Time is running

Cheerse,

now it is just a short notice for all of you to let you know that I will write more about my time here

in about a week or two as I have just a few days left here and I have to make sure that I live them here and not in the internet!

Hope you all can understand that!

Bloddy good Australia needs me!

Yours Simeon

Darwin down to Alice Springs!

In Darwin I just spent a few days together with the German couple. Some sport games took place here and so everything was very full and expensive. More over it was simply to hot to enjoy this place a lot.

During our few days in Darwin we worked on a Crocodile farm as Volunteers. They looked for people to help moving Crocks and we expected it to be a part of the Animal Park where you can go for Crocodile coursing. When we arrived it all turned out in a totally different way. It was a professional Crock farm that jused backpackers to let them work 7 hours without any break in hot sun and what we did was carrying Crocks on tables so that they could measure them up and check them for skin damages. Than we put them in single Cages just a few centimeters bigger than the Crocks itself. They have to be in this cages for up to 6 month to have a perfect skin for expensive handbags! *disgusting* We simply should have gone much earlier but at least we had a experience to be Crocks as near as probably never again! This animals are so strong and powerful, it is unbelievable!

From Darwin Nadine, Johannes and I visited the Litchfield National Park where we saw sam very nice waterfalls and swimming pools. We also visited some huge Termite buildings. Than we drove to Katherine again from where I took a Greyhound bus to Alice Springs!

16 h of bus driving I found myself in the Center of Australia. Alice Springs looks like a industrial area in the middle of a scenery for a Indiana Jones move recording!

I spent a few days in Alice Springs trying to get a lift down to Adelaide visiting Ayers Rock, The Olgas and Kings Canion. During this time I visited some free Didgerido lessons which was great! I also had a very nice hick to the old Telegraph Station that was the first settlement here in the middle of nothing! The way back leads through the outback without any person and walking along there was a real adventure!

On my last evening here I did a Sunset Camel riding which was really cool! To enjoy the sunset of the desert always is great but on the back of a Camel it is even better!

Finally I was just on the way to book a tour I always tried to avoid to see Ayers Rock and Co when Albert called me! 15 minutes later I had my lift with this strange but nice Spanish guy!

2 Days later our trip started down to the south but more about that the next time!

Live on the edge sucks… JUMP!!!

Micha walked through the security @ the airport of Cairns and I was back in the old days and on my own! I spent a couple of days in Cairns and met Jule again! It was really good to enjoy our time together again and we had some great evenings in Cairns. We visited the Beach and for one evening I got two free tickets for a magic show in Cairns` Casino! Great show!

Cooking together and talking at the evenings made me not feeling lonely and it was a great time in Cairns.

I also had some really crazy things to do in Cairns! As you know I jumped out of a plain in 14 000 ft. This Skydive was really one of the most extreme things I have ever done in my lifetime!

But jumping out of a plain was not everything as there was still a bungee jump in front of me! And this again was really an extreme experience!

But before I actually did my Bungee jump I had a little swing through the rain forest called “Minji”. This ride is like a very big swing but just trough the rain forest! You got pulled up about 40 meters on the one side and than a green lights told you to pull the sting on your side that let you race down towards the ground and up again on the other side! A really funny thing!

Than the Bungee was on! When I walked up the jumping bridge I was as afraid of the high as never before, knowing that I will not walk down this steps again!

I chose a jump style that let’s you “touch” the water! When I was standing on the edge backwards I lied back while a instructor was holding me! Than he nearly dropped me a couple of times before I suddenly fall! WHAT THE FUCK! *Ahhhhhhh!!!!*

Once in a moment the world was gone and I was under water with my whole upper body. Just like in American gaols. Than the Bungee rope pulled me up again and that is the moment when you start realizing what is going on! And yes, my body started shaking as this would be the only thing bodies are made for!

When I finally lied down on the boat fishing me out of the air I started laughing! Yes it was strange! Yes it was freaky! Yes, I did it! And Yes it was great!

Than I got a lift of Nadine & Johannes who also took Pauline with them from Cairns to Darwin! We were on the road for about 6 days and one day we visited a national park near Katherine and the world’s biggest classroom. School of air is the school for all this isolated kids all over Australia’s outback! Just a few hundred kilometers before we reached Katherine we saw a bush fire just next to the street on both sides! We were really worried and tried to call the emergency number but we had no reception. Later on we realized that nobody cares about such things and they just keep burning as it is in the middle of nowhere!

