Arrival around 12:30 pm at the airport after 14 hour on the plane. There was a stop-over in Jo’burg, but we weren’t allowed to leave the plane so we just got the see Johannesburg-Airport in the early morning. When the plane approached Cape Town we were ahead of schedule so we flew a circle around the Cape peninsula which was a very good start into the day. The immigration officer was very friendly and for the first time in my life, someone picked me up the airport. The driver was already waiting with a nameplate outside and I just hopped in the bus. I was the only guest to be picked up, so I felt like a VIP.
The big surprise was when I arrived at my pre-arranged accommodation, the Over-Sea Club – no one was at the hostel, opened the door or even answered the phone. I waited with a Japanese girl, a student in Cape Town who was supposed to meet up with a friend and we had quite a nice conversation till a guy approaches us for money.
First he would just talk to us about the weather and stuff, but then he started to tell us a weird story about German tourists taking all of his stuff and that he had to leave Cape Town and therefore needed 300 Rand… bla bla. I’m sure he talked to us for more then 20 minutes, till I made up an excuse so the Japanese Girl and I could leave. I decided to stay at her hostel, the Travellers Inn, which was just next door. I must have been a bit confused the first day, since I was willing to pay 200 Rand (around 30 Euro) for one night. Nice and clean single room, with breakfast, but not my usual budget for accommodation…
The last day had come, the last day of being Global Reporter, my last day in Thailand, my last day away from the place I call home.
I had woken up early, it was strange to open my eyes and knowing that it would be the last time in Thailand. This morning, I met Zad, a guy from London. We decided to have breakfast and found a nice bakery in the neighbourhood that served excellent tea and cookies. We started to talk about movies and decided to watch the movie Suriyothai a movie about a Thai woman that fought against the Burmese invasion. Kind of a female Braveheart. I thought it would be a nice way to finish my stay in Thailand. I am a movie buff and if its about Thailand – why not?
I first had to go to Richly because they had called the hostel to tell them that something was wrong with my flight. I was a bit confused because the flight wasn’t even booked with Richly. But about eight weeks ago, after I had been robbed, the travel agency was in contact with Swissair trying to find out how I could get replacement tickets. Somehow Swissair had kept the number of Richly and phoned them that morning. I hadn’t even booked my accommodation with Richly, but they knew where I was staying and phoned me. That’s what I call a excellent service, big compliments to both companies, Swissair and Richly!
I got the news that Swissair had gone bankrupt at a tailor. I chatted with the shop owner and told him that I was flying with Swissair and he answered: „Don’t you know, Swissair went bankrupt yesterday, all planes are grounded!“. I knew right then that he wasn’t lying, but for some reasons I started laughing. I made a few jokes about how I would walk home and promised him to come back if I wouldn’t leave Bangkok that night and buy a suit.
It was impossible to reach Swissair for nearly 1,5 hours, but I finally decided to try it one last time before I would go to their office personal. Before I dialled the number I told my self that everything was going to be fine and that I would fly home that night. And someone answered the phone! I asked what I was supposed to do and the guy on the other end of the line first told me that he didn’t know and that I had to issue a new ticket. Finally he said ‚I’m going to book you on another flight‘, you leave at 12:30 am on the 4th of October, go to the Swissair Check-in counter and you will get new airline tickets. He also told me that I couldn’t fly straight from Zurich to Vienna, and that I had to fly via ‚Brkrwrrr‘ to Vienna. Unfortunately I don’t know a city in Europe with that name… So all I knew about my flight from Zurich to Vienna was that I couldn’t go straight and I would stop in a city that starts with B. We have plenty of city’s in Europe that start with B, starting with Bruessel, Berlin and on to Belgrad. But I wasn’t worried at all, I knew everything was going to be fine. You definitely can call me an Optimist.
Well, but here is the rest of the day/story! Zad and I went to Siam Square to watch Suriyothai, but unfortunately there was only one screening that day, this one was in Thai and also to late for us. We thought about watching another movie, but finally decided to explore the city instead. We went to the railway station by bus and walk to Chinatown were we found a small Chinese market. I alsmost felt like in a Jackie Chan movie and started looking for some well dressed gangsters in their Mercedes and Jackie, jumping from one roof to the other.
