#in other news i bought tickets to italy for next month and booked hostels and learned a LOT about naples | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marielledownunder · 6 years

Text

The last 10 days in Straya

I decided to quit farmwork earlier and took the nightboat from Devonport (TAS) to Melbourne. I’ve planned to stay 5 days in Melbourne, to catch up with everyone I know who’s still there. I arrived quite early in the morning, 6am to be precisely. I tried to stay on the boat and lay down on the couch until one of those workers told me to leave. I walked out, got my backpack and here I am, in Port Melbourne! Port Melbourne was actually my first destination when I arrived in Melbourne last October. Interesting to be back on this exact place.

I booked my hostel at Habitat HQ in St Kilda, because my friend Josh from Tasman Backpackers was staying there as well. Chilled at the hostel until 2 and checked in and I became Josh’s roomie! He wasn’t there when I arrived, cause he worked a lot. We would catch up in the evening.

In the afternoon I went to the city to browse the lovely city centre again, bought some stuff I needed and deposited my money from my car I sold in Tasmania. It was pretty nostalgic to walk in these streets again, and I also walked around my old apartment, close to Southern cross. One big difference: Melbourne sure became a lot more colder! It even felt as cold as Tasmania! I was so happy to be back in my “second home”, but the weather was one of the things which made me craving for the weather of Queensland. Couldn’t wait either to get back there!

In the evening I met Josh (H) again, and we talked about the past weeks what we did after he left Tasman.

The next day I went to Brunswick to meet Samsara. I worked with her in Bundaberg when I was cutting ginger haha. We went out for lunch and got a huge chicken parma: a typical Australian dish. Later we went out for a coffee and talked a lot about what we’ve been doing for the past 2,5 months and what our plans are for the upcoming months. After that she wanted to get her free dumbells so I walked with her, the weather started to get worse and we walked the whole time in shitty rain haha. She had to go to work and I bought ‘new’ shoes. Replaced my old shoes with the same type so I’ll be ready for the hikes in New Zealand.

Later in the evening I went to Hotel Barkly. It was Tom’s and Joe’s last weekend before they would go back to England, and lots of people from Bundaberg gathered together for drinks and playing pool. I’ve seen Lee, Connor, Lucy, Molly, Emma, Joey, Tom, Joe, Alex, Jack, Zanna, Alesia, Lauren, Ellie, Eluned, Wesley and some other friends from them. Played loads of pool and later we went spontaneously to a houseparty of one of Alex’s mates. Got into an uber to Brunswick and when we arrived there they told us that the party was over… bummer haha. Then we went to Alex’s place in North Melbourne. He did a few crazy house parties a while ago, but this one was more a chilled hangout. This night out was a pretty expensive one… especially because of the ubers we took. My bankaccount was not happy haha.

The next day I woke up pretty late, got lunch in Lentils as anything and in the evening I went to Elisabeth’s apartment. Finally got reunited with Stejara and Elisabeth. I’ve spent lots of time with them when I lived in Melbourne, they were part of ‘Dutchies in Melbourne’.

Went out in Lion, which is across Asian Beer Cafe and after that we went to Cookie. Got home about 5 and had to checkout at 10, yay. I decided to stay the last 2 nights in CBD, as it would be easier for me to take the train to the Airport.

That afternoon I hanged out with Britt and Rebecca. We went to the rooftop bar on Swanston street and ordered burgers and fries. Chatted a lot about different things, about what we do and what our plans are and other topics. Later a friend of Rebecca joined and we went afterwards to Asian Beer Cafe. I viseted that place so many times but we still go there because it’s cheap! Got cocktail jugs over there and ordered my last beer battered fries. I missed them! Later on Josh and Hendrik from Tasman joined.

The next day was more of an organising day. Booked flights to Bali! Yes, decided to go to Bali after New Zealand. Booked train tickets to Bundaberg and arranged my bed in Bundaberg in my old working hostel. In the evening I watched up with Liam, (he stayed during my first week in Bundy in the same hostel named Cellblock) and we went out for a burger at Betty’s. The burger was as everyone said really good! Later we went to the joint bar next to Flinders hostel for a beer and we played pool for a bit. Then I went home on time to pack my clothes, because my 5 days of Melbourne has come to an end. Next destination is up north to Queensland!

