This is the end

...my friends! The end of this blog.

Thank you all very very much for following my stories and pictures, and for your many comments and e-mails throughout my journey of the past 2 years. Your attention and encouragement means a lot to me. I was never alone, wherever I was, because you were always with me.

The "Aussie Blog" is finished here. But I will continue posting on a new blog --> Martin's Tuckerbag. It will be somewhat different -- I can't tell you exactly how. You and I will see. A new section of my life will unfold.

See you there!

Welcome home party

I had a wonderful "Back-From-Down-Under Party" on Saturday.

Nearly 40 friends came to celebrate my return home. And we were really lucky with the weather: On Friday and Sunday we had quite a bit of rain here, but on Saturday afternoon it all cleared up and we could sit outdoors in my sister's garden all night.

The decoration was German-Australian, as you can see in the pictures. Everybody brought some food: we had what is known in English as a potluck party. We also lit a bonfire, let it burn for a couple of hours and then barbecued the marinated meat and sausages on a tripod grill right above the embers -- the good German traditional style of BBQ, not the fried-on-steel-plates-over-gas-flames way the Aussies prefer. All the food was really yummy. Thanks everybody for your fantastic contributions!

After dark, we had party lights, candles and sat around the fire, singing songs until 3 a.m. And the big surprise of the night was a magnificent fireworks!

Back to Germany

I have safely arrived back in Germany.

Everyone's happy and excited about my return and I can also say, it's good to be back. I'll be living again in my parent's house until I've found a new job and a new place for myself. It's summer here with long days, and everything is lush and green.

We celebrated my sister's and my birthday today, and the breaking news is that I'm going to become uncle of a new baby in January 2011! Her first one. That is so wonderful and I'm so happy for my sis. The news got me completely by surprise too! They had all kept quiet about it for the last month so they could tell me in person when I arrived here.

All packed up...

...and ready to go!

I had a nice last evening together with my friend (and colleague) Gaetano, my housemates Anna, her boyfriend Mathias, Jade, her friend Elena, Gavin, and his girlfriend Carol.

We had dinner together at our place -- the first time we cooked for 8 people in this house! -- and afterwards went for a drink to the Orbit Bar in Sydney, which is a revolving bar in the 47th floor. It has an awesome view, as you can see! And that's the happy ending of part 2 of my Australian Adventure™!

Tonight's my flight back home to Germany.