G´day!
At first I would like to apologise for the radio silence the last days but I have an excuse or at least an explanation. I have spend so much time in front of the computer with organizing, researching and applying for new jobs that I just couldn´t be bothered to write the blog. Sorry...
A special welcome to my congregation, Hello Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (maybe) and Andrew, I hope you are well and have a good time.
The second leg of my trip back home (Abu Dhabi - Frankfurt) was not baby infested but it was a smaller plane and I didn´t have as much space as in the plane before. Ah, and of course the customs in Abu Dhabi wanted to know what I transported in the jars in my pockets. "Yeah, I know t looks like weed but it´s a native Australian spice mixture...". I seemed to be convincing as they did believe me. No customs officer did even smell at it. So a little tip if anyone wants to become a drug trafficker: get yourself a jar of native Australian spices, use the spices and re-fill the jar with weed...Good luck! Let me know how it went and don´t sue me if you find yourself in a jail somewhere...
When the plane descended over Frankfurt I saw a color I haven’t seen in quite some time: Green trees, green grass and green vegetables everywhere, real green not this grey-brownish color of Victorian plants. For a moment I thought "mmm, green" but then I saw the other famous German green: my first encounter with the local authorities and German police´s color is not blue like in most countries but green and there they were. Even though I was waiting in the queue for EU-residents the check-in was in snail pace and that was not even for customs! The immigration guys had apparently all the time in the world and seemed even disappointed when they didn´t find anything wrong. Finally I was officially inside Germany and could proceed to the baggage claim.
Here all the advantages of my butt-ugly suitcase became apparent, other travelers had to check if the standard blue/black suitcase is theirs by looking at the labels but I could identify my butt-ugly suitcase instantly!
So finally I could change out of my heavy clothing into something "normal" and got ready for the final customs confrontation regarding my spice mix but Lo! and behold, the German customs didn´t fucking care. Then I met my parents for the first time in two and a half years. Both looked quite like they did when I left. They haven’t aged much and I can only hope that I have inherited those genes. My father is over 70 but still has all his hair so I have hope not to be bald too soon...
Then we tried to find where they have parked the car and that was a little challenge but eventually we succeeded and we drove home. On the German Autobahn at approx 160km/h…and I thought of all my Australian friends who would love to do that…hey, come and visit me while I´m here and wego driving…
That´s enough for today, take care and cya soon
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Friday, 24 April 2009
Journey home Part#2, travelling with erbs, the colour green and smoking in Abu Dhabi
G´day,
After the intermission "bitching about Germany" yesterday I continue the tale of my journey home. A special welcome to Emily, Josara, Jula, Cord (probably) and Andrew.
On Monday morning I woke up with a slight headache (Cherry Rock only had VB in cans if you know what I mean and I´m pretty sure you do...) and the feeling like a prisoner on death row who´s time has finally come.
It was gloomy and misty outside which resembled how I felt inside so I decided to make some coffee and crawl back into bed which was a really good idea. The second attempt to get up was more successful and I embarked on doing the last chores in Australia. I had to say Good-bye to Spunkie and collect my sunnies from my old place, deliver y DVDs to Mel and had to give back some (extremely) over-due boos from Monee Ponds public library.
First part of the task was good, thanks to Ben who placed the house key under the door-mat for me and I got my stuff, said good-by to my beloved ex-cat and left the house key on the kitchen table.
Well, that was not the best of ideas as Ben was not home, as I thought but on some chores of his own and when he came back the key was gone. When he rang me to ask where I´ve put the key and I told him "kitchen table" he wondered how he should get into his own house. The issue has been solved but I want to use this opportunity to apologise again in public. Ben, sorry, sometimes I´m just a little stupid...won´t happen again any time soon...I promise
When I went to the library to give back the over-due books I learned that if books are over-due for a long time the librarian is pissed off and you have to pay quite a decent fee but if books are over-due for a REALLY long time, the librarian is just happy that they found their way back and you don´t have to pay at all...
So I went into the library with 3 book I´ve borrowed there in March 2007 *blush* and which have moved with my from Ascot Vale to Kensington, Brunswick West, Windsor to finally Regent, o of them has spend also a year in Ricks car and I was a little afraid that I would have to pay $100 for each of them. So I approached the librarian and said: "G´day...this might be a new record for late returns...mumble...over two years late...mumble" and I explained that I will leave the country today and just want to return them before I go and that I was sorry that I forgot...well I didn´t tell the exact truth but a kind of half-trueish story. The librarian checked the books and they were already removed from their system. So she confirmed that this was a new record for late returns and told me that she appreciates that I bring them back even after two years. Most people wouldn´t have done that...I had the impression that I made her day...
In the afternoon I had the chance to take some more cute dog-cat action pics:
Willem using the laptop as cat heating
Buddy and Pixel sharing a seat (Buddy is a hell hound)
And dog licks cat action...
Then the packing of the butt-ugly suitcase had to be done and I have put quite a lot of thoughts into the problem how to get around 50kg on a plane if you are only allowed 20kg suitcase and 7kg hand luggage. I solved the issue by wearing quite a lot of the heavy cloths and stuff the pockets of my jacket with the heavy stuff (including 2 glasses of native Australian spice mixes and two hard drives). In the end I had a butt-ugly suitcase weighing 26.5kg and around 9kg of hand luggage and additional 20kg on my person...