All in all it was a great journey with this tree very friendly backpackers and I was really happy that I was able to share a part of my trip with guys! Thank you mates!

Whitesunday Islands and all the way to Cairns!

Fraser Island was a perfect part of our journey and it would have been enough to be 100% happy. But it was not all! Lots of great things were still in front of us. One big thing was our 2 Days/ 2 Nights Sailing trip around the Whitesunday Islands. This trip started two days after our Fraser Trip was finished and we had to drive something about 1000 km to come to Airly Beach from where our boat departed. On our way we stopped in Rockhampton, a very good tip of Jule. There we ate Kangaroo, Crocodile and Beef served on a 300°C hot stone on which we had to cook it ourself! That was not only a really good meal but also a very cool experience. The next day we went on our sailing boat called “Habibi” and were sailing around the Whitesundays with about 20 other people. The nature around was looking like the paradise itself! Beautiful untouched beaches with white sand, turquoise water and all day long the hot sun shining!

More over we were snorkeling @ the Great Barrier Reef two times which simply was breathtaking . All the fishes and corals and one time I even saw a huge turtle I touched and followed for a few meters. Back on the mainland we drove up to Cairns while enjoying the way. So we stopped at the “Wallaman Falls”, huge waterfalls that simply look fantastic! Finally we reached Cairns and also nearly the end of our time together. Before Micha left to Sydney we had one very big thing in front of us. We booked a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for one day! Our boat trip to the swimming Island out there was not so good as I got seasick. On the plateau itself it was much better. I did two introducing dives because I do not have a divers license and Micha did the first dive with my group to remember everything and the second with the licensed divers. I also went snorkeling again and together we had a 5 minutes scenic helicopter flight over the reef which is not describable at all! This view simply is too mind blowing! You did not see it, you can not know it! Trough that 5 minutes is so short it still was the best of all of this great trip! One more day in Cairns and the time was on for Micha to visit Sydney and so we had to say good bye. All in all we had a time that even was to good to be called “great” and for me it was tFraser Island was a perfect part of our journey and it would have been enough to be 100% happy. But it was not all! Lots of great things were still in front of us. One big thing was our 2 Days/ 2 Nights Sailing trip around the Whitesunday Islands. This trip started two days after our Fraser Trip was finished and we had to drive something about 1000 km to come to Airly Beach from where our boat departed. On our way we stopped in Rockhampton, a very good tip of Jule. There we ate Kangaroo, Crocodile and Beef served on a 300°C hot stone on which we had to cook it ourself! That was not only a really good meal but also a very cool experience. The next day we went on our sailing boat called “Habibi” and were sailing around the Whitesundays with about 20 other people. The nature around was looking like the paradise itself! Beautiful untouched beaches with white sand, turquoise water and all day long the hot sun shining! More over we were snorkeling @ the Great Barrier Reef two times which simply was breathtaking . All the fishes and corals and one time I even saw a huge turtle I touched and followed for a few meters. Back on the mainland we drove up to Cairns while enjoying the way. So we stopped at the “Wallaman Falls”, huge waterfalls that simply look fantastic! Finally we reached Cairns and also nearly the end of our time together. Before Micha left to Sydney we had one very big thing in front of us. We booked a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for one day! Our boat trip to the swimming Island out there was not so good as I got seasick. On the plateau itself it was much better. I did two introducing dives because I do not have a divers license and Micha did the first dive with my group to remember everything and the second with the licensed divers. I also went snorkeling again and together we had a 5 minutes scenic helicopter flight over the reef which is not describable at all! This view simply is too mind blowing! You did not see it, you can not know it! Trough that 5 minutes is so short it still was the best of all of this great trip!

One more day in Cairns and the time was on for Micha to visit Sydney and so we had to say good bye. All in all we had a time that even was to good to be called “great” and for me it was the best time in Australia at all! Thank you so much for this great time with you Micha! And now you get a few pics to get jealous! >he best time in Australia at all! Thank you so much for this great time with you Micha! And now you get a few pics to get jealous!

