37h

I’m still in a commonwealth country, but on the other side of the world, Europe has me back. It was a long way to go; at least it felt longer than the way to Australia. Getting up at 6am I drove the McKenzie car to Brisbane, where I met Luke’s sister who took me to the airport. From there at 1.15pm to Sydney and at 4.30pm I left Australia direction Bangkok, 9h flight. I did not sleep on that one, just tried to stay awake to be able to sleep on the next flight. That one was not too bad, I had a free seat between me and the girl next to me, so we could relax a bit better and I could stand up whenever I wanted. Had some funny chat with the stewardesses and it felt quite quick that we got to Bangkok. I had a bit of a flashback on Bangkok airport, not a long time ago I’ve been there…

The next one was much longer, 13h but felt even longer. I slept quite a lot and didn’t see many movies, but I couldn’t move too much, due to a sleeping couple next to me (remember: don’t pick a window seat when you travel long). I laughed about myself at the end of the flight, I have had 13h to watch a movie, but I wasn’t able to finish it, because we were landing quite quickly ;) Was a good one: the tourist (or maybe it was not so good, my mind was just too tired to distinguish?)

Anyway, after a bus ride and a taxi I got to Tarne’s house, dropped my bags, took a shower and went to the center, I haven't had a big plan, just wander around and stay awake, which was difficult already. Nero caffe is my best friend these days ;)

I jumped off the tube at Oxford Circus and started to walk. Again no shopping but many shops I entered. I love London for its little special shops, of course you find the big stores as well, but I’ve never seen this big variety of small, cute, special not mainstream shops packed with fashion, jewelers and accessories. I kept walking, bumped into Camden town without willing it (more shops), then Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. The last time I was in London I haven’t seen any of these places, but maybe my travel experience gave me a good intuition to find the right sights. Next to Trafalgar Square I entered the National Gallery, my goal was: stay awake until 4pm, a short nap and then a run with Tarne, dinner and hit the hay.

Cool and decided to develop my cultural knowledge I entered the National Gallery, grabbed a map and went into the first of fifty something rooms stuffed with paintings. And there came the question: what is art? Many of the paintings in the National Gallery reminded me a bit of the typical Bavarian forest landscape with a dear on it… I just wandered around, looking here and there and studying the ones I kind of liked. Well and then, in room number thirty something I thought: wow, I know that one, a van Gogh, more than one actually. But the one I knew were the sunflowers, a famous piece of linen with yellow flowers.

Between van Gogh, Rembrandt and Monet I started to feel a bit dizzy, well, actually not a bit, I could have sat down on one of the banks and passed out without any problem. But I didn’t. I was just admiring the museums’ guards. They are sitting in room for I have no idea how many hours and just observe and prevent that someone touches the paintings. They reinforced my will to stay awake, I think they were almost as tired as I was, but couldn’t even move around! It felt a bit like an Ironman marathon, when every part of your body is hurting already but you keep going, because you’re decided to get to the finish line. My finish line was 4pm. And I did it. Well, I went almost to every room of the Gallery, one of them made me feel really bad, a modern artist whose name I can’t remember, had painted heaps of circles on a big wall, black circles on white ground, looking at it the circles started to move and chaise each other, that was the point when I decided to get some water and head back home. And I did so.

I miss Australia. I’m excited to see my friends again, but I miss these smiling people and the obligatory question: Hi, how are you today? And the answer “oh, I’m fine/tired/good/whatever, how are you?” Over here the most you get is “hi” and no smile. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why people like Australia so much. It is a happy country. And happy countries make unhappy people happy.

On Thursday morning at the pool, just finished a 100m set I got pushed by a woman yelling at me “you hit me!!” I had overtaken her and touched her slightly. And I realized again: I’m a quite happy, positive person and many people aren’t. I guess somehow I mastered the part of all the self development books that say: see the challenge, not the problem.

I’m going to face lots of challenges in the next weeks. Once I get to Germany I’ll have to find out where to stay, what do to and how to move on. Since I touched European ground I start to look forward to have something like a home again. Almost 3 months living out of a backpack was fun, but I think being able to say “I’m coming home” will be a nice feeling as well. But as I said before: it’s not important where you are, it’s the people surrounding you making you feel home. But hey, a wardrobe is a nice accessory too?

