Das gute alte jetlag

Wer hätte gedacht, dass jetlag so viel interessanten Stoff zum Schreiben liefern könnte? Muss schnell von letzter Nacht erzählen, es ist einfach zu absurd. Während Patrick gegen 23 Uhr schlafen konnte, habe ich mich gegen 1 Uhr immer noch gewundert, ob mir das auch bald so gehen würde. Nach einem Doku-Film habe ich gegen 2 versucht zu schlafen...mit dem Ergebnis, dass Patrick mit mir 20 min später vor dem Fernseher saß und wir erst einen Doku-Film über Einsteins Relativitätshteorie, Quantenmechanik und die String-Theorie und dann ein Video guckten. Als dann gegen 5 die Sonne langsam aufging, haben wir uns entschieden, komme was wolle, ins Bett zu gehen und so lange liegen zu bleiben, bis wir einschlafen. Muss dann wohl auch passiert sein, denn jetzt ist es 14.30 und wir sind gerade aufgewacht. In der Tat. Haben keinen Wecker, kein Telefon, kein Nichts gehört. Nach den Beobachtungen der letzten Tage heisst das jetlag jetzt bei mir auch 48-12 oder 24-12 jetlag (für 48/ 24 h hellwach und 12 h Tiefschlaf) :) Im Moment ist das alles noch ganz witzig und interessant, vor allem, da wir nicht gleich wieder arbeiten müssen, aber es stellt sich die Frage, wie in Gottes Namen wir heute abend zu einer "normalen" Zeit müde sein sollen? Irgendwelche Ideen? Jedenfalls haben wir bei all dem noch etwas über Physik gelernt. Schon witzig, dass die Amis die informativen Sendungen mitten in der Nacht zeigen...

So, dann wollen wir mal den "Tag" beginnen... Ich werde von weiteren Erlebnissen vollkommen entgleister circadianer Rhythmik berichten :)

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A note on jetlag

On the off-chance that you are not tired of reading about jetlag details yet, I HAVE to write about last night. I'm going to call this jetlag 48-12, or 24-12-jetlag - by far the strangest experience yet. To cut a long night short: There was no getting tired. Patrick had gone to bed around 11 pm, while at 1 am I was still waiting for some sign that my body would cooperate if I went to bed. A documentary, an hour and no changes later I decided to give it a try and just go to bed. Result was that 20 min later Patrick and I both ended up watching a show about Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory ...plus our latest Blockbuster/ Netflix shipping. When we decided we HAD to give it a try, we were still not the slightest bit tired and the sun was already coming up. Eventually we must have fallen asleep (or should I say: passed out?) though, because now it is TWO PM and we just got up! Didn't hear the alarm, the phone, the mailman, nothing. So: My theory (or should I say: observation?) is that this jetlag enables one to stay up for 48 hours, then have a deep 12 hour sleep, or 24 up and ...uh...still sleep 12 hours.
Now, for a night that might be enjoyable or interesting (especially since we don't have to work immediately), but I'm a bit bothered by the question how on earth we are supposed to fall asleep at a regular hour tonight. Any ideas?

We will keep you updated on more circadian-rhythm-gone-wild-experiences ;-)

So...schnell noch eine Sind-wieder-da-Meldung auf Deutsch: Wir sind wieder da! :-) Wir sind gestern früh gut gelandet, ganz pünktlich, ohne verlorenes Gepäck oder sonstige Scherze. Überhaupt lief alles in diesem Urlaub richtig schön rund, das können wir jetzt im Nachhinein sagen. Nun sind wir wieder im unerträglich schwülen Nashville und kämpfen gegen jetlag und Spinnen (haben sich's hier gemütlich gemacht während wir weit weg waren). Patrick ist ziemlich froh wieder hier zu sein, er ist schon seit einiger Zeit bereit, sich wieder an seine Arbeit zu setzen. Ich kann das nicht unbedingt von mir behaupten, aber wenigstens bleibt so etwas Zeit, Besorgungen zu erledigen und Vorbereitungen für das neue Schuljahr zu treffen. Das geht am 04.08. für mich wieder los, auch wenn ich ab Montag (11.07.) wohl täglich Nachhilfe in Psychologie geben darf, da ich eine Schülerin hab' durchfallen lassen und sie nun keinen anderen finden, der sie den Sommer über unterrichtet. So schiesst man sich selbst ein Tor. Wenigstens gibt es ein paar extra Pfennige, die mein Konto nach den letzten 5 Wochen gut gebrauchen kann :)
Übrigens habe ich jetzt auch die meisten unserer Digitalfotos online gestellt. Könnt ihr unter folgendem Link sehen: http://de.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patrickandlydia/album?.dir=/8380re2&.src=ph&.tok=phQzxKFBJ9g7mocT

