Let it snow

Snow is transforming Northern Switzerland into a fairy wonderland at last.
Winter did not seem winter without a bit of frosting.

Next month sees me saying goodbye to Berne and hello to Geneva. Hopefully I will stay there for longer than 6 months. That is the plan, in any case!

HOT TIP
If you want to see the latest tv shows, check out all u c . It provides a collection of links, from which you can watch all the latest series online. (It is also showing the current season of 24...)

Back

Soo... I'm back. What riveting news.
(I apologise for the sarcastic edge, but I am just not THAT thrilled to be back in albeit autumn-y, not wintry, Switzerland. With the exception of seeing friends & family of course!)

Australia was fantastic.
A laidback and friendly country with beautiful scenery, intriguing animals and most importantly 35°C!
We flew to Sydney via Tokio, which was a bit of a strain. We arrived looking like wet, disheveled rags and envying all who managed to look fresh after our long flight. Having six hours in which to amuse ourselves at Tokio airport, we discovered the conveniency of their ‘Day rooms’. These rooms are very small single or double bedrooms, with a private bathroom, to be booked by the hour. After our gruelling flight a three hour kip was just what we needed!

Spending Christmas Day away from my family felt slightly strange. But as we were so jetlaged, we slept most of the day anyway. Boxing Day, I rose bright and early, all set to start the day with a good cup of coffee. The barrista was a chatty person and asked me if we were planning to hit the sales. “Sales?!” I squeeked. “Oh yes, Boxing Day Sales are THE sales of the year. Everyone looks forward to them.” Hmm. And here I was thinking that we may manage to travel without breaking the bank. Well, that apparently was not meant to be!

Sydney was lovely if windy. We took the ferry out to Manly beach and ended up having our first surf lesson there. It was fantastic, even if we did swallow half the ocean. Luckily the water there is soooo clean! A friend is / was taking an English course at a language school down on Bondi Beach. She introduced us to the Australian way of life by hosting a BBQ (or barbie) on the beach. We ate English sausages and a skippy (kangaroo), the latter unfortunately did not agree with everyone’s stomachs.

Driving down from Townsville to Airlie Beach was uneventful, even if we were driving on the “wrong” side of the road. We must have made a very half-baked impression on the Europcar guy... he even drew us a detailed map on how to get to airlie beach (ca. 3 hours drive straight down the coast). As I said, very kind and helpful people.

We saw the New Year in with a countdown and two Australian guys. Both had decided to come up to Airlie Beach by themselves for the New Year. Funny that.

As the beach was off limits on account of the stingers (jellyfish), we took a sailing boat trip out to Whitehaven beach. That was quite an experience!

On we drove down to Noosa, breaking the journey in Yeepoon, a town that could have been the setting for the film “psycho”. Needless to say, I did not sleep a wink in that motel!

Our next stop was Noosa, a lovely place, if catering solely for tourists. We discovered the many pleasures of Australian wine and bland food. (Even if everything sounds and looks so appealing, the Aussies do not know how to season their food! Such a disappointment!)

I met an English couple who had just been to Singapore and they were showing me a film of the sights. We kept chatting with me occasionally glancing down at the camera, when suddenly a lady from a nearby table stood up and approached me. "You do realise that you have been filming for quite some time with the cap still on the front of the camera!" She blurted out. I looked at her in amazement and tried to stifle a laugh. "I am not really filming, but watching a film. But thanks for your concern." All her friends fell about laughing at that. Thankfully she did too!

Instead of trying to spy Oz's wildlife in their natural habitat, we opted to spend one day at the Australia Zoo near Brisbane. (I mean, come on, flipflops - or thongs as the Aussies call them - are hardly ideal footwear for a trek through mosquito ridden rainforests, now are they?) The place was full of interesting animals. Amongst which we saw tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas (who seriously stink in the wild - not cute!), wombats, tigers, emus, kookaburras, and my new favorite animal, the echidna (looks like a hedghog with a straw for a nose).

Byron Bay was our last stop. We were told that it is such a fantastic place, we decided to stay a week. The initial pleasure at finding a cute, hippie-ish, design town was marred by not being able to find accommodation. In the end we had to opt for a bungalow a short way out of town. Still in walking distance, thankfully. This town's vibe seemed to be: surf or tan during the day, party hard late afternoon and at night. Right up our street! My fave cocktail turned out to be the Banana Beach Dream (or something like that!). Blend one banana with baileys, kaluha and a dash of cream. A few of those make a great liquid dinner!

On the whole we were very lucky with the weather. The only few rainy days we had, we spent driving. Great holidays, if slightly on the expensive side.