Blogs from Avalon, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Suitcases packed up again ready to move tonight to St Ives to spend our final days in Australia with Greame and Wendy, Chris, Natalie and Mikey Pearse's home. Karin took us on a tour of the Northern suburbs and we saw the houses where Karen's daughter Denise lived and lives. Then a pretty drive up the coast passing beautiful beaches including Warriewood and Newport. We arrived at Avalon, where we had lunch with Alison Jones, on the veranda of her lovely home. Alison and Elaine knew each other from days in Sinoia (1968) and later when AlIson and Nick had their twin boys. Good to catch up and remember. Karen kindly drove us to to St Ives, where we met Graham, Chris and Natalie. Wendy and Mikey returend later. Our great nephew and nieces have grow ... read more

Carla: We took a boat along the Mekong early on Monday morning. The boat took an hour or so to reach the border at Vinh Xuong where we officially left Vietnam. The riverside landscape was crammed with stilt and floating houses up to this point and the river was busy with traffic. The boat went for 2 minutes through ‘no-man’s river’ to the Cambodian border control which illustrated the contrast between the two countries immediately. The entrance to the place was along a rickety wooden bridge and a sandy path and the necessary paperwork was completed in a shady compound complete with Buddhist shrines and pergolas for the officers to work beneath. The Cambodian riverscape was straightaway different from the Vietnamese; there were few houses, lots of skinny white cattle being washed in the river and ... read more

Mandag til torsdag var vi på surf camp ved seven mile beach. Det er en strand der ligger 2,5 times kørsel syd for Sydney. Der var ca. 40 deltagere med, de fleste var unge backpackers, men der var også andre ligesom os der bor her i Sydney. Vi blev indkvarteret i seks mands hytter, hvor vi tre boede sammen med to amerikanere og en hollænder. De var rigtig hyggelige og sjove, isæt Matt som va fra California. Vi havde 2x2 timers undervisning hver dag, så når vi var færdige med de timer var vi meget trætte (-; Det er virkeligt hårdt at at padle og padle ud til de perfekte bølger hele tiden, men god træning for hele overkroppen. Vi blev delt ind i grupper af cirka 8, og vi havde så en instruktør til deling. ... read more

Ok, so I know Christmas is now a long time ago, but the internet in New Zealand is expensive so I haven't got around to writing this one.... but here it is! John, Mel and Jessica met me at the airport after I had lost 28 hours of my life, 14 flying and 14 time difference, stupid International Date Line. I was glad to be out of an aeroplane and on my way to a house rather than a hostel. Where John and Mel live is an hour out of the city called Avalon. It is so nice there, 10 minutes to a beach in any direction! Over the next couple of days I chilled out a bit, went into the city (YAY), helped wrap some of Jess's many many many Christmas presents, went Christmas shopping, ... read more

Het weer is hier in de afgelopen weken flink vooruit gegaan. Het is hier nu begin lente, maar het voelt als hartje zomer. Echt bruin word ik niet, want ik gooi per dag een liter zonnebrand over me heen. Matt (Australische klasgenoot) vertelde dat het in de zomer niet veel warmer wordt, maar wel benauwder. Gisteren ben ik met hem op stap geweest. Dat is leuk, omdat je dan ook eens buiten het bekende gebied gaat. Zo gingen we naar de “Lord Nelson”, een bar (ze claimen de oudste bar van Sydney te zijn) in een woonwijk. Ze brouwen hun eigen bier en dat doen ze erg goed. De afgelopen weken ben ik vooral erg druk met school; deze week moest ik drie tussentoetsen maken en één grote opdracht inleveren. De vakken die ik gekozen heb ... read more