Back in Down Under
Door: Lilalai
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Lai
01 Februari 2014 | Australië, Rainbow Beach
Is has been 2 weeks now, since I arrived in Australia. The 16th of January to be exactly. The flight to Sydney went well and quickly. I wasn't well prepared when I arrived in Sydney, because I didn't book a hostel in advance. It was just that I had plenty of time, when I would arrive at 07.00AM. But I didn't think about the weekend coming up. it was a thursday when I arrived , with some good luck the second hostel 790 on George Street, was the place to be. The weather in Sydney was so hot, that I got burned the second day already, not burned als a little bit sun burned, no really badly burned actually. Both of my shoulders and my neck, plus my back. I didn't really do that much in Sydney, I planned my trip and I slept a lot. I think I had a huge jetlag. For the people who think I really did nothing, sorry!!! Hahaha I did go to Paddy's Market. To buy fruit and cheap vegetables. I didn't buy any souvenir. I didn't even looked at it. I'm so proud of myself ;-)
The 17th of January I woke up at 06.00AM. I got up, dressed myself and went for a walk through Darling Harbour. It was so quiet in the streets. So lovely!! I did some grocery and had a small lunch. then I walked on flipflops to the Opera House. the Opera House was under constructions, it didn't make the view nicer.
Hyde Park hans't changed Mam! I said Hi from you.
After my walk I went back to the hostel, had a shower and went to bed for 2 hours. At 21.00PM I cooked myself dinner. Pasta with nuts, tomato, capsicum, onion and a can of tuna Spanish style. It was delicious.
The last day before I would travel to Coffs Harbour I went to Cabramatta. Cabramatta is where a high population of Vietnamese people live. I expected to see everyone on the streets, markets everywhere around and people sitting for hours at the same spot, but the reality was different then my imagination. It was Viet Nam deluxe. No markets on the streets, but stores or arcades. And not that big city either. I was really dissapointed. On the other hand it was still Viet Nam, because I couldn't understand anything they were saying and they had the same products as in Viet Nam. I ate Banh Mi, drank Vietnamese Ice Coffee and ate Pho.
I was sitting in the middle of the square, enjoying my ice coffee, when someone began to talk to me. I looked up, and Jesus Christ start to talk to me. " For God Sake" I'm in Cabramatta is what I thought.
it was not Buddha, who was talking to me, no it was a Vietnamese guy, who's name was Ken (Straight away Ken reminded me about Barbie and Ken :-s ) So this Vietnamese guy " Ken" was talking about Jesus Christ, that he loves me!! He loved me even more then my own family and friends. WHERE THE HELL WAS I????? It was so ridicilous!!
19-01-2014
Woke up way to early, so I had to wait for the kitchen to open at 06.00AM. At 07.00AM the Greyhound Bus left Sydney. I was on my way to Coffs Harbour. 600km North of Sydney. I Arrived at 16.50PM in Coffs Harbour. Got picked up by the Ausstitel Backpackers hostel. Such a great service!! They brought us straight away to the look out of Coffs Harbour, that was amazing, so from that moment I wanted to stay longer then 2 nights, so I booked 4 nights and cancelled my nights in Brisbane.
That evening I joined their BBQ for $4,-. It was so much. We all got bread, 2 sausages, a lettuce salad and a pasta salad. It was really good! At 21.30PM I was in bed and I slept straight away.
20-01-2014
This was the day that I went out with the Canoe on the river, together with Insa and Nadine. We paddled for 2 hours. It wasn't that hard work, but the scenery was nice. We saw lovely birds, some looked like Eagles. The 3 of us, almost flipped over, even though the river was calm. This was because a fish jumped out of the water next to our Canoe. The jumping fishes where funny. Beside jumping, they were also flying over the water. It was cute!
After Canoeiing I went for a walk to the Island South Coffs. I walked all the way to the top of the Island and then to the other side of the hill. The rocks were beautiful and the Ocean View was amazing.
In the afternoon I met Nadine again. We decided to jump of the Jetty. It looked easier then it was. Only 6 metres high, but really it took us ages to finally jump of the Jetty. We were really proud of our selfs :-).
