Another thing I wanted to mention was the blog post I made about not following news for over a month. I don’t want to dedicate an entire blog post for an update on that so I’m going to use this post for a short one. Like other experiments I’ve done in recent years this one worked out very well. I read more because I spend less time on the news. Sure I’m not up-to-date on everything but most of the news that’s really important gets to me in other ways, like people I follow on Twitter but mostly via colleagues and friends. Blocking out news entirely is also impossible and I don’t go around doing that but when I see one of those free news papers when I commute to work I don’t pick it up. I keep to reading my book. And in the last 8 weeks I’ve finished book 3 and 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire, Freakonomics (Thanks Vin for lending it to me), A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawkings and currently reading the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire. So I’m finally getting around to all the books I have been on my reading list for ages. So weird to think that when I was kid I hated reading but thanks some teachers at a certain school (you know who you are) that changed. I guess they had a lot of impact on me. Suffice it to say I like not watching the news, at least for now.

Another thing I’m currently working my head around is quitting gaming on my pc entirely. Although I haven’t played any games since I traded my desktop pc in for a netbook due to travelling. But I do spend a lot of time in front of a computer. I would go so far as to say besides work I probably spend 20-25 hours a week on my computer. So that’s something to think about. But games like Skyrim and Battlefield 3 are very tempting.

But lets get to the main subject. Passwords. Passwords? Yes passwords, those necessary jumble of characters consisting of letters either lower or higher case, numerals and sometimes even specials characters. Short from people that live without any technology whatsoever everybody has to deal with passwords. It’s a necessary evil in the online world of today. Managing these things is hard. Everybody however needs to and most of the time they do it badly.

These days website are hacked often and their user database with credentials (login & password) compromised. You can have the strongest of passwords but in a case like this it a matter of how securely your password is stored by this website. Do you really trust the administrator to do this correctly? Although that doesn’t even matter much. Just think about it. Say a website you use is compromised. It’s uncertain if the hackers took any user data but this is like saying somebody got your house keys without actually having used them. What would you do? Change the locks & keys right?

Now back to the passwords. Say you use the password for this website on other websites. You’ll have to change all those passwords because the hackers could actually have access to all those websites that you use the same credentials for. This is why it’s amazingly stupid to use the same credentials for every (or even some) websites. But on the other hand having an unique password for every website is unmanageable or rather a pain in the arse. So what to do, there has to be a safe way to surf the web without using the same password everywhere and also have ease of mind with handling every password you would need.

Of course you could opt for using some unique passwords for sites that are important like say your e-mail account, social media, banks, etc and use the same password for the other sites that you don’t really consider important if they are compromised. But then again how do your remember all these sites that you have a login for to begin with. I for instance have over 250 accounts, some very important like my e-mail account and some not so important like webshops. You could of course put every password in a textfile on your computer, but how secure is your computer. It could get infected with malicious software that is designed to look for that password file you put hours into. So you need something that encrypts that file somehow to make it more secure. This is where a password manager comes into play.

A password manager uses an encryption scheme to obscure the file that contains your passwords. This way you can’t just open the file and read the passwords but instead you would be looking at gobbledegoo if you did. To unlock or unscramble the file you use a master password. This password is quite important because it protects your password file and with it all your passwords so this should be a very strong, difficult and unique indeed. And you need to remember it! But you would only need to remember this one (master) password. And the rest of your passwords can be really strong without the added stress of having to remember them.

Now you understand the fundamentals I’ll mention two password managers. Lastpass (check out the video on their website for details) and Keepass. The first is an online password manager, the latter is offline. Both have pros and cons but I will not go into that beyond to say that you have to trust the good people of Lastpass for storing your passwords properly. Keepass is something you will have to run on your computer as it is an application rather than a webapp like Lastpass. If you really must have access to your Keepass password file at all times you could use Dropbox.

Lastpass via Google Chrome

Keepass database

Another recent online development is two-factor authentication. In simple terms it breaks down to an extra level of authentication besides login name plus password. This extra level works via a text message to your cellphone which contains a unique code that you need to use as extra input when logging in from an unknown device/computer. Facebook and Google are amongst the first to start using this method.

So now you are a bit wiser in the land of passwords and how to manage them it’s time to beef up your security with stronger passwords and a better way of storing them!

Sources:

• xkcd: Password Strength
• Troyhunt’s response to the XKCD comic on Password Strength

Summer also brings lots of festivals and other outdoor activities with it. My friends and I start discussing our favourite festival Lowlands and what we will be bringing this year besides packing a partytent which is a must have. I also start listening to the lineup for this festival, which means going through a lot of music. It’s a fun way of discovering new music because Lowlands tends to book the up & coming artists, another thing I love about it.

So this year like other years I discovered some bands I really like pre-Lowlands but I also use other sources to find new music. When watching movies and television series I take notice of new music and find out which songs were used. IMDB is a great source for getting the soundtrack information from movies. For television series I mostly google on the lyrics or the show incombination with the episode. Another way to discover new music is my good friend and fellow music enthusiast Jurgen. He gives me a heads-up every now and again on great albums and he is mostly right

But to get to the Bands you might have missed part of this blog. Here are five artists that I’ve recently found out about and really like a lot. I hope you enjoy them as well!

	Gotye (website|myspace|last.fm) Wouter “Wally” De Backer or Gotye is a Belgian-Australian. He was born in Bruges but lived mostly in Melbourne, Australia. First time I heard him was with the song Somebody I Used to Know with Kimbra. It’s a song you’ll like right off the bat and the albums Like Drawing Blood and Making Mirrors are very good. His music is very mixed in styles and hard to put in a box, which I like. My favourite song is Eyes Wide Open.
	Intergalactic Lovers (website|myspace|last.fm) A Belgian band from Aalst consisting of four members with Lara Chedraoui as singer with a unique vocal sound. Their debut album Greetings & Salutations is very good and has a summer feeling to it. All songs wonderful but if I have to pick one to listen to first it would be Shewolf. They preformed a acoustic session at Into The Great Wide Open festival this year. Just locate them in the right list and enjoy.
	Joan As Police Woman (website|myspace|last.fm) Joan Wasser from Biddeford, Maine (US) is a singer-songwriter. I already spoke about here a bit in my Lowlands blog, mostly with anger because I missed her show shy of one song. She was Jeff Buckley’s girlfriend, famous for amongst other things his version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. In my opinion the best version, even better the original. Her last album The Deep Field was my first introduction with this lady. The album has a good soul feel to it and stands out with a lot of emotion in the songs. My favourite song is The Magic.
	Miles Kane (website|myspace|last.fm) Miles Kane should already be familiar to you. He has played in The Rascals and was leadsinger next to Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys in the project The Last Shadow Puppets. His album Colour of the Trap features some great track like Come Closer, Inhaler and my favourite Quicksand.
	Pete and The Pirates (website|myspace|last.fm) A British five piece band from Reading. Another band that has a very summery feel to their songs. Electric/Indie sound that is quite catchy. Their last album One Thousand Pictures sound very good and clean. My favourite song is Come to the Bar. They also played Into The Great Wide Open.

So we shake things up. We can do this in numerous ways, the obvious one would be a holiday and experiencing a different culture & country, although a beach vacation would also help somewhat here as it changes your daily pace, personally I rather go with a active holiday and put some beach days into it. But even reading a book can help you escape daily reality. Sure it’s probably not as exciting as a holiday but still. There are dozens of way to shake things up that’s what I’m saying.

I tend to try new things and post about them here. They turn into what I call little experiments and those mostly change my life somewhat. I tried a month without regular television and now I only watch TV when it suits me by watching it online. Which puts me in control of what I watch and when I watch it without commercials. Another experiment was Facebook. Although I had some hesitations with using Facebook, mostly privacy related, but during my travels through Australia I have seen that Facebook is ideal way to keep in touch with friends back home and the people I met along the way. It does also tends to take up time.

