Kati & Mattes

Norway - Lofoten - Utakleiv and Haukland

2011-07-05T13:04:00.001+02:00

Above the polar circle - who would have thought to find 20'C, white
beaches, bbq and beach volleyball courts, always shining sun and beautiful
mountains to hike around. A little paradise on earth, shared with maybe 50
other people and all basically for free (once you get here - 2500km north
of Berlin).

Norway - Lofoten - Haukland

2011-07-05T12:56:00.000+02:00

------------------

Norway - Lofoten islands

2011-07-02T21:28:00.002+02:00

Schoen Zugspitze!

2010-09-20T11:37:00.000+02:00

Honeymoon the active way...
Hiking up Germany's highest mountain... Ole

K&m*

+========================================================================+
This email is confidential and may be privileged. If you have received it
in error, please notify us immediately and then delete it. Please do not
copy it, disclose its contents or use it for any purpose.
+========================================================================+

Berlin in summer

2010-07-09T14:33:00.000+02:00

Germany:England 4:1 - after party at Waldbuehne, Berliner Philharmonie

2010-06-27T20:13:00.001+02:00

After celbrating Jan-Oliver's and Laura's wedding in Hildesheim, we made it
just in time the the spreearche in Koepenick to watch Germany dominate the
islanders...

Fully excited we discovered, that you need about 1h drive on the highway,
to get from one side of Berlin to the other..

Now we will enjoy the Berliner Philharmonie at the open air venue Waldbuehe
(Forest stage..)

What a day...
M

Illegal little electro party just 30min out of berlin

2010-06-04T20:31:00.000+02:00

EHF Final4 Handball Champions League

2010-05-30T18:00:00.000+02:00

19000 spectators.
Lanxess arena in cologne.
4 games in 2 days.
Final match FC Barcelona Borges vs THW Kiel.
Lucky us got into the 200 Euro per seat area and are watching the final
now!!! From row 13, centre!!!

Ole....

Kite flyer... Running still difficult.

2010-05-16T17:57:00.001+02:00

Spring in berlin,,,,,,,,,,,

2010-05-16T17:56:00.001+02:00

Karaoke im Mauerpark

2010-05-16T17:05:00.001+02:00

Coucourchi love... Welcome home...

2010-05-16T15:40:00.002+02:00

Or come for yourself and find out...

Sand...

2010-05-16T15:40:00.001+02:00

Berlin beach! Blue sky...

2010-05-16T15:36:00.001+02:00

Schoenwetter im mauerpark

2010-05-16T15:33:00.001+02:00

The morning after...
The first 12h party in berlin...
23h friedrichshain preparty dia show... 2am wilde renate, crayz house, 2
floor 8 rooms all party... 7am berghain/panorama bar... 11am missed alex in
the s-bahn and had walk home from friedrichsstrasse.. Tough luck or
brilliant start into berlin?

Anyway, 1pm bike tour with the new single speeds to mitte and back to
mauerpark, relax enjoy and love life!!!!

WillllllLi

2010-05-16T03:41:00.001+02:00

Mattes new single speed... Welcom in berlin...

2010-05-15T23:19:00.001+02:00

Mattes in berlin

2010-05-14T12:40:00.000+02:00

Barcelona - last days

2010-04-25T22:37:00.002+02:00

The countdown started... now being in France snowboarding the last week of the season in Val Thorens, Barcelona seems already far away. However, we will return for good. One last week! Graduation is close, and many visitors will come...

IESE will be a madness... and then -

blank -

over -

finit...

this thing was meant to be 2 years and it turned out to be a very short period of time, an intensive everlasting ongoing experience... the source of engagements and the power to return to or start what you really want to do...

ole...

we will enjoy our last days at the beach, at the little cafes and our newly discovered bakeries and ice cream places... barcelona was great, is great and will be there when we return...

this is my first good buy, a mini farewell, despite the fact that we are not really gone yet...

machs gut, knuddels, barcelona

k&m*

Barcelona - 2 years CSR Scoo 125 good bye

2010-04-25T22:32:00.002+02:00

I had to let go... a long time friend, reliable warrior in the streets of barcelona... our beloved ride, the little CSR Scoo is sold. Gone for good, in new good hands.. but still. I dedicate this very post to say thank you, to our ride, for providing us with the freedom of doing many things... for not being stolen or broken.. for staying out of trouble like accidents or police controls...

true, sometimes she was a little winy, as in noise or annoyingly loud... but electric alarm comes with benefits and disadvantages like everything, e.g. vegetarians.

Anyway... times over, days are counted and while we have still 2 weeks to go.. from now on we actually have to walk! ,m

Barcelona - IESE Spring Games 2010

2010-04-25T22:18:00.004+02:00

happy fans and participants
our boss Niki!!
part of the handball team celebrating another gold medal!!Andreas celebrating 3 medals..
Beach Volleyball team!
Charly dominated rugby...
The ???
Michael hurt! cant play;( skiing injury
Nick as usual...
Our 3 DJanes...
and the sunshine kids...

IESE Spring Games 2010... what can I say.. spontaneously of my mind I would say

1) vulcanic ash. The reason most of the INSEAD guys couldnt come and even worse the reason my me very only Kati and biggest handball club fan ever could make it on Saturday (15h car drive from Munich in a Mercedes S.class)

2) Free beer, good music, nice DJs, good weather, perfect atmosphere and setting. The day was great and the facilities once more uniquely perfect. Too bad that we had only few participants...

3) Handball MBA team among MBAs unbeaten!

4) First years dominated the second years in basketball and soccer!

5) last but not least, outstanding job by Niki and Ines especially in the last chaotic days. Special thanks to Goyo for getting the beer and then keeping it cold... and great applause to all the orga team for doing this!

we put the bar high for the firsties...

Barcelona - Bachelors' night

2010-04-25T22:08:00.000+02:00

Brad, Naresh, me, Lenny, George, Andreas - at least i got pink!!

A night I can't remember . or a night to remember, same thing... 6 bachelors gone wild in Barcelona... brilliantly put into play by davide, felix, martin and many others... going after drinks and kisses in a competitive way isnt healthy for MBAs...
Well, there wasa lot of kissing involved as the fotos show not only good looking girls ;((( however, we all survived the night (most of us barely, but hey..)
So this was the first step toward getting married with Kati, and many more to come till the wedding..
I am so excited!!
<3

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T20:57:00.002+02:00

It is Easter 2010...

Let me say happy easter to all you eggs.. reading this blog!! Its been a great time for us in Barcelona and we are happy that we could share this experience with some of yous...

Now that our time is almost over, we can only say, come visit us tomorrow for our big easter brunch, squeeze in a last minute flight within the next 5 weeks or meet us back in good old Berlin, Germany after the 10th of May! the day of our relocation...