Hoffe, das klappt.

Mehr in Kürze.

Gute Nacht...

Return of the Jetlag

Friends, we are back home in Nash-Vegas! After what seemed a never-ending day, we arrived here safe and sound yesterday morning, not one minute late. Really, now that it's all over, we can say that this whole trip went surprisingly smoothly. Not one delayed flight, no accidents, lost or stolen items, broken tires, robberies, food poisonings, bed-bugs, snake bites, shark attacks, ... you get the idea. Really, the only two things we can think of that caused some "oh come on"s were our delay in Sydney due to bad communication between Air New Zealand and United Airlines and the fact that a mask we brought home didn't arrive in Nashville with us but had to be put on the next flight an delivered to our house later in the afternoon. Really, no big deal.
The flights yesterday were nice and smooth, especially the long trans-pacific one. In fact, we were lucky enough to fly on one of the new 747s, which...get this.... had a TV in the front seat (not too new, I know) AND you were able to control the program. In other words: You were able to choose between hundreds of movies, series, documentaries, cartoons, video-games, etc. and you could even stop or pause the show when you needed to eat, sleep, get up, etc.. So almost like you had the remote control to Air New Zealand's Tivo. I would say Air New Zealand redeemed itself there. Two thumbs up! Downside is that we did not sleep half as much as we wanted to, since we were too busy watching TV. :-) After that we had a ridiculous 9 hour layover in L.A.. "Luckily" the airport in L.A. is sh***y enough for one to easily waste plenty of time trying to get through immigration, customs and the next gate. So after all of that we "only" had 7.5 hours of hanging out left. Originally we wanted to go to the nearest beach, but once we had seen the horrific smog hanging over the city and the craziness out there, we decided to pass on sunshine and beach and stick with our gate. A few phonecalls, naps and book chapters later we got on our red-eye flight to Chicago (sooo boring because everyone was asleep apart from me, sitting inbetween Patrick and another lady, both snoozing away while I was WIDE awake). In Chcago we had enough time for some fast food breakfast (at that point we did not care what we were eating anymore, as long as it was close to food) and then headed home to Nashville. Our friend Emily met us at the airport and took us home, were we were welcomed by posters and lots of yummy food provided by our sweet neighbors. Thank you!!! We thought we'd crash and not get up until tomorrow, but we did surprisingly well. Patrick took a longer nap around lunchtime, while I was out getting gas, dropping off photos, doing laundry, unpacking, etc.. As soon as I sat down, however, it knocked me out, so that I took my long nap when Patrick got up. We were both up again later that afternoon and fiddled around a bit until the jetlag hit again at around 10 pm. Patrick was wide awake by 5 am while I slept like a rock until 10 this morning. Really, we felt fine all day and now it's 11 pm and nobody is the slightest bit tired. I guess we'll just wait until it knocks us out again with another violent attack of suddenly being dead-tired.

All in all it's good to be back. I think Patrick is slightly more excited than I am, as he has been anxious to get back to his work. I personally could have stayed out a few more weeks, but it's also good to be back home with our friends, plants (I've really missed then, they are my babies!) and what is familiar. Plus, it gives us both some time now to get our errands run and still have some time to prepare for the next semester/school year. God knows there is enough work to be done...

Two more things before it's time to sign off and read a bit:
Speaking of reading... we both got around to reading George Lakoff's "Don't Think Of An Elephant". What a great and interesting read! You should pick it up and read it if you get a chance, it's definitely worth it.
Last thing: I've posted most of our digital pictures, which you can access following this mega-link (slideshow under "Bildershow anschauen" above top right picture): http://de.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patrickandlydia/album?.dir=/8380re2&.src=ph&.tok=phQzxKFBJ9g7mocT

Hope it works...

