honestly it took quite long and I doubt I will be able to dwell on every topic as long as in my first posts.

The girls approached a different and seemingly more successful sleeping strategy. They went to bed way earlier than I did, woke up sometime in between and grabbed a bite to eat. Afterwards they slept again and then woke up at 10:00h, whereas I was already tired again at 10:00h the next morning.

We went shopping for groceries at Coles where we will be shopping a lot in the months to come. In general everything seems very expensive especially milk products (yoghurt, 100g $1,10) and beverages (sparkling water, house brand, $0.66/l) and cosmetics like shower gel or shampoo. Best thing was Ferrero Rondnoir for $7.50/100g.

Also the package size is just huge here. You could really save a buck or two if you buy 1kg of grated cheese or 24l of water, but no backpacker can store or carry these immense volumes or weights.

The selection is quite large and you can get everything you want. I just didn’t expect these kinda prices and so I need to recheck my financial approach, but I will get along somehow ;-)

shopping in the rain

After a quick siesta where I was not able to sleep we went into town.

Nadja’s owned a Mazda back home and so she feels obliged to mention this whenever she sees her favourite car. Quite funny, actually and always good for a quick laugh. Luckily, there are as many Mazda 3 here as there are Golfs in Germany;-). Stay tuned for a pic of Nadja and her car of dreams.

Having seen the Sofitel Brisbane Center on our way from the airport we started out to catch a glimpse of the Australian way of LUXURY.

It is a 30 storey building with the LINK on top and was decorated with the usual dark colors. Nothing special but I liked it.

 The girls asked the (male) receptionist how much non-residents would get charged to send a letter to Germany. The gentleman at front desk was happy to make it a complimentary service. LIFE IS MAGNIFIQUE (LIM) n’est-ce pas?

Afterwards we checked out the Mall and tried to take a pic of the skyline. Unfortunately my camera evidently doesn’t get enough light in these dark conditions. Gotta read the manual again. Anyway here's the pic

We headed back home and contemplated where to spend the nights to come. After having checked the other hostels we decided to extend our stay for another 4 nights. There was a cheaper hostels nearby with a 30-bedded dorm for $21 but due to its popularity you need to book that 2 days in advance. But the YHA where we are currently staying is excellent. For $24.5 per night you stay in a 6-bedded dorm and all the facilities are clean with spacious public areas. Internet is $5 per hour that is why the blog posts are still behind schedule.

Cliffnotes:

Pricy supermarkets

Mazda 3

Sofitel Brisbane

 

Arriving in Brisbane

At least this time I was able to sleep 5 hours and so the flight was almost over when I woke up. Having had omelette for breakfast on the first flight I decided once again for the Korean alternative “Porridge”. This turned out to consist of rice instead of oatmeal and so I had a water-rice mixture with some dried herbs sprinkled on for breakfast. Didn’t taste great but as a backpacker you are not demanding. At least I have learned my lesson and now I know what meals to order on the flight back home.

 first Australian sunrise

With only a little scratch my trolley survived the trip and I was glad I had everything I planed on needing.

We were screened several times in order to make sure we are not taking any vegetables or meat into the country. Not sure why but when it was my turn to step forward the officer sent us straight to the K9 line.

 now really tired but happy to be in Oz

Feeling a little bit lost we were looking for our coach to take us to our hostel. A nice elderly Australian with a thick accent and a ribbon saying “volunteer” on it told us where to find the counter. Was a bit hard to understand him but we got the gist of it.

After receiving our tickets we stepped out to breathe Brisbane air for the first time. It was much warmer and more humid than we had experienced all spring at home and so it felt like holidays straight away.

We were driven to the hostel where we were told that check in time would be 2 pm. Having known that prior to arrival we dumped our luggage and decided to attend today’s orientation meeting. Our travel agency hosts an orientation meeting where we got some general information about Australia, how to find work and how to move within the city.

Our Tax File Number (TFN) was applied for and we received our mobile SIM-Card.

We had 2 hours to kill before the meeting would start and so we went for a walk in the Botanical Garden. 

Parrot-like birds in the Botanical Garden

Usually when you arrive in Australia the agency should have done all the preparations before you arrive so that you are just handed over an envelope. But due to the volcano issue in Europe Natalie (the girl from the agency) didn’t expect us before Monday. Instead of checking whether the flight did in fact take off she apparently preferred to listen to her guts. Well, no worries, love ;-( *grrr.

 So, after the “orientation” (basically a summery of what we already knew) she collected our passports and did the online application for our TFN.

To kill the time once again the girls took a walk to South Bank (apparently someplace nice I also need to check out) while I opened an account with Commonwealth Bank. Of course I needed my passport for verification and so I had to drop by once the agency meeting was over (no worries, Natalie *grrr)

After my account was verified I took a walk thru the Mall. Its quite a busy place with lots shops and cafes and you meet a lot of different ethnics. Seems to be great place to live.

I recharged my new SIM Card but for some reasons I cant text. Really need to figure out why cuz it bothers me like crazy. My cigarettes came to an end and so it was time to stop smoking (as of 25Apr10 08:55h when I am writing this post I am holing up fine, not great but ok)

Having done everything I was able to for the moment I headed home to finally find some rest on my pillow. It was 60 hours ago that I have last seen a decent bed and it did not take a minutes before I was gone. This really was a great extended first day with so many impressions experienced.

Closing, I would like to mention that apparently the Germans are the dominant force among the backpackers. Seems like every second guy or girl you meet is from home. I am sleeping in a 6-bedded dorm with 4 Germans and one British guy. Also, in the public areas like the kitchen you can always make out some German muttering. Basically not bad since you can have all your questions answered in your mother toungue, on the other hand I also want to improve my English that became a little rusty over the last years. This is also a reason why this Blog is written in English language.

Cliffnotes:

Arrival in Brisbane

Travel agency sux

Botanical Garden

Stopped smoking

New bank account and cell phone number