After my 2h flight I landed in Brisbane and wow what a good weather!!! The sun was shining and it was about 24 degrees. What did I miss this weather!

Walked on my way to my hostel and made a typical clumsy Marielle action again. I don’t really like the traffic lights in Straya, takes ages for pedestrians to cross, so I walked when it was still red. When it’s red, I normally walk faster. I did the same with my backpack, but it didn’t end well. Fell down so hard on the street and I couldn’t stand up cause my backpack was too heavy! Guess lots of friends would love to pay to see this happen haha!

In the afternoon I went to my favourite sport of Brisbane again: Southbank! I met Nynke again. I lived for 5 days in the “Jersey house” together with Annemiek and Nynke, back in Melbourne in February. I catched up with her and we were just chilling in the city beach and later in the city. Said goodbye in the evening again and chilled at my hostel with karaoke night.

The next day I took my train to a certain place I was before. A place where I spend my first month of farmwork: Bundaberg! I arrived in the evening where Kayleigh and her friend Emma waited for me. I checked in and got a 2 persons room and shared my room with a lovely Korean girl named Jinny. I was so excited to be back and spending my last weekend with her. We told eachother our stories from the past months. We haven’t seen eachother since NYE so it has been 5 months. We laughed a lot again like the old days.

The next day I made the crazy decision to do some cherry tomato picking again, because I wanted to make myself a bit useful and getting a tan. That day was the worst picking day: Started at 6 and got back at 9:00. Chilled at the hostel and spoke to lots of people from the hostel and played often pool.

It was weird to be back. Lots of memories came back and even the hostel changed a bit. Upstairs got renovated: walls were painted, my room got a fan, the floor upstairs was shining and even the floor downstairs was even cleaner. Besides, the walls look more colorful by drawings and paintings from the backpackers from the hostel. Also the people are different, more different nationalities, especially the Italians are a majority.

Friday I reunited with Sunny and Mike again. I encountered Niko from Tasman Backpackers while I was doing some groceries shopping in the Aldi. He told me that Sunny and Mike are also in Bundy. We spoke a bit and the next day I went to the beach with Sunny and Mike. Around sunset time I saw some kangaroos jumping to the seawater!

That evening I heard from Kay (from England) that there would be a karaoke at Base. Ha, that was my first accommodation in Bundy. I definitely had to visit that bar again and rock them with the microphone and my voice. We had so much fun and it was actually more crowded than the regular Friday I’ve experienced. We continued to club hotel again, can’t believe I stayed there so long cause there was almost nobody haha. On my way back to the hostel I visited the Hungry tum again. They were 24/7 open and we always came there for a snack after going out. I took the cheese/gravy fries again! (looks disgusting but the taste is pretty good!)

The next morning I waited for Kayleigh to explore Bundy one more time. She worked like 50 hours so she woke up pretty late. I decided to go to the Bundaberg Destillery by myself as Kayleigh couldn’t make it. I had no car and only 30 minutes left... shit. Walking would take me 50 mins so decided to go there by jogging/running. I just made it in time and did the rum tour including tasting. Got 2 tastings and 1 extra from a couple. Gotta say that I fell in love with the salted caramel liquor, but unfortunately they don’t have small sample to bring back home.

In the evening we had a birthday dinner with the people from dingo blue. Andrea and Giuseppe from Italy organised it and they offered us to cook risotto. Lots of people joined, like almost everyone from the hostel. The risotto was amazing and it was such a nice vibe as we were eating outside with everyone. After that, Andrea and Giuseppe gave us all sparklers and by countdown we enlightened our sparklers and sang happy birthday to Andrea. It was so lovely and Andrea even cried a little. After the meal we all sat on the sidewalk in front of the hostel, drinking our alcohol, because the hostel banned drinking since I left Bundy.

Around 10/11 we went to base to continue our night. It felt like the older days: lots of people and lots of jugs. Of course we got the “Closing time” song again when Base would close at 12. Then we all moved to club hotel again, like every Saturday. That cover band was there again. I can imagine if you’re staying there for like 4 months everything gets boring, but for me it wasn’t because I stayed only a month and an mid-week and I loved it!