Good night!

Nothing forever and then two in a row...

A(nother) last good-bye from New Zealand: We're making good use of one of Samsung's free internet stations at Auckland airport (I guess I just made their advertising idea work) while waiting for our plane to L.A.. We had a nice last day here with a slow morning. After breakfast we went on a hike up to the highest volcanoe overlooking all of Auckland, its different neighborhoods, harbors, beaches, etc.. and then on to NZ's oldest museum, where we learned more about volcanoes and Maori culture. Before grabbing a late lunch and heading out to the aiport early to drop off our car, we went to one of Auckland's great beaches, had an ice-cream and enjoyed the "winter" one last time.
Now it's waiting for our plane. It's supposedly not booked out, which leaves hope for some extra leg room. Let's keep fingers crossed! Strange to think that it's now 7 p.m. here on Sunday and we'll get to L.A. at 2.40 pm on Sunday - i.e. technically before we left. Time's an interesting concept, isn't it?

We're off to finding something nutritious before living off of airplane food for 2 days (or however long it may be).

As we said yesterday: We'll be in touch with you guys as soon as we have returned to Nashville and to feeling human again.

Take care, P & L

Finally.... a computer, some change and some time left to update this blog one last time for this trip. Sorry about the long pause.
Indeed, it is the end of our trip already. We're flying out of Auckland tomorrow night and get back to Nashville on Monday, so the plan.
Lots has happened after the last update. We pretty much travelled all through the North Island. From Picton on the South Island, we went on an early and chilly, but beautiful ferry ride to Wellington, which was nice, yet slightly disappointing for us after other travellers and the Lonely Planet had raved about it so much. From there we drove on to Tongrariro National Park - Peter Jackson used it as the setting for Mordor. Hard to find words to describe that place. It's "just" stunning. The whole area around the central North Island is, actually. Close by is Lake Taupo, NZ's biggest lake and, again, an immensely beautiful place. It's full of trout, has natural hot springs on the shore and is backed by the snow-covered volcanoes of Tongariro. Our stay in Taupo also put us into pizza-nirvana - it's home of the best pizza in NZ and the third best in the world, according to those who know. And, boy, was it ever a treat! YUMMY. Nearby Rotorua, thanks to its hot springs the most touristy place in NZ, was a disappointment, really. We were there on a Sunday morning, sure, but still... On we went quickly to the amazing (!!!) beaches and NZ's kiwi center at the Bay of Plenty and Mount Manganui in the East of the Island and further to the Coromandel Peninsula with its lush forests, rough shoreline and great hikes. After all that nature we spent a night in Auckland and went further to the Bay of Islands, north of Auckland. Now we're back in Auckland, actually enjoying NZ's biggest city (which most other people had talked down, so that we were pleasantly surprised). Tomorrow it's back home, which on the one hand we're excited about. On the other hand it'll be somewhat tough saying goodbye. New Zealand has left us lost for words with all its beauty more than once, that's for sure. Looking back, we are quite glad that we went during the southern hemisphere's winter (not that we had much of a choice, but still). I have to admit, we were somewhat scared of what to expect weather-wise in NZ when so many people asked us if we wanted to go skiing and if we had remembered to bring gloves, hats, scarves, etc.. Our experience was that, yes, there was plenty of snow and it did get chilly - BUT: we mostly had beautiful weather, around 12-17 degrees Celsius (60-70 degrees Fahrenheit?) and almost always sunshine or a few clouds and showers with sunshine following. As mentioned before, an added benefit of the winter was that we didn't have to reserve or book anything in advance, so that we were quite flexible and didn't have to share every sight with millions of other tourists :)
All in all it's been a great vacation to two fantastic countries and if at all possible, we shall be back. Until then: So long Southern Cross, New Zealand, Australia. We will miss you. Sniff, sniff.