The end of a big journey and the beginning of a new one

I’m sitting @ Brisbane Airport, after a long travel thru Australia and to myself. Right now it feels quite unreal that I’m leaving, this place has become home for a while and I don’t realize how far it is from where I go to.

Since I’ve come back from Cairns I spend some days in Noosa and on Fraser Island. I missed out to see the Whitsunday Islands, so at least I went to Fraser, world heritage listed and with 123km length and 22km at its widest point the largest sand island in the world. I was lucky to get a small group of 17 people to go across the island in a 4wheel drive bus. We were also very lucky with our tour guide, a professional photographer (http://www.petermeyerphotography.com/) who lives on the island for 15 years already and got us to spots other tourist don’t go to.

lake mckenzie

driving on clouds

maheno wrack

2 days of beautiful nature, crystal clear lakes to swim and heaps of bumpy rides on the big bus. After these 2 days I spent the night in Hervey Bay to see my friend Jules race (yes the one of the tiger).

The last days were quite intense, yesterday night we had an unexpected lovely dinner at Jules’ house with a couple of friends and some good laughs, after a day on Noosa beach and last Australian fast tanning sun.

My luggage is checked already (by the way, I am a lucky person, I called Qantas about a week ago to make sure that they’d apply the British airways luggage fee and not the Qantas one), they put a remark in my booking and at the end there was such a confusion I didn’t got charged at all for my bike. Just for the record, international Qantas luggage policy could have cost me close to 1000AU$, in the best way 175AU$ for the national flight plus 40BP for the long flight to London, plus would have had to recollect and checked again. They just smiled and said, “Okay, luggage goes directly to London”. Good sign for the travel ;)

When I arrived here I was tired, confused and unsecure about what would happen during my stay. I didn’t know a lot about this country I had chosen for my journey. Today, 74 days later I’d call this place part of my heart, a second home maybe which was always good willing and kind. I am aware that I’m not only lucky with my luggage, but with so many different things:

I am lucky to know people who welcomed me with open arms and lend me their house to stay, I can’t say thank you often enough Luke and Amanda!

I’m lucky to have taken this opportunity to travel on my

own during 2,5months.

I’m lucky to have met so many lovely people, most of them I mentioned in my posts. It’s not about expanding the facebook friends list; some of them have made their way into my heart, in their very own ways and I hope to see them very soon.

I am lucky catch up with some of these guys soon in Germany, in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Roth and some places I still ignore. And not a long time to go, I’m counting the days already.

I made my journey; it was MY journey, filled with joy, sadness, smiles and great moments. I realized that you don’t need a lot to be happy. Actually, when I packed my backpack yesterday I thought that I still have too many things in there. 16kg plus the bike bag, but still too much. I haven’t bought many things here, a couple of cushion cases for my future couch, 2 t-shirts and a pair of thongs. That’s all. I could have seen a lot more of Australia, but my journey wasn’t so much about filling a list with destinations, but live the moment and be happy, prove myself and be content just with who I am.

I can’t tell where or how, but I found myself and I’m happy and good with what I found. It was a long way, I got upset and angry I cried, I laughed, trained hard, said hello and goodbye many times, I danced, ran, cycled, swam, dived and played in the sun. Somewhere in between it just happened. Maybe in the moment I stopped looking for it.

Until the moment I’ve taken 12 flights, 3 to go, spent almost 70h on planes when I’ve arrived in Spain. I’ve slept in 13 different beds (that sounds weird), I’ve packed my bike 8 times, unpacked it 7, logged 16 dives, had 3 really long nights, cycled 2300km, ran 400km and swam over 100km (and that’s pretty bad compared with my friends from Noosa). I lost my fear of flying (just proven on some heavy turbulence) and the brakes on my bike work a lot less than they did when I’ve arrived. And I’ve now been to 5 of the 5 continents.

I found out that the person I love most in the world is my brother. I’m a triathlete and a diver. I’m 80% German, 20% Spanish, I love veggies, coffee, mango smoothies and got addicted to sweet potatoes. And I love Australia.

Now I’m on my way back to Europe, can’t name it “home” right now, that’s the new journey that starts once my feet touch the ground in… I don’t even know where it starts. In London? In Malaga? When I start the long drive to Germany? Who knows, somewhere in between.

