i struggle always with the jet lag! it’s not a big deal but after 9h sleep in only three nights and a 30h trip i’m crossing my limit! that means i’m sitting down and fall a sleep! not really fun when you would like to enjoy holidays! at 3am i got up and worked a bit on my pictures. after a while i went to bed….. close to 2pm is the next thing i know! not really the best thing i can do to adjust to melbourne time! but i felt good1 that’s also something and last night i slept good. some people can’t understand how difficult jet lag can be! going back will be much easier…
on sunday, by the way right now i enjoy a glas of the best selling white wine in oz - Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (it’s a detail that the wine is not from oz), we had the famous Kelletts Charcoal Chicken! i love that chicken! also the stuffing inside which is not normal in switzerland.
after that we went into the city to watch melbourne victory playing. it’s interesting to see how football, over here they say soccer, is in other country’s. how the fans are chanting, what else they do and how good the football game is. the level is good over here. as they play only the third professional season i was surprised. the first half it was a fast and interesting game against wellington fc. i also like the fact that a team of new Zealand is taking part in the aussie pro league. that’s how football will also be progressing in new Zealand. the fans were pretty loud! there were 16000 people in the stadium and only 500 were chanting but nearly trough the whole game. they were standing behind the goals. wellington had only 50 supporters.
on the way home we stopped for a beer at the esplanade hotel in st. kilda. short the espi. the espi has every night a live band and is an icon, especially for backpackers.
already my second morning in melbourne! fighting jet lag as always, but the good thing is, i have time to write down my thoughts and upload some pictures to flickr.
my flight to melborune over singapore was without problems. no delays, an nearly empty changi airport in singapore because of the early morning and a lot of space in the flight to singapore. the second leg was completely full with a lot of babys on board. the landing in melbourne was very bumpy as strong winds (up to 100km/h) made the landing hard.
my good old friend brett picked me up at the airport and we went straight away home with a little break in the pub for a beer. back home, i always say home because brett’s family is my aussie family, we had to catch up on a lot of things. it was good to be back after 2,5 years and see carly and brett.
after a short night, i always fight with jetlag, i joined brett for his saturday morning golf. just around the corner is the club were brett is playing golf. it was good for me to walk a bit around and get my body in motion and adjusted to melbourne. golf was hard to play as still strong winds were blowing. afterwards we went shopping a few things i needed and went back home for a little nap i urgently needed. the evening we spent at a private party of a friend of brett. we could stay outside as it was nearly 30 degrees C! heatwave in spring! september is march in downunder! i’m really lucky with the weather and looking forward on a nice sunday!
ther is not much to say! but i’m surprised how small the news coverage over here is! just the naked numbers of dead people and burned houses!
as i’ve been to some places where the fire inferno took place, it’s a very touching situation for me. i know some people who life there! i hope all of them are fine!
to get an impression i recommend following pages of newspapers. they also have some videos were people talk. some are pretty heavy to take….
during my stay in australia i saw a lot of difference between australia and switzerland (switzerland is probably wrong, i could also say europe).
one of the most interesting topics was shorts. not ordinary shorts to walk around, no the one men is wearing in the water. first difference is, in australia they are called border shorts over here we call them bermudas. basically it’s the sam… no that’s the thing its not! there is one big difference! the shorts in europe have built in underpants/slip, i call them inner-slip, made out of fine net. by the way in australia they don’t say underpants, they say jocks. jocks are clearly the ones for men! back to the main topic. that means in australia the shorts haven’t got a inner-slip as we have in europe. the question is why? do european man need this inner-slip to keep things in place? do australien men like the easy way of life? yes they do!!! or are they not well built down there that there is no reason to keep things in place? ;o) an other interesting fact i found is that the same pair of billabong shorts in europe has a inner-slip but in australia they don’t have it! my theory is all aussie blocks are wearing a tight speedo under their border shorts! ;o)
things like that are very interesting and funny in the same way! cross cultural differences in swimming shorts.
another fact is, when 10 guys are lying on the back on a beach. then three hot girls passing by… the guys who have to turn on their belly side - bought their shorts in australia!
unfiortunately it is like that! after nearly 5 weeks in melbourne and tasmania i have to go back to switzerland. it was extremly high quality time for me downunder. i could visit my friends, which are actually much more than just friends for me, and i had 10 wonderful days in tasmania with a very inspiring friend of mine! having holidays in such harmony is so much worth! all i can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart to my aussie family! and thank you shelly for 10 days pure wilderness, without you i hadn’t visited tasmania!
and yes i will try to think not that much as normal in the future!
last night i saw something strange in the sky above melbourne! first i thought it’s the ISS. but i was wrong. ok, the tail i saw was extremly long. it’s a really unique thing i saw and i think i can call me lucky that i spottet it. looks like there are not too many chances to see this comet. so in a rush i took my camera and the tripod out. unfortunatly i’m not very experienced in making pictures of comets during the night. so i had to try out. i’m pretty happy with the result. maybe i can make better pictures tonight or tomorrow!
speaking a foreign language is not easy. i’m happy that i’m this kind of person who does not care if i make a mistake. i just go on… if i don’t know a word i just make up a ” free translation” how i call it. this means i translate from german into english in a way it make sense for me. or i take the german word and say it in a english way. over the years i learned that this is working really good. not always, but very often. being embarrassed about mistake is not very helpful. just go on.
back to the “sure not”! “sure not” was not made up by myself, but it is a good example. a person i know intended to say, “no way” and said “sure not”! now this “sure not” sticks around and some of my aussie friends still say it. “sure not” of course makes sense in german and english, but in english they would never ever say it. the message is clear and that is important.
still, speaking a foreign language is not easy at all. some mistakes i do are very hard to correct. i’m happy when people around me correct me. this is the way to learn it. i’m not happy when they think mistakes are part of the accent.
another thing realized is, that some people don’t know how hard it is to learn a foreign language. why i know that? do you wane know it? do you think i will tell you that? my answer is: “sure not!”
many regions in victoria (australia) are on water restrictions at the moment. in the development i stay at the moment is a swimming pool who everybody lives here can use. but to use it you have to bring a bucket with you and fill the pool up with it! why that? it’s forbidden to fill up the pool with a hose, but not with a bucket!
australia is also learning me some new drinks! jager bomb and cs cowboy! jager bomb is more the drink for boys, also some girls drink it! it’s made with jägermeister and red bull! sounds not very good but it is! cs cowboys is a bit more a girls drink i would say. cs cowboy stands for cock sucking cowboys! it’s made out of butterscotch and baileys. too sweet for me!
no mobile phone coverage! no internet access! just wild nature. during the last days i drove along the wild west coast of tasmania down to hobart! it was a beautiful trip! it`s called the western track. we stayed for a 2 days in arthur river. a place where only 24 people life. a place where every evening the public phone boot is occupied! as i said no mobile phone ringing! this was good to switch off!
we made a boat trip up the arthur river with www.arreflections.com. which was a very nice trip! i saw two very rare birds in wildlife and a stunning nature!
and on the way back we caught some australian salmons and had them for dinner! delicious!
pictures will follow later!