Recently I read an article by Rolf Dobelli called Avoid News which was featured in the Dutch newspaper NRCNext on September 1^st. Quite ironic that a newspaper writes on how to avoid the news but it’s still a very good article on our heavy news consumption, why it’s bad and how to avoid it all together. I recommend you read it if you are at all interested in the topic.

News is to the mind what sugar is to the body

This article got me thinking about something that has preoccupied my thoughts for a couple of years now. Being my daily news in-take and why it’s such a waste of brainpower. Sure it’s fun to be well informed but are you really well informed? I mean can you remember anything about news you consumed a month ago? News is only relevant for a short period. I don’t have this problem with books I read, they stay more relevant as well. At least this holds true for the books I read (currently Freakonomics) about science and other interests of mine (history, biology & IT). I mean they really add to ones self as a opposed to what news does. In this sense news is junk food. Of course junk food is enjoyable every now and again but everyday would be very unhealthy. I don’t just read books that add to self well being, besides Freakonomics I’m also reading through the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin every since I saw the first season of this new HBO series.

So my next experiment will entail me banning news for a month for myself and if it is a success I’ll extend it indefinitely. My subscription to the NRCNext ended two weeks ago so the newspaper is already done with (although the format of this newspaper is quite good and differs a lot from others), I’ve also removed lots of RSS feeds in Google Reader and stopped following loads of news related tweets. I’ll be avoiding all forms of news the coming month. Which coincides with the start of my new job, another thing I’m really looking forward to. All in all exciting times ahead with loads to learn and a lot of room for self improvement.

5 minutes of Syria from Ruslan Fedotow on Vimeo.

I’ve never written about my travels through Syria with my friend Ronald, partly because this blog didn’t exist at the time, but as you hear more about Syria in the news every day I figured it would be time to share some of the positive (like Ruslan Fedotow did in his video above) versus the negative you see and hear in the media.

It was the second of March 2008 that I started on my first backpacking trip. I was so green as a backpacker that I didn’t even own a backpack and thus borrowed one from my good friend Vincent. So I was quite surprised by it all, which started a few months before the trip. Ronald, my travel buddy for Syria, came with the idea for this rather unique destination. Of course I had heard of Syria before but never in a positive way or at least it didn’t occur to me that you could go on holiday there but after reading a bit about the country and finally even the Lonely Planet I agreed to come with him on a two week trip through Syria. Although I still had my reservations.

Our trip started quite early, Ronald and his parents picked me up in Rotterdam around 7 am. We got to Schiphol on time and even got myself a bag that fits over the backpack so it wouldn’t get tangled up on any of the dozens of conveyor belts. We checked in and dropped our bags off but found out our flight was delayed for at least two hours but eventually we got on the plane and were headed for our destination. The flight was fine with Syrianair although the food was a little bland but on which flight is the food ever decent anyway.

Finally landing on Damascus airport we had to wait for four stamps in our passports which looked like regular post stamps to me. This took ages, I had to spell out my name and other information even though the customs guy was holding my passport right in-front of him. After all the bureaucratic nonsense we made our way to baggage claim where we got our baggage surprisingly quick. Before we left the airport and head for down town Damascus it was time for a loo break, I eventually found one where the urinals were relatively clean although made with midgets in mind or children maybe both, the urinals are attached on a lower level then I’m normally accustomed too is what I’m saying. Anyway we head to our hostel for the first nights in Syria. Damascus is the oldest continuously populated city in the world and it quite busy one at that. Traffic rules are enforced here but it’s still a bit of a mess. We reach our hostel (Ar-Rabie Hotel) safely, even with the alley we have to pass through, which is quite a good hostel and a recommended stay in Damascus. Food is our primary priority goal so we head out and find a nice place with good food and traditional music.

On our first real day in Damascus we did the walking tour our Lonely Planet advised although in opposite direction and see lots of souqs, we visited Saladin’s mausoleum but the highlight of the day was the very impressive Umayyad Mosque. Afterwards we also went to the Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque, which has these tiny mirrors in the ceiling, and Azem Pallace. We finished our day with ice cream covered in pistachio nuts in one of the oldest ice cream parlours in Damascus. Which tasted amazing!

On the second day in Damascus we made a trip to Bosra. We started early as the trip to Bosra is a long one and takes about 2 1/2 hours. It’s about 150 kilometres from Damascus. Heading out at 8 am for the local bus or rather minivan station we found transportation to Daraa which is on border with Jordan. From there you take another minivan to Bosra. Those minivans are quite amazing as they are able hold 15 people, although probably not intended for it. Bosra itself is quite beautiful and rich in ruins that are fairly intact. Especially the citadel is in very good condition but there is also ruins north of the citadel. Bosra has been in possession of the Nabateans, Romans, Byzantine and Muslims over the years so it has quite some influences in architecture. Inside the citadel there is a Roman theatre.

The day after Bosra we head for Hama by bus and quickly find a good hostel, Hotel Cairo. We head out straight away to do some sight seeing. Hama has 17 Narias (waterwheels) that are very accessible and quite beautiful. The citadel in this city is mostly gone and what remains is a big hill with a ditch in the middle of it but it does provide some great views over the city. The best food I ate in Hama was at the Orient House which is a very nice restaurant in the middle of a very dark alley. Getting there and back was quite the experience and one I tell about most of the time when I talk about Syria. We needed direction to get to the restaurant and so we asked this street vendor that was selling cigarettes. He just left his cart and walked us to the place, which was a good 30 minutes away, and only excepted a handshake as reward. Getting back from the restaurant we got lost and had to ask directions. This time near some souqs and we got directions plus exchanged stories a got to taste some Arabian coffee which was very rich in flavour.

On our second day in Hama we arranged to do a trip with a private driver provided by Hotel Cairo. It turned out to be a great way to see several sights (Apamea, Masyaf & Krak des Chevaliers). We left from Hama at 8.30 pm and head towards Apamea with Colin, a brit, and our driver. Apamea is quite impressive with a lot of colonnaded and we even see an ancient pipe system. We reach Masyaf before lunch and aren’t that impressed by this ancient castle that has been build over the years by different civilizations. So we head out to are final stop which is Krak des Chevaliers (Crusader castle), one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world. This must be the most impressive and intact castle I’ve ever seen. It’s quite amazing. The horse stables still smell of horse. We head back with are private driver to Hama, which is very handy, as driving in Syria isn’t for the faint of heart although one thing I liked about the infrastructure was the traffic lights which indicate how long until you get a green light. I haven’t seen many those in the western world.

Another day another city, Aleppo took us about 1 1/2 hours to reach. We stayed in Hotel Tourist for two days, quite decent looking hostel and clean with a homely atmosphere. Aleppo’s citadel is in good condition compared to the one in Hama. Ronald even plays a little football in front of the citadel with some kids which they enjoy immensely. The souqs are very nice and in an old area. We even meet a Syrian souq owner that speak a little Dutch besides very good English. On our next day we leave for the Hamman to get a torturous treatment that kinda feels good, although it’s quite a long wait. Afterwards we replenish our fluids. It’s hard to find alcohol in Syria, being a Muslim country, so it mostly soft drinks, tea and coffee. Even though it is possible to find a beer here and there on occasion. After dinner we finish our day with a visit to the famous or infamous Baron Hotel.

After all the trips we wanted to take little time off from backpacking and rest a little on the beach in Latakia. So we headed for the trainstation by taxi. The taxi dropped us at the wrong place and after walking to the trainstation we were told that we would have to wait 7 hours before the train left. So we had time to kill. Later in the day we arrived and stay in the worst hostel we stayed in by far. Not very clean so having a sleepingbag was great! The next day we have bad weather and instead of the beach walk around the city of Latakia where the women dress a bit differently from the rest of Syria. Let’s just say they dressed more Western. Latakia wasn’t very impressive and probably only interesting when you have decent weather. I did get to finish The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a must read.