We continued our walk and ended up at the „Tha Ratchawang“ pier were we took the ferry up to Phra Sumane Port. The Phra Sumane Port is an old fortress, a huge white building with a nice gardens surrounding it. A great spot to escape from the nosy streets of Bangkok. The big walls of the fortress keep away the sound of the traffic and the trees and grass create a nice smell. We finished our trip at Khao San Road, the Mecca for Thailand-backpackers. We both agreed that it was an excellent idea to skip the cinema, and explore the city instead.
I should have been worrying about my flight, but instead I was discussing religion and politic with Zad the whole day, the idea that I might not would leave Thailand that night didn’t really bothered me at all. Zad was an Moslem and gave me an excellent insight to his religion.
Travelling changed the way I think about people in this world, all major religions or atheistic, I was able to have great conversations and a heck of fun with those people
My day ended at the airport, with no problems at the check-in counter and – for the first time on my trip, they didn’t forget my request for vegetarian food.
28th of September, Ko Samet or Angor Wat? A big question during my three days in Bangkok was, what should I do with the time I had left in Thailand? Going to Cambodia and visit Angkor Wat for some cultural experience or to Ko Samet, for some drinking experience and relaxing on the beach? Nine hour on the bus on bad roads or 4 hour on a bus on highways? A rainy week in Cambodia with the possibility of washed away roads or almost sunny weather on Ko Samet? It was honestly a difficult decision, but I finally made my choice, nice weather and beaches on Ko Samet (and maybe some drinking experiences.). I will come back to Thailand, and for sure go to Cambodia and Angkor Wat the next time. I left Bangkok and a nice girl from Australia behind, went on the bus and after four hours arrived in Rayong, a small town next to Ko Samet. I met three girls a Scottish and a German guy on the bus and we decided to spend the next few days together. Very good idea, I don’t like being alone and had hardly ever been alone on my trip. What can I say about the rest of the day? We got on a ferry which brought us to the little paradise called Ko Samet. Compared to Bangkok the island life was really relaxing, sandy beach, funny people, no traffic, no pollution, no worries! The bungalows we stayed at where very good, they even offered free toilet paper (PURE LUXUR in Thailand). Look forward for the rest of the story!
29th of September, Ko Samet Ko Samet is an island to relax – for sure. Lot’s of Thai and Japanese people come to this island to have vacation, surprisingly not that much western people. September and October are definitely the off-season, we where nearly on our own. Peter, the Scottish guy bought a „new flying machine“ which we used quit often. Wonder what a Thai flying machine is like? It’s pretty much the same then a American Frisbee 😉 !
We stayed at a place called Ploy Tallay on the Hat Sai Kaew beach, , a nice „resort“ with friendly stuff (I never found any rude locals in Thailand anyway). Just the music sucked, they kept playing four CDs over and over again, so I decided to borrow the „DJ“ some of my CDs, which he highly appreciated.
30th of September to 2nd of October, Beach stories Johannes lying on the beach for more then 20 minutes? That’s something very rare, usually I spend something like 20 minutes before I get bored. The four days on Ko Samet I nearly spend two hours on the beach every day and cached up a really nice tan. I didn’t want to go back to Austria and look like I spent the last three months in a office. But I also hiked from our beach to the Ao Wai beach, which took me about 1,5 hour (one way), where I found some really secluded bays on the way. Most of the beaches are separated from each other by huge rocks and that makes it quiet hard to get from one beach to the other. But the rocks also saved some beaches from being conquered by tourists. Beaches that are to small for being used as an public beach, and the rocks create and awesome underwater landscape for snorkelling. At night I always went out with fellow travellers, we had discovered a nice bar at the next beach and partied every day there.
