Happy New Year from Australia!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR from Australia! May all your best wishes become true in 2015!!

My return-ticket to New Zealand included a stop in Australia. I spent 11 months in Australia back in 2007-2008 with a working holiday visa. I worked and travelled around the country and I've already seen enough of the country, so I didn't come for tourism. The reason I decided to come back is to see friends, most of whom I met here 6 - 7 years ago and kept in touch with. These are all friendships that I value very much! After leaving Australia this time, I have no idea when I'll be back to this part of the world. Therefore I wanted to catch up with people here. This meant that I didn't pay for accommodation at all, but stayed with them instead. After all I'm here to see and spend some time with them, talking about travels and about what we've done the last 6 years and several other things. It was great to see everyone again and I always hate saying goodbye, not knowing when I'll see them again.



I arrived in Brisbane, capital of Queensland with about 2 million people. Here my friend Johnny and his mom picked me up and I stayed for 5 nights at their place. I became friends with Johnny in Darwin back in 2007 where we lived at the same hostel. When I went back to Darwin mid-2008 we were housemates for a few weeks too. Johnny took me to a cricket game in Brisbane, at the stadium called "The Gabba", where Australia was playing vs. India. I never understood anything of cricket, but Johnny explained and I understand a lot of cricket now. It was a very interesting experience, without a doubt! Another day we went to Wet 'n Wild waterpark in Gold Coast. The entrance price wasn't cheap, but you can use the ticket to go unlimited times for the whole summer. That's great, only if you live in the area or stay long enough (which isn't the case for me). But we had a great day here as I love water parks and it makes me become like a 12-year old boy again hahah! We also went to the city centre where we walked around, I took some pictures and we had lunch. All by all, it was great to catch up with Johnny and to meet his mom too, who is such a lovely and energetic woman who is always smiling, always happy! I was treated very well and it's pity I stayed just for 5 nights, but that's how it is. I had to move on.

Then my other friend Jacob (also known as Jake or Tetley) came and pick me up from Johnny's house. I used to work with Jake in Darwin at The Vic, where we were both glassy's and we became good mates since....he's like a brother from another mother, but from another colour. We drove inland near a village called Kilcoy, northwest of Brisbane. Jake used to live there and he had to go and pick some of his stuff. He lives in Sunshine Coast with two housemates (girls from New Zealand and Sweden) and very close to the beach, just a 10 minute walk. After we arrived home, we just went to the beach and chilled for about an hour. The beach is "OK"; coming from Curaçao you'd understand what I mean. After dinner we went to his mates and then to a pub. It was one day before my birthday and we stayed out until very late. We woke up late the next day, put some stuff in a cooler box and went to Peregian Beach, north of Sunshine Coast. It's a beautiful beach, better than the one near his place. We stayed the whole afternoon here, just chilling and swimming..that's how I spent my birthday. Jake had his surfboard and went to do some surfing. I tried to, but it's too difficult and I didn't bother to keep trying for too long. I did some "body boarding" instead, just let the waves carry and drag you towards the beach. At night we just chilled at home together with his housemates and had some drinks. Because of work I couldn't stay longer at Jake's place, only two nights. We agreed that I'd try to go again and stay a bit longer, depending on his work-schedule etc. Not seeing each other for 6.5 years and hang out for just two days is way too short, so I might go back but it's not sure yet.

