MUNICH may be a long way from Bowral, but for German twins Andrea and Alexandra Vodermair, both places are called home.
The two sisters are currently working and living in the Southern Highlands, and both are loving life in the land down under.
"After I finished high school, I decided I wanted to travel and explore the world and learn new languages," recalls Alexandra, 23.
"So in 2003 I found myself in Brisbane after applying with a nanny agency. Then, after that, the agency offered me the chance to come and work in the Southern Highlands."
On her first visit to Bowral, Alexandra bumped into local identities, Tony and Yvonne Springett - who are now like a second family.
"Tony and Yvonne both live behind the family I was living with at the time, and that's how I got to know them," Alexandra said.
Growing up in a rural area close to Munich, Alexandra said Bowral was similar in a lot of ways.
"Maybe that's one of the reasons I like Bowral so much - because it is in the country but still close enough to the city," she said.
"And it's such a nice relaxed atmosphere here. It's a great place to be."
After her one year work visa finished and she returned to Germany at the end of 2004, Alexandra got back to studying.
She completed a hair dressing apprenticeship at her family's two businesses, Die Verwandlung, in East Munich and in Rosenheim, before heading off to study her Master's Degree for hairdressing at the Zeiger Academie in Constance near the Swiss border.
"I studied and reached the highest level of hairdressing you can achieve in Germany," Alexandra said.
"You need your master's degree to be able to run your own hairdressing salon in Germany."
While working in Munich, Tony and Yvonne made the long journey to Germany to see Alexandra - and while they were there they got to know her sister Andrea, who helped them also to buy their dream horse.
"Both Alexandra and I grew up with horses from a young age," Andrea said.
"We competed across southern Germany in events like show jumping, and worked at lots of towns such as Regensburg and Waging."
Alexandra said it wasn't long before both she and Andrea decided to return to Australia.
"Because my sister is a professional horse trainer, she decided she wanted to come over to visit Australia too," she said.
"And I wanted to step out of the square and do something different again. I'm still young and I don't want to settle down just yet - I want to see the world I want to experience as much of life as I can.
"So we came back in October last year."
Since being back in the Southern Highlands, both sisters have found work doing what they love.
Alexandra works at Bowral hairdressing salon Vibe, while Andrea has worked with several horse trainers, such as Shane Evans, Mark Dowling, Brad Parbery, and James and Kim Breeze.
"I think the nanny agency gave me the best choice to come here to Bowral those few years ago," Alexendra said.
"We have both met some people who have become very important to us, and they're like family."
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