With love from Down Under :)

It was beautiful to arrive in Sydney, Australia, 22th of March. After being in India and Thailand I lost 5 kilos in one month(nothing sticked to me) and our stomachs were totally out of balance. Then it was nice to come to Sydney and be served food which contained our normal bacterial flora. After two days we were back on track. Finally we could eat salads and vegetables again without being scared of spending the day on the toilet...That was a huge relief the first days in Australia. When we had put ourselves together again, we could fully enjoy beautiful Sydney.

What a place on earth! Everything here is so delicate, the nature, the parks, the surroundings. And Sydney has got it all - whatever you want, whenever you want it.

The people are very open, laidback and friendly. They have an extremely charming dialect which you start to love right away. People say to the bussdriver: "Thank you mate, have a nice day!" before they get off. If you did that in Norway, everyone - including the bussdriver would think you were crazy...





There are plenty of perfect surroundings in Sydney. We have a full-time job in documenting all the breathtaking moments we experience. Sometimes it can be difficult to manage more than one thing at a time. To film the Operabuilding AND having control of your tongue is one example...





Bjørn Christian is particulary happy to be in Sydney! Yoooouuhhhoooooo!!





In Sydney we had the pleasure to meet two cool aboriginals that teached Bjørn Christian how to play their aboriginal instruments.





Through couchsurfing we were lucky to be invited to Bondi Junction were we could surf Jean-Pierres couch. It was just an amazing experience to be at Jean-Pierres place. Our referance we gave him describe it all right:

"We love Jean Pierre: the personification of relational Laissez-faire, the great observer, the wise man with the diverse life, and possibly the best conversationist we have encountered. We felt so well around Jean-Pierre, and his other CSers, like a home away from home. In Norwegian there is a saying that "were there is room in the heart, there is room in the house", so we conclude that Jean-Pierre has a huge heart. Hope to see you again soon!"

Together we made food, had good conversations and exchanged culture experience. Here we all (Jean-Pierre, Bjørn Chr, Caroline and myself) eat "Oddbjørgs surprice-pack": Salmon (typial Norwegain) with vegetables in folie with potato. The two new friends from France said it tasted good, so I believe that is a huge compliment.





Jean-Pierre also cooked for us one evening. Delicious french vegetable soup :) Yummmi yummi...Jean-Pierre told us that this dish is perfect to enjoy in the autumn and winter. He used to eat it a lot as a child in France.
It was strange to experience that it was autumn in Australia now. I suddenly started to long for christmas - in March! The season-jumping that follows when travelling the world makes us very confused!




Travel goes on. Allthough it was sad to leave Jean-Pierre, we couldn`t surf his couch forever. After about one week on JP`s couch, the couch was ready to serve a now surfer.
We left some of our luggage at JP`s place, packed our backpack and took off to Woy-Woy, about 1 hour trainride north of Sydney. It was never really that obvious why we picked Woy-Woy as our next destination. I assume some of the reasons could be: cool/funny name, looked like a nice lake-area, beautiful nature, and our curiousity to see Australia outside Sydney. JP never really understand what we wanted to do in Woy-Woy: "Why do you go to Woy-Woy?"





Thoughful on the train to Woy-Woy. Beautiful scenery outside the window.





In Woy-Woy we met Kay House, also through couchsurfing. She let us stay for four nights. Kay is previous Miss Wales, now retired - but still beautiful. Considerable and friendly host.





Kay also let us wash our clothes. It shows how happy I am! When you travel like we do then fresh and clean clothes really make your day! I were thinking why I never before valued doing laundry back home...





Soon we realized that choosing to visit Woy-Woy was clever. Beautiful birds all over, cacadues, pelicans, you name it - they happen to like Woy-Woy just as much as we do.









And then we got introduced to the Woy-Woy fresh oysters. We could actually go pick them ourselves on the beach - lots of people do. But we had them fresh from the fisherman with souce and lemon - and we paid almost nothing. We had them for lunch four days in a row.




Palm Beach, for everyone who loves "Home & Away" (we can`t say we are the biggest fans): This is one of the main location for the TV serie production. Anyway this is a very beautiful beach!





We have to admit we felt a little bit home and away here...




After coming back from Woy-Woy we had the chance to visit Grant Robinson, who luckily lived a few meters from Bondi Beach in Sydney! What a catch! Couchsurfing is really fabulous! This scenery is what we woke up to every morning the next week we stayed at Grant`s place. We couldn`t have stayed a better place than this in Sydney!
















Grant and Corrine enjoying a glass of wine. They are a lovely and charming couple.





Grant invited his friends over for a barbeque. Great company, great food, great evening!





The couchsurfers! Look folks, we have travelled around the world for 7 months, been around each other day and night, 24/7 - and we are still in love! :)




Grant took us up to Surrey Hills on a concert. We had a lot of fun with him and his many friends. This is Matty, left.





Bjørn Christian in one of Grants many costumes. Well, don`t you think he rules this outfit?







Grant has his closet full of different funny costumes. Many cool hats. This is one of them.

Great Grant! Great apartment, great location, great friends, great discussions, great fun, and above all: great guy:-) Grant likes to "play it by ear", cruising around with his great number of friends who meet up anywhere at anytime, and always have a great time together. We were lucky to get a little taste of it all, and enjoyed every minute. There were just too few minutes! We feel that we have new friends in Grant, Corrine and Matty, and will stay in touch.

After we left Sydney, we missed JP a lot, but also Grant, Corrine and Matty a great deal. These people really made our Australia-surfing unforgetable.