Sydney - March/April 2008

Welcome to Australia....

After a great flight with QUANTAS..... recommendation to everybody chosing flights from now on.....via the South Pole (where we got to see the Aurora borealis) I arrived in Sydney on 28 March 2008.















The following day my gracious host Horst showed me the sights in Sydney including a trip over the harbour. The first picture is the Sydney skyline from the ferry we were on.








Sydney is cool in the way they have incorporated modern and colonial architechture. Literally, new building curve around old structures. This is the Museum of Sydney....haven't been in yet though!













What would you think of me if I didn't show you a picture of the Sydney opera?







So here it is in all its glory... funny story though, the architect was Danish and only got the contract by complete chance. In the end the building cost a fortune and required much longer to be built than expected. Still it is very impressive!!!









Another common sight on the Sydney waterfront is the Harbour Bridge...another funny story.... when it was planned, it was to be the longest single arch bridge in the world. Unfortunately they took so long to build, that by the time it was finished the Bayonne Bridge in New York had been built and was found to be 50cm longer.
"DOH!" -Homer Simpson








Other than these common sights we also walked passed the old customs house (pic), the houses of parliament, Sydney tower and Town Hall and went on to Manly and the Pacific Ocean for lunch (by ferry).









The other pictures were taken from the ferry over the harbour. Including Fort Denison which housed the worst criminals when Oz was being colonised.



Enjoy!!!











North Head and the mighty Pacific...






South Head opening to the ocean, to the left Quarantine Bay... guess why?

South Africa - March 2008

Hi again,

So here I am again back in South Africa!!! It is so good to be back home, even if it is just for a couple of weeks..... in fact today is my last evening in SA before I fly to Sydney tomorrow!

Here are a couple of pictures to show you how I spent my time down here. Mostly I spent time with family and friends in and around Johannesburg....

So here is the family:

The Mom



The "Princess" Maya




"Judo Stars" Karli and Koki



By the way I turned 30 whilst in SA.... Nothing like a decent B-day cake!!!




...and some small trips.

Magaliesberg and Hartebeespoort Dam





..... more to follow...... FROM Oz!!!

I hope you are all well!!!

Surfari - South Africa - December 2006/January 2007

Probably the last post before the new adventure starts, and as you may have noticed I have written everything from earliest to latest (which is not how I planned it, but in my case my blog is definitely learning by doing)

After Christmas 2006 we were joined in Johannesburg by our friends from Hawaii. The plan was a 4 week SURFARI around South Africa, taking in most of the sights along the way.

SURFARI-ers: Jaco, Gilly, Susanna, Koen, Jennifer, Christina, Frauke, Nicolene, Benji and Me


As I mentioned we started off in Jo'burg where over the course of a couple of days we picked up the stragglers from the airport. Our first real stop was Pretoria where we spent an epic evening at the best bar around "Tings 'n Times" (For anybody visiting South Africa this is a must!!!). A brief stop at the Union Buildings - Parliament we
travelled east to Waterval Boven to do some rock climbing and to get accustomed to camping. As Murphy would have it we almost got washed away and our first braai (BBQ-USA; Grillen-Germany) was hastily relocated!

Due to the weather i.e. poor visibility, we were forced to cut our time on the Panorama Route short. Just after visiting Mac-Mac Falls the fog really closed in as a result we headed directly for the Kruger National Park. (For anybody visiting South Africa the Panorama Route offers some spectacular viewpoints from the escarpment, not to be missed are God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes, Berlin Falls, the three rondavels, Blyde River Canyon and of course Harry's Pancakes in Graskop)


I don't think I have to write much about the Kruger National Park. For those who don't know it is a massive wildlife area where the animals roam free. Mostly it is a self-drive area but all the camps offer guided night- or morning drives. When in the Kruger an early start is imperative.... take along your breakfast goodies and find yourself a camp where you can prepare your "Skottel" with bacon, eggs, baked beans and toast!!!





From the Kruger National Park we made our way down to the east coast, hugging the border to Swaziland. On the way we found these ladies braaiing mealies (maize) over an open flame.







Destination: Lake St. Lucia. This World Heritage Site is a wetland area that is home to hippos, crocodiles, a huge variety of birds, etc. It was also the first opportunity we had to get ourselves into the ocean for some surf action. And we weren't the only ones who wanted to surf....













