Good news, everyone!
My Australian work holiday visa just got renewed, I am staying another year in this gorgeous country. Super excited!
I can’t wait to plan my next trip, explore more and do some cool new activities. Unfortunately for me, all that stuff costs money, who knew?! So for now I will work more, save more and try to make a general plan for the upcoming year.

Hey everyone,
Sorry for the radio silence, it’s been a bit busy. Most of you already know that I have now left the gorgeous West Coast and traded it in for the more touristy East Coast. It is currently summer here, which means hot weather, tropical storms, high humidity and low tourism. And we all know: No tourism equals no jobs.

Before I get into my new location and it’s interesting features, let’s have a quick chat about the heat and humidity. Dutch summers can be humid as well, but this is on a different level. Luckily I feel like I am properly ‘tropified’ by now and anything under 25 degrees is long pants and long sleeves weather. Besides, I don’t really mind the humidity that much, no more dry skin, no more nose bleeds. On the other hand, I’m always a little sweaty and my hair never dries. But that’s what aircon is for, right?

Okay, so onto Mackay. I find the people here quite interesting and entertaining, it also will be hard to explain why. But I’ll do my best to paint you a picture (but with letters?).
Imagine a city of about 120.000 people (like Leiden or Maastricht), it is full of the nicest bogans, tokkies (for the Dutch), chavs (for the pommies) or rednecks (for the yanks).
You are one of those really nice bogans. You have a lovely bogan-house, it is a bit run down, but it has a big TV and it is close to Maccas (MacDonalds) so you’re happy. Your bogan-house is always open to your neighbors, mates and their mates. You have a bogan-car, it is big and loud, just how you like it. You drink bogan-beer, you go fishing on the weekend preferably with your mates, you enjoy a ciggie and you are proud of the mullet-mustache combination.
Now imagine you’re also quite rich, money to spare, what do you do with this money? You buy a bigger TV, you get some new fishing gear, you buy your dream car (the loudest and biggest) and blast the speakers loudly while accelerating at the intersection. You go to the bottle shop, barefoot, to buy more beer, because you really just do not care about that being unhygienic. You go to the only fancy restaurant in town, but you wear your swimmers and thongs (swimming shorts and flip-flops) because you do not care what people think of you.

As the link above describes, Bogan is a bit more of a description of someone’s lifestyle than anything. All in all, I find it very entertaining and enjoy the ‘casualness’ of the people here.

PS. Not sure if you’re still going to be able to get e-mail notifications when I post since that part of the website just crashed. I’ll try to fix it asap.

Report:
Seen spiders: Too many to count now
Seen snakes: 1 (!!!!!)
Mosquito bites: Too many to count now
Unknown bites: 3
Ant bites: 4
Sun burns: 4

Hey everyone,

You might be wondering if I’m still alive and well, surviving the 40 degrees etc. I am! But barely haha. It. is. HOT.
Thankfully, for now, it is a dry heat and doable as long as you don’t go in the sun for longer than 10 minutes and don’t mind being crazy sweaty all the time. Pros: laundry dries crazy quick, like an hour and it is bone-dry. Also my pizza stays warm during delivery! Cons: My ice cream and chocolate melts within 2 minutes.
Luckily at night it still cools off to around 25 degrees, but the humidity turns up so it actually still feels quite warm. And ofcourse the mosquitos… (also known as ‘mozzies’). I should actually chat with you about all the weird nick names Australians have for things. It seems to always end in ‘-ies’.
Aussies: Australians
Mozzies: Mosquitos
Dishies: People that have dishwashing as their job (me, yes)
Sparkies: Electricians
Chippies: Carpenters

I’m sure there is more, but this is just what is coming to mind right now. I can probably do a whole post about all the (confusing) slang here!

Anyways, that was a little off topic. But Broome has been pretty cool (or hot actually). It is suprisingly more outback than rainforest, everything has an orange hue/glow to it. This makes for the most pretty sunsets!