Around 7.30pm Josara and me left for Melbourne International airport and the airline didn´t give me too much trouble in checking my stuff in. I only had to move a little more stuff from my hand luggage on my person and then they gave me the thumbs up. 15 minute prior to take off I kissed Josara good-bye for now and went through customs. "You are pushing it a bit, sir?" was the comment from the customs guys. Well 15 min is enough, isn´t it? You don´t have to wait in the queue and when yo finally enter the plane everybody is already seated and just waiting for you. Actually I wasn´t the last one on te plane, so that was all good. When they X-rayed my stuff the two glasses of herbs got customs excited. "Sir, could you please show us what´s in there?" and I took the glasses out and yes, the contents looked a little like weed but then I asked the officers "Well, do you really think I would smggle drugs OUT of Australia? Australia is a country to smuggle drugs IN not out." That got a laugh and the customs officers decided that it´s awesome that Natives Australian herbs get introduced into the wide world. "Good on´yer!"
This is the last picture taken on Astralian soil:
The flight itself was a long one (14 hours) and let me tell you, I fucking hate babys on flights. Two of this little buggers were place in my vicinity, one in the row in front of me the other one two rows behind and they turned what could have been a pleasant night flight into a scream contest. As some parents told me there might be actually baby noises or sounds that are pleasant to the ear but this two carpet-rats screamed in a range that could rival any death metal singer. And they just fuckin didn´t stop. The only way to escape this noise was to overpower it with Slayer on the iPod but even though it prevented me from hearing fucking baby screams all night, it also prevented me from getting any sleep.
Anther experience was the thunderstorm when we reached the Indian subcontinent. For half an hour the plane felt like a roller coaster and I was unleasantly reminded of the first Episode of LOST but fortunately the oly time the plane got actually down was at Abu Dhabi International airport.
Abu Dhabi airport is quite ugly and more or less just an artificial oasis in the middle of nowhere. I had a little over 6 hours there and -my luck- the transit terminal was quite new. So new in fact that only the "important" bits like this
decadent, nobel shops and this 
were finished. Please note that toilet and prayer rooms seem to have about the same importance. So the message is maybe praying is important as pissing or is it religion = shit? For you to decide...
The unimportant bits were unfinished, about 100 of this nice free internet machines were placed all over the teminal:
Fuckin hell. At least they had a smoker "room"
With some strange signs, I havn´t figured out what this should have said to me...
As I have to go now to visit of friends of mine, I´ll continue with the rest tomorrow. Have fun and take care
After the intermission "bitching about Germany" yesterday I continue the tale of my journey home. A special welcome to Emily, Josara, Jula, Cord (probably) and Andrew.
On Monday morning I woke up with a slight headache (Cherry Rock only had VB in cans if you know what I mean and I´m pretty sure you do...) and the feeling like a prisoner on death row who´s time has finally come.
It was gloomy and misty outside which resembled how I felt inside so I decided to make some coffee and crawl back into bed which was a really good idea. The second attempt to get up was more successful and I embarked on doing the last chores in Australia. I had to say Good-bye to Spunkie and collect my sunnies from my old place, deliver y DVDs to Mel and had to give back some (extremely) over-due boos from Monee Ponds public library.
First part of the task was good, thanks to Ben who placed the house key under the door-mat for me and I got my stuff, said good-by to my beloved ex-cat and left the house key on the kitchen table.
Well, that was not the best of ideas as Ben was not home, as I thought but on some chores of his own and when he came back the key was gone. When he rang me to ask where I´ve put the key and I told him "kitchen table" he wondered how he should get into his own house. The issue has been solved but I want to use this opportunity to apologise again in public. Ben, sorry, sometimes I´m just a little stupid...won´t happen again any time soon...I promise
When I went to the library to give back the over-due books I learned that if books are over-due for a long time the librarian is pissed off and you have to pay quite a decent fee but if books are over-due for a REALLY long time, the librarian is just happy that they found their way back and you don´t have to pay at all...
So I went into the library with 3 book I´ve borrowed there in March 2007 *blush* and which have moved with my from Ascot Vale to Kensington, Brunswick West, Windsor to finally Regent, o of them has spend also a year in Ricks car and I was a little afraid that I would have to pay $100 for each of them. So I approached the librarian and said: "G´day...this might be a new record for late returns...mumble...over two years late...mumble" and I explained that I will leave the country today and just want to return them before I go and that I was sorry that I forgot...well I didn´t tell the exact truth but a kind of half-trueish story. The librarian checked the books and they were already removed from their system. So she confirmed that this was a new record for late returns and told me that she appreciates that I bring them back even after two years. Most people wouldn´t have done that...I had the impression that I made her day...
