the Versatile Blogger Award

Hello World!

This is the first time I got nominated (not in general, but with travelwithsaskia) so I was super excited when I saw that Vivi wanted me to tell you 7 facts about me. So thank you so much and if you don’t know her jet, check her out: lostviivi! What are you waiting for? Do it! Ok, wait! First read my facts and THEN check her out, deal?!

First things first: RULES

be a good girl/boy and say “thank you” – check
actually do, what you’ve been asked and tell 7 facts about yourself – keep reading
let other people feel the joy of being nominated and let them know – see below

And now let’s stop chatting, make yourself comfortable and listen to my super cool, weird and interesting facts about my humble self:

Australia

The last year I’ve lived in Australia and I am at the edge of crying when I think about me leaving in two weeks. I had an amazing time here (some moments were less amazing than other, but all in one it was a big, beautiful adventure) and I don’t know what to do with myself when I am back in Germany. I mean, how?! This last year was basically a dream and I am about to wake up. Scary, I promise you.

Tattoo

To never forget my time in Australia and my wanderlust I went to a Tattoo Studio last week and did something I never thought I’d actually do: I got a tattoo! And I absolutly love it! It’s so beautiful and amazing and whaaaa!!!!

Miss Colourful

Yep, that’s me. I love colours of any kind and you’ll never ever see me dressed in black in white (I actually never owned black and white shirts until I needed them for working in a Restaurant). I like to go crazy with my style and in that case I can’t wait to go back home to have my whole wardrobe again to match my cloths.

Scaredy Cat

Don’t get me wrong, I like doing something new and exciting but all this stops when it comes to animals, particulary with dogs. I’ve always been super scared of any kind of animal and it’s already a lot better nowadays, but I am still freaking out when I come eye to eye with a dog. My brain just shuts down and my body takes over. And the ironic part is, that I am also pretty scared of cats and I grew up with them… we have three of them at the moment. Juhu.

Futureplan?

I am one of those people who turned 20 and still had no idea what to do with her life except for enjoying it as much as possible. Now I finally have an idea. A crazy idea, an almost unrealistic idea. But I wouldn’t be me if I wouldn’t at least try! My new dream is studying communication design. What’s so crazy about that? Everything you want to study, that has to do with design you need a portfolio. And yes, I may be a good (not too bad) artist but if I compare myself to others there is still a lot of air up. So now I am drawing everyday and back in Germany I’ll probably go to a art school, just to improve the skills I have.

Weird

I like to describe myself as weird, but a good weird, a positive weird. Everybody has some weirdness in himself, some more than others though. And I am proud of that, cause my weirdness is what makes me special. Everybody can do normal and boring, but I want to be everything BUT normal. Let’s embrace the weirdness!

Obsessive

I don’t do half-hearted. If I want something, if I like something I go all in. Harry Potter, Spider-Man, drawing, and a lot more: I don’t just like them, but I am obsessed with them. Ask me anything about Potter and Parker (Tom Holland) and I may answer your question. Obviously I don’t know everything, but I do know a lot and I love to show my love to others (shirts, socks, stickers, merchandise of everykind is very welcome in my house).

There you go, still like me?

I want to know 7 super-facts about you:

zoaroundtheworld

lifeofshal

Iwannabealady

cookthebean

sl4lifestyle

Have fun!

See you, Saskia xxx

How to DO a roadtrip

Hello World!

Last time I told you “how to organise a roadtrip“, so now it’s time to tell you guys about the next and kinda most important step: the roadtrip itself.

Your car is packed, your friends are ready and you can’t wait to go on an adenture? Perfect time to leave.

A roadtrip means that you’ll end up spending a lot of time in your car, so make sure you feel comfy. Have a bottle of water near you and maybe also store the snackbox close by – just in case. And what I think is most important: put on some great song-along music and have fun!

A game I like to play on a roadtrip to skip some time is the “question”-game. It may sound weird, but it’s super simple and interesting cause you learn things about your travelbuddy you usually wouldn’t. One asks any question and the other one has to answer (honestly). Usually there is the rule, that you’re not allowed to ask the same question back, but we usually always ended up having a great conversation about each question/ answer (and as soon as the topic is dead, just ask the next question). At the beginning the question will still be pretty obvious, but with the time it’ll be harder to find questions, but in general they also get more interesting.

And then there comes the time when you actually get out the car and see something. Have a plan in advance but still stay flexible. I actually learned going into an information center and asking for the highlights in that area. Especially when you’re short on time they can help figuring out what attraction would be most worth it.

And remember, just cause you’re doing a roadtrip it doesn’t mean you cannot eat kinda healthy. Make a sandwich (with tomatoes, salad, etc) for lunch instead of eating more rubish. Cut some veggies for your pasta and eat many fruit inbetween meals. Oh, you don’t actually have to eat dinner at the campground, you know? So if you’re running late, just stop somewhere and build up you camping cooker, can be great fun.

About the running late… we always did, but try to get up early and do all your activities while it’s not about to be dark again (especially in Australia during winter, when it’s pitch black at half past 5), cause driving in the dar can be dangerous, seriously. You’ll go early to bed anyway, cause there’s nothing to do.

If you’re sleeping in a tent I would advice you to keep it closed by any time, just open it for going in or out. At least that’s how I make sure not to end up with any spiders or other unwelcome guests in my bed. Once I had a Huntsman Spider on the outside of my tent and I was more than happy, that there was no way it could have be INSINDE the tent.

I just realise it is kinda hard to say how to do a roadtrip, because it always depends on how you want to do things, what you want to do, where and when you are and many other things. I still hope I could help with some basics, and anyway the most important part is:

HAVE FUN! Don’t freak out, be open for new and unexpected situations and always keep an eye on the petrol-sign-thing.

Go on an adventure and let go. Figure out what’s working best for you and do it.

I’ve probably forgotten some things, so tell me: what is essential for you to do a roadtrip??

See you, Saskia xxx

How to organise a Roadtrip

Hello World!

As you might know, I’ve already been on a few roadtrips and my travelmates usually admired how organised I am. Well, after a while you just know how certain thing need to be handled and honestly it is a lot easier and relaxing if you have some sort of “plan”.

It is not that hard, so if you’re planning in doing a roadtrip at some stage let me help you out.

First things first: you need a car. I’ve already done roadtrips with my hostfamilies car and I’ve hired a van. If you have a car, use it! It’ll save you a lot money, but if not, don’t freak out. There are so many places where you can hire a car, even though they are usually not that cheap, especially if you’re under 21/25 (depends). Just do your research, usually there are always some cheap companies around, like in Australia WickedCampers. Don’t expect anything super new from those companies, but I was always pretty lucky and I would do I always again (already hired 3 vans with them).

Now you have your car and with it your date (with your own car you may be a bit more flexible weatherwise but if not, just go with whatever is coming), so it’s time to get organised. What do you need? In the end it doesn’t really matter how long you’re gone, you’ll need the same stuff.

Food and kitchen: I need real food, I cannot live a couple days just from sandwiches and I have no money, so going out for dinner is no option. If you hire a van it usually has a kitchen in the back with campingcooker and whatever you need, but if not you’re still not lost.

Buy yourself a campingcooker (I bought one for $20) or ask some friends if they have one and with that don’t forget the gasbottles, matches and a pot. Furthermore you need something to put your food on, so either bring a plate/ bowl or as I did a container, so you can also save it for later. Cutlery would be good, too, and I also own a pocketknife (a normal kitchenknife will do it,too).

What I liked to forget is something to clean my dishes with afterwards, so bring a little bottle of dishcleaner, a sponge and if you want to also a cloth for drying. I personally also like to pack some sandwichbags and papertowels (babywipes/ toiletpaper are also good).

What food to buy is fully your buisness, but my advice is: every backpacker always has pasta with him. Rice would also work, potatoes are not that useful, cause they’re kinda expensive and unpractial. Furthermore I’d prefer to eat sandwiches than rubbish, so you may wanna bring a loaf of bread and something to go with it (peanutbutter or jam is good, cheese and ham isn’t that clever especially during summer) and bring fruit and veggies (apples are the best, mandarines and bananas are also great and a nice carrot or capsicum wouldn’t hurt either). Oh, and allow yourself some snacks for the road!

Easy underratet are spices, like salt and pepper and if you have a frying pan also bring some oil!

