awaaaaaay

Dear loyal reader,

with this post I'd like to let you know that, during the next few weeks, I won't be able to keep you up to date every single day. We're going to start our journey along the east coast (it's soooo amaaaaaaazing) on monday - without my laptop (yep, I can live without one, I guess).

So hopefully I'll be able to tell you some great, amazing and unbelievable stories after we returned secure and excited back home in good old Germany. If you're lucky you might also be able to see some awesome and beautiful (depends on who of us takes 'em ;-) ) pictures.

So, stay tuned!

Maaaaaan-ly (once more, and better)!!!

After having my last day at work yesterday we started this morning with having breeky at the beach. We had a marvellous view at the ocean (no waves, sorry Scott) and it's cyan blue water. Then we moved to Circular Quay where we wanted to take the ferry to Manly. Surprisingly the usual ferry was replaced by the so called 'Jet Cat' and so we got to Manly almost before we started.

When we arrived we made our way to Manly beach (crossing 'The Corso') and strolled along the promenade (where we saw one of our future houses), passing 'Le Kiosk' and arrived at a nice bay where we enjoyed the clear and cold ocean - with our feet.

Afterwards we went on and, more important, up. Step by step we came closer to some very very cool lookouts where we could enjoy a great view over Manly. But it wasn't enough to took some steps up, we wanted to get higher. So we continued our hike and stepped right into the national park where we, after climbing a rock (it was more impressive than it sounds like) we had another cool view at the ocean, Manly and the national park.

When returning to the ground we went on walking through the bush and somewhen reached a great resting place. A small see in the middle of nothing.


After relaxing a little we went back down to the beach, enjoyed a Double Choc icecream and took a final rest at one of the benches. Then we made our way back to the wharf, stopped for a short grocery shopping at Aldi (corncobs, potatoe wedges and taco souce (mild!) ), and returned home during the sun went down.

P.S.: On our way back we could see heaps of dolphins jumping around the bay. Reaaaally cool (:

Before returning home from a great and unforgetable day we took a stroll through the rocks and enjoyed one of our last evenings here in paradise city.

total eclipse of the...moon

2 days ago there was a lunar eclipse which could be seen pretty good by just sitting at sydney beaches...here's one pic which shows the 'eclipsed' moon (no, not taken by me).

I'm outta....here!

Last day at work...somehow a strange feeling to never see the guys here again. But I'm really looking forward to my holiiiidaaaaaays :-) On Monday we'll take off to Cairns, but until then I gotta have to work as personal tourist guide - could be worse, I guess ;-)

so long: "Holiday Celebrate! Holiday Celebrate..." :-)

10 Minuten :)

Actually I'm on my way to the airport right now, but since I go there by train, this one came up to my mind (again, only funny in German ;-):

Home sweet home

Ain't no place like home :) The last two days have been really really nice. Spent most of my spare time home at Bondi Beach. Met with a pretty cool girl (Blogroll: Katharina) (maaan, you really arrived to late ;-) and just had a nice time sitting (or waaaaalking) there at the beach, talking, drinkin juice or hc...

I guess there's no way, over short or long (uh, is this an english saying too? guess not, but anyways...), that I have to make a living close to the ocean...

'cause you know what they are talking about in heaven?...They are talking about the ocean...
(Quote: 'Knockin' on heaven's door' - German Movie)

Coolness, your name is Ibis!

Yesterday I guess I saw the uncoolest bird I've seen so far. The information systems student under the birds...and, of course, it was an ibis. But not that it is enough, that he belongs to this very uncool, unesthetic species, no - he was the grandmaster of disaster. He was walking along the fountains at Darling Harbour (Tumbalong Park) and was almost falling into the water because he wasn't able to walk in a straight way (looked like some bullies tied his bootlaces...but it went even worse when he started to "fly". man. that bird should not have a licence to fly...well, at least he fits the picture of drunken pilots ;-) but honestly, I felt pretty unsecure when he was flying above our heads...I was really glad when he left the area after almost crashing into two trees..

But interesting to see that even in the world of the animals there are cool ones and loser...would be interesting to know if my friend from yesterday would prove Darwin wrong...;-)

The Southern Cross

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen,

time for some education :) By now you should all know how the Australian flag looks like. Top left there is a small Union Jack and on the right hand there are some stars. Stars? But why? Most people would guess (thx to the US of A) that it might have something to do with the states over here. But, obviously, that's completely wrong! F!

