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Susanne and Machiel
Susanne and Machiel

Susanne and Machiel

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    On the road in Western Australia

    4 марта 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    A day earlier we made a solid checklist to avoid the issues we had in Melbourne. So were feeling prepared when we walked into the Travellers Autobarn of Perth. We realized quickly that the van they offered us again had some mould starting on one curtain, so we asked them to replace it and they did. For the rest it didn't seem like there was much wrong with it. It helped that by now we had some van experience, specifically with this model as well.

    We spent a few hours shopping at a shopping center to stock up for awhile. We realized we could have easily bought cheaper camping chairs than what we now paid for at the rental company, so we keep learning. We also noticed that corona has lead to a shortage of certain products like toilet paper, pasta and hand sanitizer.

    It was ridiculously busy for a Wednesday afternoon and we couldn't figure out why. We also had some serious traffic driving out of Perth heading north, which is something we've not seen anywhere else in Australia or New Zealand. We realized we hadn't eaten lunch yet and drove into a fancy Perth suburb. Once we got on the Indian Ocean Road the road got empty quite quickly. After an hour or so we reached our highway rest area for the night. It was quite nice especially since even though there were plenty of other campers, we found the perfect spot a bit further from the road in the shade of some big trees.

    Due to the way the timezone works in Western Australia, the sun sets and rises early. So while it was going down we were having dinner and when we cleaned up it was almost dark. It was clear that we had to stay in this rhythm for awhile to make the most out of our days here. When we went to bed it was still pretty warm but during the night it cooled down and thanks to a window with mosquito net that this particular van has, we even had some fresh air in the night.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    New Zealand taps

    3 марта 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Due to a bit of a jetlag we were awake early on. But that didn't mean we'd do a lot today. First we had to wait until 8:30 for a rather late but free breakfast. Machiel tried a toast with the Australian version of marmite: vegemite. Not as nice as its counterpart from New Zealand, so we're going to give that one a miss. Afterwards we were researching stuff. The idea was to do a road trip to the north, but we were honestly taken a back a bit when we saw the weather forecast. Turns out even in March the temperatures can get quite high in the outback up north. Even in Perth we noticed we had to get used to the heat again after very pleasant weather back in the Melbourne area. We went for a walk to the visitor center of Western Australia to ask for some advice. This gave us reassurance and also some helpful information about the roads. We also bought a 4 week pass for national parks in Western Australia, stocked up on cash, looked a bit more into things we wanted to do along our road trip and prepared a van checklist and grocery shopping list for tomorrow. Then we were basically readily prepared for our big trip.
    The rest of the day we spend resting and reading about Super Tuesday and Corona.

    By the way, this will seem random but we realised we never properly complained about New Zealand water taps which only would be fair after having complained so much about South American showers. The thing about New Zealand taps is that they far too often just don't make any sense. Imagine for example a big sink and then in two opposite corner you have two tiny taps, one with hot and one with cold water. Not only can you not mix them to any other temperature, you also can't really put your hands under either of them because they are so close to the edge of the sink that there is no space. They were sadly very common, but there are also taps where you only get water as long as you hold the button pressed down meaning you can only wash one hand at a time, using that same hand, somehow? But the most brilliant tap is the one that combines the feature of having to press to get any water with don't press too hard because then you get a free shower with it. OK, rant over. We're not there anymore.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    To the West Coast

    2 марта 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    No time for a lazy morning today as, for the 2nd time in 5 days, we had to drive back to Melbourne to hand in our van. And this time we didn't want the stress of last time, so we left at 8:30. We took a few breaks along the way to pack our backpacks and have lunch with coffee and tea. When we did reach Melbourne we didn't have much time left either however to fuel the van, clean it, and go to the supermarket. Then we had secretly hoped someone at our van rental Travellers Autobarn would be so kind to drop us off at the airport, as we had read in some of the reviews on this location. But that wasn't possible. Maybe we hadn't filled in their survey positively enough. We got an evil Uber to bring us to the airport instead.

    Checking in our luggage at Melbourne Airport was great. It was all self service, very easy and without any queue. We had enough time left to carefully select our dinner option, just how we like it. We went for Vietnamese on site with a Subway footlong to go.

    The flight went well, and this time we had a window! Which fit the moment as there was a nice sunset going on and when the clouds cleared we could see a bit of the coastline. Arrival went quickly, inland flights are such a breeze compared to international ones. A bus took us to the city center. From there we still had to walk 2km to our hostel though, which wasn't great while being so sleepy. While local time was only 21:00, our bodies were still operating in Melbourne time, meaning it was midnight. We checked in and got some good news: we got upgraded from a dorm to a twin room. When we were shown the room it was full of stuff... the employee mumbled "what the fuck". 😂 So we got another room. All good. Just a bit cold for sleeping as all rooms are connected to this central airco system you can't control.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник
    1

    Jacuzzi for giants

    1 марта 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The goal of the day was to visit the western coast of the Great Ocean Road and return again to the same campsite for the night. After a bit of a lzay morning we headed towards the rough coastline. The waves were very high and it was great to stand at plenty of viewpoints just watching them crash against the limestone cliffs. We saw some very impressive splashes that must have been tens of meters high. In some of these inlets or coves the ocean looked like a jacuzzi for giants.

