Wedding Rings Experience

We decided to do something different for our wedding rings and actually make them ourselves! After locating the only place in Australia that allows you to do so (luckily in Sydney) and meeting them we set a date of October 17th to do the deed.

A respectable start of 12.30pm allowed us to begin with coffee and cake and sit down with the jeweller to re-confirm our preferences for style and size. It amazed us both to see that from one reasonably small piece of non-descript metal our two wedding rings would be formed! It was with some trepidation that we started helping our experienced jeweller as we helped roll our metal piece over and over to make it long enough to create our two rings.

The setting was so relaxed and you certainly didn't need to feel crafty to partake as you were supervised throughout. Soon we had the task of rolling our seperate pieces and then literally hammering them into the right size and shape! Some of these methods seemed quite old school which was great fun as we really got into the swing of things. Always we had one of the jewellers nearby and being us we managed to take a LOT of photos!
That was great though as it allowed us to use the special day for our invitations to our Wedding Party which is shown below. A lot of fun was had when we also filed each other's rings, especially when they gave us the machine with the pedal to do it! I think filing may have gone on longer than needed as it was so much fun. Something else that amused us was the procedure in how to make our jewellery into the matt finish. Quite literally a normal household scrubbing cloth was handed to us to give it a matt finish but it certainly did the job!

Both of us really enjoyed all the events of the day and the fact we contributed personally to something we can look back at for the rest of our lives. To finish the event we were treated to a very yummy meal and toasted our achievement with a glass of champagne!

Sauber machen...

... nach so nem 'dust storm' ist mal kein Vergnuegen!
Dieser Staub ist wirklich ueberall hingekommen!

"Dust storm" oder auch Sandsturm

Heute um 6.15 Uhr ging der Wecker... uahhh, aufstehen, schon wieder... schliesslich oeffneten wir unsere Augen und erstaunt nahmen wir orange-rotes Licht von draussen wahr... schnellstens wurden die Gardinen geoeffnet.. mit ah und oh gestaunt, um dann schnell den Fernseher anzuschalten und zu lernen, dass wir uns mittendrin in einem Sandsturm befinden.

Sicht vom Balkon aus

Vom Outback war der Sand/Staub/die Partikelchen (so klein, dass sie sogar durch abgedichtete Fenster kommen konnten) in einer Hoehe von 3km mit Windboehen um die 100km/h uebers Land getrieben wurden.
Angeblich wurden um die 1000 Tonnen Sand/Staub/Partikelchen ueber Sydney verteilt. Oder zumindest nahmen die Wettermenschen dies heute morgen an.

Es war der schlimmste Sturm in 40 Jahren. Faehrverkehr wurde eingestellt und der Strassenverkehr verlangsamte sich deutlich. Um die 10 internationale Fluege mit Ziel Sydney wurden nach Brisbane und Melbourne umgeleitet.
Luftqualitaet als gefaehrlich eingestufft.

Sydney Innenstadt heute um 8.00 Uhr

Angeblich war nicht nur Sydney betroffen... Wollongong im Sueden, Newcastle im Norden und auch Dubbo sollen aehnlich Verhaeltnisse gehabt haben.

Nachmittags habe ich mit einer Kollegin in Brisbane telefoniert... da war der Sturm dann gerade angekommen.

Ein paar mehr Bilder gibts hier:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonandanja/sets/72157622313200515/

City2Surf - update

... in einer Woche ist es soweit: City2Surf - 14km von der Innenstadt Sydneys zum weltberuehmten Bondi Beach.

75000 Leute werden am Start sein und das Fernsehen uebertraegt live.

Auf das es nicht regnet!

Der beste Ort der Welt fuer einen Sonntags-Kaffee...

... ist McMahon's Point in Sydney.










Take away coffee und banana bread, Decke ausbreiten, Zeitung zur Hand und dann geniessen!

So geschehen gestern und heute... mit nem Nickerchen... und das alles mitten im Winter.

Wunderbar!

Kleine Panik...

... macht sich breit... nur noch 11 Tage bis zu DEM Lauf!