Talking about fellow travellers, I always asked people what they think about Austrian people, and one of the most common answers I got was that they think that we listen to David Haselhoff (the guy from Baywatch and Knight Rider) music all the time .You know what? That’s only particularly true, about ten years he was quiet successful and gave a lot of concerts in Germany and Austria. But his days as an popstar in my home country are long over, maybe some Austrians still have dust-covered CDs of him in their collection, but NO one listens to his music now a days. At least no one I know. And by the way, I’ve met Scottish people that are not stingy, Germans that are funny and not disciplined at all and last but not least Irish people that are poor in drinking games (just joking!).
Finally back in Bangkok, after „throwing“ myself around Australia I returned to were it all started. The prophecy of the old man hadn’t come true. I got to the hostel around 1:00 am in the morning and had a very warm welcome. The guy that opened the door for me got a big grin on his face when he saw me and said „Oh you are back!!“ Where have you been? Bangkok very hot now, lots of rain! How true, it had been raining since I got of at the plane in Bangkok. But I liked the atmosphere, the smell and even the dirty streets. I felt like I was coming home. I spend the first day mostly with talking to friends I had met during my first stay. I also visited the office of Richly and went to the Swiss Air Tower to get new flight tickets. At night I went to a very nice Indian restaurant on Khao San Road called „Himalayan Kitchen“. I don’t really like Khao San Road, but this restaurant is definitely a great spot for Indian food.
I got my slides on the 26th and had to face the fact that lot’s of them where rubbish. When I wrote my first report for Worldsurface I promised that I would use my camera till it breaks, I didn’t meant that literary at this time, but my prophecy came true, both, my reflex and my snapshot camera broke down during my trip. Fortunately I was able to fix my 25 year old reflex and continue to take pictures, but the other camera is one of the „hyper modern tiny little“ one and I was not able to repair it. As for the rest of the day, I had to buy a suitcase and therefor visited Siam Square like many times before. I have to admit, Siam Square is my favourite shopping area in Bangkok. if you shop at areas such as Pat Phong or the Khao San Road(both very interesting places) the possibility is very high that you never find this shop or seller again, making exchanges or complainments nearly impossible.
Sometimes you travel weeks around and don’t meet anyone from you home country, and sometimes you meet a bunch of them within one day, the 27th was one of those days. Out of the sudden there where four Austrians staying at the hostel. It was quiet strange for me to use my own language, even my own accent again. I also made a picture tour through Bangkok. My favourite bus #53 goes along all major tourist attractions in Bangkok and I stopped at all of them to take at least one picture.
22nd of September, Cairns back to Darwin After my adventures at Cape Tribulation and a relaxing morning in Cairns, the time had come to say ‚Good Bye‘ to Queensland. I have to admit, the time had passed by really fast, but on the other hand, the two weeks travelling from Brisbane up to Cairns and Cape Tribulation where full of unforgettable moments. After a last walk around Cairns I finally made my way to the airport. For me, it was the first time checking in and going on a plane after the events of the 11th of September. Even in Cairns, thousands and thousands of miles away from New York or Afghanistan, the security-procedure had change.
Everything with even the little possibility to be used as a weapon had to be removed from hand luggage. But more important, I had changed too. I was certainly much more aware of what was going on around me; I thought about everything in my bag that could be used as a weapon. I also started looking at other travellers that where sitting around me. I felt bad for checking out other people, but on the other hand, I just couldn’t find anything else to think about. There weren’t a lot of people at the airport at all; you might have heard that one of the largest carriers in Australia, Ansett, had collapsed. Some shops and the fast food restaurant were closed and had notes on the door that, due the collapse of Ansett, and the lack of passengers that came along with that, they couldn’t open for business. I was really lucky that I had booked a flight with Quantas in Sydney before Ansett went bankrupt.
The flight wasn’t a non-stop flight; we landed at “Nhulunbuy” or Gove, a little airport in the middle of nowhere. Most of the passengers where highly surprised when the stewardess announced that we would land in “Gove”, a place most of us never heard of before. Nhulunbuy is about half way between Cairns and Darwin. As far as I could find out, an airport founded during the Second World War. The whole airport was a very small building, a shop with souvenirs and two little check-in counters. I saw an old Apple Computer, like from the late 80s, but that was the only piece of technology at the airport. After the short brake in “Gove” we finally continued our flight on to Darwin.
