27.10.18 - 6.11.18 Ballarat

After a month in the Philippines, the earliest morning of October 27th was the time to go to Australia - a milestone on our journey. We were well prepared, brought snacks with us since our cheap flight doesn't provide food, cleaned all our things to not bring any organic material to Australia, and were early enough in time. We arrived at the airport over 2 hours before our departure and as it turned out, it was necessary, we arrived exactly on time to board at the gate. The lines at the airport in Manila are incredibly long, even to enter the airport... but somehow we always managed to find the dumbest line. After all our luggage was checked for security several times, we were ready to fly. The flight was uneventful and luckily we had our tablet to watch movies... long flights without entertainment and food are not easy. Almost 8 hours later we arrived in Melbourne and after a very easy immigration process, we were received by Emma and her dad.

We met Emma and her (now husband) Brian 6 years ago at Rainbow Children Home in Nepal. After spending three weeks together there, we kept in touch over the years and made plans on how and when we would visit each other. After they invited us to their wedding, it was clear that we wanted to be there and we planned our trip accordingly. The two live in Ballarat, a city about 100km west of Melbourne with about 110,000 residents. Here we spent the first 1 1/2 weeks in Australia. We were warmly welcomed by Emma, Brian, and especially Emma's family. We really enjoyed being in a western country again, albeit on the other side of the world, and enjoyed its advantages. Emma and Brian were quite busy with their wedding, especially because they were both a bit under the weather, so we spent a lot of time together and explored the city, and made ourselves at home in the living room and kitchen, cooked, researched rooms and jobs in Melbourne. So we also went to Melbourne for a day to introduce ourselves to a shared flat where we now live (more on that later). We spent one afternoon in the coastal town of Geelong together and one morning we visited the wildlife park, where we could get to know the Australian creatures in a protected environment for the first time - although Lea is still a bit wary of them. Kangaroos are really huge, after all.

On Saturday, the big day arrived... Emma and Brian's wedding. We did our best to dress up. After a non-religious ceremony in a room full of wine barrels, the celebration took place in a restaurant by the lake in Ballarat. Emma put a lot of effort into the decoration and everything was really beautiful and stylish. We were somehow the special guests and were well integrated into the wedding party. We have often noticed that many Australians are very warm and open. This led to some nice conversations and it was a pleasant evening with delicious food and plenty of beer :)

On our last evening, we were invited to a typical Australian BBQ at Emma's family's house and Mathias even received a fan cap from Emma's dad's favorite Australian football team.

On Tuesday, after the wedding, it was time to move into our new home for the next six months or so. It was great to be able to arrive in Ballarat calmly and we were very happy to be able to spend so much time with Emma and Brian. Further visits and trips are already being planned... now we are very close.