Not jelous enough? You can finde more pictures here

Fraser Island – K`Gary (Paradies)

For 3 days and 2 nights it was time for Micha and me to explorer world`s biggest sandisland! In a team of 11 backpackers we rented one big 4 Wheel Drive to drive on the ferry departing of Rainbow Beach. Even before we reached the land we saw our first Dingo (wild dog). We have not been on the island for more than half an hour when we found ourself bucked in the soft sand @ the beach! A friendly driver helped us to get out there! 3 days on such an awesome place is not much time and so we tried to use our time well! On our first day we went to Lake Mc Kenzie which is the most famous of the over 40 fresh water lakes on Fraser Island. I never saw water like that! Turquoise as you could not paint it better and clear as air. The center of the lake was dark blue as it was much deeper water! Even rain was not the smallest reason to stop smiling as much as rarely before! Our first night we spent camping at the beach just behind the first dune! At night Micha and I went to the water and made the sand gluing green. I heard that the sand will shine green if you write something in it @ night and it really worked! The next day it was all about passing mysterious rocks at the beach. Our company told us that there are rocks stopping us driving along the beach and so we would not see 2/3 of the island. We wanted to try everything to pass them and fortunately we could manage it! So we had some breathtaking views from the top of “Indian Head” from where we spot some dolphins!

Moreover we were able to observe turtles which was a moment Micha was not able to communicate anymore as he was too fascinated watching them. Later on we had a tickling bath in the “Champagne Pools”. Imagine you are swimming in champagne and all the little bubbles are tickling you. That`s how it felt like swimming there and that`s were they got their names from! The second night we spent on an Aboriginal Campside. This place is the only one you are allowed to have a campfire and while sitting there “Daniel” one Aboriginal fellow came to tell us about their culture and how to play the Didgeridoo. On our last day we visited a impressive ship wrack at the beach and a great lake that was next to a very big sand dune! On this dune I was able to sand board on a borrowed bodyboard. Than our plane was to visite one more lake but unfortunately we lost the way & finally ended up at the west coast of Fraser Island which usually is a reservation area tourists are not able to visit! This little secret place was again a proof of the beauty of Fraser Island and when we caught the very last ferry back to Rainbow beach we had an experience of a lifetime! Fraser is called “K`Gary” (paradise) by the Aboriginal people for a reason!!!

Life is a beach! JUMP IT!!!

Do something that scares you every day, than you now you are still alive! There is a plane in the air. There are people on board of this plane. There is a world looking like a little map under your plane and there is a mysterious backpack. Once a day somebody very, very crazy just got the idea to take this mysterious backpack, open the plain and jump out of it! Why? I don`t fu*king now?!? Jumping out of a totally fine airplane in a high of 14000ft sounds like the last thing you would like to do and most of all for what reason are people doing this? I do not really have an answer but I did the same. On Thursday (30.4.09) I have been picked up by a bus driving me to the 160km from Cairns located “Mission Beach”. Here my mission started. After filling out all this paperwork telling you how stupid you are to jump out of a plane we had a last hour on the nice and save beach at Mission Beach. Here we were waiting for an other group to skydive and watching them was really cool. Every few hundred meters the plain lost one of them and than they came down. When all of them were landed save it was not much time left until I jumped in the bus that brought me to the airport. At the airport I met my Jump master “Des” who is in the business for about 20 years and already jumped more than 17000 Jumps. Than we had a 3 minutes beefing how to jump before it was time to lose the save ground under our feet. A last group picture in front of our skydive plain was made and than we started our journey in the air! I was not really excited jet and even when we already were on a high of 12 000 ft I still felt very tired. The breathtaking view of the little map called “earth” under us was just mind blowing. On the one hand we could see the mainland of Australia with rainforest and a really cool river and on the other hand there was this big, blue and endless ocean with just little islands full of rainforest and fare away we saw the beginning of the Great Barrier Reef! When the time came to open the door it started to be strange. And finally there was just one other jumper team in front of me before I was sitting on the edge of a open plain in about 14 000 ft over the nice and save ground of our earth! Sitting there, hanging down my legs out of the plain was the moment when I really started thinking “What the f*ck am I doing here?”. Than we jumped and out we were. Now all is over! Nothing we can do. In the first moment we were spinning around and than we got control. 60 seconds of free fall which are just mind blowing and extreme! You can feel you skin pulling back and all of it still feels unreal! All this little things under you do not look like the “big earth” and one of the most impressive things to me was a very simple thing everybody knows. The earth is round! I mean everybody knows this, but I never saw it that way! Than the parachute opened and we had a nice little break that slowed us down. So fare so good but than the most scary thing of all was just ahead of me. My jump master made my harness a little bit looser so that I slipped down a few centimeters. This crazy guy told me after that, that everything is all right and he did that! We didn`t he inform me about that before? Sailing down was a little bit more relaxed than falling and I did not really feel the descend anymore. Just when we flew turns it felt really strange like riding a very crazy roller coaster. The last few hundred meters were a very short distance as we suddenly were on the way to land! And well done Des, the landing was very, very soft and I just had to do 2 steps until we stopped at the wonderful beach of Mission Beach. I still felt my stomach two hours after landing on earth again! This was a very, very extreme and probably the most freaky thing I have ever done in my life!