    After some viewpoints we stopped in a Port Campbell for lunch. We parked with a perfect view of the local swimming beach. Personally we found it way too cold to go in ourselves. But it was a lot of fun watching others in the waves with air tyres and surfboards. Eventually we got really sleepy and decided to take advantage of having a bed in our trunk: we went for a power nap.

    Part two of the day consisted of more viewpoints of cliffs and waves. We actually also made it to the famous 12 apostel everyone talks about when bringing up the Great Ocean Road. It was expectantly very crowded and in our opinion not as nice as what we had seen at other viewpoints along the road. There aren't really 12 apostles anymore, it's more like 5 or 9. Not that this matters anyway.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    When emu's attack

    29 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Our campsite was probably the least glamorous so far. There wasn't even a toilet. The only nice thing about it could be that it's a viewpoint on a mountain, however it was completely foggy so it was invisible until we almost left. We quickly made our way out of there and drove towards what we had left behind some days ago: the Great Ocean Road.

    On the way we stopped at the Tower Hill Lake. We read that it was a great spot for seeing wildlife and that turned out to be true. We went on a small walk around some wetlands and indeed spotted some sleepy koalas hanging in the trees. Very cute to see again. We also saw some emus walking around and one kangaroo. Back at the car park we decided to have lunch on one of the nice picnic benches. One of the emus also liked it there and seemed quite interested in our beetroot dip and wraps. It's slightly discomforting if an emu gets so close that it looks like it's gonna pick on you or your food. Luckily he didn't attempt too much and quickly found more interesting targets.

    Our next stop was the Cheese World. We had a quick look around their free museum on all sorts of old stuff like the first washing machines and a very old toaster. Then it was time to get one of their fresh milkshakes, which were really nice, especially the coffee flavoured one Susanne picked.

    The last stop of the day was called Childers Cove. We had finally made it to the Great Ocean Road again and saw some very beautiful coastline with a very nice beach and cool cliffs and limestone formations.

    Our chosen free campsite of the night was surrounding a cricket field, and when we arrived there was in fact a game going on. As we still didn't understand much of it we watched a YouTube video about the rules. We had a lentils curry for dinner in the sun before crawling into our sleeping bags again.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    The Pinnacle

    28 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    In the morning the Internet was working on the camping (it didn't the previous day). So we made use of that for our blog and some van research as we hadn't booked anything despite the flight to Perth yet. We also took a shower in a heated and modern sanitary block. So that was very nice.

    Our plan for the day: hiking in the Grampions. The hike was a loop of about 8km, with a 450 meter height difference. After 1km we had a lunch break at the Venus baths. They weren't as impressive as Cleopatra's pools in the Abel Tasman National Park but nonetheless not a bad lunch spot. The rest of the walk went through some narrow gorges, a section called the 'Grand Canyon' and by some narrow caves. Ultimately we reached the viewpoint, called 'the pinnacle' which basically a view of the entire Halls Gap valley. We could spot the town and our campsite of last night. It was very cool. A music festival just about started when we were on top of the cliff, and from there we could listen to it at a respectable volume.

    Being back at the car park, we decided it was really time to book a van in Perth. We called Britz, the supplier we favoured, just to hear that they were sold out for our dates. That was quite a shock as it made us realize that all these agencies apparently just look like they have vans from all suppliers available but in reality they only display them and once you book still need to check with the supplier if that's actually possible. It was also getting late and with all the kangoroos we didn't want to drive in the dark. We decided we had to go but because we don't have Internet in the forest, we needed to continue to the next town with a free campsite. About 60 km further we arrived in Dunkeld, ordered 2 pizzas and made a request for the same type of van we have now at Traveller's Autobarn via a German agency. Fingers crossed that this is actually available and we can do our road trip as intended. We parked at a stop next to the highway to eat the pizza and spend the night.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Camping safari

    27 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    After a good night's rest in Beaufort we continued our way west towards the Grampions. On the way we did some cheap grocery shopping at the Aldi in Ararat, and not too long after we arrived in Halls Gap. Here we had the choice between a free camping further south, or stay near Halls Gap. The positive reviews for a camping near the town convinced us enough to stay. We ended up on a fantastic spot on the edge of the campsite with nice nature next to it. We spotted some cockatoos and other birds while doing some much needed laundry.

    There's many hiking options in the Grampions, and for today we set out to do a small hike to the so called 'balconies'. The views on the way were already nice, with some cool rock formations. Getting to the balconies viewpoint, it was ruined a bit by other tourists climbing over fences illegally and spoiling the view for the rest, but it was still nice.

