Babsi & Conrad

It's been a long time since we last posted some pictures - and it will be hard, in fact impossible, to now capture all we have seen, felt and done in the last couple of weeks. But let's try and start from where we stopped last time: Western Australia.

This is Australia ... and seeing the actual animal is even better!

Western Australia was a perfect start to our five weeks stay in Australia. Having had our base at Katharina and Wolfgang's welcoming house in Perth we first discovered the South Western regions of WA on our own and then met up with them again for a weekend in Margaret River.

Wildfire lookouts around Pemberton: a ladder of simple reinforcement bars [we reckon it was T19s for the engineers amoungst you] arranged around the tree trunk take you (and took us!) 70 meter up to the lookout platform

Too cool for swimming? No waves for surfing? - No worries! Let's go wine tasting in Margaret River!

The view in the other direction wasn't very different ...

Sandstone pillars at sunrise, The Pinnacles National Park

Back in Perth we also met Richard, a friend of ours who used to work with Babsi in London and now has returned home to Perth. He not only gave us a private and very profound tour through Perth's Botanic Gardens followed by a visit to his (and now - of course - our) favourite pub in town, but also organised a barbeque with some of his friends at the banks of the Swan River with great views to the skyline of Perth.

Living the Australian way of life: public BBQs everywhere!

A few days before Christmas we left Perth for Sydney where our friends Rachael and Daniel expected us at the airport - having driven all the way from Melbourne to Sydney on their way home for Christmas. Together we drove the last bit up the coast to Newcastle - not without driving across the Sydney Harbour Bridge overlooking the Opera House to give us a first glance of this magnificent city.

Rachael and Daniel with us in front of one of the many beaches in Newcastle

Rachael and Daniel together with their parents were phenomenal hosts and made us feel very much part of their families as we joined them for many family activities and reunions around Christmas. An one-in-a-lifetime-experience for us was the fact that we went straight from the beach to church on Chrismas Eve. Singing 'Silent Night - Holy Night' while wearing shorts, T-shirts, sunglasses and flip-flops was somewhat special to us.

Christmas day in Newcastle with Daniel's parents and lots of presents under the Christmas tree

When we arrived in Sydney a few days before New Year's we didn't really know what to expect. However, it didn't take long for us to be absolutley overwhelmed by this city and its superb setting around the natural harbour. We loved the views and athmosphere- in particular around the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House - and very much enjoyed numours ferry rides across the harbour.

This is Sydney!

We almost assembled a complete team for a game of ultimate frisbee when meeting our former Ovathrow teammates from London: Faustine, Liz, Mat and Mike. They all moved to Sydney since and we are jealous about them taking the ferry across Sydney Harbour to work every morning.

Reunion of ex-Ovathrow frisbee players - having a picnic on the shore of Port Jackson, Sydney

Sydney is famous for its big fireworks on New Year's Eve and we certainly wanted to stay in town to witness this spectacular show. Together with Rachael and Daniel we took position in one of the best spots in the early afternoon and joined the crowds in waiting patiently for the sun to set and the fireworks to rise at midnight. It paid off eventually as we were all overwhelmed like little kids by the biggest, longest and most beautiful display of fireworks we've ever seen in our lives.

The Sydney Opera House at sunset

Rachael and Daniel kindly offered to return to Melbourne via air and let us drive their car down to Melbourne. So, we left Sydney and - now having our camping gear on board, too - had unforgetable two weeks in New South Whales and Victoria, with a short detour to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

Friendly kangoroos at Pebbly Beach

Having seen not many mountains on our trip so far, we couldn't resist the temptation to climb Mount Kosciuszko - with 2228m the highest point in Australia.

Picnic and our last drop of Austrian 'Marillenschnaps' on the top of Australia: Mount Kosciuszko

Although the ascent is rather inspectular and you'll be joined by flip-flop wearing tourist coming up by cable car - we managed to escape the crowds with a beautiful camp spot at neighbouring Mount Townsend (2210m).

Beautiful terrain covered with beautiful - mostly endemic - wildflowers

Heading back towards the coastline further down south, our next destination was Wilsons Promontory National Park at the southern most tip of the Australian mainland. We spent three days hiking along the coast and through beautiful forest and are glad that the beautiful but poisonous black Tiger snake didn't have a go at us.

Waterloo Bay, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria

Although another slight detour on our way to Melbourne, we followed many recommendations and travelled along the Great Ocean Road on Victoria's south coast. Many and very close encounters with Koalas and a beautifully secluded camp spot near Point Franklin at Cape Otway made this trip along the coast well worth it.

Although mostly asleep, almost blind and making sounds like pigs - Koalas are cute, aren't they?!

No sight of the many other travellers on the Great Ocean Raod - our campspot just above the cliffs at Point Franklin

Sit back, relax and watch the show of the wild ocean (Bass Strait) at sunset

Sunset above the wind driven waves at Point Franklin

Trying to catch the moment

The Twelve Apostels - Great Ocean Road

Arriving in Melbourne we were warmly welcomed by Deb and Martin, who Conrad worked with in London. We discovered the city of Melbourne by bus, foot and tram and enjoyed its multicultural flair, food and nightlife.
Having had five phenomenal and very intense weeks in Australia it wasn't easy to finally say 'Good-Bye' to this amazing part of the world and especially to our friends.

Farewell dinner on our last night in Melbourne

We arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, last Monday, 14 January 2008, and spend the last two days exploring the city and stocking up our supplies for more romote areas in the backcountry. We are not quite sure yet about what to see next and which track/tramp we want to do, but we'll head out today, spending the next couple of weeks here on the South Island before taking the ferry to the North Island.

We hope you're all doing well and had a good time over Christmas and New Year! We'd love to send a lot more emails etc - but then again there's so much so see and do out here ...
Stay tuned!