To keep it all organised you may wanna bring some boxes to storage your stuff, so a fresh food box, a long-living food box, a dinnerware box, a cleaning box, … you got it, right?

Something you may not give a second thought is the amount of water you need. I am talking here about Australia-in-the-middle-of-nowhere conditions, but also somewhere else, always bring too much water than not enough. You’ll not only need it for drinking but also for cooking and cleaning. I once had the problem during camping that there wasn’t any water in the whole area and we hardly had any leftovers. Bring a big canister and you’re on the save side.

And what about sleeping? Depending on how you’re traveling you can either sleep in the car/ van or you’ll take a tent. Let’s say you don’t have a van with a mattress, so you ought to take a tent with you (I have a cheap $30 kmart tent and I love it). If you have an airmattress you might want to bring that, otherwise a yoga mat is also good. A sleepingbag should be obvious, but depending on the weather you might wanna bring a blancket, too. Many people forget about a pillow, and trust me, it’s a lot better with, than wihtout!

That’s the survival part, but there also some other things you should consider:

I hate using a navigation system and in the Outback or whereever you are, you might not have the best signal, so bringing a map could be useful. And you don’t need to plan every step in advance, but a lose orientation doesn’t hurt and makes sure you can see everthing you want to see, without skiping something great due to lack of time.

There are some great apps out there which make finding a campesite much easier (especially free campgrounds). Many people use Wikicamps which you have to pay for, I am personally a fan of Campermate (in Australia). It’s a free app which shows you most campgrounds and also activities to do.

I won’t tell you what to wear, but consider what you’re planing to do. Usually active-wear isn’t a bad idea and a jumper for colder nights. Just don’t make the mistake to bring to much stuff. Let’s be real, you don’t need your favourite dress when you’re going to go hiking.

Toothpaste and -brush could help, same as shampoo and showergel (depends on how long you’re gone), dryshampoo, deodorant, hair ribbons, insect repellent, sunscreen, lipbalm and maybe bodylotion.

I couldn’t leave without at least one good camera, which usually ends with me having my DSLR, my GoPro (which is somewhere swiming in the Ocean cause I lost it), my Polaroid and my phone…

For me it needs musik to make it a great time while driving for hours, so make sure you have a good playlist with you! To charge you technical devices you’ll need a car adapter and a charger.

And I know, Smartphones do have a flashlight, but trust me, having a real flashlight is really helpful, especially headlight, and if you go to a store like kmark, you’ll find some pretty cheap ones.

That’s a lot, but believe me, it looks worse than it is!

Have I forgotten something? What do YOU take with you on a roatrip?

Next time I’ll tell you how I DO my roadtrips, so check that out!

See you, Saskia xxx

Breathless at Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon

Hello World!

As you already might know, I’ve been on a tour to Uluru last year and while we were our there in the Australian Outback we obviously also saw the two other magnificent things around that area.

Both hikes are pretty impressive, but also exhausting, so don’t forget to bring more than enough water with you – and by that I don’t mean 1l but at least two – but that also depends a bit on when you’re going. I’ve been there in October and it was already pretty hot (30°C-ish) and definetly do the hikes in the morning, cause you won’t be able to see the stunning surrounding when you’re struggeling with death – just saying.

Kata Tjuta

During summer at least the Kings Canyon is often closed because it’s too dangerous. So before you go all the way to the middle of Australia, look up the weather first and see which season would be the best (early spring and late autumn is my recommendation – why not winter? During the day it’ll be really nice I guess, but keep in mind, it gets feaking cold during the night…).

Kings Canyon

There are different walks and hikes with both places, but I’ll suggest to do one of the longer ones to really see and feel the beauty. At Kata Tjuta (for people who still don’t know what I’m talking about, you might know it as “the Olgas”) I did a 8km hike, which was really not easy, espeacially cause our tourguide couldn’t wait to be back at the bus and we – more or less – had to run to keep up with him. But also if you’re not running, you should somehow be physically able to actually do that hike (or choose a shorter and easier one).

Kata Tjuta with my tourguide

Kings Canyon was even better and even more stunning. Here we did a 10km hike with was in total not as exhausting as Kata Tjuta, but the first bit almost kills you (super steep natural steps, if you know what I mean. And not only ten but easily over 500 – just my guess). We did this hike in the afternoon so it was boiling hot – and I really don’t wanna know how it’ll be 20°C warmer with 50°C, and that’s not exaggerated – and I drank all my 2l water and could’ve drank even more if possible.

Kings Canyon

So my conclusion?

-Definetly do both walks/ hikes, but keep in mind that you should have some… physical requirements

-check that you’re going at the right season at the right time (bestly not during midday!)

-bring enough water (and food)

-you won’t regret it, it’s so so beautiful!!!

Kata Tjuta from the campground

See you, Saskia xxx

P.S. Sorry that there are only so few pictures, but I did not take that many pictures there anyway cause I wanted to enjoy it (and I was already struggleing keeping up with the guide) and my external hard drive isn’t working lately and that’s where all the pictures are…

P.P.S. just a quick question: do you like this sort of blogpost, or is there something you missed or so? Let me know, so I can improve myself.

From “going on holidays” to “traveling”

Hello World!

I either never realised it or I just never thought about it, but now I did and it’s stuck in my head so I need to tell you about it: traveling is not equal with holidays. At least not for me. But don’t worry, I’ll explain it to you.

As a kid, my Mum, brother and I went on many holidays, always in fancy, nice hotels somewhere warm and sunny. Why? My Mum work as a travelagent and… well… do I need to explain more?!

I admit, in those times I was still blind to the beauty of traveling and exploring a new place. No matter where, I’d always sit at or in the pool and enjoy not doing anything, while my family at least sat at the beach. And I bet they’d have seen more of every country if it wasn’t for me. Opps.

But still, those where holidays, they were SUPPOSED to be relaxing and calm. Of course you should maybe see more than the Hotelpool and Restaurant.

Nowadays I am travling the whole time… except when I am aupair-ing. Which means doing a roadtrip, seeing actively more than one place, discovering the area and testing your limits.

While you’re supposed to relax on holidays, you’re doing the exact opposite while traveling – at least I am. Each day happens something new, something exciting. Traveling can, no WILL change you, cause you grow with every experience. Your plans can change everyday, you can suddenly be broke, you’ll meet people from all over the world and you’ll learn to appreciate the little things.

I know that I always enjoyed going on holidays and staying at these great hotels and just literally doing nothing and being able to eat food all day. But right now I can’t picture myself going to a foreign country, paying hella lot money and then just “wasting” it by now discovering what’s around. I mean I am still good at doing nothing, but not when I only have a limited time to see whatever there is to see.

How about you:

– do you agree with my seperation of TRAVELING and HOLIDAYS?

– do you prefer traveling or going on holidays?

See you, Saskia xxx

Roadtrip to Esperance and Albany

Seven destinations, four day, two girls and one big adventure!

Last weekend I grabbed again, my backpack and a friend (the Dutchie I already had with me on the trip to Margaret River), hired a Campervan and went off for a new adventure. We had four whole days (Friday to Monday, but we already drove three hours on Thursday night) to explore everything between Perth, Esperance and Albany, and I’d say we did pretty well.

Some destinations I’ll write about more deeply another time, just because I have so much to tell and say about it, but this post is about that trip in general. So off we go:

Campervan: As usual I hired our Van with Wickedcampers.com from Thursday till Tuesday (so we don’t need to stress on Monday) for $480 – including insurance, under 21 Age Fee and obviously the van itself; if you don’t have a proper Creditcard (so “only” a Debitcard) you need to “pay” a $500 bond, which you’ll get back if the van isn’t damaged after your trip – and as usual I was really happy with that decision.

Thursday night we went to a free Campground at Kulin Overnight Stop.

On Friday we started with Wave Rock, which is pretty famous if you’re thinking about something in Western Australia. But I must admit, I’m not its biggest fan. I’ve been there now twice (once I drove there and back in one day – 4h each way; and now we only stopped there on our way to Esperance) and I do think it is interesting and a beautiful picture worth, but I wouldn’t suggest driving there JUST to see Wave Rock.