Together with the karaoke and the birthday party I definitely chose a good weekend to come to Bundy and I definitely didn’t regret it to spend my last weekend here!

The next day I had to wake up early. Went to bed at 5 and woke up at 8.. ouch haha. Luckily I packed everything the night before, so I just needed to take my stuff and make breakfast. Said goodbye to Kayleigh and some others in the hostel and took de train to Brisbane. On my way I had to take the bus cause the train wouldn’t move further from a certain point. Then I took the bus from Brisbane to another station and from that station I took the train again and later the bus to Coolangatta. It was a long trip. Left at 10 and arrived at 6pm, so travelled for like 8 hours. I checked in at the Komune resort hotel where they also have dorms. I was here 9 months ago with Peter, Britt, Imke and Kayleigh and we went to the Sunday party. Guess what, it was Sunday again and they still had that party so I checked it out until I went to bed on time.

The next morning was my last day in Australia. Went to the pool and jacuzzi in my resort and enjoyed the sun as this will take a while to get a good summer day again. After that I did my last preparations and took the flight from Goldcoast to Auckland. This time I got checked for the first time with my carry on… You’re supposed to take 7kg and I had 10km. Managed to sneak the extra 3 kilos haha, lucky me. Got into my plane and there I go. 11 months and 21 days of Australia has come to an end. Kind sad but also satisfied and ready to go to the next destination: New Zealand!

0 notes

disturb-mindlessness · 7 years

Text

my bones are full of soul look at me now ✨

trigger warning this got so much more personal and longer than intended;

✨ this is dedicated to the ones who sent lovely little texts to check on me from time to time, to the ones who were thinking of me sometimes and maybe even missed me a little bit, for the ones whose “i wish you were here” and “i wish you would have experienced this with me” texts have let me travel back in time for 6 hours (Western Australia time difference) or even 8 hours (Queensland time difference) to live in those moments with them.

Ok, imagine this scenario: I was living my ordinary life, working as a graphic designer for a small company, spent a lot of time learning and panicking over my matriculation (i googled that word), being caught in some unhealthy habits and always having this dream of feeling and experiencing more of what this life has to offer. I had the plan of moving to Berlin with my wonderful best friend after I passed my final schooling and to then to start my studies in probably psychology or maybe journalism and english and german but maybe some business studies and at best everything at once. That sentence was a bad try to make obvious how confused I was and that I had no idea, at all, what i wanted to do with this life, that suddenly made me feel like hiking and not knowing which way to face first. But thank god, or the universe or SCIENCE or whatever; life is what happens when you make plans. I didn’t pass my matriculation . Since i’ve been horrible in maths because I hardly ever paid attention to teachers or took time to actually practice, I decided to start at the bottom and so I bought a book, that basically explains the best ways for our brain to understand maths. And by what I learned, by far, the most important thing is to not invest hours to solve a problem after being stuck and desperately trying to figure it out , but to step back and return to your problem once your brain has had time to focus on something else and let the question you’re seeking envolve in the back of your mind. Rather than on focusing what exactly it was you did wrong, your brain will come up with a completely different way of how to solve this problem. Amazing how that works, isn’t it? …if only that could work for everthing…

So guess what, thats what I decided to do; step back and trust, that my problem, in this case my final schooling degree, will be waiting for me when I was ready. With a whole new outlook and hopefully a healthier way to cope with learning.

And suddenly this failure, that I felt so insecure about and that shook up my whole existense in such a face punching real way, was the thing that suddenly allowed me to dream big. To let my mind wander, to take my time off, to go exploring and to go wild and go funning and running, while my mind, in the background, would do some grounding and growing up work for me; for my second try.