Lots of eggs from barcelona...

happy happiness

k&m*

Barcelona - Easer Impressions

2010-04-04T20:31:00.004+02:00

Barcelona in easter summer - or summer at easter in barcelona.. either way a reason to be at the beach every day... padel is the new thing.. and fish.. with or without fins... the competition has become strong!! you better wash yourself with cold water before coming back over the ocean..

A new trend, all over barcelona the 4 color tags... will report more later..
sunshine... sunshine... o la la la... sunshine... the weather is hot...
little lovely electronics nerd kati... lunch with me.. one on two, me against her and the BB...
Fish, watch out the cats...
Barcelonetta... Barcelonas old fishing quarter... yeah, no more fish comments, i know.. so Reischauer seniors.. obacht... here is where you are gonna live... keep your valuables tight..
I took the picture.. but i dont know why...
Berlin style bar in Raval..
Kati at la Boccheria... dancing in the sun and shade..
Another one of these pics I took...
And another one... ts ts ts but at least colorful...
Famous cafe RA - spelled ra
And the waiter there...

I hope these pics prove that not going to Japan, Turkey or Tarifa Spain, doesnt mean you miss out big time.. of course we would have loved to be at the other places, too.. but who would have thought that we could discover 3 new things every day in Barcelona...

olé

Barcelona - Easter Food

2010-04-04T20:17:00.004+02:00

Brunch at a place I dont remeber the name, its a little plaza on Cardener

Cooking something up for a change...after eating out 5 days in a row...
breakfast at another plaza (George Orwell):

btw Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950),^[3] better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense, revolutionary opposition tototalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism.^{[4] (Wikipedia)}

Fish, btw

A fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. Most fish are ectothermic (or cold-blooded). Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. Fish can be found in high mountain streams (e.g., char andgudgeon) and in the deepest ocean depths (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish). According to FishBase, 31,500 species of fishes had been described by January 2010.^{[1] Wikipedia}

Barcelona - Caj Chai

2010-04-04T20:09:00.002+02:00

Easter break in Barcelona, all our flate mates are gone, so we have the whole 170 m2 for easter pleasures (like sleeping in and stuff... not what you think). Well, not only that but also the fact that our days in BCN are counted, made us stay and start what you can call a P-character last minute catch up race to discover Bcn. Quick but solid internet research lead to a short list of places to touch feel and eat (about 50 - only).

So we better start: Caj Chai: spoken chai chai, is a.... tatatattaaaa: Chai place... in the middle of the old town, hidden place, but awfully cute..

50 different chais... so if you like chai, go to chai chai, spelled caj chai... olé

Barcelona - Handball friendly match

2010-04-04T19:58:00.002+02:00

Stretching to avoid injuries . unfortunately it didnt make us win...

Our opponents - Barcelona veteran team . Experience wins over fitness...
the team
From upper left: Bucky (Exchange), Alex (3rd year), Matthias, Andreas, Victor (Professor), Sunil, Moises, Eni, Michael, Jonathan, Mareike, Nuno (ESADE).

With joint forces and the present IESE All star team, we still didnt have a chance against an experience local Barcelona veterans team. Our team, with help from professors, alumni and even ESADE player was beaten badly.. However, everybody could see the positive signs.. almost each of our players could score, we ran a couple of nice fast breaks and the objective critic has to admit that we were hit hard by an injury of our one and only Jonathan Salomon (goal keeper).

Either way, playing our first game of the season, we learned a lot and will come back only stronger!!

Thanks to everybody for being there, also our opponents for letting us learn..

the coach

Barcelona - Sahil's 2nd visit

2010-04-04T19:49:00.004+02:00

Our most reliable visitor... Sahil came as usual to our annual fiesta MultiCulti!

First quarter review 2010

2010-03-15T11:17:00.002+01:00

Hey all,

rumor is, that this blog has become dead... well lets bring it back to life! Apologies for being lazy, cause that what i was... its not that we havent done anything, there are plenty of things to talk about... so here is a brief update on the last 2 months in Barcelona and around...

Since there are only 2 months left in Business School, graduation is on May 7th, and we are planning to move back to Berlin May 10th... there are many things to do...

1) we have regular work for school - business as usual

2) All the clubs and people try to squeeze in last activities before we all leave - and so do i with my clubs and friends.. so theres a lot of organizing and doing stuff going on (e.g. Doing good doing well conference, where shawn came from Oxford, there will be IESE Spring Games in April, this wek multiculti is coming up etc....)

3) Preparation for leaving; we are preparing for the move to berlin, looking for accomodation and trying to settle things here... moving all our stuff home..

4) there is a wedding to be planned... that has progressed a lot.. but hey, its a big project... so thx already to everybody who helped us so far... for sure we are gonna approach all the others soon ;)

Well, this is it for now.. enjoy the pics and come along, if you can make it... 2 months left!!

k&m*

Barcelona - Ben in town (random)

2010-03-15T11:07:00.004+01:00

witn Ben at Bogatell - the beach that doesn't exist anymore.. our beloved xiringuitos are gone, half of the sand is missing... the beach showers are constructions sites... the weather has hit barcelona bad!

Cargo ship in the harbor

Seagull at the Castel

Embracing peace!

big brother ben

Our new breakfast hot spot... buenas migas, 5 min walking from home and breakfast berlin style at the beach, focaccia and big cafe con leche

and when it it too crowded, just take away the food and eat at the beach 100m to the right!! olé

and ben again - looks like he is enjoying barcelona, rightfully so.

In the Poble Espanol, the weakest tourist spot we went to.

and a picture ben has taken ;)

Palacio at plaza espanya

Next to the W

in front of the W

After not having seen him for over 1 year, big brother ben came visiting Barcelona. Since it was his first time here.. we had a full 4 day program and luckily the weather played along, ending with a beautiful sunny sunday!!

thx for coming ben!

Barcelona - Ben in town (sports)

2010-03-15T10:59:00.002+01:00

While running around town, we found the most interesting sports... Professional bow and arrow shooting in the Castel

Remote control full cross racing

For everyone who read "the kite runner" (Khaled Hosseini) - this is the new form of kite fighting!! Fuel powered light weight planes controlled on a kite string. Whoever cuts the others tails first wins...

One guy controlling the planes... Impressive

Barcelona - Ben in town (sightseeing)

2010-03-15T10:54:00.003+01:00

The Castel on Montjuic

View of the habour from Montjiuc

The Teleferic that whe never took, cause the queue was always too long...

Distance view on the new landmark - hotel W

In the olympic site. The eternal flame used to burn on this massive torch

Plaza Espanya

Hotel W close up...

Berlin - Willi Carlos Maximilian Boehm

2010-03-15T10:52:00.003+01:00

Willi and Berlin!

Feldberger Seenlanschaft - Wedding Location visit

2010-03-15T10:45:00.003+01:00

Coucourchi fun at the snow covered and frozen maze of lakes in the north of berlin

sold!

the whole area is a national park!

so we tried to adapt ;)

Coucourchi fun part II, I mean we are getting married and finally found a place... whats not to be happy about??

good mood or guute laune!!

