Backpacking on the Eastcoast

G'day friends!
I finally had to say goodbye to my relaxed and great life in Perth and left the Westcoast on last Wednesday (Nov. 26). The last days have been pretty busy and everything went so quick thta I still havn`t realized it that I won`t come back to my room in Erica... Although it`s really sad that I had to leave Perth and my friends I really can`t complain cause I`m now travelling and exploring the east coast.
From Perth I flew to Melbourne and stayed there for 4 days. Manfred was so great to let me use his apartement, which is right in the city centre. After living at student accomodation for 4 months, it was a luxury to have a clean and nice place to stay, right in the middle of a city.
Melbourne was a really interesting city. For once I was surprised how international it is. Although Perth is very international as well, Melbourne is it even more. Besides a huge Asian population there are also many European people, especially Germans. Everywhere I went I heard people speaking German, and I really wasn`t used to that anymore. The other think that was very interesting was the weather. I know from Perth that you can never trust the weather forecast in Australia and you always have to be prepared for rapid temperature changes, but Melbourne was just crazy, weather wise. The one day it was extremely hot and the next one it was so cold that i had to use my jacket again.
But other than that Melbourne was great. It wasn`t as big as i expected it to be and in many ways similar to PErth. On Friday I went on a tour to the Great Ocean Road. This tour was just amazing. WE drove along the coastline on the so called "Great Ocean Road" and had an amazing view. The beaches and cliffs are just amazing. I saw the 12 apostels (cliffs in the ocean) and London Bridge and took a helicopter ride over the coastline. It was so beautiful that I took far too many pictures of it....
On the Great Ocean Road I also saw some koalas hanging on the trees. Although I`ve seen them before it was great to actually see them in the wild.
Sunday Manfred (I study with him in Austria) came back from New Zeeland and he then showed me around Melbourne. We hang out in the beautiful Botanic Garden (every bigger city in Australia has one Botanic Garden) and burnt in the sun... It was really great to hang out with him.
On Monday I then flew to Sydney and I`m gonna stay here until next Monday. The flight and getting to the hostel with all my luggage (I hate travelling on my own and carrying all my belongings) was really exhausting but it paid off. Sydney is really a great city, huge and so alive. It is so far my favourite city of Australia. The weather is great and the scenery with the opera house, harbour bridge and everything else is just beautiful. I also think that it is very Australian. Another great thing about is it that there are so many backpackers in Sydney. It`s great to get to know people and you defenitely never feel lonely here :)
In Sydney I met up with Maria, Natalie and Derek from Perth who are also here at the moment. I also met Viki and Flo from Austria and it`s just so funny and nice to hang out with people that I know from Austria in Sydney.
So far I did most of the touristic things that one can do in Sydney. I went to the Opera House, saw Harbour Bridge, went to see the Botanical Garden and went up the Sydney Tower. Maria, Nat, Derek and me even did a Tower walk on Sydeny tower, meaning we got to go on the platform of the tower with a special gear. It wasn`t dangerous at all but we were still secured as if we would jump off the tower any minute. The tower is the highest building in Australia and from the top of it one has an awesome view over the city.
I`m gonna stay in Sydney a few more days and then I plan on doing a 5 day surf tour up to Byron Bay. I then wanna go to Brisbane and Fraser Island and then I have to fly back to Sydney again to leave Australia for good.
Unfortunately I don`t have much internet access here so it`s difficult for me to write and keep in touch. but i`ll try my best and maybe I also manage to post some pics.
take care!

Margaret River

This was my first weekend of my holidays, and so me and 4 friends (Maria, Anna, Gorill and Elodie) went on a Roadtrip to Margaret River. It was good to get away since my last week has been very busy and most people have left or left this weekend. So it would have been very sad to stay in Perth anyway ;) This is a picture of my flat's last night together.

Margaret River is a small town about 400 km south of Perth. It is known for its beautiful landscapes (very green, and great beaches) and especially for its wineries and some other food factories. We left early on Saturday morning and started off with visitin the cave NGILGI in Bunsbury. The cave was found in 1899 and is 45 m deep. It was a really amazing cave, full with huge Stalagmites and Stalagtites. It is amazing how many there were and how old they were, considering that a Stalagmite or Stalagtite grows about 1cm in a 100 years.

After the cave we went to an Olive Oil factory, where we tasted some olive oil and bruschetta and had some coffee. It was so nice sitting on a terrace, drinking coffee and having a great view: on the one side the ocean, on the other side fields with lots of kangaroos. I've never seen that many kangaroos before, maybe just once at a Wildlife park, but this was completely different since the kangaroos were in the wild. The one kangaroo had a baby in her pouch.

We then went to our hostel in Margaret River. In the evening we went out to eat, since it was Maria's birthday. Afterwards we went to the local tavern, which was supposed to be "the place to be". For us it was more "the place not to be" because there was just one weird guy after the other, but it was defenitely an interesting experience....

