The two questions that we were asked the most after returning back home were

• How can you go back to a normal life after this?

Well … believe it or not, we are not afraid of stepping in the “normal life” again. I would even go so far as to say that we’re really motivated to start our jobs again and enjoy the luxury of the place called home. If this will still be the case in 1 month from now I really cannot say :=)

• The second most asked question was “Which is your top 3 list of favorite places that you’ve seen?”

Now this is a really hard one to answer to. Not because we haven’t seen 3 nice places but because it’s really hard to choose just 3. I’ll try to summarize a top 15.

1.       Island hopping through Fiji – The easiest choice is number 1 where we both have the same opinion. Island hopping through the Yasawa Group in Fiji is definitely the winner. The incredible shark dives, the amazing beaches and the option of spending time with the locals and getting to know their culture and all the activities that are organized on each island makes this the perfect destination.

Starting from the second place it’s harder to choose a sequence so the order does not necessary mean that we liked one more than the other.

2.       Tasmania – Tassie, how it is called by the Australians is one of the places with the best nature, best wildlife which we have ever seen. This is for sure a place which we will visit again as we only spend one week there.
3.       Salar de Uyuni – the 4 day 4WD tour through the biggest salt desert in the world and Bolivia’s colorful lagoons was one of the highlights of our trip and I think I have never ever taken so many pictures in 3 days.
4.       Banff and Jasper National Parks – it’s really hard to find lakes that match the beauty of the Moraine Lake in the Banff National Park. You also have a huge number of hiking trails with views over incredible lakes and lots of options for wildlife watching everywhere. And if this is not enough you have one of the best highways through the mountains with views over glaciers and waterfalls.
5.       Bora Bora – The locals are not as friendly as on Fiji but the amazing water makes up the difference. We’ve never seen water so greenish as the one on Bora Bora.
6.       Chile’s Lake District – This is a place where you can easily spend two weeks. The options start from horse riding through the forests or rafting through incredible waters and go as far as climbing active volcanos.
7.       Fraser Island – The fun already starts when you’re told that the only way to see this island is by hiring a 4WD and driving through the rainforests and on the beaches.
8.       Australia’s South Coast and The Great Ocean Road – This point includes Sydney which could not have missed our list of favorite places. The drive along the coast from Sydney to Melbourne and then The Great Ocean Road brings you to some of the best beaches in the world and lots of places with amazing wildlife, be it kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats and so on.
9.        New Zealand’s South Island – If you’re looking for postcard perfect landscape than this is definitely one top choice with Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki making you stop every hundred meters to take a picture.
10.   Peru – Hiking for 3 days through the deepest Canyon in the world and for 5 days up to 4600m to arrive to one of the ancient wonders Machu Picchu made this a destination that couldn’t miss our list of favorite places.
11.   The Galapagos Islands – There are not many places in the world that have the wildlife diversity of the Galapagos Islands so swimming with the sea lions and seeing the giant turtles are just the tip of the iceberg.
12.   The Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Canyon –These two destinations are pretty far from each other but we consider them to be on the USA’s list of “Must see before you die”.
13.   The glacier Perito Moreno – We haven’t seen too many glaciers but this one beats everything else by far. And hiking on the incredible blue ice was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
14.   The Iguazu Falls – Not much to say about this one other than the advice to look at the pictures and multiply the beauty by 1000.
15.   The Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia – No wonder that this is considered to be one of the best places for hiking in the world. If you’re lucky and the weather is good it will be Paradise but if you’re like us than you can easily discover that Hell is not far from Chile’s Patagonia.

The list could go on and on as I didn’t add any single city to the list (except Sydney which is something special). The list of the nicest visited cities must include Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, New York, Washington, San Francisco, Arequipa, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

If you’ve followed our travel blog so far you know about the “One amazing thing we’ve seen or done” point that we had at some of our blog posts. If by now you still think that we had a pretty boring year, here is the list of the TOP 50 amazing things that we’ve seen or done this year in the order of occurrence.

