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 ;-)