East coast

16th of July.... eindelijk een nieuw verhaal! waar ik een tijd mee bezig ben geweest maar elke niet heb geupload.

Our journey – Jamie & Ginny

On the 5th of June, Jamie decided to quit his job at the avocado farm because of a ‘boss’ who was not nice to him. Happy me because I was alone in Brisbane. Brisbane is a really nice city, but I had a room in the party hostel of Nomads and didn’t like it. Fell asleep at 3am and woke up at 6am. The first day in Brisbane I had to focus on my school work, did some groceries and went to the post office. The second day I was the tourist exploring Brisbane by foot. I walked to the botanical gardens and crossed the river to the fake beaches of Brisbane and up to the library. It was a nice day! Cooked dinner and went to bed. The next day I went to visit Jamie because he had a day off. We drove to ‘bribie island’ walked over the beach, visited a shopping mall, went to a small national park area but were not allowed to drive in. (Only if you had a permit).

But yea, Jamie left the farm and we started our journey! The journey I’ve been looking forward to for 4 months. We wanted to drive to the gold coast but found a camping in the woods first. Very quiet, the only sound you heard were the many kinds of birds. It was peace full and lovely. We could do our washing there and hang it on the trees and our little washing line. We cooked dinner, and food preps for the next day. I mad rice, tuna and vegetables as lunch, and when I was finally done with  making my food Jamie slapped it out of my hands and my whole meal was on the ground. After dinner Jamie tried to make a fire. Didn’t work.. haha

We had our first night in the car and I actually slept well. Woke up at 9am and Jamie opened the back door. We could listen to the birds and had sunshine in our faces. That was a great feeling.

After breakfast we drove to ‘Warner bros movie world’ one of the theme parks at the gold coast.

In the afternoon we drove to ‘Surfers Paradise’ and had a really nice Greek dinner – gyros!.

It was a lovely day!

That night we slept next to the road. With I think 10 other backpacker cars and vans. This night was a little less peace full. We woke up and drove to the next camping, near Byron. Before we arrived at the camping we drove to a beach, walked along the coast line 9.30 in the morning, big waves, sunshine > perfect.

Arrived at the camping where the owner became mad at us because we parked our car before visiting her. Had to pay 20$ for the night. Jamie emptied the car again to see whats all in it, struggled a bit with all the plastic (sails?-zeil) and ended up making a tiny spot to sit down in our camping chairs with a sail above us. – walked to the little town and bought some food for dinner. Now we are going to try our cooking stove for the first time!

Tomorrow we will be driving to Byron Bay. Let’s see what’s happening there. One thing for sure, is that we’re going to meet up with Mila.

17-6

Haven’t been writing for quite a while. But at the moment it’s 7PM and we are going to drive from Spot X – Arrawarra to Brisbane 3.5 hr drive. Our time in Byron was a lot of rain.. Byron is a small surfers town. Its cute and nice but when its raining there is not much to do. We stayed there for 5/6 days and it was literally raining 24/7. We just didn’t know what to do. We drove to Nimbin, they call it small Amsterdam. And the reason why, is because of drugs. Weed and space cake. As soon as we stepped out of the car people came to us asking if we were looking for weed. We weren’t but because so many people are talking about nimbin we wanted to see it our self. Well it was shit. One little street with weird hippie shops and of course weed. We drank a cup of coffee, ate lunch and left. On Friday night we went out with Mila and her friend Connal. On Saturday we went to a waterfall. When we were almost there a sign came up… saying ‘road closed’ because of flooding. The whole road was not a road anymore, it was more like a river. 100% that we couldn’t drive through. So we took another route to reach the waterfall. It was an adventure itself to walk to the waterfall and on our way back it started to rain heavy again. Jumping, running, and crawling our way back we were super wet in the car. It was fun! The rest of the days nothing special happened.

On Tuesday we left to Surfers paradise – Gold coast. They call it the skyline of Miami and that’s what it was. A long coast line with a long line of high buildings. Shopping malls etc. We treat ourselves with a nice Greek dinner and slept somewhere next to the road. The next day we drove to nice camping, 30$ but I didn’t want to stay next to the road another night. The camping was big, next to the sea, a swimming pool, big reception area, restaurant, a LOT of kangaroos, golf course and good showers, toilets, washing machine etc. I did a hand wash and then in the dryer, couldn’t hang it outside this time because everything was still wet outside because of the heavy showers the days before. The day itself was nice with a bit of sun and in the evening we went for a walk down the beach. By accident we found our surf camp for the next coming days.

On Thursday 15/6 we had to be at the surf camp at 11AM a guy showed us around and everything was looking good. He told us if we paid 99$ pp extra we would be able to get photos of us surfing, a piece of clothes, be part of the activities and able to surf in the afternoons as well. So we did it! I wanted to have some oversized clothes so Jamie and could choose together what we liked. Took a big sweater, a cool t-shirt and a hat. Then we had lunch, and the activity that day was kangaroo golfing! And after our horrible golfing skills we had dinner.

