The wonder world Down Under

"Timeless continent" is regularly mentioned here on prospectuses for Australian reservations and in the timelessness it also happened that I could hardly spare the effort up to this point to write a few lines of text about the recent six-month, yes, well, it should be a holiday rather than a work stay call to write. With a few exceptions, Australians regularly finish their work on time, but only if you're not working at SAP Productive... At least that's how it is for me, to hang out the evening with Barbie and Australian drinks, mostly traditional Tooheys.

After Beer o'clock, however, Down Under is not only celebrating, but above all also travelling around. Two weekends have already passed and the spring weather let us enjoy the "sunny times" in the idyllic Surfer's Paradise and the Koala's Sanctuary.

On the weekend of 09/08 and 10/08 we, Martin, Stephanie, Verena, Bernd and Oliver, went to Surfer's Paradise, one of the most beautiful and largest beach metropolises in the world, over the Saturday and Sunday. Everything there seemed to be geared towards the tourist attractions. The view of the beach cannot be compared with wintry Baltic Sea beaches, the temperatures are so warm (19 degrees here) and the waves are so meter high. The hostel was quite cool during the night, because the Australians like to sleep with only a blanket in winter, but overall it was quite pleasant in the direct front to the Gold Coast.

The most beautiful sunny weather awaited us and was incredibly enjoyable on the whale watching tour throughout Saturday afternoon. Our 3-hour discovery tour took us through the magnificent Venice-like docks and canals full of dream villas that had their own sandy beaches, large boat docks and helipads on the blue lagoon for fun. Traveling through the canals at a still moderate speed of 6 MPH, the jet boats let the water splash around our ears leaning against the bow. With an estimated 40 MPH we left the coast shivering, but with the most wonderful fog wind around our heads. The whales put their best feet forward, played with our boat and with their almost 27 meters they almost knocked over the ship, which was shaking in the swell. At the end there was even an extra bonus by a group of dolphins as if to say goodbye to us. The most wonderful prologue for a trip to Australia, I don't envy anyone for never having done something like that ^^

The Sunday was overshadowed by a wild night of partying, which is by no means common in the Paradise, also known as the paradise of nightlife. So the day started unfriendly at 9am with Martin's alarm clock, whereupon we were grumpily thrown out of the hostel by the staff, since we had to vacate by 10am. No fun!
Sleepily we trudged along the beach with our meager souvenirs and bags and let us spoil ourselves with an "all you can eat" breakfast, which was really cheap at 12 AUD. With a long bow around the Vegemite and with fast feet on the honey-filled pancakes and scrambled eggs, the day started smoothly, after which the digestion was left to the scorching midday sun on the beach. Martin already dared to get on the board, which I snatched from him for a few desperate attempts, but then consoled myself with the surfer training that was planned soon :)
As the sun began to peek over the high-rise walls through beach shadows from the ocean sand, we headed back to the bus for an ice cream and a shopping spree at the greatest surfer's shop (I'll take some more!), stuffed with Billabong surfer gear.

The following holiday, Ecka Day (rumor says that the locals only celebrate it to have a reason to celebrate) was all about wildlife for us. After the signpost at the bus exit, which indicated the number of kilometers to Berlin (crazy folks, all a bit down under), we settled down in the small cozy park right under the free-roaming kangaroos and koalas. The anecdotal section includes the enclosure for retired koalas and the clashing flocks of rainbow lorikees.

So I'm now planning my next vacation trip and I hope to have conveyed some of you from the enjoyment here at the Great Ocean. Soon you will find a few more pictures, which I will link soon when I collected them.
All love from afar
Alex