Easter Wellness Part II: Welcome to MiaMi

That trip was long time scheduled; and it finally worked out – visiting Tobi in Florida. At the airport in Frankfurt I’ve won a special security check. Their system is choosing some ticket numbers randomly, this time, it was me, and a guy from Chile I had a chat with while being checked. The flight itself was on time and 2 meals, 2 movies and a little sleep later I arrived in Miami. The usual standard procedure entering the US takes longer (1 ½ hours) than my special treatment back in Frankfurt, a thing I didn’t try to understand. But here I was, Miami!!!

Tobi was picking me up from the airport and we headed back to Fort Lauderdale, having a few beers at the beach while feeling the warm breeze coming from the ocean – something you can get used to. On the way back home we stopped by at Five Guys, a burger fast food thing I heard so much about. I had to give it a try. From the nowadays perspective, those burgers are alright, but far from best ;)

The next morning I slept long, way too long. I started to feel the jetlag. Tobi picked me up for lunch. We went to Tap42 with his colleagues where I was told to try, guess what, the burger. Alright then, 2^nd burger, bring it up. It was a good one, juicy, which excellent French Fries.

Then I picked up my car and spent the afternoon in Miami Beach, walked through the Lincoln Road Mall and strolled along the Art Deco District with its colourful hotels, bars, clubs and pubs. Good spot for chilling out.

The next morning, I slept longer once again, before risking to get stuck in that heavy traffic when going to Miami downtown. I rented one of those city bikes to get from A to B a bit faster. Unfortunately, the route I took wasn’t that spectacular. I passed little Havana before returning the bike at the station where I got it from. 

I spent the afternoon in the Sawgrass Mills Mall – an area so big you really have to figure out where to go before entering. And of course, every single shop is selling on sale.

On Thursday, I passed Miami to go further south. I first stopped at a nature reserve north of the Florida Keys. It was offering a 3 mile return walking tour through the bushes and mangroves. Lizards, butterflies and birds everywhere – luckily no alligators. At least I didn’t see any. 

Numerous miles and bridges later I stopped at Duck Key where some of the moneyed people are parking their boats and sports cars. Pretty cool place. On the way back I had a dolphin fish steak at the highly recommended Hungy Tarpon Restaurant.

Friday was Tobi’s first day off, and it had to be used. After a perfect self-made sandwich breakfast (toasted bread with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes) we headed east to Highway 41 which crosses Florida horizontally. An artificial water channel was running aside the street and a few alligators could be spotted while driving along. And rarely, baby alligators on the street – dead! I guess Americans don’t break for anything stepping on highways. 

We picked a water airboat travel agent a bit further away from the main touristic ones. Wasn’t the best choice ever. The guide wasn’t the smartest, and had no interest in serving a mind blowing tour. No stats and figures. But at least some alligators could be sighted – baby and mother alligator. Impressive indeed, especially those stories about ‘em.

We went straight home after the tour, preparing for the food festival where had my third burger from a food truck called “hot stove”. I got used to burger already, and they were getting better and better. So there has come the perfect time for hanging out while having a marshmallow bonfire at the beach house.

The last day had come and Dawn organised a boat cruise through the channels including some snorkelling in the ocean. For lunch, guess what, I had another and final 4^th burger at Charm City – a burger hard to beat. As well as the fancy beers we had in the evening at Funky Buddha. Crazy people; they added everything they can find: chilli, ginger, coffee, … 

Easter wellness in Aufham

 If the family ain’t home, rather doing some Spa & skiing things instead, I have no big reason to go home then. Thus, Antje and I did it alike. We booked a 4 star half pension wellness & spa hotel in Aufham, close to the Austrian border. We visited Bad Reichenhall first, did a little road trip through the mountains before joining the 4 course menu which took us 2 hours or so.

