Week 31 (Australia: Byron Bay and Brisbane)

01/18

Woke up late (9 or so). Slow breakfast, to the Aldi (!!) for some shoppings, bought 24 hours of wifi and booked the last trip to Brisbane and two nights in YHA. Then did the media. Wanted to walk to the lighthouse then with Judit, but it's too warm and i suffer from a small wound in my lies, so a long walk is not advisable.
Went to the beach. Hardly any shade there, so will go again later. For a swim too.

And so i did. Found a shady place, swam there, did a few sudokus and fell asleep (just for 20 mins). Came back, shopped, showered, interneted, ate, Fb-ed, had a beer, went out for another one, went to bed at 11.45. Star trekked and slept well, despite the heat.


01/19

Woke up at 8, rose at 9. Breakfasted, orientated on guesthouses in Manila (not booked anything). Coffee.
Long, beautiful walk to the light house. Road goes along the coast with great views. Saw lots of dolfins, turtles. Had a good conversation with <??>, who lives in Melbourne but holidayed here. Talked politics, Ozzie lifestyle, ethics, you name it.
Went on walking. The fresh lemon lemonade at the top tasted like the best on earth (sooo thirsty).

Walked back, ate and a coffee again.  Shopped and a last swim in the sea. Showered and update blog now. Laterz...



A big thunderstorm started. Temps below 30 for the first time. Love it!
Ate a nice Cesar salade, update blog again. Not anything better to do... sounds crazy huh? Still ...

Went out. To the beach for the last time. Last beer at the friendly bar. Star trekked and slept. Meanwhile it poored and poored. All night long.


01/20

Rose at 8.30. Breakfasted, packed and waited for the shuttle bus that would bring me to the greyhound terminal.
Left at 11.45 for Brisbane, where i arrived at 3.40 (2.40 local time (yes time differs per state)). Found the hostel and checked in, unpacked, strolled through the centre of town, went back, showered, found a supermarket, bought peasoup (hoping it would taste like real "erwtensoep", but unfortunately). Bought an adapter for my laptop (stupid actually, since i will be gone in 6 days) and am updating my blog in the living of the YHA hostel. Think i will move the day after tomorrow, since i pay 34,-/night here and next door only 19,- (we're dutch after all). OK, laterz.

Went out for a tennis match on TV, with a beer. Came back at 10 PM. Watched some more tv here. Really tired (1 hour time difference ... not so much, but still). So, went to bed at 11, star trekked and slept good.


01/21

Rose at 8.00 or so. Breakfasted, got 24 hours of wifi, and booked the dirtiest (according to the reviews), but cheapest hostel in Manila, close to the airport. Just as a start. See how it goes from there on Tuesday. Took me all morning to update, book and print everything. Fed up with it. Bit fed up with myself too. Travel tired? Seems so... well, wait til it passes.

Went for a long walk this afternoon, through the botanic gardens over the Good Will brigde to the South Banks of the river.

Tried to sleep a bit when i came back, but couldn't. Feel still a bit ... err... unrelaxed. Don't know why. Haven't met anybody to talk with for a while.. perhaps that's it.

OK, did my shopings, ate, mailed my documents to the office of the hostel (for the 2nd time; 1st time they deleted it ... stupids), picked up the prints (e-tickets and so on), updating blog now.

It's time to make some pictures. Will do that tomorrow. Laterz...

Went for a beer and a tennis match down town. Came back at 10.15 or so. Sipped another one, FB-ed, star trekked and slept well again.


01/22

Woke up at 8, rose at 9. 7 months on the road now. Breakfasted, and went for a stroll and a very nice boattrip on the Brisbane river. It's a very beautiful city, seen from the river. And very very prosporous. So many expensive appartments (all over 3 million Aus$) and still lots more being constructed.

BTW: I felt a lot better after the boat trip.

Did some shoppings and had a belated lunch. Updated blog. Watched Family Guy episodes on FOX, fell asleep in the TV lounge, coffee now on the hostels roof terrace. Laterz.

Went down town to see the football match between China and Oz (Australia organizes 3 big sport events at this moment: Asia cup football (soccer), World cricket games (that's huge here) and the Open Australian tennis grand slam in Melbourne). Sports on the tele all day. Can't choose (except cricket; that sucks big time ;-) )
Anyway, it was cosy. OZ won: 2-0. They're in the quarter finals now. Go Oz!

