22. Australia - Farewell

Dear readers,

this will be our last blog entry, as we have reached Sydney after another 2000km (since the last blog entry).

We have already returned the campervan and we will be staying in a small, cute townhouse near Darling Harbour for 2 more days.

Last week, we experienced great hospitality again from a distant relative of Martje's family. We visited Simon in Gladstone and learned a lot about Australian politics. Let's just say that "Make Australia great" (from a campaign poster by an old white man) seems to be well received by the local population.

The last few days, we spent directly on the beach, surfing in Noosa (near Brisbane) in heavy rain. Noosa is considered a surfer's paradise, and on the day of our departure, we understood why this place has such a reputation. Consistent and regular waves, pleasant in height, 1-2m, were rolling in under the most beautiful sunshine.

Unfortunately, on our surfing days, it was quite windy and the waves were rather unruly. And for this reason alone, Martje and I did not ride the waves for minutes on end, standing upright and enjoying the rush of speed.

To be honest, we were both a little disappointed with how little or slowly we learned to surf. Despite 2 hours of private lessons, we only surfed a dozen waves for a few seconds in the end. But spending the whole day out in the water was somehow fun and satisfying.

We have covered a distance of 9000 km through South, North, and East Australia in just 5 weeks. Especially on the East Coast, we had to skip many things. We drove from Brisbane to Sydney in just 1.5 days, where acquaintances of mine spent 6 weeks alone. A good reason to come back again! But what we really liked were the many fresh fruits from the surrounding farms along the roads on this route. Now we know what papaya really tastes like.

We particularly enjoyed the vastness of this continent with its many different landscapes (from rainforest to desert), the feeling of seclusion in the Outback (when has your navigation ever told you to follow a road for 600 km :-), Uluru and Kata Tjuta, the wildlife with snakes, parrots, emus, eagles, kangaroos, camels, crocodiles, spiders, turtles, and much more.

I thank those who have been reading along and I look forward to seeing you again.

I will shut down the blog, let's say in a month.

Best regards,

Martje and Erik