Central Coast....what a beach! :)

After one night in Sydney at Kuin and Simon's place and doing some laundry, we headed further up north to discover some more beaches at the eastern Aussie coast! We actually got tipped off about one place called 'Cathrine Hill bay' by the bartender girl in the 1806 bar in Melbourne (she is originally from Sydney).

Since we only left Sydney at about 2ish in the afternoon, we decided to spend the first night at Entrance (2 hours north of Sydney) and only looking for this infamous beach on the next day. Entrance is quite a hub in central coast since there are a few different beaches, there's a lake and a few caravan parks to choose from.

Our route up north to 'Cathrine Hill Bay' / Unsere Route in den Norden zur 'Cathrine Hill Bay'


Mishell felt like Asian dinner that night, therefore we cooked Green Chicken Curry. But before that, we headed off in a mission to buy some local beers. Unfortunately, unlike in Switzerland where you just run to the next Coop, the next shop at the filling station or Dönner stall to get a beer, in Down Under you have to find a licensed bottle shop to get some booze (one might conclude that they used to have a slight alcoholic-problem to control). But finally we found a bottle shop that was still open and sold beer!

Home made green kurry...*slurrrrp* / Hausgemachtes grünes Curry....*yummy*


Nothing goes better than a beer with the curry...Aussie beer is very light! / Nichts geht besser als ein Bier mit dem Curry....Australisches Bier ist sehr leicht!

'Wakie-wakie'....good morning baby....! Mishell usually tries to ignore Pasci's morning calls..! / 'Aufstehen...' guten morgen mein Schatz...! Mishell versucht normalerweise Pasci's Weck-Versuche zu ignorieren..!

Close-up from our brekkie: Cereals with freshly (peeled) grapes / Nahaufname von unserem Frühstück: Corn-Flakes mit (geschälten) Trauben

The next day we drove the 30km more north to look for Cathrine Hill Bay. We only realised that this place is so much of an insider as there is not even sign-posting on the highway and we overshot the bay and had to u-turn in the next village.

Thanks to some friendly local, who showed us the way by driving in front of us, we finally managed to get there. We climbed out of our spaceship and definitely felt like we landed on a different planet! WHAT an amazingly beautiful beach...! WOW!! And the best about it...There was absolutely (almost) nobody!! Who would believe that something like this exists...a deserted dream beach! We were excited by the thought to finally jump into the sea on our Down Under trip :)

GET JEALOUS!...Cathrine Hill Bay...an amazing beach and no mass tourism (yet) / Ihr könnt eiversüchtig werden!....Cathrine Hill Bay...ein wunderschöner Strand und (noch) kein Massentourismus

We got changed and found a spot to chill at the beach - unfortunately Pasci forgot his swim shorts @ Kuins place because he left his suitcase there and packed a separate bag for this 2 day trip north. And even the warning about the blue-bottles (jelly fish) and SHARKS (no idea which ones?) couldn't stop us....

Pasci forgot his swim shorts in Sydney...*douh*...but boxers are fine too on a lonely beach / Pasci hat seine Badhosen in Sydney vergessen....*douh*...aber Boxer-shorts sind auch o.k. an einem einsamen Strand....

Sharks, blue-bottles (jellyfish) and waves.....nothing could stop us from enjoing our splash in the cool sea! / Haie, Quallen und hohe Wellen....nichts konnte uns stoppen von einem erfrischenden Bad im Meer!

After some sun-tanning and some locals jumping the waves, we felt reassured that the sea is safe enough here and we finally made our ways into the waves...AAAHhhhHHH what a treat! There's not much better than the cold, refreshing sea after you grilled yourself in the sun for a while!

Enjoying the sun at the beach...Miss Malaysia...!! / Geniesst die Sonne am Strand...Miss Malaysia...!!

Still white.....but getting there.... :) for the wedding Pasci will have a nice tan / Immernoch weiss aber auf gutem Weg.... :) für die Hochzeit wird Pasci schön braun sein

*YEAH*...this is great.....!!! / *YEAH*...das ist super......!!!

*rrrrrau....* Macho-man....

Amazing beach, clear blue sea....what else can one want? / Wunderschöner Strand, klares Meer....was sonnst kann man sich noch wünschen?