From Latakia we head for Palmyra (Tadmur for the locals) via Homs. It’s a five hour drive of which one through the desert. As Palmyra is in the middle of Syria it’s located the desert. We find a decent hostel with a very friendly owner who serves us chai a lot. The next day we wake up early to do a bit of walking in the very beautiful ruins that leave you in awe. It’s just unbelievable how much is left of this still very important oasis city. It’s a very hot city though with little lizards & beetles in the ruins and temples.

The trip back to Damascus brings the end of the holiday insight after almost two weeks of Syria. We visit a museum just before it closes which is quite a nice museum and has a lot of artefacts. The next day we travel to Maaloula for a daytrip. We walk through the gap which has a story behind it but I totally forgot. We also take in the beautiful view.

On our last day in Syria we want to go for a swim in the local swimming pool. We end up going with a Canadian guy called Mo who speaks English, French, Spanish and Farsi. After walking for roughly two hours we end up asking a local and he offers to drive us in his car. Pity the pool is closed and end up in the same museum as the day before but this time we take our time to walk around. Our last night ends in a beautiful restaurant, a shame that the food doesn’t compare to the intricate decorations.

Syria is a great place to go on a holiday, although I would wait until it becomes a bit more stable then it recently has been. When I tell people I meet that I’ve been there they always ask me why I went and the answer should be in the stories & photos above but in short the culture has lots of history to it and my influences, it’s quite cheap to travel, amazing architecture that isn’t fenced off like in Rome and the people are very friendly and helpful to foreigners.

Syria has definitely made me look at the world in another perspective and made me wonder what other countries are out there that I haven’t though of to explore. We should always remember that the news we hear is only the most interesting news for us or rather the news that we get spoon fed and thus mostly bad. The good just does get the ratings. Make up your own mind and don’t be to fast to make up your mind. This isn’t just something that holds true for countries and it’s people but other things like music and book as well. Everybody knows the cliché that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but it’s certainly true in the cast of Syria. Remember that the next time you book a holiday vacation to some beach that basicly is home without the lousy weather.

More photos in my Syria photo gallery.

Last time I blogged about Lowlands was more of a general view of the festival. This time around I’ll be blogging about the acts I saw, the good and the bad things that have changed over the years and I’ll finish up with a top 5.

Lowlands has always been a festival with a very good atmosphere. The people are friendly and especially happy when the sun is out. The lineup never sports a lot of big acts and focusses more on the new and undiscovered. I for one like this approach and although this year the lineup was especially lacking in major acts I enjoyed the festival like every year. But then I already bought my ticket before the lineup was known.

One of the things I always liked was the lack of security or rather you couldn’t see them as they dressed in plain clothes. But this year it seemed that they were everywhere and in force. A weird thing to see. Especially at the festival entrance. A lot of people were padded down which caused a impossible queue on the opening day. Normally it’s hard to see the first act on the opening day but I couldn’t even see Joan as Police Woman. An act I really wanted to see and only saw the last song partially. It pissed me off quite a bit. Hopefully they will open the gates earlier in coming years so nobody will miss out on anything.

Another thing that has changed over the years is the rule on how much alcohol your allowed to bring. This year it was 8 litres per person. In other years this was 12 litres I believe. But this isn’t really the bad part. The bad part is that their slowly dissuading this entirely. At least if you want to decant your drink before you enter the festival area. Two years ago they handed out plastic pint sized glasses at several points before the entrance but now there is just one point where you can get them. Besides the major queue at this point you can only get one glass a piece. So if you want to get another glass for your friends you can’t, they all have to queue individually. This is probably not a Lowlands organisational decision but rather a Mojo made one.
Anyways enough with the bad lets continue with the good, which acts did I see and the top 5 amongst them.

Friday
Joan as Police Woman
Graffiti6
James Blake
Chase & Status
Noah and the Whale
The Naked and Famous
Fleet Foxes
Paul Kalkbrenner

Saturday
Agnes Obel
Palmbomen
Young the Giant
Bombay Bicycle Club
Seasick Steve
Within Temptation
Selah Sue
Elbow

Sunday
Residentie Orkest
Crystal Fighters
The Kills
Skunk Anansie
Interpol
The Offspring

Lowlands Top 5

	Noah and the Whale (website|myspace|last.fm|lowlands) Number Five A friend of mine pointed me towards their latest album Last Night on Earth. I liked it straight away and was pleasantly surprised that they would be playing at Lowlands this year. So I saw them live and I liked the atmosphere of the show a lot. Their songs are very nice and I especially like L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N..
	Fleet Foxes (website|myspace|last.fm) Number Four First time I saw these guys live and they are good. If you like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young you’ll like this as well. There latest album Helplessness Blues hasn’t been in my collection for a long time so I’ll just pick a favourite from there first album, Blue Ridge Mountains.
	Agnes Obel (website|myspace|last.fm|lowlands) Number Three Goosebumps is what I get when I hear this woman sing and play the piano. Her first album Philharmonics is a great one and expect more greatness from her in due time. My favourite from this album is Riverside.
	Seasick Steve (website|myspace|last.fm|lowlands) Number Two This guy is just amazing. He plays from the heart and from his own experiences. Before having success he had several jobs like carpenter and before that he was homeless. He left home at the age of 13. The stories he tells live are just awesome. Back in the dog house is my favourite.
	Elbow (website|myspace|last.fm|lowlands) Number One These guys have been around for a while now and have played Lowlands twice. Their latest album Build a Rocket Boys! takes a bit to get use to. But those kind albums are the best as they creep under your skin and stay there. There performance on the Lowlands Saturday was the best act of the festival. Best songs from this album are The Night will always win & Lippy Kids.

After all this great music and having such fun memories that I shared with a lot of my friends whom I had seen for quite some time after travelling for over 6 months it’s hard to believe that I was thinking of now going to Lowlands next year. Although I was thinking this around the time when I missed out on Joan as Police Woman, so I would think that it’s quite understandable. I’m still not sure if I’ll go next year but we will see. I certainly do something with my friends, that for sure!

More photos made during the festival here and live recordings.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

I would probably have done things a bit different during my 6,5 months of travelling, like saving more money upfront or getting my driving license, however I have no regrets because the decisions I made have let me to meet some great people from a vast variety of cultures and have a lot of adventures. Travelling is great fun and it broadens ones perspective of the world. Sure you can take a look at almost every place in the world these days by just the click of a button and you won’t be the first human to reach your destination but that’s not important at all. Travelling is about your experiences not the ones somebody else had. I recommend everybody to do it and see more of the world with your own eyes that just their backyard.

During my time in Australia I did experience things you wouldn’t on a typical holiday. Like for instance what keeps the Australians busy in their daily lives, music from local bands and even television shows worth a watch but also what farmers think about and the political climate.

Water or rather rain is always of concern for farmers in every country but even more so in Australia and especially in the wheat belt. As Australia is the world’s driest inhabited continent rain is of great importance. The dams normally get filled during the winter and relied upon in the summer. However if there isn’t enough water to go around the Auzzies turn to seawater desalination. They have several desalination plants near the major cities of Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. With Adelaide and Melbourne following in their footsteps. One of the downsides of this being the power consumption which is up to 50 % of the cost of desalination. As Australia uses mostly brown coal (Watch this youtube clip about the Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria) to generate energy which of course is a major impact on the environment as it produces vast amount of CO² and uses the very water the Australians need. Although there was a discussion about nuclear power plants, of which there are none at the moment, but with the nuclear disaster in Japan this is year that’s pretty much of the table. I think that nuclear power might not be THE solution to our energy problems but coal definitely isn’t. Water is also of great influence on how many people Australia can support, currently it has a population of about 22 million people. With a lot of immigrants coming to Australia, either legal or illegal, how many people can the country or rather continent support?