21-01-2014
Woke up early, ate some cereals, hired a bike and went off to Woolgoolgna. A place 25km north of Coffs Harbour. i took the Pacific Highway to get there. It was fun!! Brilliant to cycle next to cars, who passes you with 130km per hour. It was a bit hard in the beginning, but the scenery was awesome. Just me, myself and my new best 5 dollar mate. He was great. No flat tires, good breaks, just great.
I past Moonee Beach, furter away Emeral Beach and later on Sandy Beach. After 1,5 hour I arrived in Woolgoolgna. The weather got warmer and warmer. From that moment I knew the backride would be harder, much harder. Even though it was hot, I wanted to go to the look out. But at the moment that I saw the hill, my mouth fell literally open........ Oh My God!! The hill was so high and straight up. I gof off my bike and walked to the top. It was nice and windy up there. It wasn't a day to lie on the beach, or visit an art gallery, or sit there and do nothing. No it was a day to do another cycle track. I got a map to cycle from Woolgoolgna to Arrawarra. Only 8,5km one way.
I began cycling, but the path wasn't easy to find. I wasn't even out of Woolgoolgna or I got lost twice. The cycle map that I got from the I visitors centre was pretty good, the signs were just bad. But because I already made my decision to go to Arrawarra I kept on going. Along the way I saw many beautiful birds, I saw kangaroo's on a golf course and the scenery was really nice. I stayed an hour in Arrawarra and then I headed back to Woolgoolgna. The weather was so hot, I was even more burned on my shoulders and arms, then before and it was so painful, but I wanted to be back in Coffs Harbour before the evening would fall. So there was an option to wait till 4PM, so that the sun was less, but then I had to wait another 2 hours. No way, I was going to do that! So at around 15.00PM I cycled back. It was so tuff, so hard. Got the wrong turn in the beginning, so lost time by that. And then I began to feel my butt. So painfull..... when I was almost at the hostel I forgot I cycled there in the morning. So instead of cycling a bit further, I turned around, got of the bike and walked back to the first store i saw. I asked for directions and you know what he said?? " You have to go that way" and he pointed in the direction where I just came from. Seriously I thought, and i said it out loud as well. Shit I wasted time again. It took me and my mate 2,5 hours to get back at the hostel. i was back at 17.30PM and I started my trip at 08.00AM. I was dehydrated, dirty, smelly and burned, but to cycle besides the massive trucks all by myself was amazing. I felt like a bird a free bird. In the evening I treated myself with a pizza. mmmmm
I fell a sleep soon after dinner, but the night was horrible. It was so warm, so ridicilious hot!
22-01-2014
Woke up and walked to Woolworths. It was a 20 minute walk. Sitting on a bike was just to painful.
This day I walked to Mutton Bird Island. it had a good view over Coffs harbour, but South Coffs Island was better.
In the early afternoon I walked back to the hostel, my legs didn't wanted to move anymore. the whole afternoon I watched the tennisgame; Nadal agains Dimitrov. It was an exciting game.
In the evening I cooked myself dinner. I only used one stove, cause it was so busy. so first cooking the beans, let the noodles weak in a bowl. Cut the onion and garlic, mixed 2 eggs with pepper, coriander and ngoc mam. then I fried the beans with the onion and garlic. Add the noodles and the Oystersauce. when it was all mixed up, I fried the eggs and lay it on top of my dish. It looked so pretty! Almost like a turtle and it was so delicious.
After dinner and 2 cups of Freshmint tea I went to bed and set the alarm at 05.00AM.
23-01-2014
Piep,piep,piep 05.00AM. At 05.55 I was ready to go. The woman from the hostel drove me to the bus terminal. The bus would leave at 06.25AM. 06.25AM became 07.00AM. 07.00AM became 07.30AM and 07.30AM became eventually 07.50AM. The bus was 1,5 hour delayed. Because it was so early in the morning, we couldn't reach any service office. Apparently the bus had broke down near Sydney the night before, so they had to go back to Syndey to switch buses. At 08.00AM we were n our way to Brisbane. I was hoping we would get there on time, because I had to get my connection to Noosa. The weather became worse and worser. It was good that I was in a dry bus, but my backpack wasn't that lucky. Eventually the bus arrived half an hour later in Brisbane, because of the time differents. Lucky Me!! Finally I arrived in Noosa at 18.15PM an hour later then scheduled.
