November 2011
4 posts
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New photo album: Ha Long Bay →
My last days in Viet Nam, before flying to Germany.
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New photo album: Pu Luong Nature Reserve →
Photos from my 6-day hiking trip in Pu Luong Nature Reserve in North Vietnam.
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New photo album: Hoi An →
Yesterday I arrived in Hanoi, after a fantastic week in Hoi An where I met some great local people who made my stay very enjoyable. You may have seen in the news that Viet Nam experienced similar floods than Bangkok over the last days, and many people have died. I was in Hoi An when the old town got flooded after the water in the river rose 3m in just one day. My hotel was flooded too but I got...
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New photo album: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) →
I’ve added the first of probably a handful of photo albums about my trip to Viet Nam. This one is about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), including a small tour to the Cu Chi Viet Cong tunnels and another trip on the Saigon river to the Mekong delta and My Tho.
October 2011
11 posts
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Xin chào from Viet Nam
(Xin chào means hello). On Thursday I left Darwin, after several months, and flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Viet Nam where I’m going to spend four weeks traveling from South to North before heading to Germany over Christmas and New Year.
Since I have returned from Numbulwar a few months ago, I tried to make plans for further travels around Australia, but I just didn’t know...
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13 things I will miss when I leave Darwin
Just so I don’t appear too negative (or too German?) after my last post about the 3 things in Darwin I won’t miss, here is a list of 13 things I will absolutely miss once I leave Darwin on Thursday.
Never having to worry about what to wear — shorts and t-shirt will do every day
Watching the sunset at Mindil Beach, ideally on a Thursday or Sunday when there is a big market with lots...
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3 things I won't miss when I leave Darwin
In two weeks I will leave Darwin to travel Vietnam for a month before flying from Hanoi to Germany, where I want to stay over Christmas and New Year, until I get bored or until I feel cold and miss Australia — whichever comes first.
As much as I love the Northern Territory and Darwin, there are a couple of things I won’t miss for a second:
Flies, flies, flies. They are everywhere....
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Jatbula Trail — Day 5
Route: Sandy Camp Pool — Leliyn (Edith Falls)
Before I left the campsite in the morning I finally got the chance to take some good photos of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that were sitting and clowning in a tree right next to the campsite. As common as they may be in Australia, I never managed to take a really good photo until then. What’s really fascinating — and most people probably...
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Jatbula Trail — Day 4
Route: 17 Mile Falls — Sandy Camp Pool
I really managed to leave earlier than 8am — at 7.30am, amazing improvement. Before I left I soaked my towel in the water and put in under my wide hat, covering head, neck and shoulders. It really makes a big difference and keeps your head cool. It also helped against flies.
Walking was really beautiful that morning, because the trail went in Western...
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Jatbula Trail — Day 3
Route: Crystal Falls — 17 Mile Falls
It took me some time to find a safe way across the river. It was almost possible to jump from one rock to the next, but for the last part I didn’t get around wading through the water, so at least I wanted a place where it wasn’t too deep or the current too strong.
After I had crossed the river it was only a short walk to the Crystal Falls...
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Jatbula Trail — Day 2
Route: Biddlecombe Cascades — Crystal Falls
It was so hot in the morning already that after breakfast I went for a swim before packing up and leaving.
Two minutes after I left the campsite I needed to stop again. The river had to be crossed and I didn’t get around wading through the water, so I changed from hiking shoes to flip-flops again.
The first part of the trail featured very...
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Jatbula Trail — Day 1
Route: Nitmiluk Visitor Centre — Biddlecombe Cascades
I arrived in Katherine one day before my departure on the Jatbula Trail, I wanted to camp at Katherine Gorge for one night just to get acclimatised to camping and outdoors again before starting the hike. Besides, the campground is a wonderful location with lots of wildlife, great facilities and many opportunities for short walks.
The...