But lets not dwell to much on these kind of things and get to the fun part. The last two items in this post are about TV shows and music. The first I mostly discovered in Perth when I had lots of time to watch TV. Although I normally don’t watch any TV at all it was fun to watch some programs to get a better understanding of Australia and of course learn a lot of slang words (sparky is electrician for instance).

TV shows

	Hungrybeast (website|youtube) Current affairs with a bit of satire. A great fact based show that uses very nice visual infographics to get there point across.
	RockWiz (website|youtube) This show is live recorded in the Hotel Esplanade or Espy in St. Kilda, Melbourne. I’ve actually been there and it’s a great venue to go out. It’s hosted by Julia Zemiro who is quite witty. Oh and it’s the only show that you can actually watch from outside Australia so check out the website!
	Spicks and Specks (website|youtube) Another music quiz but totally different to RockWiz. A very witty music quiz show that has been running on ABC for 6 years, this being it last year. It is hosted by Adam Hills with team captains Alan Brough and Myf Warhurst. Both teams have two new music related teammembers on every episode.
	The Chaser’s War on Everything (website|youtube) Also know as The Chaser was a satirical comedy series about current affairs. This show I actually discovered a few years ago before I went on holiday to Australia. The cast perform sketches mocking social and political issues, and often feature comedic publicity stunts. One of their best bits is probably Open Mic. The show ended in 2009 but some of the guys behind it have started a new show called Yes We Canberra!

Music

	Angus & Julia Stone (website|myspace|last.fm) Ever since a Dutch commercial used Paper Aeroplane as music I’ve been hooked on Angus & Julia Stone. Back when I won their debut album I started to look out for a concert and eventually saw one. They even sound better live then on album and although they have released several albums since A book like this, I still like that album the most. Although I love the simplicity and rhythm of For the boys from there latest album Down The Way. Brother and sister are from Newport, NSW and their music is best described as folk.
	Bonjah (website|myspace|last.fm) Bonjah is a band I was introduced to by Charlie whom I met in Melbourne. We ended up going with some other people from our hostel to them in Northcote Social Club, a nice little venue. Based in Melbourne, VIC these five guys sound way better live the on their album. To be honest their album doesn’t do them justice at all. Their music is a mix of blues and rock.
	Powderfinger (website|myspace|last.fm) I discovered these guys from Brisbane, QL thanks to a German guy I met in Melbourne (Thanks David!). There quite popular in Australia and it’s quite a shame they never achieved international success. And after 21 years they split so that’s another let down but there albums are still out there and I’ve had a decent listen to Goldenrule. Their music is rock based.
	Sparkadia (website|myspace|last.fm) This is a band I got introduced to by going to a concert which they were the supportact. I don’t remember who they were supporting but I liked their music a lot. It’s or was (I’m not sure) a four piece band from Sydney, NSW as a project by Alexander Burnett. Their music is a mix of electronic and guitar pop music. My favourite album is their debut album Postcards with the songs Animals & Jealousy.
	Tame Impala (website|myspace|last.fm) Another band I got introduced to by a fellow traveller (thanks Dan!). This four men band from Perth, WA plays psychedelic rock.
	Wolfmother (website|myspace|last.fm) Wolfmother from Sydney, NSW really needs no introduction, Andrew Stockdale is the frontman for this band and the only member who hasn’t changed after their first & second album. Currently working on their third album they play hard psychedelic rock. Live they produce a wall of sound that is quite amazing. Some of my favourite songs are Vagebond (which has been used a lot in movies and tv series), Joker & The Thief, Far Away and In The Morning.

Sources

On the 27 of June I said my thanks and farewells to Els and got on the plane to Bali. Not a very long flight about 3 1/2 hours in total from Perth. Kuta is very busy touristy city and I spend only two days there. On the second day I had to move accommodations to the The Three Brothers. A very nice bungalow style accommodation with a big swimming pool. Here I also arrange my travels to Gili Trawangan (Gili T.) where I pre-booked my PADI Open Water diving course. For about 1.3 million Indonesian rupiahs (113 euro) I get picked up and dropped of at Sanur and then go by fastboot to Gili T (including return). The day before leaving Kuta I walked through the streets near the beach and even get my feet nibbled on by little tiny fish. Which feels in some way quite good.

In the minivan that picks me up in Kuta and brings me to the fastboat I meet Charlotte from Manchester. She was travelling for a few days before she starts a work placement in Semarang (how I got it right ). We end up as neighbours on the island for a couple of days in Warna Homestead, another recommendation (Thanks Nienke!). The breakfast for the coming days is banana pancakes, which are rather good. After getting my homework for the next 3 days from my dive instructor, Charlotte and I end up exploring the Island a bit. First we check out the Turtle Conservation, which most islands or beach areas seem to have in and around Bali. They keep the little turtles after hatching for a period of 6 months. Only a few hours on the island and the skies open up, thankfully it’s the only rain I see for my entire trip. We take one of the many Cidomo’s (horse & carriage) to explore the island even further. The best thing about Gili T. is probably that it doesn’t allow or have any motorised vehicles and I could hear the ocean hitting the beach from my little hut. The worst might be the cats, which there are a lot of.

After dinner with Charlotte I had to start studying the PADI diving material and work my way through about 110 pages. It’s been along time since I had any homework but I manage working my way through the pages and the questions at the end of the two chapters. Early next day my instructor Ari from Mexico helps me review the two pages and questions before I get familiar with the diving gear. In the pool we learn the basics and all goes fine, which means it’s time for open water. After a short ride on the boat we dive in and set off for our first dive. All goes well enough at first but then my ears start hurting like crazy. I try to equalize but it doesn’t work at all. I signal Ari and he takes me up a little and we try it again without any new result. I have to abort the dive and sit this one out. On the shore I do the smart thing and swing by the clinic. The doctor checks my ears and diagnoses me with an ear infection. In short this means no more diving for 3 days while I work my way through anti-inflammatory and antibiotics. So that’s the end of my PADI Open Water diving training. The only good thing is that I get part of my money back from the dive school.

On my few days on the island, after the let down on Thursday, I had some relaxing days. One of them spend entirely on the beach laying in the sun and reading Shantaram (a must read). Although I didn’t start that day that lazy as I ran around the island. On the Sunday I did do a snorkelling trip where I met Emma, Ann & Ove. The snorkelling was quite good, although most of the coral near the Gili’s is quite dead due to the way the locals have fished here by using explosives and bleach. I did see some fish, a sunken fishing boat and four sea turtles. Two of which quite close and one of them even surfacing in front of me. Another thing that was amazing on Gili Trawangan where the sunsets. After the sunset on Sunday, my last day, we went for dinner at quite a good Indian restaurant and even enjoyed a shisha.

Ubud, my third destination in Bali and because there was this holiday that commemorates the triumph of the good over the evil I even stay an extra day. I stayed in Sania’s House, a family run guesthouse, which is close to the market in the centre of Ubud. So having sorted out my place to stay I went for a walk through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. Which is quite cool if you don’t carry any fruit or nuts with you….let’s just say monkeys like you a bit more if you do. I also did a walking tour that was in my Lonely Planet, it took me about 4 hours to complete but it was nice. Taking me through ricefields, little villages, past rivers, past dead snakes and weird looking flowers. Besides the occasional walking trip, temple or even a museum I also went to a spa a couple of times and had my back sorted out which was rather nice. On my last day in Ubud I did a mountain bike tour from Kintamani back to Ubud. On our trip which went mostly down hill we also stopped at a coffee farm. It was fun doing something active again and seeing lots of little villages and having kids wave & say hello.