1. Saw the Niagara waterfalls by night.
2. Took a rafting tour on the Ottawa river.
3. Watched the 4^th of July fireworks in New York City.
4. Watched grizzlies and black bears in the Banff National Park and saw the incredible turquoise waters of the Moraine lake which is by far the most beautiful lake we have ever seen.
5. Drove over the Icefields Parkway which is probably the most beautiful highway through the mountains.
6. Drove on the steepest street in the world in San Francisco.
7. Took a tour with the fastest boat in the bay of San Francisco, the Rocket.
8. Jumped from 260m from the top of the Stratosphere tower in Vegas.
9. Watched the most famous fountain show at the Bellagio Fountains and played poker in Vegas.
10. Took a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon, truly one of the most impressive wonders of nature.
11. Saw the Bryce Canyon with its strange rock shapes.
12. Witnessed the eruption of geysers and saw some of the most incredible colors in the springs of the Yellowstone National park.
13. Were caught by a sandstorm when driving through the Arizona desert.
14. Drove over the Overseas Highway in Florida with turquoise seawater all around the road.
15. Were caught by Hurricane Isaac in Miami Beach.
16. Snorkeled with sea lions and whitetip sharks in the Galapagos islands
17. Went on a sandbuggy tour in the desert of Huacachina in Peru and pumped more adrenaline than on any roller-coaster ride.
18. Hiked the Salkantay trail for 5 days up to 4600m and finished it at one of the ancient wonders at Macchu Pichu.
19. Did a 3 day hike in the deepest Canyon in the world, the Colca Canyon.
20. Went to the artificial islands of the Uros people where the time stopped centuries ago.
21. Took a 3 day tour through the greatest salt desert in the world, Salar de Uyuni and saw the amazing colorful lagoons with thousands of flamingos.
22. Watched a penguin colony near the end of the world on Isla Magdalena.
23. Experienced the beautiful nature with glacier lakes and active volcanos in Chile’s Lake District.
24. Climbed the active Volcano Villarica in Chile and then sledded it down.
25. Hiked on one of the most beautiful glaciers in the world with incredible blue ice, Perito Moreno.
26. Experienced the amazing nature of Patagonia by hiking 4 days in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and fighting winds over 60km/h.
27. Saw one of the wonders of nature, the amazing Iguazu Falls at the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
28. Ate the most tasty beef steaks in Buenos Aires.
29. Walked through the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro.
30. Climbed the hill to the statue of Christ The Reedemer.
31. Witnessed the majestic Rio from the Suggar Loaf hill.
32. Experienced what is probably the most livable city in the world, Sydney.
33. Spent New Year’s Eve in Sydney and saw what is said to be the most spectacular fireworks in the world.
34. Drove on the wrong side of the highway in Australia (just for a couple of meters till I saw the other cars coming towards me :=) )
35. Swam on the best beaches in the world between Sydney and Melbourne with the Hyams Beach said to have the whitest sand in the world.
36. Drove over The Great Ocean Road, just magnificent, the best drive ever.
37. Did a shark dive in South West Rocks, the best dive at that point.
38. Saw hundreds of kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and wombats in the Australian outback.
39. Enjoyed the nice nature of Tasmania, or Tassie how it is called by the Aussies and ate the biggest and juiciest cherries ever.
40. Drove a 4WD through the rainforest and on the beach of Fraser Island.
41. Learned to surf on the Gold Coast of Australia.
42. Witnessed the traditional Maori dance called Haka in the northern part of New Zealand.
43. Rafted on grade 5+ rivers in New Zealand with one of them having the highest commercial raftable waterfall in the world, a drop of 7 meters.
44. Hiked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing trek rated as being in the top 10 best day hikes in the world.
45. Saw the beautiful Mount Cook and the incredible water of Lake Pukaki on the South Island of New Zealand.
46. Went island hopping through the paradise of Fiji, the top choice of the trip.
47. Did the most amazing shark dive in Fiji and spotted 5 different types of sharks including Bull Sharks.
48. Saw the incredible greenish water of Bora Bora, THE top choice for honeymooners and lovers of turquoise water.
49. Saw the light show on the skyline of Hong Kong.
50. Returned home in one piece :=)

Below is a short :=) selection of the pictures.

The initial idea of “One country, two systems” is still used today as Hong Kong has a very high degree of autonomy with separate immigration controls, an own constitution, own government, own laws, own financial system and even an own passport. And more than that it is completely democratic as opposed to mainland China and there is total freedom of speech and Hong Kong people are free to criticize their government.

Hong Kong is definitely in the top of the craziest cities we have seen. In the same league as New York, in HK you see the same high number of people on the streets no matter if it’s 2 PM or 2 AM. In fact when we first arrived at our hotel it was 2 AM and we were pretty sure that we messed our calculations with the time difference as we couldn’t believe that all the people were around in the middle of the night. Probably the main reason for this madness is the love for buying stuff or just going out for dinner with the family. I read an article that said HK people go out to dine with their families 5 times a week.

Another attribute that defines the Chinese not only the HK people is their belief in superstitions. In fact a big part of their life is based on being careful with superstitions. We also encountered some of them.