The stars on the flag really stand for stars...actually they symbolize one of the most impressive star signs one can see - the so called SOUTHERN CROSS. It is really pretty obvious and no, you guys at home now don't have to go outside and have a look. It's called Southern Cross for a good reason...;-)

But, thx to google: sky (what a shitty name - but great invention :-) here you can see what it looks like. If you want to see it's neighbours, google for it. Sky's the limit!

One flu over the Cuckoo's Nest

Man, it's getting strange over here. Not only that people are running around with face masks (no kidding! but actually it's mostly the asian people) because of the widespread flu. No..now it's the horses to. Yep. Again, no kidding. The flu somehow hit some stables where a lot of very important and very expensive racing horses are placed. And the horse races are only a week away...so they are now under quarantine and everyone is fearing that the races must be abandoned and that a helluva money will go down the drain...that's THE topic in the news at the moment...really strange that this hightech community can't do anything against a common desease like the flu...

björn again!

(alright folks, this is this week's nerd entry ;-)

Today I had to do a little old school work. After building a lot of homepages the last weeks and for that reason building a lot of divs, today I had to build some tables...man I really was used to the divs by now but somehow Ikea refused to sell divs and only offered tables. Bloody Swedish! ;-)


(if you don't understand what i'm talking about: go to blackle.com and enter search for "björn again sydney" and have a look at wikipedia for "divs" and "tables" ;-)

cheers!


appendix (08/27/07): The name of the table construction is 'Vika Artur' and it looks like this:

Nachtrag, letzte Woche

Sorry folks, this only makes sense in German...

War ganz normal auf der Arbeit. Wir waren alle da wie immer. Buerotuere offen, auch wie immer...auf einmal kommt da ein Hund reinspaziert. Ein Hund. HALLO? ICH MEINE, N HUND IM BUERO!!!! Wir sind hier doch nicht bei Daktari...;D

(hoffe ein, zwei verstehen das ;-) )


Falls nicht: ;-)

dankeshane!

Well, once more I have to quote the news since they say everything what there is to say about this topic. But just let me do some jokes on this topic before I start quoting. We say: dankeshane and auf wiedershane ;-) sorry for this, but even the guys on the radio did it ;-) And now, the news (taken from smh.com.au):

Spin bowler Shane Warne is considering becoming a German citizen so his English county cricket club can recruit another overseas player.

Rod Bransgrove, chairman for Hampshire county cricket - the club Warne captains - told The Weekend Australian newspaper the pair had discussed the idea.

"I've sat down with Shane and had a long discussion with him and he went away from the meeting quite happy with the idea," Bransgrove told the newspaper.

"It is theoretically possible, once Shane receives his German passport, that we would then register him as a local, and not an import, allowing my county to recruit, in effect, a second overseas player (besides Australian fast bowler Stuart Clark)."

Next year, clubs will be allowed to have only two international players, and EU court rulings allow the counties to treat EU players as domestic players.

Warne's mother, Brigitte, was born in Germany, The Weekend Australian reports, and moved to Australia when she was five.

A spokesman for the German consulate said it appeared Warne, 37, would be eligible to apply to become a German citizen, but he would have to renounce his Australian citizenship.



-- End Quote

I have to add some more information I guess since Cricket isn't such a great sport in Germany (and I completely understand why ;-). But anyways: Shane Warne is one of the best Cricket Players who has ever walked earth. He is holding some impressive (for people who are into it) records and retired from his international career after beating England at "the ashes" early this year. Furthermore he is known for his escpading lifestyle...but who cares? Lets make him play for Germany - and we'll take over another sports - and then...the whole wide woooooooooooorld :D

You know you're aussie when....

1. You're familiar with Neighbours, Home and Away, Playschool, A Country Practice, Norman Gunston, Barry Humphries, Blue Heelers, Ray Martin, Bert Newton, Lisa McCune, Jon Burgess, Number 96, Molly Meldrum, Kerry O'Brien, and of course, Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch.

2. You know that Burger King doesn't exist. It's Hungry Jacks!

3. You know the difference between thongs and a G-banger...

4. You know that "stubbies" are either short shorts or small beer bottles, a "gimp", "bogan" or "geezer" is a random idiot, someone in trouble is in "strife" and you're likely to burst out laughing whenever you hear of Americans "rooting" for something.

5. You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto etc.

6. You know that some ppl pronounce "Australia" like "Strayla" and that's ok.

7. You know that there is a universal place called "woop woop" located in the middle of nowhere... no matter where you actually are.