I love you, too!!

Berlin to Barcelona - Streetart

2010-03-15T10:40:00.002+01:00

Some pictures Kati took over the last two weeks...

Berlin - Home after a long time!!

2010-03-15T10:34:00.001+01:00

New haircut!!

AS always: really good looking

Aftermath: from 3am till 11am Champagnerama... party Berlin style...

Even Nicky is out

Meeting Tessa and Peter

Berlin and Bags

After a long time we decided to go back to "home"... Berlin. One week off classes, so we worked on setting up the wedding, finding a place to crash in may when we come back and started to look for flats we could potentially buy in Berlin.

Also it was good to see all these lovely Berlin people again, Willi, Nicky, Rudi, Jesse, Tessa, Peter, Laura, Roman, Karo (finally) and Sahil...

Barcelona - Calcotada IV

2010-03-15T10:32:00.000+01:00

But you gotta be careful with this red wine.. it can make a mess...

Same here...

And it definitely inflences the style perception... good luck with the rest of the day:)

Another Catalan tradition: Calotada, or in simple words: massive eating of a kind of Spring Onions, grilled on a BBQ. The whole thing is a messy feast, mainly introducing taste thorugh salsa, not the onions themselves.. also, food consisting mainly of onions can have other side effects I dont want to mention here. However, sensible or not.. when everybidy comes together 20km away in the mountains to eat and drink... usually its big fun - and it was...

Barcelona - Calcotada III

2010-03-15T10:27:00.000+01:00

What is it with these drinking competition? Whereever you find these carafes, the excessive drinking isn't far... and that at 15:00h...

Barcelona - Calcotada II

2010-03-15T10:25:00.000+01:00

Barcalona - Calcotada I

2010-03-15T10:23:00.000+01:00

Barcelona - everyday life

2010-03-15T10:22:00.000+01:00

Saturday morning breakfast on our rooftop after running at the beach

City beach for the first time in front of snow covered mountains

Fish and I back to beach paddel, first dip in the "ocean" in February, not bad...

And the visiting period has officially started, having had Martin, Alpha, Verena, Ben, Shawn and Viki over.

Barcelona - Triple 29 Party

2010-03-15T10:17:00.000+01:00

Naresh (29) and Renu

Davide (29)

Myself (29)

Turning 29 within one week, we decided to celebrate big time, set up carneval in Elephant and invited everybody we know. Party was good fun, especially after that free bottle of vodka from Dani (Elephant owner), however, I still don't know what the costume meant I was wearing... and I somehow lost a pair of jeans on that night?! strange...

Spain - in snow

2010-03-15T10:13:00.000+01:00

"Missing out" on the heavy winter in Germany, the snow finally cought up and surprised us in Spain. given that we could run from the sauna directly into making snow angels, I will consider this snow a present and blessing, while still having respect for everybody in good old Germany who can't see snow anymore!!

2010 02 01 Birthday Spa cont'd

2010-03-15T10:11:00.000+01:00

Our little pool

some impressions from the patio - after the snowfall

the place's dog.. remided me a lot of Karla

Birthday calls in the 2 people hammok, olé

2010 02 01 Birthday Spa

2010-03-15T10:08:00.000+01:00

One of the last pics with "the" hair

My xmas present at my birthday. Kati took me to a very nice spa. Having our own suite right above the spa/pool/sauna area and having the latter exclusively for the whole night, could only be topped by fresh snow in Spain... unheard of..

the beautiful host

Fish!

Barcelona - Passeig Isabel II, 6 - our new home

2010-01-20T22:31:00.003+01:00

Hey all,

just a quick one... since we are her now for more than 10 days now, which have passed by like nothing, I thought I conserve the following pics forever..

Our new flat - or as some people say: living like good in spain ;))

The pictures might give the place too much credit, since it has been run down a little, but its still a ridiculously great place soo close to the harbor, beach and life in Barcelona.

We live together with Martin, Fish and Bean now (3 other IESE students) and the occasional visitor (the guys are all singles ... )

Enjoy and talk soon... with news from the pink panther party in London over the weekend...

Tasmania - Freyzinet Peninsula

2010-01-09T17:49:00.000+01:00

Just lost the post... sad now.. no words ;(

Tasmania - Falls Festival

2010-01-09T17:30:00.000+01:00

This morning, I wasnt even sure where to start... there are soo many things and on this one, I could tell stories for hours again... but yeah, looks like we are getting through on a very high level, though..

the falls festival spin off from the bigger sister in Lorne, Marion Bay is secretly the nicer venue... located in the hills with views on the ocean and access to the beach, the 3 day festival into new years was one continuing wondering of why people would do it... why, why, why..
I tried to understand, talk to people, try it out myself... but i am as clueless as I was before..

well, first of all, I do admit I am getting older! true, we went to the festival knowing 2 out of 30 bands.. (a quick internet research revealed that bands like the yeah yeah yeahs, grizzyly bear, hilltop hoods and seasick steve are the hype at the moment) and true again, moby (the one I knew) was just bad. Plain! Lets just not even start with it... biggest surprise and new discoveries for us: seasick steve, emiliana torrini, art vs sciene, Lisa Mitchell and comedian Arj Barker. But yeah, yeah and yeah.. its like i didnt know them before and now i couldnt care less... the new york trio seems to me as wrong as the clothes people wear... screeming doesnt help, if there is no message you have to convey... and excessibely using the expressiong mother f***** in lover songs... is just not my style.. and - no judging- I do feel sorry for those who need to express their feelings in a similar way...

back to the thing... the return to the 80th, the leggins, the sunglasses.. the weird colors, the forced individualism, where everybody tries to beat the others by looking even worse, ending in a freak show of people who - tyring to be different - all seem the same, just badly dressed (in terms of clothes)...
I dont get it.. I thought, after the 80th everybody agreed that the style was as poor as post war architecture... something you shouldnt return to if you have other choices...

So while I was wondering, the temperature reached an 10 year record high of 38,5 degrees, the beach was closed due to a jelly fish plague and the relief materilazied in the form of an tank truck that offered a public group shower orgy of the finer type... the first wet t-shirt contest I have seen, where the girls screemed and ran towards the water rather than away from it... olé

so, "use your flippers to get down" and happy 2010!

Tasmania - Bruny Island

2010-01-09T17:11:00.000+01:00

After the hike is before the hike, as the Romans say... we finished the overland track, basically to pick up our new car and drive aroudn tassie.. but ended up hiking up to 7h per day anyway...
stunning costal scenery was challenged only by man made things like stone man beach, random mobile phone reception while waiting for the next ferry and fruit picking/fresh made fruit ice cream close to hobart (sorell).
Another highlight was one night at the penguins, at the ithmus of bruny island we spend 1,5 h watching a whole lot of fairy penguins coming back form the sea to feed their babies... and i mean hundreds of them...

ah, and waht do you do with a shark that you accidentally fish with your fhishing net (upper right corner)... you throw it back in the water, at the beach, of course...

