Alles hat ein Ende…

My last few hours of my amazing trip and my heart feels a little heavy. It is always hard to leave Australia but finishing this trip that has been in my head for so long also feels a little funny.

I had a great time catching up with everyone over here. It is amazing how long friendships can persist over distance and time. It has been over six years for some of them.

I also had the pleasure of being in Melbourne for the Melbourne cup which is a big horse race which stops the nation – so another funny holiday 🙂 we also bet on horses but I wasn’t so lucky this time.
Here a picture how Ulli and I dressed up, however the big fancy hats are missing.

Okay, of to he last bit of flight from KL to Frankfurt. 26h flight seems ridiculous compared to my 450h overland 🙂

Bilder-Nachschub

Ich bin jetzt in Sydney und geniesse es sehr meine Freunde hier wieder zu sehen und ein paar Tage ein australisches Leben zu fuehren. Hier habe ich endlich auch die Chance ein paar Bilder hochzuladen. Mir ist eingefallen, dass ich ab uebernaechster Woche wohl keine Zeit mehr dafuer habe. Mein Kalender ist schon viel zu gut gefuellt…

Aber jetzt erstmal noch Urlaub…

 

Malaysia, Melaka-Alte Handelsstadt

 

Stadtrundfahrt im Riksha 🙂

 

Sonnenuntergang in Melaka

 

 

Singapur bei Nacht – die Gebaede waren vor 15 Jahren auf jeden Fall noch nicht da…

 

 

Das war wohl das aufregenste in Batam, Indonesien

 

 

Wartehalle fuer die 30h Faehre nach Jakarta 

 

3.Klasse-Unterkunft… also mit Kakalaken im Bett konnte ich einfach nicht umgehen…

 

 

 

Ich durfte mich in den Steuerraum schleichen 🙂

 

Meine Jakarta Bilder sind grad leider irgendwie verschwunden… aber so aufregend war es dort nicht. Es hat da hauptsaelich ziemlich gestunken, da dort offene Abflussrohre liegen, es war dort verrueckter Verkehr mit tausenden von Motorraedern, Tuktuks und Autos in jeder Preisklasse und die Gehwege waren nicht wirklich begehbar. Ich hatte aber eine lustige Truppe dort und fand Jakarta lange nciht so schlimm wie alle immer behaupten. In einem Taxi dort sass ich uebrigens mit einem Briten und einem Hollaender und wir waren alle drei bis zu diesem Punkt ueberland gereist, mit dem Ziel Australien – verrueckt!

 

Bali – Reisfelder

 

Bali – Transportmittel….

 

 

Bali, Ubud – Monkey Forest – Das freche Aeffchen wurde einfach an der “Leihne” gehalten

 

 

Gili Islands – Aller ziemlich Hippie dort, aber auch sehr sehr entspannt.

 

Keine Autos, keine Motoraeder – nur Fahrraeder und Pferdekutschen auf der ganzen Insel

 

 

Und dann endlich, nach ueber drei Monaten Reise – Darwin, Australien!!!

Hier im Litchfiled Park bei den Jumping Crocodiles

 

Termieten-Huegel

 

 

Wunderschoene Wasserfaelle und Schwimmgelegenheiten (An den Straenden in Darwin darf man leider nicht ins Wasser, da dort Box/Jellyfish oder auch das ein oder andere Krokodil auf einen warten…

 

 

Sonnenuntergang mit Champagner und Riesengarnelen

 

 

Und ab hier hat meine tolle Kamera dann leider den Geist aufgegeben… Ist aber nicht sooo schlimm, da ich Sydeny und Melbourne ja nun schon zwei bis drei mal abfotografiert habe. Der Fotoladen Tuebingen darf sich dann aber schon mal auf meinen Besuch vorbeiten…

Am Samstag geht es dann noch fuer ein paar Tage nach Melbourne. Der australische Fruehling bereitet mich langsam auf den deutschen Herbst vor. Von fast konstant 30 Grad sind es hier in der Nach schon nur so 15 und in Melbourne wird es noch weniger… Brrrr….

One more tick if the bucket list

Darwin

I love being back in Australia! – Pub food(can’t see or even eat rice anymore 🙂 ), BBQ in the back yard, the accent, he openness and friendliness, the jokes, outside markets with live music and just the whole atmosphere. I even found out that two of my friends went up here so I could catch up with them.

