Finally being tourists.... somewhat...

So, I think I will do this a little differently today. Rather than write a whole heap and try to fit in the photos, I will show you the photos, and give you information to with them.

First I must set the scene. Today, Sunday, Michael and I finally decided to be Tourists for the day. After a fast breakfast on the train station stairs, we hired bicycles and headed East, towards the Englischer Garten. We had a beautiful day in and around the gardens. We also rode along the Isar River for a bit. And we located my new job - the playground backs onto the Englischer Garten. I know, this wasn't a very Tourist-ie thing to do, but I now know where to go... and it was very exciting for me all the same to see where it is and what it looks like!

So this was the first stop on the way. The Munich Opera House. Even though there is construction going on, the buildings and architecture are just gorgeous.

When we got to the Englischer Garten, we were very impressed with the beauty of the gardens and the little streams that ran throughout. Suddenly though, we happened upon some no so gentle streams. We found the famed 'surfing' zone that everyone has been talking about.

Yes, surfing. As the water comes out from under the bridge, the water swells with such a strong current, and at least 50 people were lined up on either side of the river with their surf boards, waiting for their turn!

There was even Billabong sponsorship people there. It was brilliant to watch! Dangerous too no doubt, and we did see some people wearing helmets with their wet suits. But it was such a hot day that we weren't surprised to see so many people in the water.

These are just a handful of my favourite photos.

The water was moving so quickly - it was very unexpected.

 Eventually we stopped by the central lake and had a cool drink. This was me having fun by the lake before I got off my bike!

And this was the view by the lake. It was such a nice day.

We were very impressed by the kindness the Germans show their dogs!

Then we continued riding and we found my new place of employment! I may have squealed when I spotted the sign!

Michael insisted on taking a photo of me at the front door!

This is the outdoor play area (photo taken from outside, in the Englischer Garten) which allows the kids to play safely and look out into the forest.

Finally, back on our bikes, we rode back through the gardens, stopping along the way to take photos at various pretty places. 

This was the view from the top of  the Monopteros. We snuck into the photo!

Cooling our feet off in the Isar River.

The water was a little chilly, but after riding all day, it was quite refreshing. Meanwhile, just down stream, the river was packed with locals all cooling off in the 30+ heat! Clearly they were loving the weather. 

Once we had returned our bikes we headed out for a bite to eat. I feel like that's almost all we have done here - EAT. To be fair, the food is amazing. I just have to stop ordering the naughty food. You know, like Kaesespaetzel - Cheese Noodles. This has long been a guilty pleasure of mine, and its not readily available in Australia. Shame its almost everywhere here! Its sooooooo goood! But so naughty.


So, anyway, this was dinner last night at the Ratskeller - No, not the Rats Cellar, its the Council Hall restaurant (Rathaus = Council Hall). It was lovely. You walk inside the Council Hall building, through an archway and into an open air courtyard where the dining is.

Naturally, Michael had a beer! 

I had salmon and rosti! About time I chose a 'healthier' meal!

Michael had a tradition Bavarian dish - Sauerbraten.  Guess what mum! He really enjoyed the red cabbage that came with it!!!!! After all these years of saying no to it - he's finally seen the light!

And we finally shared an Apfel Strudel!

And then it decided to rain! With all the heat we've been having - it wasn't really a surprise!








So - that was our day as tourists. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, despite the sore bottoms (well, mine is sore!). No major accidents to report aside from whacking my funnybone at dinner on my chair. And falling off my bike once when my tyre slipped on the cobblestones. Thankfully I caught myself in time!

To holiday or not to holiday... that is the question

Having been in Germany for about 48 hours now, it has to be said that we are feeling someone confused. Is this a holiday? Are we allowed to be tourists even though we are now German residents?

Because that is exactly what we are now. Yesterday we went and registered as residents of Munich, before opening our very own German Bank Account! It was exciting and we felt as though we were finally getting down to business of what we came here to do. But then we went wandering around Munich (up towards Maxvorstadt, where we saw beautiful architecture), bought some things at the shops, and felt like tourists. So I suppose thats where the confusion comes from.

I am hoping that once we move to our new accommodation on Monday I can settle a bit. I see things I think I should buy and remind myself to wait until I'm more settled - not just living out of a suitcase in a hotel. But I am hopeful that I will feel more settled soon.

In the mean time I have had to buy shorts because the weather is just so hot over here. 30+ degrees which is classified as a heat wave over here. And you can tell the locals are loving it, with an ice cream in almost everyone's hand as they walk past. We don't mind the heat, as its not as humid as Brisbane, but in the sun you can feel it, so we have been taking shelter inside shops with aircon, because you've all met my darling pale fleshed husband! I don't want either of us to get burnt, and he's always the first!

Last night though, we couldn't help but return to a favourite of ours from our honeymoon. We visited the Augustine Keller - a beer brewery and restaurant since early 1800s. When we went in January 2012, we were seated downstairs in the 'keller' with giant beer barrels, and it was brilliant. Outside it was snowing and we loved the warm welcoming feeling of the beautiful building.


