The 120 km long and 15 km wide Fraser Iceland is the largest sand island in the world and the only place around the world increases the rain forest on sandy soil. The tours usually go out of Hervey Bay and begin with a brief Fährenfaht, then it continues with an all-wheel drive bus on the bumpy dirt roads.
Very scenic is one of the 200 freshwater lake, the Lake McKenzie. The blue water is a wonderful contrast to the almost snow-white sand of almost pure silicon. If it had not yet arrived six other tour buses at the same time, I could enjoy the view almost unlimited.
From the Central Station you can take on very many lovely walks through the rainforest and admire the trees and plants in giant version, just a shame that we had only 20 minutes time, since we had more for lunch.
Then it was on to the east coast, along the 75 Mile Beach.
Here you will find colored by minerals sand dunes and the wreck of the SS Maheno which is stranded here in 1935 after a storm.
Also seen again and again on the beach are the dingoes that you should for safety feed under any circumstances.
Fraser Iceland is certainly a unique natural spectacle that you should explore in your own account SUV best to actually seem to have enough time to explore the islands neat.
This section of the north-east coast, it is usual to make a multi-day sailing trip. On the recommendation of my hostel I decided for the boat Summertime. Many boats aimed at 18 year old backpackers from and organize drinking games on board ..... I was very lucky with my group, 16 people from 8 different countries and all were over 30 years old.
The sailing ship Summertime has been several years in the hump and has just enough space for the sleeping bunks. We ate sitting without a table along the railing and 1m2 large bathroom that should included both the toilet and shower you need just 1.5 minutes to get a shower so that the water consumption is kept low.
On the way to our first stop we had really nice waves, so it rocked vigorously. After that, the three-member crew consisting of a captain, instructor and cook inflated the kayaks so that we could observe in the crystal clear water stingrays and Schikdkröten in the bay.
Then we went at sunset on the night at our berth.
On the second day was a visit to the most famous beach in the Whitsundays, the Whiteheaven Beach, Hip. As the name suggests, there is probably nowhere whiter sand than here. These still form every day, depending on the ebb and flow of various sand dunes in the water form the breathtaking scenery. Too bad that of course all the groups come at the same time to the beach and is thus lost a lot of charm.
Then in the afternoon it was finally time, we were able to go snorkeling. Of course, some other groups also had the same idea again ..... but well you could still avoid to some extent. The view was from the rain the day before and the wind again mediocre, so I have refrained to diving. Nevertheless, quite a few fish on the reef, here are some pictures romped:
High back Fusilier
Chelmon rostratus (Orange-banded butterflyfish or Copper-banded butterflyfish)
Pomacanthus-sexstriatus-six-banded angelfish
Squid (calamari fritti not 😉)
Here are a few photos of coral. Here, the same coral species, depending on hunger they stretch out their feelers or not.
Very impressive is the size of some sponges.
On the last day we went again into the water, with much poorer vision and fairly high waves which made us to create on the return trip, as the water constantly splashed and we were all soaked.
Sicherlich ist das Segeln auf den Whitsunday Islands ein Muss auf jeder Weltreise, jedoch ist es wie alles andere in Australien nicht gerade günstig. Für fast 140 Euro pro Tag (ohne Tauchgänge) schläft man mit 16 Personen in einem Ambiente und bekommt zwar sehr leckeres Essen, jedoch auch halt nur Grillwürstchen, Kartoffel- oder Nudelsalat und als Nachspeise Obst das nie für alle gereicht hat. Dazu kommt, dass die Crew aus einem erfahrenen Kapitän und zwei Praktikantinnen besteht die ein Work & Holiday Visum haben. Anyway, so funktioniert nun mal die gut geölte Tourismusmaschine in Australien, jedenfalls freue ich mich schon auf Südostasien, dort stechen mich die Mücken sicher genauso, aber halt nur zu einem Drittel vom Preis 😉
Nevertheless, it was fun and the group just great!
Magnetic Iceland, Adventure Island also for the small budget!
Discovered in 1770 by Captain James Cook, Magnetic Iceland is just 20 minute ferry ride from Townsville on the northeast coast of Australia away. I was the only 50 km2 island was very pleasantly surprised and I have seen in 3 days more animals than the zoo!
We globetrotters always have to pay so on a budget and on the island can be a lot of activities such as hiking and snorkeling without making tour itself.
