On the 17th of January we climbed a second time the Top of Australia, Mount Kosiuszko, together with the Swiss Ambassador Christian Muehlethaler, his wife Ruth, his son Karl-Ludwig and with our friends and TOPtoTOP members Tessa, Bregitte and Peter Storm.

Thanks also to the mountain village Thredbo and its YHA hostel, which made this event a success.

The Australian flag was sponsored by Gay and David Epstein. They have had a wonderful idea to support TOPtoTOP: You can order now a wool set to nit your own TOPtoTOP-7summits-reg of finest Australian wool. Order it over the internet and support with your purchase the TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition!

On the way back from the mountain we have had our first flat tire in Australia so far. The cause was a tooth of a Kangaroo.

On the way we met Bernard, who is recycling trash to build his house; camped in the garden of the farmer’s family Coggin where we have been waked up by the moo of their bulls. The day after we helped sheering the sheep at Jacqui William’s farm from early morning till late at night.

Back in Canberra we had two radio interviews at CMS radio and were able to stay again at Werner and Gabi‘s place. Thanks to Sylvia from CMS radio we were able to have dinner with a coordinator of the wilderness society.

On the weekend we had a wonderful time in the park with Werner and Gabi, Sylvia, her daughter Fabienne, Tim and Louise from the Rideshop and their parents. The Rideshop helped us again fixing our bikes and sponsored Dario new shoes, because the old ones were gone after the crash! There was music, face painting, and a lot of games for the kids and a “wild” Possum:

On the Swiss Embassy we met the former Director of the Swiss Maritime Navigation Office Mr. Jean Albert Hulliger.
Thanks to the hospitality of the Swiss Ambassador’s family Muehlethatler we were able to do our annual mailing and were successful with the extension of our visa. We can stay in Australia till the 14th of October 2008.

At the moment we are together with Tessa, Bregitte and Peter at Louise and Tim’s place.
Sabine has a blood poisoning and was in hospital. She is on antibiotics, but fells already much better. The service of the REGA was once more excellent!
We hope that we can continue cycling towards Sydney tomorrow.