On the next day we basically just went from one wine or food factory to the other and tasted us through their products.... we started off in a Fudge Factory, went to a nuts& cereals factory, chocolate factory, cheese factory and a bunch of wineries....So as you can see it was a very tasteful day....

Now I am back in my empty flat...It's weird not to have everyone else around, it's so quiet now.

It's just 2 more days in Perth and I'm starting to realize how much I still want or have to do... But my trip on the east coast is coming closer and I'm starting to be excited about it.

Last days in Perth

Right now everyone is busy with packing and having goodbye parties. Yesterday me and my friends went to Christian's house where we had our last BBQ together.

Today I had to get something from Perth city and so I had the pleasure to experience and gaze at the christmas decoration in the city... have a look for yourself how beautiful it is.....My flat is getting emptier as well. My invisible flatmate Poly already moved out and tomorrow James and Bratt will fly out as well. Josh is going back to his hometown Mandurah so it's just gonna be Sharifah and me next week...
Speaking of flatmates, here are my soon to be ex-flatmates in portray:

Sharifah from Singapur is the greates female flatmate of all ;) She's the only one of us who can actually cook quite well (Bratt loves her spicy chicken ;) and is just a really nice girl.

Poly, from Malaysia, as mentioned before was pretty much invisible, therefore I also have no picture of him. but he was nice the few moments I talked to him.

Josh, the Australian was just here during the weeks because he spent his weekends in his hometown Mandurah. He's a really nice, I would say typical Australian guy. He tried to explain me important Australian things like the rules of Australian Football and helped me out with spider emergencies ;)

When it comes to the Americans, James and Bratt I don't know where to start and where to end. both of them make sure that it's never boring around here, either at day or in the middle of the night. Thanks to them I now also know what a television, electricity and mince meat is, since Austria lacks a little bit behind with the industrial revolution ;)
I really had lots of fun with them, especially at dinner time when James was making his Taco's, Bratt his chicken or Spagetthi, and we were watching TV. So James and Bratt, yes I'll miss you!

This weekend I will finally go down south to Margret River. It's supposed to be really beautiful and not that far away (just about 4 hours drive).

last 3 months...

Sorry, it’s been ages since I've last updated my blog. There was so much I wanted to post and since I never had much time I've just always postponed it...

Anyways, I’m still alive and I’m still enjoying my life here. Since yesterday even more cauuse I'm done with studying for the next 3 months. Yesterday I had my last final exam and it's kinda weird. I'm happy to be done with studying but on the other hand it also means that my semester here in Perth is now over, which of course is really sad.

I will leave Perth on November 26^th, which is already in 6 days--- ahhh. It will be a goodbye to Perth and my friends here but the good part is that I’ll stay in Australia. My plan is to fly to Melbourne and then travel on the eastcoast up to Brisbane. On December 16^th I will then leave Australia for good, and fly to Singapur where I will stay until the 18^th. And then, if everything goes like planned, I’ll come back to the cold winter in Austria....

So much for my travel plans.

So what happened so far in the last 3 months. Well, I’ve been busy with Uni, sports and hanging out with friends. My trip to Exmouth in the end of August was awesome. We (group of 12 awesome people) drove up north and it was like we were in a completely different world. There was nothing accept the bush and a straight road with plenty of dead kangaroos. The great thing about driving up that far north was, that we’ve reached the tropical climate zone and could therefore enjoy 30 C in the middle of winter. The beaches and wildlife were so beautiful that I really forgot about everything else and just relaxed.

Right after the trip I was quite busy with Uni work, but no matter how busy I am here with Uni work, it’s nothing compared to the uni stress I have back home. This country is far too beautiful and too relaxed to ever get really stressed out ;)

I’ve finally finished my surf course and can now proudly say that I can surf (we don’t wanna go into detail of how good I am....).

My fencing skills are now good enough that I can put on my gear without any major problems and hold a sword without getting a cramp in my hands every 10 minutes....

Other than that the summer has finally arrived in Perth as well. It’s still just the beginning of summer but one hour at the beach without sunscreen is defenenitely something you shouldn’t do...That’s the very minimised version of my last 3 months. The next days will be filled with good-bye parties and packing....

G'day mate!

Yes, I'm already here for over a month and yes, I already have a week off from Uni -yeah! It's supposed to be a study week and most students use it to write their assignments but since I'm here to have some fun I will be heading of to Exmouth tomorrow! Me and some friends (we'll be 13 people) will rent some cars and drive up the coast to Exmouth (= a little town that is quite far up north at the coast so they have really nice weather there (around 30 °C).
I'll give you the details when I'll come back (next Sunday - that's a week )

So what else has been going on? Well Uni life is still the same except that the sport courses have finally started. I'm taking a Hip-Hop class, fencing and a surf class to keep me entertained ;)
Well Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop, there's not much to tell about that but Fencing and Surfing is really cool. I always wanted to try out fencing and I'm really enjoying it. (besides the fact that you sweat enormously under the gear) It's far more difficult than it looks like and now I really know why we have to wear so muh protection....