I’ve lived quite a bit in the McKenzies house, but just a few days ago I read text, posted on their fridge:

When we travel we cast off the labels that normally define us. We can re-evaluate the habits, beliefs and values that are handed down by culture. There is a moment in a good journey when you realize who you are – independently of roles, money, conveniences and comforts. That is the moment when you value yourself as “just” a human being, it is the realization that if you want to flourish, you had better start with a deep valuation of humanity. Travel is consciousness-raising. (Lindsay Oishi 2005)

I think there’s nothing more to add. But no worries, I’ll keep writing!

Cairns' Characters

Cairns, probably the best time I had in Australia, switching to low budget accommodation or no budget accommodation (last blog) and parking my triathlon me for some days on a shelf, turning on the party me. I came to Cairns after my Sydney race on Tuesday 12^th April and had planned to stay until Sunday or Monday. It turned into the other Sunday and I changed plans 100 times while I was there.

My home in Cairns was beautiful, caring and lovely Travellers Oasis, a backpackers place with tons of charm, funny paintings all over the place, a small salt water pool and 3 different little houses where you find your 3 bedroom dorm for a quiet sleep (or more intimate rooms if you pay a bit more). Not too big and not too small. You also find two kitchens, several bathrooms and showers and for triathlon weirdos like I am a storeroom where you can let your bike without any worries.

It is totally easy to meet people in these places, everyone is travelling alone; and Cairns has a special atmosphere, a small city with a beautiful climate and good vibes. I met loads of people and spent some more time with the following special characters:

Ben half Italian half American, 37, lives in London. Ben is an engineer working on projects as a freelancer, travelling for several months in between. He lives in London, good dancer, fantastic to characterize people around with. He doesn’t understand why women love the Twilight character Edward ;)

Jakob (twenty something), Denmark, bachelor finished, master to initiate. Very handsome fellow, good runner, but lazy ;)

Lewis (twenty something), Canada, studies engineer. Healthy guy, good dancer and quite mature and funny. Travels for several months as well. I’ll probably re meet him on Fraser Island.

Scott, 23, from some boring village near Cambridge/United Kingdom. Worked in retail in a stationary shop with mostly 50 year old women. A massive talker and so incredibly funny, that he should run a comedy show. Cooks all his meals, doesn’t tan (British skin) and should focus on his legs as well in the gym.

Scott was my first contact at Traveller’s Oasis, we shared a room, and now he’s working there for free accommodation. I might be wrong, but I think this guy has talent. You can’t imagine how funny can be a story about a flight with Air china and a meal on Taipei’s airport where he got served an egg which was actually brown, not white anymore, out of this ridiculous british mouth, I love it!

Scott, keep on writing your journal, you’ll need it for you show!

John, 31, Wales/United Kingdom. Works at Travellers Oasis, philosophy: work 4 years, travel 4 years. Laughed a lot with him, he liked seeing me messed up in Cairns. Anything you want to know about trips and information around Cairns, ask him! You might also see him dancing (on tables?) @ The woolshed ;) I didn’t see him by myself, but I’m pretty sure you can have a big night out with this mate.

Tobbe, 21, Sweden. One of the most relaxed and easy people I’ve met. He wants to study photography. So sweet. I actually have no idea if he has a girlfriend, but girls: watch out for this one, he’s a catch!

Marius, 26, Norway. Marius is a social worker, good photographer and I saw him as a philanthropist. He loves his job (I hope I can say that one day too). He was good for me in the way that he made me see again that it is not important how fast I swim, bike or run or if I have abs or not. I mean, I know that it’s not about that, but in this sporty world I moved for quite a bit in the last months it is easy to lose focus on what really counts. You see Marius and see this bad guy image, big piercings and tattoos, but behind that bad boy image you find a beautiful, lovely and caring person who has perfectly found his place in the world I think. Something I’m still looking for.

I am so happy that I met all these people and they made my time in Cairns unforgettable. I had great days and big nights out, got messed up, drunk and danced on tables. I needed that for my mental health, even if it’s a bit difficult right now to get back into a normal training routine. It feels a bit like leaving Cairns was the end of my long holidays; it was definitely one of the best parts and I want to come back. Maybe next year, race Challenge Cairns, store the bike and go for diving and party. Or just come back without a bike, to enjoy the city, the reef and the people. You’re gorgeous!

PS: I have to mention another character: "goon", supposed to be wine, but there are some ugly ingredients in it...

16 hour days

I’m on my way back to Cairns, after another 4 days on Reef Encounter, my big boat. The first two days I wrote about in my last post I’ve been to the boat as a passenger, this time as a hostie, or better: cheap human resource. Right now I think maybe I should live on a diving boat, every time I’m staying on board of one for some days it breaks my heart to get off.