City2Surf: 14km!

http://city2surf.sunherald.com.au/default.asp?PageID=18225

MS FUN RUN 2009

Last Sunday it was time for another run around the North Sydney foreshore. This time we wanted to run a total of 8km. The MS FUN RUN and walks raised money and awareness for people suffering from multiple sclerosis.

This year the event raised over $560,000.
http://www.mswalk.org.au/nsw/index.asp

Again it was an early start with the alarm going off at 6.00am. After a short breakfast we made our way to the train station to catch the train to Milson's Point. Luckily this time around it was just overcast... no real rain in sight.










Early morning start... sun is just rising.

Arriving at the starting point we were amazed by the number of people willing to compete in an 8k run.













Us before the start

Before we knew it the clock reached 8.00am and off we went with the crowd. After only a few metres we bet each other farewell to meet again at the finish. Although it was a hard run it was breathtaking to run along Lavender Bay with the Harbour Bridge/Opera House/Luna Park in the back and later in the front. We managed to run up a few hills which were rather steep but had to stop from time to time due to narrow passages.

Before the hour was over we reached the finish line at Luna Park.
Jason amazingly finished after 47.17min and waited for me - with Kathy my personal trainer - on the finish line when I came in after 55.46min. Kathy beat us all finishing after just 37.45min!








Happy winner!


Our thanks go to all the volunteers that cheered us on and provided water stops!!

For more photos please visit Kathy's webpage. http://www.enjoylifefitness.com.au/blog/?p=268

Kookaburra

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh kookaburra, laugh
Kookaburra, gay your life must be

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops that he can see
Stop, kookaburra, stop
Kookaburra, leave some there for me

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Chasing all the monkeys he can see
Stop, kookaburra, stop
Kookaburra, that's not a monkey, that's me!

Man muss sich ja immer...

... mal wieder neu erfinden!
Daher gibt's nun ein neues Blog-Layout!

Weiterhin viel Spass beim Lesen!

Anja

Mother Day's Classic 2009 in the Domain

We have decided to kickstart a fitness regime and as part of that I have set some running goals for myself ... and subsequently for Jason. :) First challenge was to compete in the 4km Mother Day's Classis Run in the beautiful Sydney Domain - right in the heart of the city.





Jason and Anja on the train to the big event



The added bonus to this race was that this event raises funds for breast cancer awarness.

http://www.mothersdayclassic.org/

A matter close to Jason's heart as his Mum is a survivor! - Go Di!





Jason dedicated this run to his Mum




After 'stressful' week's in the gym as well as running around Balls Head we arrived full of confidence at the Domain. Greeted by cloudy skies. The 8 km runners had just finished their run when it started to pour down.







Jason is still dry... but not for very much longer...





This left us two determined runners adamant enough to head to the start line with the masses. After putting up with some politician's speech the race finally started with the rain still tumbling down. We had to start at a walking pace due to this massive crowd. After half a kilometre we separated from each other overtaking others and trying to avoid massive water puddles. The absolute highlight was running with the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in the backdrop... still it was pouring down! Even though we were both soaked to the bone we both finished under 30 minutes.






Soaked but happy!



Reaching the finish line was extremly satisfying and got Jason all competitive... hence I have registered us BOTH for an 8km run next month. :)))






Our bibs and medals




Anja and Jason

NO KANGAROOS IN AUSTRIA!

Fuer Jana und Chris. :)))



Anja

Wanderlust!

