The Great ocean road

This is a must do on your trip through Australia! It has so many view points! We literally stopped at all of them haha. I really wanted to see the 12 apostles! So I couldn’t wait to be there and see them for myself. It was so cool to be there finally! It’s super busy though with lots of other people and you'r not allowed to climb over the fences to have a better view. Inspite of that I still really liked it! I would highly recommend to see this gem for yourself! The great ocean road is as the name suggests a great road that gives you a great day with all the highlights of the great ocean cliffs and great beaches. A perfect way for us to end our beautiful journey in Australia..

Adelaide & mount gambier

We stayed for 2 nights in Adelaide in such an amazing hotel in the middle of the City. The first day we walked a bit around and visited a few places for a drink and dinner! The second day we went to City Life church and after we went for lunch to the beach at Glenelg. A cozy place with a lot of restaurants. We were all, specially me, very tired so the rest of the day I slept in my hotel room.

In the evening we had pizza in the lobby and talked through my next travel step. I truly didn’t know what to do and searched for overseas jobs, projects, missions. But every time when I reached out I found a closed door. I prayed and tried to make a plan on paper. It took until the next morning that the schedule on paper felt like it made sense. It gave me a lot of peace and I showed it to my parents to ask their opinion. They confirmed that they felt it was the best option. So that’s how I continued with the new plan to go home for a while, work three months, travel 3 months, work three months and travel again till new year 2020. It’s an awesome plan but I am not sure if I will travel again for such a long period. I will take it day by day! Also my budget has a say in how long traveling is possible.

I concluded I had to go home for a while and have some rest in one place instead of always being on the move. After I made the decision we booked my ticket home with a 3 day break in Dubai. Also one of my bucketlist places! So that was exciting as well.

We continued our trip to Mount Gambier and found an amazing volcano crater with beautiful blue water in it! When we arrived at our next sleeping place we had booked a little house and the number was 14! That is my house number in the Netherlands. That evening we went out for dinner in a restaurant and we sat at table number 14! Like WHAT!?? Is God confirming my decision? It felt so cool!

Okay I will tell you a little spoiler alert what happened later in time! When we took our flight back from Dubai to home we departed from gate 14! Third time lucky!! I have never felt so much peace about a decision I definitely didn’t wanted to make a few weeks earlier! God guided me.

Coober Pedy

COOBER PEDY

We heard a lot of stories about Cooper Pedy! And I was very curious to see it with my own eyes. We had to drive quite a bit from Uluru to Cooper Pedy. We arrived late afternoon at our underground cave hotel!! Normally it’s so hot in the desert that you have to sleep underground to keep cool. That day it was not that hot as usual but we still had a very cool experience of sleeping underground!

We wanted to see a bit more of this little village before dinner! So we took the car for some exploration instead of walking, cause we didn’t had a lot of time, because all of the restaurants close really early.
We stopped at really cool views and classic Cooper Pedy spots! I liked the art gallery, with the old VW Van and the vantage point with a view all over Cooper Pedy! It was stunning to see this little village lying in the desert with the sun coming down.

I totally loved the Cooper Pedy sign! Haha it reminds me of the famous Hollywood sign! It is so cool they have their own sign and we could get very close! Disregarding that we didn’t have a lot of time to explore we had a perfect impression of the village and I loved it!

Uluru and kata tjuta

Today we drove from Kings Canyon to Uluru and Kata Tjuta national park.
Our first stop was at our hotel just a few minutes from the park. We bought some lunch and chilled for a while at the outside pool. In the late afternoon we decided to explore the park! We had to buy a ticket to enter and drove through it and stopped at all the places we wanted to take photos.

Our first stop was nearby Kata Tjuta, a wonderful and massive rock mass. After that we headed to Uluru! Whoohoo. Uluru is famous for changing its colour during sunset! That’s why we planned to be there right in time for sunset. It was lovely to see the rock changing from brown, to orange/red! We did get a lot of pictures to remember this moment!

Kings Canyon

We drove to the Kings Canyon resort to enjoy the swimming pool! The heat was not doable. In the middle of the desert, during the afternoon! You can only long for a jump in the water. So we were very happy when we arrived at the resort. My dad checked in! And shared all the cool things we could do.. and then the news came that both swimming pools where closed! It was such a bummer!