At last, an attempt to summarize highlights and lowlights of this trip:

lowlights:
- Warrnambool and its Beachfront Backpackers
- Cairns
- Rotorua
- our departure from Sydney (Air New Zealand was being punky and has some work to do in terms of customer service and friendliness)
- Wellington's World Wide Backpacker - the people running it were just a bit too apathetic about their job.
-Matamata - Peter Jackson's Shire setting. It's a small town with nothing in it other than NZ's best cafe (recently voted as such) and the Shire, which, however, is on private property, doesn't really exist anymore, and can only be visited as part of a tour that costs you NZ$50. Please...

highlights:
- staying with our Australian hosts, Kev & Kath in Melbourne and Sarah, Chris & Co in Sydney
- The Great Barrier Reef
- The Great Ocean Road
- the Melbourne Botanical Gardens
- SYDNEY
- Our eco-friendly B&B in Christchurch: "English Park". Check it out and spread the word if you go!
- Hanmer Springs and its...well...hot springs when it's cold outside and one can watch the night sky with its mesmerizing Southern Cross.
- Picton and "The Villa" backpackers. A GREAT, clean and good-deal place!
- Abel Tasman National Park and kayaking along its shores.
- Tongariro and Taupo. Just all of it.
- Mount Maunganui's beach. Endless stretch of world-class sand and crystal-clear water. Sigh.
- Cathedral Cove on Coromandel.
- The biggest and oldest kauri tree in Waipoui Forest (North Island, west coast)
- Auckland and the Bamber House backpackers (apart from its notoriously dirty kitchen)

That's what stands out in our minds at the moment. We may add or subtract once we're back home ;-)

Pictures will follow in the next few days to give you a better impression of all of this (give us a day or two to sleep off the jetlag).

Kia Ora!

After a quite distressing good-bye from Australia (Air New Zealand couldn't find our booking), we finally arrived safely in Christchurch on NZ's South Island last Thursday. At that time we were literally thrown into winter - it was freezing (as promised) and roads were closed everywhere throughout NZ due to snow and ice :-( Still, we enjoyed two somewhat rainy days in Christchurch and surrounding area and then headed up north to Kaikoura (famous for whale watching, although we didn't get to see one) and west across mountain ranges to Hanmer Springs, where we spent our third night in NZ. Hanmer is famous for its hot sulfur springs and apparently is the less touristy version of Rotorua on the North Island. After a good soak under an amazing (and freezing cold) starry sky, we headed up to Abel Tasman National Park (north of the South Island). Now, not that any part of New Zealand is dull or boring in any way, but THAT is a beautiful park!!! We were really lucky and had sunshine all the way through our stay there (2 days) and especially for the kayaking trip we went on yesterday. Leaving early in the morning, we were introduced to the dos and don'ts of kayaking and headed on out, around hidden islands and beaches, one of which we stopped at for lunch before paddling back. Definitely one of the most amazing things I (we) have ever done (although my back and shoulders are REALLY sore today). Wish we could show you some pics, but we're currently at a more low key internet cafe, where digital cameras are difficult to hook up. We'll make that up, I promise...
Currently we're in Picton (north-east of the South Island), waiting for our ferry to the North Island early tomorrow morning. We're a bit sad, I believe, that we didn't quite have the time (and the weather?) to make it all the way to the south of the South Island, i.e. the Southern Alps, fjordland, glaciers and more stunning landscape. Alas, we'll just have to come back (very sad, indeed ;-)). We believe we'll have enough time to get a good impression of the North Island, however. If the weather plays along, we'll get to see Mordor (Tongariro NP) and the Shire there...maybe!?
In less factual terms, we've been greatly impressed with the country, its people and, of course, the countryside. It has been somewhat challenging to meet so many folks on the road and in the hostels who have been here for 9+ months, working and travelling. At the same time, we have run into other working people who've flown down here for 3 weeks or even 10 days - so I guess it is all up to what you make of it and what you expect. I suppose one would have to work after a while, too, as even low-key travelling can suck finances dry surprisingly fast, we're noticing.