Wave Rock

Hyppo’s Yawn

Mulka’s Cave

Mulka’s Handprint

Next to Wave Rock is Hyppo’s Yawn, which I kinda really liked and a bit further away from the “main road” is Mulka’s Cave. If you’re around take your time and have a look, if not, you’re not really missing out.

The rest of that day wasn’t really interesting cause we had to do a lot of driving. At the end of the day we arrived (in the dark) at Lucky Bay, had some dinner and tried to capture the beautiful starful sky.

Sunset somewhere on the road

Nightsky at Lucky Bay

Expenses that day: Wave Rock: $10; Cape La Grande NP: $12; (Lucky Bay Campground: $10 pp – but we left so early in the morning that we did not see the Ranger who collects the money); Petrol: about $100

This morning we woke up together with the sun and saw a beautiful sunrise above the Lucky Bay. After that we had breakfast there (a quick peanutbutter sandwich) and we were actually really lucky and saw Kangaroos (also one ON the beach) – I know that Bay is famous for seing Kangaroos there at the beach but I met a couple people who went there lately and they never saw them.

Kangaroo at Lucky Bay

Sunrise

Me and the van at Lucky Bay

After this super-experience we drove to Esperance (tried to charge my Camera at McDonalds, but wasn’t allowed to) and quickly continued to drive along the stunning Gread Ocean Drive. The water there is unbelievable blue-ish and I wished it would have been warm enough for a nice swim it the sea.

Great Ocean Drive

on our way to Fitzgerald River NP

From there we actually wanted to go to Fitzgerald River NP, but that road we needed to take was completly flooded and washed away a few month ago. It took me some minutes to calm down and accept the fact that I wouldn’t see this NP, but then Dutchie and I agreed to drive further dirrection Albany and go to the Stirling Ranges next day instead.

Expenses that day: Petrol: about $60; St George Jerramungup Caravan Campground: $13 pp

Around 9am we arrived at the Stirling Ranges and we decided to do a hike up to the highest point at those Ranges: Bluff Knoll. It was a freaking exausting hike and I already thought after 500m that I couldn’t do it, but I did it. I’ll definetly write about this more detailed another day, but every step was worth it. The view from up there (1099m high) blew my mind (literally, it’s super windy up there) and in the end I was so proud of myself managing doing this 6km hike, which felt like maybe 100km.

That top bit… that’s where we were!

on our way…

Bluff Knoll

THAT VIEW!

I did not actually climb THAT 😀

That hike took us about 4h so most of the day was gone already. We wanted to go to our next campground and arrive once durring the day when you could actually SEE were you are.

We wanted to go to the free Campground Torbay Inlet Camp Area west of Albany, but on our way finding a spot the “road” suddely turned into a 4WD-Sandroad and we got stuck with our van. With help from a superfriendly Australian, we got out of there and somehow decided to spent our night somewhere else. Which also meant, that we wouldn’t see our campground in daytime. Again.

Expenses that day: (Bluff Knoll Parking: $12 – we accidentally didn’t pay for the parking, but some nice guys gave us their ticket); Boat Harbour Chalets Campground: $10 pp; Petrol: about $35

Monday was mainly our drive-back to Perth, but we still had enough time to do the Tree Top Walk at the Valley of the Giants where we had an amazing view over all the massive Karri Trees. It was defiently fascinating and surprisingly not scary at all (altough you’re 40m above the ground). I think this was a great end for this roadtrip and I definetly enjoyed it.

Top Tree Walk

HIgh!

40m above the ground, woop woop

Karri Tree

Valley of the Giants

Expeses that day: Tree Top Walk: $21 pp; Petrol: $45

I really enjoyed the trip and I am so happy that I could share this experience with my lovely Dutchie, who’s sadly about to leave Perth and me soon. Thanks for your more than great company!

Have you seen Esperance and Albany? Would you like to? And if you hiked up Bluff Knoll, please let me know your thought about it!

See you, Saskia xxx

Amazed at Uluru

Hello World!

Ever been to the most Australia-Iconic thing you can imagine?

If not: GO THERE! And if yes: GO AGAIN!

No, but seriously, it’s super worth it. Every slightly working brain with some kind of connection to the rest of the World should know about this gigantic rock called “Uluru” or for some white-nosed people better known as “Ayers Rock” – please do me a favour and don’t call it that, sounds so wrong!

So yes, I had the pleasure to see Uluru last spring (thehe, at least it was spring in Australia, so confussing – start of October) and even though I never planned on going there, I am really glad I DID go there. Australia itself is just amazing, but Uluru is special and it’s iconic. I met many people/ backpacker who prefer traveling the East Coast instead of going away from the big Cities (haha, good one) and discover the REAL Australia. And please, what’s more “real Australian” than Uluru?!

As you might know, I went there with a tour and we spent two days/ nights around Uluru. Our Tourguide told us some very interesting stories about it (I must admit, I am not able to re-tell them, sorry!), we saw two stunning sunrises and two sunsets from each a different angle and we did the 10km walk around it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Waking up early in the morning was so worth it and it always is. You just have to see it to get it. In my ten month Down Under I saw so many sunsets and each and one is special and beautiful, but just the fact seeing one at Uluru makes it even a bit more beautiful.

Sunset

Sunrise

The Red Center is full of Aboriginal History and even though we, the WesternWorldPeople, destroyed basically their whole life and world after sending our prisoners there the still let us go onto their land. – I am, on one egoistic-side happy the Britains did come here, cause otherwise I would maybe not be where I am right now, but let’s talk real for a moment: was it necessary that they take everything they had and called it useless? NO! But it seems people always do that – they should all stop with whatever they’re doing and listen to the rich words of Pocahontas:

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew

SO TRUE!

Nevertheless I think it is a step in the right direction that the Government gave the rights of the area around Uluru back to whom they belong to: the Aborigines. They took it away from them and “used” it for tourist without even thinking about its meaning. Nowerdays tourists are still allowed to go there, but the Aborigines are basically the once who make the rules.

Wallpainting

I am basically standing in the kitchen right now 😀

You might have heard about people climbing the rock and if you’re planning on doing so, let me explain something to you:

First of all, that rock you want to climb is super improtant to the Aborigines, it is kind of the same as if they’d climb the Vatican (I can’t be bothered cause I am not catholic, but I bet there are many people out there who would have a massive problem with that!). It is something you just don’t do, not if you have a bit of respect for their culture.

And if you give a shit about what they care about (go to hell, honestly!) just look how freaking dangerous that climb is. On days where the weather is not ideal it’s not allowed to climb anyway, but also don’t do it when it is practially allowed. The stone is slipery and you have no grip nor security at all. I saw a woman climbing up there, her baby with her, and I was shocked. That has nothing to do with bravery or so it’s just stupid and I honesly don’t care about that dumb mum, but about that poor inocent kid.

Respect their culture and don’t risc you neck, at least this one time!

And anyway, it’s great just being there, doing the walk around and hearing about the history this massive stone has to tell.

If you’re in Australia or planning to go, do it, JUST DO IT!!! See the magic happening here!

Do you want to go there? Have you been there?

What’s your opinion about the climbing-thing?

See you, Saskia xxx

P.S. the whole overview over my trip you can see, if you click >HERE<!

All around Margaret River

Hello World!

It almost didn’t work out, but because of my wonderful hostfamily me and my friends still managed to go to Margaret River last weekend, and it was AMAZING!

We basically only had one whole and two halve days, but we did the best out of it and it’s still better than not going there at all. Around midday we left Perth and arrived in Busselton at 3pm. If you have more time I would suggest to walk along the massive jetty, but because time was a real issue for us, we skiped that bit and continued driving to Cape Naturaliste.

On our way we made a short stop and Eagle Bay, which is a nice beach – but who knows me, also knows that most beaches don’t blow my mind away.

Cape Naturaliste is indeed a lovely spot and I guess if you do one of the walks it’ll be really beautiful. There is a cute Lighthouse, but I guess if you don’t have time for the walk (like us) it’s just a lighthouse.

That pic was taken just before I fell kinda badly

It was almost time for sunset so we quickly hopped in the car and made our way to Sugarloaf Rock and I may say this was the most magnificent place from the whole trip. The waves, the nature, the view and just all those mind blowing colours. No matter where you look it’s like you’re in the middle of a postcard, honestly.