    Coming back from the hike, we checked how our laundry was doing. There wasn't much sun but the wind was trying its best. Then when walking to our camper spot we suddenly saw a new kind of animal crossing the road... kangaroos! 😊. Initially we were a bit careful from a distance, but we soon realized these guys were pretty tame and used to the attention. They spent the rest of the day feeding and looking around on the campsite. While we were enjoying watching them, a fellow camper let us know there were some deer and emu's at the other side of the campsite. We couldn't get as close to them as to the kangaroos, but it was still cool. At our camper there were loads of sulphur-crested cockatoos flying around, and later we also saw some long-billed corella cockatoos right next to our camper.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Trip restart

    26 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    We woke up to rain hitting our van. We took showers, and had breakfast in the common kitchen area, which wasn't full of pensioners this time. At 10:30 we had to leave the campsite, so that's what we did but all we then did was park immediately next to the street. We hadn't slept too well and we were increasingly unhappy with the van and worried about our health. With the windows closed in the night, we could just smell the mold. We also did some further inspection on the vehicle and found mold also on the ceiling and in the mattress. So we concluded quite quickly that we didn't want to continue in it. We called customer service and asked for our options. They proposed we could buy anti mold spray and new mattresses and declare all the costs for it. But we figured that would mean we'd spend a lot of time and effort and still not be comfortable in this van as the chronical issue would still remain. The better option seemed to be returning our vehicle to Melbourne to exchange it for a new one. We negotiated that we'd be compensated for 2 rental days and the fuel costs.

    By now it was 11:45 and we needed to make it back to Melbourne before 16:00. So we drove away immediately and after a few driver swap stops and a short lunch break, we arrived at 15:30. Halfway back we received a mail from Travellers Autobarn confirming the compensation. It took us a bit by surprise as they only wanted to refund the daily rental rate but not the daily insurance rate (which costs just as much). They also only wanted to compensate whatever was missing in the fuel tank but not what we had fueled the day before. Nonetheless, when we arrived, they were very sorry, agreed with the moldy state of the vehicle and swapped it for a newer slightly bigger van. So that was very nice. This time we had airbags, a central locking system, electric mirror adjustments, etc. Most importantly, it wasn't full of mold. We moved all our stuff and drove off again. This time a lot happier, we quickly realised that this had been the right call.

    We had decided to go to the Grampions now as we didn't know if our time was gonna be enough to see those and the Great Ocean Road again. 2 hours later we arrived in Beaufort where we decided to spend the night. They call themselves an 'RV friendly town', there were no signs disallowing us, so we parked next to a small park and public toilet building. We cooked some pasta and ate it outside on our camping chairs. When it got dark we went into our van. It has a very long bed (probably about 2.3m) and felt very comfortable and this time we weren't disgusted by touching the surroundings.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Koalas!

    25 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We woke up early and had breakfast in our rental van after figuring out how to transform the bed into a sitting area. Afterwards we drove to the town of Lorne to fill up our water tank. It was here when we realised that the filling system leaked but we weren't yet aware on how bad it was. So we drove up to a nice viewpoint of the coastline and further down the road had a small walk to a waterfall. The waterfall wasn't that big but the setting was pretty nice with the rocks surrounding it. In Kennet River we wanted to go and see some koalas. But here is when we realised that the water leak was apparently so big that the whole carpet in the back of the car was soaked. We decided to be annoyed enough now by leaks and mold and called the Travellers Autobarn to complain. They were trying to be nice and helpful but we got the feeling they were mainly worried about the leak rather than actually understanding that it was making us uncomfortable living in a moldy van. We sent some evidence, let's see what their final reaction will be.

    We started our koala walk and we indeed spotted two of them. They were mainly hanging in the tree doing what they are doing 20 hours a day: sleep. They're apparently the dumbest mammals in existence, and wouldn't recognise their only food as food unless they can eat it directly from the tree: poisonous leaves that they then spend most of their energy on to digest. But they're fluffy and cute. Once in a while they were moving an arm or leg as if to stretch before sleeping further.

    After a pretty late lunch we continued our way on the Great Ocean Road. Eventually we arrived in Apollo Bay and since we realized that there were 'no camping or overnight parking' signs everywhere along the way, we decided to go for a cheapish but official camping in the town. Originally we wanted to wash here as well but it was already a bit late and they predicted rain in the morning. So no chance to dry our clothes on time.

    We had a pretty great wraps dinner while a big group of retired Australians enjoyed their trip away from Melbourne. They were very nice and talkative and we benefited two great chocolate cake pieces from them for dessert.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    On the road again

    24 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We left Geoff's place to do the one thing he told us would be a waste of time: travelling along the Great Ocean Road. To be honest, by now our expectations were also not that high anymore, but we still wanted to have a look at this part of Australia. With all our belongings on our back we made it to the tram. After a switch of trams in the city center, we reached the van rental place in Airport West after about 1,5 hours. Melbourne is big.

    Having jealously looked at all the people with vans in New Zealand, we were excited to finally get our own. We got the paper work done and then got an introduction into our rental van: how to check cooling water and oil levels, how the sink works, etc. Only when driving away we slowly realised that we didn't really believe this van was from the claimed year 2010. It doesn't even have electronic windows or airbags and looks surprisingly similar to the 20 year old van Susanne owned in New Zealand 10 years ago. We also really had to get used to the manual transmission, especially given that the shifter is on the left and had seen better days. But after awhile we got used to it.