Some more lazing around at the beach had to do for the day before we returned back to Entrance. But not without some fresh fish in our bags and something new we learnt about Australians: They even take the car to go and buy their beers&wines! Hmmm...I can see you frowning here and thinking...WTF...I take the car for that too...But Australians do it in different style: They drive into the shop (drive through in Mc'Donnalds style), order their booze and get it chunked into their car, i.e. a 'drive-thru' liquor shop. Amazing...no? :)

Drive-through bottle shop.....any aussies here feel like they can explain this? :) / Drive-in Alkohol-laden...irgend ein Australier der uns das erklären kann? :)

Back at Entrance, we decided to go for a different Caravan park than the night before and ended up at the most beautiful spot one can imagine for the last night in our Spaceship. The carvan park is situated right at a lake and so was our overnight spot - beautiful sunset!

Enjoy this.....beautiful sunset pictures! / Geniess das....wunderschöne Sonnenuntergang Fotos!

We had our apero enjoying the sunset at the lake / Wir hatten unseren Apero direkt am See

To celebrate our last night in the Spaceship Mishell prepared another great Dinner: Spaghetti ala Scampi, barbequed Fish (Flathead) and some Prawns! *YUMMY* And this combined with another good bottled of wine was the perfect dinner to say goodbye to the 'Nomad-lifestyle' that we enjoyed over the last four weeks (AIKS..time is running!).

It has not always been easy and it took us a while to fit in our new shell...but HECK...at the end it was GREAT! A liberating experience to have all your belongings with you, no home adress and you are just free to travel wherever you wanna go and be wherever you wanna be! Truly amazing!

Spaghetti ala Scampi for dinner... / Spaghetti ala Scampi zum Abendessen..

On the last day there was literally only one last adventure remaining on our 'to-do list' that we wanted to try (since it seems that in Australia everybody is doing it): Fishing!

Therefore we were looking for a place to rent a boat and fishing equipment. Unfortunately one cannot rent fishing-rods so we bought the most basic of all fishing-rods, some hand-reels - that will have to do! By the way, the guy who rented the boat to us and sold us the equipment called us 'Virgins' hmm....let's see if we got *lucky*?

'Good morning Pasci'..... / 'Guten Morgen Pasci'....

Lakeview in the morning / Aussicht auf den See am Morgen

Let's get ready.......our boat!! / Jetzt geht es los.....unser Boot!!

Let's head out boat-boy..... :) / Lass uns raus fahren Boot-Junge.... :)

Once out on the lake Mishell and Pasci set up the hand-reels with putting a prawn as bait on the hook and started to fish for fish! It seemed like a question of patience as nothing much was happening in the first 40 minutes. Only that the fish seemed to be more clever than we were and just ate the bait and did not get hooked up.

Lesson 1: Stick the prawn (ass first) on the hook / Lektion 1: Die Garnele (mit dem Po voraus) auf den Haken stecken

....same for Pasci...first time that he was touching a raw prawn though.... / ...gleiches gilt für Pasci....jedoch das erste mal das er eine rohe Garnele in den Fingern hat...

So we continued feeding the fish as out of the blue Mishell was shouting of excitment: "Got one!!!!" She pulled the reel as fast as she could to pull the fish out of the water and into our boat. And there he was...her first caught fish: A sea bream.

First fish ever caught by Mishell...a sea bream...unfortunately this fellow was a bit too small to keep and eat / Erster Fisch den Mishell je gefangen hat...eine Brasse...leider war er zu klein um zu behalten und ihn zu essen

Cute little face...no? / Hübsches Gesicht....oder?

Getting 'unhooked'.... / Den Haken loswerden....

Soooo big and yet too small to eat....'bummer' / Sooo gross und doch zu klein um zu essen....'dumm gelaufen'

Unfortunately he was too small to keep (25cm requirement) so we had to release him again but of course only after an extensive photo-session. That got Pasci more eager to catch a fish as and he digged out the biggest prawn to go for a BIG fish...

Mr. Fishing....will Pasci be lucky with the BIG prawn???! / Mr. Fischen...wird Pasci mit dem grossen Scampi mehr Glück haben????

But it was again Mishell who screamed of joy: *YEAY* and she pulled her reel again and presented the next fish to Pasci: Another sea bream! Same as before though - the fish was too small to keep..so back into the pond with him! Lucky him! :)

The next fish had some funny bug on his tale... Mishell freed him of it! / Der nächste Fisch hatte einen komischen Käfer am Schwanz... Mishell hat ihn davon befreit!

