Holiday ... actually

In about 9 hours we will waive "Good-bye" to the 3rd country of our apactravel and check into the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Nadi, Fiji. We will spend 7 nights on the islands, 3 of them at a couchsurfing home in Nadi, and 4 nights on two different Yasawa Islands. New Year takes place somewhere here, 12 hours earlier than in Europe.

And we will actually be on holiday. We will not take the laptop, we do not take the hiking boots, we will not read e-mails or post pictures and I will finally finish nbr. 3 of the Millennium-Triology, can't wait. See you next year. Maybe. If we come back. Maybe.

Have a great New Year, a hell of a party and arrive safely in a fantastic, happy and successful 2010.

Finally ... big picture post

163 pictures were uploaded today. So brew a coffee, put on some music and enjoy a journey from the South to the North Island with us. Our last route description finished in Dunedin and on Dec 11. Let's get started:

1. Dec 12 - We start off with the steepest road in the world in Dunedin and then drive up the coast to the Moeraki Boulders. These "pearls" are formed below the surface and then washed out until they get stuck on the beach. We enjoy a hidden DOC campsite with a pet wild pig, a self-build dam and a geocoin in surprising dimensions.
2. Dec 13 - The day of the bush! From the DOC campsite there is a track towards some limestone rocks. After a loooooooooong breakfast (Thank God no check-out at 10). The climb is beautiful, even challenging, and the views are amazing. We decide to not return the same way but keep on walking looking for a track to go home ... 5h later we are back, exhausted, tired and so happy that apart from some heavy scratches all over our bodies we did not suffer from anything else, while crouching through dense "furze" forest and knee-deep swamp. But, anyhow, we saw wild horses ... and sheeps (of course).
3. Dec 14 - We meet Aoraki / Mt. Cook. After a few morning clouds it is a beautiful hiking day with crystal-blue water (glacier flour!). Only the Nazi-campsite and the snow at night weren't actually part of the "ideal holiday-day" plan.
4. Dec 15 - Again Aoraki / Mt. Cook, this time from the air, on a tiny helicopter. Amazing, breathtaking views and clear-blue sky with only some clouds. We did a snow landing and also flew over Fox Glacier. Well worth its money!
   A big part of the night we spend driving - and hoping - to catch the ferry to the North Island the next day (Dec 16; Dec 17 we drive up north to do the Tongariro Crossing).
5. Dec 18 - A 5:50 am alarm clock. Nuts! At 7:30 we are on track, walking/climbing the Tongariro Crossing - what a unique adventure ,-) But the blue is convincing. We enjoy two nights at the perfectly organized Whakapapa DOC campground - incl. UMTS *yeah*! It seems like all Germans (speak "I am fffrommm Tschöarmaniiiieeeee") have retreated to New Zealand by now ... they are simply everywhere here.
   
6. Dec 19 - We continue north to Lake Taupo and come across floating beaches, curious swans and warm rivers. 360 degrees Jet Boat spins sound a lot more dramatic than they actually are, but squeezing through canyons with 40 degrees hot waterfalls is actually fun. And I am so thankful to Philipp that he actually did not mention that there were waterspiders running around where I had my nose ... The treat of the day is the Lake Taupo Top 10 Holiday Park - best facilities ever, close to hot springs. A must-stay! And it didn't even rain. Lesson-learned: Being a camper does not mean you cannot turn on the x-mas lights!
   
7. Dec 20 - belongs to the hot and boiling elements. Volcanic valley, bubbling mud pools, fuming busses and sparkling camper-x-mas-trees fill the day.
8. Dec 21 - The Pueroa Forest contains some left overs, some 50 others 2,000 years old. The Deer Jaw-Inbox is another reason why hunting is not on my fun-thing-to-do-list. Groce!
9. Dec 22 - 100m down, water, rocks, crawling, climbing, swimming, jumping, screaming, eating. This is our Waitomo Epic Cavetour experience in a few words.
10. Dec 23 to Dec 26 - Our campingtour is over. We say good-bye to Pippilotta after we "checked-in" with our lovely couchsurfing host in Auckland. 4 nights in Auckland, no driving, sunshine (finally!) and good food are waiting for us! We visit sparkling Franklin Street and celebrate x-mas with a bunch of couchsurfers from around the world. Santa was here. But not only he, also Markus flew in from Guzbach to make sure we keep up the BBQ-spirit.
    

Wow, by now it is 3am in the morning and the SD card already holds about 100 new pictures from our day out at the famous Karekare and Piha Beach. But for now I am going to say "Good night!".

All pics from this post can be found in the new picture album on facebook.

Merry x-mas, happy holidays, a happy New Year and all the best!

We wish you a wonderful time with your family & friends, enjoy a few quiet days off and don't freeze to much where it is cold and where it has snow. We are thinking of you (while we party BBQ at the beach)!!!

Are you afraid of heights?

Just a quick note: We will do this tomorrow. No, I haven't done absailing before, why? And yes, I am usually the one who freezes her a*** off (pardon my french) below 25 degrees. Sounds like a straight forward "fun" holiday activity, doesn't it?

Philipp does absailing every year but this little tower is a 30-m-piece of cake compared to the 100m into a pitch black cave that is waiting for me tomorrow.

Well, travelling is about stretching your boundaries, right? Hope to be back online the day after tomorrow ;-)

South Island trip notes

Yes, we are still here. I mean, there.
Since leaving Australia we did not update you with where we went. Here we go:

1. From Sydney, we flew to Christchurch. But not only there. Also to Winter. To rain. To cold. To a sleeping room with no windows at all (Christchurch YHA) and no smile on the face of the reception staff. So far, all a little bit depressing ... And to rain. Did I already mentioned it rained? And it was cold? Very cold? Winter?
2. We picked up Pippilotta @ Escape Rentals and drove off to Akaroa. On beautiful Banks Peninsula we met the sun (Thank God!) for a few hours and enjoyed one of the Top10 holiday parks with a splendid view.
3. Dec 2 greeted us with rain again so we decided to go to a Spa. Unfortunately Spa in this country means "hot pool outside with no roof and no heating". So instead of being warmed up we froze even more. Especially because the Hanmer Springs Holiday Park did not feature any heating whatsoevèr. How do the Kiwis do this when it is really winter? With snow? Also weird, the Sauna at the Spa was time restricted - 30 mins slots. How am I supposed to "do Sauna" in 30 mins??? Still all a bit depressing.
4. Our way to the West Coast was then a turn towards the better. Our first DOC campsite was cheap ($10), clean and a paradise. The sun turned up and we enjoyed a lazy afternoon and a beautiful evening walk through the rainforest.
5. Unfortunately that should change again the next day, with Franz Josef keeping it grey, as well as the Fox Glaciers. But we did enjoy the great Holiday Park.
6. We didn't see the sun again until further south on "one of the most beautiful roads of the world" (at least according to Lonely Planet) ... well, the weather was better ;-) Really amazing were again the DOC campsites we stayed the following two nights. And the fact that "Nikolaus" showed up ;-)
7. The Conyon Swing in Queenstown is already covered by an earlier blog-post. And the area really looks like "Lord of the Rings"-country, yes.
   