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New photo album: Jatbula Trail →
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Back from the Jatbula Trail
Last Tuesday I returned from the Jatbula Trail. It was a fantastic walk — very exhausting, very hot, but I made it and it was a great experience. I saw Aboriginal rock art that must have been hundreds if not thousands of years old, I swam in waterholes every day, I saw flocks of 50 or more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos flying past me and didn’t meet a single person between the start and...
September 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Backpacker Australia vs. Real Australia
The last few weeks while I stayed in a backpacker hostel I noticed how much different my views of Australia are today, compared to my views in 2008 and compared to those of other backpackers today. When I say backpacker, I mean foreign Working Holiday makers and other short-term visitors.
There are so many backpackers who only travel between the big cities, preferably by plane. When I came to...
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At Katherine Gorge
This morning I left Darwin and jumped on the early Greyhound bus to Katherine. Timing couldn’t have been better because for the first time since I returned to Darwin five weeks ago, it rained.
After a good three hours I was in Katherine. It was incredibly hot there, even at 11 in the morning. The bus stop was right across the street from the Katherine Visitors Centre, which was excellent...
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Going hiking on the Jatbula Trail
I’m still in Darwin, working on my tan and I’m actually fairly busy with work for some exciting online projects at the moment, but I decided to take a break from the computer and go back to Katherine on Thursday, where I will walk the 58km Jatbula Trail in Nitmiluk National Park before they close it for the wet season starting October.
The Jatbula Trail is a wonderful 4-7 day trail...
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August 2011
6 posts
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Life in Numbulwar
When I came to Numbulwar, I was hoping to get a better understanding of Aboriginal culture and lifestyle, and of the conditions of living for Aboriginal people in remote communities in Australia. Now, two months later, I still find it difficult to come to a conclusion — there were so many impressions, and so many different aspects and opinions that I have seen and heard. No doubt that Aborigines...
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New photo album: Numbulwar →
I posted a new photo album about my time in the Aboriginal community of Numbulwar.
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Back in Darwin
Two weeks earlier than expected I am back in Darwin. It’s hard to adjust to city life again after two months in a remote Aboriginal community.
Originally I was meant to return to Darwin in two weeks, but some spontaneous changes in staff planning and complete ignorance of existing agreements at ALPA’s end — my employer — resulted in me returning to Darwin early.
By now I’m used...
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The day the shop got cursed
Today was one of the funniest days since I came to Numbulwar. Over the last few weeks I’ve seen a lot of things that I had never seen before but today was one of those days when I almost forget that I’m in Australia because things are so different out here in this small Aboriginal town. One always need to be prepared for the unexpected.
It all started like a normal Saturday in the...
July 2011
2 posts
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June 2011
19 posts
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Going fishing
Monday I met Allan who works at the town council in Numbulwar. I was hoping he could give me some information or maps about the places and areas in town I’m allowed to go and which ones are safe in regards to crocs or buffalos. Somehow we came across fishing and he invited me to join him or his mates on his boat, so today I joined Frank and Graham and we took Allan’s boat for a ride...
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Welcome to Numbulwar, Arnhem Land
Since last Thursday, I have been staying and working in one of the most remote and most exclusive places you could possibly be in Australia: in Numbulwar, a small Aboriginal community on the Gulf of Carpentaria at the East coast of Arnhem Land.
It all happened very quickly. About a week ago I was still in Darwin and browsing some websites to look for a room or shared accommodation, since...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 8
Route: Buley Rockhole — Darwin (~140 km)
We ran out of water in the morning, or at least the pump pretended it was empty which might have been because the car wasn’t standing on even ground. Since there was no water tank at Buley Rockhole and we only needed it for dishwashing and cleaning the car, we filled the tank with water from the creek.
After breakfast we went to Florence Falls...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 7
Route: Merl campground — Buley Rockhole (~370 km)
In the morning, still plagued by the many mosquitoes, we decided to postpone breakfast and drive to the lake picnic area in Jabiru. There we were the only ones and really took our time for breakfast. We were surprised to see that Jabiru is actually quite a big town, not just a tourist resort like Yulara.
