Australia-New Zealand

Hey guys!

So, I know we were planning on writing a new story way way earlier, but you know how it goes with traveling. One moment you think you are going to have a relaxing time and the next moment you are on a crazy roadtrip with 4 girls, or doing a Spanish course, working in a hostel, crossing countries with the speed of light and so on.

Janneke has updated all the photos almost until our arrival in Australia, so if you are curious you can check them out.

We arrived in Australia and were completely baffled. Everything was so organised, clean and all the people were so polite! It was like two bewildered girls dicovered civilization again haha. At the airport Elien, a friend from Janneke's study in Leeuwarden, was waiting for us. They were very happy to see each other again and the moment I met her I already knew we we going to get along great. We got on the, extremely organised and extremely expensive, airport bus to the hostel, where Maaike was waiting. So funny and great to see a friend from Groningen again on the other side of the planet! With our new travelgroup we discovered Melbourne: the nice (and not Asian!!!) food, the good atmosphere at the St. Kilda festival, the nice streets and shops and the round tour with the old tram. On the last day we went to the Juicy Rentals office to get our fancy campervan. It was quite hilarious, we ofcourse had too much stuff with us and had to fit everything in. Then we were on our way to the Great Ocean Road!

On the Great Ocean road we had a lot of fun, beautiful views and again, great food. The road leads you right alongside the ocean, hence the name ofcourse, and lets you enjoy the bright blue of the ocean, the cliffs and beautiful beaches. KOALA!!! Every night we had to find a free camping spot in the neighbourhood, that caused sometimes some minor difficulties. But in the end, it usually was a great drive with again perfect views and when we arrived there, it was also a really beautiful spot. We camped in the middle of a forrest near the little town of Forrest and when we opened the van in the morning, we saw a pair of kangaroos foraging on our campsite. We found a camping site a few meters from a huge beach, one near a flooded valley that now forms a pretty lake, a camping site near an old and abandoned farm that we passed on because of the bad weather and the electricity cables right above us, and one on the property of a surf shop where we were allowed to park under a huge and beautiful tree. The downside is ofcourse that you have to be inventive when it comes to personal hygiene. This means peeing in the woods because the actual toilet smells like an actual toilet or showering at a public place wih a bucket or hose and accidentally getting photographed while doing this. When we arrived in Warnambool, the end of the Great Ocean Road, we were very happy to park at a paid camping site and use the kitchen, pool and wifi.

From Warnambool we had a huge drive to Phillip Island, just below Melbourne, to see the Penguin Parade. It was very cute to see all the very tiny penguins that tried to get out of the waves onto the beach. We then drove during the night over the Princess Highway to finally top at an illegal campsite, because it was impossible to find a legal one. Luckily there was another Juicy van to keep us company. The next day we arrived at Jervis Bay, a beautiful park where there was unfortunately no place to camp for us. So we went to the small town next to it, what was also a challenge because there was a triathlon weekend being held. We managed to find a parking site with (how happy can you be to see one) a dixy toilet. Well, that solved our bigest problem. We visited the beach at the park the next day and spend one more night in the town.

We were very excited, because it was time for us to visit the Blue Mountains. The landscape was great, with mountains (obviously), forrests, jungle, rivers, lakes and so on. We had to drive a long time before finding the free camp site, but it was really worth it. The drive was amazing and the site was great, with a small stream flowing next to it. Maaike and I tried to park the van at the perfect spot, what took a bit of time haha. At the Blue Mountains park we had a great hike and took the worlds steepest trainride down the mountain. To get up again we took 900 steps, it is less hard than it sounds. But then you get up there and realise that there are 20 minutes left before the cable car goes for the last time. EVERYBODY RUN!!! It was a challenge I must say, but a really fun one. And we made it!

We jumped in the van again to go to Sydney, our final stop of our journey through Australia. We dropped off the van and arrived at the hostel. We walked around Sydney, seeing the Opera House, the park, the center and just had a nice day. We took the ferry back which allowed us to have a good view on the city. The last evening we had a nice dinner and went out to a good club. After two hours of sleep we had to get up to catch our planes, Elien was going back to Europe and we were going to New Zealand. Maaike stayed in Australia to do some more traveling and to also go to New Zealand afer this. We had a really great time with you Maaike and Elien, thanks again for everything!!!

Soooo we arrived at the airport of Auckland aaaand we were stuck. All the campervans and cars were booked, the hostels were full and the hotels too expensive. We felt like being Victor Navorski of the movie 'The Terminal': we charted all the places where we could get food, we begged the airport service to give us the key to the showers, we slept in the panorama room all the way at the top of the airport and we collected half an hour of wifi every day to have some contact wih the outside world. Everyday at 2 pm we stood at the desk of the airline to see if there were spots available on the plane that left that day, but no luck. After a couple of days we encountered a very nice couple from Auckland that invited us to come and stay with them. It was great, we watched some movies, played with Wasabi the cat, made a nice dinner and did some sightseeing in Auckland. Thanks again Anthony and Tessa, you really saved us!! And greets to Alex!

As you might imagine, we have to go back another time to New Zealand to be really able to appreciate it. We were happy to be on the plane to Chile! The funny thing was that we would arrive the same day, two hours earlier, in Santiago. Just like magic, you get two days for the price of one. It already makes the flight more enjoyable, so we spend the time watching movies (not the second Hobbit movie like the add promised, grr) and sleeping, just vey nice.

That was it for now, Janneke will continue with our start in South America!

Liefs, Fleur