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Half around the world and back
  • Susanne and Machiel
  • Susanne and Machiel

Half around the world and back

Susanne & Machiel attempt to travel for a bit. Læs mere
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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Snorkeling at Coral Bay

    12. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    It was Machiel's birthday. So the day started with a call to home. On the way to Coral Bay we saw more and more termite nests, most of which were taller than we were. It gave us a new variation of the Australian bush desert to look at while driving. In Coral Bay we checked into one of their expensive campsites and relaxed in the shade. The bush flies gave Machiel a nice present by not being present, so we could use our table and chairs and sit outside without a headnet! After a few slices of regular bread lunch we went to have some birthday pie and cake at the local bakery until our stomachs felt too full.

    After our stomachs felt better and the worst heat of the day was over we went to the beach, just when it was also getting cloudier. We first wanted to go into the water a bit outside of the bay to then drift with the current back. While walking through the shallow water we saw three blue spotted rays very close to us buried in the sand. One got between us and the beach and felt cornered so swam away with hyper drive, quite close to us. As there was nobody else around in the water there and we didn't feel too confident, we walked back to the bay where there were more snorkelers. Like the brochure says: "when in doubt, don't go out!".

    Back in the bay getting in the water was easier as it was steeper. It was completely cloudy at this point and there had been some strong winds earlier, which didn't help the underwater visibility. Nonetheless, the fish activity was amazing. There were many decently sized fish right at the shoreline, curiously swimming around our feet. Then when we put our heads under water we were immediately greeted by a 1 meter long spangled emperor. Turns out he wasn't alone either, and even while standing on the shoreline we could see many of them swim by. They were intimidating at first but they seemed nice and we got well used to them. The fish and the coral was nowhere near as colorful as in Fiji, but we did see several lionfish, which are cool but also creepy being venomous and all. The water was also noticeably colder than in Fiji, where we figuratively could stay in the water the whole day without getting cold. After going in and out a few times we were losing temperature and at some point had to call it a day.

    After a shower in somewhat OK bore water, we went to the café next to the camping for a nice pizza, salad and birthday beers.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Cape Range National Park

    13. marts 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    It rained a bit in the night, and there was more rain predicted. As the wind was also strong, we decided against staying at our campsite for another day. The snorkeling wouldn't be good. We packed our stuff, filled our water bottles and water tank, and drove north.

    In Exmouth we restocked at the supermarket, filled our fuel tank and cooked lunch at the town beach. We thought the latter was a good idea to avoid the flies, and have some wind to feel colder. Turned out we had a lot of wind and still some flies. Overall not the best experience but we made it work. Interestingly enough though, despite the fact that they tell you how valuable water is everywhere, just when we had lunch, a truck drove by to water the gravel street and us. We drove further and via the northern tip of the peninsula we got into the Cape Range National Park. We proudly hang up our purchased 'Park Pass' on our rear view mirror, but it seems like in every park we've been so far, nobody cares to check it. And Cape Range wasn't any different, no employees were present at the park entry station.

    In the park we had booked a basic campsite. From there it was just a few minutes walking to the beach, where we enjoyed a medium sunset. The location was nice, with only 8 camping spots in total, some trees for shade and just nature around. Less nice were the amount of cock roaches around the toilets at night. At least we could also spot a big ghost crab.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Oyster Stacks

    14. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Snorkel time! First we made a visit to the information center of the National Park to know a bit more about the snorkeling places and the tides. Then we quickly decided to go to Oyster Stacks. Sounds fancy, but it's just one of the 20 or so beach access places in the park. This one in particularly was a rocky one, but that had the advantage that the coral reef started almost immediately.

    When we got underwater we immediately noticed the visibility was much better than at Coral Bay. The current was stronger so it took some more effort to go in the direction you wanted to go, but at least it was safe as in that the current pushed you back towards the shore. We saw many big fishes, definitely bigger than what we've seen in Fiji or South East Asia. We spend around an hour in the water before relaxing in the van.