8. In Te Anau we were back to the usual grey and wet and really appreciated underfloor heated facilities at another nice holiday park. Well, let's say you enjoy the small stuff after 1 week of continous rain. Btw: Have you ever seen aerial hunters?
9. Luckily the weather worked according to the weather report and finally on Dec 10 we saw the sun again. Perfectly in time for our trip to Milford Sound. Breathtaking landscape, an 25 metre deep aquarium and another beautiful DOC campsite. Snow, santas, Keas and some close-up flowers.
10. Leaving the Westcoast (and the sand-flies - we admit murder in about 1,000 times) towards the east coast solved one major question: How does the milk come into the coffee? Here is the answer for Cappuchino and the answer for Espresso Macchiato.
11. Further north in Dunedin we were back to rain which made space for a visit to the movies (Where the wild things are) and the Otago Peninsula Aquarium before heading north towards the Moeraki Boulders.

As always - there are a lot more pictures online than tagged in the text. Just browse though the album. Enjoy.

Project report "Natural Tan"

If you have followed us along you are aware of our little project called "Natural Tan". Although this idea already has quite a long beard in the www- and youtube-world we still wanted to do it as a memory for ourselves. We take 1 picture of us everyday. This will add up to around 250 pictures after 126 days of travelling.

The goal is to be able to see how we transform from

Sep 2009-office people

(as in ... pale, hotel rooms, deadlines, commuting, long office hours, rainy weather)

into Jan 2010-holiday enjoyers

 (as in ... tanned, campervan, "campground reception closes at 7pm", "it is only 350km on the road today!", "11:45 pm: I quickly put those last pics on facebook", "Thank God, we bought the Icebreakers").

 You see there is a small big difference ;-)

So far we have gathered a collection of 136 pictures and uploaded 30 new pictures today.

The truth is: Smiling portait pictures somehow all look the same. And the transformation is not obvious if you see yourself every day. The pictures even prove that there are days where you simply don't look like yourself. If you are lucky you look like your brother or your mum. If you are not so lucky or the weather is too awful for too long you simply look ... äh, let's say ... "a little off the track" with a weird face, awful hair/beard-do or amazingly tourist-style socks (I am not tagging these, go search for yourself ;-) ).

Also a truth is: We haven't been to a beach with bikini weather since Nov 27, 2009 as it turned out to be winter again in NZ. So, please could everyone send a little sun down to New Zealand? Thank you!

If you're my mum ...

... don't, really don't and I mean that, click on this link.


p.s.: I'm writing this post so this means I'm alive :o) and Martina is too

Quickie

This blog entry is going to be a quick one for a few reasons:

1. My laptop clock says 13:33, which means it is 1:30 am in the morning where I am currently sitting.
2. Wireless and Internet (it seems like) just recently arrived here in New Zealand and is a) not very much available and b) hideously expensive.
3. There is so much to tell what happened over the last few days that we rather do it in pictures.
4. I am freezing (did I say that already?). It is summer. In New Zealand. We have about 5 degrees at night.

Check out the the new pics in the picture album - there you can find our (partly crazy and scary) story of the past few days. And to all who do: please be careful where you couchsurf! But on the other hand - no holiday without adventure, right ;-) ?!


To Lee: I know you have said it all along ;-). We are allright, the police did a great job.

The best of far away

... is sometimes home. 6 weeks Australia lie behind us. Enough time to get a glimpse of a (very big) country. This is what we liked - and what we realized is (sometimes a lot) better at home.

The best-of-the-best:

1. Free flying cockatoos over wide landscapes - these birds are simply not designed for cages. Everybody who puts them in a cage should be put there him/herself.
2. Sunrise at Whitsunday Islands after a night out at sea.
3. Stars. Everywhere. And so different!
   
4. Electric BBQs at most rest areas and  public parks - have your fresh, self-made lunch on the beach or in the middle of a just wonderful National Park. Cheap, easy, tasty.
5. To cuddle Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies
   
6. Service orientation of officals - ever tried to ask for restaurant tips in a German police station? Well, Good-luck!
7. Sushi rolls. Simple, easy, huge and tasty.
8. Sleeping in a tent while Wombats and Koalas have their fun outside (earplugs appreciated as they can make a hell of a noise).
9. Orange M&Ms and crumpets with Nutella (although the Woolworth Chocolate Spread actually tastes more like Nutella than Nutella itself over here)
   
10. The beaches, the weather and the sun. But this is why we came here, right?!
    

 Where home was missed

1. Leberwurst, Kalbsfleischwurst & thin bacon slices that actually can be wrapped around a date (the fruit, not your next-door-neighbour- although, each to his own!)
2. Public transportation systems - try to find out which bus brings you where in Sydney (no iPhone at hand!), when it is supposed to leave and where the bus you are currently riding will stop ...
3. Road kills being removed before they skeletonize
4. Being able to sleep in your own bed, in your own appartement with your own kitchen and stuff. Very much sometimes (especially when the place you stay at has pets called cockroaches or spiders in all scary sizes).
5. Shoe variety. I still cannot belive I survived the past 10 weeks with only 4 pairs of shoes. Only 8 to go ...

Well, so much for the big continent with its red heart. We have moved on and were shocked to learn that it has less than 15 degrees here in Christchurch, New Zealand. Currently 8 degrees. We also opened a new picture album - stay tuned!

Missed the session?

Don't worry - this is what you could have seen:

Wanna say hello?

We are currently staying at the recently opened brandnew Sydney Harbour YHA. Great place directly located next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge basically "on top" of The Rocks at Circular Quay. Apart from a few "hatching problems" - like being evacuated twice yesterday due to a (false) fire alarm - this place is awesome and comes with a fabulous kitchen, a huge roof-top terrace and (Thank God!) in-room bathrooms. Wireless still is not for free but they need room for improvement, don't they ;-) ?

It also has a live webcam on the roof-top terrace which can be controlled via internet.

So this is the game: We will be in front of the webcam tomorrow Friday, Nov 27, 8:30 am Sydney time - which is 22:30 Germany time (or 4:30 pm New York time) on Nov 26. We will stay close to the BBQ which can be seen when the camera is turned downwards a little.

