04.02.2025-15.03.2025

04.02.2025

During this time, a lot has happened. I changed my apartment three times. Lina moved in with me, and we lived together there for the first time. We had a nice Colombian roommate, a friendly Colombian, and a bit of an odd Australian. At one point, we moved to Gordan Park for two weeks, which is way up north in Brisbane. As a result, my commute was mostly an hour and a few minutes. We cooked a lot together and also worked for Uber Eats as delivery drivers after our jobs. Every weekend, we made day trips to various national parks. Her friend Carolina, Lina, and I hiked Mount Coolum and then checked out a few beaches on the Sunshine Coast.

In the meantime, I'm trying to work out every other day and consume a lot of protein. On 17.02, Lina and I moved into our final apartment. It's in Thornlands, next to the city of Cleveland, and only 5 minutes from the sea. We shared this apartment with the owners, Ryan and Erika. Ryan is Australian, and Erika is Colombian. They've been married for several years and are both friendly. My commute was only 15 minutes, which is real luxury. Cleveland is a nice city for me. There's a lot of nature, beautiful houses, not too many people, and pleasant streets.

I felt most comfortable in this apartment. On weekends, we visited koala hospitals, went to Stradbroke to see koalas in the wild, and went on many hikes.

At the beginning of March, all the news and weather channels reported that a category 2-3 cyclone would hit Brisbane in a week.

This news caused massive panic among people here in Cleveland, Gold Coast, Brisbane, and the surrounding areas. There was nothing left in the supermarkets. I mean, really nothing, except soft drinks. No toilet paper, no water, no bread, no eggs, no frozen items, no fruit, no vegetables. It was worse than what we Germans experienced during the pandemic. We had to drive for hours to find any supplies.

When we found a store that still had supplies, we bought pasta with pesto, frozen vegetables, tomatoes, tortillas, and beans. I also stocked up on about 20 protein bars. We filled water from the tap in the house into various containers, bowls, and glasses since the government announced that people should prepare for 7-9 days without water and electricity.

The last cyclone that approached Brisbane was 57 years ago.

We taped the windows, sealed the doors with plastic and sandbags, bought many candles, and moved everything that was in the garden and on the balconies inside.

One day before it was supposed to hit us in Cleveland, the cyclone was downgraded from category 2 to category 1.

On 07.03.2025, it then swept over us. It was exciting to see all the trees outside moving from left to right and back in front of us. The night was very loud as the wind made whistling noises. However, the next morning, it was already over. I had imagined it would last much longer. In our house, everything was fine, except that we had no electricity for 24 hours. However, there were floods in the neighborhood, with water standing 1 meter high in the streets. Many power lines were downed. The Gold Coast's promenade was half gone.

During the time without power, we set up the ping pong table and organized a tournament with Ryan and Erika. Guess who won three times? 😉

On Tuesday, the weather was okay enough for me to go back to work. This was necessary since an unbelievable number of trees had fallen into gardens, onto houses, or onto roads. The largest tree we removed from a garden was a 55-ton gumtree.

In the last days, Lina and I really enjoyed our time together. However, on 14.03, I drove her to the airport because her visa expired. She is now in Thailand, then going to Spain, and will land in her hometown Bogotá in two weeks.

On the same day, I met my boss for a farewell dinner and packed all my things in the evening since it was my last day in Brisbane.