Down under - Men at work

Greetings from down under, mates!

Today marks the 1st week in AUS and it feels like a month already! So much fun stuff and new impressions. So I am going to try to recap weekly, so I don't forget anything and can use this as a guide when I am telling the stories live the next time we meet.

So we flew out to CUR on the 18th of October, picked up the cats and spend some quality time with the given and chosen family there.

Things not to do when it has been raining for weeks: explore back roads

All has been forgiven

Armin at the Flying Dutch

Next step: escape from Alcatraz

Since I am not always thinking straight, I thought I would challenge myself and embark on my 35 hour flight with the most amount of physical discomfort as possible and ran the Guardian run, up the Julianabrug on Sunday.

Amazing to climb the bridge on foot (amazingly murder on the calves)

The heat!! At 6:45 I was already drenched and by 7:45 I was boiling! But I was very proud to have done this, to get me over the hump of not running for a bit now.

Monday the 29th of October I got on a delayed plane...

not what you want to see before a long flight

Labeled all the way through, and just 14 kilos!

and then another delayed plane....

Abo Dhabi, Ami Dhabi...

and then a canceled flight....

Not what you want to see at all!

A380, yeah!

No blue in sight!

and arrived in Sydney on Wednesday. The trip was ok until the 30th hour, then I died. Just for a little bit, I perked up just in time for the landing. Having to climb over people to go to the bathroom for 14 hours (only 3 times! me! with my pea-sized bladder!) finally paid off for this first glimpse!

I did lose my ankles on the way though....

After having watched so much Border Security I was bracing myself to be grilled, coming from a drug-heavy area, but I sailed through customs and got my backpack, even after all the delayed and canceled flight. The Dutch ambassador to Sydney was waiting for me at arrivals.

Joris had sent bubbles ahead, so thoughtful!

My first full day in Sydney, I brought Roos to work and went out to shop explore downtown Sydney. After lunch I met my first bin chicken, saw the sights and had my first Australian beer.

Bin chicken, no idea what the official name is. This bird is about the size of a goose

Early night for us, as the next morning we did the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi, while the art exhibition was still on.

picture courtesy of Rosalie

That same Friday we left for our road trip to Roslyn, where we had been invited to have lunch with some new friends. I was feeling quite crap by then, with an extremely sore throat that by then was going up to my ears and having a lot of trouble swallowing food.
You know how you know you are on holiday? Unidentifiable roadkill. By now my first kangaroo, Tasmanian devil, wombat and whatsnots have been, as so eloquently put by Roos: roadpizza.

We stopped for wine...

And some geologically significant sightseeing...

Fitzroy Falls

After a pretty horrible night, the next day started with a trip to the GP and I was put on a full course of antibiotics.

We had no idea what to expect from a Australian farm, but boy were we surprised. We had a magnificent time meeting new people and eating splendid food and getting cold drinks from the esky (jug). I conked out for a bit, but rejoined the group in early afternoon. At dusk I was given the tip to go out to see if I could see kangaroos and boy did I ever! Kenneth, the master of the household took me out and I saw them hop around as we chased them with a all terrain, going full speed and could not even catch up.

But the best was the day after. After an early rise, just in time to help with the washing up, we had a leisurely start of the day and later helped with some chores. We helped catching a calf to bring back to his mommy and moved cattle from one paddock to the other and did the same with sheep. On the way back home we came across a field full of kangaroos and it felt like that scene from Jurassic park, with the wide sweep of the valley. It was the most amazing thing. I will never forget this!

Proudly wearing my YDK cap

We headed back home Sunday and the next morning I flew out even further south. You know how you can swipe right on a whatsapp message to refer to it? This is me swiping on the last post - >

So here I am, in Tasmania, for 5 days of relaxation, movies, room service and not speaking.

Hobart airport is of Bonairian proportions

picking up the rental...

It had been a while since I have been by myself for a significant period of time. I am not alone, I brought all my emotions with me. With some excellent roadtrips and good music, I am taking the time for myself to figure things out. I have read in a book a few weeks ago: the elation you feel when the storm is over, is it happiness or is it just relief? I loved that and am trying to allow myself to really feel stuff, without having to keep it together for anybody's sake.

Something I learned this last week: it has been an incredible year. I realized that it had been earlier this year that I had been in Bali. And that we saw more of Europe, spending my bday in Paris, sold our house, dealt with Polly, quit my job and am now travelling solo.

It has been very important in all of this to keep asking for what you want. It may change all the time, what it is that you need today, might not be what you need or want tomorrow. But as the song goes: nobody can fill those needs that you won't let show (Lean on me - Bill Withers). Put it out there, crystallize your wishes into actions.
And don't be afraid to ask for the impossible! Expectations are meant to raise the bar, our brains rewire and reframe to make things possible that you did not even know you could. New ideas and new plans keep life interesting and for me that is what it is all about.

Things I have learned about Australians in this first week:
- Distance is nothing to these folks. Really, I used to moan about the distance to Kwek's, but from where I am staying now to the next cinema is almost 2 hours. And I imagine people will drive up to see a 90 minute feature and then drive the 2 hours back home.
- There is the Dutch directness and then there is Australian directness. I guess that having so much bush around makes people not want to be beating around it
- The Curacao Tourism Board have their work cut out for them down under. Where are you from?....Come again? Curawho? St. Barths comes along quite often, St. Maarten sometimes, but the lesser Antilles are not well known in these parts of the world.
- 6 weeks is not enough for this country....everybody you speak to tells you what you MUST see or do and no two persons will tell you the same. The uber driver Michael spoke highly about the Fields of light tour at Uluru (with caneeps with champagne) (I did not dare ask if caneeps was the aussie version of canapes). Later today I will plan what comes after next week.