Last but not least, let's see if we can come up with some first impressions of NZ, as well:
- The kiwis sound like Aussies with a Scottish accent. (P)
- ...sounds a lot like South African English to me ...especially the "e"... (L)
- Looks like Canada does in my mind (P)
- Palm trees in the snow!!!
- Christmas music in restaurants - does that come with the snow??? (L)
- Amazing night skies.
- Feels more Continental than Australia for some reason.
- Seems to have an active "hippy" culture - organic foods, great environmental awareness (how could one not be aware of the environment in this country?)...
- Definitely as great as I've expected. Very happy. (L)

That much for the moment. More from the North Island...

A quick entry in between packing, washing laundry and getting ready for bed. We're back from tropical Cairns! We got there early Saturday afternoon and after moving into our loud, but otherwise nice little hostel room, walked around Cairns a little bit. First impression was that we weren't impressed. Unfortunately that didn't change much all in all, apart from a few exceptions. Cairns is small and really only seems to exist for tourists. Kind of like downtown Prague, just not nearly as "authentic", beautiful and old. People from all over the world (especially Japan, however) seem to go there to enjoy some tropical weather, sandy beaches (which are suggested to you on postcards, but don't exist in Cairns. Period.) ... and to see the greatest tourist magnet, the Great Barrier Reef, of course. In all fairness I should say that WE didn't like Cairns, because it's just not OUR kind of place. If you like souvenir shops wherever you go, kamikaze drinking, nonstop wet t-shirt and Ms Backpacker parties, however, Cairns is your place!
Anyhow. Instead of bashing Cairns I should talk about the good part of it: Nice weather, beautiful rainforest walks and waterfalls in the surrounding area and ... the Great Barrier Reef. We went on a snorkelling daytrip on Monday, which, if nothing else, made the trip to Cairns well worth it. We went out to the reef (a 2 1/2 hour boat trip each way) and then, well, snorkelling. The water was rough and freezing after a while, but the underwater world was breathtaking. Beautifully colorful corals and fish and turtles (and Patrick even claims to have seen a striped snake...yuck...). Definitely an experience!

















Yesterday (Tuesday) night we returned to Sydney safe and sound, where we spent our first rainy and last Aussie day today. Despite our first really rainy day here, our initial impression of the city was confirmed yet again: It's love! :-) No doubt it's one of the top three cities we've visited and we're very much hoping to return before too long to spend more time in the city and its surrounding areas (and to see more of Australia, of course).
For now, however, our time in "Down under" is up and it's off to the country of Middle Earth.(Much to our dismay, people keep asking us if we're adament skiers whenever we mention going to NZ ... as if there were nothing else to do there. Or is there (not)????) So, with "beanies", long johns, mittens and (hopefully) adequate raingear in our packs, we're leaving Sydney bright and early to fly to Christchurch tomorrow (Thursday). I don't know how much time and opportunity we'll have to check email and update you guys from there, but we'll try our best to send a smoke signal here and there. Again: Any travel suggestions from you guys are more than welcome.
Hope all is well in good old Germany and the US.
Good night, P & L


P.S. We are repeatedly asked if we hear anything about the Soccer World Cup "down here". Yes, we do! The Aussies are in it and cheering greatly for their team, the Socceroos (especially after beating Japan in their first game). Patrick and I cheer for Germany, by the way, just to create a counter weight for good balance here ;-)

Quite a bit has happened since the last post. We rented a little car (Toyota Corolla, which here is actually about half the size of that in the US) and after getting used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road, went on our little trip to the Great Ocean Road. An absolutely amazing piece of earth! The landscape is just stunning, ranging from temperate rainforests to beautiful beaches and rough cliffs. The weather was not always perfect, but that also meant that we didn't have to share the place with as many tourists. The first night we stopped in Lorne, a nice little town by the beach where we found a beautiful Bed & Breakfast. Due to the queen's birthday it was a long weekend here and contrary to what we overconfidently expected, we could not find a hostel that had any vacancies. So we splurged at this B&B with spa and champagne breakfast instead. Very nice! The second night we spent at a hostel that was quite overrated in the books from what we saw ... similar to the town it was in. Thus, a piece of advice: the city of Warrnambool is small, dead, boring, overpriced and can easily be skipped when touring Australia.