Well people the rest of the story comes next time. At the moment i'm in Rainbow Beach, so there's still a lot to write about, but not today!!
The weather is at the moment Ok. There's a cyclone in the North East of the country, so many tours are delayed or cancelled. I'll be up north in a week, so hopefully the cyclone is gone then. Let's all cross fingers.
Then there is another thing. I must be honest with you guys!
Compare to 2012 I feel lonely. The main purpose for coming here again, was to visit this guy I met over a year ago.
Sadly one month before I would come here, something happend in his private life, so for me a reason to not catch up with me. It was my own choice, but I do hope that you can imagine, that if you wait 13 months for someone to meet and it's not going to happen anymore. Then there's this feeling of loneliness. I know I have so much a head of me, so much beautiful nature and people. I know to well, to be sad, but everyone has a meltdown sometimes, right? And probably tomorrow is going to be a good day, without loneliness. So no all you need is love for me, but again more exciting adventures....
That's all for now folks.
Take Care!
(Sorry if my english is not that good in all the sentences)
Li La Lai
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01 Februari 2014 - 05:14
Ans In Hobart:
Lieve Lai, wat een prachtige verhalen schrijf je. wij hebben hier op 26 januari ook nog aan jou gedacht en over jou gepraat tijdens de demonstratie van de Aboriginal mensen to "Change the Date".
Die Pacific Highway ja, die ken ik nou ook een beetje, dat jij daar gewoon over gaat fietsen. Petje af!
Coffs Harbour, ik ken nou die rivier ook waar jullie gecanoed hebben, wij hebben die hele wandeling langs de rivier gemaakt. Heb je ook de mangrovebomen gezien?
Ik wens je nog veel plezier en veel avonturen en je komt vast wel andere mensen tegen met wie je wat op kunt trekken. Ik kan me voorstellen dat je je eenzaam kunt voelen. Als het nou echt te gek wordt met die eenzaamheid dan kom je maar gewoon naar Hobart. Wij hebben hier in februari/maart ook weer 3 jonge mensen (2 studenten en een backpacker) te logeren mar we kunnen altijd een tentje opzetten in de tuin.
Liefs, groeten, Ans -
01 Februari 2014 - 12:08
Mathea:
Hallo Lai,
Zo zeg, jij bent flink actief geweest in de afgelopen 2 weken. Blaren op je rug, blaren op je kont ! Goed dat je naar Cabramatta bent geweest, nu weet je meteen dat je daar nooit meer zult komen.
In gedachten wandel ik zelf door Hyde-park, bedankt voor het groeten.
Fijn dat je volop kunt genieten van de natuur; te voet , vanuit een kano of al fietsend, met of zonder gezelschap. Enne... een keertje verdwalen hoort bij jou blijkbaar. Ik weet zeker dat je nog veel leuke backpackers gaat ontmoeten...... Australië is nl. vergeven van jonge 'trekvogels'. And be sure your own family loves you the most .
Go with the flow en keer your stories posting!
Mom Thee -
01 Februari 2014 - 14:31
Nikki:
Hee meid!
Leuk om weer iets van je te horen! Mooi verhaal heb je geschreven :). Zo knap wat je allemaal doet!! Begrijp dat je je eenzaam voelt.... jammer dat je hem niet meer kan zien.. Maar jou kennende ga je er nog een top tijd van maken, geniet zoveel je kunt!!!
Veel liefs uit Tilburg ;) XXX -
10 Februari 2014 - 17:25
Dao:
Sis!
Ik heb echt gelachen om dat Ken verhaal! haha Jammer dat het tegenviel, maar niets kan op tegen het echte Viet Nam!
Wat is spingen van een Jetty?
Oooh wat verlang ik naar warmte en zon! Hier is het maar nat en koud...
Nog veel plezier daar en mocht je mij missen, je kunt altijd bellen/smsen/mailen!
Ik ga vanavond je nieuwste verhaal lezen, lijkt wel een boekwerk zoveel dat het is!;)
Cheers!
Dikke knuffel -
16 Februari 2014 - 10:43
Kimlai :
hallo meisje , hoegaat het ??? wij zijn wensenmet je ,fijn vakantie... gezondeheid ... dikke zoennen!!
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