We also found out internet did not work. It only worked a little bit in the bar. So yeah that’s where we spend the rest of the day. Chillin in the bar. I played some pool with my dad, edited some photo’s, had some drinks and snacks. Not a bad day after all. We watched the sun going down on the beautiful red mountains and then we had a great dinner in the restaurant! We went to be early cause tomorrow morning we will do a sun rise hike in Kings Canyon National Park.

The alarm went really early! My belly felt a bit off but that didn’t stop me of going! I was excited for this hike and nothing would stop me. We had to climb up steep stairs that took us to outrageous views! The whole hike was unbelievably beautiful. You walk over rocks next to the Cliffs! It’s amazing. Just don’t go to close to the edge, try to stay on the track. Follow the 2 metre rule. I would highly recommend this hike!

If you haven’t been there yet, put it on your bucketlist!

Alice Springs

Today we really needed some relax time after the crazy day full of driving we had yesterday. We went out for breakfast and made some plans. We were gonna explore the MacDonnell National Park. The first stop was already beautiful. Giant red cliffs, it was such a nice surrounding. We drove a bit further and decided to do a small hike. It was really hot but they told us the hike is short and there is some shadow from the plants. So we did it! At the end of the walk we came to two massive cliff walls where you can walk right through. That was really cool!

We took some pictures and decided to go back to the hotel to cool off in the pool, saving energy left for tonight’s excursion. We booked a tour to the Kangaroo Sanctuary. They picked us up with a bus and we drove 15 min to the sanctuary. We met Chris who created this place all by himself. You can see his documentary on discovery channel. He loves kangaroos and take care of baby kangaroos in his specialist hospital. He rescues the baby’s in the mothers pouch after the mother is hit by a car, what unfortunately happens a lot in Australia. My first kangaroo experience in this country was sadly enough with a dead one on the road. He shared so much information and he is really pure, wise, passionate and truly full joy to do this work. He becomes the mother of these baby’s and it’s his lives job!

During the excursion he showed us two babies and that night we all had the opportunity to be there mom! We could hold them and carry them around during the tour through the park. We have seen lots of other kangaroos who they teach to live in the wild again, and  they will release them on a certain point when they are ready. We could give some of the kangaroos a bottle of kangaroo milk! And it all happens during sunset! That is because kangaroos sleep during the day and wake-up in the evening. Such a magical experience. This event has truly inspired me! It was heart warming and a once in a lifetime experience.

Craziest ride of my life into the Outback

Here we go! Driving to the outback with our rental car. It’s gonna be a super long journey of two days non stop driving with a night break in a hotel but we are going for it! Lots of people just take the airplane but hey! We are adventurous and taking the challenge to drive. That way we can also see more of the country.

We heard a lot of bad stories about the drive. if you google about it, recently a young family died because of car problems. There will be no signal to reach out! Unless you have GPS transmitter and a radio. But hey we don’t have either of them! Lots of people recommend 4WD... also we didn’t had that one. It’s very hot in the desert so it is not recommended to leave the car if you got car problems. But without air conditioner it is really hard to survive in the heat! You need lots of water and food with you just in case something happens.

My dad told us it should be OK. He had checked the roads and we would be driving on solid roads. The Google Maps time indicates an average speed of 90Kph. We should be fine reaching Alice Springs. There will be enough stops to fill up gas and buy water and food. So off we go with 3 little bottles of water per person and snacks.

We were all in a good mood and enjoying the ride to Winton. The views where not that diverse as we hoped but it was still a wonderful trip! We arrived easy and safe in our first hotel. The hotel is in a cute small village in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to get some petrol to get an early start in the morning, but were told every gas stations was closed and the first one opens at 7 am. That’s a bummer cause we wanted to hit the road around 4 or 5 am as it would be a very long journey. So with a later start but a car full of gas we continued our journey to Alice Springs!

On a certain point in our drive I saw a big sign next to the road saying this road would be only for 4WD. I told my dad but he thought it would be okay cause google maps timings made him think that the road would be OK for a front wheel drive car. So we continued the road and for a while it stayed good! But then the gravel roads appeared… first there some short tracks alternating with solid parts .... but very quickly it turned into endless and endless and endless gravel roads!

