G on the go

Gallery: Random stuff in Apollo Bay

millionme — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:06:00 GMT

Some Apollo Bay stories

millionme — Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:10:00 GMT

On the 20th we got to Apollo Bay, and went straight for the Apollo Baypackers, which turned out to be run by Molly, and incredibly funny Irish lady, and Reg, a real Ozzie.

Molly adviced us to go out and just wlak into all the cafes, asking for a job. This proved to be the right way, because we had a job after half an hour at the Great Ocean Road Deli, a nice cafe/restaurant on the Main Street. Our little walk also proved that there wasn't more to see and more to Apollo Bay than that Main Street (and our days off have proven that there really isn't anything you can do here).

Doing groceries in Apollo Bay is just drama. The supermarkets overcharge, so we are going broke on buying food. I also tried to find underwear, and a dress and shoes, which proved to be a mission impossible.

We moved after three days to our long term accomodation, which was a big house one street down from the Backpackers, where we live with Tae Kyoung, a really nice Korean girl, Chris, an Ozzie guy, Richard, an Ozzie Park Ranger who has been taking us around in his car, Rachel, an Ozzie girl, and as of Monday, Margaret, one of our coworkers from the deli.

The deli is a fun place to work. It is owned by Hillary and Andy, an English couple, and is managed by Sebastian and Markos, two gay guys. Most of the collaegues are fun and crazy, but at the moment it is just a bit quiet, because the summer season has not really started yet.

In about two weeks I will be moving on, going to Melbourne to wait for my big bro, and visit my friend. I am really looking forward to that! But for now it is just working, and coming up with ways to enjoy the slow Apollo Bay :)

Day 3 of the Great Ocean Roadtrip

millionme — Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:53:00 GMT

The last day of our roadtrip felt like a mighty long day! We started off early again, not 6.30 am, but still a bit too early for this nightowl. The trip from Port Campbell to Geelong was a long long drive ahead still (6 hours to go). I was not feeling too brilliantly in the morning, because of my upcoming cold.

We got some breakfast at the supermarket, because I needed fluidlike food to nurture my aching throat. We started driving and after 20 minutes hit the twelve apostles. They were really as beautiful as all the postcards and brochures like to make you think, but the mosquitos were getting worse and worse. We were followed around by them, and trying to pose for a picture became a drama.

We also stopped along the road at Castle Rock, another beautiful lookout, and then finally got to Cape Otway. Zai decided that the entrance fee was too much for her, so she stayed in the car, but I went in, and had fun by myself. The lighthouse is one of the oldest in Australia, and was just a beautiful place, with an amazing view.

We continued on along the winding roads of the Great Ocean Road, both feeling queezy (Zai more than me), and finally made it to Geelong, which was a really confusing city, with bad traffic signs and complicated streets. It might also just have been because I was really tired and hungry and Zai was a lousy map reader! We ended up in an Irish pub for the night, and went for a long walk through the city, because even at ten it was still amazing weather outside.

It was an early night again (still sick), and we were lucky again to have a dorm to ourselves.

Day 2 of the Great Ocean roadtrip

millionme — Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:32:00 GMT

This morning was an early start (freaking 6.30 am!!), because of the young guy playing with his basketball, thinking he was Michael Jordan, against the wall of our cell. It had already been a short night, seeing that sleeping in a cell might be real cool, but is also just freezing cold!

The early start was good though, because we still had to drive at least 6 hours to get close to our end destination that day. After showering and having breakfast, we went off to see the Blue Lake. The Blue Lake fills up the crater, which used to be a volcano. The story goes that an Aboriginal had settled in Mount Gambier with his family, making an oven (the volcano) so that they could cook, but an evil spirit had scared them away and had filled the oven with water (the Blue Lake). In December the lake apparently goes bright blue, but the reason is not yet known. It was pretty to see, but not that exciting.

Our first stop of the day was in a small fisherstown, which we cannot remember the name of. It was either Port Fairy or Portland, but looked absolutely amazing and we fell in love with it instantly.

After some playing around and taking pictures we continued to drive to Warnambool where we stopped for a really long time, because this drowsy driver was exhausted from the early morning and the long drive.

After a powernap, a stroll around town and some food, we continued on to the stop for the day (during this drive I made my first roadkill, a small birdie that decided to fly into the wheels of our car!), a small, pitoresque town called Port Campbell.

Before we got there though, we had a shock of a lifetime. We were driving about, when all of teh sudden we saw something that looked like the Twelve Apostles. So we parked the car, me muttering how ridiculous it was that there were no signs to warn us that we were about to see the Twelve Apostles, only to find out that what we saw were the Bay of Islands (they were still beautiful though :D)

Port Campbel itself was a really nice little place, with a great hostel with soft beds. I was starting to feel sick, so after a quick dinner, we called it a day, and I pumped myself full off painkillers and went off to dreamland.

Gallery: Day 3 of the Great Ocean Road-trip

millionme — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:04:00 GMT

Gallery: Day 2 of the Great Ocean Road-trip

millionme — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:06:00 GMT

Day 1 of the Great Ocean Road-trip

millionme — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:10:00 GMT

This day started off picking up the car from the Adelaide pick-up place. I had already handed in my house keys to Sue (my landlord) and she gave me a ride to the place. Driving was a bit akward, I was looking for my clutch on the right side, and was turning on the blinker on the left :)

I picked up Zai, all ready to go, only to realise that we had forgotten to actually get a map :( So, mapless, we were stuck in Adelaide, and we used the following two hours to find a map and find where we were heading and how to get out of Adelaide.