Game back in the hostel round 11. Went to bed, since i was tired to the bone. Slept like a baby.


01/23

Woke up at 8.30. Long night. Breakfasted and ... nothing to do. It downpoors constantly. Found a nice map, with all kind of nice walks, but ... unfortunately peanutbutter (dutchism). So ... bought 3 days of wifi and update blog regulary. No excuse of not publishing week 31 on Sunday. Doing my laundry .. good idea too. Laterz...

Still raining and bored to pieces.

No laundry. Too lazy. I did cook for myself though (has been months since i did that too). Still raining like crazy. So fed up with it. Going to listen to music now. Earplugs in... go!
Watched tennis, listened to music, saw the Simpsons/Family guy cross over episode, slept.


01/24

Rose at 9, breakfasted, FB (long chat with good old Gerb), tried to get some insight in finances, but still too early in NL. Coffee 2x. Now... out for a long walk. it's dry. (And warm obviously.) Laterz.

A long walk it was. All the way up to West End. Warm too, but.. loved it. Back at the south bank there was nice live music from a good funk & soul band. Australia day is already being celebrated. It wish i had planned my flight to Manila one or two days later, but ok... you can't have it all. Did shoppings and ate a home made red curry afterwards. Watch a tennis game in the TV lounge (where i fell asleep again). Going to eat the second stage of the curry now.
Still made no pictures. Foei.

Went out to see some more music, but it all ends early here. So watched Man U - Cambridge (0-0) in an English pub. Went back to the hostel at 10.30 and watched some more tennis. Slept good.

Week 30 (Australia: Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay)

01/11

Slept for almost 9 hours! Rose at 9.15, Breakfasted and chatted the morning away with the Annet and Esther over two coffees. Did my laundry and updated my blog.
Then got the hostels guitar and played for almost an hour. Felt really good. Finally, after being without a guitar for months.

It kept on raining for the rest of the day, so spend the day with bookings, updating, the media, chatting, guitar playing, and finally a pizza. It's 21.35 now and it's still raining. Think i'll head for the TV room. Laterz...
Played some pool with Warwick (kind of permanent guest here). Had a beer with him afterwards. he told me his lif story... impressive. (Won't go into details (for privacy reasons obviously).)


01/12

Slept good, woke up at 9 even. Breakfasted, did the media (my wifi connections just goes on working, where as i payed for only 24 hours (downloaded far over 1 Gb too (running out of Star trek episodes))), played a little guitar.

Rented a bicycle and cycled for hours and hours. Saw the rainforest thing here and the whalewatching louk out point. Great! Got even more sunburned (i forget to put on sunblock all the time). Napped for 30 mins and did another short cycle ride.

Back at the hostel: Got my laundry, showered and got myself some fish and chips. Ended the evening chatting with Warwick and a few other guests here (mainly germans (place is crowded with them all of a sudden)). Slept like a log again.


01/13

Just woke up. having breakfast now. Warwick invited me to do a little tour around here in his car. How nice! laterz...

And a good tour it was. First a splendid view point over the area here:

We also saw a 76 yo (!) man paragliding from there.

As his collegue said: "And what did you do with your lives?".

Then a nice walk over some pier trying to see sharks. Unfortunately....

Then i showed Warwick (yes) the place to see some big Guana's (Big lizzards, or small komodo's if you like) ... and found one! (I just happened to go there yesterday, so that's how i knew.) Swam there in the sea as well.

Then back to the hostel for a dip in the pool and a nice cup of tea while updating blog and do the media. Shopping still needs to be done for tomorrow. Think i will do it tomorrow actually, since i also want to run.

Laterz...

Did do the shopping right away. And ran the 5 K, showered, ate (made my own for a change) and played guitar. Ended the evening over a (bad) movie and a chat with Warwick and Monica. Star trekked and slept good as usual.


01/14

Had to go to the toilet several times (cooked myself, rememeber ... ;-)). Woke up at 8.30, breakfasting now. About to pack. Take the 14.00h greyhound bus to Coff Harbour for 3 nights. Hope to see you there. Laterz.