Letzten Samstag hat Jason und mich mal wieder die Wanderlust gepackt und ab ging's in die Blue Mountains... gar nicht unweit von Sydney... immer gen Westen fahren. Nach einer etwas laengeren Anreise als geplant (dank an all die Strassenarbeiten, die an Wochenenden ausgefuehrt werden muessen) sind wir in Wentworth angekommen, um den "Overcliff/Undercliff Circuit" zu erkunden und die Wentworth Wasserfaelle zu bestaunen.
Schon nach den ersten 10 Minuten wurden wir darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass der "Overcliff" nicht ganz begehbar waere... nach einem eher klaeglichen Versuch, diesen Weg zu nehmen, haben wir dann doch kehrt gemacht und sind den ausgeschilderten Umweg gegangen.
Belohnt wurden wir mit immer wieder atemberaubenden Aussichten und einer wunderbar farbenfrohen Vogelwelt!
Auf unserer Bergauf- Bergab-Wanderung sind wir zunaechst nur wenigen Leuten begegnet... 2 Deutschen Teenagern, die sich ein wenig "verirrt" hatten und ganz entsetzt waren, als ich ihre Diskussion, ob sie nach dem Weg fragen sollten auf Deutsch unterbrach... ein Paerchen, dass uns naiv fragte, wie lange es denn noch dauert, um endlich anzukommen... Da frage ich mich jetzt noch "Wo ankommen?"... da es dort endlose Wanderwege gab... Doch dann... je naeher wir dem Wasserfall kamen - desto mehr Leute waren unterwegs, die Wege voll und 20 verschiedene Sprachen (so typisch fuer Australien) konnten gehoert werden... als haben wir nur schnell einen Blick auf die Faelle geworfen, habe kehrt gemacht und sind ganz schnell wieder im Gehoelz verschwunden und habe die Stille genossen.

Wunderbar.

Fuehlte sich fast wie Urlaub an und am Ende haben wir noch in Wentworth halt gemacht, um Brezen in der Konditorei Schwarz zu kaufen.... lecker!!!

Bilder gibt's hier:

http://flickr.com/gp/jasonandanja/YX983A

Anja

Tasting the Temptations of Tasmania!

Many times Anja has remarked to me how big my homeland is! Recently she was asked so 'if you now live in Australia you don't need to take holidays'? Well for these two hardened travellers an adventure is always on our minds so that was what exactly we wanted to do by visiting the most southern part of this vast continent Australia. The Australia Day long weekend at the end of January was when we decided to fly to Hobart the capital of the Apple Isle and the last remaining capital city I had never visited. We took an extra day and flew late on Friday night and treated ourselves to a taxi from the airport to our motel (yes not hostel!). This was our first "Tassie" moment as the taxi driver was short on conversation apart from "how was the flight" "is this your first time here" and then as we crossed Tasman Bridge the only tourist attraction pointed out to us was the "large white building to the left is the casino" which we strained to realise was the six storey building in the distance. We also were quite taken aback to see how dry it was but this was also revealed in our research that Hobart is the second driest capital city in Australia behind Adelaide. Our first night we discover a bar called "Das Zimmer" which is German for "The Room" so we sat back and enjoyed a Becks whilst checking out the locals. A late night visit to the 24 hour bakery and we headed back to the luxury of our own hotel room.

Salamanca Markets

Saturday and there is only one thing to do in town and that's the famous Salamanca Markets which has an enormous amount of stalls and we discovered also the allure of Bratwurst of many varieties in rolls. There was perhaps too many people for myself but the custard filled donut seemed to be a way to placate myself long enough for Anja to go through the multitude of offerings. Nearby was the beautiful village of Battery Point which took us back in time and was very pretty. A mate from Brisbane had sold us on the virtues of the Cascade Hotel and the delicious schnitzels they cooked. So as we left our hotel that evening we enquired at reception to get another sample of Tassie humour " It's about nine dollars by taxi there and nine dollars back" .On further probing we discovered it was on a main street so being the walkers we are we instead walked this short distance and actually arrived after about twenty minutes walk to this small pub at 5.30pm. Well we both had worked up an appetite so we headed in to see it was pretty quiet but nearly all tables appeared reserved! So we sheepishly asked for a table for two and got one luckily, well I couldn't resist asking for the Super Schnitzel so it was pretty overwhelming when out came a large plate with a schnitzel covering it all! Thus the nine dollar taxi ride walk back into Hobart was very necessary as we found a nice spot by the water to enjoy this sleepy but enjoyable city.

Stunning Scenery

Sunday morning and we were up early to get to the car hire place to pick up the larger than expected Ford Mondeo to take a drive to Port Arthur a historic convict site just under two hours away. After leaving the outskirts we discovered our first Tassie Devil sign so we couldn't resist getting out of the car for some photos.

