Welcome to
this World Wide Web-page, dedicated to ME!!
Since my
last message I left Cairns on a nightbus which took me to Airlie Beach. Two
wild nights later, an other nightbus took me south to Rainbow Beach.
To get some
rest from the busy days I had in Cairns and because it was over 30 degrees
Celsius I spend most time on the beaches. Rainbow Beach had a wonderful
desolated beach.
My
itinerary (what a word It means, my travel plan) brings me back to the Sunshine
Coast !!Happy days!!...
First stop
is Mooloolaba were I had a nice evening catching up with Tash, one of the nurses
from the wildlife hospital, at the local surfclub Note: always watch out for
older women J
Next day
back to Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital!!!! I had a really nice talk with
Lewis, my favorite koala who was attacked by a dog. He told me he was happy
with the treatment Dr. Amber was giving him and hes very excited about his fur
growing back. Lewis told me also hes looking forward to being released back in the wild
where he can pick up his wild life. (Hes not going to take anymore bets with
other koalas that involve dogs though.)
The same
evening we (Amber, Brook and me) left to the Gold Coast where we went to watch
the Quiksilver Pro Surfing at Snapper Rocks We watched the best surfers in the
world taking on the waves, with some nice barrels in the afternoon I couldnt calm
down my women when Kelly slater (10x world champion) jumped into the ocean to
surf
With pain
in my heart, I left the Sunshine Coast again You rock!!
Next stop
was town of hippies Byron Bay where the Pasta Rastafarians (an
international team with two Israelis, two Canadians and one Belgian) came
second in the local trivial-quizzz Free drinks, woehoe!!
The amazing
Blue Mountains near Sydney where the decor of a great weekend. We went, with a
group of international University of Sydney-students, bushwalking in the
poring rain on Saturday and the die hards stayedovernight to do some awesome abseiling and canyoning the
next day The highlight was an abseil from 30 meters true a waterfall.
Back in
Sydney we treated everyone with a Belgian-chocolate-fondue during an
international diner I had a crazy night catching up with some friends from the
land of the Guiness. I must say, the Botanic Gardens are even nicer during the
night J I
visited the Botanic Gardens, Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Museum of
Contemporary art, Had a green night (with hat) on St. Patricks Day And now Im
just back from a nice evening including hot-American-marshmallow-chocolate.
Tomorrow
(19th) Im flying to Adelaide which is my last stop in Australia I leave this
beautiful country on Tuesday and make a stop in Oxford to be back in Belgium on
Saturday 26th of March!!
I hope:
- * Lewis
(aka E.T.) will be released in the near future and hell make many
small-Lewiss (no, I dont mean midget-Lewiss)
- * Now
Im leaving Oz, all the floodings, cyclones and bushfires will stop
- * Everyone
will stop blaming the Belgian guy for everything that goes wrong
- * Tim
will stay the gentle person he is
- * Khan
will find a nice place to stay
- * Australia
will find out soon theyre all driving on the wrong side of the road
- * Sabi
can wreck many more carton boxes
- * Brooke
will enjoy Africa
- * Amber
and Pete will put a swimming pool in their garden, then, and only then, will I
come back
- * The
otters will stop bullying Blake
- * Nina
will stop bullying Blake
- * Leisa
will start bullying Blake
- * Sweety
will stop watching catporn every day
- * Everyone
I met in Oz (exept of a few .Haha, just joking) will be happy in whatever they
are and will be doing
- * Ill
see all of you guys and girls back in the (near) future
- Sometimes
I just hope
How to add a comment on my blog for the people who don't understand Flemish:
Or underneath every message you see the word 'reageer' in green letters, click it once (don't forget the securitycode - 'veiligheidscode') Or On the right-hand side of the blog, you see 'voeg toe!' in black letters in a little green frame, click it once (don't forget the securitycode - 'veiligheidscode')
So no excuses anymore to not add a comment........(Blake)
I could go
on for houres about these last couple of days, but Ill try to keep it short so
you guys can go on with your lives J
Last Sunday
I went to the Daintree rainforest where I spend the night on Cape Tribulation
beach. That evening I went for a long bushwalk to spot some crocs and snakes. I
saw some brown tree snakes, Boyds forest dragons, beautiful white lipped
treefrogs and a lot of other spiders, fireflies and insects.
The next
day we went for a cruise on the Daintree river in a search for crocodiles. We
saw 2 smaller, young crocs having a sunbathe and a big croc looking for a nice
spot to have his siesta.
The next
day I went rafting on the Tully River, 5 houres on the water, big slides,
jumping of rocks, yummy bbq-lunch, swimming true rapids, funny guide,
everything you need for a great day And you cant go wrong if the company your
rafting with is called 'Raging Thunder' J
After a
good sleep I got up to van de grond te gaan, like we say in Belgium J
After a
safety-talk we got into the plane who took us up to 14000 feet, thats about
4000 meters. The freefall during this skydive took about 60 seconds, but it all
went so quick. And a couple of moments later we landed on the beautiful sand of
Mission Beach.
That
evening I went to the beach to play some beachvolleyball. There are three
perfect fields just north of the CBD (Central Business District) of Cairns. I
ended up with having a real training with coach J So Kenneth, Ill be ready for
Amabeach this (Belgian) summer.
No river,
plane or rainforest the next day, but the ocean was my best friend on Thursday.
My first experience with scuba diving was amazing!! During our first
introduction-dive we got into the warm water and on our way down to meet The
Great Barrier Reef.
