Counting the days. . .

hey folks

It’s been ages that we updated our blog. So here we go!! It happened so much in the last months, but we will shorten it a bit. And to be honest i have no idea where to begin with aaaaall the stories!!

First of all: just the 2 of us, manu and me, are left at this stage in Australia. Max went home in March and Daniel went home about a month ago and surprised his family and friends completely cuz no one expected him. We changed as well our accommodation a couple of times. after we got kicked out of the ymca (loooong story, even we are not sure so far why.... one reason could be parties, swimming in the night, consume of alcohol in the venue, ...) manu, daniel, gully and me moved to the youth shack and brad left Darwin and moved to the outback. manu and me got really soon sick of youth shack though, but luckily we found a reeeeally nice apartment in knuckey street. Daniel decided to stay in youth shack and gully found a house in marrara.

To the job situation: daniel became a really successful manager at red rooster and he was Max’s Boss. Btw, Daniel got a promotion after the second day... and if we consider the fact that his boss was gay... mmmhh... everyone can imagine what that means =)) Anyways, after Daniel left the store had to close down and everyone lost their jobs (only joking =)).

Manu found a second job as a travel agent for peter pans for a couple of months, but kept on working in Shags. I started a second job in the coffee club. We had some really stessful days with 16,17,18 and more hours a day, but we just wanted to earn as much money as possible. But the problem with more money is, that u have as well more money to spent. That’s the reason why we got regular customers at the shopping centre in casurina. The both of us had already to buy a suitcase cuz we had no chance to fit everything in our backpacks.

so, what else happened in darwin.... we met tom green, we got a call from the police to help them to solve a murder, we went to the V8, we spent a great day in Lichtfield National Park, we had campfires, were drinking beer at the mindl markets while watching the sunset, we followed the euros and cheered like crazy for Italy, we celebrated all the Aussie festivals, worked on the Icecube concert, had some amazing picknicks, saw heeeaps of crocs, spent hours at the waterfront, got spoiled with self-made Brekky/Lunch/Dinner, worked for the parliament house and met the first lady of the NT, saw “My week with Marilyn” in the Deckchair Cinema, met 2 rugby teams with the hottest players u just can think of, we were singing Karaoke (what’s my age again - blink), annoyed kangaroos and tigers, were drinking like crazy, worked on St. Paddys day in an Irish Pub (was not really nice, but manu and me had some drinks first... so we were hangover at midnight =)) and of course: we met the most incredible and nicest people ever. I think we really found some friends for life! Thanks guys 4 everything, 4 every single shot (even if we could have killed u the next day =)), every hug, all the fun we had together and the amazing friendship!!

Hope to see everyone of u again and don’t forget: New Years Eve 2011/12 in Dublin!!

At the moment manu and me r sitting in the plane on the way to bali, it’s our last little holiday before we take the flights from Darwin to Sydney/Melbourne and then back home to Italy. We r really sad, can’t imagine to leave everything behind here, all the friends, the good life we had...

But life goes on, and we'll see what the future brings. Hope we have some amazing days in Bali and can enjoy the last days overseas! And as it says already in one of our favourite songs: every new beginning comes from some others beginnings end...

 

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Jobhopping in Darwin

Australia is an expensive place to live… that’s why every backpacker sooner or later needs a job in order to pay for food, rent and the car. But even if Australia is an expensive place to live, it’s easy to make here some money. There are heaps of jobs all over the country and if u r a bit lucky you find a good and well paid job.

When we came to Darwin on the 24^th of January all four of us were pretty short on money. Some of us spent their last money to pay the rent for the apartment. As we found out a bit later we were really lucky with our apartment. An Italian guy in Adelaide told us about the YMCA and encouraged us to go there. So when we arrived in Darwin our first stop was the YMCA. And because the luck was on our side the guy provided us with a big nice and spacious apartment and this for only 100 Dollar per week. We also have a nice pool and bbq area. AND we live in the CBD. Pretty good deal, ay… ;) For the first couple of weeks there was just the four of us. But as there are six beds in the apartment the owner wanted to fill these beds too. So we kept looking for friends who want to move in and that’s why we share our flat now with Guglielmo, a geologist from Naples, and Brad our friend from New Zealand who recently moved to Darwin. But back again to the job hunt! We all needed money… as soon as possible. So on our first day in Darwin we went from restaurant to restaurant and from bar to bar and left them our CV’s. And it looked quite promising as everybody told us they are looking for staff and they will contact us. In the end we realized this is just the Australian way to tell u they don’t need u. At least not right now. In the end Shenannigans Irish Pub called us the same day and told us to start immediately. And that’s what Monika and I did. However, we don’t earn that well in the Irish Pub. 23.40 before tax and 16.40 after tax (however, u get ur tax back as soon as u leave OZ) and we can only make about 30 hours per week, which is simply not enough. That’s why we kept on looking for a second job. We contacted all the job agencies in Darwin and they provided us with some casual waitstaffing jobs at the Parliament or the Convention Center. Another event agency calls us, whenever they need people and that’s why we hop from one job to another.