The offer is: you work on the boat and get accommodation, food and diving for free. Good deal! Because you don’t spend any money and you safe the money you normally spend on your diving, which is not the cheapest hobby.

The day starts at 5:30h, washing glasses from the last night, ordering the sofas, setting the tables for breakfast, prepare cereals, juices, bread, spreads etc for later. Empty bins, clean toilet, start laundry cycle, clean outside windows of the boat… At 6ish the first passengers show up to have a coffee before the early morning dive, at 6:30h everyone goes diving (that’s a guaranteed one). After the dive serving breakfast, than having breakfast and cleaning breakfast, means: washing all dishes, cleaning the saloon, drying dishes, ordering everything. Good fun though, the boys put on good music and we had some sweet kitchen parties.

Talking about kitchens: I have to admit that you can’t get the quality manager out of the girl. 6 years of audits, normalization, indicators and HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) made me laugh quite a bit about the conditions we worked in. And so did the risk prevention (not existing).

Anyway… after breakfast preparations, first dive at 6.30, the early morning dive. It is my favorite dive, everything is waking up, during the dive it’s getting brighter and the colors and life of the reef is changing. And it is a beautiful way to wake up.

Diving in Queensland is extremely controlled, I’ve never seen so many restrictions, 40minutes maximum, and the night dive is limited to 30minutes and 10meters. As hosties we were  not allowed to dive with computer, we had to follow the SSI tables which are even more conservative than the PADI tables. If you burn your tables you’re not allowed to dive for 24h. It happened, Marius failed by 0,6m one day. At the end of the day it’s not too difficult, dive sites are not as deep, the deepest dive I’ve done these days was 18 and something meters.

The dives are the only free time you have as a hostie on Reef Encounter. 40minutes of relax under the water, which actually tires you as well. But it doesn’t matter, I just kept going. All day long. Cleaning rooms, doing laundry, cleaning the boat, more laundry, setting tables, serving food, cleaning dishes, cleaning the kitchen, chopping mushrooms, peeling onions, cleaning again and again and again…..

We were lucky that we could enjoy many dives these days, because it depends on the amount of work to do.  The first day I did 2 (could have done 3, but I was too tired), the second day 4 dives, the third 3 and the last day only one.

Let’s go on with the schedule: after the dive it’s breakfast time, means: eat quickly and clean everything afterwards. I stayed in the kitchen some days to help out a bit. I can’t help but compare my former work and organization with the boat. During my stay on the boat we were round about 50people eating lunch (passengers who came on the boat in the morning and the ones who leave after lunch), Marius and Tobbe told me that yesterday they had 80 passengers eating, so 2 shifts. They have one cook on the boat and no helpers. And the kitchen is tiny, but he does an awesome job!

Pretty soon after the kitchen jobs the new passengers come on board, together with the food supplies, which have to be stored. And we had to show the passengers to their rooms. Other jobs are waiting too, refreshing rooms, laundry, cleaning stuff… With a bit of luck another dive at 10.30, after that lunch preparation, lunch serving, and same procedure as before.

In the afternoon the rooms of the departed passengers had to be changed. A dive break at 3.30pm.

And then: same procedure, dinner preparation.

Night dive at around 7pm after dinner and after the nightdive desert, the 4^th kitchen cleaning in the day.

It was exhausting work. We had sometimes 5minutes to sit down and just do nothing, but very rarely. Diving is tiring, so is the work. I faced my quality manager me a couple of times! The boat and schedules are pretty well organized, but there is a lot of improvement work to do. I got very upset one day with the sheets: We had 7 rooms to change; they are on 3 different floors. The sheets are supposed to be stored in every room, but most of the cupboards were empty, so I took the sheets from the wheelhouse where we were folding the linen and towels. Some of the sheets are marked with a D or S for double and single, but not all of them. It takes a lot of time then to find the fitting sheets, the wheelhouse is like the 4^th floor, the boat is moving all the time, I got smashed a couple of times by the cupboard doors, it is hot, I wanted to do an efficient job but couldn’t. I haven’t counted the times I went the stairs up and down to get all the fitting sheets and towels in the rooms. But I remember that I was really really glad to hear the 3.30pm dive call. After the dive everything was fine.