Probably the most beautiful hike is the forts in only 1.5 hours you can walk up to the old fortress, while next to the beautiful views of the surrounding bays, if you also need a very good eye for koalas.
I must say the little teddy bears are very very sweet, you could watch them for hours doing nothing really.
There are also other trails that lead mainly to the coves that are only accessible on foot and the snorkeling dirket from the beach is possible.
Unfortunately, I was the weather god left in the last few weeks something down so that it has rained almost every day and the view of the snorkeling was too bad. But then, if the sun comes out, it does not matter really hot and muggy and you can get a good sweat!
Nevertheless, I was able to make some nice photos on Magnetic Iceland, the small kangaroos that had wallabies grazing peacefully on the neighboring meadow at the hostel, the rays equal scared in the murky water like me, the blue crab but buried the possum was waiting at the showers to eat. Who knows if I pop in again on the next trip around the world with better weather 😉
From Port Douglas I booked a day tour with the ship Poseidon on the outer Great Barrier Reef. There are approached three different locations on Agincourt Reef and I wanted to make two dives and snorkeling on the last stop. The whole has a value of 200 euros !! But good if you already making a trip around the world, one must sometimes have plunged on the Great Barrier Reef, but then there were for dinner again two times salad 😉
As you expected something swell, all other passengers tablets were equal sold for seasickness by 3 dollars. Next we went to the briefing for the divers and the introductory explanations of all the made a Discovery Dive, so dive without a diving license, of course, twice as expensive! .. With the snorkelers were so close to 60, 600 people felt on board.
Anyway, everything went exactly as scheduled and I must say that everything was very well organized and all the equipment were ready on time. Too bad hold only that a great many people were in the water, many who have never dived or snorkeled with their fins unkontrollieren movements destroyed the coral.
Unfortunately, it was also constantly inevitably have people in front of my lens. And the board photographer to make matters worse rattled each from an underwater photo with an artificial starfish to have. So then there were 60 photos with people in suit with yellow starfish. $ 20 per photo ... I must disappoint you, no, I do not have it bought!
The instructor was very much busy to entertain us as a result of the cloud there was poor visibility and at dive sites where day four ships go anyway is not much to see, because no fish is doing to stress 😉
Anyway, thought our Divemaster it would be a good idea (contrary to all diving rules) to take a cucumber in his hand.
But well, on the last dive I have then yes snorkeled and made a few nice photos in scheichten water. Yes, sooo many corals as here on the Great Barrier Reef where you rarely get well otherwise face. Even if it is a lot of photos this time, it was so beautiful that I would most like to weitergeschnorchelt hours long!
Yet As a tip: save here on the reefs prefer money and forgo the diving, the most beautiful corals are close to the surface where they can "shine" through enough light too! Although on nice days with good visibility a dive worth it!
With some delay, here's all the summary details for Food in New Zealand!
At the outset, I would note that I have only very rarely eaten in restaurants since I've mostly cooked me even in the hostels. Reason is not that I did not like the food, but that if one does not just Fish & Ordered chips, everything is very expensive (examples follow).
To mention advance is certainly also that New Zealand is a paradise for vegetarians! In all restaurants, so small they are, there are countless meatless dishes and also on the shelf in the supermarket all vegetarian and gluten-free products can be distinguished.
Restaurants in Essen
Generally speaking, the New Zealanders are very concerned with their health and good food here belongs to.
Breakfast do the New Zealanders by the way very much and therefore there is also a plentiful supply like this Egg Benedict with mushrooms (about 12 euros).
Legendary in New Zealand by the way is the coffee !! Everywhere it is offered also to take away and the taste is really good! I think I spent a total of more money on coffee than for food 😉
Food on the go
Since I was most of the time anyway on the way, I have bought in the supermarket breads and spreads. There is a large selection of spreads and dips, as the laughs vegetarians heart! So there are the 8 different varieties of hummus, with feta, sharp with lime, with nut-scraps etc. Even with the dips change comes into play here is mixed sweet and sour, like here the rhubarb / cheese / cashew and Pistazienpestodip!
Probably the most famous next to the kiwi fruit is the Feijoa. It is green on the outside and is eaten like a kiwi. The taste is a little too soap-like for my circumstances.
Drinks
In New Zealand, one likes to drink beer and all different varieties are also interntionale beers.