I haven’t done too much sightseeing, since I have been busy with setting myself up here. Jobs, accomodations, transportation, healtchare etc. It is quite a puzzle, luckily I do love a good puzzle. I am happy to report that I found a job! Starting my first dinner shift today, sadly that means that I will have way less time to chat with everyone in Europe with the time difference and all.
Also, my current accomodation does not have any wifi and ofcourse there is barely any internet reception on my phone.

Here is a couple of pictures I took around Broome.

Hey hey, let me tell you about Perth! Or better yet, show you.
I spent a full day at Rottnest Island, a small island off the coast of Perth. It is famously known for it’s quokka population, very adorable animals that are basically domesticated. Besides that it is also just very pretty!

There is one bus that goes on the island, but it only goes clock-wise. So it is quite difficult to see the whole island in a day, but I think I did a pretty good job. I went to a couple of bays, beaches and went to watch the seals on the most west part of the island. The seals were just chilling, eating some fishes and playing around. It was quite hard to get on picture, but here are my best attempts.

Onto the cutest part of the Rottnest island experience: quokkas! Some of them even had little babies, but unfortunately they were too small and still in the pouch. So I did not get a good picture of the babies. The quokkas just hang around in the town center and are basically unbothered by humans. I even found one napping on the grass and I could just sit besides it and take a million pictures (no, it was not dead, I checked).

The next day I spend walking around the city, spotting some cool street art. I went to a gold museum, where I witnessed a gold melting and learnt a lot about the history of the mines in Perth.

I also went to check out the botanical gardens. In the evening I went to a cool free light show in the same botanical gardens. The theme of the light show was about teaching children to live harmonically with nature instead of ‘against’ it, very beautifully done.

Hi everyone,
Long time no post! I am typing this while I am sitting at Singapore airport, waiting for my flight to Perth. I just spend two full days in Singapore and it’s been a blast! I really can see why people like this city. It is all the lovely things from South East Asia combined with the comfort and quality you are used to, definitely recommend a visit. So the food, the culture and tradition from Asia with the drinkable tap water, infrastructure and English as a main language. This combination is also apparent when you walk around the city, the architecture and infrastructure are amazing. It is a very green city, lot’s of flowers, trees and parks around while also having a crazy skyline and high buildings. This city-state has made itself into a commercial trading hub while having so many limitations. I do have to say I did not learn too much about Singapore itself, I just spend my short amount of time enjoying it instead. So here is a link to Wikipedia if you want to know more.

On to the good stuff. There is plenty of stuff to see and do in the city, so I had to make some decisions (mostly based on recommendations from the people around me). On the first day I walked, which was a big mistake, to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, the flower dome and the Gardens at the bay. Walking was a mistake because my jetlagged brain forgot that Singapore is basically on the equator (150km north) and it is 33 degrees with a humidity of at least 80%. I have never sweated this much in my life. Suddenly a 40 minute walk felt like a 4 hour work-out, and you all know how I feel about work-outs (they suck).

The Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Gardens at the bay are famously gorgeous areas to walk around in. The gardens are massive, amazing and very well kept. The big fake trees you see in the pictures might be what Singapore is mostly recognized by. The one thing I did not know though, was that they actually have a purpose, besides just being pretty. They actually help take care of the garden. They help collect rainwater and by doing that, they clean the lake of dirt and nitrate and phosphate. It uses the plants to filter the water and thus making its own little eco-irrigation-system. Like I said, impressive architecture all around.

Something I have noticed here, regarding architecture, is that the outside of the buildings often have this little flappy, shiny things (technical term, yes). It just looks very cool with the wind, I am sure it actually has a practical purpose too.

In the evening, every evening, there are two light shows at the lake in front of the hotel and at the Gardens. The one at the hotel was so busy that I did not get any good pictures. But the Gardens at the bay one was very cool, it is a musical and visual experience. A video would do it more justice than these pictures will, so let me know and I will send you some.

The second day I went to Sentosa island. Sentosa stands for ‘serene and peaceful’. It is the most southern point of South East Asia and an island full of entertainment. There is a movie park, resort, 4D experience, cable cars and lots more. Unfortunately the weather this day was not the best, so it was pretty quiet.

At the end of the day I had a little stroll around China town. It was very cool to see all the decorations, little shops, stalls, markets and temples. Really a small town inside a big city!