And then Nr. 3.....it was starting to get mass-production! / Und dann Nr. 3....nun war es langsam Massenproduktion!

No fish but a good boat-captain! :) / Kein Fisch aber ein guter Kapitän! :)

O.k. guys i'll have to cut this short: By the end of our fishing trip it was 4:0 for Mishell but we took back zero fish....Mishell even lost her hook by a potential big fish no.4, and continued to fish with Pasci's line...AND caught fish no.4. - which was again too small to keep.

In summary, it is cheaper to go and buy your fish than spending all the money on boat and equipment! No just kidding...It was a great experience and we had good fun fishing.

And then it was time to drive back to Sydney where we were looking forward to spend some time with Kuin & Simon.

Our 'curse' was following us as well in Sydney: see the KPMG building??! / Unser 'Fluch' hat uns auch in Sydney verfolgt: Seht ihr das KPMG Gebäude??!

On the way to Sydney Darling Harbour.... / Auf dem Weg nach Sydney Darling Harbour...

Next (FINAL) stop in Down Under: Sydney

Cruising the Sapphire Coast!

Our route that day was: Lakes Entrance - Orbost (nothing much) - Marlo (small fishing town) - Cabbage Tree Creek - Cann River (where we stopped for lunch) - Genoa (where we witnessed deliberate bushfire) -Mallacoota (watched the national hobby, fishing & where Pasci brought on dog poo into the car) - Genoa (where we nearly ran out of petrol) - Eden.

Another day of long driving to our final destination for the day, Eden.. / Und wieder ein Tag mit einer langen Fahrt vor uns...Ziel: Eden


Eden, gateway to the New South Wales and gem of the Sapphire Coast - aptly named as the sea here was of a beautiful mix of sapphire blue and emerald green. The caravan park was situtated between a lake and the sea.

The beach was really fine and squeaked under our feet when we walked. Here, we had a lot of fun with the docile and curious lorakeets, beautiful green birds - members of the parrot family. Pasci also cooked dinner this night - and treated us both to his version of Macaroni.

View along our drive...we do like the Australian blue sky / Aussicht auf unserer Fahrt....wir sind fasziert vom blauen Himmel Australiens

We are very proud of ourselves for surviving the one month of driving without any GPS and not ending up in a divorce....yet / Wir sind sehr stolz auf uns, dass wir einen Monat herumfahren ohne GPS überlebt haben ohne eine Scheidung....(noch nicht)

Apparently, Pascal's qualification for the CFA has another meaning alltogether here in Australia. We think it stands for something related to the fire department / Angelbich hat Pasci's CFA Qualifikation eine andere Bedeutung hier in Australien. Wir denken es hat etwas mit der Feuerwehr zu tun

Showing off his FC-Basel t-shirt...thank you JPS! / Pasci ist stolz auf sein FCB T-Shirt!...Vielen Dank JPS!!

Self-Portrait.. :=) / Selbst-Portrait... :=)

We soon had our 'dashboard essentials': Mandarin flashcards? Check. Hand cream? Check. Ipod? Check. Mint? Check. Mobile Phone? Check Water? Check. / Wir hatten bald unsere Ordnung im Auto: 'Mandarin Kärtli'? o.k. - Handcreme? o.k. - Ipod? o.k. - Täfeli? O.k. - Wasser? o.k.

Stopping at Cann River gay cafe for our lunch / Mittagspause im Cann River Restaurant

Not bad a burger. / Das war kein schlechter Burger....

Bushfire precaution. We had to wait for about 15 minutes since only one lane was open. So we chatted to the guy about kangaroos and koalas - and how they made sure that animals dont die in the smoke. / Vorsichtsmassnahme gegen Waldbrände. Wir mussten ca. 15min warten da nur eine Fahrspur offen war. Also haben wir mit dem Verantwortlichen über die Kangoroos und Kualas gesprochen und wie sie sicherstellen, dass keine Tiere ums Leben kommen

Mallacoota - love the name!

Mallacoota lake - shortly after taking this picture, we got into the car and we smelt something baaad..... something that Pasci picked up in his shoes when he went for a pee in the bushes. / Mallacoota See - kurz nachdem wir dieses Fotto gemacht haben und zurück ins Auto gegangen sind haben wir etwas komischen geschmeckt.....etwas das Pasci am Schuh kleben hatte nachdem er in den Büschen pinkeln war...