If you want to see us "live" you just have to log into the YHA webcam page and take control of the camera to move it downwards a little. It would be great if you take a picture of yourself with your camera screen and send it to us so we can also see you ;-)

People's stories

During our Sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands one of our little projects grew quite a bit. Sharing the boat with 25 other people provides a lot of sources for stories, sayings, travel advice, life advice and foreign characters written into my red travel diary. (Though it doesn't quite look like it, I am very excited about this!)

By now I have collected thoughts and well-wishes in Chinese, Hindi, Farsi, Korean, Dutch, Swedish, French,  Australian, Maori, German, Swiss German, Bavarian, and, of course, English. The topics range from travel advice to folk music to life advice to surgical insights as well as direct orders from "commander fun". Thank you to everyone who contributed - it is so inspiring to read from you. As promised I will read out all your pieces of wisdom on New Years Eve somewhere on a Fiji beach. For those who did contribute a song, I will sing it, whatsoever (perhaps I should give Philipp Oropax for x-mas ;-P ). All those who also want their words to be read in Fiji on New Years either book your flight now or post something into the comments.

When I was a little school girl we had these books that were supposed to hold poems or little drawings from your class-mates - mine was blue with flowers. If you were very brave (or an absolute geek-nerd) you would also ask your mean English-teacher to fill one of the pages. She did ... with the poem below, which left me wondering what she wanted to tell me for weeks. I was scared!

There was a young lady from Riga,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.

They returned from the ride
  With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger.

Another poem proved itself right so many times already:

The crossroads of life don't come with any directions.
(Translated from the German "An den Kreuzungen des Lebens stehen keine Wegweiser")

Especially these days it puts a little smile on my face, considering who wrote it into my poem book about 25 years ago. Thanks, Mum ;-)


Our own (travel) story currently takes a rest in Sydney. We enjoy a few days with no big plans before we leave the country heading to New Zealand. Our Whitsunday pictures are online now. Check out the album to see all pictures from this beautiful place on earth. 3 days on sea also brought our "Natural Tan" project a few steps ahead. Martina proved that 30+ sunscreen actually works - IF you are capable of applying it properly ... And Philipp decided to go for the "Natural T-Shirt" version. Glenf and Sören of course are way ahead in terms of coloring. So far, so wonderful ;-)

Whitsunday Islands

are just beautiful. Don't forget to sail them, dive them, hike them, fly over, snorkel them when you are around (snorkeling and swimming unfortunately always requires a stingersuit):

This is our fantastic trip with some pics - more to come soon.

Sailing the S.V Whitehaven

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Why not do it differently (or different)?

We are on the road for almost 8 weeks now. 6,000kms are behind us and with camping & Youth Hostels there are a lot of people we met and will meet along our way. For the past few days up here in Queensland it is - surprisingly - a lot (a very lot *meaningfullintonantion*) of German speaking people. Maybe because it is winter up there?! ;-)

All of these people have their own story, their own travelling schedule, goal and approach and it is fascinating to listen to them and get to know a little bit of their life. We had that already when we started this blog. Taking off a few months of work to travel is nothing radical anymore these days. There are many people around us who do this. But lately we came across a few approaches that actually made me thinking:

There is the German couple which is travelling through Australia for a whole year (nothing exciting), while he is working remotly a 40h-job (ok, requires some organization skills and a Telstra contract) and their 6-year old daughter is learning English by playing with local kids (try to replace that by pre-school). Also we met a Dutch couple who sold their existance at home, took their 2 kids out of school and travel Australia and New Zealand for half a year. The kids surprise them every day with ideas and travel wishes they would have never imagined (Who thought that a 9 year old would rather walk the bushes than playing at the pool? The "Are we there yet"-issue is still there, though). Also we met an Austrian mother who is travelling Australia and Asia for 6 months alone with her (I would guess) 10 year old son (I also guess he is the star when he gets back to class). Or the Swedish couple travelling Australia with 3 kids - 6, 3, and 1,5 years old - checking out all playgrounds on the east coast, preferably those with coffee places next to them.

All say the same - people mostly ask them 2 questions (I admit, I did so too): How? And why?
The "How" requires some preparation, a lot of patience, some money and courage I would say. Not much more.
The "Why" is a different story. Why not? Just because it is not what you usually would do? Just because nobody else (you know) would or did do it? Just because one doesn't travel for 6 months if you have kids at school? Just because it is not sure what will happen to your life or your job when you come back? Just because you don't know what to do with your furniture - and the gym membership that you will for sure use next month for the first time after signing up 1 year ago?

There are a lot of things we think we know how they should be. Are we sure? Have we tried to do them differently? Maybe it is a lot of fun behind that corner! So when was the last time you did something differently (or is it actually different #englishgrammar)?

Back to our travels:
To meet these people is very inspiring and obviously so exciting that we managed to loose 2 cameras in less than a week. The first one remains in peace (and pieces) on Fraser Island - Philipp is still wearing black. The other one tried swimming pool dipping yesterday but didn't turn off its electricity before (stupid thing that is *gg*...). Thank god the memory cards survived so we didn't loose all those wonder- and colorful pictures:

• Translucent Lake Birrabeen on Fraser Island
• Freshwater creek on the 4WD beach
• Nature as architekt
• Bright colored birds
  
• The first glimpse of the Great Barrier Reef
• And the deep green of the rainforest

There are more pics, don't forget to check out the albums!

The Suzuki is a she ...

Our Suzuki Sierra on Fraser Island showed quite a personality. She doesn't open her door to everyone ...

Fraser Island Clip

Here we go - 4.5 minutes of fun at Fraser Island:

Große Trauer

so now the inevitable happend. I lost something. Bad thing: It was my camera. Good things: It wasn't much worth a thing anyway. There was sand all over the thing and - even better - I swaped the SD Cards just minutes before I left it on the car-roof at Lake McKenzie. It's probably smashed into thousend pieces by now >> just think about all the Defender, Patrol, Hilux, Pajero and Land Cruiser digging through the so called road.

So stay tuned for some awesome pictures of Fraser Island :o)

Road music (2)

Today we travelled in the past ... OMG, do you still remember???
I didn't know you could see Angelina Jolie in the video clip. That happens if you grow up without MTV obviously ;-)

Quick note: Our pictures

I just realized that probably not everyone reading our blog (is there anybodyyyyyyyyy out there????? ;-P ) is on facebook (why not?). The links we usually include into our blog texts are part of a facebook photo-album. This means you can only view all pictures in the album if you log into facebook. Without an account you can only check out the pics which we have directly linked in the text. That sucks.

To get the full picture story and to be able to browse through the pictures, please use the links on the right side of the blog, where it says "links" (even though its on right ... haha). Or just sign up to facebook ...

