Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh ...

RIGHT!! But not here in Brisbane!!! Walking through Brisbane before Christmas was not convincing for me. No, I still don't feel like Christmas.
Some impressions:

It couldn't be more plastic on it!!

REINDEERS!!!

Still not in the mood for Christmas I went home and somebody was waiting for me!!

A cute bat!!

Since a couple of weeks I was trying to win a bet. And I did!! Lynn got me to do some knitting, so I decided to make a scarf. I started it twice. But finally I was thinking, who needs a scarf here in Brisbane? But I found a victim. Rod works for the UN in Afghanistan and there it is bloody cold now. So, the scarf is finished and today I will post it to Afghanistan. Would be great if the parcel will really arrive overthere!! Here the proof!!


I know it is a bit short, but there was no more wool left. I like the colour!

Xmas

I knew the time will come. Now I am here in Aussie-land sweating, enjoying the atmosphere, having fun and some people out there in the world are really celebrating Christmas! As you know I am not religious, so actually I don't have a reason to celebrate something. Of course it would be nice being now together with the family, but why always making Christmas to a reason to meet? Some people were surprised that I stay over Christmas here in Brisbane. Yes I will be alone, but I will spend with friends Christmas Day at the beach as well. I just don't feel like Christmas. Maybe because of the weather or because I am heavily in love. ZEFIX (I like this bavarian cuss)!! Yep, someone broke my heart. ... *blushing*

Anyway, got some other news as well, but this I will report later. Where is the fun???

Ok, guys!! I wish you all happy peaceful days at home with your parents and friends. I will think of you having a cocktail in my left hand and an oyster in the right one, enjoying the sun. :)

Burleigh Head and Springbrook

My first visit of real subtropical rainforests. Yesterday Ken, Vladimir and me had a great trip visiting several national parks. The first one on our ToDo-list was the Burleigh Head National Park, a bit south of Surfers. This park is quite small, but full of interesting things to see and to hear. Just some nice impressions:

nice view of the pacific ocean

Springbook, an impressive and amazing part of nature. I can not put things in the right words, you have to be there to understand. We visited Gwongorella, the Tanninaba Falls, the Purling Brook Falls. We saw the Natural Bridge, The Best of All Lookout and many more.

Purling Brook Falls

Pics come later, there are some problems currently, sorry

explosions in London

For me quite impressive pic!

Nobody was killed by this accident. I think we were quite lucky. But it looks soooo bloody scary. Close to Luton gives the idea of an assault. We are soo vulnerable.

Friends

Today I noticed that I haven't mentioned my friends yet. All the friends I left behind in good old Europe. What are they doing now without me? Do we keep in touch after the four years together in Freising? I think we're doing pretty good.

We all know that Micha will hardly reply to an email, even a birthday ecard is not worth it. I don't mind. There will be from time to time a friendly message in Skype like "Hallo Finchen!" Then I know he is still alive and happy. He is currently doing his Master Thesis at the EBI in Cambridge.

There is Bene, still looking for something to do after his Diploma. He is switching between something social, mathematical, statistical or whatever. I just hope he will find something he really can enjoy, because that is the most important thing!! He is the only one who is allowed to call me "Olle Zicke" That always puts a smile in my face. He is now in Cambridge as well (as almost everyone :) ). I cross the fingers for him, that his project will succeed.

Markus. You don't know Markus? You really miss something then. Just today, we discussed about espresso and the procedure to make a real good one. That is first class science, I tell you. Next to espresso science he is just doing the PhD at the Sanger Institute in Molecular Biology. I really wish you all the best for the next four years. I think you are really doing well, at least the first two months!!

The connection to Munich will be Georg. Georg is just cute! Congrats for the PhD!! Of course he is in Cambridge right now and misses his Munich so much. We share at least one thing and that is the interest in Football. The World Cup next year goes to GERMANY!!! Go for it!!!

I am not sure if I should mention Flo. He actually wants to be where I am now, namely in the sun. And he is in bloody cold Cambridge!!! Sorry, I really don't want to swap. See you next year here at the beach!! ;)

Ok, Henning was already complaining that I haven't written anything about him yet. Yep, Henning. We met the first time in Cambridge at the EBI. Then almost no word for two years. Now with a distance of more than 16.000km we chat everyday! What happened? I would call it metamorphosis of mine. Some of you know my "evolution" through the last four years, all the up and downs. After all this I finally noticed that he is a real nice guy and worth to have as a good friend. Ok, Henning, we have definitely to meet in Germany again for a real *liebdrück* ;) !!

