I'm so excited about my discovery of a bit of real untouched remaining bushland right in the heart of Sydney.I won't say where it is because this has to remain a secret! :)
It was so lovely to walk there. Just look at these giant fern.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
This is Sydney too
I'm so excited about my discovery of a bit of real untouched remaining bushland right in the heart of Sydney.I won't say where it is because this has to remain a secret! :)
It was so lovely to walk there. Just look at these giant fern.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Australia Day
Today was Australia Day, a public holiday in which Australians show how much they love their country while enjoying the day off. I walked over the Harbour Bridge into the city. Despite the heat (it was sunny, 31°C) the streets were crowded with people, and even the harbour was crowded with boats and ships.
The children did the right thing and jumped into the fountains at Darling Harbour. I just cooled my feet in there! :) There was a lot of live music playing all day. And I must have seen more than 50 different creative ways to wear a flag on one's body or clothing...
At night I expected a big firework, and went down to a nice spot with a view, ready to capture it with my camera and tripod, but the firework was only in Darling Harbour -- too far away -- and hardly to be seen from where I was.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Arrived!
I have safely arrived in Sydney. Everything looks the same as I left it! :)
The weather is overcast, 20-24 degrees and humid. Good for taking a walk to explore the area. I'm staying in a hotel in Milson's Point (just north of the Harbour Bridge) for a week. On Friday will be my start of work. Until then I have a few days to relax, settle and adjust to Australian time.
I remember a year ago: my arrival in Australia, when I first set foot on this continent and didn't know anyone or anything and was so full of curiosity what this country would be like! Now everything is already familiar. The good and the bad, the blessings and curses of civilisation. Looking over Sydney Harbour from one of the points where this is possible, I try to block out the noise from the cars and machines, and imagine how the view looked 200 years ago before the white man came from Europe, took over and started building. There were trees everywhere, and it was quiet and serene.
To think that we spend so much effort and money on building -- and the best places in a city (whether it's Munich or New York or Tokyo) are the gardens and parks. People, buildings and cars are good so long as they have the space they need not to be in each other's way. My belief is that the problem is one of density. And the challenge is to reduce density to a healthy level without adverse side-effects.
The weather is overcast, 20-24 degrees and humid. Good for taking a walk to explore the area. I'm staying in a hotel in Milson's Point (just north of the Harbour Bridge) for a week. On Friday will be my start of work. Until then I have a few days to relax, settle and adjust to Australian time.
I remember a year ago: my arrival in Australia, when I first set foot on this continent and didn't know anyone or anything and was so full of curiosity what this country would be like! Now everything is already familiar. The good and the bad, the blessings and curses of civilisation. Looking over Sydney Harbour from one of the points where this is possible, I try to block out the noise from the cars and machines, and imagine how the view looked 200 years ago before the white man came from Europe, took over and started building. There were trees everywhere, and it was quiet and serene.
To think that we spend so much effort and money on building -- and the best places in a city (whether it's Munich or New York or Tokyo) are the gardens and parks. People, buildings and cars are good so long as they have the space they need not to be in each other's way. My belief is that the problem is one of density. And the challenge is to reduce density to a healthy level without adverse side-effects.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Goodbye friends and family
My last posting before the flight! Goodbye everyone in Germany and thank you so much for all your help and support. I will miss you all and can't wait to see you again in half a year.Parting is sad, but my parents plan to come to visit me in March in Sydney, so I'll see them again soon!
The farewell picture was drawn by my niece Sarah (10 years old). The guy on the winner's rostrum (Siegertreppchen), number 1, is me!
Heidrun
Heidrun is a new friend from my home town. She was born with the same family name as me (nee Maurer) and is maybe a remote relative of me -- we are still trying to connect her ancestry tree to mine, back in the 15th or 16th century.She has moved to here from the Rheinpfalz and now lives just a few hundred metres from my parent's house. But our connection came just recently through a relative of hers, Hans Maurer from New Zealand, on the other side of the globe. Hans in turn had found me by coincidence through my blog because I had mentioned my great-great-grandfather Konrad Maurer a year ago. And then we found out that Hans's father Heiner had already been in letter correspondence with my father years ago because they were both doing research on their family trees.
Heidrun, now, will come to Australia herself in one month, and meet Hans in Melbourne because he happens to come to Oz for a business trip in March. Such is the small world we have nowadays!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
I got my visa!
Good news, I finally got my visa and now I can fly back to Sydney in two days, to arrive Sunday the 24th.
I'm very busy now -- got to organize a couple of things so all will go smoothly, hopefully.
I'm very busy now -- got to organize a couple of things so all will go smoothly, hopefully.
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