After this spectacular sunset we had the most stunning dinner ever. Well our dinner itself wasn’t that fascinating – pasta – but where we were and what we saw was just… WOW! We drove to the Canal Rocks and we took our first ever stunning night-star-sky pictures. I can’t even describe how great that was.

When we arrived at out Campground in middle of nowhere – Canebrake Pool – we had some struggles finding a free spot and we almost walked directly down a cliff into a lake, but who cares, right?! That Campground usually costs $5 pp but we were on the Overflood-Campground-Spot so it was kinda free.

Next morning – after no sleep at all – we sat at 9am in the car on our way to the next attraction: Surfers Point. The view was again stunning and especially my Dutchie-Friend would probably still be standing there today, enjoying the view, if I hadn’t pushed her back into the car.

Around Margaret River are a few beautiful caves and if we had more time (and me more money) we would have seen more than only one, but I think we made a decent choice with Lake Cave. There are over 250 steps to get down there and believe me, going up is SO hard! But worth every step. You should book this cave in advance via phone or internet and it’ll cost you $22.50 which is not too bad.

We drove a kinda-4WD Conto Road afterwards and stopped at one of the carparks on the way, climbed down to the water and the rocks – huge, HUGE wave were slammed against the rocks. CRAZY! – and took some pictures… my other german friend and I (the Dutchie was sunbathing in a save area) got a bit too adventurous and climbed closer and closer to the waves, ended up sitting on a big rock which seemed to be mostly dry. And then it happend: the biggest wave of wave-history hit the rock and I thought I would die. We actually also have it videotaped. I – obviously – surrvived, not so my GoPro. I forgot it on one of the rocks closer to the beach and the wave must have washed it away. GONE.

Shocked, upset and laughing we drove to Cape Leeuwin, saw the second lighthouse of the day – first one was better in my opinion – and enjoyed a almost-sunset at the waterwheel close-by – where my Camera decided it saw enough and switched itself off (battery flat).

A longer drive than expected brought us to our next campground near Pemberton (Northcliffe) – Roundtu-it Eco Caravan Park – where we even had a toilet, shower, campkitchen and a washingline to dry our wet-wave-clothes. Llamas were all-inclusive 😀 $5 pp

The next morning we woke up at 6.15am and drove during sunrise and crazy fog-conditions back up to Pemberton to the Gloucester NP or to be more specific the Gloucester Tree which is a dizzy height tree which you’re free to climb without any security. Dutchie and I tried our best but it was hell scray and by the way freezing cold – I mean we’re talking about sunrise-time in winter! If there’d been any Rangers at all or at least SOMETHING we may’d gone higher, but well we were probably over 10m over ground, that’s something, guys, right?! Therefore we made a quick walk around the NP and saw some impressive Karri Trees. Climbing the tree is free but you have to pay $12 park-entry-fees per car.

Cause we had to be back by noon we made no further stops and I arrived at my home by 2pm and super tired.

I can recommend this trip to everybody who’s in Perth at some stage. But lets be real: if you can choose WHEN to go, ALWAYS choose summertime! It was freezing cold during the night and going for a swim would have been kinda crazy.

We did not need to hire a car, which was real good for my bankaccount, so the expenses weren’t too bad in the end: each of us (so devided by three) paid $92 for petrol, food, park fees and CaveTour.

In not even two weeks Dutchie and I are driving to Esperance and Albany with an hired van, hope we won’t freeze to death!

Have you already seen Margaret River? What was your favourite part?

See you, Saskia xxx

P.S. why do there travelposts always turn out being soooo long?!

What “being an AuPair” actually means

Hello World!

I guess many guys of you have already heard about the job “AuPair” and some of you might now, that I am currently an AuPair in Australia, so believe me, when I tell you, I know what being an AuPair is really like.

Before I came to Australia I heard all kind of stories and even now I still hear things that make me shiver. To be honest I heard more negative stuff than positiv, which is not that motivating at all. But I couldn’t care less, so I had to see myself how it is. And here I am.

I’ve been in two different families, cause the first turned out to be… not the right one. Therefore I am right now in the best family I could’ve ever imagined, so everything has its reason, right?

My impression what many teens think it is like:

“Oh well, I’ll live with that family, see a foreign country, learn to speak that language better and did I metion that I also get food for free and even get paid on top? …oh, what? Yes, there will also be some kids running around, which I have to look after occationally, but let’s face it, they’ll just sit infront of the TV, so no big deal.”

What some AuPairFamilies seem to think:

“The AuPair is here to look after the kids, obviously. And maybe do some light housework, like all the laundry, vaccum cleaning bascially everyday, doing the dishes and the shoping, tiding at every hour of the day, cleaning the bathroom and prepare all the meals for the kids (if we want something else than the kids, she has to cook that, too). See, nothing too bad!”

Okay, maybe I exaggerated here a bit, but some parents honestly give this impression, both my families weren’t that bad, but I met many AuPairs so far…

So, what is it actually like?!

To be honest, I cannot tell you, but I’ll still try.

If you think about being an AuPair, because it’s easy and you’ll get paid for basically nothing and you have free time all the time and so on I must disappoint you. But if you’re in a good and nice family it won’t kill you either.

The first thing I want to tell you, should actually be pretty obvious, but I often get the impression it’s not. Sadly. You should know how to deal with kids and you should LOVE dealing with them. You should be open and friendly and fun, but you shouldn’t forget, that kids need barriers and rules. Find a way between: super-strict and funny. And remember, you’re working with kids so you shouldn’t role your eyes with everything they do. Have fun, be crazy, be a child, but keep in mind that you’re the one who says what’s going on!

And yes, if you’re not a total asshole you have to help with housekeeping. Nobody wants that you do everything and all the time (if they do, say something!), but helping at home should be natural and especially when you’re kind of a guest. Some family ask for more than others, but just ask in advance what they expect from you. But never expect you don’t need to do anything. You always clean up your own mess and at least help with all the daily tasks.

I was always worried that it wouldn’t work out with the parents, but in my first family something happend which I’d never thought could happen. – Just to tell you, I’ve worked with kids a lot in my past (Kindy, Summercamp, teaching, …) and ALL of them liked me – The kids just didn’t seem to want me there. It was frustrating and kinda depressing, I really tried my best and tried to pull myself together, but after almost three month I finally manage to face the truth and I left. No matter how bad it is in one family, don’t just give up, next time it could be perfect. Now you know what exaclty you’re looking for, trust me, that helps.

But even though I decided to leave I was still pretty lucky, I was allowed to stay a couple weeks longer and the Mom was still kinda helpful. That’s not always the case. Yes, there are weird families out there. One day everything can be great and the next day you’re sitting without anything in a hostel cause you’re family kicked you out for no reason (true story btw).

Some maybe take you and your work for naturally, which they shouldn’t, but talking always helps, really.

~~Maybe~~ You don’t always agree with how the parents raise their kids, that’s normal, but try to find a way you and the parents can live with. That was one of the major problems in my first family: I couldn’t agree with her parenting at all but I was never alone with the kids eiter, to do my own thing – grrrrr. The agentcy told me that parenting isn’t my job, but I personally cannot work with something I don’t agree with. And furthermore I do believe that we’re also there to help raising them, but of course the parents are – in the end – the once who decide how to do it.

Despite all these bad “what if”s, it’s still a great thing and I am so super happy that I am an AuPair, no matter in which family. All the bad experience just made me stronger and then there are all the good, AWESOME moments you can have. You’ll honestly maybe find a second family abroad and you’ll experience thing you never could otherwise.

It’s not easy and sometimes it’s annoying but in generall? It’s the best thing I’ve done so far. But please, PLEASE BE SURE YOU WANT TO WORK WITH KIDS ALL THE TIME! Cause if you do, it won’t feel like work.

Another time I’ll also write about what I think you should be like to qualify as an AuPair and I’ll also write more detailed about my experiences in my two totally different families. And maybe I’ll also write about how to become an AuPair.

Are/ were you an AuPair? What are/ were your experiences?

See you, Saskia xxx

East Coast – what to see?!

Who doesn’t want to travel along the East Coast, right? Everybody who has been to Australia does the East Coast before anything else. It’s for young tourists/ backpacker even more interesting than the Outback – WHAT A SHAME! – so no wonder I wanted to do it, too.

I started this year January, 10 in Cairns and ended up in Brisbane January, 24. Not the best timing as some you might know, cause we drove directly through the main rain period, but I had no other choice.