23rd of September, c I wanted to finish my tour around Australia with something special, something to remember, funny and not too much driving at all (which means, by the way, “only” 350 kilometres that particular day). Something really rare in Australia… Litchfield seemed to offer all that, and, fortunately it kept its promises, lots of waterfalls and the opportunity to swim in crystal clear water. It took me 8 tours in Australia to finally get a female tour guide, and she did a real good job. We started at the Florence Falls, also our first opportunity to swim, but a group of drunken “party-travellers’ kept me away from my first refreshment because they had occupied the whole pool. But the “Wangi Falls”, offered an even better opportunity to swim and it was also less frequented. Next on the tour was an short hiking trip to the Tolmer Falls, closed for swimming because of bats that life in a cave at the bottom of the falls. Our last chance of refreshment was at the Buley Rockholes, a great spot to get an excellent “aqua back massage”. Just sit in one of the holes and let the water ran over your back! The last stop was at the “Magnetic Termite Mounds”, an area with many termite hills, the biggest one more then six meters high (about 21 feet).
After the return to Darwin I decided to visit the weekend market at Mindil Beach. I unfortunately had to watch a quiet nasty scene between two Aboriginal. First I saw a group of Aboriginal, sitting on the street, playing their didgeridoos and singing to make some money. Very peaceful compared to those Aboriginal I had seen downtown in Darwin, Alice Springs and Cairns. When I returned later, one of the Aboriginal men was arguing with a woman about the money, and finally screamed “Give me that f****** money!!! It’s really sad to see that so many Aboriginal have problems with alcohol, or are just sitting around in the city and arguing with each other. I hope they find a way to a new kind of “Aboriginal Culture”. I don’t think they can go back to the old times, but I’m sure they can live their old traditions and at the same time find a new way of life.
24th of September, Sweet home Alabama… I knew that day would come, but it was hard to finally leave Australia, this wonderful country/continent/island or however you would call it – where I spend almost six weeks, where I travelled more then14.000 kilometres, where I met new and old friends, and most important, wouldn’t have to carry around toilet paper with me all the time (like I had to Thailand).
I knew the Airport in Darwin, I had been there twice, but this time it was like hell on earth for me. I was waiting at the check-in counter, when a old men passed by, stopped, turned around, looked at me and said: “Where ever you go, you’re not gona make it” How would you feel about something like that? I was confused, a bit scared, thought about the possibility to not go on the plane, looked at my right site and realised that three guys from Pakistan where standing beside me. I didn’t knew anything about those people, just that that they had passports from Pakistan, but it increased my fears a lot. I have nothing against people from Pakistan or any other country in the world (including Iraq and Afghanistan), but it was just not the right time to see them checking in for the same flight. To make this situation even worse, I switched on my CD player and the first song to start was “Sweet Home Alabama” (singer died during an air crash). But, as I’m typing this, sitting in the youth hostel in Bangkok, you should already know that everything went fine. I don’t believe in fate (but I was relieved when the plane finally landed in Bangkok), I don’t trust in old stupid men, I had a nice chat with the guys from Pakistan and I switched of my CD player.
18th of August to 20th of September, Magnetic Island Three days on the island next to Townsville. Almost every place in this area was named by James Cook (or after him) and so was Magnetic Island… When ‚good old James‘ sailed by this island the ship’s compass went funny… anything else you need to know? By the way, highest mountain on the island is – Mount Cook – I’m wondering where that came from…
I also met Jane again, for all of you who haven’t followed my trip so far, I met Jane first on the tour to the Kakadu National Park. Magentic Island offers a lot of cheap hostels for backpackers, I stayed at Geoff’s place at Horshoe Bay, (fifty dollars for two nights and return ferry ticket).
Unfortunately it was very cloudy during my stay on the island, and instead of spending my time on the beach I did some hiking. Magnetic Island offers some very interesting hiking trips.
