Goodbye Australia

On the 8^th of June 2013 I arrived in Australia. I had just spend 2 weeks in Portland, Oregon and 1 day in Hawaii (lay-over). Now 1 year, 9 months and 14 days later I am on the move again. Flying from Cairns, my home for the past 10 months, to Brisbane. To continue on to Bangkok, Thailand for 1 month of travel before finally going back to The Netherlands. Temporarily I must add (sorry mum).

And of course as you do when leaving a place where you have lived for some time, you think of all the things you have done and seen. Places visited. About the people you have met, the ones that made a lasting impression that is. I have done and seen many different things. This is an attempt to list some of it.

In Byron Bay I have gotten lost in a rainforest at night, did tax returns for backpackers, worked as deckhand on whale watching boats and volunteered at the dive center. Been mere meters away from 2 humpback whales, swam with grey nurse sharks, loggerhead turtles and manta rays. Enjoyed amazing beaches, dated an Italian girl (which is not worth the drama, trust me), jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and loved it. Met Pierre and Emily whom I’m visiting in Thailand now and are absolute legends. Learned how to make a roast, made an epic Christmas dinner with 2 turkeys, a kilo of prawns, a leg of ham and miscellaneous veggies. Saw the clouds ablaze as the setting sun illuminated them with the Byron bay lighthouse as viewing platform. Stood on the most easterly point of mainland Australia watching dolphins and whales pass by, went to a water slide park where I really got to know Helen, who is absolutely crazy and one amazing person. Which she showed while I camped at her house in Melbourne. Drank and danced many a night at the Railz enjoying the divers live music (found all over town btw).  And ate a lot of sushi.

I moved up to Cairns after Byron bay, by passing all of the east coasts tourist attractions, to pursue a paid career in diving on the Great Barrier Reef. I lived in a hostel for 3 weeks doing housekeeping to pay for my accommodation, was a shuttle bus driver, did countless snorkel tours, took hundreds of people for their very first dive. Half of them where Indians or Chinese who couldn’t swim, which makes for both hilarious and agonizingly annoying situations. Went on pub crawls, played pub golf with ‘bloody legend’ Scottish Danny (which is one of the best nights I had in Australia). Visited pristine waterfalls in the middle of the tropical rainforests, also the one where Peter Andre shot his video for ‘mysterious girl’. You gotta love nostalgia. Drove down mountains that made the road seem like a 20 minute non-stop rollercoaster ride, went four wheel driving, swam in the crater lake of a still active volcano. Got a wicked new tattoo. And swam under a few more waterfalls in the rainforest. That is also the time I’d met Ash and Shona (who would become my colleagues and good friends a year later), Froya, Kiana, Vinnie and Dave. And the beautiful Ellen Connel, who I’ll be meeting up with in Thailand as well. And ate a lot of sushi.

In order to stay a second year in Australia you have to do 88 days of harvesting of some kind in rural Australia. You hear a lot of horrible stories of backpackers being underpaid and used and abused just in exchange for meeting their visa requirements of 88 days’ work. Not me. As we say in Holland, I landed with my nose in the butter. I lucked out. I ended up in South Merbein, just outside of Mildura in north-west Victoria, with the lovely Hudson Family. They grew grapes for the dried fruit industry. Andrew and Roslyn have two sons. Daniel, who worked in the mines, and luke, a 22 year old with down syndrome who helped on the farm. Within a week I was part of the family and had maybe the best and most memorable experience of my entire time in Australia. I rode dirty bikes, quad bikes, utes and tractors. Drove a classic ford Model-T. Fired a shot gun, went trapping for rabbits (didn’t catch anything), worked through a 49 degree day, swam in the Murray river, picked grapes, dried grapes, sorted grapes, de-snailed grapes, washed grapes, raked grapes and was ‘the Dutch foreman’ during harvest. The hospitality and generosity I experienced where amazing. Luke became an awesome buddy and it was wonderful spending quite some time with such a special young man. Besides gaining 7 kilos I gained a family in the middle of Australia on the edge of the desert.

I explored, Sydney and Melbourne. Went to Kata Tjuta and Uluru in the red center. Learned about aboriginal culture and their ‘dreaming’. Awed at the stars that blanket the night sky in a silver glow in King’s Canyon. Drove down the great ocean road, saw wild kangaroos and koalas. Visited many national parks of which Wilsons Promontory Park was by far the most stunning and memorable. Chilled with some wombats, walked a squeaky sand beach, went to a zoo and enjoyed amazing views in the Blue Mountains. I also ate some Sushi.

I road tripped from Byron Bay to Cairns, got a job on Mike Ball’s Spoilsport, the best live-aboard in Australia. There Ollie, Siana, Nathan, Ash and Shona became my cairns family. I had the pleasure to work with Captain Trevor Jackson who is a legend in the broadest sense of the word. I visited remote places of the Great Barrier Reef, acquired a solo diving certification(which is the way to go), dove stunning reefs in the Coral Sea. Fed 50+ hungry sharks, swam with hundreds, saw nautilus, cuttlefish planting eggs, saw hammerhead sharks, silvertips, grey whalers, black tips and white tip reef sharks. Arm wrestled with an octopus and saw much much more of mind blowing underwater beauty. Dove wrecks in the Torres Straight and stood on the most northern point of the Australian main land. I bungee jumped several times, once during Halloween dressed up as a zombie pimp. I also visited New Zealand which is now at the top of my ‘to go back to’ list. And then I ate some more sushi.

I did NOT visit any of the east-coast tourist hotspots, like Fraser Island or the Whitsundays. I did NOT see any crocodiles, deadly jellyfish, snakes or spiders.

I am sure that I have forgotten some things and definitely sure I did not mention all the amazing people I’ve met during my time here. Don’t worry you are all in my heart. One person in particular who has proven to be a great friend/housemate/travelbuddy from the moment I arrived in Oz right up till the last hour before I flew out. Thank you Maya, you’ve made my Aussie adventure the best it could be.

Now on to the next which involves a lot of driving and diving down the east coast of Africa. Check out https://www.facebook.com/theultimatedive to follow me on this new adventure.