After a ride back through the countryside (real Australian farmland, oh boy!) we arrived safely in Melbourne for our last night there. As a small "thank you" we took our hosts out for dinner and ...get ready fellow vegetarians... Patrick actually had a taste of kangaroo! Patrick ate Skippy! Very tasty, he says. Somewhere between a good steak and a pork chop. To me it looked like the rare version of the sweet animal we had fed just days earlier. :-(

Wednesday morning we got a very early flight to Sydney with Australia's version of Southwest. Uncomfortable, but otherwise smooth, it was a short flight to a much warmer (17-18 C or around 65 F) city that also feels a lot bigger and busier, more urban and ...forgive the word...wordly. From what I've seen so far I can say I LOVE Sydney! It has got a really nice feel to it and it's hard to really say what it is. Good-mood-weather (17 C apparently is freezing for Sydney), beautiful quiet neighborhoods, bustling downtown, amazing beaches, great harbor, big parks, surrounded by mountains and ocean - I am utterly impressed, almost to the point where I can say I could imagine living here (although...I'm not moving across the ocean again quite yet). Sigh...

We've got one more day to be enamoured by Sydney and then it's off to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef in the north before we return to Sydney for one day to say good-bye and head to NZ. Those four days (Saturday through Tuesday) in the tropics will likely be our only real beach days, so we'll get a big bottle of sunscreen and get ready for some snorkeling :-)

Attached are some pictures of the last days. The first two are at the Great Ocean Road, the last one is taken at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

That's about it, I believe. I'm quite tired and off to bed, it's been a day of lots and lots of walking again.

More soon. Good night!

Ganz fix eine Nachricht am Sonntag morgen (mittag), da wir in den naechsten Tagen aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach nicht an einen Computer kommen werden: Wir haben uns ein Mietauto bestellt, das wir heute nachmittag abholen werden. Damit wollen wir die "Great Ocean Road", eines der highlights im Sueden Australiens (und nicht weit entfernt von Melbourne), bewundern. Wir kommen dann am Dienstag nachmittag zurueck ehe wir uns von unseren lieben Gasteltern und Melbourne verabschieden und nach Sydney fliegen.
Bis Dienstag liebe Gruesse, L & P

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A quick message on Sunday morning (noon), as we likely won't come by a computer in the next few days. We have rented a car that we will pick up this afternoon to discover the Great Ocean Road, another highlight near Melbourne. We are scheduled to return the car on Tuesday before leaving our lovely hosts and Melbourne and flying to Sydney on Wednesday.
More then. Best wishes, once again, P & L

forgot one of us together...

Daytrip

Ja Mensch, das klappt ja herrlich mit dem Blog! Ich freu' mich, dass so viele von Euch schon auf der Seite waren & nette Nachrichten hinterlassen haben. Danke!!! :-)
Heute gibt es einiges zu berichten, gleich fuer zwei Tage. Gestern sind wir recht spaet los und dann aus der U-Bahn direkt in eine Einkaufspassage gefallen, wo wir uns sogar das ein oder andere Langaermelshirt geleistet haben (mussten ja leicht packen) :) Danach haben wir uns die Bibliothek angesehen - ein Prachtbau, wenn ihr mich fragt. Ganz neu und modern mit viel Glas, Marmor und Licht. Nicht schlecht, Herr Specht. Da kamen Erinnerungen an gute alte Stabi-Zeiten auf. Seufz. Danach sind wir nochmal zum Botanischen Garten gegangen und dort gute 2 h spazieren gegangen. Ein richtig toller Park mit vielen exotischen Pflanzen, kleinen Seen und schoenem Blick auf die Stadt - da wuerden wir uns viel rumtreiben, wenn wir hier wohnten, da sind wir uns einig.
Heute dann das erste richtige highlight. Unsere lieben Gasteltern haben uns auf einen Tagesausflug nach Phillip Island eingeladen. Das ist eine Insel etwa 100 km von Melbourne entfernt, auf der es Pinguine gibt. Zusaetzlicher Anreiz war die Aussicht darauf, einen Koala und Kaenguruhs zu sehen. Ich weiss ja nicht wie's Euch geht, aber ich finde Koalas so niedlich und die Gelegenheit, einen richtig echten Koala zu sehen, wollte ich mir natuerlich nicht entgehen lassen.
Ehe ich seitenweise ueber die vielen putzigen Tierchen schreibe, die wir gesehen haben, versuche ich heute einfach mal, ein paar Fotos anzuhaengen und die Bilder fuer sich sprechen zu lassen. Ich hab' mich jedenfalls koestlich amuesiert, vor allem ueber das Kratz- und Liegeverhalten der Kaenguruhs ;-) Koalas sind uebrigens nicht die hellsten Tierchen, haben wir gelernt, Eukalyptusbaeume sind wohl richtig giftig und da die guten Koalas davon leben, sind sie die meiste Zeit damit beschaeftigt, ihre Koerper zu entgiften. Ob das keinen Sauerstoff mehr fuer's Hirn laesst, oder sie doch nicht genug entgiften, weiss ich nicht, jedenfalls ist der leicht "zugedroehnte" Blick in ihren Augen tatsaechlich Ausdruck dessen, was im Koepfchen vorgeht (oder eben auch nicht). Nun gut, jetzt alles noch fix auf Englisch und dann ins Bett. Hoffe, die Fotos klappen. Gute Nacht & liebe Gruesse in die WM-Heimat (sehe hier Berlin taeglich im Fernsehen :)), Eure Lydia.