    Since this place didn't have any toilets, we went further to Turquoise Bay, another fantastic snorkel spot. We didn't want to go in when the sun is the strongest to avoid getting burned. So we cooked ourselves a lunch on the parking lot. Then it was time for our daily dosis of jumping dinosaurs and corona updates. We're feeling quite safe ourselves, not only because we are not part of the risk group but also because we are in remote Western Australia and there aren't even that many cases in Australia generally yet. But we don't know how our world trip can continue after Australia. More and more countries are closing their borders (which is of course understandable and necessary) and we think that by the time we want to leave Australia, we might not be able to anymore. Measurements and restrictions are changing basically at a daily rate making it impossible to predict what's smart to do in 2 weeks when we return the car in Perth. So daily discussion about corona news are also part of worldtrip life now.

    Anyways, it was time for our second snorkel session of the day. This time in Turquoise Bay. There was no current here but a whole lot of sand. We had to swim in for a while before we reached the first coral places. We again saw big fish, although mainly the same types as before. The visibility was a bit worse probably due to the sandy ground and big tides. So that was a bit disappointing at first. At the end however, Machiel proved his spotting skills and magically managed to distinguish a rock-like looking thing from the rocks. Turned out it was an octopus that looked like a rock in one moment and in the next it turned super red and stared at you with a huge eye. Creepy but super cool.

    After a quick shower at our new campsite we headed to a nearby beach to try our luck with spotting baby turtle hatching. It was nice to be at the beach with sunset but unfortunately no turtles were spotted, only their tracks.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Money laundering

    15. marts 2020, Indian Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    When you're down because of reading the news, it's welcoming when cockatoos try to cheer you up. And they were trying!

    We again went to the information center as we wanted to rent fins for snorkeling. Then we went snorkeling at Lakeside. What we didn't anticipate was that the reef required a 750 meter walk through sand. Which is quite tough in 30 degrees and full sun while carrying snorkel gear. But we were happy we took it because the snorkeling was worth it. The visibility was good and we saw a huge ray hiding in the sand. It must've been 4 or 5 meters long. There was a strong current so we definitely needed our fins. Afterwards we were quite exhausted. So instead of preparing for another beach we went back to the campsite.

    Susanne manually washed her pants after she walked into a dirty tire. She didn't realise she also washed the cash that was in them. It's totally normal to hang up your money on a drying line, right? It doesn't at all look suspicious how we are able to afford this fancy campsite.

    At sunset we once again tried our luck at spotting baby turtles. A different beach this time. There were some other people searching as well this time, but nobody found any. They did tell us that the evening before they had seen some at this very beach. Grrr :)    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende
    11

    Drift snorkel

    16. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Besides snorkeling we also wanted to see a bit more of the landscape here in Cape Range. There's generally not much to hike in this area which is mainly infinite fields of sand and bushes. But at the southernmost point of this ocean road there was an actual creek (water!) where we could hike to. There were a lot of flies so we once more had to wear our head nets, but that also made us realize that we hadn't really needed them much in the past few days. We naturally started as early as possible to avoid the heat, but nonetheless it was very warm, especially on the way back. But the walk was nice, and we even saw a turtle swimming in the creek at the turnaround point.

    We drove to Turquoise Bay, where we had been 2 days ago as well. Back then we snorkeled in the bay, but this time we'd snorkel on the other side of it, in the so called drift. There's a strong sideways current here, so you can go in at one end, mostly float to the other side, and walk back to the starting point if you want to go again. It was an interesting way to snorkel, although the first time we felt like we were passing the coral so quickly due to the current that we struggled to really get a close look at everything. The second time we turned around a few times to swim against the current in order to give some areas a better look. The fish weren't anything special, but the coral reef was probably the best we've seen. Huge amounts of it and easy to get lost on. A very blue patch, several green ones, some tiny pink ones and for the rest lots of brownish but interestingly shaped corals. The tide was spot on so we were very close to it.
    However especially at this drift snorkel it was important to have frequent looks at the beach to know where we were, so that we'd return to it on time and not get dragged away to open sea.