Five days in the Northern Territory were quite interesting.
NT is fairly special. I know that the Aussies like their drink but Darwin takes it to a whole new level. I saw drinking at 9 am, drinking in the car by passengers and driver in the afternoon and well there is not much around here but a lot of pubs!
It is very laid back here tho, but might be also due to the hot hot weather. There are beaches but you can’t swim because you might get eaten by a crocodile… It is 60% men over here and also around 20% aborigines. The situation with the aborigines is very shocking and disappointing to me. It is amazing/shocking that people have not figured out a good way of integration… I remember I was always very fascinated by he aboriginal culture but all you see here in the streets are drunk and unemployed ones who beg for money. Oh well, I’m trying to have many conversations to understand the background and attitude of the ‘white’ Australians. Haven’t had the chance to speak to an aborigine tho,

I went to the litchfield national park and saw jumping crocodiles and swam in waterfall pools – beautiful! Unfortunately, my camera decide to stop working. I’d also love to pit up some more pics of Indonesia but the Internet situation here is shocking! After free wifi and free Internet computers all over Asia it is expensive and slow over here.
I. Two weeks I’m home tho, so I guess you can hang on a little longer.

Tomorrow I’m o to Sydney for some friends hopping 🙂 I also will tick of one more thing on my bucket list, not gonna tell before its done tho 😉

Germany to Australia – Total: ~21.000km

Australia!!!

Just about time that I made it. Feels so good to be back! 🙂
First meal dish and chips with a coopers green (yes, after one month without alcohol I started again in my last night in Bali…)

It was a long and amazing journey!!!

I sat down and figured out some numbers. so here a little summary of my travels in numbers:

In 112 days I made it from Germany to Australia!

I took 29 trains, 22 buses, 21 boats, 10 minivans, 8 cars, 6 local buses, 11 metros, 15 taxis, 11 tuck tucks, 2 rickshas, 3 motorbikes, 2 bikes, 1 Russian van, 1 horse carriage, 1 horse, 1 camel, 1 elephant, 0 donkeys and after all one 2h plane.

I spend around 460h on transport and traveled ~19000km overland and only ‘cheated’ by 1759km by plane.

I crossed through 11 countries and went through 13 time zones, 8 climate zones and 6 vegetation zones.
I went from 48North and 9East to 12South and 130East.

The highest point was 1890m over sea level and the lowest point -38m (deep dive).

I had 10 degree Celsius at night in Mongolia and 42 degree Celsius at day time in Mongolia (most of my trip was just above 30 tho).

I had 22h of daylight in St. Petersburg and 12h in Indonesia.

I longest time I stayed in one place was 15 days in George Town and the shortest amount 7h in Bangkok.

I used 12 different currencies (always good to have some USD…)

I learned to say ‘thank you’ in 7 languages and met around 130 people who left a long lasting impression. I’m sure some long lasting friendships will arise out of there too.

I have an uncountable amount of stories to tell and pictures to show.

I had and have a great time traveling and I am again very thankful for the opportunity and all the experiences, travel companions and help I got during this trip. Life is good!

Just a few things I saw and did in Indonesia :)

I

 

Jakarta to Bali – Lombock – Gilis islands – Total: 19000km

So I think: I MADE IT!!!! 🙂
The first people I bumped into on Bali were Australian and about 70% of the tourists here as well. So I declare Bali to be little Oz and so from my definition my mission is completed!!!

I made it from Germany to little Australia without using a plane!!!! 🙂

104days and about 18000km
I feel pretty good about this!

I might slowly understand why people call me crazy 🙂
After one day in Jakarta I took an other 24h ferry (and even dragged two other travelers along) this time 2nd class from the start;). I arrived at 5pm in Surabaya and then happened to get on a minivan at 7pm that got me into Bali at 9am. Quite a long trip but all happy. Next day I went diving in the morning and let the dive people drop me off at the public harbor to take the 4h ferry to lombock for 3€ instead of the 3h fast boat for 35€. From there I hit to the gillis islands for a nice end of my beach and diving holiday. i will go back to Bali before the 21st to catch my plane to Darwin.

Ferry to Jakarta – Total: 17400km

5.30am sunrise and still warm outside. Wherever I look is water, the horizon and sky. It is so relaxing for my eyes.

We crossed the equator yesterday so I made it to the Southern Hemisphere!

Getting on the ferry was rather stressful and scary. There were so many people and shouting and men with machine guns… I could only hope that they could hold their temper. But it was all good in the end.