The next day we had our first surf lesson at 8:30 AM. It was dry, the sun was shining and after the surf teacher explained safety rules etc, we putted on our wet suites took a surfboard and went to the beach. There we needed to lay on the ground and practise what to do in the sea and how to stand up. Out in the sea the waves where bigger as I expected and it was sooo much fun. Not that I was really able to surf.. but still it was a lot of fun! Jamie was better than, and I had a few times I could stand up and really surf. In the afternoon we surfed again. That was not a lesson but if you wanted to you could go out and one of the surf teachers would join just to supervise and surf for his self as well. So we just took every change we could to go out surfing again! Same the next day.

And now.. here we are! On the road to Brisbane. Because Jamie wants to go to the Lone pine sanctuary to see (hopefully) a platypus.

25/6 – Agnes water

Yep we have seen the platypus! And it was so tiny haha. I expected it to be a large animal I don’t know why. But it was really small and moving fast in the water. There were a lot of koala’s which made me really happy! And many kangaroos so we could make a selfie with them.

After the zoo we went to Noosa. Slept on a camp side and had a drink with mila in the evening. So in Melbourne I said goodbye to her, then in Byron I said a real good bye to her and even felt sad but then we saw her again in Noosa haha. I really liked Noosa! It is a small beach town, with a lovely shopping street, nice beach and an awesome National park walk. We did the walk of 11 km. One way along the coast, climb the rocks, swum in the sea and had lunch. During lunch we had to run because of the waves came up so high. And when we wanted to swim in the sea we had to be so careful because the sea was so strong and the wave really high. And the walk back was through the woods. We had a fight so I was walking pretty fast. The second night we slept on another camping because we were only allowed to stay 1 night at the first camping. But I have to say the second was much nicer. Owned by lovely old people, old but good and clean kitchen and a delicious shower!!

The hostel in Noosa was not that good.. the beds where awfully couldn’t sleep all night. And had to wake up early for the Fraser tour. Before we went on the tour I woke up early to skype with mum and holly but she wasn’t that interested. At 7:30 we drove to rainbow beach, to take the 4x4 cars and drive to the ferry to go to Fraser island!

The island was super nice. It was cool to drive on the beach (Jamie was driving) and in to the bush. The people in our car were really nice. A couple from Ireland (owen and Rachel) 2 German girls, 1 guy from the US (super gay), 1 girl from the Netherlands (romee super gay) and Jamie and I. We were singing all kind of songs together, laughed and talked. The hostel was good, slept with 5 people in a room + ensuite. Nice meals, every car had to prepare one meal a day (breakfast – lunch or dinner).

We went to lake Mckenzie and swum there. Pretty cold but once in a life time! So we had to do it.

During the evening there was a ‘game night’. We went to see what was going on and not with the intention to join.. but it was actually a lot fun. Had to grab a paper box from the ground with our mouth, put on a frozen t-shirt and limbo. Jamie won 2 of the 3 games and received cans of cocktail (with almost no alcohol) but yea it was fun!

The next day we went to the Champaign pools, Indian heads, Ely creek and the ship wreck. In the evening there was beer pong but we didn’t join.

The last day we had to wake up early and went to lake wobby. It was a 45 minute bush walk – really nice! And then we ended up at a massive sand dune out of the blue and a small lake. Jamie went swimming, I laid in the sun.

When we got back in the afternoon we did groceries cooked dinner and went to the after party. I wasn’t really in the mood.. felt a bit down, fat, tired..

And then it was 25/6 and after prepping food and break fast we drove to Agnes water. First to Hervey bay, but there was nothing much, just had our lunch. Jamie had his pasta and I had my rice with vegetables and chicken.. back to Faya.

At 6pm we arrived at ‘cool bananas’ the hostel. The owners were sitting at the reception and are really nice! The hostel looks cool and we are happy

I want to wake up early tomorrow to start working on my btec… nervous for the assignment.. cause it is my last change and otherwise I did my best for 3 years, never failed never had a retake and then I will not get my diploma.. which will make me cry. And I want to start working out… be healthy become skinny again, but it’s so so hard. 

7-7-2017

Again a while ago that I’ve been writing.. so taking it further from where I left. The next morning I ran to the beach and back in the early morning, which was really nice. The planning was to start with BTEC then but I decided to join Jamie to go to the town of 1770 where James Cook first came to land in Australia. In the afternoon I started with BTEC and for dinner I wanted to eat fish and chips! Next day was in sign of BTEC again and the third day… we woke up early (6am) and I drove to Airlie Beach. (6hr drive) after 3 hours I had enough of driving and Jamie took over. When we arrived the manager didn’t knew anything about us or Aaron but he was fine with us having a king room for 2 nights. Didn’t know what to expect.. got a big small apartment! With a bath, kingsize bed, kitchen, balcony. We apricated the room so much. Airlie beach had a nice shopping street, and a boardwalk along the beach. It really felt like a holiday town. The second night I woke up around 3am from a loud smash… I was really scared and my ear sensors were 200% first I couldn’t think of what it was. It smashed, felt against our window, slammed the door and shuffled the table and chairs on our balcony. After a while I figured what is was, cause slamming stopped and the snoring started.. It was a person fucked up drunk who lost his mind and fell asleep. Then again after a while he woke up.. Again falling, smashing, I heard him trying to undress himself, and a minute later Jamie heard him pissing.. then he started screaming that we had to open the door. I was scared but I had enough of it.. so I opened the door…. and told him that he was at the wrong door, so he just walked away. Finally. The next morning I woke up, walked outside, saw the line of pee… and his pants! And his phone.. and his wallet with his ID driver license 3 credit cards and 330$....