Last night however, there was hardly a soul inside
the place. Because they were all outside. They beer garden, or Bier Garten was in full swing last night, with thousands of people enjoying beer and german cuisine at outdoor tables. We were almost overwhelmed at first as there were so many people, so many tables, and up to 16 steins of beer being carried at a time by the waiters! But we established that there was a serviced area (no seats available) or a self service area, where we found some free tables. We went and got some food and drinks (yes, of course Michael had beer, I had sparkling apple juice!) and then found our seats. It was still quite light outside (8:30pm) and we sat happily eating and drinking as the sun slowly set. It was a wonderful night and it is certainly a place we will return to as our time here continues.

So I must admit that I am falling in love with Germany and Munich, and I can honestly see myself living here for a while.... and I think a few moments of fear or uncertainty are allowed. But I am pleased that the excitement outweighs the fear. On Monday I will journey to Schwabing/Beiderstein where I will meet my new colleagues and view my new workplace. After that Michael and I will move to our new accommodation. A few more days to be 'half-tourists' before I start work on Thursday. I think once a bit more certainty and security is around, I will feel a bit better. In the mean time, Michael and I are enjoying the food (it really is just so good!) and looking around this beautiful city.

Wilkommen Damen und Herren

Well, what an eventful few days. When I last wrote, it was the end of a long day of packing, storing and final jobs before our flight to Sydney. However, it was not the end of the day for us, but rather the beginning of a very very long journey.

We jumped on our next plane, an Etihad 777 which took us to Abu Dhabi. This flight took 15 hours. This was a horrible flight for many reasons. The first problem can be referred to as GOM - the Grumpy Old Man! We were seated in the central row of four seats, and shortly before take off, a man was seated at the other end of the row we were in - there was a spare seat between myself and this man. He was seated there by a hostess who was clearly trying to calm him down. He soon made it clear what he had been upset about. He wanted to sit by himself. Hate to tell you buddy, kind of hard to do on a PLANE full of PASSENGERS!

So he did what he could to make sure he was as alone as possible on said plane. He put his belongings on the chair between us, clearly marking his territory, then proceeded to put up a blanket wall from the headrest of the row in front to the headrest of the chair in our row, blocking himself off and blocking me from getting near the chair. As I got tired, I tried to curl myself up into a ball on my chair and my socked foot got a little too close to his special buffer chair, and he growled at me!

The beautiful terminal 1

This continued for the whole flight - unless he was asleep. This was not much better however as he snored like a pig. He was a horrible horrible grumpy old man. At the end of the flight, I bent down to put on my shoes. He was also attending to his belongings in the footwell of the buffer chair space. I got growled at again for coming into his zone.....

As the plane landed, he was up before the rest of the plane and had grabbed his bags, and started to force himself through the queue of waiting people. We were pleased to see him go!

Now, if only that had been the only problem on the flights.... When it came time for meals, Michael had specially organised with Etihad for me to receive a special meal due to my allergies. First meal arrives and it is full of capsicum. Luckily, I had eaten at the Sydney airport so I wasn't hungry. By the time breakfast rolled around, my special meal was just scrambled eggs with mushrooms so I wasn't too upset.

Once we arrived in Abu Dhabi, we had time to go and freshen up, and we made our way to terminal 1 (from terminal 2) where our next flight was due to leave from. Terminal 1 was beautiful - I mean gorgeous. It was obviously fairly new, with the most amazing tiled column in the centre of the domed room, and duty free down below. But then sadly we found out our flight had been moved, and we had to walk to terminal 3. This was clearly an old run down section of the airport. We had to wait in a very crowded area and when our aircraft was finally ready for boarding, we stood for half an hour, waiting to be let on to a bus which then took us out to our airplane which was located way way out, beyond the cargo loading area. Hmmm, not quite what we had expected. At least the scorching transition from bus to plane was only a few minutes and the plane itself was beautifully air conditioned.

So, finally on the last leg of our journey, we were pleased it was only a short 6 hours this time. My specially ordered meals never arrived but I didn't mind as the food was delicious, and we weren't seated near any horrible people. So Etihad was finally looking like it had redeemed itself slightly. Until we landed in Germany. We were let through customs without hassle and we were excited to finally be in Munich. Then we collected our luggage. Two brand new suitcases that suddenly looked like they had been on about 20 holidays. They were so marked, scuffed and scratched that clearly they had been thrown and mishandled since leaving Australia. And to top it off, we later discovered 3 tubes in our toiletries bags had exploded, so they were also squashed at some point.

But that aside - we were finally in Germany! And it felt overwhelming! There was a moment, when I was trying to drag my suitcase across the cobblestones that I did think "I've made a big mistake", but then again, I had been awake already 40 hours by that point. So once we got to the hotel (which is lovely by the way - with a swinging chair and everything!), had a shower and sent a few emails, we headed out into the central Munich area. We were purposely keeping ourselves awake to acclimatise to the timezone.