• China
• Australia
• Australia 2
• HDR & Panorama
• Natural Tan-project
  

The very first time ...

To do something for the very first time is always special. Remember: Riding a bike, flying, going to a club, being alone at home ... you know all these sorts of things ;-)

Growing up, there are a few good friends around that are currently on the way to experience quite significant "first times" - the first appartement together, the first baby (multiple), being married ... we hope you all do well and the adventure is just as exciting as you thought it would be. Therefore, we dedicate this blog entry to all people who currently do something for the first time in their life. How does it feel???

During our past 7 weeks of travel there have been so many "first times" already it is hard to keep track of them. But a few days ago there was for sure a highlight: Surfing Australian waves. What an awesome sport but I know now why surfers usually look like they do (in case you don't know: *yummie!*) - that sport is f*** exhausting!!! Pardon my french. There are no pictures - we were to busy fighting against current and waves - but this is what the beach kind of looked like. And - thanks to our horse riding (she) and snowboarding (he) experience - we were able to actually surf and stay on the board for over 20 sec. So proud!!!

Visiting the Australian Zoo also had a very important first time: seeing a wombat. After actually hearing them already around our tent at night, we now could see them and found out that these little teddy-bears can run as fast as 40km/h. Try to run away from that one - right, why would you ... Btw, did you know that a 200t whale can go as fast as 48km/h? You don't want to be in the boat that's crossing his way while sprinting. The "rusty motorcycle" noise we heard at night and thought it was a bird, is actually ... a Koala. A few more animal facts: Kookatoos can live for as long as 80 - 100 years, alligators even up to 130.

Speaking of animal facts: While hiking around Ebor Falls on the Waterfall way, we had another "first time" encounter. All kangaroos we met so far were quite cute animals, very relaxed. But there are others, this one being about 1,90 - 2,00m tall with a chest and arms I don't want to fight with. Up for a little boxing, anyone? The Red Kangaroo can even grow up to 2,40m according to a display in the Australia Zoo.

Our when-we-got-it-it-was-brand-new car (= 16kms) shows 5,000kms now. For those who want to keep track I try and continue my list I started recently:

1. Narooma was beautiful, don't miss the beaches!
2. We decided to finally buy a tent and spend a day on the beach @ Batemans Bay (beautiful!) and tested the tent on the weirdest campground ever. Close to a highway, no facilities - and still, some people drive over 100km to stay just here for 4 nights. Not to mention all those people that started to shovel in the middle of the night. Weird and soooo scary!
3. After another day on the road we arrived in the Blue Mountains and stayed at an ok-caravan park in Bleackheath. Management is very grumpy and literally everything is forbidden. Nice facilities, though.
4. The next day was "4WD day" with a lot of gravel roads in the National Parks north of Katoomba. Don't miss the Glowworm tunnel. Also the Dry Canyon is worth a visit - there is a nice Geocache hidden at the end of the canyon.
5. The next 2 nights we spend at the Flying Fox in Katoomba. A fun and relaxed hostel with very helpful staff - the facilities are a little bit too much hostel for me though ... especially the bathroom.
6. Our activities in the Blue Mountains see here.
7. We left the Blue Mountains heading north through the hinterland. Passing Scone (horse town) and the Burning Mountain. We stayed in Armidale at the Pembroke Tourist & Leisure Park - so far so good.
8. Enough north - we turn east, following the Waterfall Way to the coast. Passing Wollomombi and Ebor Falls.
9. At Grafton we stay a wonderful but rainy night at the 5* Caravan Park "The Gateway Village". It was Jacaranda Festival in town.
10. Due to the weather - rain, rain, rain, and again, rain - we did not go up to Byron Bay the next day, but stayed in Lennox Head. And extended to a 3 nights stay. The YHA in Lennox Head is a wonderful place to be - don't miss Graeme's self-made chocolate cake. Beautiful walks, great beaches, good ice-cream.
11. Finally we had to go north and went via Australia Zoo (and - also a first time: a really awful caravan park in the Glass House Mountains) to Rainbow Beach to check out the Fraser Island packages they have to offer. Not so much for indiviual travel, rather groups. Very backpacker!
12. We decided to postpone Fraser Island by 2 days and went back to Noosa. Our tent site is on the beach. Pure holiday. A must on every travel plan.

So far, so good. Only 1,300kms to go - about 10 days left. We will get there. Stay with us ;-)

If one is not enough

Everybody who travels knowns this dilemma: Should I take a big SLR with me or just the small digicam? I always go for the digicam solution which is a Powershot A590 IS. Sounds fancy but it's only about 100 EUR on amazon. Why? There are several reasons but the most important reason is that I already broke two of those cameras and it would be a shame to say that I broke my Canon 1D Mark IV just because I left it standing in the rain.

So I deal with my good old Powershot and make the best out of it. And there are three things which are helping me with this task:

• First of all the Canon Hack Development Kit or CHDK. This is a small software you can load onto your SD card which tweaks your Powershot a little bit. Longer exposures, RAW-Pictures, higher apertures, bracketing and a lot of more stuff. You will find two 50s exposures in the picasa-album >> check the stars on the brighter picture.
  
  
• Another great help is Igor. This is my Oregon 300 GPSr which is quite handy if you try to geotag your pictures. Just record where you are going, sync the clock with your camera and later on you assign geolocations to the taken pictures by software - GPicSync. No more "Hmmm ... where have I taken this one?"
  (If you ask yourself why I call it Igor there is a good read at hand: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. The little T.S. calls his GPSr "Igor")
  
  
• Now it get's tricky. There are these amazing views which just don't want to be taken on a single picture. Either you are praying for a fish-eye lens to materialise in front of you or - even worse - the lighting is so dynamic that your camera can't deal with it.
  The solutions to these two are quite simple if you think a little bit ahead. Take some more pictures and later on software does the trick.
  Panorama stitching is quite common but don't go for the Canon Stitch which comes along with your PowerShot. You should use Hugin instead which gives you way better results as you can see on the "Melbourne Central" picture (It's made out of 30 pictures) and it's for free!
  The second software is called Qtpfsgui and composes a high dynamic range picture out of a series of exposure bracketing (also freeware). For this one you do need a tripod to take the pictures otherwise it doesn't work. Make sure you have nothing moving in your picture like clouds otherwise you will get a lot of noise in it. The "Remarkable Rocks" HDR was one of those. The software has a noise reduction filter but you just loose contrast along with it.
  

So this is it. This is how I do the magic just with an ordinary digicam which is already the third in my possession (The first got stolen, the second died after 11.000 pics and this one did indeed survive a night in the open rain).

