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Bine, Peter and Eric at the welcome BBQ on our verandah

Peter back in Sydney. On Maundy Thursday Peter arrives back in Down Under. Since he had left Sydney early in March the weather has changed significantly – it is getting autumn. Especially the end of Daylight Savings Time has an impact on our daily lives since sunset is much earlier than before, at around 5.20pm. We have to re-learn that darkness does not necessarily mean the end of the day, and we invite to a "Welcome Back Pittee BBQ". Amongst a German community consisting of Bine and Eric, Irina, Matthias and Maya and Erica and Mark, we sit on our verandah, and Peter gets pamepered with Sydney specialities: Fresh fish and juicy steaks. This welcome party in a sense is a farewell party as well: By end of April, Eric and Bine will pack their belongings in boxes for shipping, and they will be back in Germany by June.

Peter, Sue, Kevin, and Andrew at dawn on the water

Long Easter Weekend in Murramurra Creek. Barely back in Sydney's time zone, Peter is abducted into Australia's wilderness. Together with Sue and Kevin, our trip leads us in fully loaded kayaks along Berowra Waters into Murramurra Creek. Just 30 kilometres from Sydney, we find a camp ground – in Australia this means a grassy plain – in absolute remoteness. Easter is peek holiday season, and many others will have spent hours in traffic jams. Even in kayaks the creek is only accessible at high tide, and it's the same regarding the departure... So after Andrew joined us on the second day, after we saw two Brown Snakes alarmingly close to us in the grass, after we had a refreshing swim at the end of the creek, we peruse the tide charts and realise that the highest tide on our departure day is at 3:30 in the morning. So we set our alarm clock to 5am, and hit the water at 5:30. Just in time: At times we are only having 10 centimetres of water underneath the kayaks and hardly can dip in our paddles. However, the early morning atmosphere and fog make us forget about the time – It's simply stunning.

Harbour Bridge in fog

Burglary. Bad surprise when we return home: Someone has been in our unit. Laptop, various jewellery, wallet, and our passports with the new visas (cf. Monthly Report March) are missing. A new alarm system is immediately installed.

Sunset at Port Stephens

Wednesday Night Time Trials. After a six weeks break, Peter has to start at the Wednesday night time trials once again. It's pretty obvious that he is not used any more to this kind of exercise. Kevin and Peter need solid 67:43 minutes, almost three minutes longer than before Peter's trip to Germany. In the meantime, Claudia's shoulder is showing further progress and she starts in her single, which allows her to paddle at her own pace. After outstanding 101:43 minutes at her first race she improves to 81:07 the next week. Continuing this calculation we may expect 61 minutes, then 41 minutes ... Put is like this: the strengthening phase has started and we expect her shoulder to have completely recovered by July.

At dusk on Milk Beach: Siegfried, Claudia, Wolfgang, Elma, and Elke

Claudia's Family in Sydney. From 22 April Elke, Siegfried, Elma, and Wolfgang conclude their journey through West Australia and the Red Centre in Sydney. We do our best to give them an insight into our way of life. They get pampered with a fish BBQ and a walk through Sydney Harbour National Park near Bradleys Head. But the highlight is a Saturday afternoon putt-putt trip on Gary's boat Louisa. From Birchgrove underneath Harbour Bridge, along Fort Denison, Clark and Shark Islands towards Milk Beach. There, it is time to take the pants off to go ashore from the moored boat and enjoy the sunset over the city. 1.5 kg of prawns, two dozens of oysters, and champagne make for some good mood.

In case you can't recognise him: Siegfried

Claudia and Siegfried on tour. After the others have left Sydney heading home to Germany, Siegfried stays for another week to go on a father-and-daughter paddling trip. We start "civilised" in Port Stephens in order to let Siegfried get used to camping. Furthermore, Port Stephens is home to residential dolphins. On our first day, we paddle some 14 kilometres and spot three pods of dolphins. The second day leads us around Fingal Island. Only seven kilometres, but on the open ocean with 2 metres swell and 1.5 metres sea. On this day, Siegfried is safely paddled around in Kevin's double kayak. He passes all tests. Thus on the following day, he and Claudia leave for three days on their own. Tent, mattrasses, sleeping bags, clothes, food – all this disappears in the depth of the kayaks for the long trip. From Apple Tree Bay to The Basin – Around Pittwater Bay – Around Lion Island to Patonga, into Patonga Creek – The finish line is at Palm Beach. We make approx. 75 kilometres in three days. See the pictures in our photo gallery Claudia's family in Sydney.