I had an amazing couple of days, but to be honest I can’t wait to be back in Australia.

Hey all, I totally forgot to post about my last day trip! Went to Grampians National Park in Victoria, mostly to spot wild emus, but it’s also just pretty.

Did a couple of small hikes and walks around, so many stairs, my poor legs. In the end we did spot one emu! The internet kind of let me to believe that there would be plenty just roaming around. But nope, just saw the one. Still very cool to see!

Here’s some pics!

Hey hey! I owe you all a couple of post but it has been a busy few weeks. This post is about the last days in Cairns.

It had been raining in Cairns for 5 days, so that was definitely a little boring. Luckily we had a few cool tours to do still at that point. We started off with a Daintree Rainforest tour, it was 2 days and 1 night. The Daintree forest is the oldest forest on the planet, about 10 million years older than the Amazon rainforest, but pretty as ever.

The first day of the tour was a little disappointing for me, it was mostly swimming and we did not see much of the actual rainforest. The end of the first day made it all worth our while, we saw a couple of wild platypus! That was definitely a high light for me personally, it’s one of the few spots where you can see them in the wild. They are surprisingly small like 10 to 15cm from tale to bill and freakishly adorable. In the evening we did a kano tour on one of the lakes in the forest. We saw a very pretty king fisher, a cool lizard, plenty little rats and (flying) fish.

The second day was more ‘wild life heavy’. We did a salt water river cruise, there we saw so many big crocodiles and (finally) green tree snakes! I might have been more exciting to see the snakes than the crocs, but both were very very cool. One crocodile came swimming straight towards us, we got a really close look at it. So interesting!
I also learned a lot about salt water crocs, they are super aggressive animals and one of few species that are ‘cannibals’. They also just hunt for fun and then store food under a rock or log for a little snack later. They do not have any natural predators, besides other crocs.

We saw a male cassowary with a little baby, these are very special animals as they are the only animal big enough to eat some of the seeds and therefore poop them out again. This is crucial for the survival of these tree species. They are also the deadliest birds in the world.
We saw a golden orb weaver spider, this spider and it’s webs has been inspiration for a lot of important modern day items because it makes the strongest material on the planet (for example Kevlar that is used for bullet proof vests and space exploration).
We also fed some cute rock wallabies some of them had little Joey’s!

We saw one of few places in Australia where the rainforest, the beach and the Great Barrier Reef meet. It is also the only place where two world heritage sights meet. Our tour guide explained that the forest and reef can not survive without each other since they influence the rain and climate there. I forgot the specifics, but something about the reef forming clouds and the forest filling the clouds with rain/humidity.

All in all, a very cool trip and worth the wait. I really enjoy the rainforest, everything is always glistening, glimmering with raindrops. As soon as the sun light hits, it is just the most beautiful surroundings. I might have to do another couple of days there to be honest.

We also went to Kuranda for a day, unfortunately our train was delayed for two hours. This kind of ruined our plans for the day and we missed out on the second river cruise. Luckily we were on time for the cultural part of the day, we got educated about aboriginal music and dance, spear throwing and boomerang throwing. Of course everyone was allowed to try the boomerang. Super fun and it is harder than it looks!

PS. Send me a text if you want photo’s of the snake/spider.

Hi peeps,

Yesterday I spent my day snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef and it was soooo cool. This was the 3rd time I went snorkeling, all previous times in the last couple of weeks. This was maybe the 10th time I have actually swimmed in the ocean or sea. So bare with me.

I am a little unsure how to describe the experience, if I’m being honest, since I do not have any pictures. So I will start off with some context:

The Great Barrier Reef is about the size of Italy the country. It is home to 1625 species of fish, 1400 species of corrals, six of the world’s seven species of marine turtle, 30 species of whales and dolphins. It is one of the world’s most important dugong populations and holds 133 species of sharks and rays (source).

We have all seen the movies Finding Nemo and Shark Tale, I hope? Because there is some truth in that the most beautiful ‘real estate’ is at the far end of the reef, which is exactly where I went yesterday. To Flynn, Milln and Thetford Reefs.

