Do you want a banana?

So, I promised a friend I was gonna do my next blog in English, so here it is! I’ll give it my best shot!
After our wonderful roadtrip adventure in the westcoast (fucking beautiful) it was time to fly out to Melbourne. We arrived at 2 am, took a taxi (after being massively ripped off, am I back in Asia?!) We did couchsurfing, so we slept in the house of a local woman, single with two kids, so we slept in the beds of the kids, hilarious, super comfy as well! To be fair, it felt so good to sleep in a normal bed again, and having your own space, not needing to spoon Leen, after two weeks of sleeping in that small smelly cage on top of the car. But since everybody already knows that I can’t really take it easy, we decided to wake up at 7, take the metro and hoppa, tot he place where we rented the Wicked minivan. Man o Man, that was amazing! It was literally a piece of shit, but looked so epic! You could write as many quotes as you wanted in the inside, so everytime i got bored, I just grabbed the pen andd wrote my thoughts. We sat in the front with the 3 of us (me, Leen and a dutch girl we met, and, coincedence, she lives and studies in Enschede, small world aye) and had our bed in the back and all the way in the trunk was our small ‘kitchen’. Yet again, real roadtrip style, I love it!
First day just cruisin around, amazing, along the coast. We saw a few Koala’s, which apperently is quite rare, so that was epic!
Second day we went to the 12 Apostels. But, for fucks sake, it was pooring day, so bad! So we literally just run tot he look out point, took a picture and left again.. we felt a bit shit, but luckily there was way more stuff to see afterwards, and the further we drove, the clearer the weather got. We were quite sad that we didn’t see the apostols with good weather so we thought, fuck it, we’re just gonna drive back and try to see it with sunset, and oh yeah! We got an amazing sunset, so beautiful! Literally just on time, so yet again, we got quite lucky!!
Afterwards drove back, saw the rest of Melbourne. Melbourne is quite a big town, but I did quite like dit! You’ve got lots of street artists( and they’re actually really good!) graffiti, nice shops! We met up with Jette one day, was good to see her again, listen to what she’s been doing! And then, oh yeah, the next day we went to: Matt Corby!!! My dream came true!! Seeing him in his own country was such an amazing experience, and I’m happy I could share it with Leen!

Jup, we’re leaving again, this time to Sydney! I was so good to see where Leen has been living, what she’s been doing, meet some of her friends! Manly itself is really nice, quite a small, relaxed beach town! Just went on my own to the beach, so good, just some alone relaxe time, time tot hink about stuff, you know, the meaning of life ;)

I secretely went to Matt Corby again… Hahaha jup, cause I discovered he was playing in a really small theater, in Newtown, so I thought, fuck it, I’ll just go again! A bit nervous cause I was going on my own, but two girls approached me and asked if I was alone and if I wanted to join them. Really nice girls, from Fiji! ANd wow! Even better than the one in Melbourne! SUch a good vibe! Everybody was dancing, singing, having a good time!
Went tot he blue mountains on my own as wel, such a beautiful, enormous place! AMazing!
Next stop: Newcastle. Not much to say about that, but I met up with two girls who I met in Bali 6 months ago and again in Cambodia 4 months ago, soo good to see them! Really nice to catch up, although it was just for 2 days. Hopefully bump into them again, or otherwise I’ll defo visit them in England!
Byron was next on the planning, Such a good place! Reminded me a lot of Pai and as y’all know, I loved that place, so you can imagine I loved this place as well! SUch a hippie vibe, everybody walking barefoot, surfing, bodyboarding, as night chilling at the beach, looking at the sunset with like 50 or 60 other people, some of them making music on drums, dancing, doing yoga or other stuff, amazing to look at and just be quiet for a bit and just enjoy!
Surfers paradise was a bit of a shitshole, so we just skipped that. Well, we went there, but I just took a nap, a very very good one, and Lenah explored town, and at night just watched a movie. I have to admit, I love traveling and meeting new people, but it can be sooo exhausting!! So sometimes you need one of those non-social movie nights, and that night it was definetely tm=ime for that!

In brisbane we went to the Australia zoo, home of the Crocodile hunter, aka Steve Irwin! Amazing walking there, imagining that that was the place where Steve raised so many of his crocodiles and put so much efford in trying to help and save other animals!
Walking there reminded me of my time in Cikananga, how amazing that actually was. I sometimes forgot how epic it was, walking through the jungle, being that close to so many amazing animals, working with the locals, having a good time with the other volunteers. So yea, I’ve got those realisation moments once in a while, cause for some reason it’s quite easy to forget how special it is to be here, and then sometimes it hits you, that you’re in freakin Australia, seeing and doing amazing stuff. SO yea.. That hit me while I was walking in the zoo..
Birsbane itself was good, but not great. If I’m honest I’m a bit tired of big cities.. It’s just all the same, might as well be at home again.

Noosa was next. We planned a bushcamp trip there, sleeping in the national forest, so epic! 2 days of kanooing, swimming, drinking, eating and in general having a really good time! We had such a good group as well! 2 dutch guys, and an English couple, both lovely! One day we spend a full day on a super tiny island in the middle of nowhere, had our speaker with us, some food, camera, such a good time, so relaxed! That’s the good thing about Oz, Asia was amazing, bus so exhausting, so it’s good to relaxe here for a bit!

And then the thing we were looking out for the most: Fraser Island!! We were with a big group of 27 people, 3 big 4-wheel drive cars, and ‘gaan met die banaan!’ (go with the banana ghehe) first doing some groceries fort he next days, getting the alcohol, and ready to rock and roll! Music on, getting on the ferry, and we’re on the biggest sand island in the world! Such an amazing place, so incredibly beautiful! First day we went to a red lake, where the water was clear but at the same time red. Cruisin around, going to another beach, and then off to the campsite! Everybody is sleeping in tents, me and Lenah were sharing our tent with John (Ireland) and Flavio (Switserland), 2 guys from our car group. In the end, our car group ended up being our own little family. We had grandpa John and grandma Alex, big bro Flavi and big sis Alison and Sia, and me and Lenah as the baby’s! What I really liked was that we had so many different nationalitites (Dutch, German, Swiss, American and Irish) and different ages as well, but had such a good time with each other!
At night a delicious bbq, and obviously playing drinking games! Careful, we couldn’t go to the beach alone, cause there’s dingo’s everywhere: Yeeyy!!

Second day we went tot he Eli creek, where we were sort of floating along, and just sunbathing!
After that to a big lookout point, saw a sea turtle! And just had some good conversations, enjoying the amazing view!
Oh and tot he shipwreck! I did a remake of Sam’s picture (never let go Jack) and everybody thought Sam’s picture was hilarious, result: everybody was doing ‘the titanic’
Driving on the island is amazing! SO bumpy! Got stuck one time (go Ireland!) but hilarious! Spilled my whole sider on Lenah’s stuff, gehe oeps!
Second night same as first night, just really good, making crazy pictures, playing games, chillin at the beach (in a big group, dont worry)
And then the last day alreayd, quite tired, but Lake McKenzie, the perfect place for a hangover! Never seen water that clear! You can brush your theeth with the sand, crazy isn’t it!
Time to get back, mate, time went by so quickly! Nuts! Had a really really good time with these people, my small family (and of course the other people) on a beautiful island, perfect weather, perfect life! No internet reception as well, that feels good!
It’s already getting quite long but I was a bit far behind, so sorry about that! I might write the next blog in English as well, quite enjoy it;)
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