After my last day in Ubud I got on the shuttle bus and met two Dutch girls travelling together, Josje & Nikki. They turn out to be cousins and also headed for Lovina. We talk a lot during our trip to Lovina and I must say I enjoy talking Dutch again after not having spoken it for a while. As we want to do mostly the same kind of trips in Lovina we end up being neighbours in Lovina. I also give them some tips on Gili T. where they want to go after Lovina. At our hotel Suma in Lovina we arrange a snorkelling trip to Pulau Menjangan which we get for a good price compared to other people and we even get the dolphin trip included for free.

In the morning we set out for Pemuteran from where we go by boat to the island Pulau Menjangan. Here our day of snorkelling starts and as I did a bit of snorkelling in Gili T. I have a good comparison. But after 10 minutes in the water I already know that there is non to make. The coral is amazing, vivid and very much alive. So many different types of fish and coral. It’s like being in Finding Nemo and I actually find Nemo….I mean a clownfish. Also the anemone was fun to touch, amazingly sticky but not stingy. The sea cucumber however that our guide picks up feels very weird to touch. Other fish I see include a barracuda, parrotfish and possibly a blacktip shark but it was to hard to make a positive identification but I probably change the story when I tell it in person. On the beach we find a hermitcrab. After two hours of snorkelling we head back to Pemuteran. We get a nice meal together and even ended the day with a game of “gesjaakt”.

Next day it was time for the dolphins at sunrise. Which is just a tad bit early for my taste but then I’ve never seen dolphins in the wildy wild so we got up at 05.30. And after getting in a fishingboat we set off for the hunt and we weren’t the only one. It was insane, the sheer amount of boats that were out there with tourists looking for dolphins. It seemed like every boat that could float and has a motor fitted on the back was looking for those cute little mammals. Anyway we did see several but getting a proper photo is quite hard. I must admit that I was more impressed by our sun then the dolphins. The rest of that day was filled with sleeping on the beach. On our last day together we arranged a day worth of sightseeing with our personal chauffeur and visited Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, a twinlake, a very impressive waterfall, hot springs and another temple (forgot the name). The next morning it was time for goodbyes as I was going to Kuta and leaving Bali the next day and Nikki & Josje were going to Padangbai. Thanks girls for the great company and for testing out the Jaffles

Now that I’m home again it’s time to find work and then get my own apartment in Rotterdam. It was fun travelling for a longer period and I’ll certainly miss the freedom, the people and the adventures but it’s time for a new adventure called a career. I’ll probably start blogging about non-travel experiences soon, although some of the upcoming posts will be a more general look at Australia, my travelling through Syria (back in 2008) and the experience of travelling alone. So I won’t be offended to much if you unsubscribe.

Photo gallery of Bali & Gili Trawangan

But lets not dwell to much on why I’m going, I’d rather talk about what I’ve done in Western Australia in the last 2 months. After getting the plane at 5 in the morning (mental note, never do that again Graham!) at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport I arrive in Perth where Els was waiting for me at domestic arrivals. After saying hello, which I could only barely hear because of one of my ears was still adjusting after landing. We got my bags and made our way to the car.

Els is a friend of my parents they met in the seventies. She immigrated from The Netherlands to Australia back in 1977 with her family. My mom even babysat her two kids (Pauline & Miriam). Both have kids of their own now. Pauline has 2 boys and one girl and Miriam has a girl and a boy. Pauline’s daughter is a professional surfer and is sponsored by Billabong. She’s abroad very often. Pauline’s son Luke is very much into football (soccer for some people) and wants to go to Europe for a professional career.

After Els drove me to her home, which is rather nice, she shows me to my room. Bigger than my first room in Rotterdam (that was 2 metre by 3 metre) and no sharing like in a hostel where I’ve stayed the last months. So I even have a private shower and toilet for once. Pretty sweet! The next day we go to Kings Park. A very nice park indeed. With a great view over the CBD (Central Business District of Perth). We walk through the park and even did a treetop walk.

Els lives near the Hepburn Heights Conservation Area which is quite large area of bushland with lots of kangaroos. Besides a bushland for kangaroos and a great place to walk & run through it’s also a cemetery. At first you would think this a strange thing but it’s actually quite a nice idea I think. And totally not as creepy as most cemeteries are. I also run for the first time in Perth, about 8K from where I’m staying to the beach and back.

On the Monday we go to Geraldton to visit Miriam, Grant, Jai and Ashley. It’s a bit of a drive, taking us roughly 5 hours (425 KM) but than everything in WA is quite a long drive away or as they say “just down the road”. We leave early in the morning and take the scenic route called the Indian Ocean Drive which runs along side the Indian Ocean (duh). It takes us past a Traveling Sanddune and we stop in Nambung National Park to see The Pinnacles. Which are these amazing looking outcrops of rock formations (and me).

During the week that we stay in Geraldton, Grant even takes me with him to work. Which is not a deskjob or at least not all the time. He’s a agronomist in the Geraldton area which is part of the wheat belt of WA. He consults with farmers on how and when to start seeding for crops, what to do about weeds and insects. On the second day he took me with him he teaches me about some of the basics that his work entails. We dig around in the dirt to see if the soil still holds moisture, which is mostly does. The top soil however is dry as a desert. He takes me back to Geraldton and then it’s time to explore this city on the run. On my second run I also stop by the HMS Sydney memorial. On my last days in Geraldton we celebrate Ashley’s fifth birthday with a great looking cake made by Miriam. The day after Els takes me to the museum in Geraldton which has a vast collection of the many VOC ships including the Batavia and Zeewyk that hit reefs or perished in other ways of the coast of Geraldton. It seems the Dutch had a vast history with Australia even before we started migrating to it.

On our way back to Perth we stop at my first roadhouse and I see a cattle truck and also a roadtrain (truck with 3 trailers) both of which are quite common in WA. After arriving in Perth I prepare for a interview at KPMG, which some might know. I pull out all the stops on this one with a rented suit as I really need a job. The interview goes quite well but in the end I don’t get it which is a bit of a downer. I do however achieve my first 13+ K run which lifts my spirit a bit. CBD of Perth is tiny compared to Melbourne but it does sport some good museums and Northbridge is good place to hangout with lots of tiny shops.

We also visit the port south of Perth called Fremantle. It’s a very cultural place with one of the bigger harbours. Especially the Friday-Saturday-Sunday market is a nice place to visit. We also visit a museum here that houses a part of the Batavia ship. On my 30th birthday Els even gets me some chocolates and a CD. I go to the CBD during the day and treat myself to a movie and such.

In the last week in Perth I’ve booked my flight back to The Netherlands via Bali. Got lots of tips for Bali from my friends (Thanks!). And even used my newly acquired fencing skills for a new fence in Els’s backyard as it was due for a new one. Where she also has a good amount of common blue-tongue lizards (video). I walked around the bush nearby a couple of times and snapped some more pictures of the kangaroos (video).

Although I would have liked to stay longer in Australia I’m very glad with what I’ve seen and the new friends I made. I’ll probably post about the highlights after I’ve returned home. During my stay in WA I was welcomed as one of the family and that’s something I’ll always appreciate. Thanks to Els and the Burggraaf, Palmateer & Thompson family! You were great hosts. And if you ever drop by The Netherlands, don’t be a stranger.

Check out some more photos I made in Western Australia.

Great Ocean Road
On the first week of March I took Matthew and Emma up on there invite for the Great Ocean Road which I told you about in my first blog about Melbourne. Luke, one of several cooks at the hostel, also came with us for a 2 day trip on the road.