I was the third person in the water at the first location and always need a couple of minutes to adjust. My body just goes into panic mode as soon as I get in the water. Just the fact that you’re supposed to breath normally when your face is under water, takes a bit of time to get used to. After I figured it out, it was the most beautiful thing ever. The Great Barrier Reef is definitely a spot you go to for the coral and not necessarily the wild life (even though technically coral is also an animal).
The coral has the most amazing shapes, sizes and colors. There are towers and ‘tunnels’, like an amazing rock formation that is under water, alive and crazy diverse. The tide was low so you could get pretty up close to all the different types of corals and see the specific details very well. Since I don’t have any pictures, I will link to photos that are similar to what I have seen. This is a good example of a coral garden, but then about 10 meters high, all the way to the surface.

Even though the coral is amazing, the fish were very impressive too. Beautiful, vibrant colors of yellow, blue, white, pink, brown and black. Everything from stripes to spots to mixed is around. I saw one massive cool fish just hiding in the reef, a lot of smaller schools of different types of fishes, fishes eating small things off the reef, bigger really thin fishes even that look almost transparent.
Parrot fish, butterflyfish, angelfish, sea cucumbers (3rd picture, just looked like someone pooped on the ocean floor), and many more that I could not find pictures off or exactly forgot what they looked like. And unfortunately I did not see any Nemo’s or Dori’s.

The high light for me were two reef sharks! ‘Just’ 1 to 1,5 meters long, they swim around below you or nap on the ocean floor (since they are more active during the night). There are black tip, white tip and grey reefsharks. I think I just saw the grey ones!

With the low tide you can actually get up close to the coral and swim in between the towers through some tunnel-like sand areas. This resulted of course in me and my snorkeling buddy to get lost a little bit when he accidentally got his mask straps loose and trying to fight the current. A bit of a stressful moment, but we fixed the mask, found a way out of the labyrinth of coral and hopefully without touching/damaging too much of the reef. The winds were very strong and so as soon as you looked up from the water, trying to hold position, you would have easily got dragged a meter by the current and wind. A bit of challenge, but luckily we got these fins (flippers) for your feet which makes swimming way more efficient, if you know how to use them. After I got some tips from the tour guides, I figured out how to swim with them on quite a good speed. On a side note, you’re now a bit longer than you’re used to so it was hard sometimes to not kick people or stuff with them.

Summary, it was an amazingly cool and scary experience. 10/10 would do again, probably in Bali!

Report:
Seen spiders: Too many to count now
Seen snakes: 0
Mosquito bites: 15
Unknown bites: 1
Ant bites: 4
Sun burns: 1

Hi everyone!
We made it to the last stop, Cairns! But before I get into that, let’s talk Magnetic Island. That was a very cool spot, definitely more of a tropical climate than Airlie Beach. It is warmer and more humid. We got a very nice day and a half there. We saw rock wallabies and two (!!) wild koalas, which is just the coolest thing ever!

Look at that cute, cuddly face!
Also went to a few cool look-outs, which are part of old world war two forts. And it is just a very lush, pretty island.

So, Cairns, it seems like a nice city. The weather is currently similar to Dutch weather, 28 degrees, 60% humidity, even though it feels like at least 80%. Winter was definitely the best moment to make this trip, I do not even want to imagine what it feels like here during the summer months. Enough weather talk though, I will be in Cairns for a bit. Time to figure out what cool day trips to do from here.

Hey everyone! Time for another update.
You might have heard of this beautiful place before, the Whit Sundays. The island got the name because it was discovered on a Monday, because of the time difference they thought it was a Sunday. It has the most beautiful white, pure sand and the island is known for it’s sand bars that create impressive color differences in the water.

We took 2 day, 1 night sailing trip there. We had plenty of time to discover the island, take pictures, swim etc. The sailing was very cool, but we actually did most of the moving around with the motor.

First thing we did was go to a look out where you could see those color differences very well, even though they never translate well to photos. Here is my try anyways!

On the beach itself we ran into some baby sting rays! Very cool to see, quite hard to take a clear picture of them from above the water. And ofcourse, you do not want to get too close to either scare them off or be stung!