In the afternoon I had the chance to take some more cute dog-cat action pics:
Willem using the laptop as cat heating Buddy and Pixel sharing a seat (Buddy is a hell hound)And dog licks cat action...Then the packing of the butt-ugly suitcase had to be done and I have put quite a lot of thoughts into the problem how to get around 50kg on a plane if you are only allowed 20kg suitcase and 7kg hand luggage. I solved the issue by wearing quite a lot of the heavy cloths and stuff the pockets of my jacket with the heavy stuff (including 2 glasses of native Australian spice mixes and two hard drives). In the end I had a butt-ugly suitcase weighing 26.5kg and around 9kg of hand luggage and additional 20kg on my person...
Around 7.30pm Josara and me left for Melbourne International airport and the airline didn´t give me too much trouble in checking my stuff in. I only had to move a little more stuff from my hand luggage on my person and then they gave me the thumbs up. 15 minute prior to take off I kissed Josara good-bye for now and went through customs. "You are pushing it a bit, sir?" was the comment from the customs guys. Well 15 min is enough, isn´t it? You don´t have to wait in the queue and when yo finally enter the plane everybody is already seated and just waiting for you. Actually I wasn´t the last one on te plane, so that was all good. When they X-rayed my stuff the two glasses of herbs got customs excited. "Sir, could you please show us what´s in there?" and I took the glasses out and yes, the contents looked a little like weed but then I asked the officers "Well, do you really think I would smggle drugs OUT of Australia? Australia is a country to smuggle drugs IN not out." That got a laugh and the customs officers decided that it´s awesome that Natives Australian herbs get introduced into the wide world. "Good on´yer!"
This is the last picture taken on Astralian soil:
The flight itself was a long one (14 hours) and let me tell you, I fucking hate babys on flights. Two of this little buggers were place in my vicinity, one in the row in front of me the other one two rows behind and they turned what could have been a pleasant night flight into a scream contest. As some parents told me there might be actually baby noises or sounds that are pleasant to the ear but this two carpet-rats screamed in a range that could rival any death metal singer. And they just fuckin didn´t stop. The only way to escape this noise was to overpower it with Slayer on the iPod but even though it prevented me from hearing fucking baby screams all night, it also prevented me from getting any sleep.
Anther experience was the thunderstorm when we reached the Indian subcontinent. For half an hour the plane felt like a roller coaster and I was unleasantly reminded of the first Episode of LOST but fortunately the oly time the plane got actually down was at Abu Dhabi International airport.
Abu Dhabi airport is quite ugly and more or less just an artificial oasis in the middle of nowhere. I had a little over 6 hours there and -my luck- the transit terminal was quite new. So new in fact that only the "important" bits like this
decadent, nobel shops and this were finished. Please note that toilet and prayer rooms seem to have about the same importance. So the message is maybe praying is important as pissing or is it religion = shit? For you to decide...
The unimportant bits were unfinished, about 100 of this nice free internet machines were placed all over the teminal:
Fuckin hell. At least they had a smoker "room" With some strange signs, I havn´t figured out what this should have said to me...
As I have to go now to visit of friends of mine, I´ll continue with the rest tomorrow. Have fun and take care
Intermission: fuckin´bureaucracy, fuckin´banks and fuckin´energy supply
G´day,
And the special welcome to Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (perhaps) and Andrew.
I´m already fed up with Germany. Yesterday I have phoned with the Federal Employment Office and the Social Welfare Office regarding my legal duties in order to get myself registered in timely and orderly fashion (like a true German). They told me that -even though- I wouldn´t get money from the employment office I would need to register there in person in order to get a form which states that I won´t get any money from them to be able to get the welfare money. So far so good but my hometown consists of two towns that are approx 5km apart so I repaired my dad´s push bike yesterday and got up early this morning.
First blow was that the fucking alarm clock went off 2,5 hours early so I was up at 4.30am instead of 7am but so what? I enjoyed quite a lot of coffee as my parents have this awesome sophisticated coffee machine and enjoyed the sunrise. Then I went on the bike and pedalled 7km to the other part of town. And then I was -again the true German- 10 minutes early before they even opened. I went in thee and explained that I´m here to get registered and get the form that I won´t get any money from them. But the fuckers told me that they are not responsible for that issue, I would just need to register with the welfare. I explained again that several Federal offices explained that I have to register there but they told me that this is bullshit and I only have to register with the welfare. I pedalled 7 km back and before I had breakfast I have already biked 14kms for freaking nothing!
The welfare office took also some time and in the end they provided me with approx 50 different form to fill out...fucking hell...now I know what to do the next days...
After I realised that I can´t plug my Australian devices into German power plugs I tried to get an adapter Aus-Eur but learned that there are none. In Melbourne you can get Eur-Aus adapters in every shop but Germany seems to be a little different...
The asshole in the shop I was told me smugly that "Usually people buy adaptors before they travel". Up yours, cunt! Eventually I fond the ONLY online shop in Germany that sells Aus-Eur adapters and ordered one...should be here tomorrow.
The next blow was my unsuccessful attempt to change my AUS$ into EURO. I went to 3 banks and they only change foreign currencies if you have an account with them. The pox on the banks!
Ok bitched enough for today...maybe I´ll continue my original blog entry from yesterday this night, maybe not. Have a great day and cya
And the special welcome to Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (perhaps) and Andrew.