I booked economy class which was an amazing difference to my last accommodation. It was one bed next to the other in a massive room and when I got to my bed there was a cockroache running over my mattress Ahhhhhhh!!!! I decided this is part of the adventure and I went up to enjoy the view and trying to find one of the other four westerners I spied to finally have a longer conversation than ‘where are you from?’ and ‘Jakarta?’.
I was successful and happy but when I returned my mattress was gone and everyone just looked at me with big eyes. That was when I decided to get an upgrade to 2nd class and was on my way to the counter when I realized that all the doors were locked. What??? Somehow I found out that they came for ticket control and no one was allowed to leave the room. So I reluctantly went back to my ‘bed’ and waited. Upgrading wasn’t a problem once the staff came by. (Also, one of the stewards offered me to stay in his cabin for free, but he would join me around midnight – in his one bed. Hmmm, no,thanks…)
2nd class is a cabin with three bunk beds but I’m the only one and it is clean! Happy now and enjoying the ride 🙂 I guess I am a little spoiled but 20€ for a clean bed, no bugs, lockers and some personal space is appreciated.

I also had a crazy karaoke night and sang a few songs with the ferry band 🙂 so it was not a paid job as a singer in a cruise ship but close enough, so this dream is ticked too 🙂

I as very happy to get into Jakarta last night as I got a a lie see sick on the last stretch and also got a stomach bug – bugger.

One day Jakarta craziness and then one more long ferry. It is a shame hat I don’t have more time in Indonesia, there is so much to see and explore here. But Australia is calling badly by now.

Im Goldenen Kaefig :)

Heute ist mein letzter Tag in diesen sehr guten, aber auch sehr einsamen 4 Sterne Hotel. Meine Lektion in den letzten Tagen: Luxus macht nicht gluecklich!

Ich bin hier die einzige ‘Weisse’ und werde die ganze Zeit nur angestarrt und mal wieder heimlich fotografiert. Das regt mich trotz Gleichmut tierisch auf.

Am ersten Tag im Pool bin ich noch unbesorgt im Bikini schwimmen gegangen, bis ich die intensiven Blick gespuert habe. Ja und dann bin ich nur noch im hoteleigenen Ganzkoerperbadeanzug (von Knoechel bis zu den Handgelenken) rein. Ist jetzt nicht so meine Vorstellung von Poolspass. 

Aber das waere noch nicht mal so schlimm, wenn ihr jemand zum unterhalten gewesen waere. 5min mit dem Concierge oder Manager sind nicht genug. Ich hab halt viel gelesen, Filme geguckt, war mal im Shopping center und hab ne Massage bekommen und meditiert 🙂 Nett ist, das mich hier alle Angestellten beim Namen kennen. Bin ja auch nicht zu uebersehen – Hahaha!

Naja, ich freu mich darauf, das es heute weiter geht und bin gespannt was eine indonesische 24h Faehre so zu bieten hat. fuer 20Euro ein Bett im Schlafsaal, Verpflegung und Ueberfahrt nach Jakarta. Das wird spannend! Anscheinend koennte ich sogar gar nicht fliegen, wenn ich wollte, da APEC grad in Bali ist und der domestic Flughafen zu ist. Also, alles richtig gemacht 🙂

 

Batam – Indonesia

Just when I looked back at the 14 years young me being all overwhelmed by Singapore, with a smile, the 30 years old me ends up on an Indonesian morning market as the only western looking person. ‘Good morning’ ‘how are you’ ‘miss!’ ‘I love you’ from every stall and every person looking at you in that crowd trying to get the best vegetable deals. Wow! I think I still need to grow up more 🙂

Indonesian man really seem like the Italians of Asia 🙂 shouts and compliments from every corner. I gotta say I am still overwhelmed. I’m glad that I did not experience this with 14 🙂

I left Singapore after less then 24h because I didn’t want to miss the weekly or fortnightly ferry which I didn’t know the schedule from. Well now I am kind of stuck in Batam for five days waiting. There is not much around and after one night in the town center I will go to one of the resorts and treat myself with a little luxury. It is all about this or shopping here. If anyone is close and wants to share my double room, give me a shout!

To get the ferry to here was too easy. Singapore is so well organized. I didn’t even get the chance to go along the harbor with my ‘Australia’ sign. MRT to harbor front and straight to the ferry terminals. And as soon as I was over here I found the office to book my further ferries. One 24h ferry to Jakarta, three days there, a 24h ferry to a city close to Bali and one more short ferry and I will get to Bali by the 13.10.13 Piece of cake 🙂 (well if all works out…;)

Today I hired a driver to show me the island, maybe there are some nice things to discover. It seems like the weekend get away place for all Singaporean.

Here a few pictures from the mainland and all the cargo ships I could have sneaked on to 😉