Shortly after that, we had another 'tragedy'. We were running out of petrol..and there was no petrol station in sight....AND the road was uphill....When this happened, we vowed to ourselves to stop shopping for cheap petrol in the future... lesson learned. / Kurz danach hatten wir die nächste Schwierigkeit. Uns war das Benzin am ausgehen...und es war weit und breit keine Tankstelle in Sicht. Wir haben uns geschworen in Zukunft nicht mehr nach günstigem Bezin auschau zu halten...

As if by magic, about 50kms after the fuel light started flashing, to our relief - we saw the sign 'petrol station'. PHEWWW!! / Aus dem Nichts, ca. 50km nachdem das Lämpchen für das Benzin anging sahen wir das Zeichen für Tankstelle. PHEEWWW!!!

Apparently, the Ute came from Australia -and this is how its spelt. It means 'Utility Vehicle'. How clever. / Angeblich kommt der UTE aus Asutralien. Es bedeutet Utility Vehicle und man sieht diese Pick-ups überall in Down Under

Feeding the Lorakeets in Eden Caravan Park / Füttern der Papageien im Caravan Park in Eden

The guy tried to get them to go onto Mishell's head / Unser Nachbar versuchte die Vögel auf Mishell's Kopf zu bekommen

There were A LOT of them! / Es waren VIELE Vögel!

Our Spaceship with the 'bedroom' set out - we can unzip the 'windows' for more ventilation. :) Like our own little 'air-conditioning system'. / Unser Spaceship mit Schlafzimmer - wir können die 'Fenster' öffnen für mehr frische Luft :)

Eden Beach / Der Strand von Eden

Pasci's farmer-tan-feet plus the mosquito-bite / Pasci's Farmer-Braune-und-Mückenstich-Füsse

We never knew that one can fish directly from the beach as well... / Wir wussten nicht dass man direkt vom Strand fischen kann..

Amazing views at Eden Beach / Wunderbare Aussicht vom Strand von Eden

Daily Exercise before dinner / Tägliches Spazieren vor dem Abendessen

Pasci cooks dinner! What a treat! :) / Pasci hat das Abendessen gekocht! Was für eine Verwöhnung! :)

Amazing sunset view... / Wunderschöner Sonnenuntergang..

Dinner is served! / Abendessen ist parat!

Next morning, we went to Twofold Bay which was one of main whaling stations back in 1900s and ceased only in the 1960s, when humans ran out of whales to kill. Apparently, Killer Whales i.e. Orcas used to work together with humans to herd in the other whales into the shallow bays for men in whaling boats to then harpoon and kill the whales.

The dead whale would then be left overnight for the Orcas to feed on the lips and tongue of the dead whale, a delicacy for the Orcas. The men will then harvest the catch the next day. Thank goodness whaling has now stopped, except in Japan and Norway where its still going on (!!).

Eden beach with the beautiful blue waters in the morning / Der Strand von Eden ist wunderschön am Morgen mit dem blauen Meer

These were the jawbones of a blue whale...massive! / Dies waren die Kiefer-Knochen von einem Blauwal...Massiv!

Education session about whales... / Etwas zum lernen über Wale..

Apparently, in Twofold Bay - the teamwork between human and Orcas was particularly remarkable as Orcas would 'flap' their tails on the waters, making a lot of noise in the middle of the night to wake the Whalers up to come out in their boats. One star Orca was called 'Old Tom' - who would be so impatient and ended up pulling the whalers' boats out himself. Pretty amazing story.

Different kinds of whales...never knew there were so many. The Orcas are the 'kings of the ocean' ...not sharks. :) / Verschiedene Wale....wir wussten nicht dass es soviel verschiedene gibt. Die Orcas (Killerwale) sind die 'Könige der Meere'...nicht Haie. :)

Our route was: Eden - Merimbula - Bermagui - Narooma - Batemans Bay - South Durras. This stretch did not really have anything worth mentioning.

After another day of long drive, we decided to call it a day in South Durras. We read that there were many resident kangaroos living in this area especially on Pebbly Beach, and they were known as the 'surfer kangaroos'. Cute.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the caravan park, a family of kangaroos greeted us in the middle of the road.

Here, we had no camp kitchen but an old school bbq provided. No problem, we felt like pretty expert campers by now. Even our neighbours were impressed by the speed we got set up.