    After lunch we had another try at the bay side for snorkeling. It was nice to swim without a current, but the visibility was clearly worse than on the drift side and there was also nothing new to spot. In the evening we again had a try at spotting hatching baby turtles. But third time wasn't the charm. Perfect sunset though, finally!    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Corona depression

    17. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    The plan was to leave Cape Range today and go either back to Coral Bay for a better snorkeling vision than on Machiel's birthday or go direction Karijini National Park immediately. The morning started with corona news. That seems to be part of the new daily routine of the whole world. Being infected with corona depression, we made our way back to Exmouth. Groceries, fuel, information on the Karijini National Park. The information centre had some new measurements in place to keep distance between employees and tourists. Unfortunately most parts of the park were also still closed due to a cycloon from February and roads and tracks being destroyed. So you can imagine the mood was pretty down.

    Instead of Franzi's famous brownie moment for tough hiking days, for us it was an instant noodle lunch moment of Susanne's favourite type. We didn't really feel like more snorkeling at Coral Bay either, so we drove further towards Karijini. Whenever we cross another Traveller's Autobarn van we wave hysterically, which is a thing apparently as everyone does 😊

    It was also already afternoon by now. Seems like corona also kills time. 200km further we found the rest stop for the night. At the rest stop we hurried to get our fly net into the driver's window, and started cutting the vegetables inside to avoid most of the flies. But it didn't end up being so bad and we could make our pasta meal in relative ease.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Dutch couples

    18. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We woke up with the news of the EU advising their citizens abroad to travel back home and messages of family to advise us driving right back to Perth and get on the next possible flight back to Europe.

    When we started this trip we had prepared for a lot. We read several travel insurance conditions and triple checked our health insurance. We counted on unexpected things like having to go back to Europe for some weeks because someone gets seriously ill. We didn't book a lot in advance because we did anticipate that things can change like riots in Chile or a huge earthquake somewhere. But how can you prepare for the biggest travel restrictions in history? And what do you do if they happen while you are on your worldtrip gap year?

    We have no clue. All we know is that no one knows. That this has never happened before. That news, restrictions, possibilities can change hourly. And that all possibilities really suck. If we stay in Australia and they close tourism altogether, that sucks. But going back to Europe where we have no job and no home doesn't sound any better to us right now.

    The evening before we had spoken to a Dutch couple who immigrated to Australia 45 years ago. They stayed at the same free camping as we did. When they heard of our situation in the morning they were very kind offering us tea and stroopwafels but also to stay with them should everything else fail. Apparently they have a super nice house at the sea south of Sydney. It was nice to share our thoughts and fears and hear their opinion. But mostly it just felt nice to also hear about their interesting adventures all over the world, taking our thoughts off corona for a short moment.

    Eventually we had to continue. We registered ourselves in the German Krisenvorsorgeliste. Then we decided to not go straight back to Perth and continue for now. We drove direction Tom Price. Either way around, Perth is still far. At one of 2 petrol stations on the way we came across another Dutch couple who were on a shorter trip. They planned 2 more weeks rental car in Western Australia and then a flight to Japan. They seemed very relaxed about the situation and wanted to continue as planned for now. Potentially skipping Japan if the flight there gets canceled but neither panicking nor worried.

    We felt reassured and travelled further. The way to Tom Price went through the bush. You might think we have seen that enough by now. But this was different. There were hills and some parts were super green. Apparently it had rained a whole lot lately and everything was growing. Would we have not been in corona depression mood, this would have been incredible. It was very hot and lots of flies as well by the way. So the view was nicest from the air conditioned car.

    In Paraburdoo we wanted to stop for the night. The second Dutch couple had recommended a very nice camping here where they had slept last night. It primarily offered accommodation to the mining employees, but apparently that wasn't too noticable. When asking at the office however, we were told that it had closed to non mining workers due to Corona. So there it went again our good mood. Our fears of not being able to travel much longer when deciding to stay in Australia was getting real. Defeated we continued to Tom Price, another 80km north. So after more than 350km of driving today we went to a campsite there. We bought groceries, made wraps and at the same time tried to get information about the Dutch and German government actions. Are they going to organise flights to get us back to Europe? If we would ignore those, would we lose all rights on support afterwards? So that seems to be a pretty obvious thing to take. Otherwise, isn't it better to just stay and travel here as long as we still can?

