But believe me, I didn't forget about the blog - I was thinking all the time what kind of subject I should talk about, which could miraculously connect everything I have done in the last three weeks. And guess what: yes, exactly! I did not find such a subject!
So, well, I can therefore only tell you a bit what I have been up to. And you'll find three albums with all the best photos of my nearly 2,5-month stay in down under...
After my last blogstory, the WWOOFing week at the Redtail Ridge, I took again the Indian Pacific from Perth back through the big empty Nullarbor Plain all the way to Adelaide, South Australias capital city.
South Australia
I was really happy to stay with Shebeen-quiz-player Steve and his wife Christa, who moved back to Adelaide last year. I really enjoyed their hospitality, their small cosy house with their nice garden. In general, Australians really love good food and wine a lot. But nowhere else I have felt this love more than in Southern Australia. And I loved it :)
The heart of Adelaide is their Central Market, where you can find all the different kinds of food - from really cheap but fresh fruits and vegetables, heaps of deli food and some stores providing you with Polish, Russian or other European specialities.
Adelaide is the home of the big family owned Coopers brewery. I had a great afternoon and evening which started with a harmless guided tour through the brewery. We were guided through the different halls, seeing the whole process of turning the barley into the final produce, of which the botteling hall was the most interesting one.
And of course it all ended with a long beer tasting, where we had the chance to taste around 10 different beers - mhhhh
I ended up going for another few schooners with three australians who had also visited the brewery. We had a nice afternoon, playing horribly bad pool and finally going to the delicious Afghan restaurant Parwana (which somehow reminded me of my preferred restaurant in Vienna: Le Petit Maroc. Both restaurants were small but really cosy, offering only a few but really delicious dishes)But more than the beer I of course enjoyed the wines in Southern Australia. Thanks to their sunny climate they have many different really well known wine regions here. And - no doubt about that - I tried to visit as many of them as possible.
Near Adelaide, easy to reach by public transport, is Australias little Grinzing: in the Adelaide Hills Lutherans, fleeing from Prussia, founded the small town of Hahndorf. Really, believe me, it is like Grinzing: tiny but really sweet, beautifully set up for tourists, many of which even speak German.
After walking around the nice little town I started with what I came for: wine-tasting! Believe me, Australian wines here are 1000 better than the crap they sell in overseas supermarkets. Forget Jackobs Creek, Hardy and Yellow Tail! There are heaps of vinyards, which produce great wine. And I was soooo surprised: one vinyard, the Hahndorf Hills Winery, even grow Grüner Veltliner and Blaufränkisch!!! (I was a bit dissapointed though that the GV was sold out, so I couldn't taste it) I had a great chat with the girl pouring me the wines. She was really excited to tell me that they are now also experimenting with Zweigelt. That's the only time I found our typical Austrian grapes in any Australian vinyard!! Wohoooo, home sweet home :)
But the Adelaide hills are not the only wine region where I checked the cellar doors... But before starting a trip through the various wine regions between Adelaide and Melbourne I made a short side trip up North.
The Red Center
From Adelaide I took the other famous train, the Ghan, up to Alice Springs. To bad that I was so dependent on the train times... The Ghan goes only once per week, so I had exactly two entire and two half days in Alice Springs. The first half day I was really lucky that my CS-host in Alice Springs took me and another couchsurfer out of the city in the MacDonnell Ranges to Simpsons Gap, one of the many rock formations in the big red middle of Australia.But the next two days, were simply madness: I participated in two one-day-trips (the both connecting two-day-trip was 100,- more expensive): one going from Alice Springs to Uluru (aka Ayers Rock*) and Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas), the other one going to the Kings Canyon. What's so crazy about it?? Well, it is like participating in two one-day-trips from Vienna to Innsbruck! Who would ever do this in Austria?? Right, nobody. So much about the feeling for distances in a country as vast as Australia!!
But I don't regret it at all even though I spent around 10 hours in the bus each day!
I was really happy with the travel agency Emu Run Tours: The busdrivers were all really funny and entertaining; talking a lot, telling us heaps about the region, the history, the Aboriginal culture...
On the first day we went to Kata Tjuta first, big red stone formations growing out of the big vast desert. The desert however was not as dry as it usually is. I was quite lucky to see a lot of green there...
