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Cairns, Australia, 16-03-2009

Gday mates! Thanks for your messages! It's great to hear from you and that you enjoy our experiences as well. We know we are privileged to be able what we do and live the travel-life we envisioned, I hope it somehow motivates you or at otherwise just enjoy the '2 minute break' off work by reading this :0.

Well it is now the last night in the land Down Under, after 2 weeks in the country of ex-convicts (how it originally was created); well I would not mind being prisoned here for a little longer! Right away we felt good when we arrived in Sydney. Especially Zayde had her relief by being in a city again and able to inhale exhaust-fumes, having noise around and 24x7 entertainment :). We also were lucky because exactly that weekend was Mardi Gras, Sydney's biggest party (mostly gay/lesbians though.. which meant loads of 'dykes on bikes' :0) but a good atmosphere. The downside was we could not stay downtown and moved across the bay to 'Manly', although this actually was no punishment at all as it has one of the best beaches (loads of surfers!) and the next days we had a great ferry-ride past the Sydney Harbour Bridge and famous Opera-house (for those on top of the news; thats where 2 sharks were spotted in a swim-contest last week... luckily we didnt compete :)).

To start it off, we joined in a backpackers pub-crawl, which is on offer about every night, and meeting some more travelers and exchanging experiences and tips. We actually notice we are the ones traveling almost the shortest and have the more ambitious travelplans... okay okay I won't complain with our 3 months, though most are travelling anywhere between 6 to 12 months.. up to like a couple of years and traveling about the same amount!

Anyway, we decided to just take it easy, also after learning that there was a cyclone up north, we had to cancel Brisbane/ Fraser Island and decided to just stay some more days in Sydney and then fly right into Cairns (about 2000 km further..). One of the highlights in Sydney was surely to see a 'Tschakakovsky' (or something)-opera in the actual Opera House! Zipping on some Australian white-wine it was a great experience. Also visited the Blue Mountains with great views, waterfalls, 'cockatoos' and the steepest railway. Meanwhile 'Zayruca' as new nickname was created (which means something like 'old Zayde') as all her bones were hurting, suddenly could not sleep (which never happens) and the age-symptoms showed up; welcome to the 30s! Haha :).

Anyway, the 'Zayruca and the Pelus' booked their plane and were off to Cairns - the Great Barrier Reef Capital of the world! Did you know the ´GBR´ is over 2000k long!

After relaxing a bit at our hotels pool, we booked a 2-day 'live-aboard' trip on a sailing yacht to dive at world's biggest reef and actually sleep a night just above it. A great experience (although the sleeping a bit less..); but after getting used a bit again to diving, we had another 5 great dives and it really was like swimming right in that aquarium of the Chinese take-away (or Zoo if you like); and yes we found Nemo! At last, here he is guys! Actually also saw his 'Dorothy', but also trumpet fish, triggerfish (the little b******s), turtles and as highlight a 5m reef-shark! (could have been 3 but am just drinking a beer and you know how these stories develop :)). Anyway, as I already had learned their behavior from swimming with the Great White in SA (okay in a cage), we did not wet our pants :). Perhaps more scarier was the nightdive, which I dont quite understand either but I guess it´s to raise adrenaline by not seeing s)#$, diving in the complete dark with only a torch and feeling you are the bait for the sharks who just start going hunting. I just kept telling ourselves, that its just the same and only fear is the mindkiller... and off we were :). Well, we made it back all alive. Upon return, which is today, we booked a last trip further up north into the 2nd largest rainforest, the Daintree Forest and Cape Tribulation, which has fabulous views, great white sandy beaches (where lots of movies where taped.. Blue Lagoon parts, Band of Brothers sequel, Thin red line etc.) and saw crocodiles and feeded the adorable Skippy!

That concludes our trip to Australia- oh Kangaroo tastes great too by the way :0- so now we are ready for the next chapter in our travelbook. It does feel a bit that the holiday-feel, being away for a month, is changing into the real travel-spirit.. of which we are definitely not tired yet! Up next- Bali!

Take care for now, and enjoy what you do instead to just do it (could be Nike´s next slogan) and we be in touch soon again. Adeu!

L+Z