Also popular is the Cider, a kind of must, which is then enriched with various flavors.
Even the New Zealand wine, especially white wine its reputation is justified.
As mentioned above the national drink is here but surely coffee! Rightly so good as it is too!
Seen Culinary New Zealand has really much to offer, from cheap Fish & Chips on Asian dishes to gourmet food!
Thanks be to God for my budget but taste me the spaghetti with Tomatensouce still best, even here there was a change like this tomato / balsamic Balsamicosouce!
Da gibt man Unsummen für Dschungeltouren aus und dann -“unverhofft kommt oft”!!
I still thought I should take the heavy camera at all, I just wanted to go to the center 500 m to the supermarket, because yes, my fear to miss something has triumphed!
Although I do not know if it was instinctive, since I do not ever look up into the trees, but I've just seen! A about 4 feet long Amethystine New Guinea on a tree branch in about 10 meters high!
I could not believe my luck and began at once to photograph it happening as quickly approached the first walkers. A neighbor told me that the snakes like to be here sometimes "hang out" there was probably already Attaken on people like you in this newspaper article can read.
On the way back, I naturally looked only into the trees! But the constrictor was no longer there, unfortunately! But today I had probably double happiness and saw 300 meters, opposite the entrance of my hostel still a beauty!
Here in Port Douglas suffer the Pythons not hungry, especially now in the flying fox season is not. Hundreds of these giant bats hanging in the trees here and do it right noise and dirt!
Indeed, I suspect that the second snake has eaten recently, namely if you look closely, one discovers an unusual bulge on the body of Python.
So far so good, let's see if I was walking today afternoon in the other direction and finally get a crocodile in front of the lens 😉
Fitzroy Iceland - First attempts snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
Fitzroy Island is only 45 minutes by boat from Cairns and the East Coast of Australia. In Gegensastz to all the other overpriced snorkeling tours you can simply take the ferry and even from the beach snorkeling here. Just a few meters from the beach you will encounter a very interesting underwater world! Unfortunately, it was cloudy all day about something so due to the not so great view of the photos have not become sooo like you are used to from the catalog ....
So equipped with my Olympus Tough underwater camera, I went exploring.
This was discovered by James Cook Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world and takes place on the north east coast. Unfortunately zwischem 1985 and 2012, died about half of the corals. Blame is global warming, which is also to blame for the increased occurrence of cyclones, which destroy the corals. But the pollution of the sea and the occurrence of crown of thorns starfish add the reef to significant damage.
Nevertheless, the underwater world is very exciting here:
The giant clams, for example, can be found here everywhere. They are hard on the outside and soft on the inside and feed exclusively on algae.
In the coral a distinction between hard and soft corals and both are along with countless species of sponges found in abundance on the Fitzroy Iceland.
Also here a wide variety of fish species, such as this very well camouflaged green fish, then a blue stain triggerfish, a mini fish cavort also well hidden, a six-banded angelfish, a blue stripe rabbit fish, butter fish and parrot fish. These then were joined by even two turtles.
Oh yes, the island looked over the water from ;-), also very nice.
And here's the proof that I was really there and I swallowed about a total of 2 liters of salt water during dive! The Great Barrier Reef is definitely a must on every trip around the world, I'm looking forward to more!
Even though I had to stand up for it by 3 clock in the morning, I was getting almost 2.5 hours before my flight to Australia at the airport. Unfortunately, a lot of people had the same idea so the snake seemed endless at check-in.
When I finally was then off, the employees asked me if I had a visa for Australia since and I said yes because I had applied for and approved online before the start of my trip around the world.
The problem was that both my passport and visa on my title (FH) appearing on my ticket does not!
Jedenfalls wollten sie mich auch nach Rücksprache mit dem Supervisor nicht fliegen lassen. Ich musste zum Ticketschalter um eine Änderung in meinem Ticket zu beantragen, der Angestellte suchte aber erneut um ein Visum ohne Titel an, was ich aber erst merkte als ich wieder am anderen Schalter stand und das Visum als abgelehnt aufschien. Es ging zurück zum Ticketschalter, wo er dann endlich die richtige Änderung durchführte, wohl gemerkt 15 Minuten vor Abflug!!!