Early in the morning Matthew, Emma, Luke and I headed out and start our journey in Torquay where the Great Ocean Road begins near Bells Beach we took a short break from our drive down from Melbourne and enjoyed a bit of the view. At the official start we snapped some touristy photos but also read up on the history of the road. Did you know that the Great Ocean Road is the biggest war memorial in the world stretching across 243 kilometres of road.

Heading further down the road we took a sidetrip that turns out to be a very good one. In the Great Otway National Park we go down towards Erskine Falls. A little water fall with a 30 metre drop. However before we headed to the waterfall Matthew and I go in the opposite direction. Mostly because of this sign that just taunts us. That and me laughing in the face of danger these days after the Overland Track We head towards the Strawfalls that look less impressive but it’s a good walk, even on my Converse shoes. When we get back to Emma and Luke we find a tiger snake (at least we think it is) near the Erskine Falls. It seems to be dead which is the preferred state in which to find a snake, although Matthew goes in for a closer examination with stick in hand. I took some pictures of Matthew with the dead snake which he even picks up but won’t put around his neck.

On the road again we head for Apollo Beach which is quite beautiful even with the rainy weather. And after a walk around the beach and town we get back in the car for Cape Otway. This is the location of the lighthouse where the Australian TV series Round the Twist was recorded. A series which I used to watch all the time, you might remember the theme song. Pity that they charge 20 dollar for a view of it! Somewhat deterred we drove on but soon we saw Koala’s in every gumtree (eucalyptus trees) and so we stopped and admired the Koala’s instead. Some eating the leaves, while others were sleeping. Our biggest surprise was a Koala that was just sitting in the middle of the road. We even had to direct traffic around the little creatures while we made some more pictures.

As our first day on the road winds down we set up our tents near Johanna Beach between Apollo Beach and Port Campbell. Setting up takes a while because of the strong winds but we manage it in the end. We decide to get a bite to eat in Apollo Beach and on the drive over I finally see my first Kangaroo in Australia! Somehow it makes me hungry and we decide on eating some Kangaroo filet…very jummy!

The last day on the Great Ocean Road we had several stops along the way, hopping in and out of the car was a great exercise. We started off with one of the most famous, The Twelve Apostles (which has a great warning sign), where we got fairly early as Pat from Lords Lodge recommended. This way we avoided the many tourist buses that visit this spot after 9 am. After The Twelve Apostles we saw the Blowhole, Port Campbell where we had an amazing full English breakfast, London Bridge we met somebody who was actually there when it fell down, at The Grotto Matthew and I climbed over the wall and looked around a bit at the little lake and sea (did some graffiti there) and Emma made a nice photo of us guys. Finally we made it to Port Ferry a nice little town with a reservation for wildlife on Griffiths Island including Swamp Wallabies (video) and a Shearwater colony of about 30.000.

After having some fish & chips we set out for the last part of the journey, back to Melbourne. In the next days Emma & Matthew prepared for their journey to Indonesia but not before we head down town for a fun night of music trivia. We end up getting two jugs of beer. One of them for free (Thanks Pat!) and other because Matthew did the best Eddie Van Halen impersonation ever!

Working in Melbourne
After Tasmania I was trying to find some work in Melbourne. I really wanted to find some IT related work because having work experience in a foreign country would look good on my CV, especially if I get a reference out of it. But after several weeks of searching and replying I gave up and found a little cash-in-hand job (Thanks Tobias) working for a French Antique dealer. Thanks to Erik the owner I got some cash which made life in Melbourne a bit easier and also learned a bit more French while working with Brice. The work included moving, polishing, waxing and cleaning antique furniture. And in the end it was good physical work. Besides, we got free lunch at Minimo on Sydney Road almost everyday. A great little lunch room in Brunswick. I especially liked the burger with chilli jam on top.

It was good lending a hand and with the money I went to my first every Australia Football League (AFL) game on Thursday with about 10 other backpackers from the hostel. It was great fun and the game is quite easy to understand and very exciting especially towards the end.

On Sunday as a last minute decision I made up my mind and bought a general admission ticket for The Grand Prix of Melbourne. As the hostel was a 10 minute walk from Albert Park where Grand Prix was held it should have been an easy decision to begin with. I can still remember seeing Ayrton Senna as a little kid, driving amazing in his F1 car. But seeing and especially hearing it in real life was an awesome experience. I ended that day with a concert. Charlie & Catherine took me to see Bonjah at Northcote Social Club. Which was a great concert. Later I got the album but it doesn’t really compare to a live concert of Bonjah. Thanks to Charlie for the introduction to Bonjah and the laughs Catherine!

Last days in Melbourne
After my last week at work I decided that it was time to move on, even though I would be missing all the new friends I made in Melbourne. But before I left Melbourne I wanted to experience the WWOOFing thing in Australia. Basicly it’s accommodation and food in exchange for working on a farm. With the help of Virginie (French girl I met in the Hostel) I decided to e-mail some of the farmers in the Kyneton area (about 1 hour away from Melbourne by train). And after a few days I ended up with a place to stay and work for two weeks. Just a few days before my flight to Perth.

Before I tell you about my WWOOF experience I did have a few more days in Melbourne left which I spend mostly lazying about and going to the beach. Most of the time we went to Sandringham beach but because Catherine wanted to see the beach houses at Brighton Beach we ended up going there instead with bunch of us including the Flemish Isabelle. And that was certainly a good idea, the view from the beach towards the city with the beach houses was very nice! And ending the day with a beautiful sunset.

Another fun event at the hostel was the dressup party we had to celebrate the birthday of Douglas. Everybody got dressed up as something starting with the letter D. I dressup as Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory while other had their own goofy outfits. It was all good fun but getting the orange spray out of my hair took a long time

On the last day at the hostel I decide to visit the chiropractor as my back was killing me. When I walked I could feel pain coming and going in BOTH my arms, which as the chiropractor told me (and I guessed) isn’t very good. Especially running (even though I just did a 10 K a week before) hurt a lot so I decided to take it easy for a few weeks with that. Thankfully the Flemish chiropractor helped me with my back issues while we spoke a mix of Dutch and English.

After my back breaking Catherine, Charlie, Isabelle, Melany, Melanie, Amy-Rose and I went for some drinks on the last day of Isabelle and me in Melbourne. After some lame speech on my part we had a good laugh and finish our drinks at the bar in the middle of the Yarra river.

Working on a farm
After a long farewell in the evening of 12th of March I left for Southern Cross station with Isabelle. She would be going to Perth as I went with the Vline train to Kyneton for my 2 weeks of WWOOFing. After having a short lunch we said goodbye and I got on the train to Kyneton, which is about 85 kilometres to the north from Melbourne.

At the station I got picked up by Ari (the owner of the farm) and Amalia (the other WWOOFie). We drove back to the farm and Amalia took me down to the animals. They have 11 sheep including one ram and two lambs, 3 cows, 22 chickens which we count every night due to foxes and snakes, 6 very stubborn ducks, 2 horses, 2 cats and 2 dogs. I’m not counting the kangaroos that seem to be hopping about just after dawn and before dusk. Sometimes even giving a boxing show. And then there were the birds of course.

The sheep and the horses were very friendly. After a while you start to remember their faces and sometimes even names but two weeks isn’t enough to remember all the sheep names. Besides feeding the animals there is loads to do around the farm. A typical day start with me digging a trench on two sides of the main house as deep as the foundation goes. This is due to the rain that in winter seeps into the house that only has an outerwalls. By digging two trenches around the house we should eventually direct the water away from the house.

After Amalia is finished milking the animals and feeding the chickens & ducks she calls me for breakfast. We either eat muesli or oats with very fresh milk and home made bread. Almost everything on the farm is homemade which requires a lot of work but taste a lot better. I’ll definitely buy a bread machine when I get home! They also had a wide selection of jams, my favourite being fig jam. And I even made feta cheese from sheep’s milk!