It was very scary! There were many remains of punctured tires on the side of the road. I truly believed our small tires could pop in just a second! For me it wasn’t a question if but when it would happen. I prayed so much during this journey! The possibility to die in the outback on a desolate road was a reality that could happen that day!

Somehow we all kept calm and took it as it was handed to us. At the next gas station the lady told us that we would have 300Km of gravel and 200Km of solid road to cover towards Alice Springs. That translates into 6 hours of gravel road ahead before we would be back on the hard road. From that point onwards we needed 2 more hours to drive to the hotel. Going back was not an option, so we continued the road praying for a miracle that we would make it safely to the solid road before dark! It felt like a never ending drive! Just before it got completely dark we hit the hard road after driving for a bit more than 3 hours.

The Lord really gave us the wings we needed. We were so happy and thankful that we made it this far without a flat tire! We were already so relieved that all we laughed about the crazy road we just left! But then suddenly I saw something weird on the road but I couldn’t tell yet what it was exactly.. I screamed as loud a I could THERE IS SOMETHING ON THE ROAD!! My parents saw it last minute as well and we were already super close.. we were doing close to 130 km assuming we left the outback … wrong … highway here is different than in the Netherlands.. it was an giant cow in the middle of the highway! And on left hand side of the road even more cows!!

I had prayed for angels to protect us during this whole crazy road and they definitely intervened at this very moment! We all couldn’t believe it but we managed to miss the cows with just a millimetre distance on both sides. Pffff what an unbelievable and unreal day.. we arrived at our hotel very late. Happy that we made it, we got a treat from MacDonalds and could finally go to bed after an energy draining day.
Thank you Jesus for looking after us! For your protection all the way! We couldn’t have made it without you. We love you!

Wetsundays

On my bucketlist was definitely to visit the WhitSunday beaches! Unfortunately the tail of a typhoon hit Queensland and it was raining and storming so badly that the whole tour was canceled. We didn’t get the option to visit it at all. The only lucky thing was that we had a really nice hotel where we could rest and spend our time relaxing and eating good food. In the beginning we were a bit disappointed but in every situation you make the best. Life happens while you make other plans. I’m super grateful for all the things that I have seen already and the opportunities that I get by doing a world trip like this!

Fraser Island

Today will be a day full of adventure! We gonna explore Fraser Island in a 4WD bus.
They picked us up at the gas station and off we go to the ferry! We drove to the beach through the water and onto the ferry ready for some action. The ferry was very small and it looked like it existed more out of cars then ferry. The wind was quite strong. It was not the nicest weather for a trip like this but we didn’t care! We were super happy that we had the change to see this island.

We drove from the ferry directly on the beach. Took a street to the left because it was still high tyde. We drove through the bush, on sandy roads. It was a cool experience when we came out of the forrest and drove down on the beach again with an wide open view and the sea roaring right next to us! It was such an epic feeling.

We had some morning tea and coffee in the resort with some delicious treats and then we hit the road again to Lake Mackenzie. It’s the most beautiful lake with crystal blue water! Unfortunately it pored out rain when we arrived. We all got soaked and cold. My parents jumped in the lake for a swim, like some more people on the bus. But I had to go back to safe my camera from the rain. The last ten minutes of our time at the lake I ran back to the lake and took some photos with my GoPro. The rain stopped and it gave me a better opportunity to capture it and to enjoy this beautiful place.

After that we went to the Central Station and walked around in the rain forrest. It was absolutely stunning! Little waters running through it, beautiful green plants and trees. We enjoyed this little walk more then we thought before we started.

Everyone got hungry so we headed back to the resort for some lunch buffet. There was plenty to choose from! Our belly’s were satisfied. During the afternoon program we visited an old ship wreck. It lays on the beach and it’s massive. For some it might be just dirt but for me it was a piece of art! Truly beautiful how it lays in the sand with the ocean as a background.

We headed further to some orange rocks and after that we had a break to swim in a creek and take some photos on the beach! We just got very lucky that the weather changed from morning rain to sunny afternoon! It was just a lovely and great day.

Glass House Mountains & Noosa Everglades

Today we decided to be spontaneous! We heard about the Glass House Mountains and I got really excited about it. So we gave the information centre a visit to hear more about the mountains and what route or hike they would recommend. The man was really kind and helpful. He sent us on a hike all the way to the top!