For example the number 4 is considered the unluckiest of them all because it’s pronunciation is similar to the word death. This will mean that you will never see the number 4 on houses or license plates and sometimes the buildings even skip the 4^th and 14^th levels.

Another superstition which drove us crazy is that in shopping stores you cannot try out the clothes that you want to buy as this is supposed to bring bad luck. Fortunately there are also other stores, though it’s the exception, where you can try them out.

You also have to be careful with your behavior as you could be considered rude if you leave your chop sticks in the rice bowl because this is a clear sign that you wish the death of somebody…. And  the capital NOGO is that you should never give somebody a  clock as a gift because this action has also the same pronunciation as saying goodbye to somebody who passed away so it again is a clear sign that you wish his/her death. But HK is probably the capital of watches so giving somebody a watch is fine. Without exaggeration but I think the business of at least one in every 5 shops is selling watches and you cannot walk more than 50 meters without being asked at least if not all of the 3 questions “Copy watch??? Copy handbag??? Tailor suit???”

But don’t get me wrong, we had a very nice time in HK and enjoyed the city with all of its crazy attributes. And it’s one of the safest cities in the world, at the same level with Singapore or Dubai. It also has lots of must see-s with the view from Victoria Peak or the light show on the skyline being at the top of the list.

Next/Best stop

Home sweet home

We’re currently in the train from Frankfurt and the feeling that one year of travelling is ending is indescribable. It’s not like we don’t want to go home but it feels unreal that a trip like this is over…

China Eastern Air forgot our luggage in Shanghai because of the short stopover but then again, we’re not that excited about wearing the same clothes which we had for the last 12 month :=)

I will add another blog post in the upcoming days with a complete review of our trip and probably the strange feeling of adapting to a “normal” life style.

We planned 12 days in Cairns and were pretty sure that we will have at least 3 days with good weather for a liveaboard in the Great Barrier Reef. The cyclone season ends in April so theoretically we did everything right but in practice it was a little bit different. So we hoped and waited and hoped again for the weather to get better…. but it didn’t. We thought about going on a scuba dive liveaboard anyway because when you’re under water you get wet anyway so it’s not that important if it’s raining though the underwater visibility gets worse. But because we learnt on the Galapagos Islands that a choppy sea can take away pretty much of the fun of a liveaboard we decided to go only on a one day trip to the Great Barrier Reef and did only one dive there. It was good but we cannot say that we experienced the best what the GBR has to offer so it’s definitely an open point on my bucket list.

So, what else can you do in a small city like Cairns if you’re stuck there for 12 days? Well, considering that the main business of 99% of the shops in town is selling day trips and liveaboards to the GBR there’s not really much of a choice. And by the 3^rd day we knew all the major streets in downtown Cairns by name so we had to get out of the city.

And there are a couple of wildlife parks around Cairns with Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures being one of the best. Here you can see the really big crocs the biggest one being Paul, a 4.6m fellow weighting more than 700 kilos. You wouldn’t think that crocs can grow up so huge. At this wildlife park they farm crocodiles so you can also get crocodile meat for lunch which I did. It’s delicious and tastes very similar to chicken breast.

We also walked on a trail through the rainforests which was quite good and because the rainforest is meant to be wet, the bad weather didn’t make a difference here. Another nice trail is one called the Waterfall Circuit which we also did and took a look at some nice waterfalls with one of them being the place where the Australian airline Qantas shoots its commercials.

So I guess this is it from the northern part of Queensland and for Australia. But we’re sure that we’ll come back to this beautiful country.

See you sooner than soon, Aussieland.

Next / Last stop

Hong Kong

Moorea and Bora Bora are both part of the French overseas territory called French Polynesia. If you think like me that French Polynesia has just a couple of islands, you’re as wrong as I was. It consists of 118 islands which cover an area as big as the European Union. This is one of the last overseas colonies but probably not for a long time as they will have a referendum next year where the Polynesians can decide if they become independent or not. This is a big topic for them and when talking to them you can get a sense of their uncertainty if the independence will be the better choice. It’s funny how they ask you questions like “Is it better to be independent?”  or “Is Germany independent?”.  But considering that France takes care of main areas like education or public services it`s questionable if they are ready for the change.

On both the islands you have a couple of options to spend your time, the favorite option being to just sit and stare at the amazing greenish water. But then there are also Tahitian cultural shows or you can just grab a kayak and explore the islets called Motu or you can go and discover the underwater world. If you see all this paradise it’s hard to believe that France used parts of French Polynesia for their nuclear tests, the latest ones being less than 20 years ago. Maybe that’s why you see fish having all the possible colors :=)

A funny story is that before we arrived to French Polynesia I learnt another two things.