    After some stops for grocery shopping, lunch, and a few navigation mishaps, we made it to Geelong. A couple of nice retired volunteers gave us some booklets and tips about the region. We decided on a free campsite near Lorne. On the way we stopped at Bells Beach to look at surfers catching some quite big waves. Then in Lorne we first had a stop for buying ice. This supermarket in particular had an 'ice room' where you could pick up your bag of ice. ❄️

    The campsite was pretty great for a free one. In a quiet forest they had plenty of camping spaces, and toilets too. The forest also had some mystic atmosphere with the clouds hanging in the trees. It was time to prepare our van bed for the first time and find out how to cook with the stuff we got. We got one of these suitcase-like gascookers. They seem more wind resistant than our hiking stove, so that was great. We found storage space for our backpacks, found decent pillows and a bed sheet. Together with our sleeping bags that made the bed. The mattress itself wasn't that amazing as it was quite thin. Also, the curtains looked like they had a bit of mold everywhere. So that wasn't that great either. Nonetheless we fell asleep early.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Walking the lap

    23 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today was the big day! Visiting Albert Park, traditionally the hosting venue of the first Formula 1 race of the season. Machiel was so excited he was already awake at 5. Or who knows, maybe he really had slept enough after 7 hours like he claimed 😏 Susanne wasn't aware of that, so we actually only left the apartment at 10. A short tram ride brought us close to the park, after which 5.3km of walking were waiting for us. The preparations for the race in just 3 weeks were fully going on. That was nice as it meant that it was largely closed for normal traffic so we could walk just on the track itself. We entered the circuit just before turn 13 in the 3rd sector. It was interesting to see the poor state much of the asphalt and kerbs were in. Not sure if that's still getting some maintenance in the next 3 weeks. The gravel traps weren't ready yet either, but the gravel was already delivered. We tried to sneak into the pit entrance, but were unfortunately stopped by some security people.

    Walking onto the start/finish straight there was a supercar meetup of some sorts, with some of them also driving on parts of the straight being loud and looking expensive. We continued into sector 1, where the usual road cuts out a part of the circuit, which in everyday life functions as a parking lot. In sector 2 we spoke to some painters who were painting parts of the Pirelli logo on the wall, turns out they had to do hundreds of them. We continued but it was getting tough as it was very sunny and around 25 degrees. Before completing our lap we had a nap under the shadow of a tree along the back straight, right next to the golf course. After that we only had the challenging turn 11-12 complex to go, which didn't look as impressive because they straighten it a bit for the normal road traffic. Laptime: around 2,5 hours, including a nap.

    Most of the afternoon we spend in the apartment before heading out to St. Kilda for the evening. We walked along the beach boulevard and had dinner at a nice vegan restaurant.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Guitar lesson

    22 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    In the morning we were finally able to book the first part of our Australian leg. Our favourite scenario from the previous day still sounded good to us. So we rented a van for a week in the Melbourne region and booked a flight to Perth on March 2nd. This relaxed us a bit and made us able to visit Melbourne without worrying about the next days.

    We took the tram to the centre and there had a look around. We walked over the Federation Square, saw some street art in the streets around and then crossed the Yarra River, which splits the city in two. The view on the high modern skyscrapers with smaller older buildings in between was quite nice. Walking alongside the river we started seeing more and more rowing teams on the water. There were also loads of people running and cycling. We had lunch watching the rowers. Then we made our way back to the centre and took a tram to the Queen Victoria Market. After walking a bit around there and buying some fruit, we once more went to the river. Now the rowing practice had stopped and the actual competition had started. We walked further towards the Botanical Garden. It was huge and so green it was hard to believe we were still in a 5 million inhabitant city. Not surprisingly there were also lots of people running and cycling. After a short break on the very soft grass, we continued our way home. We didn't yet see enough sport today, so it came in handy that we passed by cricket practice 😊. The day definitely gave us the impression that Melbourne loves sport.

    When we came back to the appartement, Susanne got a free guitar lesson from our host Geoff on 3 of his 4 electric guitars. Then it was time for dinner, finance calculations and bed.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    The Australian puzzle

    21 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Before going on our world trip we left a goodbye present for our nephew Morris: a puzzle of the world. Australia is one piece of his puzzle, but for us today Australia seemed like a puzzle of a thousand pieces. The locations on our wishlist seemed impossible to combine within budget and time. We were starting to be OK with going a bit over budget knowing that except for Fiji we had stayed below the whole time. But the next problem wasn't far. We learned that single vehicle accidents were simply not insured with any van rental company that had an open office in Alice Springs or Broome before April. So that meant our original plan of three weeks Melbourne-Alice Springs and then three weeks Broome- Perth was simply not possible because Alice Springs and Broome had closed offices. Next we considered making it one big road trip Melbourne- Alice Springs- Broome- Perth. Then we learned that sealed streets between Alice Springs and Broome could very well be flooded until the end of March (explaining why most van rental offices there are closed until then). So if we didn't want to repeat our Fjordland experience from New Zealand, this wasn't really the way to go either. We ended up researching 8 different route scenarios with estimated kilometres and costs. In the end we had one favourite option: 1 week van rental to travel the area around Melbourne, a flight to Perth, 3 weeks van rental to do a round trip north of Perth and then a final flight to either Adelaide or Alice Springs to rent another van traveling the way to the Ayers Rock, Olgas and King's Canyon. We weren't entirely sure about the exact dates yet. So we decided to let it sink in a bit and have a nice evening walk to clear our minds after hours of tough research.Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник
    1

    Melbourne

    20 февраля 2020 г., Австралия ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Last night we noticed signs hanging around the hostel buildings with a warning for people that needed to go to the airport in the early morning. The president of Israel was flying in for a visit and that meant the roads to the airport would be closed between 5 and 7. Our flight was at 8 though so it didn't matter too much, but we did arrive quite early by taxi just to be sure. We had breakfast at an airport café and then waited for the flight. Then we discovered that while Fiji welcomes you with songs and flowers, on the way out they quite literally leave you high and dry. Right before getting onto the plane they stole everyone's water bottles, which was quite mean for a 6 hour flight. Unfortunately our 'window seat' couldn't put the smile back on our face either. But at 12:30 local time we landed in Melbourne, and after 9 days in high humidity and airco's we were able to breathe in relatively normal air, so that made us happy.