Made a last stroll along the beautiful coast of Port Macquarie. Lots of painted stones there. With messages for loved ones or people who had past away. I reminded me of all the people i lost over the past few years (Herman, Trudy, Kees, Brian, Mieke, Jette, my mom and recently Michel). Made me sad. Miss them all.

Anyway, back at the hostel. Ate a roll, said goodbye to Warwick and Monica (great people, good friends) ...

... and hopped on the greyhound to Coffs Harbour, where I'm now.

The trip to Coffs went OK. Strolled along the beaches here, back to the hostel, chatted with a few other guests (girl from Irak (name too dificult to remember) and Victor from Finland). Watched tennis and went to bed at 11.30. Warm, warm room, but tired enough to sleep reasonably well.


01/15

Woke up at 8.30, breakfasted, Updating blog in hostel. Did my shoppings, booked the next trip to Byron Bay (leaving on the 17th), booked a hostel there as well. Now coffee! Laterz...

Spend some time on the beach. Not that fantastic though. Too hot (i was under the pier, in the shade). Lunched with the left over buns from yesterday. Going for another coffee i think. After that a swim in the sea.

Two times to the beach it was. Doing some shopping in between. Bit of a lazy day, but hey... it's holiday after all.

Cooked simple (instant noodles and instant soup). Walk to the viewpoint now. Laterz...

Sipped a relatively cheap beer at the 30 latitude (name of a bar here), and spend the rest of the evening chatting with a girl from Irak and watched tennis with an Egyptian businessman who's a guest here too. (Won a bet with him (the youngest wimbledon winner is Boris Becker).) Slept good, despite the warmth in the room.

PS: The local italian restaurant here is called "Fiasco". Wonder if they know what it means.


01/16

Woke up at 8.30 or so. Relaxed breakfast and coffee afterwards. Spend my last hours wifi. Watched the news in the TV room.
Went for a very long walk (the so called Creek walk (including a visit to the botanical gardens)). Took me more than 3 hours. Came back hungry and thirsty, so... to the supermarket.
Went to the beach once more, where i fell asleep (in the shade luckily). Made the walk up to the Muttonbird Island once more, sipped a pint of Cooper Pale ale at 30 latitude. Showered, ate and finalzed the evening chatting to Markus and 2 other girls who work here. Star trekked and slept well.


01/17

Woke up at 9, packed and stored my lugage in the store room. Have to wait for the greyhound bus to Byron Bay. Wil arrive there late (9 PM). It leaves at 4.50 PM, so... waiting is today's game. Will do a stroll soon.

And so i did. Long stroll along the beaches, where i hadn't been yet. Then lunch, a movie and goodbye Coff Harbour. The bus arrived on time and at 9 we were in Byron Bay. The YHA is immense. A people storage place. Not much fun in the beginning. Luckily i ran into two nice people from Holland (Judit and Ruben). Spend the evening chatting and beering with them. Star trek episode and slept well afterwards, despite the heat.

Week 29 (Australia: Sydney and Port Macquarie)

01/04

Woke up at 9.30, Coffee. Nobody in the house (Abe will be back soon i guess, He won't fly until 14.00). After that i will have the house to myself. Yeeee. My own house in Sydney, can u believe it? Laterz...

14.00 Abe and Olly and Amanda left. Got the house for myself now. What a luxury. Did some shopping in Woolworth, watched TV, ran again, showered, ate and spend the evening in front of the TV.

Almost like being at home. ... wait a minute... do i want that then? Nope, but for the time being it's nice to relax and settle for a short while.
Anyway, slept late, but god and long.


01/05

Woke up at 9 or so. Did the media, shopped, went to the center of town. Met Marianne, Corinne< dennis and Frank. Had a wonderful last diner, since we split up on the 6th. A good, worthy goodbye. Home, sipped (another) beer, saw two Monty Phyton episodes (they're on TV here everyday!) and slept good.


01/06

Since there's a good wifi connection here i did a lot of administration. Booked al my flying tickets. Still have to pay my taxes. Do that tomorrow (or tonight).
Shopped too. Laterz....