First, that you can never be too early at the departure gate as it might happen that you are randomly selected for a chemical test and the results may reveal that you have traces of explosives. But fortunately the dog that was brought to smell on my belongings was more interested in another lady’s purse than in my brand new daypack so it was a false alarm and we arrived just in time at the gate.

The second learnt lesson is that you should be careful when flying over the “end of the world” as the edge of the time zones is around French Polynesia. That means that we flew on Friday evening from Auckland and arrived on Thursday in Tahiti. What a cool thing to just win a day after a five hours flight. The drawback of the story is that when flying back to Auckland even though it’s again just an over day five hours flight you arrive one calendar day later and because we bought separate flight tickets we had to change the flight to Australia and the hotel bookings in Australia and Auckland.

Next stop

The Great Barrier Reef

Fiji is a paradise. It consists of an archipelago that includes more than 300 islands out of which around 100 are inhabited. If you think you have never seen a picture from Fiji you are probably wrong because the gorgeous scenery was the stage where lots of movies were shot including The Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields, Return to the Blue Lagoon with Milla Jovovich, Castaway with Tom Hanks, and Jodie Foster’s “heaven” sequence in the sci-fi movie Contact was also filmed here.

Because April is the last month of the rainy season for Fiji we chose to do an island hopping tour through the Yasawa Group of Islands which are more protected from the rain and the decision was the right one as we had only 3 days of rain in 3 weeks. We chose to stay 4 nights on each of the islands Nanuya Balavu, Baya, Tavewa and Nacula with every single one of them being a little paradise.

In Fiji there is no danger to get bored because on every island you have lots of daily activities to choose from including hiking, snorkeling, diving, cooking classes, jewelry making out of coconuts, visits to local villages, handline fishing, beach volleyball, rugby, crab races and party nights. And if this is not enough you can just lay down in one of the hammocks on the beach and stare at the blue-greenish water. Can you wish more???

We also tried the local cuisine with Kokoda being one of our favourites. Kokoda is very similar to the ceviche from Peru. It is raw fish marinated in lime juice and served in coconut milk with onion and spices, very very tasty. We also tried the typical Fijian drink which is called Kava. It is a narcotic drink made out of the roots of the pepper plant and after you drink it you feel a slight numbness of your lips and tongue. I couldn’t say it’s a tasty drink as it really looks like muddy water :=) but you cannot escape from drinking it on every island on your welcome ceremony.

In Fiji we met lots of people from all over the world but because of the long flight from home most of the Europeans were on a longer trip around the world. So guess who we met? If you read the last blog post about Sydney I mentioned that I hope we will meet Marco and Denise from Switzerland on a small island in the Pacific. And we met on Nanuya Balavu Island. Now if this isn’t weird than call me crazy but by now we managed to meet them this year in 4 different countries Peru, Bolivia, Australia and Fiji without planning it.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

The snorkeling in Fiji was one of the best we have ever done and the corals are considered to be part of the most colorful in the world. We also went diving a couple of times and even did two shark dives with one of them being our best dive till now. It was very well organized as we went down to 20m depth and held on to a rope while three guides fed the sharks 4 – 5 meters in front of us and other 3 guides watched for the safety on the back side. We saw different types of sharks, the white and black tip reef sharks, lemon sharks and the best, the bull sharks. It was definitely one of the most amazing experiences so far. Take a look at the video with the amazing underwater world in Fiji.

Next stop

French Polynesia – Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora

Milford Sound – We could not miss the Fiordland of New Zealand so we went for a half day trip through the Milford Sound. Here you can see the mountains rising all the way from the sea as well as sea-lions, penguins and lots of other animals. Another memorable experience was when the captain went with the nose of the ship under a waterfall and the crew filled up glasses with glacier water for all the passengers. Take a look at the video.

Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki – We weren’t sure if we will ever find a lake that matches the beauty of Canada’s Moraine Lake but Lake Pukaki is definitely playing in the same league. The drive to the base of Mount Cook goes along Lake Pukaki and we stopped tens of times to take pictures because the view was so amazing. Again, too bad that the pictures don’t completely show its real beauty.

Franz Josef and Fox Glacier – are New Zealand’s two main glaciers. We took a guided tour on the Fox Glacier because this was reachable more easily than the Franz Josef Glacier where you had to take a helicopter to drop you off on top of the glacier. The two glaciers are not as spectacular as the Perito Moreno in Argentina but the hike was still worth it.

