Hong Kong

My view of Hong Kong was mainly built by the old James Bond movies before that visit. I have to admit, things changed a lot in the last 40 years šŸ™‚

The city is much more cleaner than I expected. If there weren’t Chinese people everywhere you could be also in one of the major cities in Europe.

Our hotel, the Harbour Grand, was located on the Kowloon site direct at the sea. We had a very nice few to the Hong Kong side from the hotel. On the first day of our visit, we went for the Hong Kong side, mainly the Peak. After 90 min in the queue at the tram station we decided to stay and wait for sun set šŸ™‚

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The second day we spent on the Kowloon site. One of my goals was to get some nice shoots of typical Hong Kong / Asian things. The colorful ads were very special.

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Iā€™m not sure if Swiss workers would walk on these bamboo scaffolds!?!

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After the laser show, itā€™s time to say good bye. Tomorrow morning we have to get up 5.30 to catch the plain to London šŸ™

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Sydney

Before we leave Australia we want to see Stefan and Yoshies new place. They moved into a new apartment in the mean time.

After we arrived in the afternoon, Susi did some laundry under assistance of Kaya while the men organized a nice bbq šŸ™‚

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On the second day in Sydney, we want to checkout the huge shopping mal in Parametta. Yoshie und Kaya joined us later after lunch. Afterwards we all went together to the Olympic Park were we had dinner.

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For the last day, we went to down town by the ferry. This was a very nice ride and it wont take much longer then by train which was very surprising for us.

Waiting for the ferry

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On the ferry

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At darling harbour we jumped outā€¦

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ā€¦and went to the Sydney Aquarium.

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And last but no least, we had to have a look at the Opera šŸ™‚

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Melbourne

Since we missed Melbourne the last time in 2008, this time we really want to have a look at it.

In the city center

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On the skydeck(88th floor!)

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Next to our hotel, there was china town.

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Great Ocean Road, Part 3

Driving on the cost is probably the most scenic part on the trip from Adelaide to Melbourne. The cost is so beautiful, especially if the sun was shining between the clouds šŸ™‚

At different scenic lookouts along the rode

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at Twelve Apostles

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Koalas on the streetside on the way to Cape Otway Lighthouse

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Shot of the cost with evening light and lots of moisture in the air, probably from the very rough sea on that day

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And finally, we stopped a Torquay VIC. One of the top spots for surfers from all over the world. Instead of taking some surf lessons like in Maui we spent the time with shopping in all these nice stores ā€¦

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Great Ocean Road, Part 2

After we left Mount Gambier we did short excursion to the Glenelg National Park were we have been lucky to see some nice birds šŸ™‚

At Lower Glenelg National Park

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The next stop is Portland. The weather is still terrible. But, we get rid of all the cyclists on the road which slows down traffic very much:-) Portland is a small nice town and the owners of the motel are very friendly. So we went out for walk after we checked in according to the directions we got from themĀ Ā  .Ā  That was a pretty nice walk in the Cape Nelson State Park.

We saw a handful of Wallabies and and the light house is scenic too.

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Great Ocean Road, Part 1

ā€¦ or how do you get from Adelaide to Melbourne.

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After we left Hahndorf, we drove down on the Princess highway to Mount Gambierā€™s. The weather was pretty nice on that day. It was cold, but sunny. I had a nearly accident with a snake in the Coorong National Park, but fortunately the snake went into the bush before I stepped on it.

Our Subaru Outback, Susi in action

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Lookout at Coorong NP, Giant Lobster at Kingston
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When we arrived at Mount Gambierā€™s it started raining and we figured out, that there were bicyclists everywhere. It was hard to find some place for dinner in town. Later we were told that this was the beginning of the RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride. Around 6000 people joined that ride, wow! The next morning we went up to blue lake. Unfortunately the tour started up there as well šŸ™Ā  It was terrible raining and around 10 degrees; and these poor guys were on a 9 day trip from Mount Gambierā€™s to Melbourne. For no money in the world it would have changed with them…

More information about the ride: http://www.sustainablemelbourne.com/events/ride-the-great-ocean-road-the-racv-great-victorian-bike-ride/

Port Adelaide – Hahndorf

Before driving further from Adelaide to Hahndorf, we did a short excursion to Port Adelaide. It seems that there is not a lot of action during the week. šŸ™

@ the light house / on the beach

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Hahndorf is small touristic village in the Adelaide Hills and was built up arround 1883 by German migrants. The German influence is still recognizable. Everything looks like in Bavaria.

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For dinner, we went to the German Arms Hotel. We have been lucky, because it was Schnitzel Night: Every Schnitzel for only 10AUS$!
The Schnitzels there are huge, but we didnā€™t understand how you can order such crazy toppings like gravy, or ā€œHawaiianā€ with your Schnitzel!?!?