My favourite was ‚Arcadia Walk‘ which is about five kilometres, once you made it up to the top of the hills you get rewarded with a scenic few over the island. My last bus ride in Australia, from Townsville to Cairns, took me trough an amazing rainforest and some very interesting villages, such as “Mission Beach”. Mission Beach is a very famous place for backpackers among the east coast. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and couldn’t spend some time there so I just got of the bus for a short walk and to look around. Five people where already waiting to pick up backpackers, one of them dressed like Bob Marley, wearing a fancy hat and hairs like he had never washed or cut them in his life.
I arrived in Cairns in the early evening, similar to Mission Beach, a lot of people where already waiting at the bus station to offer accommodation. Unfortunately I had already booked at the Central YHA and it seemed that the YHA was the only hostel to not offer a courtesy bus, so I had to walk there. Even on the way to the hostel cars would stop by and ask me where I was going to stay and offered me a lift to other backpacker hostels.
I finally arrived at the YHA after a 20-minute walk. It was quit hot that day and I was already a bit upset that the hostel didn’t offered a lift, but to make the whole thing even worse, the stuff was quit unfriendly. This is the only time I’m going to do this, but I do not recommend staying at the Central YHA in Cairns. The atmosphere was very impersonal, the stuff in a bad mood during my whole stay and every time I wanted a mug for a cup of coffee or a fork or spoon, I had to go to the reception to borrow it from them.
I mostly stayed in YHA in Australia during my trip, and the stuff was most of the friendly, especially in Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney and Alice Spring, but I regret that I stayed at the Central YHA in Cairns.
I better change the subject before I go and phone the hostel in Cairns… There is also a very funny story I want to share!
21. September, Cape Tribulation One-day tour to the world heritage rainforest… Air-conditioned 4wd vehicle, swim in crystal clear water, delicious lunch including tropical fruit, just to name a few specifications in the brochure about the tour I was doing that day. A small coloured brochure and the cheapest tour to Cape Tribulation, I was looking forward to a day with fellow backpackers and perhaps, some nice girls. Oh boy, I was sooo wrong! First of all, I was the only backpacker on the tour, all other tour members got picked up at cheap places such as Courtyard by Marriot… But there is more to come! Eight of them (four couples by the way) where in their late 60s or even early 70s, dressed nicely and wearing shoes like they where going to a party. Sounds like fun? What about a gay and lesbian couple? Unbelievable?
I promise this is absolutely true! I have to confess they didn’t tell me that they where gay or lesbian, but the behaviour of both couples were just too obvious. Especially the gay couple… I don’t want to share too many details, but the whispering of the older people and their strange views nearly got me to the point where I wanted burst out loud. Somehow I managed to resist this temptation. But back to the tour, I do saw some very interesting stuff that day, not only on the bus! Our first stop was at the Daintree River, were we had a guided tour about the wildlife in and around the river. The tour guide was very funny, and kept making jokes all the time. I saw some crocodiles and birds, and, for the first time in Australia, snakes that where actually alive – but not poison at all. I was always told that the most dangerous animals live in Australia, but I have to admit, haven’t even seen one of those animals (beside the crocodiles).
We continued our tour with a visit at the Mossman Gorge and an interesting rainforest walk. After lunch we finally arrived at Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation was actually named by an old friend of mine, – James Cook, who had some serious troubles with his ship in this area (it ran onto the Endeavor Reef). He got really upset and decided to name a few more spots, such as Mt Sorrow, Weary Bay and the island Hope (he thought he could fix his ship at the island).
After a very nice walk at the beach of Cape Tribulation we finally headed south, back to Cairns.. On the way back we stopped at the “Daintree Ice-cream Company”, which sells excellent ice-cream made from fruits that grown in the area, our last stop was at a sugar cane factory. Before the tourists arrived in this area it’s major income was the manufactory of sugar. Nowadays it’s still a very important part of the economy in the region and there are plenty of sugar cane fields along the road. between Cairns and Cape Tribulation.
