Sitting in the Brisbane airport and spending the last couple of hours here in Australia waiting for my flight to New Zealand, I dread the cold over there (weather forecast for Auckland: 13 degrees!!) and wondering why I suddenly appear to have quite a few more kilos in my back than when I first came. Hopefully it doesn't give any troubles (=any extra expenses). I thought I would use the time writing about my last days here in Australia. They have been absolutely awesome; well, despite the fact that it took me quite some time to get used to all the messing around in hostels, all the noises, the people, the whole "sleeping social with 10 other people"-business, that I so blissfully had forgotten all about in my past weeks with luxury (own room, bathroom, peace and quiet). But well, I am back, fit for fight and prepared to take a bit more than a couple of drunkards and noisy-heads.

I started out Friday morning very early (yeah, actually most of my roommates had just come back from town to go to bed, so we did a very casual "good-morning/good-night"-exchange), aiming for a long and seemingly beautiful walking track on a few km's, up to the Byron Lighthouse. (Early here means at 6.30, after I gave up trying to sleep longer - what does one call it? Working disadvantage? I have really come right into the routine of getting up early, working and going to bed early, so no chance that I can sleep longer than that…unfortunately!) Anyway, I took my time and have to admit that I really enjoyed it. Only all the early fitness-freaks were up and jogged pass me in an enormous level of speed. I felt more than once like shouting: "Run, Forest! Run!!", but I have been raised well by my parents and kept hold on myself. Maybe they were actually running from something, so why not just let them go (- run) in peace?;) Other than that, I was pretty much alone, strolling along the beach, eyeing out the first surfers on the wave and trying to take some photos that could just half-heartedly show the whole beauty and atmosphere of this place. I walked along the Cape Byron Walking Track and it was awesome. Through some bits of tropical rainforest, stunning belle-vista view-points of the surrounding ocean from high above sea-level platforms, white sandy beaches and rocky hills covered with green of bush and grass. It was really just…indescribable! I walked all the way out on the tip of Cape Byron, the Hook Point, which is the most easterly point of Australia. I spent quite some time there, looking out on the ocean and I spotted several dolphin-groups and some whales playing in the big waves. There was a fisher-man standing on the most outer bigger rock, apparently fishing and not worrying too much about the surrounding amount of dramatically raising and falling water. I found him very brave, fool hearted, and well, he must know what he was doing. So I minded my own business, which in anyway was easy, since two German girls had decided to turn up next to me and we immediately fell into talk. They were also doing the walk up to the Lighthouse, so we decided to walk together. Right before we left Hook Point, the small fisherman had obviously been aware of the danger he had put himself in, and was struggling hard against some pretty tough waves. I just couldn't help it, had to laugh at him and found the whole event highly amusing, even though I was pleased to see that he got n to safer grounds before we went.

We did the rest of the walk and yeah, the pictures hopefully speaks for themselves! I hung around with the girls on the beach in the afternoon, and we decided to join a surfing-course together for the next morning. That evening the boys (yes, slept with 8 boys in my room, cool ones though) made "party" in our room, but after I was offered quite a few drugs and I don't know what, I "left the scene" and went to bed (which means I went 5 meters from my chair and over to my bed) with earplugs and a very strong determination to sleep. And well, not great, but at least enough for the next mornings adventure. We got picked up from my hostel (they sleep in their car) by the surfing-school and drove basically all the way back to Ballina, where there was a great surfing-spot for beginners. It was just SO COOL!!! Really, one of the most enjoyable things I ever did. I have to admit here that in much bigger waves (our were like ½ meter waves, rather smallish:) I would probably not have been able to enjoy it as much, cause yes, it is pretty difficult! But we had a great time, I only did not stand up once, other than that I was riding all the waves I caught. In the beginning the surf-couches are "pushing" you onto the wave, to give speed, but after a while we tried to catch our own, which includes a lot of hopeless paddling to gain speed before the wave, not to mention all the paddling out again after each ride. My arms, waist and back were completely finished afterwards, but what fun it was. It was worth all the sore muscles!