Whoohoo we jumped in the car and drove to the start of the track. The weather was sunny and we were all excited! Heyhoo let’s gooo! We walked into the forrest and followed the signs. The track was intermediate level with some steep and rocky parts but that made it more adventurous! When we came to the top of the mountain we couldn’t believe our eyes! The view was 360* and it was absolutely stunning! I was in my happy moment! Smiling from ear to ear and soaking in all the amazing views!

What made it more exciting for me and a little bit scary as well is that there was no platform! You are just standing on a lot of different rocks on top of the mountain. We took lots of photos to keep this memory and feeling close! Suddenly I heard my dad saying look at the clouds! We’re gonna have a storm we have to go down right now!!! So as quickly as we could we hiked down. We could feel the wind getting tougher! But we were right in time back in the car when a few minutes later the heaven pored out lots of rain!

We drove further to the Noosa Everglades. Luckily that way up the rain stopped and the sun shined again. We decided to ask a boat rental if they had a boat for us so we could explore the Noosa River a bit more. We were right on time again! It’s our lucky day haha. We could rent it 1 hour before they were closing shop. So we took that opportunity and hit the waters. Somehow I thought an hour would be quit long but it passed by like it’s nothing. It was a fun experience to be on the water and seeing the sunlight reflecting on it, feeling the breeze and the lovely nature around it.

New Castle to Byron Bay

We stayed in a lovely hotel called Burwood Inn at NewCastle. A German guy is running the place and he gave us many sightseeing tips and the service was just really good! We felt welcome right away!

The next morning we woke up really early to hit the road again! But before we left NewCastle we first went to the beach to check out the sun rise! It’s a perfect way to wake up and start our drive.
We stopped for some breakfast on the way and decided to drive further without any stops so we would have some time to spend in Byron bay!

Byron bay is a fantastic village! It’s full of chill people, hippies, surfers and musicians. I felt directly at home. It’s also next to the beach! The beach vibe and relaxing atmosphere that is all over the village is just perfect! Byron Bay is know for its white lighthouse. That’s why our first stop was on top of the rock to see it for ourselves The views from there were just lovely. We decided to have some coffee and hot chocolate in the cafe next to it! Perfect start of our Byron Bay impression.
 
We checked into our hotel and went out to the unique streets of the village and we found a cool balcony cafe where we enjoyed a drink from the happy hour menu. We spent some time relaxing in this fun cafe and then we went out to a cute restaurant for dinner. That place was just so cozy, with a live musician and the food was sooo good! We loved everything about it!

Blue Mountains

Woow we arrived at our destination in the Blue Mountains! The view from the B&B balcony was gorgeous. We were amazed by it!

In the morning we went out for an early hike next to the cliff trough the Blue Mountains National Park. It was fresh, quiet and peaceful. It was a two hour hike where we walked most of it through the forrest and had some cool look out spots on the way and we ended at the waterfall. After that we walked back to our place to have an amazing breakfast on our balcony to soak in some more views before we headed further to the Blue Mountains gondola rides.

We bought a gondola ticket that took us through the whole park. We started with the gondola train down, walked a bit through the park, took the next gondola up and from there we took the third gondola that took us straight to the other side where we had a good view of the three sisters. We decided to give it a closer look and drove al the way to it. Took some nice pictures and where ready for some lunch.

My dad found a fun cafe down in the Blue Mountain valley that we could reach in 30 minutes! That sounded great! The weather was good and we found a lovely spot in the cafe garden. We enjoyed the food and each others company.

Sydney Baby!

Today is going to be one of my highlights of my time in Australia!! We’re gonna visit a service of Hillsong! We took the taxi from our hotel to Waterloo Hillsong. We found a nice place to sit and we truly enjoyed the service. The songs were wonderful and the message was really great, honest and pure! This service did not feel like ‘doing church' but truly felt real. I’m super happy that we had the opportunity to visit!
 
It’s lunch time! I surprised my dad with a late birthday gift. That’s why I booked an amazing culinary lunch experience on top of the Sydney 360* Tower! The view was just unforgettable and the food was delicious! We had 2,5 hours to enjoy the meals and soak in the views! It was an amazing experience and truly worth the money!
 