13th of September to 14th of September It’s hard to describe what I did between the 13th and the 14th of September, the two days I had to wait in Airlie Beach, before I could go on the boat for the sailing trip. How do you describe doing nothing, and at the same try to make it sound interesting? But here is the true story: I spend most of the time at the beach or walking around. That’s about all I did those two days. It’s hard to go for a swim, from October until May its simply forbidden because of the jelly boxfish, a very deadly animal. Most of the people just spend there time on the beach, catching up a tan, or, if they spend to much time on the beach, a sunburn.
Friday night was finally the night I got on the boat, together with eight other travellers and 7 crew members. Yep, SEVEN crew members to take care of nine people. The reason for such a big crew was because two of them were in training and the skipper (captain) was with his wife. A very funny and nice crew, Daniel, a very funny bloke (Aussie for guy) , was our dive instructor, Clyde, the master diver, Hanna and Helen, who spend most of the time in the kitchen, Mike, who was training to be a skipper, and finally Peter, the skipper and his wife Nelly. To name the other travellers on the boat: Phillip and Christian (from Germany), Sarah, John and David (from Sidney), Steven (from USA), and finally Matt and Julian (from the UK). The name of the boat was „Romance“, ironically, eight of us nine were male…
15th of September The 15th of September, which we most spent at the Bait Reef, started with some swimming around the boat, watching and feeding huge fishes. I was able to catch the fin of a big black fish, but the fish went mad and was able to get rid of me. Later Nelly told me that those fishes do attempt to bite people who disturb them. Lucky me…
I don’t have a diving license (yet), so the only things I could do on this tour was to snorkel and do a resort dive. Daniel took me out to the reef and I snorkelled around for about 1,5 hours. The underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef is just amazing, very colourful corals all over and an uncountable amount of fishes and other animals. We where also lucky to see a „bad tide“ a natural phenomenon that happens about 5 times a year. A very strong low tide makes the top of the reef become visibly upon the water surface.
But the snorkelling wasn’t the major event of that day, it was my first „resort dive“. After some instructions from David about how to use the diving gear, the time has come for my very first real underwater experience. I learned how to get rid of water in the mask while diving and how to breath. We first started with some breathing exercises and then made our way down to the ground by using the rope of the anchor. I always had to equalise the pressure in my ears, which was not such a big problem then I thought. We went down about ten meters and I was able to see an amazing „wood“ of corals for the first time of my life. The whole diving trip lasted for about forty minutes, and I have to admit, one of the best forty minutes in my life! If you go on a sailing trip at the Great Barrier Reef, do at least a resort dive! You don’t need any experience in diving but it would be handy if you are able to swim 😉 !The day continued with some sailing to a place called Mantaray Bay, where the diving team went for a night dive. On the way to Mantaray Bay I was able to see dolphins as they swam along the boat and jumped out from time to time, just like in Titanic.
16th of September, Whitsunday Island Captain Cook himself named the island after he sailed through them on Whit Sunday. It wasn’t actually Whit Sunday when he sailed through them, because he didn’t thought about the fact that he had crossed the international Date line. We stopped at the island and hiked up to „Tongue Point“ (I wonder where that name came from…) to get the best view for „Whiteheaven Beach“. Whiteheaven Beach is about six kilometres long, white sand and blue water, as far as you can see. Unfortunately we had only two hours there, not enough time to enjoy the full beauty of the beach. The reason why this beach did not became my „perfect beach“ was the fact that it was the only beach in this area where people got killed by sharks (two shark attacks within one week). The rest of the day was again sailing as we wanted to reach South Molle Island before it would get dark. The day ended with some drinking games, such as „Captain Cook took his first drink“, I’ve never ever…, I kiss the ping little pig on… etc.
17th of September, South Molle Island My last day on the boat – unfortunately… We stopped at the South Molle Island before we sailed back to Airlie Beach. South Molle Island, which lies in the heart of the 74 Wthitsunday Island has it’s own golf course, some very nice walking tracks and a huge swimming pool. Most of the crew stayed on the „Romance“ while we (the travellers) enjoyed half of the day, relaxing at the swimming pool and exploring the island. It was really hard to leave this pacific paradise to sail back to the „real world“. The day ended as many tours ended before, the crew went out to a bar with us and we chatted about the days we had spent together, changed email addresses and had a few beers together.