After the night adventure we had to pack our stuff and get ready for our boat trip! Check out was at 10 and we had to be in the harbour at 12. So we decided to organize the car and then walk to the harbour. (AND BTW I GRADUATED FOR BTEC) 1 down 1 to go… panel gesprek.

On the first of July we stepped on the ‘Powerplay’. A nice small catamaran with a share double room, spa, and all meals included. For the first time Dutchies took over. 7 Dutchies, 4 English, 2 Polen, 2 French, 2 German, and another 2? When we started driving (as they called it) it was nice and I drove for an hour as well! The other days it was cold and rainy which was not nice… but even though we had a nice time. I saw a turtle, stingrays, nice beaches, a few fishes when we snorkelled, and I jumped off the upper deck of the boat! The crew was nice, a dutch girls, a crazy Aussie girl and a crazy Aussie guy.

Cause we liked our king room so much at the hostel we decided to ask for 2 more nights, which they approved. Got another room which had a TV, so yeah after such a long time we could watch TV in bed! So nice.

- platypus spotting

- driving in the clouds

- drove to Townsville

- bought a camera

- Magnatic island

- hired a scooter

- beach, snorkel, lots of fish

- rock walibi + baby

- walk to the fort up the hill

- koala

- ate Mexican at a place where the lights fell off

- back Townsville

-went to the races

So that’s a whole list of what we did but I don’t want to type it out anymore.

Today is the 16th of July. So the days went by pretty fast. In the meanwhile Jamies 23th birthday came by and we were in the middle of nowhere. To celebrate we drove to the mac donalds, bought an ice frappe and called for like 2/3 hours with his mum. And I called my dad and lil sis. After we visited Macdonalds we wanted to find a camping to sleep the night.. it was never so hard to find something but now it was. After an hour of looking we decided to drive to our next destination already and sleep there. It was an hour drive up in the mountains and it was already 10pm. There were signs along the way with watch out for wild animals – vee. But most of the time when the signs are there we don’t see anything.. but this time was different. Out of the blue the whole road was full of cows, laying on the road. It took a little while but passed them, what an experience haha.

The next morning we woke up and drove to the wallaman falls. We decided to do the walk which was 2km steep down and 2km steep up again. It was really really heavy, walking down was already hard, so when we had to climb up… Jamie had to carry me on the last 500 meter. But it was a cool waterfall, 264 m high. In the afternoon we drove to Mission beach where we stayed in YHA Scotty’s.

We stayed for 2 nights in Mission beach, the first day we went looking for crocs, but unfortunately we didn’t found one. The second day we went rafting on the Tully river! Which was really cool. Flipping over, peddel hard, slow, stop, down, hold on, bumping into rocks, left, right, jumping off rocks, and went of a rock slide where if you slide off you fall into the water which sooks you up under the water for 10 seconds.

I don’t know which date but on our way up we went to crystal creek, which was really crystal clear water. We saw a turtle! And lots of fish. The water was cold out of the mountains, but refreshing for a swim! More up was little crystal creek where we filmed a bit. And 2km further were the rock slides. Which were realllly nice!! We walked up there and didn’t bring our swimming clothes… when we arrived we saw such nice water, sliding of the rocks. We could really slide of ourselves. So in our underwear we went sliding and swimming! Beautiful place and a lot of fun.

And then…… Cairns! The end of the east coast already! We arrived on the 13th of July. And went snorkelling and diving on the 14th and skydiving on the 15th trying to sell our car on the 16th.

Island diver was our tour group with 50 other people. We went out to the reef, ride of 2 bumpy hours so sea sick again ☹. The dive was really short.. and a lot of thing I still knew, so I’m happy to have the refresher but I still need to know how to fix my gas bottle. The reef and the fish were pretty, I saw the real NEMO .

Skydiving was super cool. The moment of sliding forwards to the opening to jump out.. I was sooo scared and just said to myself oke, don’t look down and just let it happen. The freefall was amazing. Till we fell through the clouds… rainy clouds.. which was really painfull, like needles in your face. And then my ears… really painfull… but yea it was worth it, such an experience, such a feeling.

In the afternoon we drove to ‘the daintree rainforest’ but I felt really sick.. so actually we shoudnt have go there, because I was so exited the days before to go, and then we arrived there and the only thing I wanted was go back and go to bed. We also drove to Port Douglas, which was a really nice town. Full of tourists. But cute. And thennnn we had to clean our car which took a while but we had to do it so we could make pictures to sell it.

This morning we had a meeting with a guy who wanted to buy our car, I hoped he would say yes cool here is the money, but no.. he want to think about it… so we are still hoping…