    The Melbourne Airport SkyBus brought us to St. Kilda, where we were picked up by Geoff, our AirBnB host for the next 4 nights. He's a friendly guy who also immediately made sure we'd get a transportation pass. Once at his home, we got a tour of the house and got to know that he really doesn't mind sharing everything including his guitars, books and food. Despite being very tired from the journey, our stomachs were begging for some proper food so we walked to the nearest supermarket through the rather nice Chapel shopping street. It wasn't hard to fall asleep after that.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник
    3
    2

    Preparing for Australia

    19 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We stayed in bed long this morning. Our stomachs were not too happy for already a while. So we decided to take it slow with food now that we actually could decide the eating times ourselves and had to pay for it by choice of meal rather than for a daily package. After a late breakfast and Susanne being addicted to a book, it was time to face reality. In less than 24 hours we were gonna be in Melbourne and apart from the first 4 nights, we had nothing booked and no real plan on what to do and how. Panic set in, especially when we realised that no matter how we looked at it, it was gonna be more expensive than our daily budget.

    We researched anyways and got a global idea of what we wanted to see in the coming 7 weeks. Currently that means 3 weeks for the route Melbourne - Great Ocean Road - Adelaide - Ayers Rock - Alice Springs, then a magic transfer to Broome or Perth and then another 3 weeks for the route Perth - Broome or Broome - Perth. We haven't decided yet nor booked anything. So we'll see in the next days what we end up with. We had a late small dinner at the hostel restaurant, packed our big backpacks again and got ready for our early flight tomorrow.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Back to Nadi

    18 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    An early alarm at 5:00 because we wanted to try and see the sunrise on the other side of the island. So we set of in the dark with our headlamp on. We heard it would take 40 minutes, but it only took us 20 minutes. There were a few other people on top of the hill, and the clouds had already turned red in places. Unfortunately there were also a lot of clouds on the horizon, so we weren't experiencing a true sunrise, but by now we're used to that. It was nonetheless nice enough to have a look at the island besides the resort, and also the islands around us.

    We'd leave Nacula Island today, but not before some more snorkeling in the nice reef in front of the resort. We spotted a couple of new fishes again: triggerfish and a kind of anemonefish. Also what we believe to be porcupine fish, but we're not really sure. And with that our relaxing time on the beautiful Yasawa Islands had come to an end.

    The boat picked us up around 1, and with our ordered lunch wraps to go we had to settle to spend the rest of the afternoon on the water until we'd reach Nadi. We were a bit worried about getting seasick, but it turned out alright. To pass the time we read books, and talked to people that we had met earlier at the island resorts. In Nadi the fancy bus took us back to the hostel area. There we spent a long time queueing to check in, but this time we were also smart to in the meantime buy water for the rest of our stay here. Our hostel room wasn't as good as the one we had last week, but it was alright.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Making a beach basket

    17 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    The day started with our favorite breakfast - crepes with maple sirup. Yummy! After some digesting time it was time to try out our handcraft skills. We joined the free activity of basket weaving. We all got part of a coconut tree leaf, some very brief explanation - 'take every second one' - and there we went. We figured out the weaving part, but it was still a miracle on how to transform this flat part into a basket. Turns out it 'just' takes some braiding and a knife and there you go. Ready is your new beach basket. It wasn't all that simple though but with some help we got there. It was quite a lot of fun.

    With our new baskets we then made out way to two shaded sunbeds and went for some snorkeling again. We just don't get tired of it. This time we spotted some weird plants that looked like underwater versions of the land based meat eating plants. Sometimes it moved a bit as if it was breathing. We also spotted some interesting fish that looked like a mix of fish and jellyfish or so. We stayed in the water for quite long so when getting out we were really tired and ready for a nap. The night also gave us a great sunset sky.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник
    2
    2

    Going to church

    16 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    Today was Sunday so we went to church. A boat took us to a beach near Nacula village, the largest on the island. Because it was Sunday, our boat was apparently not allowed to go to the beach at the village itself. Which was nice as it meant that after a small walk through the forest, we also walked through part of the village. Most houses were in poor condition, but everyone seemed to be happy. The church was quite big for how small the village was. And it was one out of three churches in this village. The service itself was a sweaty version of the church services we know except that we didn't understand much because of the language. We had secretly hoped the happy spirit of the Fijian volk would show through a bit more, but as it turns out that's more the case at one of the other two churches in the village.

    In the afternoon we went snorkeling once again. At one point we saw two rays on the ocean floor. Very cool. And again we saw plenty of colorful fish. It just seems like every time we spot some more cool fishes. We are still in the process of learning their names. So far we identified the Bluebanded Surgeonfish, Moorish Idol, several kinds of Butterflyfish, Bicolor Parrotfish and Bullethead Parrotfish. Susanne also spotted a lion fish, which we later found out can be venomous. Only when touching it though.