    In the meantime we got a call from Dagmar, a cousin of Susanne's mother who lives in Australia. We originally wanted to meet her during our time in Melbourne which didn't work out. Now we called to ask for emergency help should we need it thanks to being stranded in Australia. Always nice to know your options. During dinner then again, we meet another Dutch couple and joined their table after dinner to discuss the new favorite topic of the whole world. They have a flight scheduled for March 27th and they will simply follow their original plan until then. Sounds easy enough. Nonetheless nice to share some thoughts again.

    It got a bit later than planned but we still went for a shower. Thanks to the amount of rain they had here lately, there are lots of crickets, frogs, and other insects. It's pretty alive everywhere. Despite a fly screen we even shared the bathrooms with many crickets, a frog, and lots of smaller flies or insects. They mostly stayed at the entrance though, so it wasn't too bad.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Swimming in a gorgeous gorge

    19. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    We had a short night in which we didn't sleep well at all. Corona was just too active in our brains. So after a couple of hours of restless sleep, we called it a night. Could have been a good opportunity to leave early and enjoy the cold part of the day. But we were busy discussing corona and what to do with it. We are simply very undecided on what would be the best decision here. After 2 hours in the waiting line of the Dutch consulate, we actually got someone on the line. But they didn't really have any advice apart from 'if you want to leave, book a flight, it's your decision'. We also asked Susanne's family to sign us up on the Condor website for possible flights back home organised by the government. We actually don't know if they would help Machiel as well. Currently they have no program for Australia anyways.

    It was 9 and time to leave. Upon entering Karijini National Park there was Mount Bruce immediately to the right. The hike up is about 5 hours return. It was a bit too late to do this without getting a heat stroke. So we only went up a part of it. The views were nice. On one side we could see an iron ore mine in the distance. Super long trains were leaving and arriving from there to go to Karratha in the North. From there the iron ore is shipped to Europe and other areas around the world. On the other side we could get a nice view on hills and lots of bushes.

    The Karijini Visitor Centre had lots of information about the park's history and flora and fauna. We cooked lunch at the parking lot and afterwards drove to a bore tap to do our dishes. Then it was time for Fortescue Falls. A long staircase down brought us to a picturesque pool surrounded by tall red cliffs. We swam for awhile and sat at the waterfall. It was a bit like one of those tropical swimming pools with a waterfall on a timer, just without the timer. The water was refreshing but not too cold. So it was very enjoyable. A decent alternative to a shower after a sweaty warm day.

    Back at the car, we went to the circular pool lookout. A drop of several 10s of meters surrounded by steep red cliffs. There are a lot more trees and plants in the park than we had imagined, which created a beautiful mixture of red and green.

    What we forgot to mention is the incredible night sky, which we've also already seen in the Cape Range National Park. There are sooo many more stars to see here and they just feel they are only half as far away as in Europe.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Hiking in a gorgeous gorge

    20. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 35 °C

    Today we hiked the gorge loop. First we walked east on the cliff ridge. On braver moments we dared to walk to the edge to look down at where the trail would bring us. The ridge trail brought us to the Three Way Lookout. From there we descended into the gorge. There was some welcome shade in there to give us a break. We were walking besides the river and crossed it a few times on narrow parts. The red cliffs, the green trees and the water made it incredibly beautiful. It wasn't too busy, just crossed a few people. We took our time with several long stops along the just 1.5km long gorge path. It was really really nice.

    When we reached Fortescue Falls we went for another swim, which was even better than yesterday's given that we were warm and sweaty and the water felt even more refreshing. They should have a pool at every end of a hiking trail!

    When it was time for lunch, we went up the stairs back to our van. We needed to buy ice for our coolbox as well, so we drove to the information center to cook lunch there again. There was a shady spot that attracted less flies, which makes the cooking so much more pleasant.

