Trips

1 sep 2007

 My third weekend in Australia. I still haven't found a house, and I have a bit of a flew ( 'k zin ziek) as you can see on the images where I'm wearing all my warm clothes + jacket + scarf. This can't stop me from joining a trip with some IAESTies to Ballarat and the authentically restored mining town Sovereign Hill. The place seems to be very touristic, but still it's nice to see the mining infrastructure and all restoration has been done using methods from those days...

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8 - 9 sep 2007

 Aha, I'm feeling better and ready for some charity work. The Australian nature calls for help. As you might or might not know, there a big draught going on in and around Melbourne, so some parts need a hand from us.
In Benalla, we planted a strip of trees to preserve the natural environmental conditions for the local animals, some of whom are only rarely spotted in the region nowadays. On saterday evening we had a very good meal prepared for us, and sunday afternoon my first Australian barbeque... A nice compensation for the hard work :)

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22 -24 sep 2007

 Apart from the dark and rainy start on saterday, this 3 day Sydney trip turned out to be the hottest sunny weekend I'd had here this far! Great Sydney contrast with cold Melbourne...

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29 sep - 1 okt 2007

 12 trainees, 3 days, 2 cars, 1 GREAT ocean road, 0 sun, and an awful lot of kilometres... Thé road trip you have to do when you're in Melbourne. About wild waves, great views, raindrops, waterfalls and barbies...

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6 - 7 oct 2007

 The Grampians National Park. Situated about 250km north-west of Melbourne, these rocky mountains have impressed me very much and I haven't seen enough of them. They had a great bushfire in januari 2006, and now the bush is beautifully recovering: the black bark of the trees in contrast of the fresh green grass and leaves is to the eye as chocolate fudge is to the tongue. Very hard to capture that on camera to be honest...

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18 - 22 okt 2007

 Our 5 day Tassie trip. A swirling ride passing wild seas, rough cliffs, icy mountain peaks, green rainforests, peaceful lakes, snowy walks, lovely fishing harbours and so much more... Don't forget to also explore the Hanson Lake panorama.

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3 nov 2007

 My first surfing experience with Martin, Alessandro, Hans & Samuel. Although we chose a bad cold day and a flat car accu, it was great fun!

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6 nov 2007

 'Melbourne Cup Day' is the public holiday in Victoria on which everybody suddenly shows a big interest in the Horse Races. Indeed, the whole long weekend is devoted to the horse races at Flemington Racecourse where the best stallions compete eachother. We decided to find out which would be the next horse to shine in the Melbourne Cup Hall of Fame. We dressed up and headed for the racecourse to place a little bet...

 The next weekend is a bit lazier, with a barbeque in St Kilda on saturday and Lawnbowling on sunday. These are just a few photos also included in this album...

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16 - 18 nov 2007

 Time to head for nature again... A two day canoe trip on the Murray River through Barmah state forest was the perfect choice for spending the first hot days. But also an unforgettable first contact with the ever so popular Australian Fly who invites al his friends to join him sitting on your face and be as annoying as possible... Nevertheless we had a great time there; relaxing with a beer on the easy flowing river, in an "unsinkable" canoe... until this branch crosses our way... More to be revealed soon (when I get some photos from the other canoers)...

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24 dec 2007 (or what did you guess?)

  I decided to cook a nice christmas dinner for everyone who stayed in Melbourne over Christmas. A tapas-like entrée by Dori followed by a nice VISY turkeybreast préparé à la maman with garlic potatos. As dessert Christa's fruit salad and chocolate fudge à la Greve. And of course a lot of beer and wine to keep the spirit alive...

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feb - apr 2008

 Of course everybody blames me that I don't update my website! Seems like nobody found out that there's a seperate page for my NZ adventure... It's the kiwi page, accessible by clicking the big kiwi bird in the rainforest! Bah, next time I'll make a boring site, with a list of links. Then you'll find it. Where has he gone, the internet explorer of the old days? Ts ts ts.

may-jun 2008

 The last month has started, my brother arrived and together we'll take a tour of the big continent... Up the east coast to Cairns by campervan, after a refreshing dive we continue the tour in our brand spanking new $100 Toyota Corona via Kakadu, Alice Springs and Adelaide back to Melbourne. Enjoy!

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