The start has been made

We left Germany in an incipient snowstorm and were able to convince a lovely lady from Singapore Airlines in Frankfurt that life in Germany and checking in with 114 kg was hard enough (46 kg were allowed!) so that we didn’t have to pay a cent overweight.

Australia greeted us, our complete (!) luggage with pure sunshine and friendly people and after a 30 second visa check – one year of Oz – Rock `n Roll!

After some initial difficulties, Doug from Camperworld, Perth (www.camperworld.com.au) and Kris from KB Campers helped us find a suitable home: a Bushcamper Hi-Top 6 Cyl/4.2 l Diesel 4WD. Great reliable people, highly recommended!

And Doug also had our 120 kg of luggage waiting for us, as well as our sponsor packages from Ecco and Ortlieb. We will have to adapt the car to our needs over the next few days. It is still unbelievable to us that the entire planning and organization from Germany has worked out 100% so far!

Even the timing of the Lettmann kayaks being shipped (they were scared of flying!) was perfect. We still have to convince customs that we don’t want to open a kayak dealership in Australia (AUS $3,000 duty) and that the boats are for our personal use only (AUS $0 duty), but that’s not over yet.

On Monday we have to try to get the kayaks released from a rip-off shipping company in exchange for a bond of AUS $500 – half the price it cost to ship them halfway around the world! We also had to hire a customs broker to do the proper paperwork. We will hopefully get this invoice and the kayaks next week after quarantine. Tomorrow we will move out of the hotel and look for a nice campsite near Perth until everything is done.

Posted at Ibis Hotel, Perth, January 6, 2006