I´m already fed up with Germany. Yesterday I have phoned with the Federal Employment Office and the Social Welfare Office regarding my legal duties in order to get myself registered in timely and orderly fashion (like a true German). They told me that -even though- I wouldn´t get money from the employment office I would need to register there in person in order to get a form which states that I won´t get any money from them to be able to get the welfare money. So far so good but my hometown consists of two towns that are approx 5km apart so I repaired my dad´s push bike yesterday and got up early this morning.
First blow was that the fucking alarm clock went off 2,5 hours early so I was up at 4.30am instead of 7am but so what? I enjoyed quite a lot of coffee as my parents have this awesome sophisticated coffee machine and enjoyed the sunrise. Then I went on the bike and pedalled 7km to the other part of town. And then I was -again the true German- 10 minutes early before they even opened. I went in thee and explained that I´m here to get registered and get the form that I won´t get any money from them. But the fuckers told me that they are not responsible for that issue, I would just need to register with the welfare. I explained again that several Federal offices explained that I have to register there but they told me that this is bullshit and I only have to register with the welfare. I pedalled 7 km back and before I had breakfast I have already biked 14kms for freaking nothing!
The welfare office took also some time and in the end they provided me with approx 50 different form to fill out...fucking hell...now I know what to do the next days...
After I realised that I can´t plug my Australian devices into German power plugs I tried to get an adapter Aus-Eur but learned that there are none. In Melbourne you can get Eur-Aus adapters in every shop but Germany seems to be a little different...
The asshole in the shop I was told me smugly that "Usually people buy adaptors before they travel". Up yours, cunt! Eventually I fond the ONLY online shop in Germany that sells Aus-Eur adapters and ordered one...should be here tomorrow.
The next blow was my unsuccessful attempt to change my AUS$ into EURO. I went to 3 banks and they only change foreign currencies if you have an account with them. The pox on the banks!
Ok bitched enough for today...maybe I´ll continue my original blog entry from yesterday this night, maybe not. Have a great day and cya
Thursday, 23 April 2009
My first true love...
G´day,
Update as I announced it already...my first true love and me are re-united:
The last days in Australia, Cherry Rock 2009 and fun with customs (Part1)
G´day,
This is the first blog entry from good ole Europe. A special welcome to my congregation and apologies that I have neglected you over the last days but I had better things to do than spending my time writing the blog. So Hi! Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (maybe) and Andrew.
Short report on last week, I have moved out of my old flat on Thuesday and got my last stuff out on Wednesday. This is a pic of me and my old flat-mate Ben. Ben was ne of the best flat-mates I ever had and I use the occasion to say again "Thank you for everything mate!".
I used the next days to organise stuff and spend as much time as possible with the persons I like most. And I also took some pictures of typical Melbournian signs. I like this one from a park next to my old house. By the way, the park is approx. 100m by 150m but somehow the council felt it necessary to put up some of this signs to prevent people from playing guerrilla golf...
And I also have payed Melbournes best toilet a visit...
And Friday was one of the best days in my life. I will never forget that day! Was just fucking awesome but I didn´t take any photos. Saturday was my Farewell/Birthday party and I was surprised who showed up and who didn´t. And I was really happy that Rick and Iris were there as I havn´t heard from them for quite a long time. Thanks that you´ve been there!
And then of course Peter Pan Speedrock. They are one of my favorite bands of all times and they just rocked ass...
This is the first blog entry from good ole Europe. A special welcome to my congregation and apologies that I have neglected you over the last days but I had better things to do than spending my time writing the blog. So Hi! Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (maybe) and Andrew.
Short report on last week, I have moved out of my old flat on Thuesday and got my last stuff out on Wednesday. This is a pic of me and my old flat-mate Ben. Ben was ne of the best flat-mates I ever had and I use the occasion to say again "Thank you for everything mate!".
I used the next days to organise stuff and spend as much time as possible with the persons I like most. And I also took some pictures of typical Melbournian signs. I like this one from a park next to my old house. By the way, the park is approx. 100m by 150m but somehow the council felt it necessary to put up some of this signs to prevent people from playing guerrilla golf...And I also have payed Melbournes best toilet a visit... Best view while pissing...
And Friday was one of the best days in my life. I will never forget that day! Was just fucking awesome but I didn´t take any photos. Saturday was my Farewell/Birthday party and I was surprised who showed up and who didn´t. And I was really happy that Rick and Iris were there as I havn´t heard from them for quite a long time. Thanks that you´ve been there!
Bart was only mildly surprised to see Jimmy Snuff and me (in full uniform)...
The line-up was quite nice and I can recomment Six Ft Hick. Fuckin awesome band and a great show
And then of course Peter Pan Speedrock. They are one of my favorite bands of all times and they just rocked ass... 
And after the concert we spend a little time in Cherry and at 11pm I was already fast asleep to wake up next day to one of the strangest birthdays of my life.
Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow. Have fun and take care...
Friday, 17 April 2009
The real life is just too busy right now...