... and now I gotta go outside: Bright Beaches, Waves, Sunshine, 30°C, Ice-Cream, Palm-Trees and A Wonderful Girl :o)

HDR and Panorama

Road music

We carry about 20 GB music data with us, 2 iPods and an iTunes Library and our brand-new Suzuki Vitara, called "Victoria" luckily features an AUX-IN.

So this is the song of the day today:

Already drove 500kms today, hoping to arrive in Armindale, NSW, by 9pm. That was a long day on the road through horse country and Hunter Valley.

And by the way: Seems like we have x-mas sorted out. We will meet a bunch of Couchsurfers in Auckland and have a cooking-brunch with local traditional dishes. So much looking forward to it!

Safety first!

We are in the Blue Mountains for 2 days already - stunning mountains, very green forest and steep canyons/stairs, not so much blue though. More green, brown and yellow. We are staying at the Flying Fox Hostel in a "room with a view" ;-). Very nice and fun place with a lot of people to meet and share stories with.

We learned today that the New South Wales Police offers free-of-charge PLBs to hikers in NSW, especially in the the Blue Mountain area. Guess who was thrilled to take along another gadget ;-) But although the Federal Pass along Katoomba does not really require special security gadgets it still is a great service, I think. Especially if you pass by so many FlipFlop-Tourists along the way trying to hold on to the handrails while "sliding" down 50m steep stairs. Luckily we didn't meet any of them while hiking down the Dry Canyon - incl. gravel road driving, 2 hours hike through bushland and quite some rock climbing through the canyon.

Sometimes safety is as much as hopping into your car, considering that a Red-bellied black Snake just passes by your car. Or putting on sunscreen 50 which actually works too well as the "Natural Tan" updates prove.

We came across this ad yesterday - can anyone eyplain what this means? Thank you!

Tomorrow saftey for us means making sure we don't fall asleep or kill a kangaroo/wallabie/wombat/human being while heading quite a few hundred kilometers further north. Brisbane, here we come!

Yesterday Offroad, today snow and a week ago Kangaroos - what day is today and where are we?

Good question! I have no clue (most of the time)!

Based on the Halloween decorations that party must be close and considering that people all along the coast buy gadzillions of kilos of food a long weekend seems to come along. So, let's see ...

• We are driving on the wrong side of the road - must be Australia (too sunny for England, too sorted for India, too peaceful for South Africa).
• This is confirmed by the road signs which range from "Kangaroos", "Wombats", "Wallabies", "Trucks", "Ducks" and "Aged" ... you name it ... crossing
• Halloween = Oct 31, 2009 coming up (Make sure you don't open the door for Freddy!)
  
• Long Weekend = Melbourne Cup - the race that stops a nation; 3200m, 3 year and older - also coming up (Oh God, I didn't bring my hat!)
  
• We have snow and bright sunshine as well as surfer's on the beach - must be winter ;-)

Ok, for those who like to get a short understanding where we went so far, this is the list:

1. Adelaide - Nice couchsurfing
2. Down south to Kangaroo Island - don't miss Maslin Beach
3. 2 days on Kangaroo Island - Offroad, animals, rocks, Coastline - you can easily do 4 days to a week
   
4. Via Fleur Peninsula & Victor Harbor into the Grampians - Road-side BBQs are great stuff!
   
5. 2 days at the Grampians - you can do easily a full week there - bring your 4WD ;-)
6. Down to Great Ocean Road - Bimbi Campground is an amazing place, close to there is also an interesting Tree-top walk
   
7. Along Great Ocean Road to Melbourne - look out of the windows, an that is not just because of the many, many, many curves
8. 2 days in Melbourne - Great couchsurfing, fun city with good weather and very good food
   
9. Along the coast via Lake Entrance to Buchan - that is the center of the world ... with caves, no honestly: plan to stay there longer - it is "true holiday" at Buchan Lodge
   
10. Through the snowy mountains or Australian Alps to Jyndabinde - yep, snow, fun skiing area and very steep roads as well as just the perfect accomodation for Glenf & Soeren
    
11. Back to the coast at Narooma - make sure you watch out for whales, seals, penguins and birds on Montague Island and meet YHA Momo
    
12. Thats a little bit more than 2,000 kilometers so far. More the 3,000 still to go. 3 weeks left.

And that is about the only time and place which we should not forget.
Hope all is well with you and the weather plays nicely. Have a good day!

Home - far away from Home

We are approaching our 5th week on the road - it has been 5 amazing weeks with so many overwhelming impressions that sometimes I feel it is already very hard to keep track of time and place (what day is today? why do the stores close now? which city are we in at the moment? The pictures - see links on right - help to keep track and so does the continuously running GPS). The feeling to start into a new adventure every day is a very good (and very present) feeling every morning.

And there have indeed been some adventures: a tree bursting into fire just out of nothing (Otway Park), off-road tracks everywhere (Kangaroo Islands & Grampians), my shower-spider encounter (No, Heike, this picture is nothing for you!), taking a cab in Beijing (after they actually stopped to pick up some obvious strangers), eating Sijuan food and trusting the "Range" display of our car while being far away from any tank station whatsoever, ah, forgot driving on left lane ...

Also a big (and daily) adventure is to come "Home" every night. Because "Home" mostly is a different place and a different type of place every day. So far we have enjoyed Couchsurfing (Claudia in Shanghai, Christine in Adelaide and Rob in Melbourne), Hotel, Hostels and Campgrounds.

Couchsurfing (by now you! also! should! be! registered!) has been - as always - the true "Home" experience. Thanks to all of our hosts! The couchsurfing stays are for sure our opportunities to re-charge energy. This blog is written from a very stylish living room in south-east Melbourne (Dani, you would love it!) where we enjoy 3 comfortable days/nights with our great host Rob.

With regards to hotels we have tried the Ibis at Sydney Airport (clean but very, very, very small room, hideous expensive WLAN) and the Grosvenor Hotel in Victor Habor (shared bathrooms, very old house, no Internet).

Campgrounds with using either cabins or sleeping in the car (actually quite comfortable) we have visited: the Campground at the Koala Walk on Kangaroo Island (no link, but easy late night check-in "pick a site and pay tomorrow" and great facilities), the Emu Holiday Park at the Grampians (great location, a little bit off-track, but very nice facilities and a lot of space to enjoy your time; pics start here) and the Bimbi Campground at Otway Park close to the Great Ocean Road (absolute fabulous place, but a little grumpy management).

Hostel guests we were only on Kangaroo Island (very nice location, directly across from the ferry, easy late night check-in) so far, but there will be more for sure.