The next day started rainy, no sight of any sun! Perfect for a day trip to Salzburg; walking through the city and trying to figure out which the best Mozartkugel is. I think we’ve found it, certainly. That’s what I call hard work. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the full package of spa: steam & Finnish sauna, massage and some kind of mud-oil-skin-treatment. Felt like reborn. And the dinner afterwards? More than excellent! I couldn’t move at all after the dessert and had to rest for a while!

Too bad those days simply fly by. They should last a little longer. Prinz hotel is definitely something to recommend…

Saturday excursion to Würzburg

Being sick for the weekend sucks. I didn’t feel well, caught a cold somewhere from somebody. But instead of lying down in bed all time, I dragged Antje to the car and we went to Würzburg (excellent destination for a weekend biking trip). We strolled along and through the city, coffee here and shopping there, visited the cathedral and the bridge (reminds me of the one in Prague) which Würzburg is famous for. Before going back home, restaurant “Auflauf” prepared oven baked food which needs to be mentioned here.

Going to Estonia just for quick

Thank god it’s Monday. This must have been the thought of my boss looking for someone going to Estonia as soon as possible. I got the permission from the project, booked flight and hotel and the next morning, I was on my way to Tallinn and Rakvere later that night, going even more east. The converter station site had an outage for two days (i.e. it’s switched off completely for maintenance reasons) and the customer wanted to get some things done. We were there to change some thyristors and fibre optics, visual checks of the three valve towers included. The job went smooth and they brought the link back into operation Thursday night.

Rakvere itself didn’t have that much to offer. The Aqva Spa Hotel was the top thing to see or do, followed by, yeah, not much. The castle maybe – allow one or two hours, depending on how deep into detail you wanna go. A few bars in the “city centre” which would be okay for that one or another night out. That’s about it! Thus, time to head back to Tallinn and home then.

Boarding experience on Melchsee-Frutt

Every time there is a little chance to go skiing in Switzerland, I’m usually in. Despite the 6 hours travel time, being up there is always cool. The wide valley up in the mountains invites for snow shoe hiking, cross country skiing or Alpine skiing. I rented a snow board this time, tried my best on the hill for beginners, and surprisingly, it was working quite well. “Jagertee” at the lunch break didn’t contribute that much – it was more like one step forward, two steps back! But as long as I survive… After hard work outside on the track, good food, sauna and one or two beers made life liveable.

Australia's various southwest

6 am: Perth airport! With just a little sleep, we took the transfer shuttle bus to the city centre, but didn't get too far. The bus, with us two as the only passengers, broke down and had to stop. What a start down under. After having a little chat with the bus driver, we hopped on the next bus taking us down town. Next destination: Catching a power nap in the Rydges Hotel! Regained strength, Antje's Perth shopping tour could begin.

Shop till ya drop! I was happy there still was some time left for grabbing something to eat in between. Nah, wasn’t that bad! But there have been some chances to get rid of too much money. Next morning, we left the hotel and took the next bus going to 1 Miller Street, home of the Wicked Camper office (and garage). After waiting 1 hour or so in the queue, we got a skimmed introduction (including safety induction) in our cars’ handling (i.e. keys, and returning it clean, otherwise 200 $ fine). Then we saw it, the Mars Attacks vehicle, more colourful than hippies in the 80’s would have been able to imagine. It was running for more than 350.000 km already. No night driving allowed, no accidents with animals involved covered by insurance. Simply said, we’ve bought the reduction B additional insurance for nothing! I mean, what’s the chance of hitting another car somewhere in the outback when being happy seeing one single car after driving for 5 hours straight? Anyway, that little bus was our home (bus, kitchen, bathroom, sleeping room, dressing room and cupboard at once) for the next two weeks.