    We couldn't visit any other parts of the park because they were still closed thanks to the cycloon from February. That was a bit of a shame. So it was only logical, that we'd go once more to our new favorite swimming pool. On the way back to Fortescue Falls, we did a short side trip to look at Fern Pool. It also looked very nice but couldn't change our minds. We went for another swim at Fortescue Falls. The waterfall was by the way a really nice shower for washing hair. Although of course without soap. Afterwards we enjoyed sitting at the edge of the pool for a while watching others go in. We also met the emigrated Dutch couple again. So we ended up talking for a bit. In the end it got a bit later than we anticipated and instead of driving in the dark to a rest stop somewhere we stayed another night in the park.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Back to reality

    21. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    After breakfast we went to say goodbye to the nice Dutch couple who were travelling in their campervan. We spoke for a good hour about Australia, their travels, our travels and corona. Then it was time to leave Karijini National Park and make our way south.

    After some hours of driving we arrived in the mining town of Newman. After a short visit to the tourist information center ("I'm afraid there isn't much to do here or on the way to Perth" is an exciting conversation starter) we caught up with the news and people after having been without reception for a couple of days. The past 48 hours had felt like a much needed break from all the sadness and worries.

    Now however, it was time to face reality again. And reality currently doesn't make us (probably actually no one) happy. For us it is clear that sooner or later our world trip will stop. Lots of questions are popping up in our heads. For how long do we need to pause it? 6 months? 1 year? Is it even feasible to start a worldtrip part 2? How do we fill the time in between? How do we get an income? Does it make sense to apply for a job we would like to have? Or is that impossible and we should just try to find work in areas that are currently looking for people? Parcel delivery, supermarkets etc? Where do we live? All these things just seem so different from how we imagined this year to go. Despite it sounding overdramatic, for us it feels like our dream is falling apart and that left us sad, hopeless and slightly panicking.

    Eventually we went to the local camping, which like the one back in Tom Price was also mainly miner accommodation, with the difference that this one still accepted tourists as long as we declared ourselves healthy. Not knowing how long we'd still stay in Australia, hence also not knowing if we had enough clean clothes, we anyways made use of the free washing machine.

    Around sunset, we drove up to the Radio Hill as we were told it had a nice view over the town and surroundings. While driving there we noticed lightning in the clouds. No thunder however, and it didn't rain either. The views were pretty great. Back at the campsite all cockatoos had collectively decided the tree above our van would be their stay for the night. At first their loudness was a bit annoying but when they all started sleeping it became cute instead.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    The real outback

    22. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Having followed the news for awhile it looked like we had to take action. Staying in Australia seemed trickier as states announced they were either closing their state borders or thinking about it. We did some hours of research and, after quite the hassle with airline websites being seemingly overloaded, we booked a flight connection back to Europe. Now we can only wait to see if it goes.

    Mining towns are interesting to be in. While you might not expect it, it's all about mining. Most people you see wear fluorescent mining uniforms and drive around white pick-up trucks with a company number on it. You sometimes wonder if there are any women.

    We continued our infinite drive south. The next town would be 420km away. The landscape on the way was once again much greener than we had expected in the outback. There were even some lakes with pretty green grass around which the cows seemed to enjoy. While being entirely different, it did remind us a tiny bit of the Netherlands.

    Even though we have now driven a whole lot in Australia, we came across a new thing today. Suddenly there was a car coming towards us signaling heavily with a 'oversized load ahead' sign on top. It was aggressive, basically pushing us of the road. Soon we realized why. The oversized load was very oversized in this case: it needed both lanes and maybe a bit more. Remember the picture in the previous blog of Machiel being dwarfed by this haul truck? Now we know how those are relocated. Throughout the day this became kind of norm. Every one's in a while we had to make space for trucks transporting heavy machinery to the mines in the North. We tried to capture it with the camera but it never seems to show the actual enormousness.

    On the way we also drove by another pink lake like we've seen on the west coast. We had to climb over a fence to get near this one though. We also ended up overtaking our first roadtrain! Took a while to find one that drives slower than us.

