My trip to Oz
Door: Karen
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Karen
09 Augustus 2014 | Australië, Perth
The last couple of weeks I have had the trip of a lifetime. Eight weeks in a country on the other side of the world, all by myself. It was a trip with a lot of new experiences, and a lot of new people. My journey started half June, when I started my four weeks of volunteering at Hanson bay Wildlife Sanctuary on Kangaroo island. Four weeks surrounded by beautiful nature, beautiful wildlife, beautiful birds, and wonderful people. Pointing out koalas to tourists, watching kangaroos eat grass while walking around, walking around the fence for an hour almost every day, counting koalas by checking every single tree, driving around in our ute, going muddling with the Americans, seeing the beautiful island, holding birds at the bird show, having a snake around my shoulders at the reptile show, being amazed by the Southern Ocean Lodge, cold nights at the fireplace without the heaters, echidnas in our garage, night tours with possums, stars in the sky, groceries only once a week, a 'city' only once a week, admirals arch, remarkable rocks, a three hour walk through bushes and forest and grasslands, only to end at the sea. Four weeks of being outside all day, except when in rained, which it did a lot, but still. Learning about all the animals that lived on the property and about the island life. For four weeks, I lived a completely different life than the one I'm used to at home. After almost a month on the island, I now know that animals with a pouch are called marsupial, that koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day, not because the leafs make them high, but because there is not a lot of sugar in them, and it takes a lot of energy to digest them. I know that there are two kinds of possums, namely the brush tail and the ringtail possum. I know that the echidna is one of the cutest animals in the world. I know that babies of the marsupial family are called joeys. I know that I'm terrified of snakes but they are probably more terrified of me. I know how cute the goslings of the cape barren goose are, I know how funny the kookaburra laughs, and I am going to miss seeing all those beautiful animals everywhere around me, with all their beautiful colours. But, as all things do, after four weeks my time there came to an end, and my next adventure was about to begin.
First, I went to Sydney, where I saw Kaitie again after almost 2.5 years! We stayed at her aunt's place, which was wonderful and lovely. Sydney was wonderful too, with its harbour bridge and the opera house, manly beach, and the shops. Spending time with Kaitie and her aunty Di was amazing, it felt like being home. After Sydney I went with Kaitlyn to Toowoomba, and met her parents and sister. We had lovely dinners, high teas, lunches, pick nicks, for some reason there was a lot of food involved in everything. I also spent a day at Genevieve's place, got to meet her parents and experienced the Toowoomba clubbing scene.
After these lovely meet ups, the next part of my trip began, and I truly traveled alone. It started with a greyhound bus to Noosa, where I stayed at the Dolphins Beach House. Noosa is part of the Sunshine Coast, which meant for me that the temperature was way nicer and that I could do some tanning at the beach. The day after my arrival there, I went on a trip to Fraser Island, or K'Gari, with drop bear adventures. Those three days on the trip were definitely the best days of my whole trip, maybe even of my whole life. We saw the island, but we didn't only see it, we truly experienced it. Swimming in creeks, lakes and pools, having fun with our Team Partyrocket, singing along to the worst songs that exist, driving on the beach with our four wheel drives, seeing the rainforest, learning about the Butchulla people and their culture, campfires, the most stars I have ever seen in my life, and walking everywhere barefoot. I've learned so much there, about other cultures and other people, but also about myself. I'm gonna miss that place, I really want to go back there some day. And I think I will, because if you truly want something, it will be possible. After a relaxing day in Noosa with a part of Team Partyrocket, I went straight back to winter again, as it was only 9 degrees in Melbourne. Big difference, from 26 degrees and sun to 9 degrees and rain. In the four days I was there, the weather luckily did improve. In Melbourne I met up with Lieke, and we did some city exploring together. We saw the art museum and had some surprise concerts, one by the Orchestra Victoria, and one in the Anglican Church by the choir. We walked around St. Kilda, got a manicure and a temporary henna tattoo (mine is of a koala, thought it suited well). I also saw the Great Ocean Road by bus, and even a little part of it by helicopter, which only fitted four people, and I got to sit in front, next to the pilot, so that was amazing!