However, Australia is a great place to make heaps of money. If u r willing to work hard u easily can make 1000 $ and more per week. These jobs, however, are very popular and u have to be at the right place at the right time. What u also need is patience and luck. And that’s why Monika and I are constantly looking for something else. Gardening, construction, mining and traffic control, there is no job we didn’t apply for… All we have to do now is contacting them over and over again and hope they are looking for people.

Daniel and Max on the other hand started working for Red Rooster – a fast food chain which basically concentrates on chicken. Daniel got a promotion the second day he worked there and he is now a supervisor – basically supervising Max. ;)

Darwin is a wonderful place to live. It’s a town with a population of about 70,000 people. However, characterizing for Darwin is its small-town atmosphere. There are basically two main streets, Smith Street and Mitchell Street. On Smith Street u have The Mall which is good for shopping, while Mitchell Street has heaps of bars, restaurants and clubs. Darwin Waterfront is a must-see just like Mindl Beach, Funny Bay and Cullen Bay. Another reason to spend a bit more time in Darwin is because of the people. Many Australians agree that the nicest people live in Darwin. We met some great people from Italy, Estonia, France, Germany and Australia. However, there are a lot of Aborigines in Darwin and that’s why it is also considered to be unsafe at night. However, we never had any problems and to be honest I don’t have the feeling that Darwin is not a safe place. As we want to stay in Darwin until the beginning of June we will keep on working for Shenannigans unless we find another, better paid job. Wish us luck…!!!! ;)))

  

 

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Melbourne, Great Ocean Road and the hooooooooooooooot Outback!!!

After we arrived in Melbourne and we did some shopping (everyone of us is now the proud owner of new all stars =)) we started our second road trip: Great Ocean Road and Outback!!

First stop: Lourne!! The guys spent here already some time because they celebrated New Years Eve here at the Falls Festival. Oh, btw: the guys are too lazy to write the blog to tell what they have done so fare during we girls were in NZ, so we update u shortly. After they had to leave Narry (yeah, they HAD to leave, just ask them why =))) they visited the Grampians National Park and went then to the falls festival in Lourne. Due to the fact that they had no ticket, they were walking every day for 2 hours through the forest (and it is an Australian forest with heaps of dangerous animals =)) to get on the campground and than they managed it somehow to pass the security control and to get on the festival. So they had the chance to see the kooks, the naked and famous, arctic monkeys and heaps of other bands. On the third of January they went to Melbourne and waited there for us.

So, back to our road trip and our fist stop Lourne. The guys showed us around and we took thousands of pictures of the beautiful coast!! The views we had on the great ocean road were just awesome!! we visited all the touristic staff (12 apostles, London Bridge, ...) and we tried to visit the famous lighthouse. But it was already really late when we arrived there and everything was closed, so we had the really great idea just to climb over the fence and to go to the lighthouse without paying and without permit =). but we didn’t realize that there were cameras everywhere and as well security guards who started looking for us as soon as they realized that someone is on the area! in the end we were running around like crazy to escape from the security guards and to get out of the area . it was really funny, but we had no chance to see the lighthouse =((

After we were done with the great ocean road we spent some days in Adelaide! we stayed at an awesome hostel and we met so funny people there! one of them was Steve from France, we were laughing our ass off with this crazy guy!! (the chair is brooooken, me cannot believe =))))).

Adelaide is full of Italians and one of them (Giulio) told us about a good place to stay in Darwin! but we will tell you later on more about it! Adelaide has as well heaps of good Italian restaurants and good shopping possibilities, but we were so broke that nobody could afford to buy something. after some sight seeing tours and a trip on the river with a paddle boat we decided to leave Adelaide and to finally go to the outback!!