G'day,
And a special Welcome to my congregation, Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (if that's you) ad Andrew. Just a real short update: I sold my comp and delivered my books to Katy. Now I only have to get my DVDs to Mel and I'm sorted. I still think I have too many cloths but I might dress up like a Michellin man for te flight. I will sweat like hell but so what? Doesn;t bother me that much and well my flight neighbr will just have to live with it...
I will say farewell will style. On Sunday 19th of April (which is my last complete day here) I am going to attend Cherry Rock 2009 and will surprise my friends from Peter Pan Speedrock who I saw last time a month before I left Germany to move to Melbourne and I recall that we said Good-bye with the words "Next time we'll meet in Australia...". Haha, and that on my last day, if that ain't fate at work.
Ok, I'll keep you updated when I have the time and please stop complaining else I won't log in to Facebook anymore...
And a special Welcome to my congregation, Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (if that's you) ad Andrew. Just a real short update: I sold my comp and delivered my books to Katy. Now I only have to get my DVDs to Mel and I'm sorted. I still think I have too many cloths but I might dress up like a Michellin man for te flight. I will sweat like hell but so what? Doesn;t bother me that much and well my flight neighbr will just have to live with it...
I will say farewell will style. On Sunday 19th of April (which is my last complete day here) I am going to attend Cherry Rock 2009 and will surprise my friends from Peter Pan Speedrock who I saw last time a month before I left Germany to move to Melbourne and I recall that we said Good-bye with the words "Next time we'll meet in Australia...". Haha, and that on my last day, if that ain't fate at work.
Ok, I'll keep you updated when I have the time and please stop complaining else I won't log in to Facebook anymore...
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Flea bombing, vacating my room and lots of computer stress
G'day,
And Hi! to my congregation, Emili, Josara, Julia, Cord (perhaps) and Andrew. Today was pure stress, I had to pack all my stuff and get my room clear as my successor Rob has to leave his former room today and needed to get his stuff in. Luckily I don't have that much stuff but it was still a challenge. The we had to re-locate the cats and us for 2 hours as we have flea-bombed the house because Toby (and maybe Spunkie) have cat fleas.
I used the time and went external hard drive shopping as need disc-space for my files and burning the whole shit on dvd would simply take too much time. But as always it's not just simple plug-and-play with Microsoft the damn computer didn't recognise the harddrive and I had to waste at least 1,5 hours to get the whole shit working. Fucking hell! And now I'm copying files like a madman as my comp get's picked up tomorrow and I'll deliver my books and DVDs tomorrow and bring my stuff over to my second disciple who has kindly offered to let me stay for the last days.
Ok, so much for now, more tomorrow, cya and take care
And Hi! to my congregation, Emili, Josara, Julia, Cord (perhaps) and Andrew. Today was pure stress, I had to pack all my stuff and get my room clear as my successor Rob has to leave his former room today and needed to get his stuff in. Luckily I don't have that much stuff but it was still a challenge. The we had to re-locate the cats and us for 2 hours as we have flea-bombed the house because Toby (and maybe Spunkie) have cat fleas.
I used the time and went external hard drive shopping as need disc-space for my files and burning the whole shit on dvd would simply take too much time. But as always it's not just simple plug-and-play with Microsoft the damn computer didn't recognise the harddrive and I had to waste at least 1,5 hours to get the whole shit working. Fucking hell! And now I'm copying files like a madman as my comp get's picked up tomorrow and I'll deliver my books and DVDs tomorrow and bring my stuff over to my second disciple who has kindly offered to let me stay for the last days.
Ok, so much for now, more tomorrow, cya and take care
Monday, 13 April 2009
A trip to rural Victoria (part 2)
G'day,
Nice to discover no further complaining and I'm happy to welcome Andrew into the circle of disciples. A special welcome to Emily, Josara, Julia and Cord (well...us usual, maybe) and a pfft to #5.
The next morning after we have not been molested by spiders and/or bull ants, we put the ancient fuel powered cooker that we found in the cabin to use and had coffee. That's civilisation for you, even in the middle of the bush. When we were sufficiently awake Josara beat me in Scrabble several times (again, bloody hell). My efforts to invent words were unsuccessful, even though I could explain what they meant. And mind you some of the explanations were pretty creative but still unsuccessful...
Around midday we put the dogs in the car and set off to the beach. Ah by the way, this is the famous "Great ocean road"
And via the Great Ocean Road we arrived at Point Addis...
It turned out that Point Addis was a nature reserve and dogs were to be kept on the lead so after giving this matter a little thought we decided to do another U-turn and drive a little way back to Bells Beach. According to Josara Bells Beach is much better, it's a dog's off-lead area and she has been there before. The way to Bells beach was blocked by a road block saying "Public event in progress". I started wondering what kind of public event would take place on the Surf Coast beach on a Good Friday. After all Australia is a very secular county and I couldn't imagine that Australians would do something like this famous Mexican "let's all grab a huge cross and drag it through our village to show how devout we are" thingy. But you never know, maybe it was the annual Good Friday "let's get bloody drunk and nail something to a piece of wood" contest. Religion for Australians if you get my drift...
