Sydney....our last station in Australia.....

We spend our last days here, again in Sydney... and encounter rain and clouds! This is not supposed to occur in summer in Sydney!!! (But we are glad, we had sunny weather at least the last time we were here in Sydney about 2 weeks ago. )

What to say about Sydney?
It's big, modern, full of people, full of restaurants, bars, coffee houses, full of great, impressive architecture, full of backpackers and tourists, full of cars which some backpacker wants to sell (thank god, we got rid of ours a long time ago ;-) ) museums, art, fast-food restaurants, full of all kinds of people......full of live.
Take a look at the pictures.
It's a perfect city to hang around. Either with full sight-seeing schedule or - more like us this time - relaxing without doing much....

We try to let sink in all the impressions of the last months, which are a lot.
We are a bit tired and thus our days are more like:
sleep long, breakfast relaxed, walk around, drink coffee, watch people, walk around some more, have a afternoon-nap, eat, drink and go to sleep again

Instead of:
get up early, pack things into the car, drive, get out, walk around, take pictures, be in the heat, get in the car, drive, find sight, get out, look, read, walk, drive some more, look for toilet, stop for toilet, drive, get out, walk, check things, drive, find way, look for night accomodation, get out, unpack things, cook, eat, shower, fall onto the bed, sleep.

We hope you are all well and send you kisses and hugs!!!
Renate & Mirko

Outback - our last Good Bye

Hallo,

while you were shoveling the snow from your front porch and hurriedly bought the last christmas presents we have been driving through the sandy, dusty, hot (41 degree C), sunny and strange Outback again. We rented a small car and rushed away from the crowded east coast and Sydney to 'get lost' in the wastness of the Outback again.
We visited strange towns and stranger places:
slept in the underground to avoid the heat in White Cliffs: Opal Mining Town; listened to Christmal music in Broken Hill; hunted any available shadow in Silverton (Ghost Town, where the movie "Mad Max" has been filmed); shipped on the Murray River in Echuca; unfortunately the "Bushranger Hall of Fame was burned down to the grounds 12 month ago ;-); lookd at the skeleton of a Thyrannosaurus rex; walked between impressive sand formations in Mungo National parc; marveled at a Giant Dish facing the Universe....and no to forget the flies again ! ;-)

Again it was an amazing experience to drive for hours on end through nothingness:
"Impressive! Great!" as well as "I never ever could live here!" crossed our thoughts all the time simultaneously :-).

AND!!! Believe it or not: In the middle of nowhere in 'Broken Hill' we found Santa!!!
Dressed up at 41 degrees sunshine :-0!
But I was not allowed to sit on his lap for the obligatory picture... :-(
Take a look at our XMAS-Special on the right. :-) :-)

We have uploaded a few pictures again.
Our last 'Goodbye' and tribute to the Australian Outback!

We wish you all a good time!!
Renate & Mirko

Canberra - the capital, designed to be

Hallo to all of you!

Canberra is worth an entry! Canberra - as the capital city - has been specifically designed by architects to be the capital city, stamped out of nothing and nowhere in the middle of the Australian bush. And it has been designed to be grand in every aspect of the word ....it can only be driven through by car, as nothing is situated in 'walking-distance' :-)
But there are enough parking spaces planned and provided as well so that's rather convenient. The architecture ranges from spectacular to bold. But everythig has enough space in between.;-)
Here are the pictures.
We spent some pleasent days there, visiting a lot of intersting museums and other exhibitions, which are all free! ;-) Thus our days have been packed and very informative as well.
We even visited the 'Deep Space Communication Center' where there are 'Mega-Antennas' communicating with space-crafts circulating in "deeper space" (as the name truely states ;-) )..was amazing, really.

Now we are in Sydney, where we have managed to sell the car already !! JUCHUUU!
On Wednesday we will leave the city again to travel a little bit inland to have a last look at the 'Outback' and will return to Sydney around the 24th of Dec..

We hope you have about as much 'Chrismas-stress' as we have: "Christmas??? What's that? Where? When? Why? Huuh?"
..and whish you all the best till the next entry ;-)

Kisses and hugs, Renate & Mirko