There are many stops along the Coast and also insinde the country and I would recommend at least two weeks, better three. I actually planned to do it a whole month, but we were quiet quick. Not really because there is nothing to see, but probably more because I wasn’t traveling with the right people and I was looking forward to meet somebody in Brisbane, which ended up to be the most stupid wish ever.

SO when you’re going on that trip, take your time, don’t skip anything because of somebody else and enjoy it.

Honestly, I was a bit disapointed, but I am sure that’s mostly my own fault… and maybe the fact that I am not too much into touristish stuff. I like to enjoy the nature not a bar.

-Oh, and my camera wasn’t working the whole trip so I could only take pics with my phone, which I HATED!

I did it as a roadtrip (with two total strangers) and I can recommend it to everybody! With your own car/ van you’re far more flexible and I am sure you’d miss some great spots without. We hired our van with Wicked Campers and although I hear also a lot of bad stuff, I really love the vans from them and to be fair, they are cheap!

What follows is a list of all the stops you should do between Cairs and Brisbane, even though I did not do all of them by myself. Furthermore I am sure I’ll blog about some spots another time with more details – so if you’re interested in a significent place, let me know and I’ll tell you all about it what I know.

Cairns

It’s a cute little town and ideal if you like to party, but I don’t so I wasn’t sad at all leaving after only two days.

Cape Tribulation

Yes, I know, that’s north of Cairns AND I did not go there. But I planned to, but all the streets were flooded – rain period and all that stupid stuff. I heard that it’s beautiful up there, but maybe use a 4WD…

On our way there (before we had to turn around) we went to Trinity Beach, Palm Cove and Ellis Beach. Well, they’re beaches… nothing REALLY speacial to be honest, at least there was no rain, right?!

Falls around Atherton

We only went to Atherton cause my Travelmates knew people there, but in that area were some beautiful waterfalls. Worth going to are definitely the Barron Falls and Millaa Millaa, or personal favourite were the Dinner Falls at Mount Hypipamee and I also enjoyed the Millstream Falls (which is btw the widest fall in Australia, but you need to drive quiet a while to go there).

Barron Falls

Dinner Falls

Millaa Millaa Falls

Millstream Falls

Mission Beach

Nice beach… I don’t know, somehow I am never really mindblown by all there “mainstream” beaches.

Townsville/ Magnetic Island

I did not go to Magnetic Island (and in the following you’ll see I didn’t go to any Island… I was mega broke, keep that in mind!), but I saw it from a lookout in Townsville, which had a wonderful view.

Pinnacles

Again, I didn’t go there, but I went to the Pinnacles here in WA and if you’re not coming to WA you should take the opportunity and have a look.

Airlie Beach/ Whitsunday Island

In Airlie I probably had one of my best days on that trip and not only cause the Lagoon there was stunning, but I met a good friend there by accident. Guess everybody has heard about the Whitsundays, and I really, really wished I had the money to go there, so if you have, DO IT and enjoy, I only heard good things about it.

Mackay

To be honest I cannot remember that place at all, maybe we just drove through. Little tip: if you’re driving along the water, DON’T drive ON the stones at the side… just saying 😀 *wink*

Blackdown Tableland NP

This one I regret the most that I missed it. The pictures with the little pools and just the whole surrounding looked just so… pretty. DAMMIT!

Agnes Water/ Town 1770

Ok, this is a MUST SEE! I’ll write a seprate post about this one, cause especially the one lookout in 1770 was SO beautiful, like a dream!

Town 1770 (Wave Lookout)

< same

Rainbow Beach/ Fraser Island

If you’re into 4WD and Island you should check this one out, I heard it’s a great adventure. Although I heard from many people that if you’re a bit broke just do Fraser OR Whitsunday, in the end they’re both pretty simular. I’d probably choose Fraser, cause 4WD! Oh and Rainbow Beach has maybe the best name of all of them, but also this one is just a beach…

Bundaberg

I thought this was a cute Town and in start of February you can see baby Turtles finding their way to the Ocean, cute as hell I guess!

Noosa

Not too far away from Brisbane itself and worth a visit. There is a NP along the Coast of Noosa with beautiful walks and little lagoons.

I know myself that I missed out some great places and I am sure that there are some stunning NP and walks especially around Cairns, but my travelmates weren’t too much into hiking and as I already mentioned, I was desperate to arrive in Brisbane…

So my advice for you: take your time and really see what you wanna see (and that’s not only for the East Coast but every single place in the damn world)!

As I already said, the East Coast wasn’t my favourite thing, but that depends first of all on whom you’re traveling with and what you experience while traveling. I belive in the end it’s not the place itself that makes a trip special but what you make out of it. I didn’t use my chance as I should have done, so don’t make the same mistake!

Have you seen the East Coast? How did you like it? Are there any places I missed out I didn’t know yet?

Is there any place I mentioned you want to hear more about?

Would you like to see which free campgrounds we used and how expensive that trip was in total?

See you, Saskia xxx

Underground in Coober Pedy

Hello World!

On my way to the middle of Australia our first (significent) stop was Coober Pedy, famous for being the Opal Capital of the World.

And you may also know it as the “Underground-Town”. Honestly, when I heard that, I had this picture in my head of a complete town under the earth, in complete darkness (well with electric lights and stuff) and I imagined it to be quiet chilly down there. I was SO wrong with that picture, it’s almost embarracing.There are actually also houses and shops OVERground and the houses that ARE “underground” are actually not underground but in these special rock-things. So that rock is above the ground and in that rock is a flat. The fascinating thing about these “houses” is, that no matter how cold or HOT it is outside, it ALWAYS about 20°C in there – which is also the reason why they live in there.

The big room with all the different dorm, seperated by curtains

our dorm

again our big dorm-room

the stone-wall

a tipical livingroom in Coober Pedy

And did you know that it’s actually dangarous to fall in here asleep without setting an alarm?! Because it’s so unnaturally dark in there your body can get confussed and in a really bad situation you wouldn’t wake up anymore (if nobody else wakes you up). Crazy, right?!

To be honest I thought these rock-underground-houses are far more interesting than the opal, so I am not really able to tell you a lot about opal, except for: there are mainly three different types (worthless, expensive and super-duper expensive) and finding opal is basically like playing Lotto – you’re either lucky or not.And in case you end up going there don’t miss out visiting Josephine’s Kangaroo Orphanage! It’s the only Ophanage in more than some hundret miles and they made it their attribution to rescue poor little Kangaroo orphans (no way, an Orphanage which rescues orphans, MINDBLOWING!) which hang out lonely and usually hurt on the side of the road.

I (we) had the honour to meet little Charlie and I promise you, he’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! We were allowed to pet him and when we blew gently into his nose he gave us a sweet kiss on the cheek – and now tell me that’s not awesome?!!!!

little cutie CHARLIE

Coober Pedy

Isn’t that just adorable?!

Didgeridoo

Furthermore you can buy there aboriginal art and didgeridoos and there was actually an artist there while we were too, and it was wonderful watching him and especially hilarious when he and our tourguide gave a little didgeridoo-concert.

We had dinner in the only pizzaria far and wide and went afterwards to the only “pub” (belongs to the Hotel there) and had kind off a great time. We slept “underground” and although one of the girls was sure she saw a rat-like monster sneaking around we all survived the night.

Would you like to live “underground”?!

See you, Saskia xxx

Groovy through the Outback

Last year in October I did something I never thought I would ever do: I went on a trip into the Outback on my way to Uluru.

It’s the most Australian thing you can see down here and trust me when I tell you that I really never wanted to go there and now it is the place I recommend to everybody. I met many traveller who think like me before I went there: It’s not worth it, it’s too far away from basically everything and it’s freakin’ expensive. Except for the “not worth it” all that’s maybe true, BUT therefore it is ABSOLUTLY WORTH IT!

Don’t do it if you’re just into partying and all that bullshit, but if you’re willing to see the real and unique Australia you should snatch all your money and do it.

Even though I am somebody who prefers to travel without a big group, but with one or two friends (or strangers) on our own, it is definetly better to do this particular trip with a tour and especially a tourguide who knows what he’s doing. The Outback is huge and empty and I am pretty sure you wouldn’t like to get lost here. Furthermore there is a lot of cultural stuff going on out there which you would not realise by driving through that area without somebody next to you who tells you about it.