8. You know that while we call our friends 'mates', we don't use terms like 'shiela' and 'shrimp on the barbie', contrary to popular belief.

9. You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer because it tastes like shit. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.

10. You resent people who succeed over others- everyone should do the same thing, so we all get a "fair go"; a kind of 'American-dream' in reverse. This is why we actively like not liking Americans.

11. You've seen Gallipoli, Crocodile Dundee, Young Einstein, Muriel's Wedding, The Castle, Beneath Clouds, Strictly Ballroom, 40,000 Horsemen, and maybe even Wolf Creek.

12. It makes you happy when someone in Hollywood is actually Australian... Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrman, Elle MacPherson, Olivia Newton-John, Midnight Oil, ACDC, INXS, Greg Norman, Cathy Freeman, Dawn Fraser, Pat Rafter, Ian Thorpe...

13. One word: Skippy.

14. You know that Sydney 2000 was one of our proudest moments in history. We just fucking rocked!

15. You know that you are not going to die of cholera or other third world diseases (remote Aboriginal communities are a different matter)

16. You know our country has never been conquered by a foreign nation (you don't count 1788).

17. We know that the metric system will always be better than anything inches, feet, pounds and farenheit will ever offer!

18. You drive on the left-hand side of the road.

19. You know, that Holden makes better cars.

20. You think of Australia as being somewhat out of place within the Asia-Pacific region; surrounded by unstable ex-colonial nations who regard you as racist, imperialist, and unfairly wealthy.

21. You know that New Zealanders are basically our naive country cousins, who have a weird fush-and-chups accent, and for some bizzare reason, think that they invented pavlova. Bastards. They are to be pitied and laughed at. They have no hope of gaining the upper hand in the endless sporting rivalry between our two nations.

22. You know that you can't eat Fantales alone... Otherwise who will you play the 'Who am I...' game with when you're reading the wrapper?

23. You know that Sydney should be the capital because Canberra is a hole.

24. You know that Americans think we're all Steve Irwin clones. And crickey, they couldn't be more wrong.

25. You know that Lawyers wear wigs and gowns. And we make it look good.

26. You call soccer 'Soccer', because 'Football' obviously means Aussie Rules!

27. You feel obliged to spread salty black stuff that looks like congealed motor oil on bread... and actually grow to like it. You've also squeeze Vegemite through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.

28. You believe that democracy means the freedom to draw caricatures of good ol' Johnny Howard

29. You realise that lifeguards are the only people who can get away with wearing speedos.

30. You have the ability to compress several words into one - ie 'g'day' and 'd'reckn?'. This allows more space for profanities.

31. You only ever use the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you REALLY mean it.

32. You know that the bbq is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the salad.

33. The private lives of footy and cricket players become more important than local and national news stories.

34. You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not.

35. You know what fairy bread, cordial and lemmingtons taste like, and you can't imagine your childhood without them.

36. You know the first verse to the national anthem, but still don't know what "girt" means. And you're ok with that.

37. You've drank your tea/coffee/milo through a tim tam.

38. You know that backyard cricket is a nice way to bond with family and the rubbish bin. And the 'one bounce, one hand' rule always applies.

39. You know that we are home to just about all of the world's deadliest of animals. That's why if anybody messes with us we'll get some funnel webs on their asses.

40. You see people walking bare-foot on the sidewalk and don't scorn.... because you're doing it too.

41. You know what trop-fest is and it makes you happy.

42. Sausage rolls and meat pies. End of story.

43. You firmly believe that in the end, everything will be ok and have offered advice that included the words, "she'll be right, mate".

44. You automatically reply Oi Oi Oi every time you hear the words "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie".

45. You own Bond's panties. In several different colours.

46. You've ordered a steak the size of your head and only paid $5 at your local RSL.

47. You know that Italy should never have been granted that fateful kick in the 2006 Soccer World Cup.

48. You know how to slip, slop, slap like it's nobody's business.

49. You've heard the Prime Minister dismiss anyone who disagrees with him simply as 'un-Australian', and that's enough to make us sit down and shut up.

50. You know that the value of a public holiday is measured in terms of alcohol. God bless the queen and her 4-day birthday.


And right now you feel bloody awesome.

oz experience

Some cool pics from someone I don't really know, but anyways...:)

No! & I don't care!

