23 Jul 2007

flown out again, exploring new zealand..







Auckland

international connections

City Garden Lodge..



22 Jul 2007

Auckland...





two carry on


Since the 19th of july we are now in Auckland, staying at a nice little hostal in the district called Parnell. Keep calm was some sort of a mantra to us, when a russian taxi driver took us from the airport to our new hostal. While listening to russian folk music he was either speeding up or breaking very hard, nothing inbetween... But we arrived safely, the weather is better than we expected it to be, even warmer than in Melbourne, our rooms provided two hot water bottles and the coffee is, as Hayden, the industrial designer form NZ at Büro North, promised even better than in Melbourne (as Hayden said: "Strong is key")

Goodbye Melbourne, goodbye Büro North!




For the last few days of our stay in Melbourne we condemned Sarah's place end enjoyed it really a lot. We moved from the City Center to Richmond and were also very happy to get to know another completely different district of Melbourne.
Soren, Sarah, Skye, Hayden, tin&ed, Niels and Claudia thank you so much for the great time we shared!

16 Jul 2007

Melbourne Design Festival - Shed 4






Last week the Melbourne Design Festival took place, which missed almost completely while because we spend our time in trains and busses. But we made it at least to one exhibition in the docklands, quite far away. Although it was said to be the closing party there were only a few people around. But nevertheless we liked the works and the location was impressive. After that we cooked ourselfs a delicios warming curry at Sarah's place :)

twocollect and bucket holes

It's online! And they also choose this one to announce the bucket project :)

best of outback

15 Jul 2007

Athur aus München






Back on the "Ghan" on our way from Alice Springs to Adelaide we met Athur, a 78 year old bavarian guy, who was on his own around the world trip for half a year. He invited us to a few coffees and a good night beer in the train restaurant and told us about all the travelling he already did in his life. We think there is probably no spot on earth left where he has not been yet. Be it the Mount Everest, African safaris, entering the Amazonas by boat without permission to visit native tribes or saving the life of a mexican moutaineer in the Andes - every tale was so thrilling. And most impressive of it all was that he remembered all the names of even the tiniest villages, the time it takes you get from point to the other and route you have to take. Of course he has been already everywhere we are about to go! We wish him all the best on his way to Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Japan (we forgot all the small islands he is going to visit in between)

reverse direction - Alice, Adelaide, Melbourne




Sarah, look! A miracle happened on the train - Vegemite and me became big friends:)


At "Toddys Resort Hostel" in Alice Springs

Dear Soren, Skye and Sarah thank you so much for zee great t-shirts!!! We must admit that we wore them only with longsleeves underneath:(
As we already realised in several occasions many things are different to what we are used to here in Australia - for example: a desert is not always hot...


the next 500 kilometers...



Alice Springs





One of the weirdest places on earth. The whole town felt like a giant connected shopping mall, but many shelves at the supermarket were completely robbed. Especially the average backpacker equipment was sold out - toast, water and long johns. Nobody stays longer than a few nights on its way through to Adelaide or Darwin and we felt also very happy when we left for good.

Kata Tjuna




Close to the "Uluru", in the same National Park you can also find the "Olgas", 36 Mountains that are even more important to the Aborignal people than the "Uluru" itself. "Kata Tjuna" are real mountains, whereas "Uluru" is one single rock (scientists believe that it continues up to 5 or 6 km beneath the surface). All the stories and myths around "Kata Tjuna" are unknown to us and the Aboriginal people hand it down to their children maintaining the secret amongst them.
Tourists are only allowed to take two different routs through these impressive mountains.