The hostie job is challenging. But I was very lucky to have 2 super hosties on my side to work with. I don’t want to imagine what it is when the co workers are not as good as mine were. We had 2 young girlies for 2 days working as hosties, but honestly: they didn’t do anything or at least not a lot. I know I’m very demanding when it comes to work, I like to work with compromised people who show interest in what they are doing. Even if it comes to basic jobs like we did on the boat.

Work motivation doesn’t come from money. In this special case what I got was dives. But I belonged to a team I liked and had a lot of fun. I worked harder than I did in my real job, it was physical work and I’m not used to it. I’m glad that I have a good fitness; otherwise I don’t know what would have happened. My legs were sore in the evening, but a strange kind of pain, too many hours without sitting down and too many days without exercising.

Maybe I was so sad because it is a long time that I’m not belonging anywhere, no friends, no group, no team, no work, not even a country. It feels good to belong somewhere. I loved these 4 long days. 16h of work and diving. No money spent, no money earned, but an awesome experience, beautiful diving and maybe some new friends.

Underwater love

The Great Barrier Reef. Since my Padi open water diver in 1993 (!!) I always wanted to come here. I’m diving since I’m 15 years old, not so much anymore as at the beginning of my divers career, but every now and then. I’m lucky to be able to say that I’ve dived the most beautiful spots in the world, the red sea, the Maldives, the Phillipines, Thailand. And there was one missing: the barrier. Now I’m here, nitrogen is floating thru my veins, a simple gas and a sweet drug for those who have experienced the underwater world.

Diving is a passion for me. Or better, a deep love. I’ve been diving for a long time and many of them in difficult moments. It always gave me the peace and the fun I needed and it still does. And it’ll always do. I have so many beautiful memories of it and even if I had some scared moments when I was struggling with fear, I’d never give up on it.

Memories: Today I took a compass for the first dive; a long time I didn’t dive in a buddy team without instructor (last time in 2005) and with a person I don’t know at all and my buddy does only have the open water course. And I remembered the advanced open water diver on the Maldives and the battles with the orientation lessons. Damn that was funny. I still can’t believe that I actually have pretty good skills under water with the compass and with general orientation. When I think back, I never got out on the point I started.

At the beginning and many times we were 3, my dad, my brother and I. I can’t think of a better buddy than my brother. We had so much fun, unforgettable how I tried to explain him that I had a bad hangover during the dive, or him, standing on the ocean ground, simulating (or not) that he was peeing in a toilet that was standing there, shipwrecked.

Jumping into the water it like riding a bike. You don’t forget. At least I don’t. As you might have read before, I’m riding my bike a lot over here. Mostly I know more or less the pace I’m going on my bike and during my runs. The same happens with the depth during my dives. And it’s good to know that I can trust the perception of my body.

There is no insecurity under water, no fear, no worries. When I jump in the water I’m home, the ocean is hugging me, I’m feeling free, happy and time stops. Nobody is talking; you only hear some very particular noises: the bubbles of your own breathing and the crackling of the reef.

There are different kinds of dives:

The normal dive, you see nice coral, the normal fish, and just enjoy floating and being there.

The dive some details get your attention: On my first dive I saw this couple of beautiful rabbitfish, swimming very close side to side and they made me smile, just because they were so cute.

One of my personal favorites are nudibranchs, tiny little snails with pretty colors and hard to find (they are between 1 and 2,5cm). I could also stay at an anemone for a long time and just observe the clownfishes, or enjoy a beautiful coral garden, landscapes like from another world, with decent colors and weird forms…

And then there is the stunning dive, the complete one, where you have everything. You never expect it, it happens when you less expect it. Beautiful coral, fancy rare fish like sharks, turtle, napoleon, topped with good visibility, a good buddy and everything is perfect. My first dive of the last two days was almost like that. The last one was. We went thru this amazing coral garden, like a labyrinth, never knowing if the next way was a dead end or if it would get us further on. A tiny firefish on the way (they are common in the red sea, over here I’ve seen only one in 6 dives), clowns, 2 nudibranches and last but not least: A white tip reef shark and a napoleon.

I don’t have words for how I feel there. It just makes me happy. It’s an escape from the world that we know and be part of another world where it doesn’t count at all who you are, what you do or where you are from. It’s just the water, the reef and you.

I’ll be back there on Monday, the bike and the running shoes will sleep for some days. Working on the boat and getting accommodation, food and diving for free, what else can I ask for?