Freddie is just cool! We were almost enganged, but his "mum" didn't allow us to do so. We play the browser game -New-Crusader- and there we are a couple, fighting in different clans!! Is real good fun. Freddie has planned his future in Ireland already. I wish you all the best!!! And I want a postcard!!!


will be continued with ...
Fritjof, Dominik, Stephane, Guillermo, Rod, Matte, Katja, Maja, Yvonne etc.

Last friday, Mhairi and Lynn convinced me again to go to the cinema. My first Harry Potter in a cinema, wow!! It was the fourth book they have filmed called "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". The movie takes ca. 150 min, but I didn't fall in sleep. The movie was ok, nice effects and a good story, but not remarkably good. I can recommand the movie if you like Harry Potter or you have nothing else to do!

Martina spent her last weekend at Gold Coast, so she could persuade me to come and spend the afternoon together. But unfortunately we missed each other at the beach. Looking for Martina I took some nice pics from the beach - Surfers Paradise.

The largest building in the world, not used with offices, just for living!!

Look at this blue sky *sniff*

Finally we found each other and decided for a nice seafood-meal with a good beer. The food was great (sry, forgot to take a pic!) and the beer not too bad! Almost like home!!

VB - Victoria Bitter, one of the famous beers from Australia

We spent some time at the beach during the evening. Maybe we are crazy, but just watching and listening feels like the perfect world. It won't be easy for both of us to leave this paradise full of good looking guys!! ;)

Look at this a... (blushing)

And this is the way an evening should end, with the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen:

Without words ...

Both pics taken from the 25th floor.

And how about a sunrise at 4:30am? I have surprisingly no problems to get up so early, especially with a nice kiss and coffee! ;)

Thanks to Matte I had a great time yesterday in the northern part of Brisbane. She kicked me virtually in the arse out of the office into the aussie-world. We rent a car, the australien Holden, for one day.

Holden with automatic gears - just great

Matte had prepared a ToDo-List, a long one. If I remember we planned to visit 8 or 9 places. I was already shattered before we started. With me as a navigation system and Matte as a quite good left-side driver we found the way out of Brisbane to the Highway M1. This road led us to the Glasshouse-Mountain, near Redcliffe. There are several hills (200 - 400m high) placed just in a flat landscape.

Two of the hills seen from the lockout of Mt. Beerburrum

The famous Glasshouse Mountain

As you can see, it was quite cloudy at this day, but it was hot, very hot, and humid. We (more me actually) decided to go up to the Beerburrum Mountain, just 700m per pedes. What can I say? I was happy that I have survived it. It was extremely precipitous. Ok, we had just flip-flops and we left the water in the car. We were sweating like mad and had a nice apparentness being old and without any endurance.

The Glashouse Mountain taken from the driving car on the highway again.

Next stop was the The big pineapple in Yandina, north of Nambour. The entry can not be ignored. This big example is 16m high.

Matte lolling at the pineapple

I have a question for you. Where does actually a pineapple grow? Good question, isn't it? But why do we think actually a pineapples grows on palm trees? I was thinking so. But ...

Pic will come soon!!!

Yes, you see right. I couldn't believe it!!

Pic will come soon!!!

Did you know that it takes two(!) years for one fruit to be harvested? Something learned again!!

Ok, next stop the Ginger Factory, ca. 100km north of Brisbane. I always thought Ginger was something exotic. Matte and me made a tour through the factory and it reminded us of our most dreaded lesson at university -> Bioprocess engineering. I preffered the tasting, where we got Ginger beer. That was lekker!!!


Just on the other side of the street was a beautiful cafe. Freshly made cappucino, great. The first one I enjoyed without sugar!! Next to it you can find the Nut Factory. It was not so exciting, but we could try macademia-nuts differently prepared. (10 points for the one with chocolate!) But we saw Santa Claus!! ;)

The first time me in shorts next to Santa Claus!

Now we even went more north to Noosa Heads at the coast (ca. 140km far away from Brisbane). We arrived there when it was getting dark. But the sea was still great.

Pic will come soon!!!

In the background you can see a part of the national park of Noosa Heads. Martina and me had a nice walk along the beach until the Dolphin point. But we didn't see one of them neither a Koala. I don't mind. I had a nice day.

Now it was my turn to drive. I loved it. After 5 minutes you are used to it to drive on the left side. It is a bit tricky at the crossways, but I even made it in Brisbane.

Thanks Martina for this great day, even with our usual troubles at the beginning! ;)