From St. Lucia we travelled down the KwaZulu-Natal coast into the Eastern Cape. We found an amazing backpackers at Mdumbi and decided to stay for a couple of days. The setting is spectacular as are the waves (the break can be up to 200 meters long). It is also not far to Coffee Bay and Hole-in-the-Wall.






From Mdumbi we made our way to Cape Town along the Garden Route via Knysna, Buffalo Bay and Hermanus. Unfortunately I had to leave our group as soon as we reached Cape Town and head back to Germany.... so no fotos....
this way at least I haven't spoilt everything for you and you still have reason to visit South Africa. If you want to do a big trip plan in at least 4 weeks!!!

Elbe Sandstone - June 2007

Situated very close to the historic city of Dresden, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains straddle the border between the state of Saxony in south eastern Germany and the Czech Republic. The name derives from the sandstone which was carved by erosion. The river Elbe breaks through the mountain range in a steep and narrow valley. A really beautiful region with lots of possibilities for rock climbing, hiking and cycling.

Actors: Mom-Münster, Aunty Ilse, Andrea, Frauke and me









The ladies on the "Kaiserkrone" - King's crown













View from the King's crown!

















View over the Elbe from the "Bastei". These alone standing pinnacles are characteristic of the erosion which created the Elbe Sandstone Mountains


















The "Bastei" (engl. Bastion) was the perfect fortress....

Nothing like a good meal after a hard days hiking! The best self catering accomodation on a farm with a beautiful garden for relaxing and a great view of the surrounding mountains.

Mom and me in Dresden



















The "Frauenkirche" -probably Dresden's most famous church was recently reopened after being completely destroyed in WWII

























Dresden skyline

Cycling along the.....

.....Elbe and into........















....the Czech Republic!!!

Portugal - Sept/Oct 2007

Whew, this is more difficult than I thought... trying to keep thoughts in order without sounding like a complete nut case, and what ends up first and what is last.....

Anyway, at my second attempt to post something on my site I would like to give you a really small impression of our surf trip to Portugal in September/October 2007.

Surfers: Ulrich "Hot-Like-Fire" Mayer and Me

Start was in Faro, which is part of the Algarve. For everybody who is planning on visiting Portugal, don't get caught in the Algarve!!! It is a place with a whole bunch of tourists and hotels and stress and money and all-round not nice! I arrived early in the morning and picked up our rental car....note to self....if surfing a Peugot 107 isn't the best choice..... and drove straight to the beach. No waves, since the Algarve mostly points towards Africa and doesn't get the Atlantic swell, but I could catch up on some shut-eye on the beach and go for a swim. The way every holiday is supposed to start!

Later in the day I picked up Ulrich and we headed straight out of Faro and for the west coast...

After a brief stop in Sagres, a quick look at the fort and "The last Bratwurst stand before America" .... its no joke, some Germans really have a bratwurst stand there... we cruised up a really spectacular coast to our fist stop near Odeceixe.
The following morning it was time to get the boards wet. A secluded beach with nobody there... Awesome!! After a good session we decided to head for the next break but alas we weren't that successful in finding good waves.

I get the feeling I am elaborating too much, so I will try an keep it short...

The following days were spent searching for waves but the weather didn't want us to have any fun i.e. rain for 2 days solid!

staying in and around Peniche for the rest of our holiday. It is probably worth a meBecause of the rain we decided to hop, skip and jump up north to Peniche via Sines and Lisbon. Were we ended upntion that the Portuguese countrside is really pretty. It is very dry in the south, but the further north you get, the more sub-tropical it becomes. The coastline is spectacular, lots of cliffs falling off into the ocean and lots of really tiny beaches with nobody in sight! It is really cool driving past cork plantations with these funny looking trees "naked" from the branches down where the cork has already been harvested.

Peniche is a very pretty town built on a small strip of land in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of its location it doesn't matter where the waves are coming from you can always find a good break. Once we had reached Peniche, the weather was perfect again and we had found a campsite where we paid €1,15 per night...BARGAIN!!!

The surf was great, the chicken was great (we lived off grilled chicken baked potatoes and beer for most of the trip) but as with most holidays our stay unfortunately went by too quickly.

Note to self.... if ever back in Portugal head straight for Peniche!

As you can see we didn't do much sight seeing, but that wasn't what the holiday was about.

Now I hope I can upload some pics (probably all 10 that we took) so you can get a bit of an impression!

Well that's all for now

Keep well
Peter