So we started driving, and driving, and driving.... and again driving and driving and driving! as soon as we left the cities we had no reception anymore with our phone, cheers Vodafone for that =)). the outback was really, really hot.... and the bad thing was that we were just sleeping in our campervan, and this time we were 4 people!! so we had absolutely no space to sleep and it was soooo hot and some of us (it was max =)) had to go to the toilette about ten times during the night =))!

We passed a lot of little places in the outback, one of them was Coober Pedy! how can we describe this place... I think the Lonely Planet found the right words: an apocalyptic hell hole! it is in the middle of nowhere and really famous because it is the mining Mecca for opals. but it can get there really hot, around 50 degrees. so we spent not too much time there. next stop was Uluru or better known as the Ayres Rock. It was really impressive to stand in front of the ultimate symbol of Australia. We watched the sunset there and walked around the rock. Of course we didn’t climb on the Uluru, because it is still a holy place for the aborigines. even if some of us (it was max, again =)) wanted to go anyways. but luckily the climbing track was closed because it was too hot. the next day we visited the Olgas and the walking tracks there were as well closed because it was over 42 degrees. but we didn’t care and did the track anyways... and it was soooo hot. but the view was stunning and it was so awesome to walk through this bizarre and dominant rocks.

after we got back from Uluru and the Olgas we arrived in Alice Springs and we did some cool stuff there: Manu visited the Ghan Museum and Daniel, Max and me went to the reptile centre where we could touch lizards (one of them shit on me, very funny =)) and hold snakes there! and yes, Daniel and me did it!!! I was close to cry and it was disgusting but we are really proud that we did it!

after Alice Springs we wanted to go as soon as possible to Darwin, because we had definitely enough from the outback! so we just kept on driving the last 1500 km of our road trip. we stopt at some interesting bars like in Daly Waters or Tennant Creek and had a funny night in Katherine, where we visited the Katherine Gorge National Park (but everything was closed because of the wet season).

From Katherine it was not far to Darwin and so we arrived after 12 days in our new home town! it was raining like crazy, but it doesn’t matter: we really felt like "coming home" finally...

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2 Girls, 2 thumbs: New Zealand part II

Finally the 16th of December arrived and Manu and me could leave Australia after a month of work on the vineyard and a couple of days in melbourne. Destination: of course, New Zealand! (again: the first country for us were we went twice on holidays).
But this time we decided to spend our time in NZ in a completely different way than the last time. First step: we didnt rent a car, we just depended on hitch hiking. We've heard from other backpackers that hitch hiking is really common in NZ as well as it is really save. So we decided to give it a try and if it is not working we just take the bus.
We arrived in Auckland late at night and the very next day our big hitch hiking adventure started. We were standing with a small "Bay of Islands" sign and heaps of fun in the middle of Auckland and tried to get a ride. And it worked out! 4 hours later we arrived in Paihia, a small and nice town in the Bay of Islands. The weather was again not really good, so it rained a lot but we didn't care! On a boattrip we saw dolphines, the hole in the rock and on a stopp over on a small Island we discovered propably one of the most beautiful places in the world, I reckon! Manu and me immediately fell again in love with this amazing country, sometimes described as the most beautiful end of the world =)
After a couple of days we decided to hitch hike back South and after a night in Auckland at Steve's place (a very nice guy who gave us a lift and invited us to stay at his place) we arrived in our new destination: Taumarunui! Again, a small village in the middle of nowhere, but not really far away from the Tongario National Park.  But the real reason why we went there was cuz we wanted to visit Joel, a friend of us we met in Narry. He works in Taumuranui as sheap sharer and allowed us to visit him at the shed during work. Manu and me had the possibility to try for a couple of hours the work as woolhand.


