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....