What also makes you feel "at home" on long travels is doing stuff, which you would normally do at home: like occasionally visiting McDonalds (only for the free WLAN of course ;-) ), going shopping instead of visiting another museum, sleep in (I still consider 11 am early mornings) and having a massage & manicure (I absolutely can recommend Dragonfly). We unfortunately missed the Sydney Habor Bridge Picnic Event: German - English. Too bad. But we have electric BBQ along the road, in combination with fresh fruit & vegetables just a perfect treat while killing kilometers (no kangaroos so far, thank god!).

Stay tuned & check out the new pics.

Online again!

After 2 days on Kangaroo Island with no mobile and/or data connection whatsoever we are back to old habits: sitting in front of the PC at 2am in the morning. Well, finally we uploaded a bunch of pictures to the China album and the new Australia album. Also the "Natural Tan" project was updated.

Speaking of a project: Also my other little project "Stranger" was started. I have asked people we meet along the way to contribute some words in their language or from their culture to my travel diary. So far I have received wonderful stories, advices, poems in Chinese, Hindi, Farsi, German and of course ... English. I am looking forward to more.

Btw: Thank you for all the Birthday e-mails and notes. It is great to hear & read from you ... and have an excuse to sit in front of the PC until, well ... now it is 2:40am in the morning. Good night!!!

anihc … or … looking back on China

It is surely not possible to put China in words. Guess what … I will try nevertheless.

It is mega-cities (close to 100 cities with more than a million inhabitants; some as large as 32 million people based on administrative area – imagine, that is more than a third of Germany all in 1 city!) with breathtaking (in multiple ways ;-P ) skyscrapers (check out the various pictures on facebook), high-tech public transportation, a very modern lifestyle (cars, clubs, clothes and cuisine) and rapidly changing and evolving faces. Mostly along with major global events like the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing or the Expo 2010 in Shanghai the cities are re-decorated, which means: construction everywhere, always.

But China is also: traffic that does consider red lights a nice warning (multiple policemen and traffic managers at every major crossing) and does not care much about walking people. Scooters and bikes which transport people and goods loaded with forbidden heights, amounts and volume while shaking adventurously (pic 1 and 2 and 3). No helmets, no security. It is amazingly cheap and surprisingly “lecker” local food (you must try Sichuan food – helps breathing ;-P) and a vivid social community life, which takes place outside while exercising, dancing, eating or enjoying one of the many parks. The not-so-nice part includes city quarters with sanitary facilities on every street corner (because the apartments there do not seem to have any inside) and an interesting, we might describe it as “pragmatic”, approach to standing in line and “human noises”. Annoying is the fact that hardly any cab driver is able to speak English (if he can read your presented map without a magnifying glass, consider yourself lucky!). Also speaking Mandarin (aka: take along Eufi) is an absolute asset when dealing with manufacturers, tour guides, tailors, landlords … you name it, they have it “look, look, cheap and very good quality”. On top of all this: there is noise (always!), smog (above the cities) and the smell (indescribable!) which require a lot of getting used to.

With regards to the modern part of China: We enjoyed Teppanyaki. We loved to take the clean, quick and easy to use subway (the ticket machines even speaks English, ha!). We learned playing the dices (with the drinking part not requiring too much training) while listening to fabulous music at the Muse Club (Note-to-self: find club like this in Frankfurt – if not available: open it!). We relaxed at Dragonfly (same here). And we explored the latest work of local designers at the M50 artist district in Shanghai (Tip: Firmly hold on to your credit card, this is shopping heaven!).

The traditional part of China surprised us with excellent new glasses and wonderful tailor-made suits, coats and shirts. Tip: Don't miss walking along little side streets, silently participating in the street food, little neighborhood markets and playing games-scenes. But do miss trying to find out what kind of ingredients the local pharmacy stores in glasses in every window or how street food actually tastes (your stomach will not like it!) and ignore the charming salesmen offering Rolex and Louis Vuitton for “very good prize” (“No” does not help a thing, no matter which language you use, but the louder the better). After a few days you automatically check every direction when crossing a street (5 cm are considered a safe distance for a bypassing car) and you know that a Google Maps screen-shot of your destination on your GPS-display helps a lot with the cab-driver issue … as long as he at least knows where that part of the city is. Parks are “recharging happy places” with loud Vienna Waltz inviting to ballroom (or any other form of) dancing and the public toilets in high-end shopping malls are usually usable. The historic sites we have seen – the temples, the great wall, the flag raising ceremony in China's capital and the forbidden city – were simply impressive.

Summary: It is a great country. It is also an exhausting country. It is for sure a controversial country. Censorship feels very weird, also does watching a military parade with military staff in pink miniskirts and white high-heeled boots. It is interesting as well as surprising what locals have to say about all of this, which is why you need to speak Chinese to really dive into the culture and to meet the human side of China, the people in the stores, on the streets and in the parks. A working alternative in English is Couchsurfing and/or Geocaching which both are a vivid communities, at least in Shanghai and Beijing. Make sure you go and try for yourself!

Adelhaid

Nope. That's not a wrong spelling. Adelaide was named after Adelhaid von Sachsen-Meiningen. Yep. A German.

So we made our way to Australia and exchanged our awesome host in Shanghai - Claudia - for an as friendly and helping host in Adelaide - Christine. Couchsurfing is really a blessing. Tomorrow we'll pick up our car and then we hit the road towards Cairns.

... and if we find a proper internet conection you will see a longer post about china and of course some pictures.

cheers to everyone

The old and the new, something borrowed, something blue

No, not what you think ;-) (I am just imaging our mums jumping up and down upon reading this ...) ... but this little rhyme just fits perfectly with our recent days in Shanghai.

We have visted the Longhua Temple and the Longhua Cemetary of Martyrs (see the Martyr sculputure on the pictures). Apart from learning about the Buddhism culture and history of both sites we discovered the "art of building a park". We didn't figure out how, but everytime we enter a park here in Shanghai it seems like someone turns off all noise. Although there are 4 huge streets around the park with gadzillions of cars all blowing their horns, ignoring any traffic light (if still working) and driving madly through as many people walking across the streets, right after the park entrance there is silence. Very strange. But great if you come here to relax. A lot of parks also offer free exercising areas with strength and mobility machines. You hardly see anyone run around, but you actually see a lot of people practicing what (to us) looks like Tai Chi.

So far for the old. There is quite a few new things we have learned:
If you want to buy a metro ticket or use one of the mostly disgusting (public or shopping mall) toilets (don't breathe!) forget everything you have learned about being polite. The end of line is right in front of the ticket machine or the next available toilet. No matter if the person in front of you is a mum with kids or an elderly woman. If you politely wait until it is officially your turn the last train will be gone. Mandy, one of the local Couchsurfers we met yesterday, advised to just scream at anybody who behaves like this ... would that change anything if I scream at them in German? I am not convinced ;-) And a practical sidenote: Never forget to bring your own paper towel even for restaurant bathrooms ... it is just not part of the service.

