Back in the motherland

My flight home from germany on the 9th was an emotional one. There was turbulance most of the way to singapore and I was sitting next to a marketing agent who worked for microsoft in england. I guess she was in the software department because she was about as dipsy as they come in the hardware department and wouldn't stop whining about the back rests. She eventually left and sat somewhere else and some drugged up happy larry took her place and just sat there smiling at me. I soon worked out my new neighbour could speak as good as no english as he was fresh from a furniture warehouse in Italy visiting a mate of his who'd gone back to australia for his girlfriend. What a familiar scenario I thought and told him I had just come from a similar situation in germany and hoped it works out better for his mate than it did for me. He had the same stop over in singapore so we hit the tiger beer for the next 6 hours to pass the time. It was the funniest experience to try make conversation with someone who doesn't know what you're saying but with a pen and paper we could communicate.

I'd kept myself awake for 32 hours up until my flight from singapore to adelaide and I was as pissed off as I've ever been having to sit next to an elderly couple who obviuosly used dog shit for toothpaste. I would have liked to have told them to stop breathing but then I would have risked a conversation and I wouldn't have survived so much stinky breath. I became an expert on breathing patterns as I found that by breathing in syncrony with the oldies meant some of the stench would dissipate but every so often there was a cough in between and I had to start over. I tried to sleep but it just wasn't possible. I got to adelaide and spent a few hours in customs because of all the asians that couldn't fill in their customs declaration forms. Any way that's enough whinging about my flight home!

Now that I'm back I have an allergy because in my absence I had a mouse invasion and they pissed all through my house. I also have an air conditioner full of dust mites which I have spread throughout the house now as I turned on the heater. I found out my rainwater is toxic so drinking it wasn't a good idea. It's about 12-15 degrees during the day and 3 degrees at night so I have to get used to freezing again.

Work is shit at the moment mainly because I sneeze too much to see what I'm doing and because I have so much to take on compared to last time I was at work but It'll get better and I think I'm just not used to working anymore. I know I only have 3 months left in the bakery and then I will search for a replacement job and eventually build up my own business in my free time. I really can't wait to go travelling again but I guess for the time being I will just have to travel in my dreams:-)

I hope that everything is going well for those reading this in germany and to hear from you all sometimes. Take care until next time..

Time flys..

I can´t believe tommorrow is my last day in germany and how quick the last weeks have gone by. Since my last post I caught a train back to Bad Endorf to visit Antonia. Was a little strange arriving the second time round but that aside I had an awesome time here. I was lucky enough to have a house to myself as Antonia´s cousin had four weeks holidays and someone had to take care of the killer rabbits, squeeky pigs and I was happy not to have to look after the world´s craziest dog aptly named 'Luna'. I never knew there were dogs that were scared of their own shadows or so stubborn that you can drag them along by their collars without moving a muscle but here was a prime example.

I spent a lot of time mountain biking and the weather for it was fantastic. I either caught the train and went biking in the alps or rode from Bad Endorf which was still only about an hour by bike. I finally met Antonia´s friends and they were all great blokes/blokino´s even if I found it a bit odd they didn´t want to drink any beer during the Euro-Cup finale. I was also grateful to have a happy farewell this time round and have to say I really miss this part of germany and was a definate highlight in my trip. That´s enough for tonight and I still haven´t started packing so aideos and see you all back home soon!

No can do

I´m back from Chamonix and the bad news is I never climbed the 4808 meters up to the Mont Blanc summit. The day I left I had beautiful weather all round and according to the forecast and webcam it was good on the mountain too. I had planned on camping in the forest somewhere in Chamonix the first few days with my semi-waterproof tent. The last stretch by train from Martigny to Chamonix was bloody scarey, hanging in the air on a narrow strip of railway line with a 1000 meter drop off beside me. The view of the snow-capped mountains was incredible and I couldn´t believe how enormous the mountains were and the only thing that didn´t impress me was the millions of school kids on the train argueing about who has the most pubic hair.

I had no idea which way to walk in order to find a camp spot but about 3kms out of town I found a little patch of forest next to the walk way and as I started to set up it began to piss down with rain and the only way to keep dry was to fold my tent over and use it like a tarp. If I was a hungry frenchman I would have been in heaven, with giant frogs and snails all around me, I started to wonder how these creatures became a delicacy.

Before buying anything more for the climb I went to the high mountain office (high because you have to walk up ten flights of stairs until your there). I guess if you don´t make it to the office you really shouldn´t be asking about climbing Mont Blanc. I was told the weather wasn´t going to improve over the next 2 days and to come back tommorrow for an updated forecast.

I looked around the town to pass the time and tried to make conversation with the locals of which many couldn´t speak a word of english or german. One memorable experience was when I went into a shop with my backpack on and the shop keeper pointed her finger and started to curse at me. I told here I had no idea what she was saying and then she grabbed a bottle from the shelf and ran after me. I didn´t realise she was trying to demonstrate an act of theft and thought she wanted to knock my lights out. Eventually I got the point she was making and took my backpack off but it really wasn´t worth the effort as 30 seconds later I was out the door.

