2006/10/09

excuse

Hi guys,

I am sorry for not reporting what's going on for a long while.

...I had to finish my assignments and after that we had semester breaks
(which means I"ve got a lot of nice pics).

Unfortunately I am again stressed out, because of final assignments.
Therefore give me some days to put on new pics.

C u, Amro.

2006/10/08

brisbane's river festival

Anually at the beginning of September Brisbane celebrates its River Festival.
It took about 30min. It starts and ends with firejets and between that are a lot of fireworks all over the river. It was amazing!

A great shot of the city, before it started -- my flatmate Ian took the pic.



And this is how it started: 2 Firejets rushed over the river -- enjoy the video.

The Brisbane River was full with ships, which fired the fireworks. This picture was taken by a friend of Pierre.

surfers paradise

Surfers Paradise is one of world's most famous surf ressorts. I've been there already twice; it's only 90min away. I was impressed by the modern shopping arcades and the huge hotel buildings...but it's very touristic.:( However we had a lot fun.

Basti, Ian and me, somewhere in the shopping precinct.


Me, Estelle and Stanley straight ahead the beach's entry.


Basti and Ian borrowed bords surfed some hours -- I took this pic just after they finished.

...some nice birds joined us.:)


Nono (France: his real name is Arno, but everyone calls him Nono, because there is another Arno, we know) and me, before we returned back home.

2006/10/06

spring break (1): fraser and whitsundays

During the spring break we drove up to the sunshine coast. Our stops:
  • Rainbow Beach (1 night; we mainly got drunk)
  • Fraser Island (2nights) and
  • Whitsundays (2 nights on a sailboat) and
  • Airlie Beach (1 night).
We took a lot of pics, so it was not filter them. I'll plan to come up with a second part, including some videos and more pics...plz give me some time.

Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is famous for its untouched natural beauty. Further it is famous for its Dingos -- a certain dog race. Before we were transferred by the ferry to the island, they showed us two movies, and every 10th word was Dingo...be aware of dingos...don't feed dingos...bla bla we saw no dingo at all. Fairly, I should mention that over 50.000 tourists yearly visit Fraser. OK, that should be enough info, if not visit Wikipedia.

Our info map: Very important info were the driving times.

A typical situation: Our truck brimming with everything you could imagine. We called it Mandy...she did good with us.


Basti planned the whole trip and he was our group leader, too. He did very good...germans are the best organizers.

Our first stop was at Lake McKinsey. Only one word: AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! The water was so clear. Just to mention, on Fraser you should only swin in the lakes...never swim in the ocean, it's too dangerous... I've never seen such impressing and at the same time dangerous waves in my whole life.
Our first night we spent near to the shipwreck of the Maheno. In 1935 she was being towed from Melbourne to Japan for scrap metal when she was caught in a strong cyclone...and a few days later, she drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser.

Ooops! To this we had to get used. This was not our first and last moments, when Mandy got stacked into the sand. After some strokes , we could always manage to get her out.

On the 2nd day we drove up to the Indian Head. We had a gread viewing point. Pierre, Stina J., Ian and Stina K. We could see: sharks, turtles , stingrays etc.

On the 2nd night Stina J. cooked us a great dinner.
Our 2 musicians: Ian on the harmonica and Steffen on the guitar.

On Fraser we could see many stars and a lot of shooting stars, too.

OK, it's time for a group photo. On our last day we again went to lake McKinsey.
Ladies: Jeni, Stina J., Stina K., Christine and Lillian and the
gentlemen: Basti, Jan, Pierre, Steffen, Ian and me.
Jan and Steffen (both german) joined us on Fraser.

Whitsundays

Whitsundays is a collective of continental islands (ca. 30) of various sizes off the coast of Queensland; somewhere suited between Townsville and Mackay.

We had the luck to be on a great sailboat with a nice crew (captain and 2 other guys). The ship 's name was Habibi (arabic: my love); the owner's origin is Egypt.

Stina K. on the toilet. Just to give you a slight impression, how it is on a boat: Narrow, narrow, and again narrow. I bumped my head, too many times.

OK, at least we slept in Hugh Hefner bed.

We snorkled three times...we had really good spots...I found Nemo.:)
Me, Ian and Christine in our sexy swim suits.

I couldn't forget Pierre.
A wonderful sunset.
Me and xxx (a german guy, who is on a work & travel visa here...unfortunately I have to admit that I already forgot his name).

Just relaxing: Me, Stina K . and Pierre.


Our last night at Airlie Beach...we had a delicious dinner in a fish restaurant.