There are two (clever) ways to do a trip to Uluru. You could either start in Darwin and drive south to the middle of Australia (cannot tell you how that is, cause I didn’t do that one) or do what I did and start in Adelaide and drive up north. On the way you can also see the interesting Underground-Town Coober Pedy and usually also something cool around Adelaide (why I didn’t is a different story).

There are several companies which you can travel with, I did it with GROOVY GRAPES and I am more than happy with my decision. It’s not cheap at all, but it’s worth every dollar you pay.

I’ll tell you about the different stops and sights more specific another day, but here is a overview about the trip with Groovy Grapes:

If you book it directly with Groovy Grapes it’ll cost you $915 (AUS) for six whole days and five nights.

Day 1: Clare Valley wine region and after that you’ll head to the Flinders Ranges

Day 2: See and explore Coober Pedy the Opal Capital of the World and an incredible Underground-Town and as a cherry on an ice-cream visit the Josephine’s Kangaroo Orphanage

Day 3: Have a long but interesting drive up to Uluru and sleep on a campground nearby in a swag under the stars

Day 4: Get up early in the morning to see the beautiful sunrise at Uluru, visit the Aboriginal Cultural Center and enjoy a stunning hike around Kata Tjuta before you’re again falling asleep under the increadible starsky

Day 5: Enjoy another sunrise and take a 10km walk around Uluru. Drive to Kings Canyon, set up you camp for the night and go for another breath-taking hike around the Canyon

Day 6: Depending on you’re Tourguide you’ll be lucky and get the opportunity to ride a camel on the way to Alice Springs.

How exactly the days will be always depends on your guide and the weather. Especially around Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon the order can change, but in the end you’ll see everything either way…

Except you’re dumb enough to go there in the Australian summer, cause that’ll be suicide. If it is too hot it can happen that you won’t do the Kings Canyon walk cause it wouldn’t be responsible. Therefore my advise for you:

Book your trip in spring or late autumn (Australian seasons). Then it won’t be too hot nor too cold in the night and there won’t be too many flys (don’t get me wrong there are still many flys, but you can still live with them… somehow).

My experience with this company and the trip itself was wonderful, I met many nice people and with some of them I am still in contact, you’ll see things that are just amazing and you’ll sleep directly under the stars (sounds scary, but as soon as you’re doing it, you cannot imagine doing something else anymore).

You get breakfast, lunch and dinner and also some snacks inbetween and you don’t need to pay any additional fees or so – all inclusive! And if you don’t have a sleepingbag you can hire one for $20 (AUS).

Remember: although the Outback is pretty hot during the day (bring enough waterbottles), don’t underestimate how cold it can become in the night (pack a warm jumper).

More details about the places itself are coming soon, don’t worry!

Do you wanna go to the Outback/ Uluru?

Have you already been there? How did you do that trip and how was it?

See you, Saskia xxx

10 ways of taking [creative] SOLO-pictures

Hello World!

Who doesn’t know that problem: you’re at the most stunning place in the whole world (I have that feeling all the time) and you wanna take an awesome picture of it, preferred with yourself in it – everybody can google breathtaking photos, but you being in the picture is a doubtless proof you’ve actually been there.

I love taking pictures and even though it always feels weird taking pictures of yourself in the end it’s always worth it! My first problem is coming up when I am traveling alone or with people I don’t know well or who are pretty bad at taking good photos. In that case I usually just end up not having too many pic’s of myself. Oh, and do you know these people that only take like one picture and that’s it? Wow, thanks for the effort. Not.

But that’s actually not what I wanna talk about today. As soon as I found someone who takes a picture of me or I set up my self-timer – to be honest with you guys I usually don’t use that a lot, but the camera of my Host-Mum (mine isn’t working anymore but that’s another story) is really good with it, so I discovered self-timer for myself today jeahhiiii! – I usually ended up with one major problem:

I don’t wanna pose in exactly the same way all the time!

Meanwhile I developed a bigger variation and just two nights I created some new ideas and went yesterday straight away to the nearest Nationalpark (forgot my memory card for my camera and had to drive back home to get it) to test and improve them.

But let’s start with the Saskia-Classics (hope you don’t mind if I leave out the “standing around”-pose and anything similar boring):

1. My favourite thing to do in a picture is throwing my arms into the air and show everybody how cool every place is I go to. You can variate the “world hug” by changing how high you hold your arms and by turning your back to the camera. It’s super-simple, looks good and not weird while doing it and it says everything you wanna tell with your pic.

Otways Nationalpark

Uluru

I eventually ended up using it all the time, that my Mum once told me to do something else, it started to became boring looking at the same thing over and over again (I think she did not realize the amazing background, though… but she was kinda right)

2. To show my endless love I form a heart with my hands and hope the photographer is smart enough to find the right angle so it actually LOOKS like a heart. Easy as it is, I call it the “heart shape”-pose.

Sydney – Bondi Beach

3. I discovered that both options above match pretty well with sitting crossed-leg on the ground or stone or whatever you can sit on. Let us be creative and name this the “criss-cross crossed-leg”-pose. BÄM!

Outback

Grampiens

4. For this one you need somebody with a bit more time than a second and good timingskills (for self-timer). Put your camera on continious shooting-mode, jump as there won’t be a tomorrow and have fun. I especially love this “jumpy humpy”-one while photographing the sunset/ sunrise and you just see a jumping silhouette. By now I am fairly good at doing different jumps – and don’t be scared, GET CRAZY!

Agnes Water – Town 1770

Perth

Kalamunda NP

If you see pictures of my past trips you will see that the majority of pictures will involve one of the above four poses.

But now it’s time to get creative! Here are my (new) fancy ways of posing for a picture:

5. This is a tough one, but I promise you in the end it’ll look amazing… after trying a hundred times. So first thing you need is patient, power of endurance and time! This is the “sort-of handstand”. I asure you, that I am awefully bad at gymnastics and I am not even capable of doing a forward role and basically EVERYBODY can do that! Just have faith in yourself and try. Bestly take the shot from the side so it looks like you’re actually aiming for not doing a proper handstand.

Kalamunda NP

My mission for the next days/ weeks is improving my handstand-thing and who knows, maybe I end up actually doing a proper one. If you can already do a handstand or any gymnastical stuff, go for it and use it as a pose!

6. It was or is raining, but you still wanna take a creative picture?! Try this: find a puddle (river or lake are also possible), stand above it and take a picture of your refelction in it. Would also look great together with a monument, statue or whatever is around you. Trust me, the “reflected me” is the new black. Go for it!

7. It can look stupid, but it can also look interesting and original: show your legs. No, wait, that sounds wrong. I don’t mean take of your pants, but take a picture of your lower body – with your pants on – in a cool way. “Walking legs”-pose can be implement in many different ways. You can just stand in an awkward way or you can walk to the camera or away from it. Either way, if it’s done in a good way, it’ll look favourable.

Kalamunda NP

8. Ever saw your shadow and thought: “What’s that bloddy thing actually there for?” I tell you what for: taking clever photos with it! Whaaat?! You can just stand around and take a photo of your hanging around shadow OR you try to jump over your shadow. Got it?! You jumping is cool, but your shadow jumping? Inovation! I haven’t perfect it jet, but try the “jumping shadow” yourself.

9. Use what’s around you. Walk the line on a street, grab a Kangaroo as an accessoire or pretend a rock is falling on you. It’s your turn to get creative and “use your surrounding”. Makes the pic in the end truly awesome.

West Coast

Caversham NP

Wave Rock

10. For the next and last one, you only need to be yourself. Show your ‘carzy me’ to the world and do whatever crazy people do. Give the camera your natural laugh, fall down a tree or do basically anything stupid your smart brain can bring up. I love “Outtakes” cause they are usually pretty funny and they’re natural.

Kalamunda NP

Kalbarri NP

Adelaide

These are all great things to do, but in the end just do whatever you feel like and enjoy the moment. Don’t be too shy to take pics of yourself, in the end it’s always a brilliant memory!

What do you think about these photo-ideas?!

Do you have any further ideas, me and every other person on this planet should try out?

TELL ME!

See you, Saskia xxx

P.S. Since I tried to do the handstand over a hundred times yesterday EVERY muscle in my body hurts, but who cares, right?!