After that we just watched a pretty sunset and tried to sleep on this wobbly boat.

The next day was all about snorkeling and White haven beach, which is one of the more popular spots! There we learned about ants that you can eat (photo is taken the next day, indoors), they apparently have lime flavor. Unfortunately for me, I also got stung a bunch of times by an ant. I do not know what is up with that, I have been bitten/stung a bunch of times now by different weird Australian animals.

Snorkeling definitely was a challenge for me, I had never done it before and it was a bit confusing on how not to drown. After two times I got the hang of it luckily!
Saw some cool fishes and corals, nothing too spectacular but cool enough for the first times. I hope the rest of the Great Barrier Reef has some more interesting snorkeling experiences in store for me.

Report:
Seen spiders: Too many to count now
Seen snakes: 0 (and so disappointed about it)
Mosquito bites: 12
Unknown bites: 5
Sun burns: 1 (and proud of this one!)

Hey hey, I spend a few days in Hervey Bay (that rhymes ha!). Which was a bit underwhelming to be honest. I did see a very pretty King fisher and I am proud to say I got some good pictures where you can actually see the very bright and vibrant blue colors of the small bird.

Starting from Hervey bay, I did a Fraser Island tour and it was amazingly beautiful. The aboriginal name for Fraser Island is K’gari (K is silent) which translates to Paradise and I can totally see why! The whole island is now a national park and is geographically a very interesting area. The island is completely made of sand but yet covered in rain forest. It has trees that are more than 1200 years old and lots of cool (and scary, I got shown a bunch of pictures…) wild life.

Because of the island being a national park, there is not much to the infrastructure of the park. It’s all just sand roads, don’t even know if I would call them roads, to be honest. So we traveled with a massive four-wheel-drive bus that could host about 45 people.

Even with the tour guide’s amazing driving skills and the big truck, the roads were very bumpy. Which ofcourse meant that me and some other people wanted to sit in the back for fun. And oh, it definitely was fun! Got some bruises, my stuff has some dents/scratches from flying around but it was worth it.

The tour guide, Mark, aka Sarge, was amazing. So funny and knowledgeable, a good guide makes all the difference! As does the tour group, which was a very nice and diverse bunch of people. Met some lovely travelers and locals! The nice thing about a two day tour is that you really get more time everywhere and with the group. So it is a lot more social and fun.

I saw plenty of sunsets and sunrises, lots of walks through the rain forest while Mark explains the history of the island. Went to a cool ship wreck, lot’s of swimming opportunities, even in the middle of a bunch of sand dunes and saw wild dingo’s and whales. Some people also saw a shark, pretty close even to where people were swimming. Unfortunately I did not see the shark, fortunately I was not swimming at that moment.

Also went to one of the most beautiful and clear fresh water lakes I have ever seen in my life. There are no rivers connected to the lake, it’s just rain water and evaporation, which makes for interesting flora and fauna. To me it was also just insane that we were allowed to swim there, since that just can not be good for the ecosystem. But they keep a close eye on everything and there is still plenty of scientific research on the island.

The high light of the trip for me was the flight over the beach and some of the lakes. There was an opportunity to take a small propellor plane (GAT 8, for the curious) that takes off and lands right there on the beach. The pilot takes you over the coast line, you can see the beautiful colors in the ocean, whales ofcourse and then to the, some hidden, lakes and over the rain forest. I spent quite some time chatting with the pilot that was organizing all of this and he almost convinced me to switch professions to become a pilot. Now only to find someone to sponsor me!
Lucky me won a 2 out of 3 rocks-paper-scissors with another person from the tour so I got to sit in the front, so cool!

I just uploaded 60+ photos, so let’s get started!
I have traded in the beautiful Mount Macedon for the sun, beach and city life: Brisbane. It is a great city, not as popular or touristy as Melbourne (pronounced: Melbn) or Sydney. Brisbane is way more relaxed, low key and slow. Less traffic, more cyclists/skating/dog walking. Less big touristy attractions, more chill activities. Less high rise buildings, more green neighborhoods and parks. Anyway, definitely more my ‘speed’.
And, very important for my Dutchies, a lovely 24 degrees during the day, sunny, a few clouds, low humidity, cools off to a good 10 degrees at night, just perfect in every way.