One of my first activities during the evening was the crushing of apples into apple juice for cider with a apple juicer but it seems my allergy for apples went on overdrive with this activity. Normally when I eat apples the roof of my mount and my lips go itchy and would sometimes cause me to sneeze. But with the apple juicing my eyes & nose went into full blown allergy mode. Something I haven’t had since I was a child and back then it was due to hayfever. So after a short lunch I decide I would finish the juicing but not repeat it another day. Apple picking didn’t cause so much grief. And on one of the more rainy days, we mostly had sunshine during my stay, Amalia and I picked apples. This was good fun as we could chuck the rotten, semi-eaten, or insect infected ones over to the chicken coop.

Another job on the farm required Ari and me to fence of an area down the farm with chickenwire. A tougher job than the juicing, especially in the hot weather but interesting as well. I even saw a fox running near the stream that runs along side the farm. A beautiful animal but a nuisance to farmers, which they are allowed to shoot. The toughest job I did must have been the digging of two 60 cm deep pole sized holes for fencing. Although the special equipment helped a lot here it was still a very sweaty job.

Before sunset we would gather all the animals again and move them back into their paddocks. This was mostly done by using animal feed and sometimes as a treat we gave the horses apples and bread to the cows. After checking if all the chickens and ducks were there we would close the coop, although we even did that when the ducks were still swimming near the dam. They are bloody stubborn those ducks!

A short video of our evening routine below:

Then it was finally time for dinner. It was mainly Amalia that cooked but Ari would sometimes wipe up some amazingly good Mexican food. Amalia made a lot of different things and I especially liked her coriander soup, spaghetti bolognese and her chocolate fudge brownies which were gone in a few days! I made a big batch pesto from scratch so we could eat that several times and also made spicy omelets.

My back got a lot better on the farm and so I decide on a run through the area around the farm. Especially because Turpin Falls is so close to the farm, which I visited on my second run. I didn’t see any snakes or spiders on my run but I saw several kangaroos hopping away while I came closer and even a Echidna. I did finally see a Redback when we moved a bathtub to be used as a drinking troff.

Although the farm is great fun it’s good to head out some of the time. Especially for Amalia who has been on the farm for 3 months to get her second year visa. So when we had to do shopping we would go to Kyneton which is a town close to the farm. It even has some really nice shops that sell antique furniture of which I now know a little more.

We even tried to escape the farm to see a movie in the neighbouring town of Castlemaine. After an hour driving however we found out that it was sold out and we ended up going back to the farm. We did however see a fun movie there, ‘Tamara Drewe’.

During my two weeks at the farm I also get to see Viriginie again as she is working on a WWOOF farm near Kyneton. So after some Facebook messages we decide to have lunch together at her farm. We eventually found the farm after visiting two wrong ones and met Virginie and the other WWOOFie Marianna. The lunch was amazing. Wine, chicken, spinach salad with pinenuts, potatoes and more (thanks girls, we really needed that). And after lunch we got a tour of their farm. The farm is quite professional and consists of 300+ sheep, sheep dogs, 3 horses, lots of chickens, etc. Their accommodation is also a bit warmer than ours, as it gets quite cold during the nights (5 degrees is normal).

But the most fun was our little trip to Bendigo on the Easter weekend. Getting the Vline train in the morning was however a bit of a challenge as we needed to feed the animals early and do most of our chores before we could leave. As bats out of hell we jump into the Ute and head for the trainstation in Kyneton. We made it with minutes to spare and had a bit of a breather on the platform.

In Bendigo we headed for the Chinese district where they hold a Chinese New Year of sorts. We didn’t see much of it however because most of our view was obscured. The event wasn’t thought out very well because most people seem to be hanging from trees or standing on plants to get a view of the stage. Basicly the tribune is just way to small. After an hour we end up going for a bite to eat and walking down towards the park. During which we heard an awesome sound of bats taking flight. In the park itself there was a fire engine ride for kids and parents. Somehow Amalia got me on this ride but don’t ask me how. Eventually it’s time for us to part ways as Amalia is staying for a couple more days and I need to go back to the farm again.

On my last days on the farm we said goodbye to Amalia who left for Bendigo again. Afterward she did the Great Ocean Road in reverse and is now travelling through New Zealand. Thanks Amalia for everything! I also would like to thank Christine and Ari for their hospitality and taking me into their house for two weeks. I learned a lot during my short stay.

After leaving the farm I only stayed in Melbourne for one more night and flew to Perth the next day. Hopefully you will not have to wait two months again for my next post though as I will be letting you in on my travel plans in the next one.

Here are the links to the photo galleries of Melbourne, Great Ocean Road and Langley.

So as you read before in the previous post I was enjoying Melbourne and preparing for Tasmania and The Overland Track in particular. Pity Mieke couldn’t come along because of a surprise visit from a certain some one. So it was Alexa and me that would be traveling to Tasmania.

In the days preceding our flight to Tassie, as the locals call it, we got ourselves food consisting of instant noodles, tomato sauce, rice, crackers, tea, coffee, carrots, chocolate spread, cheese, sausage and finally lots AND lots of muesli bars. We bought some special camping gear as well. Mostly for cooking though, like a burner plus aluminum pots and finally two rollup camping mats for inside the tent. Although we had looked for a proper tent in Melbourne and Alexa even got one for free, we decided on renting one in Tasmania. This was decided rather quickly after pitching the free tent and finding some food remains inside that would probably have eaten us had we ever tried to sleep in it.

So most of the shopping done we headed for Tullamarine airport on Saturday the 12th. The flight was quite straight forward to Launceston in Tasmania. It took about an hour to get there. Quite similar to the flight from Schiphol to London. Although at the end when we started our descent we experienced some turbulence and to make it even more fun just before landing, the plane made a nice little turn about 250 meters from the ground. So all in all short flight with an interesting landing.

Launceston itself is a quaint town. It consists mostly of churches, baby stores and bottle shops. The latter being a store where you buy your alcohol. They have them all over and some even with a drive-in. When we got to our hostel Hub Backpackers there was nobody at the reception or anybody that knew about our booking. So eventually we got a good discount and a room to ourselves. This was due to a guy that was a bit drunk. Over the few days that we stayed there we probably saw four other backpackers. It was mostly a ghost hostel. Bit creepy really. But after getting settled in the hostel we contacted Douglas Snare from Backpackers Equipment. Here we rented our tent and 2 pairs of water & wind proof trousers.

On Monday we set off early from Launceston grabbing the Tassielink (bus) to Cradle Mountain visitor center. After little over an hour the bus driver pulled over because the bus alarm was going off. He looked quite worried and tried to fix the problem himself but failed to do so. After talking on the phone for ages with a mechanic we eventually set out again although quite delayed and without air-conditioning. After a few more hours we eventually got to the visitor center and after writing some postcards we took the shuttle bus to Ronny Creek. The classic beginning of The Overland Track.

Day 1 (Monday): Cradle Valley to Waterfall Valley Hut
Distance: 10,4 KM / Time: 6,5 hours
Our first day on the track. As I said starting from Ronny Creek to walk through Cradle Valley to Waterfall Valley Hut. It started off quite well over level terrain for the first kilometer or so but soon we had started to climb towards Crater Lake and afterwords Marions Lookout. A lot of effort went into this, especially with a 20+ KG backpack (most of it being food) which means a lot of sweating going up hill. But more on the backpack later. Eventually we got to Kitchen Hut. Just before the sidetrack to Cradle Mountain the track moves NNE. We didn’t do much of the sidetracks that meant us going up a mountain. This was due to Alexa’s bad knee from an accident a year ago and my slight foot injury. But that didn’t mean we had no fun at all. The scenery was amazing during the change in height. And especially the lakes on our first day were very impressive. Only downside of the track were the March Flies. These are even more irritating than mosquitos and that’s saying a lot. But besides insects you see a lot of animals along the track. Mostly after dusk around the camp/hut sites. Most of which are either Bennett’s wallaby’s, Tasmania pademelon or black currawong. I did however also see the short-beaked echidna, common ringtail possum, Tasmanian Froglet, Tasmanian tree skink and a pair of Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagles high in the mountains.

