Bondi and Tamarama Beach

Definitely one of the best known beaches of Sydney, Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, the beach is totally overcrowded on the weekend and you feel rather like in a swimming-pool on one of the rare summer days in Germany. However, during the week the beach is great! With free BBQ stations i absolutely recommend a dinner during the sunset! On the overcrowded days we went up for a hike from Bondi Beach to the nearby Tamarama Beach, a smaller beach besides Bondi. My next aim before I leave Sydney is Manly Beach and Watson Bay. Cheers!

Tamarama Beach Sunset

Tamarama Surfer

Bondi Walk

Tamarama Surfer Again

Bondi Beach

Bondi Pool

Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise

Finally, we were able to register our car in Tweed Heads . The small town which is located directly behind the border to New South Wales. We have driven past Brisbane to register it as fast as possible. On our way back we have made a short interstop on the Gold Coast, to be exactly in Surfers Paradise. People who are looking for party and funparks should stay here a bit longer, however i think that's not the Australia i want to see. We have spent the day by walking up and down the mainstreet/partystreet. The sunset was actually the highlight of Surfers Paradise. An interstop is also worthwhile the skyline is especially very impressive, there are high rises on the whole coast! We didn't see any thing like this for almost one month on our way down from Cairns. So in total i think 1-2 days here are enough to remain. Then in the evening we moved on to Brisbane.

The Gold Coast/Surfer Paradise

that name for a town is so smart

panorama on sunset

high rise

high rises everywhere 

Whitsundays And The Whitehaven Beach

Yesterday we came back from our sail excursion to the Whitsunday Iselands and I have to say this was the best trip I have ever done! The excursion has begun from Airlie Beach, a small place approx. 1100 km above Brisbane. From here many tours depart to the Whitsundays and to the Great Barrier Reef. We have booked ourselves a three-day sail trip. From Airlie Beach we sailed for four hours to the Whitsunday Islands, an island chain which spreads itself from Bowen to Mackay. Our boat was like in the Great Barrier Reef a catamaran and we spent the time again in the big nets scarcely above the water to relax. Immediately on the first day we already visited the highlight of the excursion, the Whitehaven Beach. The 7-km-long beach is in a bay of the Whitsunday Iselands and counts to one of the most spectacular beaches of the world. The sand of the beach consists to 98% of silica which colours it almost purely white. You believe yourself rather walking on powdered sugar as on real sand. Because of his extreme cleanness the sand was even used for the construction of the Hubble telescope of the NASA!

Airlie Beach departure to the Whitsundays

We have spent almost the whole day here. From a viewing point above the beach we where able to observe the rays swimming in the crystal-clear water. Then after the sunset on the beach we went back on our boat. The next day was all about exploring great bays all around the Whitsundays where we did some diving. Spending the nights on a ship was completely new for me. I have never been on the open sea by night. However, this experience was very impressive, at night i was mostly laying on the nets with the night sky above me looking at the stars. At our last night aboard I was hardly trying to count all the shooting stars flown by but there where just to many, unforgettable!! Then on the last evening we have visited a small sandy island where we had our dinner and again enjoyed a phenomenal sunset. The last day existed of a very early last dive and the return journey.

By the very small travel group of approx. 20 people you get in touch with the other people on board very quick which made the trip very family, also the crew was great, In all conscience i can recommend the "Wings" tour to the Whitsunday Iseland!

Bay of the Whitsunday Islands

Wings Tours #awesome!

no worries!

phenomenal sunset on the sand island

The Whitehaven Beach

stunning crystal-clear water 

white sand feels like powdered sugar 

The Great Barrier Reef!

Nevertheless, the absolute highlight in Cairns was the sail excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the natural world and UNESCO world heritage! Every travel supplier has his own small place in the reef he may drive on. The further the reef is from mainland the better it is. We had several stops on different places where we did some diving. Unfortunately real diving lessons are so overpriced in Australia that i had to stick with my snorkel :). So i definitely have to catch up my diving license later, maybe in Thailand or Bali. Whatever even as snorkeler i was lucky enough to dive with reef sharks and turtles on one spot! Total insanity! In total a unforgettable excursion, also because of my bad sunburn on my back! 

sand island on the reef populated by seagulls 

two hours by boat to the reef, thats how we spend the time

see ya later Cairns

my ride to the Great Barrier Reef

let's race! We are first!

Finally, a car!

Finally, a car! After 1 1/2 weeks of reading announcements, phoning and sending messages, we bought a car. We got the it from another backpacker who stayed in our Hostel. It is a Ford Falcon Station Wagon from 2006. Actually the plan was to buy a Van because we need enough space for three persons. However we have ascertained that the risk and the costs for the car would be too high. 

We have decided to buy a car and not to go with the Greyhound, because we plan to work on a farm on our way down the eastcoast. Because generally farms aren't close to towns, in the case of Australia easily seven hours away from any zivilisation, we can only reach them by car. We don't have enough money to spend it on expensive hostels so we will although sleep in the Falcon for a while. Now we can finally start our trip to Sydney! The only disadvantage is that we have only 28 days to register the car in New South Wales which is about 2000 km away from Cairns but I think can make that!!

hello new home! 

my bed for the next month

yes its green but i don't care! :)

came with some additional camp-stuff

Hello Cairns, Goodbye Luggage

Finally in Cairns and in the Hostel. Unfortunately without my luggage up here! My backpack has remained in Brisbane. So half a day waiting for shampoo and new clothes and anyhow fighting against the jet lag to not fall asleep. Luckily I got my backpack delivered on time at 17 o'clock free of charge to the hostel and was able to go to bed finally. The Hostel for Cairns was booked for two weeks to have enough time to do all important things like opening a bank account, getting a mobile phone and buy a car to to begin our journey to Brisbane.

In the first week we booked some excursions in Cairns and region. The first one went 140 km north to the Cape Tribulation. A white sandy beach surrounded from rain forest, really worth seeing!

Before we went back to Cairns we did a boat trip by a nearby marsh. Here we have actually seen wild-living crocodiles on the shore! Very impressive!

After the boat trip and lunch we stopped in Port Douglas on our way back to Cairns. Port Douglas is a little village with a high rate of celebrities from Hollywood!

Esplanade Cairns 

Wild Crocodile!

Cape Tribulation

Calypso Hostel Cairns

Fun in the Rainforest

Tourist Walk through the Rainforest

let the journey begin!

Munich - Dubai - Singapur - Brisbane - Cairns 33 hours of traveling.
A trip around the world. I can hardly expect to travel to Australia. After long time I leave Germany on my six-month travels through Australia and New Zealand. With my Work and Travel visa I try to finance the trip with different jobs to be able to visit as much as possible in this gigantic and beautiful country.

Munich - Dubai A380

30 hours later last flight Brisbane - Cairns

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