Back to the Other Side of the World

You might have been wondering what happened to me – no updates for such long time?!

Everything fine and I am on my trip as mentioned since January 10th.
This blog will give you an overview of our trip back to Australia and beyond.

I won`t write any travel stories this time as I otherwise need to extend another time to fit in all things to do ;-)

Still you can follow me on this adventure with loads of pictures and impressions.

A regular update is given in my web space where you can access freely:

http://picasaweb.google.com/marco.schoeggl/

So where the bloody hell are we?

This is our idea of destinations we will visit:

Using the extra time to explore the far south of Australia – Tasmania which is worth a minimum trip of 4 weeks if you wanna follow. After our trip I would even say 5-6 weeks would be ideally if you want to do some serious hikes! Interested? Check out more here:

With some time in between on Australian roads we will than head to New Zealand and visit the Kiwis! 6 weeks is what we thought to be ok, but sure you can spend here months and years if you want to.

Zealandia is a world for itself, completely different to all the other countries around. The nature can`t be more versatile than here – from endless beaches to lush forest, from sheep farming valleys to the alpine glaciers and it`s 3000ers.




Right now we just left the natural South Island and arrived at the cultural North Island. Looking forward to this facet of this beautiful country.

Coming back from Kiwi land we will have our last 3 weeks in Australia giving us time for a long and pleasant goodbye.

Than we will get back to our backpacker life and set sail to the Fiji`s! Where exactly? No idea – we will see when we are there.

Definitely on our pick list are the world top diving grounds and beautiful islands with its picturesque beaches … all for us!


If you want to contact me – feel free as I keep my contact information update in the top right of this site as usual!

Wishing you all a good time and see you soon in summer 2010!

Take Care

Marco &  Carmen

The After-Math of “The Journey” – World of Statistic <2009.12.8>

FIRST – thanks to all my loyal readers who followed my footprints along this long journey!
You may know more than me as I might have already forgotten what happened along this trip ;-)


This blog is for those who are interested in numbers – unfortunately not the Lotto numbers:

Duration & Distance

The trip took me 258 days (8,5 months or 6.192 hours or 371.520 minutes)

Through 7 different countries over 3 continents

I travelled 95.592 km (where 25.000km on the road in Australia alone) which is similar than 2,5 times around the world!


Weather

The highest temperature was 38 deg in March in Ayutthaya (Thailand)

The lowest was 2 deg in August in Oberon – Blue Mountains (Australia)

The average temperature over the entire time was 28 deg during the daytime!

It rained in average every 4th day of max 3hrs. It only rained 5% during the day.



Multimedia (my Favorite)

I made over 79.000 pictures which is one picture every 5 minutes! (No jokes on that ;-)

The “best of” is reduced down to 5.129 which is 20 pictures each day (Not so bad – isn`t it?!)

No Television for the entire time (Radio kills the Movie star !!!)

Newspaper only for lighting up the barbeque



Language Exchange

Studied and tried to communicate on 8 different languages

Japanese (eating), Thai (trained), Lao (surprisingly well), Vietnamese (nearly 0), Khmer (with hand and feet), English (for runaways), German (2 of us), Australian (no worries)

And for those who are NOT so interested in numbers – here an insight in the great world of Japanese English Translations – I love it!



http://picasaweb.google.com/marco.schoeggl/LostInTranslationJapanSignSpecial#


That’s it – for those who are interested in details of this trip or are planning a similar one, feel free to contact me and ask for more.


The next longer journey is in front of us – so stay in touch – as we are flying out to the 5th continent on 10th of January 2010.


To be continued…

Tokyo - More than a City <2009.12.2>

Finally the time has come for our final trip – back to Tokyo and getting ready for the return back home to Austria.



We used these last sunny autumn days to explore the temples, shopping centers and gourmet delights of this lively city.

Those are the MUST DO´s of Tokyo:
1.) Visit the biggest temple – Asukusa






2.) Take the boat trip down the Edogawa River to the entertainment island Odaiba









3.) Relaxing at Tokyo`s biggest hot spring – Oedo Onsen Odaiba



4.) Enjoy the leaf change in the outer Imperial Palace






5.) Window shopping at Ginza – Most expensive street





6.) Taste Tokyo`s original food - Monja & Wiener Schnitzel





7.) Searching for something special in buzzing city



8.) Hunt a dragon through colorful China Town





9.) Enjoy the view of Japans tallest building – Yokohama`s Landmark Tower









10.) Get physical at the ice skating ground in Akasakasakasu (but only if you can pronounce that ;-)





11.) Compete with the next superstar in your private karaoke box





12.) Join a Japanese Wedding at Yoyogi Jinja





13.) Cheer up the John Travolta Fans in the Yoyogi Park










14.) Get your personal picture with Harajuku’s maniacs







15.) Survive the super-hype teenage shopping street






CONGRATULATION – you survived with us this long journey through so many different cultures and countries!

Hello & Good-Bye`s are always the hardest things – and it`s hard to say goodbye.

We shed our last tears with our Japanese friends



… and waved to the final




SAYONARA

More on: http://picasaweb.google.com/marco.schoeggl/TokyoMoreThanACity#

Feel the Earth breathing at Hakone <2009.11.28>

Today we have the longest trip in front of us. Going from Koyasan to Hakone National Park we have to change 7 times the trains before we arrive finally at our hotel B&B Pension at Kowakien.



I have been to this area many times before but I can`t get enough. It`s just perfect for a long weekend trip or even a day visit if you can`t effort more time.



The highlight is the way up to the volcanic mountain Owakudani where you can stroll along lively geyser and can enjoy black eggs cooked in the geyser itself.

Von Feel the Earth breathing at Hakone

Von Feel the Earth breathing at Hakone

Gourmet Tip: Bring along some cheese, sausage and chips which go along very well with the hard boiled eggs! I always get many jealous sights when I am having my picnic there ;-)





The weather is very unpredictable so you can be lucky if you have sunny weather like today in comparison to the next day:





This mystic atmosphere underlines the spooky ride on the pirate ship on the other side on the mountain, which runs along Lake Asahi.





With the elixir of hot sake to keep us warm, we could really feel the ghosts …





At the end of this round trip you can either go back to Tokyo or stay like us another day and spent it in the water park Yunessun where you can enjoy any possible Japanese bath like swimming in green tea, red wine, coffee or even sake.



Warm greetings from the Rotemboro

More on: http://picasaweb.google.com/marco.schoeggl/FeelTheEarthBreathingAtHakone#