So we parked the car a way away and walked over to discover that it was a music festival....on Good Friday. Unthinkable in Germany, even though Germany is officially a secular country, public fun on Good Friday wouldn't be allowed, at least not officially. In this area Australia scores again...
So as we couldn't enter that beach neither we went to Anglesea to get something to eat and hopefully find an open shop (as Good Friday is one of the few public holidays on which everything is closed). And like back home, towns in touristic areas don't care for public holidays, so I went and bought candles to ensure that we had light tonight. And I'm a little ashamed to admit my next un-manly deed, one of the seven deadly sins against true manly manliness: I went into a shop and ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS to a hardware store. It was a successful and strangly satisfying experience but I wonder a lot when I will buy my first pink shirt...argh....
Well anyway...we got a connection adapter for the gas bottle and then I DID IT AGAIN, asked for directions to the nearest dog-off-lead beach and, yes I admit it: I'm a gender confused individual...then we went further down the Great Ocean Road
until we arrived at this parking ground. And this time it was perfect, no nature reserve and no public event, so we took the dogs and went for a walk at the beach.
Here is a video with impressions from the beach, mainly Buddy waiting for one of us to throw his ball...
And while we were sitting on the beach a bushfire broke out behind the hill approx. 5km down the road. Not a huge one, it didn't make it into the media and the cars going down Great Ocean Road continued to drive down even though they probably had to drive through the whole thing. But I guess until the whole bush burns the normal Australian says to him/herself "No worries" and carries on with whatever it is they are doing...
During our stay at the beach the bushfire or at least the smoke got bigger and bigger but still no reaction. Not a fire engine passing by or anything else. Well, we watched Buddy instead who invented a new routine when he was too impatient to wait for a human to throw the ball for him. This routine consisted of him playing with the ball by himself, digging it through his hind legs and the running after it again. I even have a video of this which is quite funny but I will only post it, if I get at least 5 comments from my readers saying please post it.
When we were about to leave I spotted this sign or rather Josara spotted it and I took the pic:
This sign is simply amazing. Not only due to it's message but also the location is really strange. You know, back home in Europe we have signs after you crossed a border into another country informing you of the traffic rules like maximum speed and stuff. I just want to point out that a sign like that would make sense on a border or as Australia has no borders that sign would make sense on the exit of airports or harbors. Somewhere where foreigners enter the country who could be reminded to stay on the left side of the road...
But putting a sign like that in the middle of bloody Great Ocean Road, more than 10km out of the next town, more than 100km away from the next international airport or harbor makes you speculate about the sanity of those people who decide on the location of signs. I mean you'll have to drive for at least 10km (on the left preferably) just to view this sign. And then it's a little on the late side as you either know already on which side to drive or you have become a victim in a horrible crash...
Well we drove back to the cabin and had a really nice dinner as the gas stove finally worked...
At least it was my manly duty to get the stove to work...so a little manliness is still there. After a great feast we played Scrabble...
...and despite my concentrated look on the pic I lost again...3 times in a row...damn and blast!
And the next morning we had coffee and doughnuts and then packed the stuff and the dogs
and drove back to Melbourne. That was my last trip to rural Australia for this time and my last full moon but next time there will be even better trips and full moon will come again...
Ok that was it for today, have fun, take care and cya tomorrow
Nice to discover no further complaining and I'm happy to welcome Andrew into the circle of disciples. A special welcome to Emily, Josara, Julia and Cord (well...us usual, maybe) and a pfft to #5.
The next morning after we have not been molested by spiders and/or bull ants, we put the ancient fuel powered cooker that we found in the cabin to use and had coffee. That's civilisation for you, even in the middle of the bush. When we were sufficiently awake Josara beat me in Scrabble several times (again, bloody hell). My efforts to invent words were unsuccessful, even though I could explain what they meant. And mind you some of the explanations were pretty creative but still unsuccessful...
Around midday we put the dogs in the car and set off to the beach. Ah by the way, this is the famous "Great ocean road"
And via the Great Ocean Road we arrived at Point Addis...
It turned out that Point Addis was a nature reserve and dogs were to be kept on the lead so after giving this matter a little thought we decided to do another U-turn and drive a little way back to Bells Beach. According to Josara Bells Beach is much better, it's a dog's off-lead area and she has been there before. The way to Bells beach was blocked by a road block saying "Public event in progress". I started wondering what kind of public event would take place on the Surf Coast beach on a Good Friday. After all Australia is a very secular county and I couldn't imagine that Australians would do something like this famous Mexican "let's all grab a huge cross and drag it through our village to show how devout we are" thingy. But you never know, maybe it was the annual Good Friday "let's get bloody drunk and nail something to a piece of wood" contest. Religion for Australians if you get my drift...So we parked the car a way away and walked over to discover that it was a music festival....on Good Friday. Unthinkable in Germany, even though Germany is officially a secular country, public fun on Good Friday wouldn't be allowed, at least not officially. In this area Australia scores again...