Mission Complete!

WICKED Time!

On Thursday 9^th of April Micha arrived in Brisbane and we got our Camper van. It was quite a long story to come out of the Camper depot as we had to ask for every single thing. They did not manage anything. So we ended up in a 2 seater van for a price of a 3 seater and later this day when we already were on our way we realized that our car has no registration sticker and so we are not sure to be insured for the very basic things. Also driving in the center of Brisbane with a unknown car and on the wrong side of the street was very stressful.

But we still had a nice evening on Brisbane’s South bank and were very lucky to find a good parking spot for our first night at the end of Brisbane.

Our next day was much more relaxed as we got used to the car and the driving. We visited the Sunshine Coast which was just reopened after cleaning up oil at the coast.

The next day we visited the world famous “Australia Zoo” created by the Crocodile hunter Steven Irwin. It was amazing to see all this animals having a very free life in this zoo. You could touch and feed Kangaroos and elephants and we watched a Crocodile and Bird-show. Dingos, Snakes, Wombats, Emus and Turtles are just a few of the animals we saw. But the most impressive thing to me were the permanent lazy Koalas! It is just amazing how they sit on the trees and sleep. Now I know where the sentences “Du hast einen Stock im Arsch” is from!

The next night spot was one of a few fantastic tips Jule gave us. We parked our Caper on a Carpark directly at the ocean and the Noosa National Park for the best place to sleep ever!

Hear the oceans waves is a good way to wake up and than we had a little hick at the National Park including some fantastic look outs and we also saw a wild Koala.

Than we made our way up to Rainbow Beach were we had to stay for one night to start our 3 Day 4Wheel Drive Safari to Fraser Island!

So the first part of our trip already was a great time with lots of great things we saw!

What happened on Fraser Island and why this Island is one of the most beautiful places on earth?

Find out the next time!

Little London!

After nearly 2 month of picking Tomatoes I went back to Brisbane for one week. On the one hand it was a step towards loneliness again, but on the other I met some great people in Brisbane. For example Klaus from Germany who is traveling all over the world and with him I went to Brisbane’s South Bank. That is the little Paradise in the City with a free public lagoon and city beach to swim in. We also met an Aussie on our way who joined us. This guy gave us the tip to come back at 8pm Monday night as there would be a free juggling club for everybody. So we did and it was a great thing to do. One guy juggled 7 balls and I used the opportunity to learn some new tricks. After that Klaus, Caroline (our Korean roommate) and I went to Brisbane’s Casino. While I tried my hardest to understand the rules of one of this thousands of gambling machines the other two played on them for 1$. Caroline, who already was a casino member, suddenly won 25$ in 1$ coins which caused a great winning sound!
But what makes Brisbane called “little London” by me? Brisbane as a river town with a big ferry wheel just reminds me to what I reckon London will look like! More over it was raining cats and dogs every single day!
I spent one day driving up and down the “Brisbane river” ~very creative name~ in a ferry, which was a nice thing to do because I was try inside the ferry! *g*
If it stopped raining for a few hours I mostly went to the city beach enjoying this little paradise and one day there was a German bakery in town and I just loved to eat my “Käselaugenstange”!
All in all I had a great time here but the time in front of me should be even better and so I graped my backpacks and walked out of Brisbane’s CBD to met Micha at the Car renting depot!

Stanthorpe – Tomatoe Paradise!

If one thing is to hard to believe than the fact that I am living at the Caravan Park “Country Style” in Stanthorpe, the coldest place Queensland`s, for nearly 2 month now.