Well we went back to the check in time the ticket to print and then accompanied by a staff to a special baggage carousel for Late Runner. Then I am and have been due to the 10 minute delay, the machine just to get my flight so her funneled through the security checkpoint from which I then about 500 m (perceived 5km) running to the gate!
Even so, I mentioned that my luggage could not be checked through to your destination airport Cairns because my travel agent had booked the second flight with another airline?
So, I was then had to get 2.5 hours for my luggage to go through passport control and then African australia check in for the new flight!
Sounds doable, but I had to do is take a bus which then even $ 5 wanted (which I had not, because there is no time to withdraw money) because I still had no new boarding pass.
Well, at least read the bus driver because of my pitiful facial expression but go free so I finally for the new check-in, which must be carried out on the designated machines. As it was to be expected, my booking number was not recognized and I was sent to the service desk .... There you wrote me a new confirmation code, which was then rejected on the machine again.
Finally, I could still check in at the counter and I thought that from now can only go uphill more. But I had not reckoned with the barely padded seats and a metal rod on back height on the plane. Anyway, I had like a three year old child about to sit on each flight behind me that continuously hämmmerte with his legs against the seat.
The mother was probably too busy with their other about 1 year old child, that the 2-hour flight through continuous bleated like a sheep.
When it was too much for me and she said the lady was pissed, but she screamed her two children because of other reasons to continue.
And now the photo that I took from the airplane, so you know, I still was able to finish well this fucking day. Great Barrier Reef here I come!
Auckland, Tiritiri Matangi Island & Bethells Beach
Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand's roughly one third of the total population, also has a lot to offer besides the Royals yet!
Although yes the cities here have no old buildings as we know it from Europe, Auckland is mainly characterized by its excellent cafes and restaurants!
The Sky Tower dominates the town and is illuminated at night violet.
Probably the best view you have but from the 196 m high extinct volcano Mt from Eden.
Auckland is located on the Hauraki Gulf consisting of 47 small islands.
On some day trips you can explore the islands, I chose Tiritiri because it is a bird National Park next to the beautiful landscape.
Here we were able to observe some rare birds such as the Takahe (red beak), Kakariki (green with red head) and Tui (white balls at the throat).
In addition, the views of the lighthouse and the surrounding beaches is really worth a visit!
Last but not least, has brought me and my roommate on the road bifurcated Eva our New Zealand friend Ben to a very special place on the west coast near Auckland.
Here near the Bethells Beach, sand dunes mix with green hills, rivers and lakes, the whole thing looks like this:
The west coast beaches are very suitable for surfing! But here come the quch Auckländer weekend for walking or relaxing forth.
Auckland is really the perfect city to live there, pleasant climate, excellent infrastructure, nice cafes, beautiful houses, best excursions in the immediate vicinity and most of all the friendly people who live there! Too bad that New Zealand is soooo far away!
Imagine times the face of the Sheep Farmers Alexander ago when a few years ago Peter Jackson knocked on his door and wanted to convince him to convert part of his property into a movie set ....
The original set, as it was in the contract, should be removed after the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy again. Due to heavy rainfalls However, this was not possible immediately, so soon after the first eintrudelten onlookers .....
Meanwhile, the film set near the resort has become Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand in a must-see even for non-fans! In the summer, come here up to 2500 tourists per DAY!
Since Peter Jackson had to agree once again with the farmer for the Hobbit films hobbit holes should be built from steadier material to finally offer this Erlebis many visitors from around the world at this time.
For two years here have the decorators really did an excellent job and left out no detail. Unfortunately, you can visit the house from the outside, all the scenes in the interiors were in fact filmed in Wellington.
One of the highlights is sure Bilbo and Frodo's house, which is characterized by the oak tree on the roof. In the Lord of the Rings trilogy this a real tree was used, but since you needed a smaller tree for en Hobbit film, this was built, covered with artificial, hand-painted leaves and cost about $ 1.5 million!
Although the director had before he found this plot already selected about 12 venues, he could then turn it all here in one. In Hobbiton there are hills, a party tree and a lake.
Also the Green Dragon Inn, the guest house and the mill with the bridge were rebuilt and are being used to give guests a drink after the tour to spend.
Although all the fun of the 1.5 hours guided tour is not cheap and unfortunately you can not be on-set in peace as long as you want if you're already in New Zealand, the visit to Hobbiton definitely should be made, a piece of fantasy film is nowhere else as true as here in Middle-earth!