So as we couldn't enter that beach neither we went to Anglesea to get something to eat and hopefully find an open shop (as Good Friday is one of the few public holidays on which everything is closed). And like back home, towns in touristic areas don't care for public holidays, so I went and bought candles to ensure that we had light tonight. And I'm a little ashamed to admit my next un-manly deed, one of the seven deadly sins against true manly manliness: I went into a shop and ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS to a hardware store. It was a successful and strangly satisfying experience but I wonder a lot when I will buy my first pink shirt...argh....
Well anyway...we got a connection adapter for the gas bottle and then I DID IT AGAIN, asked for directions to the nearest dog-off-lead beach and, yes I admit it: I'm a gender confused individual...then we went further down the Great Ocean Road
until we arrived at this parking ground. And this time it was perfect, no nature reserve and no public event, so we took the dogs and went for a walk at the beach.
Here is a video with impressions from the beach, mainly Buddy waiting for one of us to throw his ball...And while we were sitting on the beach a bushfire broke out behind the hill approx. 5km down the road. Not a huge one, it didn't make it into the media and the cars going down Great Ocean Road continued to drive down even though they probably had to drive through the whole thing. But I guess until the whole bush burns the normal Australian says to him/herself "No worries" and carries on with whatever it is they are doing...
During our stay at the beach the bushfire or at least the smoke got bigger and bigger but still no reaction. Not a fire engine passing by or anything else. Well, we watched Buddy instead who invented a new routine when he was too impatient to wait for a human to throw the ball for him. This routine consisted of him playing with the ball by himself, digging it through his hind legs and the running after it again. I even have a video of this which is quite funny but I will only post it, if I get at least 5 comments from my readers saying please post it.
When we were about to leave I spotted this sign or rather Josara spotted it and I took the pic:
This sign is simply amazing. Not only due to it's message but also the location is really strange. You know, back home in Europe we have signs after you crossed a border into another country informing you of the traffic rules like maximum speed and stuff. I just want to point out that a sign like that would make sense on a border or as Australia has no borders that sign would make sense on the exit of airports or harbors. Somewhere where foreigners enter the country who could be reminded to stay on the left side of the road...But putting a sign like that in the middle of bloody Great Ocean Road, more than 10km out of the next town, more than 100km away from the next international airport or harbor makes you speculate about the sanity of those people who decide on the location of signs. I mean you'll have to drive for at least 10km (on the left preferably) just to view this sign. And then it's a little on the late side as you either know already on which side to drive or you have become a victim in a horrible crash...
Well we drove back to the cabin and had a really nice dinner as the gas stove finally worked...
At least it was my manly duty to get the stove to work...so a little manliness is still there. After a great feast we played Scrabble...
...and despite my concentrated look on the pic I lost again...3 times in a row...damn and blast!And the next morning we had coffee and doughnuts and then packed the stuff and the dogs
and drove back to Melbourne. That was my last trip to rural Australia for this time and my last full moon but next time there will be even better trips and full moon will come again...Ok that was it for today, have fun, take care and cya tomorrow
Sunday, 12 April 2009
A trip to rural Victoria (part 1) and an exhortation to my readers
G'day,
For starters: a little more feedback would be appreciated. And some more followers. I feel that if a religion would start that way, Christianity for instance would still have no more than 2000 members. So sign up and follow me (just click on the "follow" button in the top right-hand corner, the instructions are pretty straightforward...). On another matter: one of my readers should stop complaining about short/late blog entries on my facebook. That's no way to behave. And you know that I mean you.
OK, so much for complaining on my part, now the usual special welcome to my congregation: Hi, Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (if that's you) and #5 (who won't get any more special welcomes until I know who you are!).
Now for something completely different, a saga of U-turns, spiders, bush, cats which behave like dogs, dogs which behave like cats, bush fires, the sea, strange signs, gas bottles and Cuban cigars.
Light were our hearts and high our spirits when we awoke on a sunny Thursday morning to start our journey. While Josara and I packed the stuff you will probably need on a camping trip and tried to remember everything (band aids for example, as a kind of protection, as if you don't have any band aids you'll cut yourself - Murphy's law) I did a little video of Willem playing fetch (see entry from the 9th). He can do it for hours on end which is much longer than any dog did I ever had. In the end we thought we had covered it all:
For starters: a little more feedback would be appreciated. And some more followers. I feel that if a religion would start that way, Christianity for instance would still have no more than 2000 members. So sign up and follow me (just click on the "follow" button in the top right-hand corner, the instructions are pretty straightforward...). On another matter: one of my readers should stop complaining about short/late blog entries on my facebook. That's no way to behave. And you know that I mean you.
OK, so much for complaining on my part, now the usual special welcome to my congregation: Hi, Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord (if that's you) and #5 (who won't get any more special welcomes until I know who you are!).
Now for something completely different, a saga of U-turns, spiders, bush, cats which behave like dogs, dogs which behave like cats, bush fires, the sea, strange signs, gas bottles and Cuban cigars.
Light were our hearts and high our spirits when we awoke on a sunny Thursday morning to start our journey. While Josara and I packed the stuff you will probably need on a camping trip and tried to remember everything (band aids for example, as a kind of protection, as if you don't have any band aids you'll cut yourself - Murphy's law) I did a little video of Willem playing fetch (see entry from the 9th). He can do it for hours on end which is much longer than any dog did I ever had. In the end we thought we had covered it all:
Then the cats had to be taken care of as they had to stay home and the house had to be secured; after all that was done we faced the art of loading a pile of stuff and two dogs and two humans in one car:
- a task which was finally completed.