Our plan for the day was to drive...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 6
Route: Cooinda — Merl campground (~100 km)
When we sat outside our van for breakfast in the morning, there were so many Little Corellas sitting in the trees around us that I got my camera out and started to take photos. They are some of my favourite birds.
After breakfast we walked to the reception near the restaurant and waited for the free ranger-guided walk that was meant to be held...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 5
Route: Leliyn Falls — Cooinda (~230 km)
We left Leliyn Falls around 8.45am, just minutes before the first tour bus arrived — we had camped on the coach parking area, so we were urged to vacate it in time.
At Pine Creek we turned onto Kakadu Highway towards Cooinda. At Mary River Roadhouse we filled up fuel — there was also a great Kakadu information desk where we bought our parks passes...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 4
Route: Nitmiluk Gorge — Leliyn Falls (~100 km)
I woke up at 6am when the hundreds of bats returned to the trees on the campground where they would stay during daytime. They create tremendous noise that is difficult not to hear.
Checkout time at the campground was 12pm, so we had plenty of time to do some of the walks in the area before we would have to vacate our campsite.
We started with...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 3
Route: Daly Waters — Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge (~330 km)
Again we were among the last ones to leave the campground in the morning. It seemed like the cold weather had caught up with us again overnight — it was cool and cloudy.
We drove to Mataranka where we stopped for a quick walk and swim at the popular thermal pool. The whole area looked like it was only just recovering from...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 2
Route: Devils Marbles (Karlwekarlwe) — Daly Waters (~530 km)
We got up early, mostly because the other campers around us were getting up at 6 or 6.30am. It wasn’t raining anymore so we took the opportunity and went for a walk to check out the Devils Marbles and take photos before the rain started again.
By the time we had breakfast afterwards, most of the other campers were already...
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Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin — Day 1
Route: Alice Springs — Devils Marbles (Karlwekarlwe) (~410 km)
We left the YHA early in the morning and walked to the local Britz branch to pick up our Toyota HiAce campervan. I had completed the online check-in the night before, so most of the paperwork was already done and we only had to watch a nice introduction DVD where they explained us the features of our van.
It had started to rain...
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New photo album: Kakadu National Park →
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New photo album: Road trip Alice Springs to Darwin →
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Darwin
Wednesday we arrived in Darwin — after 8 days, 2.300 km, with visits to Nitmiluk, Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. Even though we only planned from day to day, I think we made the most of the short time, and it was an amazing week.
I saw plenty of great new wildlife such as jabirus, lots of crocodiles, other interesting birds like corellas or bee-eaters and heaps of kites and eagles....
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Next road trip: Alice Springs to Darwin
On Thursday (or Wednesday, might still change) I will leave Alice Springs to go on a road trip to Darwin. I hired an awesome Britz campervan for eight days and found three people who want to join me, so it’s really affordable in the end.
Alice Springs: not a place to stay longterm
I have been staying in Alice Springs for two weeks now and like many others in the hostel here, I feel like...
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West MacDonnell Ranges
Last week I had the chance to join a British and a German girl with their campervan and spend a few days in the West MacDonnell Ranges not far from Alice Springs. A popular route is to drive down Larapinta Drive and then along Namatjira Drive until about Glen Helen Gorge. On the way there are several waterholes, gorges or other interesting attractions where you can often go on short marked walks...
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New photo album: West MacDonnell Ranges →
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New photo album: Road trip Adelaide to Alice... →
May 2011
27 posts
4 tags
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New photo album: Watarrka National Park →
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New photo album: Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park →
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Great Ocean Walk — Day 7
Route: Devils Kitchen — Twelve Apostles — Port Campbell
I was glad it was the final day on the trail, it was really a lot colder at night that I would have liked. My equipment was simply too light for conditions like that. I was also pretty tired from the long walk the previous day.
My gas can ran empty during breakfast, I just so managed to cook another cup of tea. It was the right decision to...