Yanchep National Park – going underground

Yesterday I went with a new friend to Yanchep National Park, actually that was the first time I met her, but I’d say it went pretty well. We had a lot of fun together and discovered the depth of this particulary beautiful park.

Yanchep is about one hour from Perth away (depents obviously on where exactly in Perth you are…) and is a charming park with some fascinating caves. When I looked it up in the WorldWideWeb it told me that visiting these caves would cost me something from $200 and up, so we weren’t planning to go caving, BUT that nice lady in the InfoCentre taught us better and a normal guided tour costs $15, what’s not bad at all.

An hour later and filled up with our selfmade lunch we stood infront of the Cristal Cave, impaitent waiting for the tour to start. Together with a bunch of other people and the guide we finally went down into the cave and saw the whole beauty it prepared for us.

It’s actually really amazing to hear about how this cave became what it is today and it’s hard to believe or just imagine how freakin’ long it takes to create one tiny stalagmite. Crazy, I tell you.

There is also an artificial waterpool down there to support the nature, cause most the water that used to be down there is used by… us. Well there is still natural water, that’s now 4 metre further down. That’s only a tiny piece of what the guide told us, but I am kinda bad in writting factual reports and I am not Wikipedia, so shut up and just enjoy the pictures I shot for you.

wow

artificial waterpool

that’s NATURAL light!!

crazy!

Magnificent!

Yanchep NP – Cristal Cave

Stunning, right?

After having an excellent time underground we finally saw the sun again and Lena and I decided to go for a walk, which ended up into two walkes and us two just chatting and getting to know each other better.

Loch McNess

I am actually NOT that small!

Oh and did I tell you that we saw cute Koalas and Kangaroos, too? Soooooo sweet, but honestly, Koalas are unbeatable in hiding in trees up high.

Who can see it?

Western Grey Kangaroo

just a tree

But no matter how magnificent the park was, my secret highlight (aside from the cave) was the Yanchep Lagoon, and that wasn’t even planned. On our way home I saw the sign >Yanchep Two Rocks< and thought “why not?”. We took the next exit and… couldn’t find the rocks, instead we ended up at a beautiful beach/ lagoon, whatever you wanna call it, and saw a graceful sunset.

I successfully climbed that rock

sutset

After the sun set we made ourself on the way home (this time for real) and I just won’t tell you what happend afterwards, it’s too sad. I’ll just say: technic in Australia HATES me, really!

How was your weekend? What did you do?

See you, Saskia xxx

Weekendtrip to Melbourne

Even though Melbourne was the one city I really, really didn’t want to visit another time (have been there three years ago with my family for two days and I couldn’t stand it) my new friend somehow managed to persuade me and after not even knowing her for 24h we booked the flight for the upcoming weekend.

This was the start for a crazy and wonderful friendship and we had an amazing time in Melbourne.

We had three days to explore Melbourne and so we wouldn’t miss the best thing we asked some friends for their place-to-be. Our first day was packed with everything that you can see directly in the citycentre

Everybody kept telling us about the Federation Square in combo with St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Station. We… did not really get it. The Cathedral and Station looked quiet impressive (although I’ve seen better Cathedrals in England) but the Square?! What the hell is that supposed to be?

Ok, we could just say I got that WTF-impression cause I have no eye and mind for great cities, but even Pia looked disapointed. There are some fancy buildings and allegedly-golden steps and I guess it might be impressive to other people with a big heart for architecture and cities, fot us it wasn’t.

St Paul’s Cathedral

Federation Square

Sation

Random building

At least one street further my eyes finally started to glow up. Melbourne itself has many graffiti, but that’s NOTHING compared to Hosier Lane! The whole street is filled with hundreds and thousands of them and it looks mind-blowing. I couldn’t resist jumping on a huge sprayed container to smutch my pants.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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With a huge grin on our faces we made our way to the close-by Eureka Skydeck and discovered the highlight of our whole trip. But what is this Skydeck?

Imagine the tallest building in Melbournes Skyline… see the pickture?! Put yourself at the feet of that building and look up. Then, with some butterflies in your tummy, beam youself up onto level 88 – if you don’t own the ability for beaming, don’t worry there’s also a lift and it “only” costs $20 – and enjoy.

I would suggest to plan enough time for your stay up there and go in the late afternoon to see the stunning sunset. We stayed there for two hours, saved ourself a first-row spot on the floor for the sunset, took thousands of pictures (it’s pretty hard to take good pictures, cause the glass refects the whole time) and plundered our lunch/dinnerbox.

Skyline from top

Sunset

Light- & Nighlife

Little pro-tip: After the sun set, but before it’s completly dark close your eyes for five minutes – don’t forget to set an alarm – just relax and open your eyes with the sound of your alarm for the beautiful light and nightlife of Melbourne. Sounds weird, but its incredible.

For our second day we wanted to get a bit out of the city and had huge plans.

Together with our selfmade lunch we had a picnic infront of the Shrine of Remebrance and aferwards we climbed up the stairs to glory the view and Skyline. I cannot quiet explain it but this place has something… magical. It’s a beautiful spot loaded with great, positiv energie.

Shrine of Remebrance

Melbourne

After this great start we caught the bus to famous Brighton Beach and its funny colourful houses. We had two major problems on our way. First we needed to buy an overexpenise myki (Busticket > pay for card itself and ontop put money on the card) and then we stood infront of a boring beach.

Ok, it was the wrong beach and it just took us 10 minutes to walk to the right one, but even then I was disappointed. These colourful houses always look so awesome, and they were still nice, but the whole location wasn’t that great at all. Maybe I was a bit spoiled with more stunning beaches but my jaw did not fall down as I expected it to.We then had to collect all our motivation together, jumped on the next bus and visited St. Kilda Beach. In St. Kilda is a cuty street with some small shops and cafés and my mood lit up a bit again. Altough it was a pretty warm day it was freaking windy at the beach and it actually hurts getting violently turned into a breaded Schnitzel.

But there is one thing in St. Kilda that’s worth visiting (exept for that cute street) and I am not talking about the Luna Park (more about that in a minute). Right from the main beach itself is a jetty with a house at its end, and behind that house is a stone-walk-path-thingy-dingy (kinda another jetty but different) and THERE are sweet little penguins. YAAS!!!

It’s not easy taking a picture of these guys, cause its dawn when they come out of the water and you’re not allowed to use flashlights – exept you wanna blind these innocent guys – but it’s still great seeing them.

St Kilda Beach sunset

St Kilda

Peguin

On our last day we were honestly a bit tired but we made ourself, with the cute Free-Tram, on the way to the Melbounre Star – tiny London Eye – where we realised that thing costs duble the price of the Skydeck and we turned our back to the Star and marshed into Harbour Town – we had to kill time till lunch were we’d meet a friend of mine.After eating delicous Doughnuts with my canadian friend we went to Fitzroy Street. It reminded me a bit of Camden Market in London – without the market part. It is an older neigbourhood with oldfashioned stores and again loads of graffiti.

Fotzroy Street

Graffiti

In the evening we went back to St. Kilda to see the penguins again and to go into the Luna Park. Maybe we were there for the wrong season or so, but that park was… the biggest disapointment of all. The carousels were more or less empty and over-overexpensive. We did not end up going for a ride.

That was a lot, so here is a quick sum-up for you:

Top:

Hosier Lane
Eureka Skydeck
Shrine of Remebrance
St Kilda Beach – for the Penguins
Fitzroy Street
Free-Tram

In-between:

Federation Square and surounding
Brighton Beach
St Kilda Beach
Harbour Town

Flop:

Luna Park
Melbourne Star

Conclusion:

Melbourne is a nice City with some great places and I had a wonderful time there, but I still don’t get why everybody else I know fell SO MUCH in love with this City.

Have you been to Melbourne? What were your experiences?

See you, Saskia xxx

Hello World!

Here I am.

You could also say: Here I am AGAIN!

Why, you’re asking?

Well that’s pretty easy, to be honest: blogging is nothing new to me, cause I am already a proud Blog-owner since almost two years now. And yes I know, that that only brings up a thousand other questions, so let me start all over again.

My name is Saskia, I am 20 years old – at least that’s what my passport says, in my head I usually feel a bit younger… but also sometimes older… well that makes sense Saskia, bravo, confussion in the first few sentences of your new blog – and I am from Germany, but proud to say, that there is britisch blood in my veins.