    Before dinner the staff performed some Fijian songs in a choir. Dinner was a la carte, and after that it was movie night. The people voted for Ford vs Ferrari, which Machiel was very happy about. It was an interesting experience to watch it on a canvas sheet hung up between palm trees, with the waves crashing right behind it. Susanne wasn't too interested and instead enjoyed the company of an Israelian couple who are on a similar trip as us.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Blue Lagoon

    15 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    After 3 nights we were going to leave the Barefoot Manta resort on Drawaqa Island. Despite the worsening weather we've grown to like it here, mainly because of the sincere kindness of the staff. We had a relaxed morning and one employee told us the story of Fiji, as a thank you for the beach cleaning the previous day. Then part of the staff performed a farewell song for us. They are really good here in putting lots of emotions in songs. We were taken to the Yasawa Flyer and then we went up north to Nacula Island.

    On arrival we were given a short briefing about the resort by the Australian owner and were taken to our dorm. No beach hut this time, but a simple airconditioned room. It was quite different here compared to the last resort. Airconditioning, a pool, proper huts with real walls, a beach bar with (loud) music etc. In a lot of way it's fancier here, including the food. But we grew to like the simplicity, quietness and especially the caring employees of the Barefoot Manta. To phrase it with the words of an Israeli we met: 'Here they told their employees to serve the guests. Back there they told them to host the guests.'

    After lunch we wanted to try snorkeling. Machiel realised at this point that his water shoes were still at Barefoot Manta. After a few visits to the reception, they managed to contact them and request them to be sent over with the next shipment of tourists the following day. The only thing we were missing was a confirmation that they were found, so we were far from sure this was going to work.

    Anyway, we borrowed an extra set of fins and went snorkeling. It was very much low tide which meant it was difficult to swim over the coral. Despite the limited options, we still saw quite some fishes. The coral however wasn't as nice as on the previous island. Less colorful and, if our limited knowledge is correct, also quite some dead or unhealthy coral. After a shower, we were tipped to walk up the hill behind the resort for sunset. We quickly put on our shoes and left, but unfortunately we were just a few minutes late. We enjoyed dinner talking to a US-Ukrainian couple, and further enjoyed the nice view.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Plastic soup

    14 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    The day started with the simple thought of going snorkeling in the awesome coral reef on the sunrise beach where we had such a great time the previous day. But it was a bit windy from the east, so that didn't look ideal. We borrowed rental gear again and first tried the sunset beach on the other side. Unfortunately it turned out there wasnt much going on there, few fishes and no coral. Worst of all, there was basically just sand so the visibility was poor. We tried the north beach, and despite the eastern wind making it also wavy and tougher to swim, we did see some coral and a few fishes. But it wasn't all that, especially after yesterday's experience. So we went back to sunrise beach. Another snorkeler just got out of the water. We asked him about his experience but he didn't sound too positive and the waves looked even tougher than on the north beach. So we decided to skip snorkeling for the morning.

    Instead we thought we'd make ourselves useful and do a beach walk. This was announced to us at breakfast as a 9am activity in which we'd collect plastic trash from the beaches. Now it was already 10:30 though. The guy organising it seemed very disappointed that no one had shown up at 9am but he seemed very thankful and happy when we volunteered to do it now. With a pair of plastic gloves and a trash bag each, we made our way to sunrise beach. Within an hour we had collected a significant amount. Plastic straws, tooth brushes, lighters, clothes pegs, shavers, cookie bags, flip-flops and countless of plastic bags in all sizes and huge pieces of hard plastic whose origin we couldn't figure out. While knowing about the plastic soup in the oceans, it was still shocking. We went snorkeling at this same beach the day earlier and you generally didn't even notice it much, even at the shoreline. But walking by it now specifically looking for trash, you keep finding more and more of it and it never ends. When lunch time arrived, our bags were heavy and we handed them in. After lunch we wanted to try more snorkeling, but the wind was only gaining in power. Susanne still bravely gave it a go. Still the same fishes and coral as the day before just a bit more tiring as you had to fight the wind, waves and resulting current.

    The wind kept increasing, to the extent of everyone leaving the sunrise beach and finding somewhere to chill on the other side of the main resort building. We did as well, and it wasn't bad at all there because the clouds and strong breeze made it a little cooler. We asked employee Sam for a coconut and even though it wasn't on any menu, he got us two fresh ones. Later in the afternoon we went for a little walk along sunset beach. At the very end we discovered some small sharks that were hunting small fishes near the shore. Sometimes they were as close as a meter from the rocks we were standing on. Around the corner would have been the perfect wind shaded private spot for a valentines day sunset. Just the clouds weren't playing along. So we headed back to the resort to have dinner with a pasta buffet. Our table was joined by one of our new roommates and another girl and we kept talking until it was time for bed.

