New Home Annendale

 That is the view from our bedroom! Sidney's CBD, the ANZAC Bridge on the far left.

 Finally, we have "settled". For two months we will sit a nice house in Annendale, NSW and its two inhabitants: Cat no 1: Phoenix and cat no 2: Scout.

 Our living room/kitchen.

 Terrace.

 Home of cat no 1.

 Cat no 2: Scout.

Scout again.

Scout's preferred place to sleep.

Jokes about yourself are nicest

G'day, people!
I just ran across a Vestpa of an Asian delivery service and I could not walk on without a laugh and a picture. Miss Chu: Thank you for that humor! Cheers!
T

Somewhere along Williams Street, Sydney.

I know, it is advertising..  but funny, too!

Hobart has no traffic jam? Wrong!

We got told that we were facing an unusual situation when we were sitting in the shuttle bus from the Hostel in Hobart to the airport. It took about an hour for the otherwise rather short ride. It was caused by an accident on the Tasman Bridge. We were lucky that we had been careful enough to expect the unexpected and had taken an early shuttle.

Back from the South Coast Track – 9 days of endurance and wonder

Updated February 29th, 2012..

Cox Bight and the Southern Ocean in the distance - South Coast Track, the second day.

 

“Sweatin’ n’ smilin’”. 

This would describe well my almost constant condition during the first 9 days of our latest trip to Tasmania. We went into the bush. Not just any bush. We picked the South-west National Park and particularly the South Coast Track for our 100% wilderness experience. Jasmin and I took all that we could have possibly needed (and left behind everything that we possibly wouldn’t need) on a bushwalk that may be one of Tasmania’s finest and hardest. We were a very good team. We enjoyed it a lot. Nothing could there be better for a naturalist and biologist than to strife through pristine nature doing a ‘sport’ that is as close as it gets to the ‘leave no footprint’ exercise that we’d like to live. For a more detailed description of the walk with track notes and recommendations chack out my second blog Bush Howler!

Square-shaped Wombat poo.

And Australia’s southernmost state showed what it had to offer. Two species of Quoll (the Spotted-tailed or Tiger Quoll and the Spotted or Eastern Quoll), Tasmanian Pedemelon, Wallabies, Sea Eagles, Western Tigersnakes, to name only few amongst many more spectacular (and often endemic) animal species that 

Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) at our camp site, Point Eric, Cox Bight.

crossed our track in one way or another. It was a constant challenge to care for yourself and the other on the track that we called “the obstacle course”. Every second that you got distracted from your next step had to be paid. You could easily be swallowed by a mud hole (Jasmin got so in one instance), slippery rocks and roots; possible snake encounter, fallen trees and steep slopes were our daily business.

Us on the Ironbound Range. Arthur Range in the background.

Big fallen trees on the track in the descent of the Ironbound Range, South Coast Track.

Crossing New River Lagoon, South Coast Track.

At Granite Beach, South-west Tasmania.

In the rainforest on the South-cape Range.

Crossing South-cape Rivulet on the South Coast Track.

"The End of the Road" - the southernmost road in Australia. That is in Cockle Creek, the final destination of the South Coast Track.

 We liked this outdoor experience so much!!!!! So after we had recovered one day in Hobart from this rather long walk and had done our laundry, we did another walk, the three-days circuit on the beautiful Freycinet Peninsula. Freycinet is much dryer than the south-west. Accordingly, we found a very different flora. The water was amazing and the marsupials so tame (this walk is much shorter and therefore more people that are less serious about bushwalking come here and feed the wildlife) that we had a hard time protecting our food supplies at night.

Wine-glass Bay at the Freycinet Peninsula, eastern Tasmania.

Happy Australia Day

Hopefully, you are all doing well, guys!
For a story and some pictures of our last week's hike, click here!
T

Almost drowned at Sydney Festival

Mike Patton's Mondo Cane was going to play at the Sydney Festival yesterday (Saturay, 14th, February 2012) open air in The Domain and for free. We were surely willing to see the front man of Faith No More.  Unfortunately, the weather was not promising and luckily we got prepared at least a bit. Already on our way to the event we got caught in pouring rain. Equipped with a tiny umbrella and one poncho we caught up with friends, grabbed a beer and waited for the band.

Well prepared for an open-air concert in Sydney's summer. No, it is not sun protection. It is rain protection.

For a while, the weather got better. This was before the band started.

When Mike Patton and band entered the stage it was pouring rain. For a couple of minutes it was still fun.

After playing a couple of songs, Mike Patton's Mondo Cane disappeared from the stage again. They go soaking wet as well. Being on stage with all the electronic devices in a strong rain shower is probably not too good. Anyway. When they returned about 30 min later, many people had left already. We were still eager to see the show. But as it started to rain again and we got more and more wet, we decided to leave as well. What a shame!

Sydney's good sense of fashion

This is what I ran into yesterday. Isn't that fashion! Looking great, isn't it? I love it. A bit similar to Tim's nerd sleeve. Only, she can undo this mistake.. 

Hey there! Another week has passed and I don't like to remember that in one week from now on, I will already stay at another place. The dog Emo, the cat Smudge, the chicken, the pool, ..  I love it all! Especially Emo I will miss a lot. This dog is wonderful!

Happy New Year - Best wishes from Down Under

G'day there!

I've safely arrived in Sydney facing a tantalising 2012!

The trip was okay despite its length. I have to say that Emirates was not meeting my expectations in terms of comfort and service. There is not much to complain about, but the seat space felt smaller (especially the width) compared to my last flight with Quantas. And the interior of the Boing 777-300 from Hamburg to Dubai was looking used and old fashioned and was in a bad condition (e.g. stow-away screens of the seats at the emergency exits were falling down at slightest turbulence). During the flight from Dubai to Sydney, there was not more service than absolutely necessary. You had to ask for water yourself and they always seemed a bit reluctant to provide it. Compared to that, on a Quantas A380 I was regularly offered drinks and for those who drink cubic meters of water during long flights (like me) you have a bar for self serviceat the rear of the plain offering cookies, crackers, soft drinks and drinking water from the tab.

Even though it takes some hours longer, next time I would prefer the connection via London and Singapur with Quantas and the Airbus A380 which is by the way often much cheaper that flying Emirates.

We are staying at a wonderful place. For the moment, we have a power-packed dog called 'Emo' and a touching cat called 'Smutge' next to two chicken (we call them Hanni & Nanni). We are sitting those creatures and their home, a house with pool in suburbia, Sydney.

Emo loves catching, chewing and returning whatever you throw!

Smudge