30th September - 24th Oktober 2005
Tokyo - Sydney -
Tokyo
Canberra, Australia - 8th October
This time I managed to get my flight dates right and went off to Sydney. It is strange how much home this city feels to me.
Next day I went to Canbera by bus. My plan was to visit the Tidbinbilla Nature Resderve where I worked as a volunteer 4 years ago.
I was especially inteested in the damage the 2003 bushfires did. Unfortunately renting a car here was more of a hassle than I
thought so I didn't do it and went to 'Floriade' instead - the biggest flower show in the southern hemisphere (actually not much
more than a bunch of tulips in a park but I don't want to complain...). Other than that I bought some nice kangaroo steak at
a supermarket and I am looking forward to that, hehe... Sydney, Australia - 12th October
Back in Sydney Martin suggested to meet in Bondi. Sydney, Australia - 17th October
For nostalgic reasons and because my other couchsurfing requests remained unanswered (or the
people I wrote to are on vacation themself - in Germany) I decided to go back to where it all
started: Traveller's Rest (http://www.travellersrest.com.au) in Kings Cross. This is the first hostel I went to when I arrived in
Australia 4 years ago. Back then I spent about 2 weeks there. I liked the idea of going back to
the place and to my very surprise Derek the owner still remembered me even after four years.
We had a chat about how business is going and why the hostel is not in Lonely Planet Australia
anymore. Now I am sleeping in the same room and even the same bed as during my first trip here.
My eyes are filled with tears :)
Just to prove that I am not only partying here: I visited a museum, too! The Australian National Museum, Canberra:
So we went back to Sydney the next day. The spring weather here is beautiful. Sunny but not too hot. One of my first destinations here
were Royal Botanical Gardens and the Opera house
We met up with Martin who cooked some thaicurry for us (what a rare honour). Later on that night we went to see "Transporter 2"
at the Hoyts cinema.
Since my twisted ankle still hurts from my little accident two weeks ago Martin was so nice to drive me
home in his fancy car...:
The day after we went to Wollongong, about 80 km south of Sydney. Thanks to Henry, 29 and hotel-fetishist, we stayed at a four-star
Novotel once more.
The view on the beach was great but somehow hotels are not my thing no matter how many stars they've got.
Wollongong has a suburbian flair and apart from fish and chips and the nice beaches there is too
much going on.
I haven't been swimming in the ocean for ages.
Tonight I finally dug out that kangaroo steak I bought in Canberra a couple of days ago. Cooking is not what I am best at
so I am not used to each every cooking utility. For example, I wasn't aware of "Non-stick cooking spray" which they use
here instead of cooking oil. Probably incredibly stupid from the ecological point of view but who cares (here) anyways...
It's couchsurfing time and I found myself a nice and central place to couchsurf.
Thanks to Brandon, Ainsley and that cranky parrot for hosting me.
These guys are between 18 and 20 what makes me feel really old. We went out together and at my last night there they
decided to get some sixpacks from the bottle shop. Martin came over, too. That night I learned some new vocabulary like
"green Mitsubishis" or "stamp Nazi".
The next morning I had to get up early. Elmi and me rented a car to go up north. We had a little stopover in Newcastle.
And went further up to the Port Stevens and the Myrall National Park which was quite nice.
However this is my last day in Sydney, tomorrow I am flying back to Tokyo.