Finally

Hi all,

It has taken ages but finally we are able to update the blog again today during a grey afternoon in New Zealand. It is way overdue but Internet facilities have been letting us down dramatically: no fast upload capabilities and broadband is still to be installed in various New Zealand regions.

And to be honest we also have been too busy enjoying ourselves.

So for today we will update you with the following:

• some leftover Thailand and Australia photo albums (Thailand revisited [uploaded during one of the frustrating internet cafe sessions more than a week ago] and stint 2 comments, Oz leftovers and Australia comments albums). Take a look the shots speak for themselves;
• an Australia post-visit analysis of our visit down under (a long time ago)
• a first glimpse of the great New Zealand and what's still in store for you guys in the (maybe not so near) future (Fiji amongst others)
• We are finishing with a few personal shout-outs!

Australia: land of dangerous animals, UDLs, mullets, cullets and weird questions

We only spent 3 weeks in Aussie and the highlights of our visit were:

• the great food made by our Melbourne hosts Nic and James
• diving the great barrier reef
• getting down on a rainy & windy day with the locals at Lync Haven (near Cape Tribulation)
• the city of Sydney

Australia and its inhabitants are just plain weird to us Europeans. This is not meant as a judgemental statement but some things we really couldn't get our heads around. To give you a few examples:

• UDLs: not sure what the abbreviation stands for but UDLs are cans of mixed long-drinks such as rum (Bunda) or whiskey (JD) cola. This is the male version of what we call b****p*ss at home (Bacardi breezers and the alike for those of you who aren't familiar with the expression);
• Mullets and Cullets are the rage: mullets (for the dutchies: matjes [kapsel]) and cullets (curly mullets) seem to be immensely popular down-under - is that like a kind of revival of the eighties maybe?
• 'How you going': Aussies meeting you are asking you this question all the time: what does it mean and how are you supposed to answer that? Does it mean: How are you going? I wasn't aware that I should be going anywhere (or didn't have any plans yet) nor did I determine which means of transportation I had planned to be using to reach that unknown destination. Apparently it is the Aussie way of asking 'How are you doing' but it just sounds wrong for a native English speaking person.

So enough for dissing the Aussies: it is actually a great country that we unfortunately had chosen to rush through. The people down under are great too: WYSIWYG and straight forward. They are very friendly but don't expect any diplomatic responses as they just tell it like it is. Love it!

New Zealand: 2 European hobbits in quest for the Lord of the Rings

Visiting New Zealand is like being projected onto the Lords of the Rings filmset. The landscapes are beautiful and the people up here are very friendly and genuine too. If you are into adrenalin rushes and activity this is the place to visit as long as you bring a wallet with plenty of cash.

So far we have tramped a lot (what a weird word to say 'hiking'), took a helicopter flight over and landing on a glacier and did some tandem paragliding. Skydiving and Vineyards are still on the agemda for the upcoming weeks!

We promise to update you in depth of our adventures up here, but so far more than so good!

Fiji: diving and hospitality

We still owe all of you pictures and stories about this Pacific paradise, but like to keep you in suspense so that you stay tuned to visit this website now and then as you might that lucky (like today) in case there are new blog entries and pictures.

P.S.we'd like to say hi and leave personal messages for the following folks we met on our travels in the past month or so

• Roos en Jasper: Fiji was fantastisch (speciaal het duiken op Kadavu) en Nieuw Zeeland voldoet prima aan de verwachtingen
• Sylvain et Mathilde: merci beaucoup pour tous les 'camping-leftovers'
• Familie Seitzinger: Vielen Dank fur die tablette (painkillers: not sure about my translation into German here). My eye has recovered well and is back to normal. We do love New Zealand but have so far decided not to do any multi-day tramps as there are to many things we don't want to give a miss up here