For all of those who keep asking me if I'm looking forward to coming home...take a look and think about it by yourself...



And for all of those that keep sending me emails as soon as its over 20 degresse in Germany. I don't care...and that's why :P

As time goes by...

Man..today I started my last project at work (hopefully I'll finish it in time...) 3 weeks left...that's so strange..time is running by now..yet another week is done...maaaaan. I don't wanna go home...

Cheers, Mate! ;-)

If anyone keeps telling that Volleyball isn't a hard sport...

Maaaaaaaaan - ly!

Actually, there's not that much to say about this day. Paradise City!

AVL

Tonight I've been to the AVL pre-final games. Actually we only wanted to see the UTS Syd Uni team taking on Qld...but since the previous match took longer, we happened to see a bit of uni blues vs. wa...and that was a really crap game (sorry girls)....the blues won, but not very convincing...afterwards uts syd uni won 3:1 against qld. 1st set very convincing, 2nd set pretty ok, 3rd set really crapy (and lost, obviously), 4th set...man..no words for this...but at least they won and will face the uni blues tomorrow in the great final...looking forward to it and hope the girls are having a good night ;-)

strange view...

that's what I saw after calling it a day on friday....nice :)

Tamarama ding dong

(sry once more for the word gambling ;-)



What else do I have to say? Sun, a Ball, some cool folks..lets get it on :)

celebration!

sry mates, I almost forgot to mention something yesterday. Friday, August 3rd, was kind of public holiday here in australia. well, without having a day off, but actually august 3rd should be a real holiday. people should be able to celebrate this day!

August, 3rd, 2007 - celebrating 20 Years of locomotion! Exactly 20 years ago Kylie Minogue became No. 1 with one of the most impressive pop hits ever...so celebrate good times! ;)

running man

yeeeeees. it's coming back. it's all coming back to meeee ;-)
fitness!! today i did my longest run so far in order to prepare for city2surf. and it felt really good. wasn't tired afterwards, nothing hurts...and it just felt good. yes! that's the way oho aha i like it...

...well, lets see how i feel tomorrow morning. maybe i have to do a re-post ;-)

Sports madness

Alright folks...as the most of you know, I'm pretty much into sports. I'm doing a lot of sports and even like to watch some of them...BUT what's going on down here with this sports thing is way to much:

1st: There are soooooo many flatscreens in every Bar, Pub, whatever...that SUCKS! One can't avoid being bothered by footy, rugby, football, horse racing and all the other stuff what I will tell you later...

2nd: Down here there are some of the most annoying sports played one ever has seen! Man. Even the bull race in Pamplona (for the Yankees: A city in Spain, Europe..) is more exciting than:
- Cricket! (alright, I know "we" are world champion - but
honestly: A game where they have tea breakes and which
could last for dayyyyys is not exciting...but, in some way
I might be able to accept it as sport. Along with chess and
all the other exciting extreme sports on this planet.)

- NRL/RU (well, no doubt it's kinda sport - but it's just
stupid ;-) but nothing more about that :)

- And now, my favorite. It is really broadcasted live on TV,
is in the news...the radio...but it is just a jumping around
of some girls, wearing skirts and shouting some strange
phrases...it's NETBALL. Maaaaan. That is NO sport! The most
stupid thing I've ever seen on sports tv. There are even
world championships. I don't want to offend any netball
player....but why don't you just do real sports? Basketball
for example...

3rd: It is the second fatest country in the world down here. So switch of the tv, get up and out on the street and do something on your own!

Aaaaaaah. that's it for now on this topic...surely more to come ;-)

I'm bringin' summer back...

Maaaaaaan. 25 degrees, sun, lunchtime at the park... I'm lovin' it.

Greeeeeetings from the winter wonderland into the German summer ;p

Haleluja!

I just came past a church in the city of Sydney and really thought about changing my profession...;-) Take a good look at the light...those cars even seemed to be blessed ;)



After seeing this miracle I went to training at Summer Hill. Short after leaving train station and starting my 15 minutes walk to the gym some guy just stopped me and asked whether I know where Trinity Grammer School is located since he should have a rehearsal there...kind as I am I offered him to take him with me since, as you all know, we train at Trinity Grammer....so it happened that Byron and I had a nice talk during the walk to the school telling each other a few things (his girlfriend's going to the USA, he'll visit her at X-Mas, studies music and plays the trumpet ^^). Was quite nice and a funny exception to my usually lonely walk to my pe ;-)