We walked from the tower to the botanical gardens and visit the lovely harbour where we had a nice view of the bridge and famous Opera building! Everything was vibrant, lots of people and a cozy atmosphere! I enjoyed all of it. This is a day I will remember.

Seals and hikes

Today we are making our way to Sydney!! Woohoo I’m so excited about this city.! We start our day good with a marvellous breakfast in a cute place on the way with a stunning view over the harbour! We decided to spend some time  looking around cause it looked really nice. We drove to a view point and one of the locals told us to go down and check out the hole in the rock and swimming seals down at the rocks in the ocean. That was a great tip! It was a lovely morning to be spend like that.

We planned two national parks for the afternoon. We drove to the first one and found out we didn’t put in the correct destination point to start our walk through the first park. It would have cost too much time to drive back to the correct starting point so we decided to skip the first and head towards the second!

So, as we go with the flow, we arrived at an amazing look out point that is on the way to our second national park. We stopped to soak in the view and took some picture to remember this place.
It was really beautiful! Then we drove further to the Royal National Park! Again we missed the start of a walking track. But this time we did drive back and started our hike through the valley: a hot sun, lots of rocks and bushes, yet totally ready for some action!

It was a fun track. Specially after a long time of driving and you just want to stretch your legs a bit! Well we didn’t stretch them for a little bit but for a very long time haha. Somehow this track doesn’t have proper signs to guide you. So unfortunately we choose the wrong way and walked for a long time and then had to walk that same long road all the way back. We found other people on the track who told us it was just 20 min further to the beach! With the time ticking towards sunset we decided to continue our hike to the beach!

On the way we had some further conversations about directions, but I was sure about the route! And yeeey we finally made it to the beach! We quickly took some pictures and then hurried all the way back on the track hoping we would get back to the car before dark.

Well we made it back right in time. We were all exhausted and satisfied! On the way back we saw a stunning sunset, it was a fun day!

Nobbies & 90 mile beach

This morning we start at the Nobbies before we leave Phillip Island again. The Nobbies is a nice view at the beach with two rocks standing out in the sea. I loved the place to start my day and walk around to take lots of photos of the surrounding.

We headed further to our destination Merimbula. It’s a long trip so luckily we planned a stop at 90 mile beach! A great and very long wide beach. Perfect to take some photos. We bought some snacks for lunch in the local shop and enjoyed the food at one of the picnic tables in the sun.

After that we drove straight to Merimbula. We arrived during sunset and we saw lots of wild kangaroos down the road. It was such a great experience to see them hopping around during sunset. Our house for the night lays at a beautiful lake! My mom and I hurried down quickly to the lake to take some photos before it got too dark. It was such a peaceful place!

Yeey my adventure down under is starting!

I’m super excited to see my parents again and to explore this incredible country called Australia with them. I flew to Melbourne and had two days by myself before my parents arrive. I walked around the city and made a spontaneous visit to see Roisin again! I met this lovely girl on the New Zealand Stray journey. It was so nice to reconnect in a different part of the world.
 
Ooeehh tomorrow will be the day to be reunited with my folks and have a little bit of home again after 4 months of traveling. Four months didn’t even feel that. It’s just funny when you look forward  to a certain moment you just want it to be there!

I opened my eyes, took a long bath, packed my stuff and waited downstairs in the lobby of the hotel. Whaa I see a white car arriving with two very familiar people in it! I jumped up and ran outside! My mom got out of the car first and l just ran in her arms! Happy tears rolling over my face.
Hi dad! Gave him a strong hug! He sad, Good to see you girl.

We went out for brunch in Melbourne and had a nice time to share stories. It so funny how normal it immediately felt to be together in Australia. This is the start of a great family adventure.
We headed towards Phillip Island to our Castle by the Sea. Haha that sounds funny! It was just a lovely room that we booked at the company that have that name.
 
Phillip Island is famous for their pinguïns. So After diner we headed to the beach. The penguins  will come out of the water at sunset. We had to wait quit a while before they walked over the beach into the grass looking for a place to sleep. We weren’t alowed to take any photos! So we don’t have any footage of it. But it was adorable to see those little creatures wiggling along. A great ending of our first day together.