So whats the best way to get to know yourself? Being alone. And I read once that foreign languages have this thing to let you live a completely different side of you. (Thats a thing that I also experienced when I lived in Italy for a year and speaking Italian let me be someone else, but still me at the same time, just different ways of thinking. And i guess thats what happens sometimes when you have limited and basic vocabulary. You can’t be as confusing and over the top and grasping to explain yourself without words you don’t know. I guess slowing down and having to be simple and not having to explain myself in another language was exactly the thing I needed back then. I strongly believe that thats good for everyone once in a while) I always had this thing with languages, they are this one thing I’m good at. speaking and words and reading and understanding and also listening; just my thing. And as much as I love german with all its confusing ways to say the same thing in a hundred different ways and those little nouances with whose saying the same thing can have a hundred different meanings, I always loved how english lets you strive for a plain and unconfusing and eternal clear way to make your point. (write hard and clear about what hurts #bukowski) So probably obvious by now, my first decision was to learn english. And since, thanks to education, everyone (at least everyone reading this haha) has learned english to some point, by learning english I mean live(!) english and breathe english and make it part of my being. To make myself able to be understood in a language that isn’t the one that I’ve always (or maybe not always) been understood in.

My next decision to make was to decide in what destination I wanted to reach those goals of making this language a part of myself. In my head I listed down a few places where english is the native language; America (noo i’m not 21 and also i don’t wanna get fat and everyone i know who has been there came back with more than just heavier suitcases), england (nooo thats too close and even tho i love the accent its not the accent i would choose to imprint on my english), Australia. And to be honest, once those thoughts stared rolling and envolving, i made this decision in a heartbeat. Everything in me knew that Australia was the place to go, which is actually funny because I never _really_ thought about Australia. I didn’t know a lot about this big wild country except a few facts that I learned in 2. grade. I knew there was the ayers rock and I knew a bit about aborigines and their traditions and culture and of course I knew there where kangaroos and koalas and from what you hear lots of big spiders (i got warned about a million times about those apparently so big and scary animals that would be found everywhere in australia. and to this day i saw like 5 spiders in 5 months, the biggest one of those probably the size of my smallest fingernail. and btw spiders after 12 mean good luck (thanks kim).) I guess I didn’t even know the capital city of Australia (Sydney btw) but since I am srsly the worst with geographical and orientation stuff, that probably doesn’t mean a lot, I wasn’t more ignorant towards Australias Geographics than towards any other part of the world.

The seed was planted and from there things started to roll. First my kangaroo key chain holder got loose and fell off my keys and I took that as a little sign that i had to be on the right path. i saw australian stuff everywhere, or the word alone australia, or australian music coming up all the time and as the universes help seeking little bugger I am I took it all for little signs, that made my heart smile. And as I got more secure with the idea of travelling to Australia, i slowly started telling people about my to this point wanky plans. First it was just “something that i’d maybe like to do” until i told my coworker, who stepped the last tiny stone loose that convinced me that this was the right thing to do. he gave me the contact details of a family who was living in perth, but was residensing in a beautiful big ass villa during the holidays in the town I lived in. I took all my courage, no space left for these crippling thoughts that were afraid of such a big change and called. And i remember that this phone call lasted for exact 38 seconds. I got invited over for coffee and to meet the kids. Thats probably the part of the story where its time to explain that i decided to become an aupair (which is basically a full time nanny living with the family and watching over the kids). everyone who knows me well is and was probably surprised by that choice. kids are not exactly my favorite thing in the world… don’t get me wrong, there are some outrageous special little ones that are sometimes so much more than most adults ever could be and I always wanted to count myself to those grow(ing)n ups who always made time to understand kids and explain some of the fantastic truths that I came across during my lifetime. I just never liked those kids whose parents treat them like retarded monkeys and feel the need to sugarcoat and cencore every little thing. Unfortunately I soon noticed that those kids, brought up by this family that I was almost going to live with, were of the second kind. I’m sure everyone of you experienced at some point in their lives how mean kids can be. I also hope that you met some of those pure soft little souls that I’m gonna tell you about later on. And those kids and me were just a thing that just wouldn’t fit together, but when I figured that out, it was too late. I had already booked my flights. (For the ones that said stuff like “her rich parents paid for all of that”, even though I hope no one of you is reading that, if you do: My dad paid €300 for my flight ticket as my birthday and christmas present for the past couple years :D) First, after figuring out that me living with this family is something that won’t happen, i was utterly afraid. But then I thought “Fuck it!” I always wanted an adventure, so whats more adventures than a one way ticket, no plans, €1000, $500, a (very) heavy backpack(/suitcase), some books, a tummy full of butterflies, and absolutely NO idea what the next months will bring? After I at least tried to get my visa and arranged all those annoying things for my take off, I was ready to go. My loved ones made the best surprise party one can imagine!!!! Some liters of tears, so many hugs, some little presents and a million times saying goodbye later I was on my way to the airport and I was so excited!! I can’t remember a moment I felt as alive ( …maybe when I arrived at my dream destination) I can remember that I already made connections with people on the plane. I wasn’t even afraid anymore. When I arrived at the hostel things just kept rolling, I met so many lovely and interesting personalities that I wish to keep knowing for the rest of my life. On my third day in Perth I met a lovely Woman with 2 unbelievable beautiful kids who would later become my host mum. Living with this amazing little family let me see so much of australias best sides and of what being family means. Kerry grew within the first week to one of my closest friends, we just clicked so naturally and it felt as if I have known her forever. We worked out together, we went out together, we cooked together (mostly u lol thanks ❣️), we lived together and shared everything from the car and toothpaste (and some other things :D) to our workplace. Within my first week I met Kim. Oh my god, I wish everyone of you knew Kim. She’s just one of those BOOOM people. Who are just there and the whole room sees them. Kims mum owns a hotel in WA and when I met her, they were currently looking for a graphic designer!!! Seriously what are the odds. Best part about all of that is that the Visa (that I didn’t even have) declared me as a tourist and not being able to work in Oz. Guess what :D We had 3 amazing months, the happiest time of my life. I wish I could tell you about every single beautiful person that I met on this path, but this got already far too long…