Joel was so nice and lent us his car for a couple of days so Manu and me could visit the National Park and drive to a real Italian Pizzeria with real Italian Pizza. Thank you Joel, you were a great host!!! :)

On the 23th of December we had to leave Taumarunui to get to Hastings cuz a friend invited us to his place for Christmas. But before we went to his place, we stayed a night at another friends (Seth) place (as well sheap sharer, a friend from Narry) and we joined him to a sheap sharer party. A really funny get togheter with heaps of people from all over the world. I would say it was a really interesting party ... with really interesting people....  =) Thanks Seth, for showing us a different side of NZ!! =))

On the 24th in the afternoon we met up with Brad and Rob, two guys we met the last time in NZ in Whitianga. Manus and my plan was so far to spent Christmas Eve at the beach with a camp fire, heaps of Tequilla and some snags. But the guys had other plans, so Manu and me had to wait again for our first camp fire =). First of all we were driving to the Te Mata Peak and wow, the view was just stunning! You can see whole Hawkes Bay from there... breathtaking!! 10.000 pictures later we were driving back to Brads place, were Tequilla, vine and heaps of  Marshmellows were waiting for us. We sang Christmas Songs with the guitarre (even if singing is the wrong word for our screaming), took a ride on Santas Sleigh and were drinking prosecco.



The next day the real Kiwi Christmas started. It is quite diffrent from what we know so far from back home... first of all: its summer and you are sitting outside in shorts and shirts. The whole familiy is coming togheter for the whole day and its all about eating!! And we have to say: the food is deliscous!!! So many different things and everything just incredible good!!It starts already with the breakfast: there are heaps of fruits, Croissants and Yogurth and again Prosecco (drinking is a big part of the Kiwi culture, maybe thats why we like the poeple over there so much... it reminds us of home =)). After the breakfast it is time for the presents! So much fun to watch kids unwrapping their gifts =) and even Manu and me got a present: chocolate!! But the bad thing on Christmas in the middle of summer is the fact, that you have to show yourself in a bikini at the beach after all that food. Manu und me were eating soooo much all day long, that we basically could roll around =). And after a short visit on the beach in the afternoon we came back to eat more for dinner =)) 

Just like described above we we spent 4 days at Brads place! Thanks to the whole familiy and especially Denise for everything!! And of course we would like to thank Brad and Rob for the invitation who were great hosts, too! :)

At the 28th it was time to say Goodbye to Hawkes Bay and  go to Gisborne, because Manu and me were the proud owners of 2 tickets for the Rhythum & Vines Festival!!! Back on the road, Manu and me were really lucky again! We met Kaleb and Kane, 2 really funny guys from Palmerston North. We decided to stay at the same campground, which in the end was really good for Manu and me because we had absolutley no idea how to build up our tent =).We found a really nice place next to the beach and yessssss, finally we got our first campfire!!!! Cheers for that guys!! And thanks Kane for teaching us a new word: pins and needles =) Due to the fact that Manu and me were so exited about the campfire we decided to sleep on the beach that night (and waked up because of a tractor which was driving around us to clean the beach...)

The next day the adventure "Rhythum and Vines" starded!! First we spent the whole afternoon  with Kaleb, Kane and their friends playing drinking games. I just have to say "gelato" =)). In the evening we finally went to the festival and wooooow, just impressive!! The whole atmosphere on this festival in the middle of a vineyard was awesome!! We had soooo much fun and the end of the night with Pendulum playing the song from the R&V trailer was perfect!!! Best festival we've ever been to!! The next day we had to say goodbye to Kaleb and Kane because they were celebrating New Years Eve in Taupo (funny, everyone we know so far was spending NYE in Taupo... =)). But we were really looking forward to the life acts Six60 and Calvin Harris!! And again, it was fucking awesome!!! The Kiwiband  Six60 made such a great live performance... wow!! and for everybody who has no clue aobut six60: open now youtube and listen to the songs "dont forget your roots", "rise up" and "someone to be around"!! Im sure you'll love it!!
We really woult like to tell you as well something about New Years Eve.... but because our breakfast that day was Tequilla.... we have absolutely no idea what happend =) We've just heard that we sent some strange text mesagges and were wearing some funny shirts =)) But we met some really nice people: Katie, Jemma and Sean from Wellington! And they made it an unforgettable New Year's Eve! Thank you guys!!!!! We hope to see you someday again in Europe! :)
The beginning of the new year was the same as every year: HANGOVER!! after checking our pictures from the last night to have an idea what happend we decided to hitch hike to Taup, because Brad invited us again to stay at his uncle's place. And as soon as we heard that there is a swimming pool and a jacuzzi we were in.... just the fact that we could sleep in a real bed was reason enough to go there after spending 4 days in a tent without airbeds =)). After some really "funny" hours in the car with 5 guys who gave us a ride , we finally arrived, half - dead in Taupo. But as soon as we saw the mansion and the awesome view over lake Taupo we were fit again and had a great bbq with rocket salad and avos!! Thanks again Brad and Rob and Ben, Caitlin and Aidan!
The next day we moved to a backpackers in Taupo because Brad's uncle came back. At the backpackers we had a lot of fun at the bar, drinking beer and cider and eating BP pies, probably the best pies in NZ. :)