Also new for us: Everytime you see a stroller on the street, you nearly can be sure that a western looking person is holding on to it. Chinese mostly carry their kids on their arms, obviously due to heavy traffic and overcrowded metro trains. Also, how should you carry a stroller along with the party-of-5-family ride on your well-serviced moped? Or notice when it is time to hold you baby over a waste paper basket? Why: Quite a few babies actually do not wear diapers here, they wear pants with a hole in the middle ... no further questions asked, no pictures taken!

While visiting Pudong on Saturday, the financial district, we finally met China traffic as we thought it would be - some example pictures can be seen on the facebook album. But so far we survived well and are impressed how clean and well organized public life in Shanghai is. The pictures we took from the Grand Hyatt Bar up Jinmao Tower proved to us that 17 Million indeed is a lot more than 2 (Munich) or 4 (Berlin). Finally seeing all those buildings and skyscrapers makes it easier to realize the size of this city. Amazing. Tipps: You do not need to spend the money for the viewing platform. The bar is just 1 level lower and it offers ok-Margharitas. Also take a look down the 33-story atrium of the hotel.

A good dinner - yesterday we tried Sichuan food - does not need to be more expensive than EUR 5 including drinks per person. Even in a fancy mall restaurant. It is great to order a lot of small dishes and share. EUR 16 for all-you-can-drink-and-eat at our favourite (again today!) Teppanyaki place is VERY expensive!

With regards to the borrowed: We attended a couchsurfing picinic yesterday to meet some locals and learn about the insights of the city. There are great websites that help you to travel around (flight to Beijing for only EUR 25 / Person), attend free MIT/Stanford/Yale university classes, watch Grey's anatomy (URL upon request ;-) ) or simply the ultimative helpline which you can call on your mobile (dial 962288 from CMCC). You tell the person in English where you want to go and then hand over your mobile to the cab driver so he can understand in Chinese where he should be driving you. And the best: All of these services can actually be accessed with no further "help". Still, it is a strange experience that someone else decides what is good for me to read or hear about ...

The blue is covered by the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium and IKEA, yes, the Swedish furniture company just across the street from our appartement. IKEA actually is a 1:1 copy from ours - including Billy, Lack, Kötbullar and hot dog - only for half of the prize. After a little research we found out that the scary huge crabs we met at the Aquarium actually have relatives which we do not want to meet at anytime during our life (be careful, this is scary!).

Also, if you are lucky, blue is the color of the sky over Shanghai. Just like we were yesterday.
Alternative program: Grand Gateway, Super Brand Mall, Bundesliga.

Stitching

I can stitch, I really do. If you've ever seen the patch on my backpack you'll agree. Anyway. Digital stitching works as well. The following pictures are all stitched somehow.

Pics, "electric shadow" and a new layout

As you may have noticed, today was "re-modelling" day on our blog. That happens when it is rainy outside and the colorful fireworks all around your appartement are your inspiration. The first (and next) pics are up - see links on the right. Also we have cut our first "electric shadow" (chinese for movie) from our dinner at the Teppanyaki place yesterday. Thank you, Christoph, for taking us there!

Burning Banana, here we go ... Feuer!

The art of celebration

4 days in Shanghai already, still jet-legged and up till 3am. Wheather is warm and humid, currently raining. We have found a good coffee & cake place but "Leberwurst" is nowhere to be found. And if we would, I am not sure whether I would want to know what is in there here after accidentally grabbing "dried duck feet" (yes!) in the close by Family Mart. We managed to buy a SIM card (sim kah) but have no idea how much we pay for a minute of "electric word" (chinese for phone) or how much is on that card. Never mind re-loading it. What an adventure.

Shanghai is a fascinating city, unbelievable huge. So many people, so many different areas and styles. Chinese people know how to celebrate: life, food, shopping, and these days also the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. See Boston.com for a great foto show. The festivities are mostly in Beijing but we just watched the ceremony on TV and also hear some fireworks here and there. I tried to find out how many participants are involved in the great gala but we can only guess ... it is just too many. More can be found on chinadaily.com Celebrations Special. The next celebrations are already in preparation as all over Shanghai there is construction for the Expo which will come to the city in 2010.

Speaking of celebrating food, we visited a Teppanyaki place yesterday. Such good food, you choose fresh meat, fish or vegetables from the menu and a cook prepares them for you directly at your table. Learned a lot (try mixing butter with soy sauce and pour it over a medium filet steak ... yummi!) and for sure need such a "hot plate" in my kitchen when we are back. Make sure you don't sell an egg when asking for the bill after such a great dinner ... which both is the same in Chinese language depending on the pronounciation.

A few adventures are still outstanding: taking a cab, meeting local couchsurfers, visiting the local art & crafts markets and seeing Shanghai from the top of one of its skyskrapers. Maybe even a short trip to Beijing.
For now, our adventure today is getting a few more pictures online and check out whether IKEA is the same over here ;-)) - just because it is dry over there.

Shanghai

Here we are. We made it without any help and knowledge of the language to the apartment of Claudia. Public transportation in Shanghai is unbelievable good and easy to use as soon as you find the English-button on the touch-screen of the ticket machine.

We just adapt to the time-zone, the weather and the culture at all. Somehow the city reminds me of Seoul - quite Asian but in many places also very western. It's easy to get around with a minimum of English and no Chinese at all. But there comes the nest question: How do we get to the hidden and to tourists unknown places? I think well try the local CCCs - Claudia, Christoph & Couchsurfing.

The next days will be interesting anyway: The People's Republic of China has its 60th anniversary on October 1st ...

We passed the 1st border

... and I smuggled an Elk

Off we go ...

It is now T-3h, our planes leaves at 7:50pm.
The feeling is weird - it feels like we are just leaving for one of our frequent trips to Austria, Switzerland, Munich, you name it. But this time we are not coming back until February ... yes, F-e-b-r-u-a-r-y 2010.

If we forgot anything, well, we need to buy it.

Take care, come back and enjoy the upcoming fall!

Project Nbr 1: Natural Tan

We have the idea of doing something that is absolutely not new, but still we think it might be fun. We try and take 1 picture of us every day while travelling. We will post the pictures to a Picasa album. I am just curious if you can see that the tan is getting better with every day.

I also hope that Philipp does not grow quite such a beard ;-)

Packing

Packing sucks. I'm ok with wearing the same stuff for months (hey - and also today it's my favourite fleeca again!), however the things which keeps hammering in the back of my head is the question of all questions for travellers: "Did I miss something?"