    In the meantime the wind got so strong that we were seriously a bit worried about all the coconuts above our heads. Luckily they didn't fall when we passed but we still heard the wind the whole night and for the very first time here we slept with the door and windows facing the ocean closed.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Snorkeling

    13 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Early in the morning the air wasn't too bad. We shortly enjoyed the non-sweat moment before the sun got strong again. The breakfast buffet was pretty good: toast, fruit, and pancakes. We relaxed a bit in the hammocks, then tried out the water with our borrowed snorkeling gear. It wasn't hard to find some fish, some were practically already visible from the shore. Further into the water we found some great coral, fish of all kinds, and even a pretty big blue sea star. There were swarms with thousands of maybe 2cm small very blue fish. We saw lots of different 10cm big fishes, some were striped like zebras, others blue with a bit of yellow or white and some where simply incredibly blue. There were also bigger fish, like trumpet fish which were maybe half a meter long but only what looked like 3cm thick. Another type was combining purple with blue, yellow and a bit of red. And our favorite, called pennant coralfish. And lots of others. But the most amazing thing was probably the coral and its intensive blue color. We hadn't seen this before in Langkawi or Lombok.

    After lunch it became low tide, and we went in again for some more exploration. It felt even better as the low tide meant we were so close to the coral right from the beach. The low tide also meant that getting ashore was trickier, which we found out the hard way when we tried to reach another beach but didn't find a way between the coral to safely get there. So our last snorkeling of the day was stretched out a bit further than we would have liked. It was still amazing to see the underwater life but we were exhausted when we got back. Perfect time to try the hammocks for a bit more.

    In the evening we again had dinner with live music. This time not a buffet but a nice three course meal, including ice cream :)    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Barefoot Manta

    12 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    With the pizza delay from yesterday's dinner in mind, we left the hostel extra early. We dropped off some luggage we didn't need for Yasawa, and had some toast and cereal at the breakfast bar. We had heard that buying water on the islands was expensive. The advice was to buy water on the boat that taxis between Nadi and the island, the "Yasawa Flyer" . Better yet we figured we would buy water on the mainland. There was a little shop next to the hostel that advertised 6 bottles for 10FJD, but unfortunately it was closed when we had arrived and also when we left in the morning. A fancy airconditioned bus took us and 30 others to Port Denarau. After searching there for awhile, we bought 6 bottles for 20FJD. Then we boarded the Yasawa Flyer. The waves at times got rough and made us a bit seasick, but after all it was OK. After 3 hours we reached our island. We were picked up by smaller boats and then brought to resort Barefoot Manta. It's called that due to the chance of swimming with manta rays, but they're only here between April and November.

    Arriving at the beach, we were received by a small group of employees playing a welcome song for us. We got some instructions, had to sign some papers and pay the meal plan. Then we were led to our 'bure', which was surprisingly nice. It was a beach hut with 4 beds but we were for today the only guests and our beds were not even bunk beds. Right in front of it we had 2 beach chairs and our own private beach excess. After a quick look we had lunch. We could choose between a fish meal, chicken vegetable pasta and lemon couscous. We went for the first two options and it tasted quite nice. We also realized that buying water here is cheaper than on the boat, so it all doesn't really matter.

    Afterwards we felt quite defeated by the hot humid weather. We went back to our bure, read books and napped and wondered if we would get used to it. Too bad that not even the water can cool you down as it is just as warm as the air. At 7 we went for dinner to the sunset bar. A big buffet with salads, rice, bread, fish, meat and grilled vegetables was waiting for us. It was very tasty and while talking to a Flemish girl and listening to live local music, we had a very nice dinner at the beach next to a campfire. It got dark early, we were quite tired from this long day, so we went for a shower and made it back into our private bure.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Bula!

    11 февраля 2020 г., Фиджи ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    So last night we struggled to get our clothes dry. This morning we had a little bit of time to get them properly dry, and the sun was there to help. Nevertheless, we had to really leave 10:30 the latest, to get fuel and to deliver the car. So it felt like a race against time. But the sun did its job and despite all pessimism dried it all just on time.

    The flight went well, Machiel's ears were OK so it seems the efforts taken for that in New Zealand paid off. But time will tell. We landed in Fiji! "Bula!" is what everyone likes saying to greet you. So that's a new word learned. The first thing we noticed was the warmth and humidity. How were we going to get used to this? This nice feeling of every single part of your body becoming sticky...

    While on the plane we had to fill in two forms this time: one for bio security, and one for corona. We still had some leftover nuts and cookies with us, that in New Zealand or Chile would properly not have been allowed in, but here the check was incredibly relaxed and we were allowed to take it all as long as we "declared it". Not sure if that's how bio security works, but OK.

    In the arrival hall, we got some cash from the ATM, and exchanged our booking confirmation for proper vouchers for the boats we had booked. After a long wait for our shuttle bus to arrive, we were driven to our hostel. Except the formula works a bit differently here, because it's more like you have a dozen or so hostels all owned by 1 organisation, with one reception and restaurant where everyone who stays at any of these hostels will end up having to go to. We eventually figured it out and made it to our nicely air conditioned dorm room. Not too bad. But we were still missing dinner. So we had to go back out into the hotness. Back at the restaurant we ordered a pizza and fries. The very long wait for those was made more interesting by the Dutch couple we had met in the shuttle. We could share some nice sandfly traumas and got to know that corona will make them get stranded in Hongkong Airport for 3 days.

    Eventually we were fed well, packed our bags or better the bag-we-will-store-here-until-we-return-in-6-days for the following morning (we really didn't intend to take all our camping gear on the 2 islands we were going to stay on) and went to bed again.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    Goodbye tent?