The last time we saw Munich, it was covered in snow. So it was a pleasant surprise to see it had hardly changed yet everything was different. It was 30 degrees and a beautiful sunny afternoon, flowers hanging from every building and waterfountains everywhere in operation. There were fresh fruit stalls every few hundred meters, and we even found the fresh food markets. Once we had looped back to our hotel, we were both starting to stumble, and I couldn't see properly any more (my eyes were stinging and not staying open properly) so we stopped for dinner just down the road from our hotel. Michael had steak and I had schnitzel. Not feeling super hungry, I almost didn't order it, but in the end, I ate all of it! 2 pieces of weiner schnitzel, bowl of potatoes and a salad! I must have been starving!

However, as soon as the food was gone, we retired back to our hotel, where, as soon as our heads hit the pillows, we were out like lights.

We slept for 12 hours straight!

Sad farewells and exciting new beginnings!

Well, this is finally happening. I am currently sitting in the departure lounge of Sydney International Airport, awaiting my flights that will eventually get me to Munich - my new home!

On Sunday, we said our farewells to most of our beloved friends at a lovely afternoon gathering and played some Barefoot Bowls. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone, but it was also a great celebration of our exciting future. We all feasted on great food, including the most amazing cupcakes which were specially designed for the occasion by Bite Me. cupcakes.

Two of my closest friends (who were also my bridesmaids) decided that they should at least get one more wear out of their dresses from the day. So when they showed up in their beautiful green gowns, I howled with laughter. It made my day.


Sadder yet, was the farewell that took place this afternoon. I will admit that today has been incredibly difficult. I started the waterworks when saying farewell to my dear darling puppy dog, whom has been with me almost 14 years. I know that sadly, the chances of her still being alive upon my return to Australia are not good. So it was a teary moment for me. She didn't seem to care much, as I woke her up from a nap for a cuddle, and wanted to return to her dreams, but I did still get a bit of a snuggle in!

This was shortly followed by the farewell at the Airport in Brisbane. My poor mum and I suffered the most I think. I will miss her more than words can ever express. I just hope that somewhere within my years away, she will be visiting me in Europe. I can't wait to arrive safely in Germany so I can skype her and see her again.

Saying goodbye to all our immediate family today and my two best friends was gut wrenchingly hard and I wish in a sense that I didn't have to go through it. I will miss my in-laws, especially my sister-in-law who will graduate later this year, and I will also miss my very close Aunt and Uncle. I also had to say goodbye to my other best friend yesterday. Will miss you and Moo a lot Carlie!

Ultimately, I am currently very sad. Yet, I remind myself that this is a great opportunity and without the amazing people in my life supporting me - like my mum - I wouldn't be achieving these great things. They have all played a part in getting me here. I am just incredibly lucky to be travelling alongside my other big supporter - my beautiful husband Michael.

We have just chowed down on ramen bowls and we are looking forward to boarding our next flight. Although, at 15hours, I may feel differently on the other side. We then still have the joys of another 6+ hours in the air before we land in our new Home Town.

To my friends and family - thank you for everything. To my Mum - I love you more than you will ever know, and I miss you like crazy already. Stay strong. You are amazing.











PS: I must admit, it helps, when getting on a plane in tears, when the air host doing the safety demonstration makes you giggle. He did this many times, but the best one was when demonstrating the use of his life jacket, used it like a cape - ala Dracula style!

What's a move without drama...

The packed boxes.... evidence!

So, if my memory serves me correctly, my last blog came at a stage of procrastination and uncertainty. I did not have my visa, I was sitting amongst half packed boxes and felt quite unsure of what I was doing or where I was going.

Within hours of writing that blog, my visa turned up in the mailbox. That was the signal I needed to start packing in earnest. I have currently packed about 70% of our household belongings, with only the kitchen, remaining bedroom items and a few random things to go. In fact, I even had a party on the weekend where I opened up shop and let all my friends come through and take what ever they wanted from our piles and piles of belongings we no longer want or need. It was brilliant and a great way to see my friends, as well as clear my junk!

But like I said in the title, nothing goes without its dramas. I had been going about my plans thinking that everything was running just that little bit too smoothly for me. I usually do something or have something happen to keep me on my toes. I mean come on, I'm the travelling clutz!

So a bit over a week ago, one day before our car was due to have a safety check done so we could sell it, I crashed it, didn't I! I felt like a complete fool, and we have been coping now without our car ever since. Luckily, the damage was completely superficial and its being fixed and we can still sell it knowing its not a damaged vehicle. It just didn't look pretty and I really didn't need it to happen! And to cap it off, of course I managed to break a dish in the kitchen on the same day, burn myself on my hair dryer, and poke myself in the eye with my mascara in the morning. I should have been taking them as signs not to leave the house that day! Luckily, I ended that horrible day on a high, at a 2 hour dance rehearsal. This was in preparation for my final public performance with my amazing dance group in the Queen St Mall. Which was fantastic!

So, now that the drama is all behind us, I sit and write this as I take a short break from packing with my cup of tea. Within a week, our entire lives will be stored in a storage unit, our suitcases will hopefully be just about packed, and we will have said goodbye to most our family and friends. I look forward to writing my next blog from the airport as I wait for my flight to Germany - my flight to my new life, job and hopefully the most amazing experience of my life!

Hip Hop Crew

Bollywood Crew

In Action

Messing around on set with my besties! Gonna miss these guys!