01/07

Did my taxes, did the media. Shopped. To centre of town. Long, beautifull stroll through Hyde Park and the botanic gardens. Then tried to meet Jean. Unfortunately we missed each other. Too bad. Went back to Wileypark and watched TV until midnight.


01/08

Got the last e-tickets. As far as i Know I have booked and payed for all my flights and busses (except the domestic flights in Philippines). Will shop to refill the stock i have used in this house. I will miss it. It was really luxurious to have a house for myself for a week in sydney.

Tomorrow early raise to catch the bus to Port Macquarie (first stop on the way to Brisbane).
Laterz...
Spend the evening running and i watched a great documentary about the early years of the Rolling Stones. Went to bed too late, but slept well.


01/09

Rose at 5.20, packed, went to the train, to central station at Eddy Ave. and hopped on the Greyhound Bus to Port Macquarie. Bus fare went ok and i arrived in this cosy backpackers place, where a share a 6 beds dorm with 5 young girls ...

Anyway, went for an orientating stroll here and gues what ... beaches all over the place, bars with live music, to go short: i want to live here. It's great. Will probably spend two extra nights here, then i must leave. Pictures will follow (i hope).
Then ... a guitar... and nobody to play it... It still amazes me how fast you are intergrated when you play music. All of a sudden i made 15 new friends. Nice people, don't get me wrong. I will change the strings, since that's really necessary.
In the evening i found: liquorland, an ATM and domini's pizza's. A convenient, but expensive combination.
After diner i went to Finnians (a bar), where a nice blues band played. Went back to Ozzie Pozzie (name of the backpackers hostel) at 11. Played soom pool with 3 german fellow travelers. Saw a Star trek episode and slept in a warm dorm (first time in OZ, i have to pay for my accomodation).
Laterzz..


01/10

Woke up at 8, rose at 9, breakfasted and chatted with Esther and Annet: two dutch girls, fresh from university, traveling here as well (by car!).

Breakfasted, update my blog now and will go shopping and then off to the beach for a day of sun (well ... shade), swimming and reading. Laterz...

The day on the beach was lovely, though sunburned severely (thin ozon layer). Did a 5K run afterwards. Showered, Changed the guitar strings of <name of dude, working here in hostel> and played some guitar myself (obviously).

Went for for a burger and a ($10,-) beer. Came back, played some more and finilized the evening chatting with all my room mates (room #3 rulez!). Would you believe that 4 of the six room mates studied in Groningen. How coincidental is that! At 11 we were told to be quit. Hostel rules, so.. slept good. Was really tired (due to sunburn as well i guess).

Week 28 (South Australia, New Castle and Sydney)

12/28

Woke up at nine. Breakfasted in the kitchen with the three of us. Got my confirmation about my ticket and Jan even arranged my boarding pass, so on 30th i can just hop on the plane to go and see Tony (who called the same morning... and made me feel welcome (just like in 2002; great guy)).

Then.. a day on my own. Cycling along the coast, which convinced me more and more that South Australia is such a great place to live. (Seriously thinking of retiring here, if i get the chance.)
Great beaches, great people, great climate, great food, great hospitality. Love it here!! Absolutely do (and i thank that for a great deal to the very warm welcome Jan and Jeannette gave me).

A flat tire ended my little cycling trip. A call "home" and Jeanette picked me up.
Did a 5 KM run along the beach (again astonished by the beauty over here), showered, updated my blog and ate.
A game of triviant before we went to sleep (guess who won). Laterz....
It became 3 AM, after a good conversation with Jan. Slept like a log obviously.


12/29

Woke up at 10. FB-ed and breakfasted with a farmers omelet (that's a dutchism I'm afraid). It's my last full day here and I'm sure I will miss the environment and, even more, Jan and Jeannette, who's hospitality and generosity seems endless. If ever i can do anything to return the favor i will, but ... that will be hard. Friends for life. Unconditionally.

Slept good. Long time since i was woken up by an alarm clock!


12/30

Woke up at 7. Last breakfast with Jan & Jeannette. They brought me to the airport. Felt a bit sad (obviously) when saying goodbey. Flight went well, and we landed 15 mins ahead of schedule. Had to walk around a bit before i met Tony. Good to see him again. After 12 years. Still the same hospitable guy as he was in the old days. We did some shopping (got some stuff for his friends Justin and Sarah, where we will celebrate new years eve (got them a nice bottle of champagne)) and he took me to his house. Lunched and i'm updating my blog here now. Laterz.