    We camped on a camping in the middle of nowhere where we were apart from one other caravan, the only people. By the way, while the flies haven't been that bad lately, not even in Karijini, they have been on their worst today. They really swarm you entirely including your legs etc.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende
    1

    Peaceful rock climbing

    23. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Despite our world trip being in ruins and fighting mosquitos for most of the night we were in a good mood. Having booked a flight at least gave us some more clarity of the days ahead. On the road we quickly ran into an old friend (who gained quite some weight!) and against all corona advice Machiel even held his hand. We continued to Meekatharra, where we visited a lookout over the town and mine. There was also some stuff to read about the local aboriginal history.

    We wanted to visit the Peace Gorge, but the road was closed. When we asked about this at the information center, the friendly employee simply told us "Nah it's OK, just go there. But don't go any further!". We happily took his advice. Peace Gorge wasn't too much of a gorge as far as we could see, but it had some cool rocks to climb.

    Our next stop was Cue. It had some nice old buildings. But just like Meekatharra, despite having some houses, it felt very deserted. There was an old and now deserted mining town 'nearby' and a small version of the Uluru with old aboriginal rock paintings. Sadly both things were only reachable after lots of km on unsealed roads. So we had to skip this. Instead we visited a lookout, a creepy teddy bear tree, and a hospital ruin from 1890. Nothing too special but a nice break from driving.

    We stayed the night at a free highway reststop. The toilets were full of crickets as per usual, certainly makes it more exciting.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    There goes the plan

    24. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    The suspicions were already there yesterday, but we woke up with the confirmation that our flight connection we booked 2 days ago had been cancelled. The UAE shut down its flights, affecting not only the airline Emirates as initially reported, but also Etihad. This made it clear for us that the solution will be repatriation. The most unfortunate thing about the flight cancellation is financial. It doesn't look like we'll get to see our money back. Instead we get a voucher valid for a booking made before September 30th. We feel bad about having booked it but felt pressured to try.

    As the repatriation plans are very unclear it isn't easy to plan the upcoming days. We're on the way to Perth, trying to enjoy our time and see stuff, but at the same time we don't want to lose out on a flight if they happen to announce it very late. So we're covering a lot of ground, not wanting to be too far off Perth in case something happens.

    After 3 hours driving, we arrived in the village Dalwallinu. We looked a bit around and were told by a local that people from Perth were coming all the way here (that's 250km) to buy huge amounts of groceries. Therefore they are now limiting almost everything. We were able to buy some vegetables and fruit and had lunch. Generally we got the feeling we weren't that welcome anymore as tourists.

    We drove further to find a place to sleep. We had the choice of two highways here, such a luxury. We could stay on the 95 or go on the similarly ETA'd 115. We chose the latter because the campsite options along it were more favourable. However after a few km they announced roadworks, which is normally fine but in this case the road was completely unsealed for quite some time. We're not allowed to drive too far on that so we stopped and checked the road services website. As that wasn't informative enough we had to call them, but the employee on the phone was more than useless. We didn't see it return to sealed for awhile and the website indicated it might be the case for another 40km. So we had to turn around and take the other highway while looking for alternative rest stops as the sun went down. Not ideal for driving but we made it to a very nice community camping in another tiny town.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Messages and phone calls

    25. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    The day started with a new letter from the Auswärtige Amt. The message was something like 'book with Qatar Airways NOW'. This was slightly stressing as the prices got very quickly insanely high. 11000 AUD per ticket!!! Who is willing to pay this? An hour later the next message followed saying something like 'Qatar will keep connecting Australia with Europe as far as we know. So you can also book tickets for April.' Sure for April the prices looked slightly better but even those were changing while you were looking at them. Plus, we already have 1400€ in flight coupons, we don't really want another one. In corona times booking a flight for 2 weeks from now feels like booking a flight 5 years ahead normally. There's too much uncertainty.

    Just when we decided to wait for the Dutch government advice, we received an SMS from them. 'book Qatar Airways to Europe'. Ok, so again we checked the website for flights, now to Amsterdam. They were a bit cheaper. We considered booking but even then for something several days from now. Before finalising we decided to call the Netherlands. We actually reached someone quite quickly (beforehand we already tried to reach Qatar Airways or the German embassy to ask if the connection is really guaranteed in April, but neither of them picked up) . The phone line was breaking off twice but it was enough to get to know that Qatar Airways was not part the official Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs solution, but was kind of accidentally sent by the Dutch Embassy via the same communication channel.