We finally started at 2 pm, and had an amazing time driving, passing places like Tailem Bend, and Williwooka (to me Willy Wonka), seeing all the beautiful places Australia had to offer. The car was great, nice and small.

Along the way we past loads of signs warning us for the dangers of being drowsy when driving. Being tired when driving and all of that. My favorite was 'Drowsy Drivers Die'. So yeah, I survived and tried not to be drowsy and kill me and Zai.

We stopped for dinner in the lovely town of Naracoorte, which was basically dead on this Saturday afternoon. Not a single person on the streets, pretty much a ghost town, but the tidiest town in South Australia!!

Day 1 landed us in Mount Gambier (also the tidiest town in South Australia, so that confused us), but there was no hostel with availability. There was a major basketball tournament, so no chance we could sleep anywhere. We were sent to jail (which was actually an old jail turned into a hostel), and just hung out there, looking so sad that eventually they gave us a place (after we had called every single motel, caravan park and hostel!). It was great! We slept in a cell, froze to death during the night, and were so excited to be there! The night ended at around 11 pm, both of us just passing out from exhaustion and knowing that we were safe, in our cells ;)

Gallery: Day 1 of the Great Ocean Road-trip

millionme — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:51:00 GMT

Off to see more of Australia

millionme — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:51:00 GMT

It is finally almost over! I have been studying for my exams for the past three weeks, already had two exams, and have only two more to go tomorrow. Time's been going fast and slow at the same time, but now that I am really excited to start my journey it seems to go really really slow.

A recap of what I have been up to these last few weeks:

I've been to a concert of the Indigo Girls and they were absolutely amazing
Finished and presented my dissection project, which was really hard, but I heard that my dissection is going to be used for continued teaching, so I may as well be proud!
Applied to Master studies, since I do have to do that as well :(
Had a couple of near-death experiences cycling since people here in Australia do not really like cyclists and have a mission to kill them/me
Met a really great new friend and am sad that I won't see her anymore. Thanks for a great time, Rachel!
Found some sort of job (no idea what it is going to be) in Apollo Bay which is where I am heading for this weekend
Had major troubles with my visa application (need an extended stay Tourist Visa), but finally sorted all of it out today
Had to catch the cats because they are going to a home, and got seriously scratched by Morris. I am really going to miss them
Got a piercing underneath my lip, and am really happy with it

So, friday the 17th of November is when I leave. I'll be leaving at 12 pm from Adelaide to Mount Gambier the first day, and then going along the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles on the next day. Then I'll be heading to Geelong, where I will leave the car and head back to Apollo Bay, hoping to find a job there.

I'll keep you posted! As soon as I find an internet cafe :)

Gallery: Partying in Adelaide

millionme — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Me and Karina out to RnB Superclub

Gallery: How to spend a day while counting the hours to dinner?

millionme — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:36:00 GMT

My friend, Zai, was fasting and needed some distraction before she could finally eat!

Two weeks free spent doing lab work, studying, and looking for a job :(

millionme — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:59:00 GMT

Just an update on my progress at uni. The past week (and a half) I've been free from uni, but sadly enough there was no time (or money) for travelling or crazy things like that. Uni exams are coming up in five weeks, so I have been studying for those, trying to finish my assignments I need to hand in after the break, and I have finally started on my dissection project. Thursday last week was my first day in the lab, scared shitless, but with a scalpel in my hand nonetheless.

Walking into the lab, the right wall had about twenty wooden caskets lined up against it, and the tables were nearly all covered with blue body bags. Lucky me, one of those blue bags was mine! Unzipping it, I discovered that instead of having only the part that I needed of the body, the technicians were missing one of their tools (a bandsaw), which meant that they could not cut the bodies up in pieces. So, I had a little old lady lying on my table. Interesting..

Cutting is amazing though. I was pretty apprehensive at first, but I enjoy my days in the lab. Music on, and just cutting away, trying to figure out how, what, why. The body is just so complicated, and everything has a function. It just blows me away! What I do not like, or appreciate, are the intestines. I spent a whole day removing them, and trust me, they were my least favorite part! I don't have that much more to do, now the hard part is starting, freeing up the little structures I want to show. Next time I have a brilliant idea again, I will hit myself against the head, and go for the easier option!!

For the rest, I've just been swimming, go for drinks with friends, been out dancing, got a cd from the MC :D, and am just enjoying some 'free' time.

That's it for this update, I'll be back with news if I have any soon!

First day of my internet life

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:08:00 GMT

After all my whining about blogs, I decided that I should get one, just to keep everyone posted while I travel Australia. At the moment there is not much to tell, since all of you who know me, have been receiving emails from me with constant updates, so for now I'm leaving it at that. And yes, it took me almost three months to come up with one place to put all my pictures and videos, so what? I'm just a little slow ;)

For my family and Dutch friends, bear with the English, because I just can't be bothered to have to write two summaries. Plus, all of you understand English, so I see no reason why I should :)

My travels are soon starting. At the moment I have a two-week break in which I plan to study and find a job, and after that it's just four more weeks to the end of uni, beginning of exams and then finally, the long-sought-after-freedom!

I'll be going from Sydney to Cairns, which is definite, but at the moment, some of my travel plans before I get to Sydney have changed, so I will be keeping you posted on what's gonna happen.

That's it!

Love you, and miss you all (just a little of course..)

Gallery: Day off to wander on the beach

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:05:00 GMT

Gallery: My house and animals

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:57:00 GMT

Gallery: Gorges Wildlife park

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:46:00 GMT

Gallery: Visit to Victor Harbor and Wildlife park

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:34:00 GMT

Gallery: Remon, Craig, life and their animals

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:51:00 GMT

Gallery: Walking about the campus at night

millionme — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:30:00 GMT