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Donnerstag, 23. Februar 2017

Adelaide and Hahndorf

Adelaide - Where is the big city?

The wonderful facade of a sweets shop in Adelaide
Right after we arrived, Adelaide was a big surprise for us: No skyscrapers, no "business-buildings". Everything just looked like Suburbia - even though we were staying directly in the center. Adelaide was the first big city, that was really different, less European, more like you would imagine an Australien Town. Still, our first impression was - in the burning heat without a single breeze - pretty bad. But - As soon as the sun was down and the people of the city found there way into the streets, we fell back in our tourist way, which lets us ride a wave, living in a bubble, totally relaxed and chilled and every house was worth a picture again.


Sweets, everywhere sweets!

Sweets, sweets, lots of sweets
The most impressiv one on our first evening was the sweets shop, we passed by by chance. After seeing the amazing shop windows - it was clear to us, that we have to come back the next day. And they have everything a sweet junkie could wish for: chocolate, lollipops, sweets, ice cream and fudge.

Relaxation at Victoria Square

Victoria Square Well by Night
Right on top of our to-do-list was Victoria Square, the most famous place in Adelaide. Kids were playing in the water fountains, that came rushing up from the ground and the evening atmosphere just gave it this amazing feel of coziness. So cozy, that a pedestrian just took of all his clothes and went for a spring in the well - completely naked.

Looking for breakfast

The very hungry pigs at Rundle Mall
Even back in Melbourne we learned that Australian people are not really breakfast people. Dann before ten everything was closed. Thanks to Tripadviser, we found "Luigi's" - a coffee house with daily changing breakfast menu. Definitively advisable! On our way, we came by Rundle Mall and the there living very hungry, wild pigs (look at the picture for details).
Because both of us aren't city-people, we fled to the parks. Unfortunately in March Festival season is starting, so all parks were closed to make them ready for the music-, streetfood,- and art festivals that will be here right after we will be gone again. We picked the wrong dates.. But... This way there were less people and everything was calm and laid back.
In the end we found our way to the Botanic Gardens, in every city, you have nice shady places in the Botanic Gardens.
Ducks in the Park - Following us because they wanted our
breakfast

Old buildings, churches and the library

Flowers in this heat - who would've
thought
On our way back to the hotel - pretty exhausted already because of the heat - we strolled by the art-mile! From the old university buildings, the Art Gallery of Adelaide to the State Library of South Australia - all buildings were old and in pretty good condition, surrounded by trees, statues and flowers: A dream!

It's the library of Hogwarts!
Despite our tiredness, I just had to see the library - and again, my breath was taken away! I found the library of Hogwarts - or at least the part, that you have to find your way through in the Harry Potter 1 Computer Game, where you have to jump on the book shelves and find your way... Oooops, I get away from the topic... One of the most beautiful libraries of the world (that's what the flyer says). The great thing about the libraries here is, that the books are not unapproachable, there are just there - for you to touch or smell or pet or feel...

Let's go to Germany - it's just a 45 minutes bus ride!

After two days of sight seeing in Adelaide, we had seen everything already, so we decided to take the bus to Hahndorf, one of the oldest villages around in Australia, founded by Germans who fled Germany because of religious persecution. And the area was not just famous for it cuckoo clocks, leather pants and "German stuff" - but also for wine? As an Austrian, I doubt that! The wine beer border runs through Austria. Everything south of it, like France, Italy, Spain, Greece or Portugal are having great wine - everything north of it, like Czechia, Ireland, Denmark, Poland - and also Germany are famous for there beer, not the wine!
Oh beautiful vineyards of South Australia .. 

Book art is the best art :)
Because Hahndorf was mostly full of tourist shops, art shops, cloth shops, German shops and any other kind of shop you can imagine, we hiked out a bit, to see the vineyard scenery. That was really lovely!
Another amazing thing was a tiny tiny exhibition with book art!  I am really unsure what the exhibition was about, but the books with those marvelous paintings in them, were worth a visit. So if you are in the area, go to Hahndorf - it is touristy, it is small, but you have nice exhibition, nice landscape around and also: nice food! Where else can you have pancakes with fresh fruit for lunch? :)

Please, forgive me for all my spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes!! My mother tongue is German.

Freitag, 10. Februar 2017

Melbourne

Standing on top of the world and being astonished by books


The Hellenic Museum
Arriving in Melbourne, we had lots and lots of plans, what we wanted to see - the classic tourist program. But on our first little walk around the city, we saw the advertisement for the "gods, myths and mortals" exhibition in the Hellenic Museum. So we changed our plans - plans are made to be changed.
We were the only guests in the museum and slowly we realised, why. The old vases and clothes and jewelry were very interesting and beautiful but after 30 minutes, we were done, had seen everything and read most of the information.

Using the tram - for free!

A Free Tram Ride :)
To get to know the city a bit better, we decided to use the free tram! Yey, everywhere else, tourists pay more than locals for public transportation. Not here - the tourist tram is free. But - here again - we soon got to know, why. The noise, the tram made, was hurtful in the ears and it did not really go a good route. The speakers were poorly placed, so we didn't hear anything from the tourist information. In the end, we decided, that it was a great idea to have a free tourist tram, but the way, they did it, was unnecessary.