Tasmania - Overland track

2010-01-09T16:33:00.000+01:00

Some impressions from the hike...too many crazy moments!!

Crazy in love coucourchis,
crazy bad weather at the beginning, with crazy wind and fog and rain and coldness
crazy summits and vistas
crazy people, mainly from canada and germany
crazy hut life after the hikes, sitting around the tiny heater
waterfalls, lakes, rocks, rainforest...

and of course our favorite quote from one of the log books: "John Chapman forgot to mention, that evil roots are the devil!"
also high on my list was the mac pac sales guy, looking at my shoes after i told him I dont think to buy gore tex boots: "you are one brave young man, mate!"

what I am talking about are the tracks, only sometimes on boardwalks, most of the track still goes through muddy, wet ground, with heaps of mudwholes and in the foresty areas millions of roots (wet) on which you try to get forwards...

Btw, I did get gore tex shoes in the end, and "gaitors", both highly recommended to necessary! I also got Kati, but that is a longer story, which I will get into later and in more detail ;))

Tasmania - West Coast

2010-01-09T16:24:00.000+01:00

Random thoughts (from upper left corner):

Echidna - Ant eater, looks like an hedgehog but is nicer since more special and doesnt exist in Germany ;)
Leaving Melbourne harbour on the spirit of tasmania
Hobarts most famous fish restaurant
Some beach on the north coast
flowers
Environmental fighting boat
Caterpillar

....

and the crazy monster santa penguin, some shadows in the west coast's massive sand dunes, sunset beach spins, coffee at the nut in stanley, and the gorge in launceston....

Tasmania - Wildlife

2010-01-09T15:56:00.000+01:00

Tasmania wildlife was, in short, dissapointing. However, we had our highlights, especially about 1h with this Pademelon baby and its mum. Soooo sweet. Apart from that we saw the odd Echidna, 1 or 2 wombats, heaps of wallabees and a really big Tiger Snake. All in all rather few animals for being so remote... but yeah, in exchange the weather was fine.. so what...

Tasmania

2010-01-09T15:51:00.000+01:00

So here we go, xmas vacation, a trip to the islands off the island off the island. The tour around remote Tasmania, Bruny Island, the Tasman and Freyzinet Peninsula. To get an idea what happened, I uploaded the map, as most people I talked to so far werent too familiar with Tazzie (fair enough).

1) First part was the relocation of our nice and almost too perfect Apollo 3 berth campervan from Melbourne, with the "Spirit of Tasmania"-ferry to Devenport (in the North) and then via Stanley down the west coast to Strahan and the most beatiful sunset-dunes of Tazzie. From there to Hobart to finally drop of the car with 800km instead of the allowed for 400km ;( - but hey, we have done the west coast, have you??

2) Second stretch was hiking. Getting to Cradle Moutain via Launceston by bus, and then 8 days on foot down south to Lake St Claire (Derwent Bridge), almost 90km, in 8 days. They call it the overland track, I guess because it goes over land, instead of e.g. flying?? From there with the bus back to Hobart for xmas eve.

3) Picked up our new home on wheels, a high tech minimalistic campervan from Budget, some people with little imagination would call it a transporter, since it came with ample space but nothing like bed, kitchen, sink, fridge or other luxury items like second battery. However, the pickled frog backpacker in hobart supported us with a full on luxuary mattress, we had our camping stove and borrowed a cooler from Coles. Voila! Off to Bruny island in the south of Hobart for 3 days and the to the Tasman Penisula.

4) Highlight 4 was the Falls Festival in Marion Bay, which is between Sorell and Triabunna at the east coast. 3 day rock and alternative music, beach and new years eve with crazy thunderstorm.

5) Walkind out, is how I would say in German. Cooling off, after sport, getting your shoes out and run a little for the fun of it. The 2 day overnight hike on Freyzinet Peninsula felt like it. The lazy bunch arrives at Coles bay to see teh world famous Wineglass bay to be surprised that they actually have to walk up the hill to a lookout for 45min to take a photo of it and another 45min down to the beach for a swim... well, we thought, too easy, lets walkt around the whole Penisula, camp out at the free bushcamping sites right at the beach and come back over a 700m high mountain and approach the beach from the back... and it was sooo worth it!!

Jepp, thats 3,5 weeks in short. I will also upload some pics, but its 700 again, and after hard work i got down to 200, so i had to squeeze it again and will give you 4 collages of many beatiful memories... watch them in full size!!!

m*

Back to Barcelona

2010-01-07T17:16:00.000+01:00

Hey all,

just a quick note while we are in Melbourne on the way to catch our flight to Barca...

We had a terrific time in Tasmania. The island is soo remote that you are pretty much on your own even in high season!! Also, we were totally lucky with the weather, having had only two days of rain in 3,5 weeks, including the hottest day in Tassie in the last 10 years (38,5 ºC).

Among the Highlights were of course the 8 day overnight trek from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Claire (Overland track), the Falls festival and hiking along Wineglass bay on Freyzinet Peninsula. Fotos are to come soon, and many more stories as well ;))

The sad news are, that we feel like we missed out on xmas and new years. Being surrounded by beaches and warm weather is nice, but doesnt feel like xmas at all. We did miss, the cold and our families, hanging out eating too much and playing board games for three days is just the right thing to do at this time of the year.

And celebrating new years with 17ooo people on the Falls Festival, watching the ocean and a crazy lightening storm will be an unforgettable memory, but is not the same as being with friends, going crazy in Berlin or whereever, but going crazy with your friends..

Its that what makes us looking forward to the next step on our long journey... its getting closer to yall again.. looking forward to barcelona and the IESE crowd, meeting most of the homies in London in pink and also getting some of you to visit us in Barcelona maybe, since we only have 4 months left to offer that opportunity.

Anyway, before I start crying, I might as well catch my flight.. Hope yall doing fine, had a great start into 2010 so far and that we catch up soon!!!

Love, peace and ice cream,

M&K*

Merry Xmas and a happy new year

2009-12-25T04:15:00.002+01:00

Hey all,

just wanted to say that we made it back safely from our 8 day hike in Tasmania (see Overlandtrack )... and we will be traveling in Tassie until the 5th of January...

You can try to reach us, but most of the time we wont have coverage... however, email should be fine...

Hope you all had a terrific Xmas and will make it happily into the new year..

hugs

Matt (and Kati*)

Melbourne - Social Life

2009-12-08T03:43:00.003+01:00

Thanksgiving tofu turkey
Feast on Stephen's terasse
Matt
Jens and Al
Elisa
Laura
Some of the Movember crowd
All you can eat dumplings - Matt and Laura
Trisha and Sabina - obviously excited about the dumplings, or was it the suddenly gone missing friend?

