A fter a couple of hours in the well-spaced seats of monkey class and a similar amount of time in Auckland airport we finally landed in Sydney. We spent a couple of days in this lovely metropol exploring the downtown cafes & bars, the extensive amount of shoe shops and, of course, the amazing opera house at the harbour. Monday morning we picked up our rental van, a roomy Toyota decorated with the American singer Janis Joplin. It was time to head for the outback...

U sing, once again, the left side of the road we drove to Blue Mountains. "The Blues" was first discovered when English prisoners tried to escape over the mountains in search of China, but where they had hoped for cup noodles and Kung Fu movies they were met by endless sandstone overhangs instead - a climbers paradise was discovered... The 4 amazing days we spent in the area were primarily used under (and on) the red sandstone keeping Martin on a short leach. However, we also find the time for some kangaroo whatching, a trip through "Grand Canyon" (Yep they also got one here) and some shopping in the local hippie-town Katoomba.

S even mile beach was were we spent our first night going south along the east cost. The following evening we got our first real wildlife experience on Pebbly Beach, where we were greeted by very friendly, lovable and definitely not very shy colorful parots, curious kangaroos, sunbathing gigant lizards and a hungry possum. Heading further south with a couple of stops here and there we ended up in Wilson Prom where the wildlife was not so wild anymore... The animals here are definitely use to people, and we often had a parrot couple going through our kiwipeels and pancake leftovers after breakfast. During the two days here we had some nice walks before enjoying dinner among begging possums and guls. We also had nighly visits from our private wombat (big hairy lazy creature).

T he Janis Joplin van headed for Melbourne, where we tried out a number of nice cafes, an atmospheric internet cafe, walked around the wonderful parks/ the botanic garden and tasted some cold Aussi beer before moving on.

R acing on, we took two days on Great Ocean Road which, besides spectacular views, presented some huge waves with surfers, The 12 Apostles (spectacular rock formations), sleepy fishermen villages, koala teddies as well as a large number of sea guls.

"A rg! Laerke come quick, there is an enormous, scary animal back there! I just heard it roaring." 15 seconds later a cute little koala pops his head around the trunck of an eucalyptus tree. They have really big voices the little lads. We saw quite a lot of koalas during our stay at Mt. Eccles, where we stayed before going two days to The Grampians. Here we walked around a lot looking at funny rock formations, waterfalls and huge spiders, and Martin also found time to check out a few climbing spots. Climbing was also the main reason for our next stop, Mt. Arapolis. During the day we felt how hot it can get "down under"; however it did cool down in the evening which we therefore spent on some boulders in the area.

L azy danes, we don't think so! We also made time for a day in the Snowy Mountains where we climbed/ walked up Mt. Kosciuszko - The highest mainland summit with its 2228 m.

I n the shadow of Mt. Kosciuszko Janis was once again on the road speeding at 80 km/h (downhill) towards the capital Canberra. With Laerke in charge of the map we did a thourough exploration of the suburbs before we finally hit downtown. Downtown Canberra was boring compared to Sydney and Melbourne, however the local museum with its rugby exibition was quite interesting. We only spent half a day here before heading back to the "Blues"...

"A rg! Martin come quick, I've just been bit by an enormous, scary animal - must have been a snake or a deadly spider!!" 15 seconds later a cute little ant came out under the grass. Okay I must admit it was not quite as cute as the koala described earlier and it must have eaten a bunch of fancy steroids to obtain its incredible size. Despite the agressive "Schwarzenegger-ant" we, once again, enjoyed the climbing in this world-class area, and this time Laerke didn't settled with a spot on the ground... Unfortunately everything has an end an we had to return to Sydney with the van. The last couple of days were spent in the streets/ parks of Sydney enjoying our last time in the southern hemisphere - at least for now...