Blogs from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 209

So, I have made it across Australia - still a concept that for me as a European is hard to grasp... you sit in an aeroplane for 4,5 hrs, fly across a continent and still you are in the same country. Hard to imagine. I stayed last night at Barnaby & Anna's place, got picked up by the taxi and arrived in time at the Perth Domestic Airport. Funnily this terminal is much, much busier than the international airport - if that doesn't tell you something ;-) The flight was pretty smooth and sitting at the window I had the opportunity to get some aerial views of Australia - my dear friends, I can tell you, this country is dry. Apart from the ocean I haven't seen a single major body of water. No running rivers, ... read more

We are now safely in Brisbane and can't believe that we will be heading out to Thailand in a few days. We visited city hall with a couple of interesting exhibits: one of Queensland landscaping and development, and a funny one with political cartoons from an Australian political cartoonist (not surprisingly, the US was skewered a few times). We also visited the science museum where we learned more about the aboriginal people, saw lots of dinosaur fossils, and cool Australian animal facts. (Did you know that turtles don't start laying their eggs until their mid thirties and forties?!) Shortly, we will be heading to an art gallery and spend some time walking around. oh yah...We spent some time in the Botanical Gardens to just enjoy the sun and read a little (Matt just started a book ... read more

To end my trip, Rach and I headed to Brissy to visit Sid, one of my friends from New Zealand. She met us at the train station in Fortitude Valley... wearing shades of course! It was awesome to be reunited after 4 years. The 3 of us headed back to her house in Spring Hill. We walked uphill from the valley to the Sid's house on the hill. Her house is fantastic... a large kitchen with huge open out windows, a living room/art gallery, 4 bedrooms occupied by 5 people total, 3 bathrooms, a great porch and a pool. Josh, the only resident aussie was in Europe so Rachel and I stayed in his room downstairs. After all taking naps, Sid, her friend Ange, Ange's 3 year old son Marley, one of the roomates Matt and ... read more

This is going to be a weird one - an entry that covers three months of my life, in one go. Time behaves strangely when travelling - the moments go so quickly, the stimulation of meeting and seeing so many new people and things. The differences in cultures that you're continually exposed to, the intensity of relationships that build up in only a matter of days. Its life at it's most concentrated. Two weeks can stretch out unimaginably. In the year since I left, I write this almost to the day, I feel that I have had more experiences both good and bad than in the rest of my life combined. I don't know if it is true, but if any one were to ask me to talk about myself, most of the material I would ... read more

Vel, saa er alt pakket ned, visaene fikset, og billetten klar. I morgen reiser jeg til Bangkok. Ut paa landeveien igjen. Det er hundre smaating som boer ordnes foer avreise, men jeg er ikke helt klar over hvilke smaating. Jeg har naa da en filosofi da, og det at saa lenge du har penger, pass, og billett, saa ordner det meste seg. Og det gjelder ikke bare naar man reiser heller... ... read more