So here is what we do, thursday to Friday, 24h in Melbourne. We have a feast for Thanksgiving in St Kilda, just to wake up and organize the final party at the Corkman Irish Pub for Movember. Just when you think you cant get more alcohol and food into you in 20h, the ladies suggest to do all you can eat in china town, so off to Aldi, getting some wine and then do AYCE with BYO... tough! m

Melbourne Region - Great Ocean Road

2009-12-08T02:59:00.008+01:00

Entrance to the most famous road of Australia
Kati and the Koala
Kati and a bird
Mattes and a bird - if you spread your arms they come and land on it?!
The great ocean vista
For Thorsten Groene - cheers mate
sunset from our first camp site on the great ocean walk
our private bench and me in hardcore hiking dress ;)
Our new home for the hikes - a kathmandu retreat 25 - the model name promises a little more comfort that it gives, but the brand keeps its promise of robustness
see the little blue bird???
the coucourchis in rain wear - first really shitty day, and by now I have got new shoes, cause walking with wet feet sucks!
Anchors at shipwreck beach
another one
trying to dry my shoes at our new stove! this time the burner and bottle worked together ;)
Australia's most scenic toilet
View from the toilet!
Kati and the Echidna
The echidna and her nose
two love turtles
lunch time, day tow at the GOW. nice secluded place with unknown vistas at the apostels
back from the hike we were trying to meet up with alvaro, jens, sabina and her sister - well they never showed up. Luckily we came back to our rental car hitchhiking, unluckily the car was gone. Left only this patch of burned ground and forest!
The police was kind of waiting for us. Having your car broken into and burned down to the ground is that kind of news, that spreads rather fast in a 5 people village ;(
Kati looking for her birkenstock...
The next day, after a nice "lets forget about the car and get drunk" evening with the others (who we finally found), alltogether we made it to see the main attraction, the 12 apostel.
shitty day II, as the raindrops on the camera reveal
apostel
one of my favorite beaches in Australia Loch Ard Gorge
Again
Jumping pics, ole
Climbing what Alvaro couldnt climb -good job Jens
The headstand, ohhhhhhhaaa
Kati likes this, dont know why!?
Jumping pics again, and nice camera perspective, makes me look jumping really high ;)
LaKatita
LaKAtitatII
London bridge, the one that broke 1990 with people on the right part (which is now an island)
Jens and the kiteboard
And I finally got a chance to do some watersport in Australia
Nice, havent forgotten everything yet.
Good feeling, the new kites are super easy...

Well and with this monster blog entry, let me rap up what will remain as one the most remarkable weekends of this trip. 1st Dont leave your car unattended for 2 days, even in Australia, is the learning. 2nd even if you think there are no valuables in your car, all this random stuff can add up to $900 ;((( damn it. Good rain gear makes life livable while hiking in the rain, including shoes! And I could go on.. cheers anyway Im out, m

Melbourne - MOvember Fest

2009-12-08T02:53:00.002+01:00

The good brew, Deano and Buckleys. Many names - one meaning - crazy beer sponsoring
We invited the whole MBS Movember crowd over to our place and set up a professional beer tab, in order to serve 80l of Melbourne finest beer.

The event has been a great success, yielding over $500 for Movember!

Good on ya mates!

Panorama II

2009-12-08T02:17:00.003+01:00

Vietnam - private beach in Halong Bay
Vietnam - biggest cave close to Donh Hoi
Indonesia - Gunung Rinjani - view from the volcano towards the gilis and Bali
New Zealand - South Island - Kaikora Peninsula
New Zealand - South Island
New Zealand - South Island - Kaikora Peninsula
New Zealand - South Island - Farewell Spit
New Zealand - South Island - Marlborough Souunds
New Zealand - South Island - Costal Drive

Panoramas I

2009-12-06T06:24:00.005+01:00

Marlborough Sounds South Island New Zealand
Gunung Rinjani Lombok Indonesia
Dam Vientiane Lao
Great Ocean Walk Victoria Australia
Gili Meno Lombok Indonesia
Should be vertical! Tree in Ubud Bali Indonesia
Nusa Lembongan Bali Indonesia
Gunung Batur Bali Indonesia
Great Ocean Walk Victoria Australia
Great Ocean Walk Victoria Australia

Melbourne Region - Wilsons Prom III

2009-12-06T05:53:00.002+01:00

Melbourne Region - Wilsons Prom II

2009-12-06T04:47:00.006+01:00

Another set of love turtles
Looking for the answer...
one of them private creeks each beach owns
hunting down the sunset - with success!
mama bird and baby bird at the campsite bbqs
stretching out the old legs...
happy to find the water... arriving at the first of 5 dream beaches only accessible for walkers (after 5h) and boats
dream beach boulders
again, teh love turtles
boulders, backpack beach
another bird!
our campsite on the overnight hike - lucky that we still had neighbors, i mean this is one of the most remote campsites you can have... but the odd neighbor is necessary, if you by a burner, that doesnt fit your gas bottles... shame on me...
On the boulders, which make fabulous lookouts on the costal path..
Kati and the vietnames hat, on the way to the next fab beach...
Chris, after creek crossing, at another great beach
Kati's shoes, after unsuccessful beach crossing

me, after everything..
crazy new vegetation, after bush and beach now swamp and finally hills, gras, burned trees and , of ocurse, boulders
faceshaped boulders
Kati decided to go for the extra miles, adding it up to 23km on day to only!! but we were rewarded with another chance of bathing, long strethces of almost empty beach and supreme costal views
like this
bushy tail possum
and my personal hugging favorite - the wombat
A long weekend in paradise.. funny enough that i havent even heard of it last time i was in oz. Not too many tourists here - lucky and a shame at the same time. Definitely one of my new favorite places in Australia. The weekend in Wilsons Prom has been close to perfect... I think the broken pole of our tent's entrance and the running out of beer were the 2 thins one might mention towards the negative side... but besides that, we had a lot of fun... uploading some panoramas now! m

Melbourne Region - Wilsons Prom I

2009-12-06T03:13:00.003+01:00

above the clouds on mount oberon, highest peak in wilsons prom

got to like it, right?!
One weekend (4days) in Victorias pearl of national parks. Together with Chris and Cathy we went to Wilsons Prom, got a super cheap SUV and enjoyed the hell out of it..
The park hosts some surreal beaches, with massive boulders, noone knows where they are coming from and a private creek in each beach. Supreme hiking around Australias most suothern point on the penisula is defined by ever changing landscape, flora and fauna. Even the busfire burned patched had some special beauty.