I missed out on the Tasmanian Devil and Platypus which was a shame. But I might still get lucky with the Platypus when I go down from Cairns to Brisbane in a few months time.

Eventually we reach Waterfall Valley Hut and tried to erect the tent we rented and hadn’t previously tried out. It took some time but managed it and this before sunset. Fun thing is that we found the manual in German and extra tent pegs the next day.
After the tent it was time for food and that meant noodles. Which tasted quite good but that might have been because of the walk. Cooking with the camping gear and propane burner went quite well, although Alexa did the cooking. To end the first day on the track we downed a bit of the worst bourbon ever…Jim Beam.

Oh and did I mention we had a few muesli bars along the way? We bought about 48 of them for quick energy along the way.

Day 2 (Tuesday): Waterfall Valley Hut to Windermere Hut
Distance: 7,0 KM / Time: 3,5 hours
Before I start with our second day on the track, the night was quite rough. Mostly due to the ditch I was sleeping in and how cold it gets in our tent. The next nights we slept in the huts to avoid being cold and sore all over. But it was quite nice to go for a walk around 3 am in the morning. Seeing the stars and the wildlife while using my headlight.

We had some breakfast before we set out and I talked to one of the rangers at Waterfall Valley hut about my backpack. Like I mentioned it was quite heavy with supplies but it didn’t feel right on my back and hips. So with some help from the ranger (Thanks Ian) we adjusted the backpack and it felt so much better carrying it around while most of the weight was on my hips, instead of my shoulders.

On the way to Windermere Hut we made a sidetrack to Lake Will (Distance: 4,8 KM / Time: 2 hours return). A nice lake with a view towards Barn Bluff. It also had a two nice beaches, the second one being the nicest (just 10 minute walk further). We stayed there for a bit and even put our feet into the lake which was very very cold but nice (March Flies notwithstanding). The track this day was quite nice as it didn’t involve much climbing. This was very nice for me as I seem to sweat very easily and thus need to drink more water than Alexa on tough terrain. A lot of other people on the track wear an underskin kind of silk softshell to keep warm and stay dry which prevents the sweat from getting into your normal clothes. That might be something I should buy next time I do a track like this.

After arriving at Windermere Hut we made dinner with the last bit of pepperoni sausage, tomato sauce and rice. This helped a lot with our fatigue and thus we walked back to Lake Windermere where I had a swim.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Windermere Hut to Pelion Hut
Distance: 14,2 KM / Time: 6 hours
Another long day that took us 6 hours to do with a short sidetrip to River Forth Lookout (Distance: 100 M / Time: 5 minutes return) which gave us a great view over a deep forested valley below. This day marks the first with mist and a bit of rain every now and again. The previous two being very sunny which in part slowed us down a lot. Most of the track was through forested areas and that meant a lot of roots and mud that we needed to walk over.

Pelion Hut is quite a good walk away but after pushing on at a steady pace we reach it at last. The Hut is one of the biggest on the track and although the rollup mats we bought back in Melbourne are the worst thing ever it’s good to be able to sit down and talk to fellow travellers that are doing the track. Most of which are from Australia, with here and there an exception, like a woman on her own from South-America.

I even got to talk to Geoff Mallinson from a town North of Sydney that is doing the track on minimalistic shoes. Weighing 190 gram with a sole of 3 millimeter in the front and 6 millimeter in the back. And as minimalistic footwear has gotten very interesting to me (ever since I made the switch) he pointed me towards a site he runs with Damien Tougas called toesalad.com about minimalistic footwear.

Day 4 (Thursday): Pelion Hut to Kia Ora Hut
Distance: 8,2 KM / Time: 3 hours
We did two days of the track (day 4/5) which meant a total distance of 16.8 KM. It started with rain when we set out on the track towards are half way marker Kia Ora Hut. A real rainy day! No sidetrack today or at least no big ones anyways as we had a lot of distance to cover. After about an hour we took out our raingear which meant my poncho for Alexa. It looked cute although it was more like a tent than a poncho for her.

Although the rain was disappointing, it did mean that we got lots of cool pictures, with the misty rain in the morning. But it also brought with it leeches in the forest that seemed to like my calves and so they ended up a bit bloodied…the calves not the leeches

A good thing we reached Kia Ora Hut when we did because around this time the heavens seemed to open up just when we sat down for some more noodles.

Day 4 (Thursday – continued): Kia Ora Hut to Windy Ridge Hut
Distance: 8,6 KM / Time: 3,5 hours
Some muesli bars later, we walked through part of the forest before Windy Ridge Hut where I took a slight detour alone to Sidetrip: D’Alton Falls (Distance: 80 M / Decent: 1,0 KM / Time: 1 hour return). After getting back to the main track I set out for Windy Ridge again which took me quite some time along more tree roots and mud.

After getting to Windy Ridge we met a couple from Brisbane and talked about everything that has happened to Queensland in the last months. Although I have forgotten their names they were very friendly and even asked me for my e-mail address because they might have some IT work for me.

Day 5 (Friday): Windy Ridge Hut to Narcissus Hut
Distance: 9,5 KM / Time: 2,5 hours
We set out very early today to reach the ferry in time which is the classic way of ending the track and work through our last batch of muesli-bars which I swear I’ll never eat again and so Alexa ate the last ones. We cover the last part of The Overland Track fairly quickly and reach Narcissus Hut. Here we radio the ferry which has 2 spots open on the 11.15 ride across St. Claire Lake to the visitor center on the other end of the lake.

But before the ferry comes I jump into the lake which seems to be a bit of a tradition as a lot of guys do this. But then again it might be due to the lack of showering for 5 days.

Narcissus Hut to Cynthia Bay via Lake St. Clair
Distance: 400 M / Time: 5 minute walk, 30 minute ferry ride
The ferry ride is a beautiful way to end The Overland Track. And at the end we only need to wait 9 hours for the Tassielink to Hobart. Although the waiting is some what less boring when somebody sees a Tiger Snake near one of the picnic tables. Afterwards I meet a Canadian couple, Adam and Chrissy, from Edmonton in Alberta. Sharing some stories about The Overland Track, daily life, movies, travel and work. And Adam ruined the ending to Hamlet for me. The time does go faster this way though.

Total distance: 63,28 KM / Total time: 28 hours and 10 minutes

After reaching Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania, we stayed for 5 nights and on the fourth day we ended up renting a car to drive to Freycinet National Park on the east coast of Tasmania. We is a strong word here by the way as Alexa does the driving and I must say she does this quite well. Although hitting the windscreen wiper control instead of the indicator happens a lot Seeing Wineglass Bay from the lookout point and finally finishing our visit with the lighthouse at Cape Tourville.

Last Tuesday night I got back from Tasmania. The flight this time being very smooth. I’m back in the same hostel, room and bed in Melbourne, which is like a home away from home. The last days I haven’t done much besides running around Albert Lake with some British girls & finally managed an 8 K run, went out once or twice, applied for a dozen IT related jobs and learned to make scrambled eggs with a microwave. The last being quite a handy and even tasty thing because most of the pans are missing the teflon layer and end up eating most of my eggs.

So as you can read I’m still fine in Oz and enjoyed The Overland Track and Tasmania immensely. Now however it’s time to look for work here in Melbourne as funds are running a bit low. I want to say thanks to Alexa for coming with me on The Overland Track and to Catherine whom helped proof read this rather lengthy post. Thanks girls!

More photos of Tasmania here