Monday, June 25, 2012

Cruising through Australia

Personally Australia was always just a big, red, dry continent which never appealed to me as a major travel destination. 
Working in London with tons of "Ozzis" and "Kiwis" though made me wonder what it is about this part of the world, that they are all so laid back. Well and as I had to stage time until it is summer in Alaska, my ultimate travel destination, I thought I give Australia a shot. 

Man was I wrong about this Continent !!!
In the first week visiting Australia, Thomas and Poonam showed me a totally different side of it. Beaches, beautiful coastline, stunning country side and loads of more nature... Which made me change my mind about Australia right away and I decided to stay longer than initially planned.

After a week in the suburbs and surroundings of Sydney I than visited Nat and Ben who live "bang on" in Sydney and right next to Harbor Bridge to encounter the city a bit more. The first impression... this city just has the right balance of nature and big city atmosphere/convinience/diversity there should be... downside a minimal 24 hour travel back home.
After the week and Bens birthday I than moved on to Brisbane, where I picked up my "home" for the next 36 days - a camper van. This shall also be a new experience for me as I never in my life was a big camper and maybe camped 2 or 3 times in my life before.

So far so good :-) I am now 5 days on the road and am enjoying it a lot my first stop was Byron Bay and surfing classes. I have to say surfing is not rocket science, means I will keep it up over the next couple of weeks while cruising from Beach to Beach :-)

As of now I am on my way to the Glasshouse Mountains for some hiking before going back to the coast-line. I will keep you up to date on my camping and surfing experience of the next couple of weeks but also wanted to use this blog entry to say a big THANK YOU to my last three hosting "Families"
- Mat and Tash with Charlie and Thomas who I stayed with in Singapore and who showed me the city from a different side and were super patient with me as a guest
- Thomas and Poonam with Shaan and Mahii who included me right of the first minute into their family life and showed me the surroundings of Sydney
- Nat and Ben who were perfect hosts in Sydney and spent tons of time with me....

You guys equally rock and made me feel super comfortable over the past weeks, also you  changed my perceptions of your home cities! Having hosted tons of guests over the past years myself I can honestly say all you guys a grand hosts but out of it all I enjoyed most just spending time with you guys and your families: It was great to see where and how you live!


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