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We're happy the blogging and leaving messages seems to work well. Thank you for those messages that you've left!
There are a few things to report today since we didn't write yesterday. Yesterday we discovered Melbourne Central's mall and walked around in there for a good part of the day (bringing home a few good deals on long sleeve shirts and pants :)) before heading to the impressive Victoria library and back to the Botanic Gardens. Both are highlights in our opinion. We walked around the gardens for a long time, all the plants and lakes and the beautiful view of the city are just sooooo impressive. We agree we'd spend a lot of time walking around those gardens if we lived here ;-)
Another real highlight followed today. Our lovely hostparents invited us on a daytrip to Phillip Island... a beautiful island about 100 km outside of Melbourne where one can see penguins (when lucky). Not only that, but also koalas and kangaroos. Before I go on and on about the details of every animal and what a blast we had watching them (especially the scratching and sleeping habits of the "roos" ;-)), I will just try to post some first pcitures and you can see for yourselves. By the way - we learned that koalas are not the brightest bunch in the animal world. Apparently eucalyptus is quite toxic and the little guys spend most of their time trying to "detox". Whether not enough oxygen is left for their brains or they are not getting all the toxins out we don't know. Fact is, the somewhat "stoned" looked in their eyes is telling for what's (not)going on in their brains. ;-)
Alright, that said we're off to bed. More tomorrow!? Good night and don't forget the soccer world cup starts today!

So... heute mal auf Deutsch, aber auch nur kurz. Wir sind beide ziemlich muede und geschafft, nach einem nicht mal wirklich anstrengenden Tag - und das gerade als wir dachten, wir haetten das jetlag ueberwunden und es waere gar nicht soooo schlimm gewesen. ;-)
Es war ein richtig schoener Tag heute - pralle Sonne und strahlend blauer Himmel, was das Winterthermometer gleich auf 18 Grad ansteigend liess. Sehr nett. Die Gelegenheit haben wir gleich genutzt und sind zum Nobelvorort St. Kilda (laut Lonely Planet...sooo nobel fand ich den ehrlich gesagt gar nicht) gefahren. Das Noble daran ist sicher der Strand mit ganz klarem Wasser, einer huebschen Promenade und einem tollen Blick auf Melbournes Skyline. Da haben wir uns aufgewaermt und den Hauch von Sommer genossen, den wir doch in den letzten Tagen ein bisschen vermisst haben (umso mehr freuen wir uns auf Sydney und Cairns, wo es zum Teil sehr viel waemer sein soll bevor es dann ins winterliche Neuseeland geht).
Danach sind wir noch etwas durch Melbournes volle Innenstadt gebummelt und haben uns ein paar der vielen kleinen Gassen und Promenaden voller Geschaefte, Cafes und Bars angesehen, die fuer die Stadt so typisch sind, wie wir hoeren und lesen.
Wir schiessen uebrigens regelmaessig Fotos (auch wenn die Digitalkamera mit brandneuen Batterien nach 5 Fotos schon nicht mehr wollte...), von denen wir hoffentlich auch bald einige mit Euch teilen koennen. Wir muessen jetzt nur noch einen Weg finden, die Fotos auf den Computer hier zu speisen :-)
Jetzt werden wir aber erst einmal etwas essen, lesen und die Plaene fuer die naechsten Tage spinnen. Mehr Neuigkeiten folgen...
Gute Nacht!