Here is an impression of Brisbane!

As you can see, it is a really nice mix in architecture, with a lot of green areas, even green neighborhoods, overall quite a modern style.

Also, I found the coolest club ever! See picture below. The installation in the middle is a beer making thingy, do not know what they are called in English. Behind me is a massive podium with a professional sound system, lighting, everything.

Since 2017 they have a ‘city of light’ policy implemented. This basically means that there are lights and light based art installations around the city, lots of fairy lights, illuminated buildings in various colors, etc. It just gives a very magical and cozy feel in the city.

Besides this very cool light project, there is also a support from the government about street art. There is so, so much going around and it all looks amazing. Most electrical boxes (I think that’s what they are) are painted, a lot walls in tunnels or just outside are done too. I did not even take pictures of everything, but here is a nice impression.

Last but not least, there is an adorable new trend in Brisbane where artists make ‘fairy doors’. I found a few! Some even have QR-codes inside that shows a video the artist made.

The last day I actually went outside the city to a cute suburb. Spent some time at a beach, with low tide you can actually walk to a small island off the coast! You can see the little island in the picture below, on the left.

All in all, I would say I really enjoyed Brisbane. 10/10 will come back!

If this was not on your bucket list before, it should be now: Uluru, Australia. The most beautiful and unique place you will go, the photo’s do not do it justice. But I will post some anyway. Unfortunately it was a very short trip, I bet I could spend day, weeks, months there and not get used to the amazing nature and culture of Uluru.
I would say normally I am more of a ‘nature’ than ‘culture’ person as a tourist. The lovely thing about the indigenous people of the area, the Anangu, is that both are completely intertwined. Simplistic and minimal living in and with ‘country’, as they would say, is the main reason for this. Do not take more than you need and use every single part. While doing so they take care of the country, flora and fauna.

On the trip the guides shared many stories about the Anangu, how they live, what their society looks like, what gender roles there are etc. For me a very new and interesting subject and I loved to hear that the Anangu people have finally taken back rightful ownership of the national park and everything in it. It was such an honor to be able to walk these grounds and get a sense of their incredible culture.

Onto the pictures, I will start off with some pictures of the lovely flora and fauna. There has been an exceptionally large amount of rainfall in the last 3 years, so the landscape was unexpectedly green and luscious.

The sunset and sunrise are two moments that give Uluru the amazing color you always see in pictures. My camera is not that good, but I think it still captured the colors quite well.

Also went to Kata Tjuta, another rock formation in the national park. It is not a holy or spiritual place for the Anangu like Uluru, but still important for their people. The walk/hike was to a viewing platform in the middle of the canyon. The little stream of water going through the rocks makes for gorgeous and unique flora.

Summary: I am utterly amazed by this magical place and it’s history, culture and nature. I would have loved to stay longer and learn more about the Anangu ways of living. I might just have to go back….

Hey hey, got some more cool pics for you all!
Went to Philip Island, a cute little island south of Melbourne. Mostly known for it’s fairy penguin population but also just a lovely spot for a day trip. So that is what we did!

We started the day with the Koala reserve, a spot where they have wild koalas that you can see (if you can find them). Turns out, they are pretty hard to spot since they sleep 20 hours a day. They kind of look like a ball of fur in a tree. A very cute ball of fur though.

My camera found it very hard to focus on the koalas unfortunately. But on the last pic above you can at least see it’s cute little face a bit. They also had some cool birds that were almost extinct and they were helping to prevent that with their programs.

After that we did a drive around the island, there’s plenty of gorgeous cliffs, beaches and wild life.

At the end of the day, finally, we could go penguin watching! The penguins only come out at dark and pictures were not allowed since the light scares them off. Luckily there is a photo gallery on the official website, so here is a pic of the cuties.

They were the most adorable little penguins, about 30 to 35 cm high and very skittish. Philip Island has the biggest population of penguins and it has been a spot for research for years on end. You can read about it here. Very interesting to see these little creatures up close and lovely to pay for a cool experience while also contributing towards science. On their website you can also adopt an animal if you want.
So it was an amazing day and birthday!