Pasci also built a bbq fire from scratch, i.e. wood & matches. We had the best tasting steak ever. After a tasty dinner, we had a 4-minute limited hot shower - powered by 20cents coin inserted outside the shower cubicle.

Kangaroos that 'greeted' us as we entered the caravan park. :) / Kangoroos die uns begrüssten als wir zum nächsten Caravan Park gekommen sind. :)

Pasci starts the camp fire / Pasci startet den Grill

Our fridge (right) and 'pantry' - where the dishes and gas stoves are stored...all these under the bed! How efficient! / Unser Kühlschrank (rechts) und die Pfannen, Teller, Besteck etc. alles verstaut unter dem Bett! Wie effizient!

Yummy steak marinated in Madras curry paste. / Super Steak marinert in Madras Curry Marinade

Vegetables to keep us all healthy. :) / Gemüse hält uns gesund :)

The kangaroos smelt our food and came to have a look if they could have some too. / Die Kangoroos riechten unser Essen und kamen um zu schauen ob sie auch etwas bekommen

Pasci really got the fire going - all that with some branches and matches. Well done! / Pasci hat ein super Feuer gemacht - alles mit nur ein paar Zweigen und Streichhölzern

Later when it went dark, we heard some noise - and shone our torchlights. It turned out to be a possum, which went for a small piece of melon that we dropped.

Our late night visitor - the Possum. Cute little fella. / Unser Besucher spät in der Nacht - das Possum. Lustiger Geselle!

The next morning - we had more of the Lorakeet visitors! They are really friendly and curious...but they do give you some nasty scratch marks afterwards on the hands! It looked like Mishell slit her hands/wrists for the next few days! / Am nächsten Morgen hatten wir mehr Papageien zum Besuch. Sie sind sehr freundlich und neugierig...aber sie hinterlassen ziemliche Kratzer auf den Armen.

This one got VERY curious and decided to sit on Mishell's head watching the others feed...was just hoping it didnt poo all that time! / Dieser Papagei war sehr neugierig und entschied sich auf Mishells Kopf einen besseren Überblick zu verschaffen....Mishell hoffte das er nicht 'kacken' musste!

A very curious fella.... / Ein sehr neugieriger Geselle...

Cute love pair...they were preening and 'kissing' each other in their little spot.. / Süsses Liebespärchen...Sie haben sich gegenseitig gereinigt und 'geküsst'...

The next day, we drove on: Ulladulla (little boring town with great lemon & fruit juice) - Nowra (where we stopped for lunch) - Kiama (went to see a blowhole that didnt quite blow that day) - to Woolongong (along the Pacific Coast Drive which pretended to be the Great Ocean Road but not quite).

Ulladula Coast.. / Die Küste von Ulladula..

We love the sign posts in Australia...one cant get lost in this country for sure! / Wir sind fasziniert von den vielen Schildern in Australien....man kann sich nicht verlaufen hier!

East Greenfield, Nowra: We drove all the way here just for the fish & chips...it was not too bad. / Greenfield, Nowra: Wir sind hierhergefahren um frischen Fisch mit Pommes zu essen...es war zimlich gut.

Blue-something fish...not as tasty as butterfish. / Blauer-irgendwas Fisch...nicht so gut wie der Butterfisch.

Instant salad made from the Spaceship with fresh corn from the cob :) / Frischer Salat zubereitet in der Spaceship Küche mit frischem Mais :)

We saw a threesome of white parrots.. / Wir hatten eine Dreiergruppe weisser Papageien gesehen

Kiama Lighthouse / Kiama Leuchtturm

The blow hole that doesnt blow (at least the day we were there).. / Das Spritzloch das nicht spritzt (zumindest als wir da waren)..

We decided to drop by Kuin & Simon's place that night - so headed straight on to Sydney, driving across the Sydney Harbour bridge.

Somewhere along the way to Sydney from Woolongong - we saw a sign post for public toilets...and there was this pool just opposite the toilets. One's own infinity pool! / Auf dem Weg von Woolongong nach Sydney - wir sahen ein Schild für öffentliche Toiletten...und da war dieser Pool gegenüber den Toiletten. Ein Endlos-Pool

The infamous bridge along the Pacific Coast Drive / Die 'berühmte' Brücke entlang des Pacific Coast Drive

Ahh...finally...Sydney Harbour Bridge!! / Und dann...endlich...die Sydney Hafen Brücke

We were pretty glad to have a proper 'bed' to sleep on that night. Ahhhhh...........