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Australië

Saskia, 8 januari 2010
Australië , Melbourne 3°

Happy New Year! (Eng version ;) )

Hi all,

As it turns out I'm not exactly the best in keeping my blog up to date.. It has been two months and finally: here's a new one!

I hope everybody had a wonderfull Christmas & New Years Eve. It is such a weird idea that everybody in NL is now wandering around in snow while it is almost 40 degrees over here.. I hope that everybody, despite the hassle that it gives, can enjoy the snow and throw some snowballs, ride on a sled etc I have seen a lot of beautiful pictures already!

Again a lot has happened since my last blog entry.
To start with: at the beginning of November I went on a weekend trip to the Great Ocean Road with two friends (Emily & Ellie). The Great Ocean Road is spectaculair, green lush forests on one side and white beaches with perfectly blue waves on the other. Of course we also did al the touristy things as seeing the Twelve Apostles and take a picture under the "Great Ocean Road" road sign. It was nice to be out of the city and we were lucky to have really good weather. This weekend got me craving for more trips and therefore I was really happy to fly out to Auckland on November 21 to travel around with my parents!

As my parents arrived in Auckland two days later then I did, I explored the city and went on a dolphin & whale safari. It was very impressive: numerous dolphins, three killer whales and a whale, within two hours from leaving the coast. I didn't expect it, but I was as happy as a kid
Apart from walking around in the city I didn't do many other activities as my parents of course would want to explore the city as well. Unfortunately Air New Zealand wouldn't let them. Their plane broke down in San Fransisco and they arrived a day late. Because of this we had to pick up the campervan the same afternoon as they arrived to start our road trip.
It is too bad we lost a day because of this, but all was ok when I walked into the hotel and saw my parents having breakfast. So funny to see them on the other side of the world!

In total we travelled around for 22 days, devided in 6 days on the North Island, 15 days on the South Island and 1 day for the crossing to the South Island with the Ferry. In short I can say: what an unbelievable spectacular country! When driving through it you can expect a total new, completely different and beautiful scenery around every corner. So many beautiful mountains, beaches, green hills, passes with rivers, waterfalls, flowers and the most beautiful and big birds.
You can tell from many of the natural phenomenas how active the fault under New Zealand is. There are geysers, boiling ponds, mud pools, you'll trip over all the "thermal baths" they have and earthquakes are quite common. The North Island was more cultivated then we thought with not that many sheep - we even doubted if they really as many sheep as they want us to believe. On the contrary the South Island is so empty with sheep in all sorts and sizes.

It is difficult to put everything we saw in this blog. Pictures say more then words, so see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grimmm for all pictures. On the right hand side of the page you will find all the sets in blue (New Zealand, Melbourne & Surroundings etc) If you click on these sets you will get only the pictures for that subject. This is an easier way to watch the pictures as I did not upload them in chronological order and different cities and countries are mixed on the main page.

After New Zealand I flew back to Melbourne. (Some respect for my parents here: I flew back in 3,5 hours to beautiful summer weather, my parents travelled 48 hours to sow and minus 10 degrees..)
It was weird not being around family during Christmas, but I had fun here. The weekend before Christmas we had a theme party at the hostel - "dress up as something that starts with a C". This resulted in people dressed up as Christmas Tree (with working lights! As long as he stood near a socket though), Christmas present, Cupid, Cocktail (winner best outfit), Cheese etc. I ended the night doing karaoke to the Backstreet Boys.. no need to say more

On Christmas eve we had a massive dinner in the hostel. Everybody could sign up for this and in the end 40+ people were participating. I was supposed to help cooking the dinner, but as I passed out after work (way to go Sas! Good Christmas spirit!) I contributed by setting the table, handing out food and doing the dishes. It was good fun After dinner we had a crazy night out.
Christmas day was a day of relaxing on the beach with a large group of people from the hostel, after which I went out for dinner with two friends. There is no second Christmas day In Australia, they have 'Boxing Day'. This was also a really laidback day - sleeping in and enjoying the last holidays.
On New years eve I ended up at a houseparty which was fun. The first of January was even better: I worked a few hours at the Summadayze festival so I could get in for free (just like I did at Parklife). There were a lot of people that I knew so it was a good party! It as a good ending for the 5 fun months in Melbourne - it is time to move on to a new adventure!

This week I will end my work at the office in Melbourne. Sunday I will leave for Sorrento to visit two friends and after that I am moving on to Shepparton. Here I will do what I've been talking about for a long time: Fruitpicking! I am curious if I will last longer then a week.. I hope I will as I want to do it for two months so I can travel on again. Saving up proves to be hard in Melbourne itself, there are too many fun things to do! I will really miss this city, I had so much fun over the last months. The fact that a lot of friends are leaving as well does make it easier.

To end this blog I wrote down some quotes that I said or heard lately. People who know me somewhat longer are familiar with me saying retarded things from time to time and although things are upside down here.. I still do that

Big hugs and kisses!
Xx Saskia


- From Cairns on the way to Cape Tribulation, driving alongside the sea, me daydreaming. Roland: It is so clear, if you have a look you can see Turky on the horizon! Me: Where?? looking out of the window... *sigh*
- Me during our trip on the Great Ocean Road: "Ofcourse I can work on a farm, no problem" A few hours later we were in a wildlife park feeding deers. The deers got greedy. I got nervous. 10 seconds later: Emily help me. Eeehm help? Help! Emily HELP! *me running away from deers* Nevermind working on a farm..
- Overlooking the Doubtfull Sound, me to my parents: This is so beautiful.. it's just like it's in 3D! (I ment to say that it looked a bit like a diorama or decor.. didn't quite say that)
- I am not the only one in the family saying these kind of things (sorry mom ) Driving through New Zealand on a road with ditches alongside, mom to dad: "Look out there is water in that ditch." Dad: "Yes, why?" Mom: "Well, just so you don't drive into it." (have to admit, it was small road and a big campervan..)

Some quotes that say something about the relationship between Australia and NZ (you can compare this to NL & Belgium):
- The team leader of the team I worked for at Forethought, in his email to the team: "Saskia will be leaving us on Friday to travel back in time. (New Zealand)".
- Me to the bus driver in Christchurch: "Can you give us a shout when we are at the holiday park?" (Thinking that this was a common expression in NZ as well) Bus driver: Are you an Ozzie?? Me, in shock: No! Chauffeur: Alright, then I'll tell you.

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