In order to be able to use such sophisticated devices as cookers and gas lights we needed a new gas bottle, as the one we had was a little on the empty side, so we decided to swap it for a new one at the nearest gas station. Please note that this gas station diversified and also offers dry-cleaning, key cutting, bait, groceries and all kinds of other services...
But also, to my not-small surprise, the following:
Cuban cigars and ice cold coffee (real), sounds like an awesome combination, but anyway, we exchanged an empty gas bottle for a full one of the same making. A task which should not be too hard for an experienced gas station/cuban cigar shop owner but we will return to this topic later. I mused why the guy had taken up all the other businesses besides running a gas station when I discovered that it's probably because so many people just fill up their cars with petrol and drive away without paying. In order to put a stop on this behavior there were signs like this all over the place to educate people to check beforehand that they can pay, under the punishment of Embarrassment or Police Investigation. You can't really see it on the pic but the last line informed the reader that "Stealing Petrol is a Crime". I like that a lot, maybe they had to put it there because so many petrol thieves got away with an excuse like, "Well, I didn't know that stealing petrol is a crime, I mean, nobody told me.."?
After that, and an ironical comment on my tendency to take photos of everything (that I had become a tourist) we were off to our destination, which was not the Grampians (we had to improvise as we couldn't find a kennel for the dogs and the Grampians are a "no dogs allowed" zone). Instead we went here.
Some random pics made on the way:
Even though I'm a skilled navigation officer, the journey involved several U-turns as I got confused by missing street names and the occasional left-right weakness I developed due to driving on the other side of the street.
I didn't know that the Australians in that part of Victoria were such big fans of the TV show LOST but apparently they are, especially fond of the actor who plays the part of Sawyer..
So fond, in fact, that they named a street after that guy, maybe presented it to him as a gift or perhaps it's just an image campaign to attract LOST fans...
Who knows? Anyway, we arrived at our destination and at this stage of the tale I feel I should explain how it came that we went to this particular cabin in the bush.
A couple of friends of Josara bought 10 acres of bushland some time ago and planned to build their house in the middle of the bush. The guy started together with some mates to build a shed, first using second-hand materials he got from his job as a landscaper. After the shed more or less finished the plan of building a house there got somehow abandoned and now every once in a while they come out there for a weekend. When we arrived the first impression of the vegetation which populated the track up to the cabin led to the conclusion that for some time (my guess at least a year, maybe longer) nobody has been there and the bush reclaimed the traces of civilisation. 
Unfortunately the bush also consists of creepy crawleys who reclaimed the interior of the hut. A decent layer of dust covered any surface and cobwebs covered the rest. But as we couldn't find a sufficiently flat surface which didn't contain vegetation we gave up the plan of setting up a tent and decided to give the cabin a try. 
Industrious sweeping with a broom led to the discovery of several dead, decent-size spiders, which made me suspicious about the living ones. Back home I am not worried to share my sleeping room with spiders as we don't have any eight-legged monsters whose bite will make your arm swell to double its size and glow in the dark. So I went on a spider search, paying special attention to the mattress and yes, of course I found two specimens which I relocated into the wild by means of a piece of cardboard and a glass. I have no idea if they were harmless or poisonous as I'm no arachnologist but in Australia you shouldn't give these creatures the benefit of a doubt.
Once the room was "cleaned" and the local wildlife evacuated we started to move our stuff and things and provisions into the hut and I tried to set up the gas stove. Just to discover that the gas station might sell great Cuban cigars but can't replace a gas bottle, as this bloody idiot of a gas station guy had changed the empty gas bottle, which had a 2 inch joint to connect any device, with a full one which had a 4 inch joint. Awesome. Now we had a great gas stove and a great gas light which were utterly useless. Which led to the question of how to improvise dinner and how to get a little light for after dusk. We then discovered that nobody thought about getting candles but luckily Josara had brought an awesome torch including a spare battery. And we had also enought stuff to eat which didn't need cooking.
The nightfall brought my last full moon in Australia, which provided enough light outside so that you didn't need a torch if you went out to take a leak. The evening entertainment was quite frustrating for me as Josara bought a Scabble game and for the first time since I was 14 I tried to piece words together from letters. I found out that when it comes to play Scrabble my brain is (even after two-and-a-half years here) still in German mode. I could have made great German words but in English I didn't stand a chance. And Josara made up words! At least she lay words on the board I never heard or read before. Outrageous! She won three times in a row. Ok, to be fair, we wrote every disputed word down and looked them all up once we were back in Melbourne and I had to admit (grudgingly) that they were all proper English words.
Another hard blow for my manhood, first several mistakes on the job as "man-with-the-map", unable to set up a gas stove (not my fault but still...) and then beaten in a board game by a woman (three times in a row!). I blame the pink toothbrush...
Ok folks, that's day one, I will continue tomorrow with the next day. Take care and cya tomorrow
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