    To add a bit more frustration to our morning, we also got to know that our Airbnb hosts don't want to host us anymore. They are not the youngest anymore and don't want to take the risk. We of course understand that but it felt quite last-minute and it added another point to our to-do list.

    We took a shower and drove to the next town hoping for better reception. Qatar Airways flights seemed hopelessly expensive anyways until 2 weeks from now. And booking that didn't really feel good. Before leaving we went to the local shop to pay our camping (10 dollars for 2 people, it was so cheap). We also bought pasta and sauce just in case. The employee working there was very kind and we had a nice conversation about our situation while of course adhering to the social distancing rule of 1.5m.

    In the next town we finally found bread which we enjoyed for lunch in the local park. Machiel called with the Netherlands again before and received the confirmation that Qatar Airways is not the official solution and that we best wait to receive a phone call from the emergency line in the next days. It however sounded as if the actual repatriation flight could still take a while.

    In the meantime we again received a letter from Germany. "Repatriation flights are also not for free. The difference is that you pay afterwards and not beforehand. The costs can be high." We of course never expected a free flight to Europe, but we appreciate a reasonable price together with the guarantee that it actually brings us there.

    Next on our to do list was a call to Etihad. Surprisingly we also got through here. We wanted to know our options apart from turning our flight into a coupon. The employee was very nice and understanding. Apparently we could also get 80% of the price back. Her advice however was to wait a few days and see if Etihad changes their policy to allow a full refund. That was interesting to hear.

    Because our flight was cancelled and we are now seemingly stuck in Perth before repatriation flights are in action, we had to find accommodation for awhile. We called OHRA to check if this was going to be covered in our travel insurance. They answered this wasn't strictly in their policy but that they would judge claims case-by-case out of 'goodwill'. Not perfect but we believe it might work for us.

    We looked a bit at other Airbnb options but decided to postpone a booking to tomorrow. We didn't have the energy for cooking today so we went to a nearby takeaway and got some burgers. For the 2nd time in Australia we camped next to as cricket field, this time in Bindoon, pretty close to Perth. One of the great things of being more south again is the weather. We're probably almost a 1000km south of where we were 4 or 5 days ago, and that's definitely noticeable. It's just a little bit cooler all the time which makes the van more livable. We can now even start sleeping in our inlets compared to being soaked in sweat in just underwear.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Australian wildlife again

    26. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The morning was once again filled with administrative work. We are also part of a WhatsApp group with other 'stranded' Dutch people in Australia. Just keeping up with that group chat already takes some time. We also needed to fix accommodation for the next week. The first AirBnB we booked this morning suddenly said it was only available a day later due to maintenance. The second one we booked eventually worked after our first 2 credit cards had not enough credit anymore thanks to flights and 2 cancelled but not yet refunded AirBnBs. Luckily we have 3 cards and the third worked. If there had been a cricket match in our front garden this morning we wouldn't have noticed.

    Around noon we were finally done and left the campsite with the destination being Yanchep National Park. Our aim was to spend our last vanlife day there and also camp in the park. We saw a lama farm on the way. From the campsite we could easily walk around in the rather small national park. There were lots of loud cockatoos as per usual. This time a different species though. There was also a protected area in the park for koalas, who wouldn't know the difference between that and the real wild anyway. But it's been a while since we saw them on the Great Ocean Road and therefore worth it. We spotted several of them and two were actually pretty close. While they don't do much more than sleep and, if you are lucky, move an arm or leg, they are still very cute to look at. Lots of grey kangaroos hopping around as well. We hadn't seen many 'roos lately in the outback. So it seemed like the perfect last day with the van.