Jason and the "Devil"

Having a car gave us the chance to jump out wherever we wanted as we took this scenic ride but it wasn't too late before we arrived at Port Arthur.This lead to another classic piece of Hobartness when I used the Eftpos to pay admission the attendant asked " Can I ask a personal question" , which we thought would be a postcode question but it was " Do you have a chequebook" so after leaving there we headed to our boat tour. Port Arthur was a place of stark contrasts, it was such a pretty beautiful scenic area so to hear all the tales of this being a a place for convicts in the 1800's was hard to fathom. We searched through this vast site after an informative tour before we made the drive back along some very stunning roads.

Anja in the Habour of Port Arthur

Jason in Port Arthur

Another tip was to visit a local Fish restaurant called Mures so Anja could sample the famous fresh Tassie fish while I was content to eat chips and very large potato scallops (they call them potato cakes down that way). Again a walk along the waterfront was needed before we went to the Customs Hotel to have a Cascade beer (another recommendation from my mate in Brissie) so that Anja and I could watch some indeed interesting locals! Australia Day arrived and we were again up early bypassing overindulging in the full buffet breakfast as we were going on a boat cruise to Bruny Island. Upon checking in we of course had to sign the disclosure in regards to safety (who reads those things?) and given our very large jackets for the jet boat ride later. The forty five minute cruise to Bruny Island gave us a chance to see how spread out Hobart was and see some of the coastline.








Stunning Coast Line on the bottom end of Bruny Island


We also saw where our Aussie Princess Mary from Denmark went to high school :). This was also a nice moment for Anja as someone asked where we were from and she replied "Sydney" well it is true now. Our destination Bruny Island came upon us and two mini buses met us and we chose the one that was to be driven by a fourth generation Bruny Island resident, sadly no commentary but nonetheless we enjoyed the sights. Now was the time we were to suit up as our jet boat arrived and a tactical decision was made to sit in the middle just in front of the driver. Leaving the bay we did the obligatory 360 degrees turns and rounded out into the open sea to come amazingly up close and personal to a pod of frolicking dolphins. We didn't even have time to get the cameras out as our guide explained they must be off to eat as no time to play. It was about now I discovered that my land legs weren't enjoying this as much as I would of liked but I put on a brave face for Anja. Still though as we hugged the coast the rock formations were spectacular and we moved from the Tasman sea to the Great Southern Ocean and the most southernly point of the large continent being my homeland. Just as I thought I could take no more we came to the resting place of a multitude of seals and immediately my spirits were lifted.








Australian Seals


They seemed so comfortable with our presence and continued to bask in the sun and play in the ocean whilst we watched in astonishment. After some time we headed back and to make it quicker we headed to more open ocean to my dismay as we picked up speed.








Just before taking up some speed again...


Even though we came across things such as an Albatross I was more than relieved to be back on land at the end but it had been a great ride. The bus we chose on the way back had the guide so we heard a little bit more about the settlement of this very southern outpost. Our boat arrived with other passengers along for a cruise and it was lunchtime where we had a delicious platter of local produce and I watched Anja overcome with joy from the tasty bread. After a short stop at a resort we cruised back to Hobart and we enjoyed pizza for our evening meal followed by a walk around Hobart for our final evening in this quiet city. Also we gathered some intelligence regarding the Cadbury factory and discovered that it wasn't offering full tours so we made a decision to visit Richmond an historic village a little out of Hobart on our final day. Avoiding a tour after indulging one more time at the buffet breakfast we checked out and made our way to the bus stop. The bus we took was a normal service full of business people so after they all got out at the Hydro Plant we continued another 14km to Richmond. This quaint village is home to Australia's oldest bridge built in the 1830's and also the oldest Catholic Church which had been visited by Pope John Paul in the 80's. It was a role reversal to be able to take Anja somewhere where there was some history and we truly enjoyed wandering the streets of Richmond and time flew before we had to catch the only bus back to make it back to Hobart to catch our flight back to Sydney. Hobart was really a place we found to be very interesting but also very different to how we thought it may be. The landscape was so dry and a contrast to when I had only thought of it being a lush green land so that was eye-opening indeed. We both found the people so welcoming and loved being able to walk the streets especially in Salamanca as the history has been embraced there and kept for the future. Also these two keen travellers know we will want to visit the Apple Isle again to explore it more as we are sure we have only had a brief taste and want more!

For more photos click here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/80037206@N00/z9CtTy


Jason