Int'l driving license

I received my international driving license and booked a rental car for the first 12 days in Sydney (good price via billiger-mietwagen.de).

Snowland

I'm currently staying at my parent's house until my flight on 17 December. Winter has come to Germany with frost and first snow!

I love snow, but I'm also looking forward to lying at the beach in Australian Summer soon...

First Australian money

My friends from Plan Aktionsgruppe Augsburg gave me a Sydney sightseeing tour as a present - so now I have Australian dollars in my hands for the first time. (It's plastic bills!)

I also opened an Australian bank account at Westpac.

Moving out

Sunday, the day right after the party, was the big moving out of my apartment. I can't say enough thanks to everyone who helped me with disassembling the furniture and moving those 100 packing cases (at least it seemed that many ;) to the place where I can stock them for my return. Dad, Mom, Anja, Stephan J., Moni, Florian, Stephan K., Marek, Peter, Alex, Andrea, Drea, Michi, and Ruth -- you were a superb team and the work went so smoothly and quickly, it was just amazing. Many thanks also to Autohaus Betzmeir for the Movano van.

Farewell party

Saturday night I made a big party in Augsburg to say goodbye to all my friends, colleagues and family. 40-50 people came and the party was really great fun. Everyone brought some food for the buffet, and I had provided for beer and other drinks.

Highlights of the evening:
* Irish folk songs with Stephan (guitar) and me (bodhrán); special guest star: Ann-Helen (violin)
* Didgeridoo percussion band (a surprise gift for me from my mom to get me into the right mood for the land Down Under)
* Improvizational theatre show with ImproCity Augsburg
* Disco dance & more music
* The failure of a shisha ;)

Special thanks to all who helped me organize this wonderful party, especially to the LETS/VaMuKi team of Kalle, Esther and Annette, and to Esther, Anja, Moni and Marek who helped with the cleanup next day.

Visa Grant Notification

Hurrah, I was granted my visa today! It allows me to stay in Australia until mid-November 2009.

Mobile computing

I bought myself a notebook for the trip. So in future, my blog entries will be typed on that machine.

I'll spare you the technical tetails. The most important thing is that I can access the Internet. But I'll miss my nice big monitor!

Sydney LETS

Having been a member of LETS (Local Energy Trading System) in Augsburg for three years, I joined Sydney LETS today. It's a great way to learn to know people in an unknown town, and also perfect if you like to help others, and others will help you in return.

Konrad von Maurer

This posting has nothing to do with my trip to Australia - well, not directly anyway, but perhaps indirectly. The man on the portrait is Konrad von Maurer (1823-1902), who was German scholar of nordic law and culture, a valued supporter of Iceland, and my great-great-grandfather.

For you who are reading this, the bald-headed, white-bearded man is probably not too interesting, but for me he is an inspiration. He took a travel to Iceland in 1858, at a time where such a trip was an adventure. He was 35 years old when he made this journey: exactly the same age that I am now. The lost manuscript of his travelogue was found in my grandfather's cellar around the time when I was born. It has been published in Icelandic translation in 1997, but the German original is still unpublished.

I caught an interest in my ancestor's life and got in contact with Harmen Biró who is currently writing his thesis at Tübingen University on Konrad Maurer's travelogue, and Professor Kurt Schier from the Institute of Nordic Philology in Munich University who is a leading expert on Konrad Maurer. Both have been very helpful and so now I have a much clearer idea of my famous grandpa!

Literature

Got myself some books that will help me plan the trip, for a good start in Australia.

Robins Wood

The exceptionally nice autumn weather today gave me the impulse to go climbing in Robins Wood. Last chance before they're closing it for the winter! I didn't take a picture but I can tell you it was so exciting - check out their website to get an impression. If you ever come to Augsburg, Germany, and feel like some really thrilling fun, this might be the place to go.

(Oh, and by the way, I did the black course.)

Conserving the memory

As I will soon begin to move things out of my apartment and it will become messy and then empty, I took the chance today to take photographs of every room while they still look nice. I even made a short "guided tour" video. This should help to conserve the memory of my life 2001-2008.

The picture you see on the right is the result of a Photoshop fun... don't let it confuse you! :D It shows my special pride, the raised dais and the couch with an oriental canopy, all made by myself and by my own design.