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula – We liked Dunedin a lot as it has really nice old architecture and looks like a city where nothing happens very fast. They also claim to have the steepest residential road in the world so we couldn’t miss driving this road up and down . The Otago Peninsula is right near Dunedin and it has lots to offer. Here you can also find a colony of yellow eyed penguins which are native to New Zealand. On the peninsula you can also see the only castle in New Zealand.

Christchurch – We also visited the city of Christchurch, the third largest city of New Zealand. It was hardly damaged by the earthquake in 2011. Even if the construction work continues, a big part of downtown Christchurch is a red zone with restricted access. That area looks literally like a ghost town and it looks like the shop owners are not willing to invest in this area for a long time.

Next stop

Auckland

Another memorable experience was the hike which we made after leaving the region of Rotorua. The hiking trail is called “The Tongariro Alpine Crossing” and is rated to be in the Top 10 day hikes in the world. After looking at the pictures, I’ll let you judge if the rating is exaggerated or not. The trail runs near an active volcano and lakes with incredible emerald water. In fact they are even called the “Emerald Lakes”. Because the last time the volcano erupted was in November 2012 parts of the trail are still closed and you cannot get closer than 3 km to the volcano because of the danger of volcanic flying rocks.

As a final stop on the North Island we arrived in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital which was described by Lonely Planet as being “The Coolest Little Capital in the World.” Because it is situated near the Cook Strait which divides the North Island from the South Island it gets a lot of rain, on average it rains 159 days per year. But we got the lucky shot and the weather was just perfect for one day of sightseeing and relaxing on the docks.

Fortunately from this moment on everything went more than perfect. We went to pick up our rental car and received a free upgrade to a huge brand new Toyota Highlander. By brand new I mean the odometer was showing only 7 (seven) kilometer.

First we decided to visit a region in the northern part of the North Island called Bay Of Islands. Here we decided to take a full day boat tour through the islands and the blue-greenish waters of the bay. The luck struck once again and we won a HOT-SEAT on the boat so one of us travelled for free. For me New Zealand did not have the image of perfect beaches and blue-greenish waters. But take a look at the pictures and see how wrong I was thinking that.

In the northern part we also visited Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the Maori and the British. This Treaty is considered the founding document of New Zealand as a nation. At the Treaty Grounds we also watched a performance of Maori and even witnessed a Haka, the traditional Maori war dance which may be familiar to you as it is always performed by the National Rugby Team of New Zealand before their games.

After leaving the northern part of the island we headed for the Coromandel Peninsula which is famous for the Hot Water Beach. This beach is called like that because during the timeframe of 2 hours before and 2 hours after low tide you can go to the beach and dig your own pool which than is filled by hot water from the geothermal springs. The water is so hot that you have to be careful to build it in a place where it can mix with the sea water, otherwise the danger of burns is really high. Being able to sit in a self-made small pool with thermal water right on the beach… how cool(warm) is that???

Next stop

Continue our journey on the North Island

We already knew last time when we left Sydney that we will return here during our trip in Australia because we were not able to see everything that we wanted back then because of time constrains and the weather conditions.

On the first days, we met again our lovely host Kym who took us to a friend of hers who owns the best Indian restaurant in Sydney and the food was amazing. After almost one week we’re still thinking about that food. And if I’m already writing about the cuisine experiences I have to say that I went back to the fish market to get one of those huge fish platters. Diana’s favorite was a spicy Malaysian noodle soup called Laksa which has as main ingredients coconut milk, chili and seafood.

We also went to take a tour of the Opera House. I found out that the project of building the Opera House was estimated in taking 3 years and costing 7 million dollars and it actually took 16 years and more than 100 million dollars to finish it. Because of this the architect was fired at some point and the sad story is that he never returned to Sydney to see his masterpiece finished.

In Sydney we also met with Denise and Marco from Switzerland. They’re also on a trip around the world and we first met them on the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu because we were in the same group. Back then we already planned to meet each other when we’re back home but we didn’t think the world is so small and we’ll meet again in Sydney. Something tells me we’ll meet each other again before going home….and this time it will be on a smaller island in the Pacific :=)

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Before arriving in Sydney we went to a very small town called South West Rocks which is 300 km north of Sydney. Nothing spectacular so far and the town is really nothing to write home about. The amazing thing about this place is that from here you can go by boat to one of the best and some would say THE best dive spot in Australia. I have to thank Uta from Melbourne for this recommendation as I would have never ever discovered it on my own.

