Welcome to Middle Earth OR "not an other bloody waterfall"

Probably you have heard a lot of stories about New Zealand – and yeah, they are all true. This country is probably the most diverse country I have seen so far: One day you are lying on a gorgeous beach, the next day you explore the glaciers and the third day you hike down the rainforest.

I started my trip in Queenstown, but quickly travelled on to Te Anau, starting point for the Milford Track. Wow, this track was amazing: This 4 day hike takes you to high mountains areas, rain forests, fantastic rivers and waterfalls and finally ends up in Milford Sound, part of the Fjordland National Park. You spend the nights in lovely huts, but have to be self sufficient, what means that you have to carry all your food for the whole 4 days. Milford Sound itself is just amazing: You can take a look up to the glaciated mountains high above the fjord, the water of the glaciers forms dozens of waterfalls which finally drop deep into the sea. And as an additional extra, seals and dolphins escort you on your journey ;)

My next stop was the east coast of the South island, the so called Catlins coast. This area is called the forgotten part of New Zealand, and in fact, there were very few tourists there. Perfect to relax and enjoy the raw coast line together with the sheeps.

By the moment I am in Fox Glacier Village. Yesterday I went Ice Climbing on the Fox Glacier, quite a exciting experience (I still don’t fully trust these ice screws..). The glaciers here in NZ are quite different to your glacier – pretty steep, sourrounded by rainforest and the moraine ends just a few kilometres in front of the coast.

Today is just a day to hang out, it’s quite cloudy and on Christmas Day everything is closed and no buses are going - so I am stuck in this small village, forced to calm down a little bit ;) Tomorrow my trip will go on to the Abel Tasman National Park – I am really looking forward to that….

I wish all of you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Probably this will be my last blog, I return to Austria beginning of January. Hope you enjoyed me blog, it was quite a bit of work ;)
See you!
Andi

I have added some photos from NZ...-> Photo Albums

Good bye Sydney

My dear friends,

Four mounths ago I came to Australia, full of excitement, insecurity and thoughts. And right now at this moment I am sitting in a Starbucks cafe in the middle of Sydney thinking about what to write about my last days of my time here down under. It's incredible how fast time passed!

I am looking back on a great time, more than I ever expected. I got to know so many new people here, of some of them I have already forgotten the names, some became real friends. I have seen so much beauty and got to know so much new things. Of course it has not always been easy, I had ups and also downs, but that's how life is working! I am really happy that I had the oportunity to experience all these things and I know that this is not self-evident.

From the medical point of view it also was a good experience, though not excellent. Maybe I would have learnt more in an Austrian hospital (I doubt at all...) - However, I still believe that experience abroad is so important for your social and personal development, probably more important than just professional experience.

I have added a new photoalbum with some of my favourite pics and latest shots - hope you enjoy them as I did.

Tomorrow I will travel on - New Zealand I am coming! I will only check out the South Island - already wondering if the New Zealand alps can cope with the Austrian Alps. ;)
First stop is Queenstown, my take off point for the Milford track - a 4 day hike in pure wilderness - I am really looking forward to that...

Ok mates, I will keep you up to date how laid back the kiwis really are, best wishes in the meantime and of course happy x-mas!

Andi

LATEST NEWS

Bin heute um 2.46 Uhr Onkel geworden !!! Freu mich wahnsinnig auf den kleinen Julian!

Just became an uncle today !!! Looking forward to get to know little Julian soon!

Sydney - first three weeks

Hey mates,

Now I have already been in Sydney for 3 weeks...time enough to give you a short update how it's like here. In the beginning it was quite hard to be honest - everything was new again, new people, new hospital, new environment. I really had such a good time in Melbourne, so I was really missing the convenience of it, all my friends, my great apartment and even my work place there.
But - to make a long story short - I feel good now in Sydney! This city is so amazing! I just love it sitting next to the opera house, watching the sea and listen to some chilled music. I couldn't believe that a building can fascinate me in such a way, but you have to see the opera to understand what I am talking about: it's really magical!


I already have been to a concert in the Opera: The Sydney Symphony Orchestra played Rachmaninov. I went there with an italian girl - we bought 2 standing tickets for 25 bucks each, but finally we somehow ended up sitting next to Sydneys high society...:)

The cool thing about Sydney is, that it has got not only great culture but also beautiful nature spots: on the one hand there are some great beaches - I just love the waves at Manly beach - I even think about buying a surfboard :)) . Or let's take Bondi beach - it's not just a beach, it is a institution! On the other hand we have got the Blue Mountains quite close - great for relaxed bushwalking.