Then I flew to Darwin, capital of Northern Territory with roughly 140.000 people. That's where I spent most of my time in Australia, 5.5 months to be exact. That's where I worked the most and saved most of my money, where I had most of my experiences, both good and bad. It was the start of the wet season, but unfortunately there weren't too many thunderstorms while I was there. I stayed with my friend Pam and I spent Christmas Day with her, her partner Grant and three other friends who came over. Back in 2007 I spent Christmas Day at Pam & Grant's house too, together with my friend Micheal who introduced me to them. Since then we always kept in touch, also when I went back to Darwin mid-2008 and then via internet and postcards via airmail. She's a very positive and lovely person who enjoys life and her dogs (I enjoyed playing with them)! Pam doesn't have any kids, but she loves kids and she has mothered many! She's like a second mother to Mary's kids too, her neighbour who has 4 lovely kids. I went over twice to swim in their pool and play with the kids, they loved it! 😊 The day before Christmas I helped Pam in the kitchen, preparing for the lunch on Christmas Day. We went twice to the Darwin Waterfront, which was completely new for me. I was in Darwin when they started the construction. It looks really nice and includes a large wave pool and a small public beach. We also went to the Old Qantas Hangar, where they had a small exhibition of pictures from cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin on Christmas 1974, causing widespread destruction and 71 deaths. I didn't do too much in Darwin to be honest. I was suppose to catch up with a former-colleague, Anthony, but he was too busy with work. To be able to catch up shortly, he decided to pick me up and bring me to the airport when I was leaving Darwin. I went out one night in Darwin, which was OK but it wasn't the same because the people I used to hang out with were obviously not there anymore. I walked around the city, looked at the places I used to work and live. It was great to see everything again but at the same time I felt a little bit sad, mixed feelings. Even if I had another visa to stay and work, I wouldn't want to stay in Darwin anymore I think. The Vic wasn't open anymore and it was a pity to see my favourite working place closed down!

I flew to Sydney, Australia's largest city and capital of New South Wales with nearly 5 million people. Here I stayed with Magdalena and Nick, who I met in Italy in July 2013. Magda stopped working at the camping site in Pietra Ligure just after I started working there, but we always kept in touch and we met again in Krakow, Poland. I arrived on Dec. 31st and Nick had to go to work, so Magdalena and I went to the supermarket to buy some stuff. We took a cooler box on the train and went towards the city, where she was meeting some friends near Watsons Bay to watch the firework show. We arrived but there was no view of the Opera House and hardly a view of the Harbour Bridge. I was a bit disappointed because that's what I wanted. Around 10pm I thought about walking back south to a good spot I saw while we were in the bus. I convinced a French guy to come with me and we started walking. It took us almost an hour to reach this spot and it was worth it, as you can see on the firework pictures. The firework show was "a-ma-zing"!!! I was so happy I decided to walk to get this view because I don't know when I'd be back in Sydney on a New Years Eve, if ever!
The next day I met Nydia, a girl from Curaçao who is here on working holiday. She saw my articles in Amigoe and contacted me, telling me she wants to travel & work too and I gave her a lot of tips etc. and she decided to come to Australia. We walked around the city a little bit before going to Tatiana's place, another girl from Curaçao but she lives in Sydney and I know her since 2001. We had a BBQ and we were 5 people from Curaçao, including Karin and Tatiana's brother, Clifford (both on working holiday too). It was a very nice afternoon/evening, lots of laughs and of course we mainly spoke about travelling and Curaçao in general.
Another day I met Nydia again, together with Francesca, my Italian friend who I used to be pen-friends with a long time ago. I met her after 7 years, since she came to the Netherlands to visit me. We had lunch, hang out a bit and went to her place for about an hour.

The next day I went to Newcastle with Nydia where we met Mariano "Pitòsh", a guy from Curaçao who lives and works there. We walked around a bit, went for lunch and for some drinks. Newcastle has roughly 300.000 people and there is a decent beach. Other than that, there isn't too much to see here. Later in the afternoon Nydia went back to Sydney and I went to stay two nights with Marie, mother of my friend Pam. I met her when I was in Darwin in 2008. She's nearly 85 years old but still going strong as she lives by herself. I was happy to see her, she was happy to see me. We spoke a lot, watched TV, had some cups of tea etc. She showed me her garden where she grows several vegetables and herbs such as tomatoes, basil etc. I asked if there was anything I could help her with around the house, she said everything was fine. She had a lot of stories to tell and she was interested in my travel-adventures too. What can I say? I was treated very very well by Marie (I call her "mum") and she wanted me to stay a bit longer. I wanted too, but I couldn't! Honestly, I felt a bit sad when I left...I mean, she's almost 85 now and she's obviously getting older and I really, really hope I'll get to see her at least once more in the near future. :-)

That's all for this blog. One more blog from Australia will follow in about 3 to 4 weeks!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sydney
The value of good friends can never be measured. It is great you were able to come back for another visit. Really enjoyed the blog.