This place is a total knock out in diving terms. Here you can find a colony of grey nurse sharks all year round. I’ve dived with sharks before but not with grey nurse sharks and not with 15 or 20 of them coming as close as half a meter of me. And like this would not have been enough, the second dive on that day was through a cave which was awesome. Take a look especially at the end of the first video where you can see a close-up with one of the cute guys.

Next stop

New Zealand

The Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are both the perfect regions for spending a holiday. While the Sunshine Coast is mainly visited by families because of the nice and quiet beaches, the Gold Coast is world wide known for good surfing beaches and even has a town which is called like that, Surfers’ Paradise.

First we went to the Sunshine Coast which is situated north of Brisbane. Here we made a short stopover at the Glasshouse Mountains. Well… Australia is not the best place for mountains and it’s funny when you see that a hill with a height of 200-300 meters is called Mt. But still, it was worth stopping at the Glasshouse Mountains and hiking the trail up to the peak as we had a nice view over the whole region. Then we went to Noosa which has a very nice beach and even better the Noosa National Park has some really good trails to walk through with amazing beaches. Through the town of Noosa flows a river so you can choose if you want to kayak in the sea or in the river.

If I will remember Tasmania forever for its huge and sweet cherries, the Sunshine Coast definitely has the best mangos, pineapples and watermelons we have ever eaten. They’re so sweet that people with diabetes shouldn’t be allowed to eat them :=) and even better, there are farmers selling them for almost nothing near the road every couple of kilometers so you cannot pass without stopping.

After the Sunshine Coast we headed south for the Gold Coast which like I said, is totally different from the Sunshine Coast. Here we first went to the place called Surfer’s Paradise. Though it was very touristic with lots of huge hotels and many restaurants we liked it’s atmosphere and stayed there for 2 days before continuing our trip on the coast. The next stop was Byron Bay, which was once the typical small hippie town but soon the hippies became capitalists so it slowly caught the trend of it’s bigger sister, Surfer’s Paradise. But still, the locals kept everything small and nice so that it does not become the next big touristic attraction on the coast.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

I could not have left Australia without taking some surf lessons and “trying to catch the waves, dude”. And I’m so glad I did it in Byron Bay because the waves were so much better than in Surfer’s Paradise. I managed in staying on the board on the first day and liked it so much that now I’m thinking to convince Diana to come back here in April and spend some more time in search for good waves. Take a look at the pictures with me trying to stand on the board, without laughing too loud :=)

Next stop

Sydney

When we received a free upgrade to a 4WD car in Brisbane I was happy thinking that we can drive the same car on Fraser Island because only 4WD cars are allowed to go on the island. I could not have been more wrong than that because our toy-car could not have had any chance on the rough terrain on the island. But, fortunately we were advised about the conditions and rented a Land Rover Defender, the ones that are used by the British army and which are more similar to a tractor than to a car. Driving through the rough terrain of the rainforest was hard but lots of fun. I would compare the drive to a rodeo ride. We also got stuck a couple of times so we had to remove the sand around the wheels with a shovel before we could continue our ride, but this was all part of the fun.

But this was not all of it, the main “highway” on the island was the beach where you could drive as fast as 80kmh because the sand was very wet. Driving here is similar to driving on icy snow and with the waves crushing near you it was an unforgettable experience. On the beach we also spotted a couple of dingoes as Fraser Island has one of the biggest populations of dingoes world wide.

The island has so much more to offer. It has some of the most beautiful lakes we have ever seen, Lake McKenzie and Lake Birrabeen. In fact we loved Lake McKenzie so much that on the last day we woke up at 6AM just to go back there and swim in the lake once more. The feeling of having this nature’s beauty all for ourselves was indescribable. It’s not needed to say that the pictures of the both lakes don’t show their real beauty.

Next stop

The Gold Coast

This week was full of memorable experiences. We started it by driving to the incredible Bay of Fires with its stunning beaches. It is called “The Bay of Fires” because the rocks on the beach have a redish color and when the first people from overseas came they had the impression that the rocks were on fire. Another superb place we visited was the Freycinet National Park with the top attraction being the beach called Wineglass Bay because of its shape. The pictures of the beach from the hill nearby are for sure on the nicest pictures that I’ve taken so far.

Australia is not famous for its mountains but if going to Tasmania it is a must to do at least one hike in the Cradle Mountains. We did the classic hike around the Dove Lake and the view from the peak of the mountains over the Tasmanian outback was definitely worth it.