Melbourne - Botanical Garden

2009-12-06T03:01:00.002+01:00

Love under the trees
Another of the "hot" days in Melbourne, we were lucky to find the sprinkler system active in the forest
A bird!
Meeting the genius again - see matioeoe.blogpsot .com
Picknick in Melbourne's botanical gardens. Extremely hot day, however, chiling in the shadow of the trees and marvelling at the little animals and flowers everywhere was surprisingly enjoyable.
Check out the blue flower in the middle of the collage, called butterfly, obviously after a closer look!!

Melbourne Region - Mornington Peninsula

2009-12-06T03:00:00.000+01:00

beach at mornington peninsula, good cool off after hiking
The light house and board walk down to the beach
meeting up with chris and cathy
the path we hiked through the heat of the day finally arrives the ocean, but unfortunately the promised breeze didnt come, therefore millions of flies... horrible..

bush?!

And here we go again, the next mega upload attempt.. 120 pics to go and many many stories to tell... Mornington peninsula, 1h drive south of Melbourne is one of the weekend getaways. Beatifully located, full of nature, wineries, beaches and spas... We entered Australias bush, to find some more snakes and wallabies, and to train walking for Tasmania and the big 8 day hike to come... however, training at 12h lunch time at 45degrees is not a smart move.. only good, that we meet up with chris and cathy afterwards to jump into the ocean..

Melbourne - St Kilda Beach

2009-12-06T02:53:00.000+01:00

Even if we made it only a few times, I still wanted to upload at least 1 pic of our home beach St Kilda. This one is at sunset, I dont even know what day it was.. but a beautiful night

Melbourne - Oaks day, a day at the races

2009-11-11T05:09:00.001+01:00

Some impressions, why they call it the ladies day, and why so many guys are there

This is how our guys dressed up....

...to impress our beautiful ladies!! Thanks for taking us with you!

Melbourne - Oaks day IV

2009-11-11T05:06:00.002+01:00

Vista from the rooftop bar..

Spreading love on the rooftop bar... soomany things you can do there, they even have a cinema!!

Coucourch with the lovely curley hair, olé, muakis

So while this might seem like a random selection of pictures, its just a representation of a really nice but equally random day. Races in Melbourne, the big week in the year, going out, dressing up, horses, gambling, getting drunk,... soo many things. Most of us werent really prepared or aware of whats going on, but everybody wanted to experience it... so we hit the races with a group of 20-30 people..

It was all I mentioned above, plus some wicked afterparty downtown and a state of the art finishing with china town dumplings...

Melbourne - Oaks day III

2009-11-11T05:04:00.001+01:00

I dont know either?!

Jens split from the team to celebrate in the VIP area, at least he got lucy and shared his good mood with us...

Everybody celebrating Jens, for a glorious $ 3.50 win

After the races, drinks at the rooftop bar

Melbourne - Oaks day II

2009-11-11T05:02:00.000+01:00

Melbourne - Oaks day I

2009-11-11T03:41:00.000+01:00

Melbourne Region - Grampians - Hike

2009-11-11T02:12:00.006+01:00

The next morning it was kinda hard to get everyone out of bed... so Mattes and I did a little waterfall hike before the day started. Funnily enough, the waterfall does not flow into a pool, but goes right underground where it flows on in an undergrond river.
Once everyone was up and we'd had a super dooper brekkie we headed out for our hike - which took us 5 hours and way beauuutiful! but it was HOT and we needed shade and water and rest.

waterfall in the morning - and coucourch con beenie!

on the big hike! checking out rock formations

at the first outlook

some poor man had broken his leg - and as it was about 2hrs to get back to civilization, a helicopter had to come and save him. it was so impressive to see how it managed to hover above the ground, let people down to secure him, and pull him back up. crazy stuff.

group picture! we all made it up!! :-)

we took a different route back down, pretty awesome through some canions, but impossible (at least for me) to catch on camera...

meins!

Melbourne Region - Grampians - Halloween

2009-11-11T01:46:00.003+01:00

It was Halloween, and as we were travelling with a bunch of americans, it had to be celebrated! They don't really know it here in Oz by the way. Anywho, so i don't have any pics of us in our costumes, but I do have Laura and her pumpkin, which were certainly a highlight.

Melbourne Region - Grampians - Lake

2009-11-06T09:10:00.001+01:00

Oh no, we did do another stop, a lake stop, and Mattes and I went on a little animal search and found some again ;-)

kangeroo spotting

Melbourne Region - Grampians - Lookout

2009-11-06T09:05:00.004+01:00

Last stop of the day was another short hike to the "Balconies" from which one has a nice view over the park. It seems quite boring from above - but we would see the next day that the nature and rock formations are great to hike in.

jaco and jens scaring me

laura and matt not scaring me as much ;-)

me all set up in my stuff and hiking it up

Melbourne Region - Grampians - Waterfall

2009-11-06T08:43:00.004+01:00

Last weekend we took a trip to the Grampians, a mountain range about 3 hours away from Melbourne, with a whole bunch of happy exchange student.
First stop: a little hike down to a pretty waterfall. Good to coooooool down - it was HOT outside all weekend!

the team (from left to right): mattes, jaco, chris, matt, laura, sabina, nik, jens, and meee taking the pic

mattes setting up the fitness - can you see the rainbow? beaut!

my coucourch

Melbourne - Breakfast at Green Grocers

2009-11-06T08:37:00.002+01:00

Another breakfast joint we tried in Melbourne - only it's not only a breakfast joint.
Green Grocer is a much acclaimed organic café, which also serves as an organic food store. Loved the ambience, the store seemed lovely, the food was ok, nothing special and a bit more expensive, since it's all organicy and all. Verdict: ok.

Melbourne - MEL-Office and Victoria Market

2009-11-06T08:32:00.001+01:00

Some random pics from the office and the market. Random random.

Melbourne - BBQ at our house - Food

2009-10-26T04:46:00.003+01:00

mushrooms for the self-made mattesche bbq

my favorite grill master at his self-made bbq - which blessed us with piles and piles of yummy food!

oh and yes, we had drinks, too... ;-)

Melbourne - BBQ at our house - People

2009-10-26T04:29:00.006+01:00

Our housemate Emma is off to live in Thailand, and we hadn't tested Mattes' self-made bbq yet, and we used both as a reason to have some people over on Saturday. It was a full house until late at night and thanks to everyone that came - we had a blast :-)))

mattes, emma (house mate) and one of emma's friends on the couch we put in the garden

mattes (aka coucouchi) - this photo proves he does have curly hair

alvaro

scott (ha! see! i caught you!!! ;-))

bruce

javi and marta

matt

chris

lu (also her last day in melboure)

nik

stefan (with COLD beer)

laura (with purple hat... )

moi (kati) and sabina

only caught meegan (also house mate) with her eyes closed

yes, we actually ended up hulahooping...