So i had a full time job as graphic designer, I was a nanny, I was a friend. In between that I went exploring, on some tinder dates, cuddled all the puppies I could find, made friends with everyone, loved my life and the world, wrote into my diary, tried to exercise and do yoga, made home calls, looked at the stars and went partying and to concerts. I had the most amazing time. Everything was new and exciting and I loved every second of my journey. After 3 months I got a mail that my visa got refused. While I was in the country. The guy from the immigration center was so confused when he tried to explain to himself and me how that could be even possible. His exact words were “Someone or something wanted you to be here. I’ve never heard something like this in my life” So for some reason I had a visa, just not the one I applied for. But this that I had visa only let me stay in australia if I left the country for a couple of days every 3 months. instead of panicking I thought “BALI here I come!” bali wasn’t exactly my thing and I probably ate a dog but except that, traveling by myself again awakened the urge to try something (or somewhere) else. A month later I moved to Brisbane with my Slim Kim. Saying goodbye was horrible, especially because you never know if you ever see this place and all its people again… I kept reminding myself “to make an end is to make a new beginning”. Brisbane with Kim was just WHOOO! Parties, the best views, amazing food, favorite movies marathons, a million deep and meaningfuls, working on graphic stuff (i’ll never do a menu again in my life) playing on playgrounds, music loops, more tinder dates, dog walks ❣️But also thinking lots about going home. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t Heimweh (i think that german word fits really well here) it was more getting excited to get back into my life and finishing all those things, that I’ve started. But with a fresh outlook and a new philosophy. When I went to Australia I only put a few things on my list: * doing yoga in every city I visit * speaking english fluently * writing into my diary * learning how to let go * being back in june

I’m gonna be the maid of honor for my best friend in June, so that was the time i had to be back. I wanted to help plan some things while being away but as you can imagine, that’s a bit hard being on the other side of the world and when the future bride called me and said she needed me, I knew it was time to come home. My brain has had enough time to get a different point of view by then so I was ready to go! Saying goodbye again was so hard, but i was SO excited to see my loved ones again! Especially my puppy, no one can imagine how much I missed this little thing. In the end there’s still so much to say but most importantly: i traveled the world. i saw western australia, queensland, bali, taipei and dubai. i met hundreds of sparkling and wonderful people, i can express myself in another language, i found myself and i’m not afraid anymore. And I’d always do it again

0 notes