Half of the day on the bus, listening to Travis – The invisible band, my favourit CD on this trip… I guess most of the people don’t know Hervey Bay, but if I mention Fraser Island, probably everyone will say „Ahhhh – biggest sand-island of the world! “ Right, and Hervey Bay is the place you arrive at if you want to explore Fraser Island. Hervey Bay itself doesn’t offer a lot, a bit of beach, a bit of nightlife, but nothing real important. The real impressive happening in Hervey Bay takes place between about 6:00 and 8:30 pm. Thousands of „fruit bats“ huge and scary-looking animals occupy the sky.
12th of September, I don’t feel in the mood to write about what happened in Brisbane, instead I decided to share my day at Harvey Bay, Fraser Island. The day started very early, at 4:00 am. I didn’t had a clue at this time about what had happened just a couple of hours before on the other side of the world. I first got the news on the boat, and thought the tour guide made a very sick joke. But I wasn’t sure… He was too serious, too much details, so I took my binoculars and looked at the TV-screen of another boat across the pier. I saw a fire-fighters and started to believe the story of our tour guide. Yet, it was hard to believe.
We then started our tour to watch one of the most beautiful and peaceful creatures in the world, whales, to be exact ‚hunchback whales, the fifth largest animal in the world. The first whale I saw was jumping out of the water, a very powerful moment. We later watched a group of four whales and followed them about 2 hours before we had to go back.
The five hours on the boat went by very fast, we all talked about the possibility of the story the tour guide told us, if this could be true.
All my fears came true when we finally got back to the harbour and I first walked into a restaurant which had the TV set switched on. I had planed to rent a bike that day, to go around Hervey Bay, but that was impossible for me. Instead I spend the whole day at the hostel, following the shocking news from New York. I have a relative in New York, and of course the whole Worldsurface crew, which I knew work at Wall Street.
It was a big relive to read that the whole worldsurface team was doing well, and I feel very sorry for all those, who where on the planes, in the World Trade Centre or at the Pentagon. Thanks for updating the page and sharing your thoughts, even during such a horrible event!
Hervey Bay was a very quiet and strange place that day, everybody was talking about what had happened that day, and a taxidriver told me it was the most quiet day for him ever since. It’s hard to believe what happened, I know that the world has changed that morning, it’s never going to be the same again.
8th of September, Botanical Gardens, Arriving in Brisbane My last day in Sydney, which I spend mostly at the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a sunny day and walking around in a green surrounding was, for my opinion, the best thing I could possibly do.
One of my favourite spots in the park was a walk that explains the history of Sydney.It showed the history of the white people in Sydney and on the other hand the Aboriginal point of few. For example: James Cook discovered Australia in 1770, the Aboriginal comment related to this note: They (white people) say he discovered Australia, but we never lost it! By the way, did you know that more then 700 convicts where among the first settlers which arrived in Sydney? I finally left Sydney at 6:30 p.m. to go to Brisbane, after eight wonderful days, with lots of great impressions.
9th of September, Brisbane Days in Bris-Vegas, or the story ofhow I saved some bucks in accommodation, thanks to my mate Severin who currently studies in Brisbane. I arrived in Brisbane on the 8th of August, and after my first night, which I spent at a Irish pub in ‚Garden City'(a shopping and entertainment centre). Brisbane got it’s second name (Bris-Vegas) because of it’s active nightlife. Active nightlife…
On the 9th of August, my friend showed me around Brisbane and it’s most important sights which included a the city hall and a ferry ride on the Brisbane river. If you have some time in Brisbane, visit the New Farm Park , a very nice spot to relax and have BBQ or something like that. Later that day we visited the final ceremonies of the Goodwill Games, a major sport event in Brisbane. This included a INXS concert (the rest of the group with a new singer) and a huge fireworks. Good fun and best of all, for free.
10th of September, Campus I spend a couple of hours in front of a PC University, to keep up with my writing for Worldsurface and to send some emails to my friends, which hadn’t heard from me for a while.