... and playing the organ

Melbourne - CBD and Queen Victoria Market

2009-10-26T04:23:00.003+01:00

Just some pics from downtown close to school - and of Queen Victoria Market, only steps from MBS, where we do all our food shopping.

some people mentioned they wanted to see some down town pics - so here they are. the city is very diverse and mixes metropolitan high rise buildings with traditional housing - and small lanes with large busy streets. lovely mixture.

the front of Queen Victoria market where I load up kilos of food every week

the food court which belongs to the market - good fresh food, but I refere the delicatessen hall inside with all the cheeses and breads and cakes and böreks... will take a camera along in the next few days and take some pictures inside.

Melbourne - Breakfast in Mart130

2009-10-26T04:03:00.006+01:00

Another great breakfast - no, actually, a fanTASTIC breakfast. We took a tram for 30min to get there on a Saturday morning, so we were hoping it would be so.
Tramstop 130 Middle Park, route 96, right in Albert Park, they turned the tram stop into a café, and when the sun shines one can sit on the terrace looking into the park.

the tram stop - and the cafe (we sat on the terrace on the other side) - and the park on the right

the terrace at the back was really pretty, made up of all sorts of furniture, lots of wood, plants in pots, etc. the atmosphere reminded me of the Reitschule in munich (shout out to vikiiiihaseeee!)

coffee was better than average, though obviously not as wonderful as in seven seeds, but hey, we're spoilt like that now...

mattes breakfast: eggs with salmon, creme cheese and this great cucumber salad on top

my devine eggs, made with truffels, parmesan, fresh spinich and mushrooms... yuuummmmmm!
highly recommended place!

Melbourne - Day Trip to Phillip Island - Animals

2009-10-26T02:18:00.006+01:00

This was the best bit of the trip - all the animals! In their environment, us sneeking around trying to find them. It was great!

hm. mattes says this fish is very poisonous when it's alive. hm.

spikey spikey super ant inhaler.

wild cat - it was so long!

big black parrot-like birds - in the end there were 10 circling over us

the seagulls' babys are hatching right now and they just COVERED nobbie's point. they were very proctive and it was cute to watch the little ones of all sizes trying to fly and falling down after a few centimetres

penguins! now these are the reason most people come to phillip island. at dusk they waddle across the beaches in packs and they are so tiiiiny it's adordable. to watch that waddle you must pay money though and sit on stands... we didn't like that idea, so we were lucky that they showed themselves to us anyway, sitting under the walks in nobbies' point or hiding in the different borrows buddled between the seagulls

hiding wallabies - during the first walk

walabies all over during the late afternoon walk mattes and i did - can you spot them on the track ahead of me? they were all over the reserve we alked through - jumping all over the place!

one funny thing about them is they jump away a few meters, and them they turn and look at you. just stare and stare and stare. at times you can find ourself surrounded by numerous wallabies in the woods, all looking right at you. very curious creatures!

wallaby baby in pouch!

the coolest thing on the finalwalk were definately the wild koalas. they are just so cute! and cuddly! and comfortable - just sitting there hugging their trees... we looked allllll over - but only managed to spot two. this one we called ed, he was sitting on a tree right at the path.

and this is carla, she was hiding rrriiiiight up in a tree at a lighting we reached towards the end of the walk

spot the koala!

bird 1

bird 2 ;-)

Melbourne - Day Trip to Phillip Island - Plants

2009-10-26T02:11:00.002+01:00

There were all kinds of plants - and as i have no idea i don't know what they are, but maybe dad or viki have some idea ;-)

Melbourne - Day Trip to Phillip Island - Nature and walks

2009-10-26T02:02:00.004+01:00

We walked aaaaalllll day and it was beautiful. The nicest thing about this island on a Friday it that as soon as you leave the main tourist tracks and hike a little further, you can see completely untouched nature and tons of animals all over the place!
Here are some images to get an idea of the natural surroundings.

the famous pinnacles

look how clear the water is!

the only "fixed" walk that we did - and luckily it was, as we found some little penguins hiding underneath the path

can you see the rock pools? the round circle is actually a rock pool filled with wonderful water

bush walk mattes and i did as the sun started to set to look for koalas

it looks like some romance novel, doesn't it? the sun was setting across some fields and there were wombats jumping all over the place

Melbourne - Day Trip to Phillip Island - Us and the fun!

2009-10-26T01:34:00.005+01:00

Happy Monday everyone!
We had a wonderfully active weekend in and around Melbourne with lots of sun sun sun! It started with a day trip to Philipp Island, about 2hrs from Melbourne, together with Lu and Bruce. It's an island connected to Victoria mainland via a bridge, and full of animals, nature, walks and ocean.
Here, to start, are the pictures of our gang and the fun!

all excited after arriving at the first hiking point

bruce and mattes walking down to the first beach

walking walking walking

jumping jumping jumping

checking out the vistas

celebration à la mattes

beating the water on the way back over the beach to end the first hike

yum - we earned ourselves a LUNCH! highly recommended the San Remo fish&chips coop. Ab fab food, and greatly prices, aaaaand a wonderful terrace at the harbour to eat there

afternoon walk time! kati and lu

final group photo at nobbie's point

New Zealand - Last words.

2009-10-20T09:13:00.002+02:00

And this is our resumé.

New Zealand - Food.

2009-10-20T09:05:00.004+02:00

Cappucino with a perfect ginger bread man in the Alpine Lodge in St. Aubert. Good croissants, too.

Green-tipped mussels in white wine or gorgonzola at the Mussel Pot in Havelock.

Perfectly presented sandwich and coffees at a winery in Marlborough. So pretty.

Fresh salmon and scallops at the Kaikoura Seefood BBQ.

Breakfast in Christchurch. Don't really know where.

New Zealand - Day 4: Nelson Lakes National Park

2009-10-20T08:47:00.005+02:00

Oh this was good! We had good weather and the national park is simply gorgeous! We got some good info from the tourist center about different hikes and ended up climbing up Mt. Robert - on which we actually reached snow level! Olé! The views were great, the hike was good, the sun was out, it was perfect... If we had had more time we would have extended to a 5 hour route, but Christchurch was calling - our plane left the next morning at 6am... and we were 7 hours drive away... So we called it a hiking day - but still stopped for a few hours in Hanmer Springs to enjoy their thermal pools and relaaaaxxxx.

Attention! Kiwis! Sadly we didn't see any :-(

One of the maps for the mountain we climbed up. Yes, we climed the squiggly line on the right aaaaaaalll the way to the top.

Mattes relaxing at one of the lakes before we hiked up.

The forest on the way up/down (ps: hahahaaaaa ;-))

Mattes on the paths - it was pretty steep and made you wonder what would theoretically stop your slide if you fell down. hm.

Yay lake!

At the top we were over tree level, so the forest simply stopped.

The hut at the top which is also a shelter if weather changes.

Yay snow!

After the hike we drove drove drove through other lovely valleys of this lovely country.

Last sunset in NZ - for now...