But Tasmania is not only about beaches. The wildlife that you can see here is amazing. We saw hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies, we saw wombats, opossums. We also went to a Wildlife Park (which is not a zoo) where we could pet wombats and see the famous Tasmanian devil. The animals are all very friendly and especially the kangaroos and wallabies are used to people. One even approached us on the beach of the Wineglass Bay and followed us when we wanted to leave.

Then there are the fruits from Tasmania, especially the cherries which are so sweet and huge that you cannot stop eating. I think I have never eaten so many cherries in my life, probably 1 kilo of cherries per day.

We also went to a honey farm or better said to a shop where you can find everything made out of honey. They had free tastings of the honey and with over fifty (50) types of honey you can imagine how much time we spent there. I could not have ever imagined that mixes of honey with so many fruits or veggies can be so tasty. I bought a mix of honey with chili which is very good to eat with cheese or can be used as a salad dressing. We also went to a butchery specialized on European sausages where we tasted a couple of them. The owner was a German and he told us about each of the types of sausages and also how he won an international contest for sausages with a special sausage made out of wallaby meat.

Next stop

Queensland

But before we drove over the Great Ocean Road we saw some of the nicest beaches in Mallacoota and Narrooma. Then we headed to the Wilsons Promontory National Park where we camped near the Squeaky Beach. It is called like that because you hear a squeaky sound when walking on the white sand.

Coming back to the Great Ocean Road I need to say that it’s one of the best routes to drive. The scenery is amazing with blue-greenish water all the way along the coast. And the rock formations called The Twelve  Apostles is incredible. Water and wind carved their way into the rocks leaving peacks in the middle of the water, a view which seems unreal.

After the drive over The Great Ocean Road we returned to Melbourne where we met Uta and Richard with whom we did the hiking in the Colca Canyon in Peru and met a couple of times in South America. They showed us the city by night and Richard drove over the streets that are used for the F1 Race in Melbourne which is the first race of the year.

Next stop

Tasmania

In Sydney we met our friend Raluca who is joining us for 4 weeks across Australia. After her arrival we went to Port Stephens a beautiful region near the ocean and to the Hunter Valley which is one of the main winery regions in Australia. Here we also stopped for wine tasting and now I can happily add the Shiraz to my list of favorite wines. Then we went to the Blue Mountains National Park where we saw the rock formation called “The three sisters” and took a ride on the steepest railway in the world.

For New Year’s Eve we planned to go to the best spot to watch the fireworks, a place called Ms. Macquarie’s Chair. Kym, our lovely host in Sydney, joined us and we are proud that she came with us and it was the first time she went to see the fireworks live. Because when we planned the trip there was no doubt where we would spent the NYE, it seemed strange to hear that very many citizens of Sydney don’t go to see the fireworks, but I would soon find the answer to this. Though we went very early and by early I mean 10:30 AM to the desired place, there was already a queue of more than 10000 people to the entrance of the mentioned park. The problem was that this place only fits for 17.000 people so we hoped we were not too late for that, and again, all this at 10:30 AM…. Just crazy. But with estimated 1,5 million people who spent NYE on the street in Sydney it’s no wonder. But it was worth it, we got a nice place to see probably the most spectacular fireworks that you can see. More than 300,000 fireworks from 7 ships, 7 buildings and lots of places with the Harbor Bridge being the center of the show. Just impressive.

The next day, Kym showed us the Featherdale Wildlife Park were we could pet Koalas and Wallabies. If you’re like me and wonder what a Wallaby is, it’s the animal that looks like a small kangaroo but is not a kangaroo. We also saw other different animals typical for Australia and the Laughing Kokabara which I started to hate. It’s called laughing because it makes a noise which sound like a laugh but the problem is that it’s incredible loud and the bird normally starts singing at 5 AM.

After leaving Sydney we chose the coastline to drive to Melbourne and this was the best choice ever. We found a couple of great beaches with the top one being the Hyams Beach which is said to have the whitest sand in the world. Another one was Pebbly Beach where you can see lots of kangaroos in the evening and where I probably saw the highest number of stars on the sky.

Next stop

The state of Victoria and The Great Ocean Road

We first went north of Rio to a very small village called Buzios which is famous for its beautiful beaches. Here we spent a couple of days relaxing at the beach and getting a better look of the typical Brazilian dishes. Then we headed to Rio de Janeiro as a last stop in South America after a journey of around 4 month on this continent.

