Merry Christmas

Capitalism is cruel. That's what I had to learn once again when trying to book a bus/flight from Melbourne to Sydney. Since everyone's trying to get home or visiting family or friends for Christmas, companies DOUBLE the usual price in order to make a lot of money. As we are two really poor backpackers we really didn't wanna pay that much money for transport so we contacted people that had put adverts on gumtree, looking for someone to share the petrol with and eventually found a young couple that would take us but sadly wanted to leave on Monday morning at 4am... Right, so we got up at 3:30 and spent quite a while waiting for them because apparently their GPS didn't work properly... "That should be an interesting trip".
It really was: the guy who drove smoked like 20 cigarettes, opening the window, letting stinking smoke and 31°C hot air blow into my face.
We arrived just in time to get changed and then rushed into the City to the Martin Luther Kirche which is really small and cute so we had a comfi service squeezed between people sitting on the floor.
After that: Kaslar, chocolate fondue and PRESENTS!
Since the weather forecast for today was really bad we decided to have a lie-in and a brunch maybe going to the cinema after that. Instead my aunt woke me up this morning at the inhuman time of half eight saying her friend wanted to go to the beach despite the weather. "Alright I'll be there in a sec."
Fighting my way through deep sand with rain in my face I then realised: "Wait... we did have other plans, didn't we?" But it was too late so I spent Christmas Day in the rain on the beach and after that soaking wet in the car having lunch.
Merry Christmas!

Canberra

"You really wanna see Canberra?? There's literally nothing to see!" That's a summary of people's reaction after telling them about our plans to see the capital. "Well, it's the capital isn't it? There has to be something there!", was my thought. We booked one night in the YHA and sent some couchsurfing requests. Lucky us, a guy called Dave answered so we moved to his shared house and spent another night with 7 students at their place. Everyone was really nice and helpful and we had a great night out in the Pub! Having told Dave about our plans to go straight to Melbourne he offered us to come to Pambula where his parents own a house very close to the beach. We happily accepted and came with him to the coast where we had the most loveliest days on the beach with Dave, his brother and his parents who were incredibly generous, hosting us, cooking for us and even taking us to the cinema! We couldn't actually believe how lucky we were and how kind the Wallace family was to us. Australian hospitality surely goes beyond anything I have ever experienced before.

We even survived riding bikes on the left side of the road in Canberra! Oh and it's true what everyone says: There really is NOTHING to see in Canberra...

 Except for two Parliament houses.

Beautiful beach of Pambula.

Blue Mountains

Having gone hiking in the Alps several times, I thought I'd be ready to see the Blue Mountains and do some nice walks there. What I didn't expect were millions of stairs and steps coming up in front of me. Walking in the Blue Mountains doesn't mean you climb a mountain. You climb the plateau using 700 steps in a row, then walk at the cliff, then go down another 700 steps and then walk back in the valley. Pretty challenging but I made it!

The hostel was nice and full of germans. Free Internet, free lockers, free laundry, big, well-equipped kitchen and cozy atmosphere in the common room.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Blue-Mountains-Backpacker-Hostel/Blue-Mountains/33977?sc_sau=sfab&sc_pos=2

Sydney

Really impressive skyline! The City is nice but everyone seems a bit stressed, running around shouting in his or her iphone. People in Sydney don't go for a jog. They seem to be fleeing from some invisible huge, ugly spider, considering the pace they rush through the City.
We did a whale watching cruise but didn't see any whales... gonna try again in March.
Taronga Zoo is just like any other Zoo, except the amazing view you have on the skyline (photo) and a great seal show.

Sydney's beaches are beautiful! Saw Palm Beach where you have loads of kite surfers and Bondi Beach where you can't see the Sand on weekends. Bronte and another one called something like Tamaramahamaha are also really nice.