So we hit the road, first stop: Petrol station – we had to refill the tank due to cars will be returned empty, or better said: as empty as possible. We went to Fremantle next, including, guess what, shopping of course! And had some really tasty fish ‘n’ chips. We went further south, and found a suitable spot near the beach. At 7 pm, it was already getting dark and the first night somewhere between mangroves and sand was awaiting us. With having no light, things to do were limited. Advantage: Getting up earlier than usual. We took a walking tour on the Busselton jetty (1,8 km one way) and got sunburned, although we’ve put sunscreen on! The perfect beaches didn’t help to get some protection.

After staying on a National Park campground we decided to visit the Grand Cave, a self-exploring cave. Being there quite early (not even the ranger has arrived), we read the information board. It sounded promising. We got a hard hat and a torch, each of us. Then we stepped down the main entrance hall. Walking a few steps further, we found ourselves in total darkness (when having the torch switched off). Kinda scary. The path was getting narrower until we had to crawl though such a little gap where people easily could get stuck. We had to climb then, up and down again a bit later, sometimes with the help of a rope, if there was one. Some 60 minutes later, we were happy to see the sunlight again. Quite adventurous and cool!

Time to go on then. Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. And Hamelin Bay, diving with huge 2m sting rays, which got as close as touching distance. I expected them to be more rough, more solid. They’d rather feel like jelly.

In Pemberton, we climbed the Gloucester and Bicentennial Tree. They stuck metal steel pipes in the trunk, which leads you, by following step by step, to the tree top and an extraordinary lookout. Everything on your own risk, no safety stuff, if you slip, you fell deep, depending on the level where you’re at. Still so much worth it.

The tree top walk in the Valley of the Giants was listed as next highlight. And beaches: Conspicuous Cliffs, Greens Pool, Ocean Beach, Frenchman Bay and Goode Beach Torndirrup National Park, just to name a few. One of them needs to be mentioned separately: Little Beach in the Two Peoples National park – white sand, blue-greenish water, idyllic and remote. More than beautiful.

We left Albany (eat a Burger at Dylans on the terrace, it’s a must) and went north, passed Porongurup National Park and the Stirling Range before getting caught by going on straight roads for hundreds of kilometres. A little rest was needed and we stopped in Ravensthorpe, had to shop something for dinner (pre-boiled rice and Indian butter chicken sauce) and noticed, when starting the engine again, the oil warning notification lamp was illuminated. Saturday, 5 pm. Shops won’t be open that long out there. We didn’t have many options. One of them was going back to the petrol station and asked for the oil the car was using. Luckily, they didn’t sell any of those we needed. Instead, they sent us back to the supermarket where we were just coming from. Running around in circles. But at least they had the stuff, in a 5 litre plastic tank. The camper van (we called him Hitchy) was thirsty, swallowing 2 litres at once. And this kept us going on.

The next morning, we entered Fitzgerald River National Park. The beaches were wide and white sanded. With no one else there than us. Still, a strange feeling was a side effect. And as a brown-black snake was suddenly showing up right next to me, looking at me, holding in and moving forward then finally, it was time to find the way to the final destination: Esperance!

I’ve never seen beaches like that. Shallow water, for some hundred metres, crystal-clear water, blue saturated, fine white sand all over the place, with kangaroos picking up grass leaves. The postcards sold everywhere were true; they represent how it really is. I didn’t believe so, but that’s how it really is. All this topped everything up. A lovely place to stay a couple of days – or a couple of days longer.

Every time we entered the car, this sticker reminded us kindly what to do before hitting the road again. Thanks Wicked!!!

The sunsets were amazing, one of the highlights travelling along the west coast.

There almost was nothing on the way back to Perth. One attraction only, one thing to see: The wave rock. It’s about a hundred metres long, 10 – 15 m high and the rest of a stone formation the wind didn’t blow away. Quite impressive, as the whole country is.

And the journey continues ...

Australia's southwest, heaps of things to do, Master Map part 1

A good preparation is everything! This master map is well known, helped us a lot 6 years ago. So here we come again. Destination now: Esperance!!! With its more than white beaches and everything ;) Kinda curious how it really looks like!

All the way to Esperance, Master Map part 2