Beside picking tomatoes there is nearly nothing to do without a car. My weekly shopping is based on hitch-hicking 12km in town most of the time and my day starts at 5 am when the first roommate gets up. He is as considerate as a rock concert in a old people`s home. Than I get a lift of two French colleagues to my farm where we start picking tomatoes at 6:30 am now. A couple of days ago we started half an hour earlier but not it is too cold and dark at this time. Yes, that`s right. To cold! Yes, here in Australia, Yes, even if I am in Queensland, Australias “sunshine state”. At morning you can not feel any sun but just the proof to be in Queensland`s coldest place on an altitude of 915m. But it just needs a few hours `till you will find yourself picking under the very hot sun. The highest days have been about 40°C and this for sure is not a nice temperature for 8 hours hard farmwork.

However, some days are more like “coldest place days!” and it big thunderstorms can start from one second to the other. Even big hail caught us the other day when we just had one single row left to pick.

But even if I work hard and there is nothing very exciting here in Stanthorpe I really enjoyed the time here. My very friendly farmers Traver, Tim and Jamie, the very nice colleagues and some friends at the Caravan Park made me having a great time here. I also enjoy the “permanent” home I have for the moment. The value of a place to stay the next night without organizing it every single day seems to be endless to me now!

The most exciting things in Stanthorpe have been a Rodeo and this years semifinal in Cricket. At the Rodeo I could see real country boys and girls and their way of celebrating the countryside. Even if it was a little bit weird some times it still was a nice experience.

The funny part about the Cricket is, that the semifinal and the final was about the same teams playing against each other. *weird rules!* And one thing was for sure! Jamie and his team will win the great finale! And he did! Why I knew that? Hmm, that`s not to hard to know if Jamie(one of my farmers) and his team was playing against Jamie(my colleague) and his team! And, what a surprise, Jamie, who also became Cricketer of the Year, and his team won!

But all things come to an end. Next Thursday I will leaf Stanthorpe and the Tomatoes behind me, heading to Brisbane. Here I will met Micha at the 9. of April, getting our Campervan we rented and drive up the coast to Cairns! Holidays, I am coming!

Gold Coast! – Surfers Paradise?

After the great surfing trip with my friends Pavel, Mugel and Jule Pavel went back to Sydney to work and we had some more holiday days in Byron Bay and went on to Surfers Paradise.

Here we enjoyed the endless beach of Australia`s little Miami, the Gold Coast! Beach as long as you can see and just a few meters behind countless skyscrapers.

Mugel and I tried our new surfing skill at the place which is called “Surfers Paradise” and we had to learn that a name is a name but Crescent Head is the real Surfers Paradise!

Of course we didn`t miss to visit Australia`s onliest Hard Rock Cafe! in Surfers where Mugel at once flirted with the bartender.

One day we did a daytrip to Wet`n`Wild which is one of the world famous theme parks at Gold Coast! It was a nice day full of rides on different waterslides.

Than we sad Good Bye to Mugel who went back to Sydney and a few days later Jule went on to Brisbane while I tried to stay in Surfers to find work. One full week of hopeless job search I also went on to Brisbane. But I didn´t want to leaf Surfers without enjoying at least the very last evening and so I visited a attraction I was interested since I saw it the very first time. It is called “Infinity” and it´s the only one of it´s kind worldwide. You walk through dark rooms of different themes with lots of special effects. All walls are mirrors and so the little lights are like millions of stars around you and you really can feel infinity!

Without any pre-booked Hostel in Brisbane I was nearly in big troubles when it looked like every single Hostel was already booked out! So I was “lucky” to get a last bed in a 30man mixed dorm without aircon in the very last hostel! After that experience of a totally home- & working-less backpacker overloaded city I canceled the plane to look for work here and booked a bus to Stanthorpe the next day. The evening I spend with Jule at Brisbane`s city beach directly at the Brisbane River. Australia`s little London even has a ferry wheel. Anyway, who ever is coming here shouldn`t miss the paradise of the little public city beach at night! This, not 100% legal, midnight swimming was the very best I could do in 20 hours Brisbane. If any Paradise can be in a city center, this is it!

The next morning I went on to Stanthorpe, one of the very famous areas for fruit picking, and here I am living now!