Afte a short walk into the Olgas we went over to the famous Rock. On the base we had different base walks, where the busdrivers aka guides told us the various Aboriginal stories connected with the Rock, pointing out spiritual sites and also a lot of cave paintings. 
After a few different walks at the base of the Rock - nobody of our group climbed the Rock - we went to the sunset lookout point. It was just brilliant: the drivers were preparing food - guess what - of course, barbeque. Accompanied with sparkling wine.It is not without a reason that people pilgering to Uluru say that there is something magic or spiritual about it. It definitely is impressive and I was really happy to have seen it in real! The colours of it change within seconds when the sun goes down - from orange to burning red into a blueish brown when the sun's just gone:
After the great dinner and sparkling we had a long way back to Alice Springs, where I arrived at midnight, and was picked up again the next morning at 6am - this time for a tour to the famous Kings Canyon.
Again a lot of time in the bus driving past red land, green bushes and sometimes some camels. The camels had been brought to Australia by Afghan people who built the railway track - hence the name "The Ghan" for the train connecting Adelaide with Darwin. They freed the camels once they didn't need them anymore, thinking they would die out anyways. Alas, they really like the climate here - so now there are big populations of camels in the Northern Territory.Unlike the day before, this day we were properly hiking. The Rim-Walk around the canyon takes around 3,5 hours and are a nicely exhausting walk, starting with the "heart-attack hill"...
The canyon itself is really impressive! See it yourself:
Even though this trip up to Alice Springs and the tours cost me quite some money and I spent a loooooot of time in the bus, I don't regret one cent nor one minute! It was simply impressive to see the red vast center of this huuuuge country, feel the distances, hike through the canyon and see the sun go down giving Uluru this amazing burning colour!
If you want more pics from the vast empty red middle, just check this gallery.
Great Ocean Road Trip
Back in Adelaide I started a road trip. Through the
(in Australia and NZ really useful and much used) internet forum gumtree I had found Karim: a guy from Egyp, working and living in Adelaide, who wanted to make the same road trip to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.
After having bought all the necessary food at the Central Market, filled up his car and squeezed his tent and a matress in the trunk, we were off! Luckily I had my word to say considering the route - yes, we went through many different wine regions! On the first day we tasted many different wines in the McLaren Vale region. The second day we passed through the Langhorne Creek region, whereas we started the third day with wine tastings in the Coonawarra wine region. I can't repeat it often enough: wine regions are simply beautiful!!
The fourth day we were hiking through the Grampian National Park, going up the Pinnacles.
What an awesome view!
Within the Grampians National Park is a lot of wild life, and of course many many kangoroos! And those in the small town at the entrance of the park are completely tame:
And Koalas? Oh, I saw heaps of them on the next day on the Southern coast. They are lazy indeed! Sweet and lazy:
Only on the fith and last day we were finally taking the Great Ocean Road. 
A nice drive with many curves along the coast - with many signs for the tourists remembering them to drive on the left :)It's not without a reason the road is called great. It is a really great road indeed, just next to the beautiful coast line, with it's many limestones in the water, beautiful beaches.
Want more pics?? Here you'll find the best pics from the countryside, nature and animals.
Melbourne
I arrived in Melbourne on the evening of our fifth day and stayed there for a few days with another really nice and welcoming CS-host.
What should I say - well, everybody told me that Melbourne was simply amazing...
I must say, it was alright, but being back in Sydney I admit: I love Sydney, I have many friends now in Sydney. Melbourne is for sure a nice city, maybe I didn't discover it enough, but at the moment it is just another city to me, with another nice Central Market, anothe China-town, and again many bars and cafes...I loved their grafitti though!!
And last but not least: one album with photos from the various cities I visited here in OZ.
Sydney
So yes, here I am, back in Sydney since a few days - this time staying on the lovely North beaches, leaving tomorrow to New Zealand. I managed to meet all the friends in Sydney again: my friends up from the Hunter Valley, Jean-Marie and of course all the crazy artist from the TAP-gallery...
Sydney, you'll see me again!!
Or should I say more generally: Australia, you'll see me again!!
*Uluru is called by the Aboriginals since thousands of years. It was called Ayers Rock by William Gosse in 1873 - the first Westerner to have sighted it. A double-name policy was introduced in 1993: "Ayers Rock / Uluru", which was turned into "Uluru / Ayers Rock" in 2002
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