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Slovenia: Hiking on Easter to Zelenica

In the afternoon on Easter, my neighbour Borut an me decided to do a hike to Dom na Zelenici mountain hut. Although the weather wasn't perfect for hiking (snow, wind, cold) we just had to go.

Start of the hike near Ljubelj

Almost half way up

Finally a hut and a big surprise, it was opened

Energy drinks and Easter eggs

Time to go back

Did we really stay 2 hours on the top?

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Slovenia: Tržič: Friday night in local pubs

A Friday night out with my friends in Tržič area.

Czech beer, Budweiser, in Roma Bar

Fredy Miler in Irish Pub

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Australia: Day 26: Flying with Emirates: Sydney - Dubai - Venice - Home

After a short nap I said goodbye to my friend Wyatt and then taxi picked me and all my luggage up and drove me to Kingsford-Smith Airport. Destination: Slovenia.

Waiting for Sydney airport to open

Last two tickets: SYD - DXB and DXB - VCE

The bird that will take us to Dubai

 

Summary: 7000 kilometres of GPS logs in Australia in 26 days

Landing in Dubai, UAE

Low cost transfers to Slovenia from the nearby airports. 22€ from Venice to Ljubljana in my case.

 

Waiting for my sister with family in Ljubljana. From summer to winter in a day. 

Driving on the right hand side again after 4 months and after a year on the snowy road. A bit strange.

Home sweet home, cold weather and a "full moon".

Flight back home was significantly longer

17500 kilometres around half of the world in almost 33 hours

My four month trip in UAE, New Zealand and Australia was finished and here you can get some more data about it:

Overall costs of my 4 month working holiday trip to UAE, New Zealand and Australia

Emirates plane ticket: pdf
BlogBook created by http://www.blogbooker.com : pdf

393241 GPS points and 63037 logged kilometres in 117 days 19:30:37

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Australia: Day 25: Day on the train: Brisbane - Sydney

The cheapest way for me to get from Brisbane to Sydney was to use the train and a student discount, so the cost for more than 900 kilometres was only A$ 65.13. After a goodbye with Anthony, my host Ross took me to the train station and helped me carry my bags. Thanks for everything Ross!

Boarding the train at Roma Street railway station

After 15 hours and 30 minutes on the train I finally arrived to my destination, where I took the bus and went to Wyatt's place, where the rest of my luggage was.

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Australia: Day 24: Brisbane: Hike with CouchSurfers to Karawatha Forest

Plan for today was to visit the local market with Ross and buy some food for the hike in Karawatha forest with CouchSurfers and to swim in a quarry, which is abandoned and filled with water these days.

Morning at the local market

Brisbane central business district

Student train ticket from Roma Street to Woodridge

Invading the Karawatha forest. Karawatha originates from an Aboriginal word meaning a place with pine trees.

Over 320 plant species have been identified in Karawatha Forest. The Forest contains some of the last remaining wet heathlands and melaleuca swamps in Brisbane. Eucalyptus baileyana and Eucalyptus planchonia, which are rare in Brisbane, grow on the sandstone outcrops.

Quarry filled with fresh water

 

Anthony in action

Jump with fish bowl

Group jump into the quarry

Walk in Karawatha Forest

For the last evening in Brisbane we prepared a great dinner. Anthony and Ross in action.

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Australia: Day 23: Australia ZOO, Reds vs. Bulls in Brisbane

My CS host Rossman was great and we decided to visit Australia ZOO together, so we drove with his VW Beetle 80 km north to Beerwah. Australia ZOO is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter made the zoo a popular tourist attraction.

Driving towards Beerwah. Glass House Mountains are visible in the back.

Student ticket for Australia ZOO and Hospital visit. Queensland was ISIC card friendly, on the other hand New South Wales was only accepting student cards from their  state.

In the Zoo we saw many different animals, belonging to Mammals (Binturong, Camels, Cheetahs, Dingoes, Echidnas, Foxes, Giraffe, Goats, Kangaroos, Koalas, Lemurs, Otters, Possums and Gliders, Red Panda, Rhinoceros, Tasmanian Devils, Tigers, Wombats, Zebra), Reptiles (Boas and Pythons, Crocodilians, Lizards, Tortoises and Turtles, Venomous Snakes) and Birds (Cormorants and Darters, Exotic Parrots, Finches, Honeyeaters, Ibis, Kingfishers, Native Parrots, Nightjars, Pittas, Raptors, Ratites, Stone-curlews, Storks and Cranes).

 

Komodo Dragon, largest living land lizzard, and Asian small-clawed otters

 

Freshwater Turtles and Tasmanian Devils

 

Cassowary (flightless tropical bird) and a Koala

 

Eastern Water Dragon and a Salt-water Crocodile. What's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? Read it here.

 

Bluey, another Salt-water Crocodile and Australian White Ibis

 

Aldabra Giant Tortoise, world's largest tortoise on the left and Short-beaked echidna on the right

 

Jabiru (Black-necked Stork) and Brolga

 

Emu (An adult Emu may reach 2 meters in height and can weigh up to 45 kilograms) with Red Panda

 

Cheetah and Giraffes in African Savannah Exhibit

 

Show in Tiger Temple

 

Koala and a friendly Red Kangaroo, the largest mammal native to Australia

 

 

 

More birds in Rainforest Aviary and Birds of Prey section 

Wombat

 

Snakes:  King Brown (Pseudechis australis), one of the longest venomous snakes in the world and Jade, a she Green Python. Out of the 2800 kind of snakes, only 270 types are venomous.

Rhinoceros Iguana, native to the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and The Dominican Republic) and several surrounding West Indian Islands.

Australia ZOO, Home of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist. Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film.

After the Zoo we also visited Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital

Monument outside the hospital

Since we saw almost everything, it was time to go back to Brisbane, where another CouchSurfer was already waiting for us. Our plan was to attend the Super Rugby match, a part of largest and pre-eminent professional rugby union football competition in the Southern Hemisphere on Suncorp Stadium, between home Reds and South African Bulls.

Ticket for the rugby match between Reds and Bulls.

Suncorp Stadium has a capacity for 52500 people

Let the show begin

French-Canadian Anthony, Ross and me, fans of the Reds

 

And we won, Reds 23 and Bulls 18.