A glance in the rearview mirror (Australia)

Wow. It has happened, half a year has passed and my Australia visa will expire soon. Therefore, this will be the last post about Australia (from this trip ;)).

My last month here, I have spent in Melbourne. I’d never have thought before that I would choose a cold place from where you can’t see the ocean (only if you take a tram for 15 or 30 min). I much rather saw myself somewhere, where it’s hot and where I can surf every day. But Melbourne quickly gained a special place in my heart with its awesome architecture, delicious coffee and food, art, markets and perhaps also the similarity to NYC. Plus, a friend offered me to stay at his place which made a lot of things much easier for me. I thought I’d have some more time to sightsee but the second day I arrived, I found a job distributing flyers for a restaurant and after working my first shift, I also got offered a job as a waitress. So, from then on, I distributed fliers on weekdays and helped in the restaurant on the weekends. The pay was very bad but I just wanted to do it for the experience and to have something that covers my expenses at the moment. A good side effect was that I met more really nice people. It’s sad that I already have to say goodbye again now.

One of my colleagues told me about this 10day introductory yoga course at his yoga center. So, for the past 9 days I’ve been trying different classes at Power Living. I never thought I’d be the yoga type, since I always thought that it was probably more on the spiritual and less on the physical side. But I was proven wrong and have to say that I love it!

I recently found this quote about traveling or life in general.

So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It’s probably worth it.
Alex Garland

In Australia, I really tried to live up to this. To just say ‘yes’ and go for something I’ve never done before or only knew little about. Especially, when I wouldn’t be able to do it back at home. The outcome were many adventures, a broader horizon and all these nice people, I’m so glad I got to meet. And I’m so thankful that somebody always seemed to be there when I needed a ride, a mechanic, a guy to carry my suitcase upstairs or carry me over a water puddle ;), a place to stay or help in any other way. Thank you!

The two downsides of my travels here were that the medical system of Australia is sooo complicated, especially for foreigners and that I wasted way too much time at the Peterpans Travel Agency, because it always took them so long to get something done. Like I said, the trips were great but I was beginning to think that I should have booked them separately and not all of them with Peterpans. But in the end, I’m glad I did the tours I did with the people who were on them!

Several times I have been asked what my favorite place was. It’s such a difficult question but I tried to make a few lists.

Colors of Karinjini

Nature:

1. Karinjini NP (Amazing gorges with rocks in beautiful reds and oranges and clear green blue water as a contrast. The hikes there involved swimming and climbing and therefore were very entertaining. The nights on the wild campsites were beautiful and driving on the outback roads during the day was a lot of fun (although it was a torture for my car and covered everything we owned in red dust.)
2. Kakadu NP and Lichtfield NP (Waterfalls and swimming holes, WOW!!)
3. The Blue Mountains (so close to Sydney but such awesome views and beautiful waterfalls)
4. Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays. The whole sailing trip was fun.
5. Diving at the Great Barrier Reef
6. Sunsets on long, straight empty roads, surrounded by nature (and the stars at night at these deserted places, wow!,for example in the Nullabor and in the NT)

Lichtfield NP

Blue Mountains

And then aaaaaaall the other incredible places..the Pinnacles and Natures Window in WA, the high trees in Pemberton, Lake McKenzie and the rest of Fraser Island, Devil’s Marbles, Mataranka Springs, Wilson’s Prom in Victoria and of course the Twelve Apostles and the rest of the Great Ocean Road. And so much more.

Beaches:

Here it’s really hard to make a list because I just love beaches in general. And most people would probably just expect me to put Whitehaven Beach on top. You can read further down, why I didn’t.

1. Beaches in Margaret River. Wild and beautiful and waves to surf.
2. Bundegi Beach in Exmouth (because it felt like we had discovered an insider spot)
3. Esperance, Lucky Bay (such white sand and kangaroos on the beach)
4. Coral Bay (such white sand and crystal clear blue water)
5. Whitehaven Beach (the view from the viewing platform is probably the most spectacular one I’ve seen in Australia but the white beach itself is not that different from Esperance or Exmouth, I’d say. Plus, we had to wear a stinger suit, and so I didn’t even get in direct touch with the beautiful clear water)

Actually, they are probably all on the same level…all beautiful in their own way. Not around salt water but also amazing:

6. Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island
7. Lake Wabby on Fraser Island(a desert next to a lake surrounded by trees. A very special sight)

Very close after that is Cottesloe in Perth 🙂

Towns

1. Melbourne
2. Margaret River (wine, chocolate, cheese, nature…what do you need more?)
3. Fremantle
4. Noosa (the Margaret River of the East Coast)
5. Albany (very backpacker friendly, heaps of nice free campgrounds)
6. Sydney
7. Perth

Things that surprise me:

–  Bird whistle in very different tunes and melodies than in Europe. It sounds like people are whistling, or a song on a radio, monkeys, or somebody laughing

–  The showers have old faucets to regulate the hot and cold water (with two handles) it takes ages to get the water to the desired temperature. What a waste of water!

