03.01.2025-12.01.2025

03.01.2025 – 12.01.2025:

On January 4, 2025, I took a trip to Moreton Island with Luke. It cost 160 AUD but was worth every cent. I picked him up in my boss's car in the morning, quickly dropped Lina home, and then Luke and I drove to the ferry in Redcliff. It was about a one-hour ferry ride from there, and we were already on Moreton Island. We went snorkeling at old shipwrecks that sank around 1950. After snorkeling, there was a buffet on the ship, and then we took a small boat to a beach on Moreton. Moreton is the third largest sand island in Australia, after Fraser Island and Stradbroke Island. The beach section was nice but unusual because, to me, a beach is usually flat. There, the beach is only about 10m long and flat, and then come dunes that are nearly 40 meters high. We relaxed there and had drinks brought to us. When we were back on the boat, we cruised around the island and saw dolphins, manatees, and turtles. In the evening, Lina cooked a Colombian dish for me. She places great importance on New Year's traditions from Colombia, so we each ate 12 grapes, wrote down what we wanted to leave behind in 2024 (habits and traits), and then noted our goals or wishes for 2025. It was very interesting for me because it made you reflect on your life. Afterward, we sat at a table, and she printed a few pictures of me, her, my family, and our shared activities. The pictures were all very nice and were the perfect size to fit in my wallet.

On January 5, 2025, I met with Fiona to start creating a travel plan for our trip to Cairns. I believe we will both be very pleased with the selected destinations.

Monday, January 6, 2025. In the evening, Lina came over, we played some Rommy-O, and went to bed early because we wanted to get up early the next morning to go to a national park: Springbrook National Park. We drove in her car, which was good because my boss's car wouldn’t have made the trip. However, 5 minutes before the planned arrival at the parking lot, her car's engine was way too hot, so we had to pull over temporarily and wait for it to cool down. The national park is beautiful. We started at a lookout point and then went to the large waterfall. It was actually not crowded, which was excellent because I got to swim at the waterfall and had all the water to myself. It was freezing but still very worthwhile.

On Thursday, I was supposed to be at my boss's house by 7:45 AM. However, since I nearly ran over a little dachshund at a roundabout, 100 meters from him, at 7:28, I parked the car at his place, ran back to the roundabout, and tried to catch the dachshund to see where it lived by its collar. After 5 minutes of searching, I found him and chased after him. Shortly after, I had him in my arms and checked the collar. A second later, I had to let him go again because suddenly a large Kangal appeared that had also escaped. The Kangal didn’t seem happy that I had the dachshund in my arms. Fortunately, he just barked at me and didn't bite or anything. I drove the dachshund to the house where he lived, and the Kangal followed. When I stood in the garden, both dogs also went inside, so I quickly got out and closed the door. The owner came over and said that her new roommates had forgotten to close the door. However, I didn’t hear a thank you from the owner.
After that, I went back to my boss’s house where he was already waiting with Alex. John said he had to take his daughter to the doctor and that a cherry picker would arrive in the next few minutes, and one of us (Alex and I) would then need to trim the trees in his garden. We played rock-paper-scissors. Alex lost and had to do the work while I could just sit in a chair and chill.
At the last tree that needed trimming, I then heard a “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Alex had completely cut his hand and artery with the chainsaw. Fortunately, John came back 5 minutes before the incident, heard it, and rushed over to Alex with a huge first aid kit. John used to be an emergency paramedic, so he knew what he was doing, applied the bandage, and I drove Alex to the emergency room.
It took 36 stitches to close the wound.

On January 11, 2025, I actually wanted to go to Byron Bay, but it didn't work out because the weather was uncooperative. It was raining the whole time, so I worked out and in the evening, I was at the Story Bridge in Brisbane with Lina. The Story Bridge is my favorite bridge here in Brisbane. Every evening, all the bridges are lit up, but the Story Bridge always looks the best.