    10 февраля 2020 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    New Zealand really wanted to get rid of us, or at least the sandflys made us think so. As soon as the sun rose behind the mountains and it got pleasantly warm in the tent, they were all up again swarming between the tent layers, around the entrance or just chilled on top of the tent. It was a shame because instead of enjoying breakfast on our beach towels at the lake surrounded by mountains we had to flee into the car. And the most annoying thing about it is that none else seems to have this problem. It's as if all the sandflies in the wider area collectively decide that we are the target. The 2 other tents at the camping were totally fine and the guy next to us almost couldn't believe it when he saw the sandflies around us and our tent. So apparently we just smell really good, as does our tent, and our car, apparently... After hastily packing our stuff we drove off to brush our teeth somewhere else. We just wanted to get out of there.

    On the way back to Christchurch we stopped at the Castle Hill Limestones. A fun walk among humongous boulders. Like the elephant boulders we saw some time ago, but then even better. We had a typical New Zealand pie somewhere for lunch, and had a few other quick stops with not so noteworthy viewpoints. Arriving in Christchurch, we still had quite a few things to do before our flight. Grocery shopping, a stop at the farmacy, laundry, and a much needed hairdresser for Machiel. Especially the laundry at the campsite became an issue when it just didn't want to dry quickly enough. At least no sandflies though. In the meantime we made a wraps dinner and booked the transportation for the Fiji islands. After a shower it was time for bed. The weird thing was that we didn't know if this was the last time we would sleep in this tent. For the next 3.5 months we most likely won't sleep in any tent and seeing how the front zipper slowly stops working and the tent is more than 6 years old, it would be an easy way to save some space and weight. And while Machiel can think about this very rationally, Susanne struggles more as this became our home over the past months.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник
    2

    The sandflies strike back

    9 февраля 2020 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    The day started with picture management and buying more ebooks. Then we checked out and started another great road trip day. Today's plan was driving at least half of Arthur's Pass. The first part was still through a wide valley with farm land and enormous river beds but then the valley got more narrow and the climb up slowly started. Along the way we found Gandalf and a viewpoint. At around 11:30 we arrived at the car park of Devil's Punchbowl. It sounds worse than it is though. We were preparing for our 1 hour walk to the waterfalls there and that's when we realized. Where is Machiel's small bag? We searched the whole car just to conclude that we must have left it at the previous camping. A call to the camping confirmed it. Since Susanne's Swiss knife was also in there, it made sense to pick it up. Sucks, but after hiking to the waterfalls we drove back and forth to get it, eating lunch while driving to win a little time back.

    When we reached the same location again, we drove to the Bealey Spur track for a longer hike. It was a nice trail, not too steep, through the forest with views of the valley. At the top the wind was very strong which made it hard to make pictures of us. We tried our best and then went further to lake Pearson where we wanted to camp. It was cheap and the landscape was nice. We went out of the car. A little later there were a couple of sandflies. Not too bad though. We walked to the grass field to find a nice spot for our tent. There were a few more sandflies now. We got the tent from the car and set it up. Even more sandflies now. When cooking dinner it felt like by now the sandflies had called their mates from all over the country to celebrate our arrival. It was simply horrible. To make it all even worse, Susanne's spork broke in half. We had dinner in the tent and only left it once more to brush teeth before sleeping.    Читать далее

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backПутешественник

    New Zealand forests at its best

    8 февраля 2020 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    There was heavy rain predicted at 8 in the morning, so we woke up before 7 to pack the tent. We had breakfast in the camping hangar and then went to the DOC office around the corner. Our plan was quite ambitious as we wanted to travel the 300km westcoast part up to Kumara today. And along the way, so our hope, do some short walks to stretch our legs and see the landscape. The DOC woman was helpful in telling us where to find the first one of those. Just 16km north we could visit a swamp forest with a 20 minute walk. Once there we first waited a bit until the rain stopped though. Luckily the weather forecast was quite accurate and we didn't see any rain anymore after 11 just as predicted.

    The swamp forest was quite cool. Even more than usual everything is growing on top of each other here, lots of moss everywhere, water on the floor. Very pretty, maybe our favourite forest so far. After a quick and not so spectacular viewpoint stop, we drove straight to Fox. Fox and 30km further Franz Josef are the two towns that are known for their glaciars. Susanne had done a glaciar hike here 10 years ago. Turns out by now those walks are apparently only doable by helicopter transfers. We are not sure why exactly but it might have to do with the shocking retreat. Already back then not comparable in size to some we had seen in Patagonia, a documentation book showed that now there was almost nothing left of the glaciar tongue in the valley. We got a bit sad and decided to skip this area. Instead we opted for lunch with a nice lake view and no sandflies. We were prepared for the worst, as we were finally at the West Coast, their homeland. But they were not home apparently. Lucky us!

    Along the way we also saw some damaged road parts with landslides and construction workers. Later on we had two more nice but not too special forest walks at lake Mahinapua and Mananui Bush. In Hokitika we got some delicious burger takeaways and then drove further to Kumara, where we camped at the Greenstone Retreat. Funny to imagine a town called Sükattoffel or zoete aardappel. The place was cute but maybe a little too hippie and alternative for us.    Читать далее

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