After saying goodbye to Rob and Brad Manu and me took the bus to Wellington. In Wellington we finally had our first experience with couch surfing. We could stay at Mark's place in Porirua, a suburb of Wellington with some other backpackers. Thanks Mark, it was great to stay at your place!! In Wellington we also met Katie, Jemma and Sean again and they spent a whole day with us, showing us around! Thank you so much! After a night out in Wellington were we were on the piss with the three of them and their friends we had to leave Wellington to take the ferry to the South Island!

As there was only one day left, we didn't see a lot of the South Island. However, at least we made it to the South Island this time! =) After we arrived in Picton, we decided to hich hike to Christchurch, were we met Rob again!
A short stop in Kaikoura, which is probably one of the most beautiful places we have seen so far (again... ;) ) and four hours later we were in Christchurch were Scott, the guy who gave us a lift, drove us around to show us all the damages caused by the earthquake! It was really sad to see how destroyed this beautiful city was!
The next morning we woke up by a little earthquake. Kind of creepy... Even if it was not too big! Anyways, our flight was at 8 in the morning so we had to leave the hostel to go to the airport! 3,5 hours later we were back in Sydney! As we had to get to Melbourne and the busses and flights were too expensive we rented a car and drove the same day all the 900 km to Melbourne. There the four of us were reunited again!

At the end we would like to thank all the people who helped and supported us in NZ: 

• Steve: drove us outside of Auckland, offered us a sleeping place, invited us for bbq and drove us in the middle of the night through Franklin Road to see the Christmas decoration
• Shane: gave us a ride from Auckland to Whangarei
• Two people who drove us outside Whangarei (remember J. Keanen)
• The old guy who drove us from Whangarei to Paihia, with a short stop in Kawakawa to show us the Hundertwasser toilet and the train
• Shane (the garage man) who gave us a lift from Paihia to Whangarei
• Gerda and Roland Jakober from Tyrol who invited us to their mansion and offered us Macchiato and Stollen
• Chocolate lady from Scotland who invited us to her mansion and gave us chocolate and allowed us to use her pool
• Aaron who drove us from Whangarei to Auckland and showed us the beautiful East Coast and drove us straight to Steve's house
• The guy who drove us from Papakura city centre to a perfect hich hiking spot
• The strange nudist, who drove us to Hamilton
• The nice maori lady who drove us to Raglan and gave us some apple jucie
• The South African family who drove us from Raglan to Taumarunui and who gave us the tip with the Italian Restaurant 
• MIKE, THE ARBORIST WHO PICKED US UP WHEN WE WERE SITTING NEXT TO THE STREET AND DESPRETELY WERE TRYING TO FIND JOEL
• The lady who hasn't seen anything of NZ so far who drove us from Taumarunui to Turangi
• The Scotsman who gave us a ride from Turangi to Taupo
• Witty, the old guy who drove us from Taupo to Hastings
• Old lady who drove us outside Napier and bought us straweberries and peaches because she was worried we don't eat enough
• The lady who gave us a ride from Napier to Wairoa
• Kane and Kaleb who took us to Gisborne, helped us with our tent and took care of us all the time
• Family from Hamilton who camped next to us for offering us a place to stay and for driving us outside of Gisborne
• The Maori, who drove us a  little bit further
• The 5 crazy guys who gave us a really, really funny lift to Napier
• The Maori who drove us from Napier to Taupo and for offering us showing us around in Napier
• Guy who drove us from Picton to Blenheim
• Ella, the Australian girl who drove us from Blenheim to Kaikoura and who offered us her chips
• Scott, who drove us from Kaikoura to Christchurch, made a short earthquake tour with us and gave us his business card just in case we need to go to the West Coast
• And of course all the people we mentioned above!!!!

CHEERS GUYS, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

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