– There are more places without internet or phone reception than anywhere else in the world I’ve ever been.

– Helpful people and kind people in places we last expected them to be

– It’s possible to have no McDonalds around for 2000km in any direction!! (same for Starbucks and H&M)

– Big birds, big eagles, big fish, big kangaroos, big spiders (everything is in all sizes here!) plus, the eyes of spiders look like diamonds in the light of a flashlight

– Spotting koalas and possums is so awesome for people like me who get excited when they see a squirrel because I hardly ever get to see a wild animal at home

– How much rain and cold Australia gets in winter!!! Didn’t exactly chose the right half year to travel, or did I? At least there weren’t so many tourists but my sunny Australia illusion is definitely shattered

– Ciders. We need to import more brands to Switzerland.

– A bit shocking but drinking while driving seems to be normal for Australians. Plus, most Australians I met really do like to drink a lot.

– On all the TVs in public areas there was always a cooking shows on. All the time!! Or The Voice of Australia.

–  Australia has good chocolate!

Karinjini

– How expensive fruit and veggies are!! And cheese and yoghurt and cold cut meat L Minced meat and steak is extremely cheap though. I love eating burgers here.

– How the fuel prices can vary even during the week! From 1.34 to 1.63! It’s worth to check online (at least in Perth that worked).

– That my student concession card didn’t work anywhere on the west and south coast. They only accepted local cards although STA told me that the ISIC card was an Australian invention.

– Retired Australians seem to get the best discounts

– The amazing nature. Knew that before I got here but there really are extremely beautiful places, just can’t stop saying ‘wow’.

See ya, Australia. Probably not so soon because you’re so far away but it would definitely be worth returning some day.

Australia(n) rocks! (Perth to Jurian Bay)

Friday morning my car had to get some more treatments. While we had to wait, Miriam and I had breakfast at a café (Muesli and bacon egg toast). So, finally I had my first yoghurt since I’ve left home. Almost started feeling like I am on withdrawal.

At 11.30 the car was finally ready to leave. Unbelievable how much running around it took to get there and without Jess, who helped me with everything – all the time, I would either be stranded in the outback by now or just not ready to leave yet. Thank you, Jess! So glad I met you!  With all the fixing, I now paid about 1840$ for my Toyota, which I’d like to name Hero. It’s such a cool car and I hope he will live up to its name 🙂

Entering the Pinnacle Desert

So at 11.30am we took the freeway up north, then went food shopping in Joondalup (to complete the camping gear, we also had to buy a hammer and pegs – I feel so manly…). Then at around 1, we finally entered Indian Ocean Dr. This time, we drove past the exit to Lancelin and for a long while we saw a mixture of red brown dirt with green bushes, trees, and sometimes yellow fields. The ocean only showed himself from time to time (although we were on an ocean drive…) but when it did, the view was stunning! Even more spectacular were the extremely white sand dunes that would be piled up in the above mentioned nature once in a while.

Hero and I

We finally reached the national park with the Pinnacles inside. Unfortunately, we didn’t yet have a form to buy a WA national park pass, so we paid the 12$ entry fee but the lady gave us the form and told us that we could hand it in at the next np and then we’d get the money back. We started the Pinnacle Drive, which was a yellow sand road that lead through hundreds of yellow rocks that were scattered all over the place. It reminded me a bit of a cemetery except that the feeling was completely different in that warm light and these surroundings.

We got out of the car from time to time and took pictures at the many places I could pull the car over. We saw only one other van while we were on the drive and being so alone there was quite cool. When the drive was over, we decided to drive on directly, since it was already 4.30pm.

So far, I didn’t feel tired of driving at all. Hero is really comfortable to sit in and so easy to drive. I think in this day alone I drove more than I’ve driven in Switzerland so far. And driving on the wrong side proves easier than I thought. The only times I ended up on the wrong side were when I had to wait to turn into a street out of a driveway. Twice I was in the way of someone who wanted to drive into the driveway 🙂

At 5.30, we thought we shouldn’t drive any further, since we wanted to put our tent up during daylight. Therefore, we went to the campsite at Jurian Bay and asked whether they still had a space. Unfortunately, they were fully booked. Probably because it’s a three day weekend. The lady then sent us 1km up north, where they had a second campground at a football field. Once we found the field, we saw that already a few tents and campervans were spread around the field. We set the tent up, paid 25$ for our space (I’d have preferred free camping but we didn’t see a rest area close to here) and then we went back to the pretty and family friendly beach. There even was a float!! Unfortunately, halfway towards it, my skin started itching because I probably swam into parts of a jellyfish again. Therefore and also because we wanted to cook while the sun was still out, we went back to the football field, had a shower and then prepared our first dinner with our camping equipment. Luckily, our Croatian neighbours were extremely nice and lent us their big lamp once it got dark, because of course we didn’t manage to finish cooking before sunset. We will try to arrive at our campsite earlier from now on.
At least, there is no wind here and we can enjoy a quiet night below the stars.