Rio de Janeiro is a city of extremes. Staying in the good neighborhoods of Ipanema, or its more famous twin the Copacabana, will cost you a lot more than staying in a good hotel in one of the top destinations in Europe. For me Rio looked to be a typical tourist rip-off place because the prices are definitely higher than in Germany when you think about what you’re paying for accommodation, food or tourist-tours. And it’s not even getting close to the World Cup or the Olympiads when the hotel prices will probably reach unimaginable figures.

But once here, there are a lot of things this city has to offer. The view from the statue of Christ, The Redeemer and the one from the Sugar Loaf are definitely one of the best city-views that we have ever seen. Diana rated the view of Rio from the Sugar Loaf as being the best nightly view of a city, she has ever seen.

One amazing thing we’ve seen or done

Before I give you details about the tour to a favela in Rio I want to say that this is not the typical image of how Brazilians live. It’s rather the exception of the rule and many Brazilian say it’s not even part of their culture, but it’s a fact that some people of the lower class live in favelas and it’s definitely a MUST to visit such a place if you go to Rio.

We went to Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio and the second largest in South America, where it’s estimated that around 300.000 people are living. Because most favelas are ruled by drug lords and the criminality is one of the highest around here it’s not the place where you want to go alone if you don’t know what you’re doing. So we took a tour with a guide who lives in this favela and knows the place very well. He told us a lot of new information about the society structure in a favela and about the day to day problems that people encounter here. For example, because favelas are not recognized by the city, people don’t actually have an address so there was a woman who was responsible with receiving the mail for a neighborhood and for this everybody had to pay her a small monthly fee. Another funny thing is that every store of a building belongs to a family and if you own the upper store you can sell your roof to somebody else and he will build his house over yours. I could write on and on about the amazing things we saw in Rocinha but it’s better if you take a look at the pictures which in this case will tell more than a thousand words.

Next stop

Sydney, Australia

The Iguazu Falls are definitely one of the “Must See” destinations. We saw the Niagara Falls in June and that was amazing but the Iguazu Falls are on a different level. To give you an impression about the difference I can say that when the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw the Iguazu Falls she exclaimed “Poor Niagara…”.

The Iguazu Falls were voted one of the 7 wonders of nature. We visited the National Park on the Argentinian side because from this side you can get a closer look to the falls especially to the biggest of them “The Devil’s Throat”. Everything is very well organized and there are a lot of trails to see the falls from different viewpoints. The view of the falls is just amazing. It cannot be described in words and probably even the pictures don’t show its real beauty.

Next stop

Rio de Janeiro

Next stop

Iguazu Falls

The portenos (that’s how the people from Buenos Aires are called) do most of the things that are important for them with a lot of passion. And we tried to experience these passions

• Football – it’s not a secret that Argentinians are crazy about football with their crazy kid Diego Maradona who was voted the best football player of the past century. In order to get a little bit of this passion we went to the stadium and museum of the Boca Junior, the team for which Maradona played in Argentina. The stadium of Boca is the famous La Bombonera (The Chocolate Box). Here you can see the whole history of Boca Juniors and of course a statue of Maradona.
• Dulce de leche – this is literally the sweetest of all passions for the Argentinians. It’s caramelized milk and almost every cake has at least one part or filling with dulce de leche.
• Beef – the way the Argentinians treat the beef meat is almost an art. We tried all types of beef steaks with the favorite ones being Bife de Chorizo (Sirloin Steak) and Bife de Lomo (Tenderloin) and they all were knock outs.
• Tango – we were so lucky because on the weekend was the biggest Open Air Tango Dancing event in Buenos Aires and portenos are crazy about tango so the streets were full.
• Empanadas – An empanada is a stuffed pastery. In Argentina the most common ones are filled with cheese, ham, pork or chicken meat.
• Malbec wine – this is the favorite type of wine for Argentinians. It’s not very common in Europe to have wine with mainly this type of grape and it can be found only mixed with Merlot but I will definitely look for Malbec wine in the future as we loved it.

We also took a free guided tour of the city and got some funny info about how portenos are. The people of Buenos Aires are in the top of the list on beauty-surgeries. This is because health-care insurance companies try to get as many clients as possible by offering them one free beauty surgery every 2 years. This is really crazy. Our guide referred to these persons as “Lions” and every tour through the city is just like a safari tour.

We also found out some things about the history of Argentina and why Evita Peron is still considered an icon even 60 years after her death. And then there are the Falkland Islands which Argentinians consider to belong to them. Unfortunately for them the rest of the world has a different opinion about this but all the maps that are sold here show it as an Argentinian province.

Next stop

Montevideo, Uruguay