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Patriotism Down Under

Soccer Worldcup. In Australia, the big discussion has started about how to name it: 'Football' — this name is normally reserved for the rugby-like Australian football — or 'Soccer'. Nonetheless, the country unanimously supports their own team, the Socceroos, who after 32 years have finally qualified for the Soccer Worldcup again. During four weeks in June, cricket, rugby, football (Aussie rules) and dog races don't receive their usual media coverage, but soccer it is! Of course, Claudia and Peter get into the fever as well. Our heritage makes it a little harder for us to decide which side we are on. The motto is "Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast". So we are doing it all: We wear our Germany tricots (see photo) that Anja brought over from Germany, and fly the Socceroos flag on our car. The soccer-god shows mercy with us to not put on a direct match between "our" two teams....

When the Games were on in Japan and Korea in 2002, it was during the best "pub-times" in the evenings. This year, however, we need a lot of determination to follow the matches live on TV: The "good" matches start at 5:00 am, which is acceptable with an early mug of good coffee. But those matches starting at 3:00 am or even 1:00 am are hard to take. It is hardly astonishing that fans of all kinds, no matter if green-gold or black-red-gold, can be easily recognised by the black shadows under their eyes.

Even the best lens can't help here no more ...

Peter's birthday. It is well known that Peter left his beloved summer birthdays behind in the Northern Hemisphere when we moved to Down Under. Winter here does not mean the same low daylight temperatures as in Europe. However, it does mean early sunsets and not-so-cosy degrees Celsius. Therefore we celebrate Peter's big day this year during lunchtime. On a June-Sunday about 25 friends arrive on our entertainment deck to share hamburgers, beer, apple strudel, and coffee. This is not only a very welcome opportunity to spend time with friends, but also a good "excuse" to let renovations be renovations. Instead of swinging the paint brush, we show (not without pride) the result of the last 1,000 week-ends — at least it feels like it...

After the last party guests had left a while after sunset, Peter realises one last birthday wish and fetches a camera lens that he had won on eBay. The absolutely first photo ever taken with the new lens is pictured here. We promise that all the following photos will be better! Which will be guaranteed already through the fact that the model of this first photo will be banned to be hiding behind the camera, hence not being able to cause further trouble in front of it ...

Waterfall in slow motion: at Fitzroy Falls

A week-end in the Southern Tablelands. Two hours drive south of Sydney — of which the first hour is needed to reach the city border — Australia looks very different. If you follow the roads and look right, the green undulating hills remind us of the Allgäu: Fat cows are feeding from juicy grass. They have one big advantage over their (according to advertisements) happy relatives in far away Europe: These cows' hills have ocean views! Well, if that isn't anything!?

Continuing from the coastal town of Kiama — renowned for its Blow Hole — into the hinterland, you reach the area of Fitzroy Falls which are southern foothills of the Blue Mountains. A short drive further the old settlement of Bundanoon invites visitors to browse through (and purchase) antiques. In Bundanon — watch the spelling only one 'o' and 25 km further on — a colony of artists has settled. A lot of variety in a small region.

We are spending our first week-end in June in this area. Unfortunately, no soul appears to be working in the artists' village. However, the water taps at Kiama Blow Hole and Fitzroy Falls are fully open ;-) We spend the night in modified train waggons that a (supposedly mad) collector has set up on his land in the mountains. A second train waggon serves the purpose of a restaurant with character in which we are fully enjoying the good meal before we jump into bed after a day full of impressions.