35 °C in February – I could get used to that (Perth)

Well, this was a first. Surprisingly, my journey began without any delays due to snow storms. The last two times I travelled in winter, both times my flights were canceled. Once, I wanted to get to California from New York and I had to move my plans a few months later and the other time, I wanted to go to New York from Zurich. That time, I made it to Milan, had to spend the night there and fly back to Zurich the next morning to make it on a plane to Boston in the evening. Both times I swore that I won’t fly in winter anymore. Seems that yet again, I had forgotten about that. However, it seems to be New York that always has snow problems because when I glanced on the board today in Zurich, the flight there had been 4 hours delayed.

I on the other hand, hugged my parents and godmother goodbye in front of the Bye Bye Bar and then made my way with the Heidi train to gate E 67, the last gate on the E floor (the enormous plane probably wouldn’t fit in between other gates and planes). We were boarding from several gate numbers on two floors. Although there were over 400 people that wanted to get on that plane, the boarding process was pretty quick. I had to pass at least three compartments until I reached my row (79) and there was another compartment behind us with at least twelve more rows. I hadn’t seen the plane from the outside but from its length the A380 really must be big. Once I was seated however, it didn’t feel any different to any other plane.

This time, I had a window seat and could fully enjoy the sunset and the night view of Dubai when we landed. The flight seemed very quick, the food on Emirates was delicious once again and all in all quite comfortable. If you are wondering what movie you should watch next, watch “The inevitable defeat of Mister and Pete”. What a cute and also heartbreaking story!

The 3 hours at Dubai Airport passed quickly. I walked up and down the shopping strip, which was open and buzzing with people although it was way past midnight and then I spent my last 23 Dirhams, which I had kept from my trip to Dubai in fall, on a Starbucks coffee.

At 2.30am I boarded a normal boeing (again a window seat, lucky me) and we were in the air for another 11 hours. All in all the flights didn’t feel that long but the second one would have been perfect if it were 3 hours shorter. There were a lot of turbulences over the Indian Ocean during two hours but I can’t sleep on planes anyways. Funny, that I never got really tired, since at about 2am Swiss time, the sun was rising again and then my body thought it has to be awake. I wasn’t even tired after not having slept for over 24 hours, when I finally arrived at the hostel.

Leonard St.

I landed in Perth at 5.17pm. Then, I had to wait for almost an hour to get my passport stamp and enter Australia. At least afterwards, I spotted my suitcase on the carrousel right away. I made it out of the airport without any further delays. We weren’t sprayed with any disinfectant and they didn’t look through my suitcase and take anything away from me. So, to everyone who warned me about how thorough the Australians are with what you are allowed to bring inside – I guess they aren’t that strict anymore.

Skippy?

I took the free transfer bus to the domestic terminal, where I had to wait another half an hour in a nice 27 °C evening breeze for the bus to the city. Unfortunately, once it arrived, nobody announced the stops and I didn’t ask where I had to get off and so I missed it by about five stops, because then I finally asked some other people and they kindly brought me to the right bus station where I could buy another ticket and take the bus to Victoria Lodge. Of course, by now the sun had set and so I didn’t really see what the area looked like. I was glad to finally be in the room. For that night I was alone with Margot from France.

Fountain in the center of Perth

The next morning, I was awake really early and still not tired. The people at the hostel are really friendly and there was a nice German guy who offered me some of his toast, so that I didn’t even have to go out of the house on an empty stomach:)

It was really cool to walk to the nearby supermarket at 8am with short clothes in February. The sun was already shining brightly and it was quite warm already. The hostel is in a living area with lots of nice family homes. Exactly how I had pictured a suburb area.

Street Art

Later, Margot and I took the bus to the city to participate in the free Perth walking tour. Helen guided me, two girls from Norway, a couple from Ireland, Margot and a girl from Brazil to see the good sights in the center and explained the free bus transport system to us. Certain buses within the city center, called CAT buses, are free. The others, you have to pay. But Margot also told us that there were student discounts, so I had actually paid too much up to now (I renewed my ISICS card before I left :)).

After the tour, we had lunch on a beautiful terrace called Annalakshmt (Jetty 4 Barrack Square) by the Bell Tower on Swan River. It was a recommendation of Helen. We could eat from a vegetarian Indian buffet, drink water or fruit juice and then just donate as much as we wanted. What a great idea at such a nice location!

Margot with our lunch

With new strength, we went back to the shopping streets (Murray St and Hay St), where I bought an Australian sim card for the phone. Then, we took the bus to Kings Park. It’s on a hill just outside the city and on top of it is a beautiful (free) botanical garden. There was an awesome glass bridge to walk over, with an even better view over the river and the city. Apart from Kings Park, there are many other nice parks and rest areas in the city, that really makes it feel like a holiday place. So, as soon as the people from Perth take their lunch break or an after work chill-out break, they can step into paradise. Life seems very enjoyable here.

View from Kings Park