Hey hey! Finally did some sight seeing again. Went to Luna Park, which is this adorable small theme park in the a Melbourne suburb. The rides were very cool, as was the weather unfortunately.

Also did a self-walking street art tour, which was very nice. I don’t even think I have seen it all, even though here are 34 pics.

Good news, everyone! My ankles are the same size again and I can now officially say I survived a mystery bug bite in Australia.

Also went to the Great Ocean Road to do an amazing one and a half day road trip. The plan was: leave in the evening, drive for 2,5 hours, sleep at an Airbnb, have the next whole day to go sight seeing. But as we all know, nothing ever goes according to plan. About 1 hour into the drive to the Airbnb we hit a pothole (it’s like Belgiums roads here, people. Terrible, terrible), blew the rim and the tire. We had to change the tire in the middle of nowhere and in the dark. With a spare tire you can not drive the speed limit and ofcourse we did not want to blow another tire on another pot hole. So in the end it took us about 4,5 hours to get to the Airbnb. The next day we spend the whole morning looking for a new rim, new tire and someone to install it.
When we got that done, finally time for sight seeing! We did drive most of the Great Ocean Road, the twelve apostles, the Great Otway National Park, all the way to Anglesea. We saw amazing cliffs, nature and the cutest wild animals! In Otway National Park we saw a wild koala, which is pretty rare. We saw a wild wallaby but he hopped away before we could take a picture. Also a very cute lil’ Australian hedgehog, an echidna, very adorable and very spike-y. See pics below!

Hey all! Tuesday was another day of sight seeing, so here I am, typing away. I went to Hanging Rock, which is a beautiful rock formation a short way from where I am staying. It has a lovely walk/hike up to some pretty views. Here are some pics!

Bad news is that I got bitten/stung by some random insect. I now have a gorgeous pink/red colored swollen leg haha. But no worries, I went to the GP (huisarts) and they confirmed it’s all good. It was probably a bite of some sort, but “definitely not a snake” (loved that statement). Could have been a spider, an ant or just a bee, no way to know. It is also not infected, just my body reacting to the bite. They prescribed me something to make the swelling less and preventative antibiotics.

Report:
Seen spiders: 2 chonky boys, lots of skinny ones
Seen snakes: 0
Mosquito bites: 4
Unknown bites: 2
Sun burns: 1

Not much to report! So to entertain you, here are some fun facts about Australia.

• Melbourne is closer to Antarctica (3120km) than to Darwin (3140km)
• Wombat poops are cubes.
• There are no squirrels in Australia.
• There are more kangaroos than humans in Australia. If kangaroos were to take over, every human has to fight 1,6 kangaroos.
• Kangaroos can not walk backwards.
• Australia has the longest (rabbit-proof) fence in the world, it is 5530 km long.
• There are no Burger King fast food restaurants in Australia.
• Australia is the flattest continent and biggest island on earth.

Report:
Seen spiders: 2 chonky boys, lots of skinny ones
Seen snakes: 0
Mosquito bites: 4
Sun burns: 1

Went to the Werribee open range zoo! It was very cool, better than a normal zoo for sure. They were very focused on the animals well being and active in breeding programs to ensure the continuation of several species. Also saving animals that are not suitable for breeding programs, they just need a space to live out their lives.

The enclosures were amazing. Very big, lots of natural borders/boundaries instead of cages or fences. Some animals could just roam around free, kangaroos and wallabies for example. Think Apenheul vibes 😉

The open range part of the zoo was amazing. Never been to a park like that, it was very cool to see. Animals just roaming around in their ‘natural’ habitat is very nice to see. They were very used to the bus that came through, had a few animals that were just chilling on the road haha. They all came very, very close.

My favorite were the giraffes. Let me introduce you to Armani…

He is the tallest giraffe of the park and outgrew the measuring pole, so he is at least taller than 6.1 meters. Nobody knows how tall he actually is. Armani seems like a fitting name for him, he seems pretty cool and a little stubborn while blocking the path of the bus.