See for yourself:

Would you take all! of! your! clothes! off! for 1 day of rental car for free?

Obviously Wicked Campers is convinced that this is a great discount opportunity and ask their customers to pick up the vans "as god created them" to get 1 day for free. Customers 60 and older get the day for free anyway - they rather should keep their clothes on. I am sure this is not very compliant with age discrimination, but anyway ...

(quote from the homepage)
The Naked Special
Due to popular demand the Naked Special is back!  If you are renting a van for 14 days or more, and you pickup your van NAKED we will give you your first day rental free. Don't believe us? View our Naked customers here (if you're over 60, leave your clothes on and we'll also give you a free day!).

"Unfortunately" the photo link does not work anymore today - it still did yesterday. And I can assure you, it seems like a lot of customers actually thought this is a great discount opportunity ...

I honestly don't know - we chose an Escape camper - dilemma solved ;-)
Maybe we even get one in green ...

Bye-bye, Uluru ...

We are saying Good-bye before we even set foot on any plane. After 3 days of searching optimized travel routes, checking flight schedules and fares, memorizing kilometers on Google Maps we have made a big decision. We will not visit Australia's red heart. With "just" 6 weeks in Australia and soooooo many kilometers to get from one location to the other it would just end up in endless hours in a car or hundreds of euros/dollars on the plane.

Therefore we have noted one lesson learned: Never start travelling Australia from Sydney - that is the middle. Not the beginning. Not the end.

We decided to leave Sydney immediately, fly to Adelaide, get a car and drive to Cairns - bypassing Sydney where we fly back towards the end of our journey to continue travelling to New Zealand. This way we have more than 5 weeks for about 5,000 kilometers which should work out fine (considering I already did 12,500 kilometres in 28 days over in the US). Uluru would take away 1 week and cost an additional EUR 500 just for flying. We simply come back one day and do the other half of Australia, we figured.

the good side of a cold

We are known for often squeezing 48 hours into 24 mostly between Frankfurt, Munich, Walchsee, Zurich and sometimes even Seoul for a night - and if snow needs to be involved also adding 1500 km on the Autobahn on a single weekend. Sometimes this pace just doesn't work well - either with schedules, friends or health. This time my health put a stop to packing boxes, renovating my appartement, meeting friends, dogsit Ronja, clarify admin stuff and worry about Philipp falling off a mountain at the same time. A cold now cleared my calendar for the one thing I wanted to do for the past ... hmm, six months. Reading travel guides. I am getting more excited about our trip with every page I read. Travel tips are very, very, very welcome and much appreciated! Thank you.

There are great places to visit out there - I already found Dieter's favourite and Heike's (No, Heike, you should not click this Link!!!).

Speaking of a cold: This is the right moment for my (meanwhile second) favourite YouTube-Video - bless you!

clothing

... is overrated. just in case you didn't notice :o)

short break: the packing adventure

Packing now has a moral dimension.

Just in case, you didn't notice ... this is a real (!) problem. ;-P

The gift of giving stuff away

It is amazing - I have lived in my area of Munich (Nymphenburg) for a little bit more than 4 years. I share a building with 15 other appartments - most of whose inhabitants I have never seen. I wouldn't even know if someone belongs there ... that is the sad part.

The good part: when I started giving stuff away during the past weeks I have met so many nice people - and their story, a part of their life. Meeting people is just so exciting! It makes me like the area I used to live in even more. Not so smart to move away then ...

Today it was an excited father of a 1 week old who still didn't seem to grasp the wonder he created 10 months ago (being evil: mabye he didn't? ...). And a completely disoriented twentysomething who figured he could pick up the cupboard he wanted to buy with a bike (it was cool one, though) and no money (no, the look was not worth the cupboard!) ... well, some lessons are hard and/or heavy ;-)

Is there a job where one can give away stuff as a job (and still earn money for a living)?
Or maybe we could just try and believe that the endless powerpoints, point of views, teleconferences, meetings are something like "giving stuff away" - as in: my ideas, my time, my brain (hello, anyone up there?) ... I probably just need to work on the reaction of the receiving part. Well, that goes to the todo list for April 2010 (this feels great!).

Actually, early this year Philipp and I had a small project where we collected Best Wedding Wishes from complete strangers for Timmy & Ulrike in a little black book. A text and a picture of every contributor. People we haven't met before so freely - and amazingly happily - gave away their thoughts, wishes, advices to a couple they haven't met - and in most cases unfortunately probably never will meet. That was the same feeling. Meeting stories, meeting experiences, meeting wishes and giving people an opportunity to tell their story. Apart from being a very unique present it was the proof that engineers actually are able of spontaneous human interaction (well done, sweetheart ;-P ).

I am thinking of doing that again, when we travel. 1 stranger a day ... no wedding wishes this time, but 3-5 weird questions (todo!) to someone we meet on the street. Let's see if Australians are also happy to give away their stories.

The Land of Stuff

She -actually me- is currently packing up her stuff in Munich. This means taking everything you own into your hand and decide whether to keep it, to sell it, to give or simply throw it away.

Giving away works great - as soon as you post stuff for free on any ads platform it is gone. People take everything. As soon as it costs only as much as 5 EUR ... nobody calls. Is that the financial crisis or a simple form of self-perception? Maybe it is just smart ...

To throw away is also easy: Didn't touch it in 6 months? Don't think it is worth a picture and an ad? Gone.
With 1 and 2 a lot of stuff is covered.

To keep is the hardest part: Why on earth would I want to keep all my seminar papers of 5 years of university + one from school? And why wouldn't I? They are all the "originals" with real notes and real grades (in ink) on them. Will never EVER use them again but will never EVER give them away either. And there we go ... "This pair of shoes I wore when Bryan Adams kissed me (real kiss!) at a concert (true!) [I actually had a hard time giving away the shirt last summer when we cleaned out the house I grew up in. What do you think, would it have been worth keeping??? ;-)) ] ... that picture I don't have electronically, this dish was a gift of (you name any person), this book I always wanted to read again" ...

Living on the 5th floor (no elevator) actually helps not to collect too much things. Nevertheless I need more than 50 boxes to pack my (just me) 1 room appartment. Still, after 17 moves, nbr. 18 on its way to be completed. This is way too much stuff. But I promise, for every one of them I have a very good reason to keep it.

Our travel will teach me a lesson there. 5 months and all I (think I) will need I have to carry every day. 15kg max. I have no idea how this will be possible. When we are back in FRA next Wednesday packing starts. It scares me already now. I keep you posted.

If DHL delivers to the Fijis?

Btw: Stuff is everywhere - even on the other side of the world. There "stuff" even wins awards - regularly. Also a lesson somehow.