Later I caught the train to Les Houches to see where the start of the trail was and what I was in stall for. It was too cloudy to see anything of interest and after a few hours of walking around the deserted town I went back to Chamonix and stayed in the forest another night. The only update at the office was that there was more bad weather on the way so I decided to head back pretty quickly really. It was a big disappointment though I wouldn´t want to be lost in the mountains with a $20 tent.

In my absence the weather in Konstanz had turned from warm sunny days to dark clouds and thunder storms which meant I haven´t been able to make any trips up into the mountains.I would have loved to have climbed the säntis but on thursday or friday I leave for München again to visit Antonia a last time.

I have four weeks left until I come home and I would be lieing if I said I wasn´t missing australia. Will keep you all posted on what happens the next few weeks and I´ll upload some more pictures as soon as I find a decent computer. Hope everyone is going great down under!

Ouvre,Ciao,catch ya,tschüss

Itch for adventure

The last week I have spent at my aunti´s place also near Konstanz but on the swiss side of the border. On saturday I attempted to ride around the Bodensee with my uncles bike but after 60kms the left pedal fell off and I had to call it quits. On sunday I tried it again and made it a little further (about 150kms). Since then I´ve been planning a trip to france to climb the Mont Blanc. With some luck I will leave tommorrow. Today will be a hectic day of shopping and packing. I don´t even know if the weather will permit me to climb as conditions can change dramatically from one day to the next and the weather forecast isn´t something you can put your trust in but I´ll give it a shot and will let you all know what happens soon.

Catching up

From the leaning tower in Pisa to the leaning town of Ulm, there was a little bit of everything in this beautiful town. They even had a section called little Venice which had water canals weaving between old stone houses just like the real deal. Towering over the city at a height of 161 meters was the Muenster church and as impressive as it was from my stand point, It would have been awesome if I could have climbed up to the top but time didn´t allow it. I spent the whole day sight seeing while my uncle was at work but by 2.00 I was starving so I thought I´d see what the bakerys here had to offer.

You could say I´ve been living under a rock but I´ve never seen a self serve bakery before. You basically grab what you want from the shelves like in the lolly section at woolworths and pay at the counter. I found it so cool that I left my town map on the counter on my way out. I must have looked pretty lost in that bakery because the shop keeper ran about a mile down the road to return it to me.

The night life in Ulm started off pretty slow but I was keen to see what was happening in town and eventually we found a pub which wasn´t completely empty. After a few beers I tried to get my uncle into the karaoke but he just stuck to his I´m too old to have fun story. I met two german girls who worked in a hotel at the train station and after convincing them I couldn´t sing either I tried dragging them up on stage for a duet but I couldn´t get them to take a break from smoking and drinking apple schnapps. I don´t remember everything that went on later but there must have been something other than tobbaco in the cigarettes I was given. Either way it turned out to be a good night.

Having no hang over the next morning I headed into town to check out the baking museum. I had imagined there´d be more machinery and less pictures and display articles but I didn´t leave disappointed. To learn about the evolution of baking, the different methods used by other cultures and to think that the principles for baking bread have remained unchanged for thousands of years was enough to keep me busy until it was time to leave for Konstanz.

I had to meet Isabell during her Uni break so she could let me into her room and we didn´t have much time to lose. My uncle did a great job making every minute count and we made it to Meersburg with plenty of time to spare. The ferry took us across the Bodensee to Konstanz and gave us a spectacular view of the Alps surrounding the southern end of the lake.

It was a bit strange at first meeting up with someone I hadn´t seen in over a year and barely really got to know but Isa hadn´t changed much at all since Australia (that´s not a bad thing). The only thing I noticed is that she spoke german at a supersonic rate. I couldn´t understand a thing and I constantly had to ask her to slow it down a fraction.

On saturday a friend of Isa´s set up camp in Isa´s room and from then on everything was chaos but in a good way. Sandra had met Isa in New Zealand during her travels so there was a lot to catch up on. Everything we planned from saturday on was completely spontaneous.

We paddled along the Bodensee saturday with a bunch of Isa´s Uni friends. The boat I shared with Isa seemed to have more water in it than the entire lake and after letting Isa try her hand at paddling it was like riding an underwater merry-go-round. We made it a couple of k´s before the weather turned ugly so we called it quits and paddled ashore. We were meant to leave our paddle boats on the side of the road so Sandra could pick them up and then at some stage were supposed to meet at the Rhein for a barbeque.

We tried to make a group plan and I didn´t understand any of what was spoken however, I don´t think I was alone. Sandra didn´t know she was meant to pick up the boats and nobody knew where exactly to meet for the barbeque or how we were going to get everything to the river. Stephan and Jessie collected the firewood but didn´t bring it to the river.

This kind of "planning" was the norm for most of the week but through it all we got heaps of things done. I rode around a section of the bodensee with Sandra on Isa´s heavy duty mountain bike, Went to the planetarium, visited my relatives at the Affen Berg, had a look at the Rheinfall in Switzerland, watched top model with four chicks (odd experience), baked my first cake since tafe (hard days yacka) and heaps more. It was a great week and I really have to thank everyone for the big effort especially Isabell! Even though she was stressed out to the max with Uni she spent every spare minute she had on keeping us entertained.