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A nice, beautiful and warm day led us to the fancy suburb St.Kilda, where we spent most of the day walking along the town's beautiful beach overlooking Melbourne's skyline, enjoying the warm sun on our summer-hungry skin. Although it wasn't a stressful day at all, we're quite tired and exhausted tonight and will probably just eat, read and talk about the plans for the next few days before going to bed early (just as we thought we had overcome that mean jetlag).
We'll keep you posted, hopefully soon with some pics, as well (we just have to figure out how to feed them to the computer some time ;-)). 'til then: Good night.

First impressions

Having left Nashville on Friday (june 2nd) in the afternoon, we arrived in Melbourne safe and sound on Sunday morning local time. Although it truly seemed to be a neverending journey, the flights were smooth and on time and there really wasn't anything to complain about (apart from airplane food that is). This is the first time in "down under" for both of us, so all of this has been quite exciting, really.
In Melbourne we were greeted by the lovely parents of a a good friend, who have been gracious and kind enough to be our hosts for the duration of our stay. It's been great going from the airport straight to a warm house with soft beds , clean bathrooms and great food and not having to worry about finding something edible immediately or sleeping off the jetlag in a dorm room filled with 20 other backpackers. Thanks so much, Kev & Kath!!!
On Sunday we were too tired & confused to really do anything but take a shower (soooo good after 36 hours of airports and airplanes), sit around, nap, eat and step outside to breathe some Australian air. By 8 pm we were fast asleep and although we woke up a few times during the night, we didn't get up again until 9 am Monday. After a great "brekky" we actually ventured out into Melbourne for the first time. The day was a little cold, cloudy, and fall-y all in all, if you know what I mean. It is winter here, after all, we were reminded. Drugged up with coffee we saw a good part of downtown (Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, Swanston and Bourke streets) as well as the University of Melbourne and the neighborhoods of Carlton and Fitzroy. The neighborhoods around the university were pretty cool, quite "funky" and hip actually, just as Lonely Planet had promised. Today the weather was much better, a perfect fallday with blue skies and brisk, fresh air. We discovered Victoria Market and had a walk in the beautiful, huge Botanical gardens, saw the river and the skyline from the riverfront - niiiiiiiiiiice! Less worn out than the past few days, we're still getting ready to call it a day, so here are some first impressions of "Oz" in bullet-point-format:

• Australia seems very European (Patrick)
• ...yes, very European...and quite expensive. (Lydia)
• There are more "rednecks" than anticipated (P)
• Looks like Florida, but has northern California's weather. (P)
• Looks like Britain, feels like Britain, sounds like Britain (a lot of the time). (L)
• Good coffee (P)
• Good (better) chocolate. (L)
• No Power Bars to be found anywhere. Agonizing. (L)
• McDonald's, Starbuck's, Subway, Burger King (well...Hungry Jack's), Target, KFC ... all here. A lot like Florida after all!? (P & L)
• "Look right, look left feels like an assassination plot" someone once said. I agree. didn't know crossing the street could be such an adventure. (L)
• People smoke A LOT more than in the US. Very European, as we said before. (P & L)
• It doesn't feel as dangerous a place as it sounds (snakes and spiders and sharks and scorpions and crocs and all that).
• I like Vegemite already! (P)

That's it for today. Stay tuned. Good night.

First Post...

The notion that friends & family at home might get quite tired of the many mass emails we have sent lately led us to join the blogging community out of the blue this morning. So then... from now on we'll try to post our travel updates, impressions, questions and hopefully pics here and not bother everyone with endless mass emails :-)