"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