Then, the coincidences began. I decided to go out, find out how the trains work here, to go to the center of town. The basic things every tourist does. Opera house and Harbour bridge. All went well, i strolled around for a while (lots of preparations for the big celebration of new years eve obviously).
A italian tourist asked me for directions and ... i knew where she had to go (hadn't been here for 12 years, but hey... just happened to have passed to where she wanted to go (WU Agency)).
Wanted to go back to Tony, so i passed a nice bar/cafe. Someone was singing in there beautifully. I stopped to listen for a few minutes. Just as i wanted to continue i glanced through the door and ... couldn't believe my eyes... saw Dennis and Corrine sitting there. I went in and , well you can imagine the surprise. It seemed that the both of them also had met by coincidence, so... a city of 4,5 million inhabitants and the three of us meet by coincidence, without knowing the others were there. It was great and of course it had to be celebrated (beers that is). Called Tony to explain to him that i would be in later.
Arrived at Tony's house at 9.30 or so. Chatted a while with Abe (Tony's brother) and went to bed at 11.15. Slept good, but short since i had to ...


12/31

Wake up at 4.15. Abe took me to Tony's work and from there we drove to New Castle, north of Sydney. We arrived at Traceys place (nice house, with lots of space around it) at 7. Slept some more and breakfasted at 12. Did some shopping and went to Justin and Sarah's house (met them 12 years ago too) because we were invited to their new years eve party (hospitable as ozzies are, i was very welcome to join). Went over there at 16.00 to do some preparation (smoke the chicken, did some BBQ activities, and have a few beers (ozzies <-> beers). I finally had the chance to play some guitar too (justin has a nice western and a 12 string too). That was great and appreciated by the "audience" (i think). So, beers, chats, lots and lots of food made it a nice evening, though i was tired.
Just before 12 we (Tracey, Tony, Jade (daughter), Braxton (2 yr old grandson) and I) went home, for the last 30 minutes of the year. Went to sleep (completely exhausted) when the year was only 20 minutes old. Slept good and long.


01/01

Happy new year!. Slept in till 11.00. The rest had gone out to buy a bed for Jade, so i had the privacy of the house for a couple of hours. Nice!! Watched 4 episodes of Family guy!
When they got back We packed, said goodbye and drove back to Tony's work, where Abe picked me up. At "home", i was introduced to Ziggy, a friend of Tony and Abe. He gave me his wifi password, so... im connectable again. Bought the greyhound bus ticket on line, updated all FB messages, and had a good steak with Abe. Watched the tele over a beer (more Family guy) and then it was now. Abe is asleep and since Tony and Abe are going to NZ, to visit family i will have "my own" house for about a week here in Sydney. So nice of them! Again great hospitable Ozzies, just like Jan and Jeanette Schutter. I'm lucky with such good friends. Laterz....


01/02

Woke up at 6 to say goodbye to Tony. Couldn't sleep anymore, so... FB, Mailed, got myself a coffee and so on. Try to catch up now. Visit Greyhound (buscompany) agent later in the center of Sydney. Laterz.

Nice stroll through the center, did the greyhound bus reservations and checks, sipped a beer and went back to Melrose Avenue (where I stay). Made myself some baked beans and eggs on toast and spent the evening watching tv with Abe. Feels like being home a little. Slept for more than 9 hours.


01/03

Woke up late! 10.30 or so. Abe left me some fried eggs and bacon. Thanks dude.
Did the necessary reservations for Greyhound and Hostel in Port Macquarie (first stop on my way up north to Brisbane). Facebooked. Got some money and made a print of my e-ticket for greyhound at Lembaka (area name).
Did the shoppings for the spaghetti i will make for the six of us Tracey's sister is here with husband and 2 kids. Updating blog now.

The shopping, cooking, eating and the dishes went smooth. Nice meal. Ran 4K's (up and down!) in a park near by, showered and spend the rest of the evening with Abe in front of the TV. Went to bed at 1.30 and slept good.