We spent the rest of the day in my hostel, playing cards(it was raining) and drinking coffee. We went in the evening to this guy from the surfing-school's house, had dinner, watched a movie and slept there overnight pretty much on the floor. Long story, very strange and weird and too long and complicated to put in details, but we had quite a nice time. We went the next morning again to do surfing, and it was fun. The weather was peculiar. Overcast, cold and sometimes even rainy, and it made the waves go in all sorts of directions, so it was quite a challenge to surf. But it was fun with all the "power", and I enjoyed it. I had my bus leaving in the evening, and the two sweet girls hung around with me until then. We got some free lunch due to my talent of looking innocent (free meal, the sign said, and no "conditions apply". Why is it always that conditions have to apply?). We went to the internet, to the beach for a while, and spent the last hours in a cosy little café, drinking hot chocolate and eating German cheesecake and chocolate cake until we were bursting, and thought that we never ever would be able to eat anything again. All in all a wonderful time with the 2 girls, and well, they waved me off when the bus came with a big hug and "good luck in NZ". Very nice. I drove to Surfers Paradise, where I stayed overnight in a very good hostel, slept wonderful (was needed!) and prepared for my trip today. Funny to travel from Byron, this tiny cosy city with so much atmosphere and life, to Surfers with all its big buildings, skyscrapers and tourist-buzz, to Brisbane with all the business-buzz and San Francisco-like streets. All within 24 hours! Weird.

Anyway, Auckland is my next destination, hopefully no troubles arises on the way there!

Yep, no trouble at all (I could even have brought 2x32kg bags;) and a very painless journey later I was sitting in the airport shuttle on my way to the hostel. Since I had jumped again in the time-zones, the time was close to 2am before I was in my bed, and I slept immediately right until 10am, despite all the noises, traffic and other people. (See, I got used to it again: the backpacker-life:) I went downstairs, got some breakfast (wow, expensive!!) and appeared again to be on the right spot at the right time, cause a girl from the reception asked me if I wanted to hop on a free day-tour around Auckland with a bus-company that was parked right outside the building, they had some spare seats left:) Juhuu, I am just rocking at this travel-business!!

The weather was great; sunshine and warm, actually better than in Australia, and the guide in this bus was a very talented Kiwi-girl and had us all laughing straight from beginning on. She was telling very interesting stuff with a lot of humour and we had a great time, all us passengers. First stop was the Sky-Tower of Auckland, the tallest building in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere. Well, other than that is was the same concept as any other sky-tower - except for the fact that they offered "jump-off the tower" from a tiny glassy platform many many meters above street-level. So we watched as one guy threw himself out from there and went in a free fall down, before he got caught by a wire that literally saved him from committing suicide! Strange how much people want to do for just one adrenalin-pump.

We drove on, seeing some city views and view of islands on the way, and listening to some Maori stories, ending a bit outside the city on Mt Eden, a large volcanic crater (not active of course) overlooking the whole of Auckland, all the islands and the two oceans on either side, the Tasman Sea and the Pasific Ocean. It was pretty stunning, and we also stopped at Bastion Point, enjoying the beautiful views of the city-line and the Harbour Bridge. We had lunch in a pub before driving to the Harbour Bridge for a bridge-walk and an optional bungy jump off the bridge. We all walked out there, safely hooked on to some wire, overlooking the water and having all the cars driving over our heads. It was fun! A girl decided to do the jump and we all cheered as she jumped, head first, with an enormous speed just touching the water (yes, she got "dipped", and wow, I found it so scary. 40 Meters free fall and, no just, never!! That was the end of our trip and we drove back into the city. I got dropped off at the main-street, where I went into the Magic-bus office to get some more info about my up-coming tour. After some shopping I went back to the hostel and sat down and tried to plan it all a bit;) Met some girls today and they invited me to join them in their rented car up to the northern points of NZ, the Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga. I might join them, they sleep in my room as well, and seem very nice, so it could eventually be a lot of fun. Lets see:)