    For dinner we made a basic pasta dish for probably (hopefully) awhile. While eating it in the van (we had to escape from the mosquitos outside once again), we had a new first time experience. A not so small spider was walking next to the table behaving as if it was at home here. Luckily it was brown and with that, according to our knowledge, not dangerous. In a heroic move we caught it in one of our cups and released it in the wild.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    The end

    27. marts 2020, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Today we had to hand in our van. So after breakfast we had to pack our stuff. There was a bird who wanted to be packed with it, but we advised it to fly out of the van instead. Before we left Yanchep National Park we wanted to have a look at the koalas one last time. This time we were lucky and two of them seemed pretty active. While the first one seemed undecided if he was hungry enough to really do the climb to the leafs, the second one was fully enjoying his breakfast. He didn't seem to notice that it was from a 'fake' tree. It was very cute. But seeing them being so active and up close we also realised how big they were and how large their arms and claws are.

    Eventually we had to leave. We arrived in Perth, removed all the red dust from the van, dropped off our bags at the apartment, filled the fuel tank and drove to Traveller's Autobarn. This was a first glimpse into a world with corona. 3.5 weeks ago this place was busy with staff and people that picked up their van. Today it was closed, information on how to hand in your car contactless was hanging on the front door together with how to get a voucher for remaining rental days in case you delivered it early because of corona. The parking was full of returned unused rental cars and vans.

    To minimise the infection risk we took an uber to our Airbnb for the week. After giving the critical places like light switches, door handles, kitchen drawers etc. a good scrub, we felt at home quite quickly. Which is good, because it's a place for isolation.

    The last 142 days have been a great adventure for us. Thanks to everyone who followed our trip and thanks for the comments, likes and private messages! For now we will discontinue our world trip blog until there's something to write about again.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    Corona Airways

    31. marts 2020, Qatar ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    We named our blog "Half around the world and back again" because we never thought we'd circumnavigate the globe. Yet here we are.

    Sunday evening we got notified about a ticket price drop for flights to Europe with Qatar Airways. It seemed like they actually added extra flights. Against our usual indecisiveness we booked a flight for the next afternoon. We dared to only because it was very soon. Otherwise the risk is that we'd lose another ticket to a country closing its borders. With 2 hours delay (they claimed for thorough cleaning, so that's a good thing) we made our way to Doha.

    We have never seen as many non-Asians wearing facial masks. But despite that and lots of signs asking for it, people still don't seem to understand the importance of social distancing. It reconfirms our wish for self quarantining back in Europe and we don't understand why that is not mandatory. These flights are just asking for mass infections. It's hard to maintain 1.5 meters distance in a booked out plane, of course, but you have no choice. People's behaviour only makes it worse however. Random people walk and talk very closely to each other at the airports. The ones wearing anything resembling a mask appear to feel invincible. And apparently you get home quicker when you breathe into someone's neck while queuing. People are stupid.    Læs mere

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backRejsende

    From van to caravan

    31. marts 2020, Holland ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    After a long and sleepless night at Hamad International Airport we boarded our flight to Amsterdam. Thankfully without delay, as it was all taking long enough already. The flight was not too bad for being 7 hours long. The plane even had a front, rear and downwards camera to view the outside. Really cool, especially during take off.

    The first thing we noticed when leaving the plane, was the air. It was so cold and dry. We hadn't felt this for such a long time. It was very empty at the airport. We were probably the only flight for a couple of hours. Compared to Perth and Doha, social distancing was considered to be important here. Markers on the floor, blocked chairs, and employees were making sure that people kept their distance. A first sign on how much worse corona is here compared to Australia.

    Getting our checked in bags took incredibly long but eventually we had it all. After washing our hands again, we made our way outside. Suzanne waiting at the car park for us. How weird to see her after 5 months and then not give her a big hug. Instead we kept our hands of everything in the car and were all three of us wearing face masks. Arriving in Benschop we went into our new home for the next 2 weeks, the caravan of Machiel's parents. It's a small home but definitely bigger and more luxurious than the vans we have lived in during the previous months. And it did feel a bit like coming home. The bed was equipped with our bed covers, our winter jackets and shoes were standing ready to use, there was even a small bowl of Easter eggs welcoming us. Nonetheless, we were completely physically exhausted from the long journey, lack of sleep, and the climate differences. Plus mentally from the whole situation of having to decide to cut our trip short and escaping Australia. It's time for rest and isolation. And to get our lives back on track again, with the continuation of our travel in the back of our minds.    Læs mere

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    31. marts 2020
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