And my work place? Well, the hospital is quite ok, the standard is surely lower than in our hospitals or compared to the hospital in Melbourne. In the beginning my motivation was quite low (I just arrived from Cairns, so my thoughts were still under water rather than in the hospital...). But the really tried to integrate me well in the Neurology team and especially my intern is such an easy-going mate. Some days are good, some days are boring - but in all I am quite content. Next week I will switch to paediatrics, that is supposed to be busier.

The accomodation is provided by the hospital - a old brick building built somewhen in the 1950s. Quite shabby, but all the overseas students and some of the local guys are living there, so it's good fun. It's a little bit like Big Brother: there is always somebody sitting around you to chat, to go out with or to organize one of our legendary BBQ on our own terrace...

Ok, weather is gonna be fine - about 30 degrees - so I need to go now - yeah, to the beach!

See you there....

Andi

ps: check out my Sydney photo gallery...

Queensland Trip

Hey everyone!

I have already arrived in Sydney and started working there, I will tell you in the next blog how things are going on here in Sydney. a few words about my trip to Queensland first:

Ok, after a hard say good-bye to all my friends in Melbourne, Peter and me started to our Queensland adventure at 6am at Melbourne Airport.
First stop was Airlie Beach, a small backpacker town and take off point for all tours to the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays are are group of tropical islands surrounded by the prestine coral reefs of the Great barrier reef. We booked a 3 day sailing trip on the Pacific Star katamaran. Honestly, the ship was quite crappy, but it should bring us to the best places out there. And it did! We discovered the area above and under water and probably saw the best of both worlds: the amazing islands with its prestine beaches and the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. But - to be honest - the best part of all was just to relax on the boat letting the sun shine on your tummy :))


After a little bit of party in Airlie Beach we moved on to Cairns. The city itself is quite touristic and not a beauty, but that doesn't really matter, because the most interesting of Cairns is its surroundings: the Great Barrier Reef on the one side and the Daintree Rain Forest on the other hand - two world heritage parks meet in on place! One day we strolled around in the Tropical rain forest, the other day we dived with turtles, sharks, rays,....good life :)


After 8 great days we had to say good bye to the sunshine state of Queensland to head back - Peter went straight back to Melbourne and I flew directly to Sydney, where I started working with quite mixed feelings...more about that soon!

Cheers,
Andi

Leaving Melbourne

Dear friends,

Today is already my last day in Melbourne....so sad :(! I really enjoyed living here! I met such nice people, did exciting trips and worked with a great team. I really feel like I wanted to stay longer in this city...

But there is still so much in front of me: Tomorrow I will fly together with a friend I met here in Melbourne up to Queensland to catch some sun. First stop will be the Whitsundays, a group of Islands, where we will do a sailing trip and some diving as well. After that we head up to Cairns to dive the Great Barrier Reef and check out the tropical Daintree rain forest.

After this week off, I will directly fly to Sydney to start my internship there. I really hope that my time in Sydney will get as great as my time in Melbourne has been...I will keep you up to date!

Cheers,
Andi

Tasmania - my natural state

Nature!

Just returned from my trip to Tasmania. We really had a relaxing time there, Tasmania is full of wonderful nature spots and sights, just the right thing for a nature lover like me...Tasmania has got 1000 faces - wonderful beaches in the south, high mountains and rain forests in the centre and rough coasts in the north. Especially the centre is deserted, we drove for hours without seeing an other car...

We were 7 people, so we rented a minivan to travel the island. Tasmania is the farest south point of Australia, check out the map how close it is to the Southpole, so we expected it to get really cold. But in fact we were quite happy with the weather, I even got a sunburn :-)



We flew into Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, but just spent some time for breakfast there and travelled on to Port Arthur, where we visited the ruins of one of the most cruel prisons of the old British Empire. It's an amazing place and even it was abandoned in 1850, it still has got a dusky mood there.

Travelling along the coast we arrived at the Freycinet National Park. We grabbed our hiking boots and discovered this amazing place with spectacular 360 degrees views and prestine beaches.

After a short night in the backpackers, we routed into the backcountry of the island, an endless road curving up from the coast to nearly 1000m above sealevel, and finally arrived at the Cradle Mountain National Park. Ok, this was the coldest spot where I have been in Australia so far! The rangers told us that we are lucky with the weather, the days before it even snowed...Anyway, it was too cold and windy to perform our planned 6 hours hiking trip, so we just hanged out and strolled in the cool temperate rainforest.

Our last stop was the north coast at Devonport. The coast there was one of my favorites, I just could sit there for hours watching the waves breaking at the rocks...

Back in Melbourne again and already thinking about my next trip...

As you know, a photo can tell more than 1000 words, so check out the Tasmania photos