Fleeing from the city

A autumn-looking tree
Since both of us are not really city-people, our first stops in a city are always the parks and gardens. So we went through the Alexandra Gardens, the Victoria Gardens, through King's Domain to the Botanical Gardens - a place, that never disappoints in a city. And again: we were amazed by the plants, the shade (yey, fleeing not just from the city but also from the sun) and not so much by the lakes. Because of the heat they were completely taken over by algae.
The next day, we went for the Fitzroy Gardens to see Cooks Cottage. This was originally the home of James Cook's parents - built in 1755 in Yorkshire. After bringing it to Melbourne piece by piece and reconstructing it, it was opened for tourists in 1934.
Cooks Cottage
On our way to this cottage, we passed by the "conservatory" - a green house full of flowers. Also there was a tree which looked like it was autumn. But when we came closer, it turned out to be little red blossoms. Nature just is marvelous.


Standing on the edge and enjoying the view

For the evening we had something special planned. We got tickets for the Eureka Tower 88. It is the highest building lookout point on the southern hemisphere and "the edge experience" is the only one in the world. With 9 m/s we went up to the skydeck. From there we had an amazing view of the sunset! Then we went into the glass cube, that was pushed out of the building 3 m wide. For a second, our hearts stopped, when the filter of the glasses liftet and we saw, we were standing on nothing but glass - around 300 m above the ground.

The stunning view from the Eureka Tower Skydeck 88


Books and books and books

Those fantastic old books...
Another quick stop was at the State Library of Victoria. Libraries are always a good stop in a city. Normally I just enjoy the piece and quite there, the feeling of a thousand books watching me, while I watch them but this time... I was so astonished, so amazed, so awestruck! There was this big globe gallery - five stories high, where you could look down in the middle to see all those books. And in this gallery was an exhibition "mirror of the world - books and ideas" full of old books, lovely done, inspirational quotes from famous authors, publishers and printers. I had to sit down for a moment, because I was so overwhelmed from this feeling, all those fantastic books, those lovely quotes, those stunning views gave me.

Oh you wonderful globe gallery in the State Library of Victoria

Back to the river

The lovely evening view of Melbourne
The last evening we spent in South Bank, strolling alongside the river, watching street artists play music, draw their pictures, making caricatures, juggling with flaming torches or swallowing swords. This side of the river opens up to a gorgeous view of the city. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to Melbourne.

Please, forgive me for all my spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes!! My mother tongue is German.



Dienstag, 7. Februar 2017

Newcastle

Coal and coal and the ocean is watching

Newcastle is the next bigger city in our closer environment, so it was just a matter of time, when we would drive there to see it. What I read about it, was not really appealing to me. According to the travel guide book Newcastle was just one big coal industry - from the mines, to the railway bringing the coal in, to the big cargo ships in the industrial harbour to take the coals away.
When we passed by some of the coal production, we knew, there was supposed to be a wind turbine as well. It was gone. We don't know why, but I think it is save to assume, that they needed the space for coal delivery.

Artisan Market

Arts and crafts market in Newcastle
After driving in through all the industrial areas, I didn't expect much of the city. Our first stop was the artisan market and it actually made up for the bad parts of this trip! Artists in all kind of fields! Leather bound books, paintings, wonderful ideas for living, jewelry - everything was done in such a loving and caring way, you could feel the passion of the artists.


Alongside the harbour

The promenade alongside the harbour
After we strolled a while through the nice stalls, we decided to go to the harbour. Against expectations, it was not a filthy industrial harbour - I mean, it was an industrial harbour but you didn't see much of it - except for big ships coming in and going out and outside of the harbour, waiting in line to be allowed to come in. The water looked really clean and blue and the promenade was actually nice! We also walked a little through the oldest parts of Newcastle. Here some nice decorated old houses made the city really interesting. It seemed like - even though the city is not that beautiful - all the people make a big effort to make it more attractive. And it works! Small shells decorating doors, plants with knitted art craft around them, balconies with mosaic stones. I bow to you, citizens  of Newcastle for your great effort.
Nice views open up, when you least expect it
Please, forgive me for all my spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes. My mother tongue is German. 

Montag, 6. Februar 2017

Mount Tomaree and Nelson Bay

Hiking up and smiling down upon the world!

Amazing few from Mount Tomaree Lookout
After a few days just chilling, relaxing, doing short trips to different beaches and enjoying the calm after all the sight seeing, we decided it was time für a day trip. Our choice was: taking the ferry alongside the Myall River, through the Bay to Nelson Bay. From there we wanted to hike up Mount Tomaree.

Not every fin belongs to a shark

A dolphin fin
As soon as the ferry left shore, we got really excited, because we were promised, that you can see dolphins underneath the Singing Bridge. I have never seen dolphins before but it is a childhood dream of mine. Aaaaaand... WE DID SEE DOLPHINS :) Unfortunately, they weren't in a playful mood - so no jumping out of the water, but we did see some fins.

Over beaches and up the hill

Enjoying the calm on top of the hill
Arriving in Nelson Bay, it took us almost two hours to walk over the sand beaches to the start of Mount Tomaree National Park. Even while hiking up to the lookout, we got some amazing views down on the ocean, the beaches, the other hills and against our expectations everything was so green! Because where we are staying, there hasn't been a proper rain for weeks, everything is brown and burned. Here it was amazing! Finally up the hill (161 m high), we enjoyed the best lookout and the wind, blowing our sweat away. It was so worth it!

Please, forgive me for my spelling, grammar and vocabulary mistakes!! My mother tongue is German.