Hi everyone, it feels like a long time since I wrote a travel update. The last update we were in Noosa and currently we are (for a while) in Cairns, which is about 1,600 kilometers apart. I didn’t really get around to writing this blog and now I kind of regret it. Ill have to go digging into my memory (and scroll through my photos) because I’ve done a lot lately. Chances are it will be a bit longer than usual so here it comes; enjoy reading! 😊
After Noosa, the stop in Cape Hillsborough was a very nice one. You may have seen it on Instagram, but there is a beach where kangaroos are fed at sunrise, and this produces the most beautiful pictures. Half-awake and completely in pajamas we also went there and, in addition to the tired faces, it gave us nice pictures (which is expected if your alarm goes off at 5:30 😉).
March 1st was my birthday and we celebrated it in Arlie Beach, which is a famous place to get to the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately, we were too late to book a tour, but luckily, we will do so soon. As a gift I treated myself to Football Manager! This is normally a standard purchase when it comes out every November, but this year I was able to wait (with pain and difficulty) until March.
This past year has flown by. This time last year I was going to do my first solo trip outside Europe and that was quite exciting, and, at the moment, it is the most normal thing in the world to wake up in a camper somewhere in Australia. Last year’s counter stands at no less than 15 countries spread over 4 continents, and I’m quite happy with that. The last few weeks I have realized more and more that I am very happy that I chose to fill in these years of life with travelling, I am sure that I would have regretted if I had not done so. We’ll have to see when I’ve had enough of it 😊
Well, back to the journey. Our next fun stop was a day trip to Magnetic Island. At first, we wanted to stay here for a few days, but after some better research we saw that it was fine to do as a day trip. The advantage of Magnetic Island was that the ferry was very cheap. Because the island is magnetic, the ferry has a large magnet at the front and does not need to use fuel. That saves fuel costs and therefore you do not pay so much for the ferry. Haha sorry that was all nonsense, there has to be a bit of humor in it 😉
The day trip was great fun. There was an old fort from the 2nd World War and from there we had a great view over the island and the Great Barrier Reef! From November to April, it is ‘stinger season’ here and there are different types of deadly jellyfish (as if they didn’t have enough deadly animals here already…) off the coast of Northeast Australia, which means you can only swim in a certain bodysuit or only in areas that are screened off with a net. So, we swam in a place that was screened with a net, and even then, we felt slight tingling sensations on our bodies. Fortunately, they were not fatal 😉
Another fun thing we did was white water rafting in the Tully River. The 2 of us in a boat, helmets on and hope you don’t roll over! That was a lot of fun to do, and even exceeded our expectations! We didn’t fall out of the boat and not everyone in our group could say that! 😊
We decided to hike to the Windin Falls, and that was one of the nicest things we did in Australia. It was a hike of about 3 hours back and forth and was more than worth it. We again decided to set the alarm clock early and that made us the first to arrive at the waterfall. We had the whole waterfall to ourselves and treated ourselves to a well-deserved lunch with an incredibly beautiful view over the waterfall and the valley. We also swam and spent a good amount of time there. But that wasn’t all… on the way back through the rainforest, something suddenly crept along the path, a snake! The first real snake in the wild for us. It’s fun to write about it now, but then it was a bit less fun 😉. We didn’t really know what to do because we had to pass by it to get back. We decided to throw a stick from a distance and luckily it worked because he snuck right into the rainforest, liberated! Or maybe not… because literally 10 meters later there was another snake! This one was a bit further from the path and we decided to walk past it quietly.
So, we are currently in Cairns and we have been here for a few weeks. In the beginning we stayed on someone’s property in exchange for doing some gardening, and that was also fun to do. A funny transaction but nice that it was possible that way, so we save on camping costs again. Last weekend we took care of someone’s house and pets for the first time, and we will do that again next weekend. That is very nice, because it costs no money and therefore, we had a very luxurious house with a swimming pool and all the trimmings for the Easter weekend. We invited the couple we still travel with over and had a nice Easter barbecue, nothing wrong with that!
Last week we did a really nice 2-day tour (Uncle Brian’s tour). Those were 2 very full but fun days and with a whole group of backpackers. We saw a lot of waterfalls, fed wallabies and saw a platypus (agent P). But the highlight was we got to see 2 crocodiles; we were the first group this year to see the famous crocodile Scarface (don’t let me detail what he is famous for, but it involves eating a big animal). So, in recent weeks we have been able to put a tick behind snakes and crocodiles!
We stayed in Cairns because Samantha was going to start an internship in April, but unfortunately it was canceled last minute. Fortunately, she was able to find something else very quickly and so we will go to Bundaberg in a few weeks. So, I think I’ll write my next travel update from there! Thanks for reading again and lots of love from here! 😊
