Goodbye Australia

After the two weeks at the Krishna Farm I felt like I needed a little bit of time to get accustomed to the real world before I’d fly back to Belgium, Europe. So I spent my last week visiting some islands and seeing a few more sights.

I caught a passenger ferry to North Stradbroke Island for two days. I stayed at the YHA and just took the bus around a bit. I rented a bicycle the next day and cycled about 30km.

Stradbroke wasn’t super exciting, there’s 3 main roads and 3 small settlements. It seemed like every fourth property was for sale, and lots of businesses seemed shut down. It reminded me a bit of Loch Sport in Victoria.

It was a bit strange at times, this sort of limbo period before I’d fly out. I couldn’t commit to anything big so I just kept trying to find worthwhile day trips and activities. That and the realization that this was really my last week down under made me feel like I wasn’t properly appreciating it perhaps.

Above photos from a drive in Stef’s Land Cruiser down West Mt. Cotton Road, a lovely road that feels nowhere as near to Brisbane as it actually is.

The last thing I did was the most touristic so far. As I wanted to see Moreton Island, I figured the cheapest and easiest way to do that in a short amount of time was to just book a tourist cruise to the island. Not my favorite crowd to mix among, but it was enjoyable.

I got to see up close what I came for though; the Tangalooma Wrecks, a collection of purpose-sunk sand barges. I did find out I was just a few months late to see them in full glory: only in November (that’s after I got to Oz even!) they were cut down for the ubiquitous “Safety Reasons” and where much less impressive than before. Nonetheless, I got to snorkel and swim between them, with tropical fish surrounding me, swimming in between rusty beams and artefacts. That was still quite cool, though I don’t have any in-water pictures as I don’t have a camera that’s waterproof.

After that I packed my bags and headed off on a 30 hour flight through Melbourne and Qatar back to Brussels, Belgium.

It’s obviously strange being back. Trees are bald, it’s cold, everything is gray and busy, but the weather has been ok. I’ve quickly realized, as I have before after coming back here from a trip, that Belgium just doesn’t excite me, despite being my home country. Back when I lived in Sweden, the landscape and the roads would just inspire me to get out and explore every time the weather permitted. Here in Belgium my adventurous spirit feels crushed; there’s just not much at all to explore or discover, life just slips back to boring normality with an alarming ease…

I’m definitely going back to Sweden this year I think, to do a bit more of a lengthy repeat of the “Sweden Link” gravel adventure I did before, and I really want to do some more volunteering, as I immensely enjoyed that every time. Next up however is my training for the Motorcycle tour guide job at Edelweiss (which is the reason I came back). I’m excited for that, though I don’t know what to expect yet.

One thing’s for sure: I’m determined to keep this adventurous lifestyle up, while hopefully managing to make it a bit more financially sustainable this year!