it's actually not a joke but a true story. i will tell you about it after i talked about our new aussie parents that we met in hervey bay. they're called Anna and Barry and they've been looking after us as if we were their daughters. it all began when Taylor was swimming in the ocean and started talking to this woman about how the tide was going out. the woman invited her and her friend (me) for lunch at their holiday apartment and they cooked kangaroo stew for us. not wanting to be impolite, i tasted a little bit of meat. apparently it's very healthy, free range meat, full of iron and without antibiotics. it tasted like my grandmother's rabbit. not as in her pet, but how she used to prepare rabbit. the next day they invited us again and a couple of days later again and then they invited us to go camping with them in the town of 1770. it's the place where captain james cook first arrived in australia. so that's how we could stop working in the hostel (we were cleaning to have free accommodation) and jump in a packed car with a kayak on top. it was wonderful just walking, kayaking, drinking apple cider, eating custard apple (the best fruit in the world) and drink fresh coconut milk (as in: straight from the tree) on an empty beach with perfect surfing ways. that's the life!
coming back in hervey bay they invited us to stay the night at their place and the next day filippo, the italian guy, picked us up to start our roadtrip part one to cairns. saying goodbye was really hard, and since that moment Taylor and I have been looking forward to see Anna and Barry again in Melbourne. we're still waiting impatiently!
so that's where the roadtrip begins. we started off in a hyundai getz, a tiny car, with the three of us. Anna and Barry gave us an extra tent and thermarests for the unprepared campers (i've got everything with me obviously) and so we could go to beautiful places. the first night while driving, scared of hitting a kangaroo, we just hit a possum. there's enough of them. going up north it got pretty warm but it was raining all the time. so the sooner we could go into the desert and get away from the tropics, the better. oh it is amazing how many sugarcane and banana plantations they have up there! all destroyed by the cyclone and flooding, but i was impressed by the amount! there's even coffeeplantations up there, it must be a wonderful place to live!
in cairns we met up with yaniv, the isreaelian part of the company. we rented a campervan for four that had to get back to alice springs. the outback was pretty cool, although after 5 days you've seen it all. it all looks the same and it's not much of a desert. well not this year, cause it's been raining too much. everything is rather green actually and we hardly saw any living kangaroos. they're all dead at the side of the road, so basically you see hawks just eating the dead animals everywhere.
the company kind of fell apart between boys and girls. you know how it goes when you're living in a small space with people you hardly know.. that was a bummer, but in alice springs we all could go our own ways again. we booked a tour to do uluru, kata tjuta and kings canyon in three days and two nights, camping. but the night before we had to leave, i dislocated my jaw when i was yawning, so taylor accompanied me in the emergency room for about 6 hours. we missed the tour but could go the next day. that's how we weren't together with the boys anymore and could just focus on meeting new people again. it was wonderful! we had a really nice group, a good guide and the views were stunning! we started off at kata tjuta to then enjoy sunset over uluru before getting into our swags (something between a tent and a sleeping bag) around the campfire. you shouldn't forget it's actually winter here and at night the temperature get around 0 degrees.. the next day we got up at 5.30 am to see sunrise over the rock and then walk around it. it's massive and seeing it from so close it's beautiful! after that we drove to kings canyon to set up our camp again and get up at 5am the next morning to start climbing the canyon before sunrise. this was actually the most beautiful place that i've seen in australia so far. well, to be honest, i think it's the best that australia has to offer. as far as i know. it's magnificent! everywhere you look you just go waw, unbelievable! pictures will be following soon but they won't be able to show the real stuff, you have to go there to understand me.
back in alice springs we had some beers with the group and the next day taylor and i flew to melbourne. we didn't see or hear from yaniv anymore and filippo was on the same flight but completely ignored us. "by the way it doesn't matter", he would say. it doesn't matter.
so now we're in melbourne at lucie's place, just having separate looks around the city, shopping winterclothes and enjoying this place. it really reminds me of london, which is one of my favourite cities so i don't think i'll get bored here! on sunday we're going to the buddhist center to work there for a week and after that we hopefully meet up with Anna and Barry again. taylor is then going to Thailand and I'll start heading back to Sydney to get my flight back home..
so that was really really short what i've been up to the past couple of weeks. internet's been bloody expensive but i've found the state library now, so i'll be able to reply all of your emails again!
i'm now continuing my quest for gloves, a scarf and a hat. yiha!
hmmmmmmmmm
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