I am currently living in Australia as an AuPair and discovered traveling as my new – and super expensive – passion. Sure, I have already seen many different places and countries as a child, but to be honest with you guys, I was always that boring kid that stayed at the pool instead of seeing anything. I could have been anywhere and wouldn’t care.

BUT I changed! I actually changed a lot in the last eight month, but that’s another story.

Soooo as I said, I already own a blog which is written in german and about books and my life in general. I’ve never been just a bookblogger or just a lifestyleblogger, I was everything and I also wrote about my experiences here Down Under and I LOVE that blog. It’s a huge thing for me and even though I had some struggles with time and motivation lately, I AM BACK! Even as a doublepack this time.

My old blog, my normal blog is and will probably always be my main blog but there are two main reasons for me to open this new one:

First of all I wanted to write in english, because I meet during traveling many non-german people, that includes friends as much as family, and I wanted to give them the chance to read what I have to say just as much as I want to give it to my german friends (and I am pretty sure most Germans are smart enough to understand my english skills and if not you should probably do something about it – just saying).

And my other main reason to open this new blog is, that there is quiet a big gap beween what I am blogging about on “lifewithsaskia” and here on “TRAVELwithsaskia” – you see the similarities?! Smart, hm! – yes, I have already been posting about my travelexperiences, but I always held myself back cause I knew/ thought it’s not what that blog is mainly about. But – at least in my opinion – it’s too late to make major changes, for that my followerbase is too big. In my opinion it makes sense, even though it will be a lot more work for me to keep not one but two blogs alive.

Let me give you this one promise:

There will be a blogpost at least ONCE A WEEK, lets say on… Thursdays 1pm (Timezone: PERTH)

If you’re lucky even more often, I guess that will be the case especially in the first couple of weeks, cause I’ve already done most my traveling in Australia and I need to tell you about ALL of it!

Oh and I hope you don’t freak out each time I make any type of grammar-mistake, cause guys, I AM NOT A NATIVE SPEAKER, go on!

So, if you wanna find out more about me, myself and I, why don’t you sneak onto my “about me”-page, take a seat and create a picture in your head about who I am.

And if you so super-curious right now about what I’ve already done in Australia and you cannot wait for my weekly posts, don’t worry, I have something for you. You just need to head to the “Australia”-page and I asure you, there are already some storys waiting for you. Go, don’t be shy and have a look!

I hope were going to have a great time together!

And please let me know about your thoughts about this blog, I’ll welcome ideas, criticism and some nice words with open arms!

See you, Saskia xxx

Why am I an AuPair?

Hello World!

I somehow always knew that I wanted to go far, far away after finishing school and almost nothing is as far away as Australia, so my destination was set. But what doing there?!

Work and Travel sounds great but at that stage it was no real option for me. I wanted to know, that I have an house where I live, food I can afford and all in all a save enviroment. And especially the “work”-part (farmwork) in it wasn’t and still isn’t the best thing I can imagine. And let’s be real, I came to Australia with the intention to not travel at all – stupid, I know!

Therefore I love kids and I already had experience working with these little monsters. Before I could overthink it, it was set: I’ll be an AuPair! And I don’t regret this decision at all, although I had some tough times.

I’ve found my first family with an organisation, which cost me a lot of time (collecting all the papers and so on) and also money. I was superduper excited and I was so damn sure that I’d found the perfect family. They lived in Adelaide, which was perfect cause one of my aunts lives there, had two boys and the mum seemed to be really nice via skype.

My perfect picture I’ve imagined in my head began to get tiny cracks as soon as I met the boys. I’ll save the whole dramatic story for another day, but it ended with me leaving after three month.

If you thought I gave up on being an AuPair you don’t know me well enough. It never popped up into my brain to leave Australia and fly back home. No matter what, I don’t give up and I wouldn’t leave with bad experiences. I activated my account again and I looked on “AuPairWorlds” for a new family. This time I knew what to look for, what question to ask and to be paitent.

I decided to travel meanwhile, so I wouldn’t need to stress about finding a family right now. In one week I had about ten Skype-interviews and my head started to spin an then I found them; the perfect family. It made click immediatly. We both agreed more or less during the interview to combine their craziness with mine and little spoiler: It’s the best craziness-combination the world has ever seen.

Since three month I am now in this family and from day one on I felt part of it. It couldn’t be any better and I am already so afraid of saying “Goodbye” at some stage, I could cry.

This family is the best reason why somebody should be an AuPair. There is so much love floating around here and even as an backpacker you’ll never really know what LIVING in Australia means. But no matter how nice the family is, you need to really want to work with kids, otherwise you’ll feel more trapped than anything else.

Even in my first family I learned so freakin’ much about myself, I wouldn’t miss that for the world cause I wouldn’t be the person I am right now without all that.

The moral of this experience is:

Never give up!

And: yes, there are some not-so-nice stories about being an AuPair, but therefore there are even more wonderful stories about being an AuPair and that’s what counts. You’ll get to hear about both sides on this blog eventually. And no matter how bad or good your time here is, one thing is for sure: you’ll learn the world about yourself and it adds to your growing character.

Your turn:

Do you have any experiences as as AuPair you wanna share with us?

What’s your opinion about AuPairs in general?

See you, Saskia xxx

Sydney – the place to be?!

Have you ever been to a place everybody wants to go to and you just realise: dreaming of this place was better than actually being there?

No? Well I have, although that sounds a bit overdramatic.

I have already been twice to Sydney and I must admit it’s one of my least favourite places in Australia. But before I’ll ruin your dreams completely let me explain myself and while reading keep in mind that I am not a huge City fan.

Three years ago I’ve been there the first time with my family (my Mum, Brother and Oma) over New Years Eve, which is basically the biggest cliché ever – everybody is in Sydney for NYE. We had a table directly at the Sydney Harbour with an amazing view over the Oprah House and Harbour Bridge, the atmosphere was electrified and everybody had their time of their life. Well ALOMOST everybody – could kick my ass right now for sometimes being such a grumpy teenager in the past. I wasn’t really grumpy that day, I had also a lot of fun, but these extreme masses of people are not my thing. And Sydney is a huge ball of people rubing their sholders against eachother and breathing in the neck of the dude infront of them at NYE.

But that’s not really what I wanna talk about. The firework was amazing and I really get it, I get why people want to go there. The lights, the bridge on the left, the Oprah House on the right. You see something direktly infront of you what almost every person I know wants to see.

Sydney

ok, this photo is actually pretty good…

firework at NYE

And then the party is over. The night comes to an end and the sky turnes light blue with some soft white clouds. And suddenly the magic is gone. The roof of the superduper famous Oprah House is more dirty-yellow-ish than white and the Harbour Bridge turns out to be just another bridge. And the best thing of all?! There are somehow ALWAYS stupid ships in the way when you want to take a cliché-photo with the house of houses.

As soon as you overcome the fact that you’re really in Sydney you start realising that the city itself is… well a city. There are shops, there a people and exept for the harbour-section it could be any other european city.

To admit Bondi Beach is indeed a beautiful beach with some stunning waves. You maybe need to be really careful there in the water, cause the waves are not always visible, but underwater and they love to grab your legs and dip your face underwater, but it’s also a lot of fun.

Last year (2016) in August, my best day in Sydney was indeed at Bondi Beach and I was honestly impressed by the Coastal Walk. The water is amazingly turquoise and the view overwhelming.

beautiful Costal Walk

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maybe I should just jump into the stunning turqouise water…

It’s possible that I wasn’t completly able to get the beauty of Sydney both times I’ve been there – the first time I was definetly not able to realise anything at all and last time I had an imensive jetlag – but I spoke to many people who have been there and many of them agree with me:

It’s a nice City but not at all as breath-killing as expected.

There is one thing I regret, I haven’t seen it: The Blue Mountains. I’ve seen amazing pictures from there and I feel in love with any national park so far, so I am pretty sure it would have lifted my opinion about Sydney at least a bit.

But I think everybody experiences everything differently and everybody should ALWAYS create its own opinion. And you can always impress people by saying you’ve been to Sydney. What do you want more?!

What do you think about Sydney? Have you been there and liked it? Is it (still) a dream of yours to visit it?

See you, Saskia xxx