A rainy day in the wet subtropics. The third in a row – and this is the dry season. Two weeks ago we went for another trip to the Atherton Tablelands and had a totally different climate. We visited the area around Mareeba, a town about 50km away from Cairns. Although it’s only 30km away […]
Australia Day
On January 26th Aussies celebrate the landing of the first fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788. Indigenous groups claim it should be called mourning day or invasion day. They probably have a point there. We were invited by the sister of a friend of Susan to celebrate in the traditional Aussie way: With beer and […]
North German Plain
Germany, north of Hannover, is pretty much flat throughout. On stormy days the North and Baltic sea are more bumpy than the shores they are bordering. Formed by glacial advances a really long time ago, this part of Germany is now in strong contrast to the mountainous South. Today my dad and I went for […]
Nakba Day
Nakba is an Arabic word, translating to “Catastrophe”. It refers to the begin of the occupation of Palestine in 1948 and “Nakba Day” commemorates that event every year. Earlier today I joined a demonstration that had been organised by the local Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) chapter and a couple of other groups. The participants […]
Auckland
Auckland with its population of 1.5 million is New Zealand’s biggest city and home to one third of the country’s total population. It is the northernmost of the major cities which means that it gets the warmest climate. That doesn’t mean much though, temperatures have been in the low 20s and rain poured down almost […]
Abu Dhabi
Etihad is considered one of the better airlines in the world and accordingly I had no reasons to complain about anything on the first leg of my Manila bound trip. Somewhere over Basra daybreak put a blue shimmer on the horizon. Down below were some extremely bright and yellow lights – are the Iraqi oil […]