And yes I'm taking a surfing course. I overcame my fear of mean animals in the ocean (I'm not joking when I say that there are really big sharks here) and decided to do something for my image and learn to surf ;)
I had my first surf lesson last Saturday (and yes, surfing instructors are not only good looking in movies but in real life as well ;) ) and we were pretty lucky because it was an unusual nice day. Of course the water was still freezing cold but we got wet suits.
Surfing is really fun but at the same time pretty difficult. I expected getting up on the board to be difficult but I really underestimated the strong waves and current in the ocean. The most difficult and exhausting part of the surfing was to get a few meters away from the beach to get to the point where you can actually start surfing. Thanks to my dad I have had my experiences with tough waves in Europe but this is nothing compared to the strong waves and rips here. But the beach was beautiful as you can see here...

that's some news from me again. I have to finish packing now.
see ya!

mmmmh Kangaroo

Hey mates,
another week has passed and I'm still happy and alive (I declared war to every spider).
Luckily the rain has stopped and I'm slowly feeling better again (due to the stupid rain I catched a bad cold/flue). Although the wind is still very cold you one can see that everyone is enjoying the sun and the absence of rain. Suddenly the parks on campus are filled with students studying, sun-bathing, eating or doing whatever and I feel like I'm on a typical University.
Since a few asked me how the courses in Australia are I'll give a short introduction. Students take about 4-5 units every semester. I'm taking : Microeconomics, Tourism Management, Interpersonal Communication and Australian Studies. One unit usually has about 3 contact hours a week, which are split up into a Tutorial and a Lecture (1 1/2 lecture and 1 1/2 hour tutorial or something like that). The lectures are the same as in Austria (About 200 people and no attendance required) But the tutorials are pretty much like school, which means you are in small classes and get to do all the fun stuff as writing assignments, doing group projects and oral presentations. So students actually have to do much more during the whole semester than in Austria. Another challenge is understanding some Asian students or also tutors since their pronounciation of the English language differs quite a lot from the mix that I'm used (Australian, American, British, and Skandinavian English)

Talking of different nationalities. I've finally met an Austrian!
Well, it was Wednesday, very early in the morning and I was sleeping. Suddenlty my flatmate woke me up because I had a phone call. Everyone who knows me a little knows that I'm not a morning person! So still tired I went to the phone and was really confused when someone told me that someone from Austria wants to talk to me..... after I while I remembered that I once talked to someone whose flatmate was from Austria and since then they have tried to get a hold of me. And the funny thing is that he is from Graz as well. Although I was still very tired I managed to arrange a meeting with him and it was really nice talking to someone from Graz. He is much older than me and writes his diploma thesis here, but it's still very nice to have someone from home around ;)

For those of you who have seen my pictures and love kangaroos as much as I do: I had one of those lovely creatures for dinner ! I kinda feel bad admitting it, but they are actually very good. but for my defence: I was invited for dinner. As you all know the Olympic games started on Friday 08.08.08 at 8.08 p.m. (yes, even the original time has a meaning) and according to the number 8 we were 8 people having dinner and watching the Olympic opening ceremony. And my friends cooked kangaroo and since I hardly ever have a real warm dinner I just couldn't say no ;)


doesn't it look delicious? ;)

Since I'm already posting pictures, why not one more: me in my room. Lots of Love from Perth ! Irene

sun's shining :)

Hey mate!
It's saturday and the sun is shining. It's not raining so far and I can't express my happiness about that ;) Josh, my Austrlalian flatmate, told me that it hasn't been raining much the last couple of years, so the rain is really good for the farmers. Well, atleast it has one purpose because I'm already annoyed by it. My cheap H&M umbrella is already damaged from the strong wind and so it isn't much help to me anymore....
But I don't wanna complain, today the sun is shining and that's just great.

Since I don't get to do any sports here (for the moment, the courses will start in mid August) I try to go for a run every now and then. I usually go with Kamilla, my friend from Denmark, but yesterday she couldn't and so I went on my own. Well, I shoudln't have done that cause of course I got lost. Kinda embarrassing to admit, but atleast I had a good work out since I went much further than I had intended to. But I found my way home and I've learned my lesson ;)


Last night I went with some friends to to the house of the two Danish guys, I got two know here, and they cooked dinner for us. It was so nice to have a real meal again in a really nice house. Afterwards we went out to Northbridge, that's the place where everyone goes out. So there are many clubs and you might think that it's a really cool place to go. Well, it is really alright and I had a lot of fun last night but I'm still amazed that most of the clubs there close at 2.00. So about 10 minutes before 2.00 the music stops and all the security guys start shouting at you to leave the place...... very friendly.

hope you're enyoing your summer!