New Zealand - Day 3: Rabbit Island, Passing Abel Tasman, North-Western Tip

2009-10-20T08:05:00.006+02:00

So day three was rainy. Rainy rainy rainy. Rainy.
We drove against the rain, eating pies, driving driving. We didn't enter Abel Tasman National Park which must be super dooper, bc we would like to go back there for some multi-day hikes. We drove up to a nice hike at a beach (Mattes will add the name later, oooops)...., and the rain actually stopped for 2 hours so we could go for a walk. the sand dunes were amazing, just so large, the photos don't really grasp how surreal it was. Later we drove back inland and had a early night in a little village.

What Mattes did that morning.

What Kati did that morning.

Mattes made friends with some of the horses around and when we wanted to leave they stood behind our van to stop us from driving off!

Le sheep.

Arches.

Coucouchi laughed at this pic bc of the hair. My one and only Wusselkopf.

Oh yes, again, wine, this time a Riesling from an organic winery.

My man cooking me dinner in our van (with an open sun roof).

New Zealand - Day 2: Marlborough Sounds

2009-10-20T07:32:00.004+02:00

But we had faith - and by the time we were back in the car with our two bottles of wine the sun started creeping out again. We were right up North by now, and took a wonderful drive between Picton and Blenheim (now moving from the East to the West of the island), during which you have a breathtaking view of the Marlborough Sounds, which you travel to when you take the ferry from the North to the South Island (or visa versa).

Our faithful wicked happy that the rain stopped.

Some of the wine we bought (and had to drink before we left the country as we were only travelling with hand luggage). This was a great Gewürztaminer from Grove Mill, a super winery with very good and educative tastings! They are also carbon neutral and (almost) organic wines!

Enjoying a wine after a small hike down to a hidden beach.

Kati doing what she does.

Mattes doing what he does. (muaks!!!!)

The Marlborough Sounds.

Hiked up a hill to catch some vista, all we really got was a nice view on our Wicked in the parking lot. Can you spot it?

Second sunset in NZ. Almost in Nelson.

New Zealand - Day 2: Wine tasting

2009-10-20T07:23:00.002+02:00

The rain caught up with us the next day. But we decided not to care and do wine tasting. Five wineries. 5+ wines in each one. C'est le fun ca!

New Zealand - Day 1: Kaikoura

2009-10-20T07:04:00.005+02:00

Our main destination of the day was Kaikoura, a peninsula. The nicest thing is that you have the snow covered mountains behind you while you hike beside the ocean. We took a 2 hour hike at the coast and then found a nice British lady who took us back to our car.

Yummy seafood at the seaside. Kaikoura Seaside BBQ.

So this is the peninsula I was talking about, and we walked right the way around it.

And these are the beautiful snow covered mountains you have behind you when you do so.

The obligatory headstand.

Happy Mattes.

Happy Kati.

A place at the coast for lots of lovely little seals - and birds perched on the rock on the right.

Sleepy seal.

First NZ sunset.

New Zealand - Day 1: Driving up North

2009-10-20T06:55:00.004+02:00

After picking up our Wicked van, we started our tour up North, along the coast. Luckily the weather forecast was terribly wrong and we had the most wonderful day to take in the beautiful surroundings.
The South Island - which is where we were - has less than 1mio. inhabitants, so all you really see is nature nature nature green green green and sheep.

A weed has been taking over many of the hills in NZ - luckily it blooms yellow, so it's quite pretty ;-)

Driving around you see many vast river beds like this - and cars seems to always drive into them, through the water, like it's nothing.

Green hills, blue sky.

Yeah! This is our Wicked van for the tour, olé! Loved the big sun screens at the front and the back.

Panorama.

Snowcovered mountains in the sun. Perfect.

Fisherman.

Us all happy when we reached the water for the first time.

New Zealand - Day 1: Christchurch

2009-10-20T06:50:00.002+02:00

We woke up in Christchurch and just had a quick run around town before we went and got our camper van (olé!). You can already really sense Spring there - Melbourne isn't quite there yet even though it's further North. The sun was out, the birds were singing, the trees blossoming... Great happy start to the trip!

New Zealand - 4-day adventure

2009-10-20T06:23:00.003+02:00

So get prepared for a huge amount of pics... We thought we'd take a short trip out of the country and went to New Zealand for a few days. Some good prices with jetstar a two highly excited coucouchis and the fun began!

Melbourne - Seven Seeds

2009-10-20T06:09:00.002+02:00

This is a pic of the coffee from that wonderful café we have around the corner of the business school, Seven Seeds, highly recommended to anyone who goes to Melbourne. Can you see that wonderful pattern on the cappucino? Yums. Have to take some more pics of the interior when it's lighter in there.

Weekend in Melbourne - St. Kilda

2009-10-12T06:57:00.004+02:00

We also went to St. Kilda at the weekend, that's the part of town down by the "beach"/bay. They have a nice artists' market on Sundays at the shore and some cute places to hang out. We'll be there more often as the weather picks up, but I'm still happy we moved to Carlton/Fitzroy, it's more us.

much love from matteo. and to matteo.

yachts.

crazy clouds.

mattes with my new hat, which suits him wonderfully.

great jazz band jivin' at the sea baths, sat there and had a beer, rocked a little and looked out at the ocean. love love.

crazy rain going away and making room for the sun.

me enjoying the artists' market.

artists' market at the Esplanade

Weekend in Melbourne - Our hood (Carlton & Fitzroy) Brunswick Street

2009-10-12T06:51:00.005+02:00

This is the street we lived on during the first week and pretty much what we love most about our hood. Besides Smith Street and Gertrude Street that is :-)

Biking is very fashionable in Melbourne. But we're the only uses using average bikes. All the rest a super-high-tech, light-weight, rad bikes. Mattes is kinda jealous :-)

You see alot of oldtimers around. Today we spotted a little garage filled with vintage Ferraris. Gorgeous. Must sneek there again with the camera.

The magic that is Brunswick Street.

Schüttel Dein Haar für mich auf Brunswick Street.

as the name says.

And this is the Fitz and its ourdoor terrace under a tree. They serve the food through a window.

Weekend in Melbourne - Our hood (Carlton & Fitzroy) walking to Brunswick Street

2009-10-12T06:42:00.002+02:00

Here's some stuff we see when we walk the walk to Brunswuck Street, e.g. this Sunday for breakfast.

can you see us?

Johnston Street, retail stores and restaurants, incl. the great Houndstooth, only open Mo-Fr evenings, great value for money fooood, went there with our housemates last Friday

Ah yes, our street in the sunset :-) The white house on the left is ours. Hurrah.

The milk store. Don't know why they call it that, it's like a kiosk in Germany. Yes, you can buy milk. But you can buy all sorts of stuff. E.g. tram tickets.

Another street along the hood with nice houses. It's like a little residential paradise only 5min from the city by bike. love love.