After all this, it was time to move on again, and have my last adventure in Perth. I met up with another teammate, Marit, and together we did some shopping and went to the beautiful town of Fremantle. We were enjoying the sun, while we still can. I also had some fun with a bunch of English people in the hostel, which led to an awesome last night with drinks on the beach. And now it's my very last day. I spent the morning sitting on the beach thinking about everything I have experienced in these eight weeks. So many awesome, coincidental, funny, magical, beautiful moments. I don't want to say goodbye yet, but I guess all good things have to come to an end. So goodbye beautiful Australia, see you soon.
First, I went to Sydney, where I saw Kaitie again after almost 2.5 years! We stayed at her aunt's place, which was wonderful and lovely. Sydney was wonderful too, with its harbour bridge and the opera house, manly beach, and the shops. Spending time with Kaitie and her aunty Di was amazing, it felt like being home. After Sydney I went with Kaitlyn to Toowoomba, and met her parents and sister. We had lovely dinners, high teas, lunches, pick nicks, for some reason there was a lot of food involved in everything. I also spent a day at Genevieve's place, got to meet her parents and experienced the Toowoomba clubbing scene.
After these lovely meet ups, the next part of my trip began, and I truly traveled alone. It started with a greyhound bus to Noosa, where I stayed at the Dolphins Beach House. Noosa is part of the Sunshine Coast, which meant for me that the temperature was way nicer and that I could do some tanning at the beach. The day after my arrival there, I went on a trip to Fraser Island, or K'Gari, with drop bear adventures. Those three days on the trip were definitely the best days of my whole trip, maybe even of my whole life. We saw the island, but we didn't only see it, we truly experienced it. Swimming in creeks, lakes and pools, having fun with our Team Partyrocket, singing along to the worst songs that exist, driving on the beach with our four wheel drives, seeing the rainforest, learning about the Butchulla people and their culture, campfires, the most stars I have ever seen in my life, and walking everywhere barefoot. I've learned so much there, about other cultures and other people, but also about myself. I'm gonna miss that place, I really want to go back there some day. And I think I will, because if you truly want something, it will be possible. After a relaxing day in Noosa with a part of Team Partyrocket, I went straight back to winter again, as it was only 9 degrees in Melbourne. Big difference, from 26 degrees and sun to 9 degrees and rain. In the four days I was there, the weather luckily did improve. In Melbourne I met up with Lieke, and we did some city exploring together. We saw the art museum and had some surprise concerts, one by the Orchestra Victoria, and one in the Anglican Church by the choir. We walked around St. Kilda, got a manicure and a temporary henna tattoo (mine is of a koala, thought it suited well). I also saw the Great Ocean Road by bus, and even a little part of it by helicopter, which only fitted four people, and I got to sit in front, next to the pilot, so that was amazing!
After all this, it was time to move on again, and have my last adventure in Perth. I met up with another teammate, Marit, and together we did some shopping and went to the beautiful town of Fremantle. We were enjoying the sun, while we still can. I also had some fun with a bunch of English people in the hostel, which led to an awesome last night with drinks on the beach. And now it's my very last day. I spent the morning sitting on the beach thinking about everything I have experienced in these eight weeks. So many awesome, coincidental, funny, magical, beautiful moments. I don't want to say goodbye yet, but I guess all good things have to come to an end. So goodbye beautiful Australia, see you soon.
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09 Augustus 2014 - 19:44
Michiel:
Heel mooi verhaal, kan me er goed iets bij voorstellen dat het moeilijk is om zoiets moois weer achter je te laten. Leuke vlotte pen heb je ook, vooral blijven schrijven! :)
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