After this
first dive we got onto a small speedboat who took us to the mainland of Green
Island to have a wander.
I caught
myself being more busy with my equipment during this first dive, instead of
exploring and enjoying this magnificent creation of nature. Fortunately I had a
second dive where I could forget about my eqiupment and become one with the
reef, the fish, the turtle I called Dove, the beautiful Blacktip reef shark,
I forgot to
mention it was raining and very windy the whole day. But no one cared, it was
30 degrees and we were all going to get wet anyway.
On our way
back we did some proper sailing. With all the wind, the boat was sailing in an
angle of 45 degrees. Most of us liked it, others prefered to hang
out of the boat to show the fish what they had for breakfast J
On these last trips I could see the damage the huge cyclone Yasi left in the area Branches
and trees are still laying everywhere, houses are being rebuild, roads are
being repaired,
Yasi has
only been here for a couple of houres, but people will need months to rebuild
everything and the rainforest will show us the impact for years
So if you're thinking about coming to Australia, please visit north Queensland. The people
here can use all the support they can get and as a tourist/backpacker youre able to do
everything you want.
These are
my flight schedules for my trip back. Like you can see, Ill be backin Belgium on the 26th of March.
Lif off:
March 22th at 14h00 (local time) from Adelaide
Arrive:
March 22th at 18h30 (local time) Singapore Changi
Duration:
7h00
Depart:
March 22th at 23h20 (local time) from Singapore Changi
Arrive:
March 23th at 5h25 (local time) London Heatrow
Duration:
14h05(!)
Im doing a
stopover in London to catch up with my AAP-friends Harry and Tine in Oxford for
a couple of days before returning to Belgium.
Looking forward
to see you guys. I hope my jetlag won't be to bad.
Depart:
March 26th at 12h50 (local time) from London Heatrow
Arrive:
March 26th at 15h00 (local time) Brussels Airport
Duration: 1h10
So party on
Saturday 26th!!
Gifts and
hugs are welcome
Thanks for
reading my blog I hope you enjoyed these 748 words and I hope to see you again on
the next episode of my life J
It has been
a couple of weeks since my last message, so itll be a long one.
Grab a
beer, send your girlfriend/boyfriend home, sit back, relax and enjoy the
reading.
Ok Ready??
Here we go
As I
metioned in my previous message, I spend a couple of days in St.-Kilda
(Melbourne). Nice hostel, one penguin, Heineken L, nice beach, nice vegetarian
restaurant where you could pay as much (or a less) as you like for the meal
On Friday
we went to the Australian Open where we saw some interesting matches. I saw:
Berdych beat
Gasquet
Nah Lee beat
Zahlanova
Lukasz
Kubot/Oliver Marach beat Samuel Groth/Greg Jones
Schiavone beat
Niculesco
And!! Chia-Jung
Chuang/Dick Norman beat the Ozzies Aicia Molik/Peter Luczak
Haha, Belgium -
Australia: 1-0
After the
sunbathing in Melbourne I went for some meditation to Apollo Bay where I
started the Great Ocean Walk (GOW). Its a 100 km long track true rainforest,
on beaches, over rocks, in the fields, This track took me 6 days from Apollo
Bay to the 12 Apostles. Every night I could sleep in a hike-in campsite. Here I
could find rainwater to drink and something that looked like a toilet J
I had a
really nice week in the middle of nowhere, with only a few people to talk to.
So time enough for me to become zen J
During the
walk I saw hundreds of animals, but Ill mention only the most interesting
ones. I finally saw my first (second, third and fourth) koala in the wild, only
one meter away from my tent. The tigersnake was my next visitor and he brought
some black wallabies, an echidna,
some kangaroos, some birds of prey and a big ant and a little ant pulling on
the same leaf (but different direction) J
I was
pretty lucky on Australia-Day, cause Id put my tent on a drive-in campsite
where everyone gave me beer and whiskey. And I even joined some people on the
bbq And very funny, the next day on a different campsite, there was a very
nice couple who invited me for diner and accompanying beers.
Thats
called real survival, eat this Bear Grylls J.
The next
days where more calm and I enjoyed the stunning sunsets and listened to the
koalas and other animals who were waking up or going to sleep in the forest.
That was really amazing.
After the
GOW I flew to Hobart, Tasmania. I went with a speedboat with not much speed around
Bruny Island, visited the Cascade-brewery, joined a ghost-tour and bought my
organic vegies at the famous Salamanca-market.
Next stop
was Launceston where I had a look at the beautiful Cataract Gorge. The next day
I went on a daytour to Cradle Mountain. Unfortunately I didnt have the time to
do the Overland Track, a six-day hike true the mountains. But instead I had a
nice dayhike to one of the lookouts on 1200 meters. On the way down, we saw a
big wombat enjoying his diner not that far from the path.
That night
I went to the park with some guys I met in my hostel, who came from a
circus-festival. They brought their fire-sticks and gave a nice show in the
local park.
And because
I cant get enough of animals, I did five days of volunteering at Trowunna
Wildlife Park in the big city of Mole Creek (240 inhabitants).
Not only I
saw some new interesting animals (baby-wombats, quolls, forester kangaroos,
pademelons, tasmanian devils, wedge-tailed eagles, ), but I learned a lot about
the tasmanian devils and their facial tumour disease, and the way they breed
the species. In the evening I did like every other real Australian, I played
8-ball and drank Tiger-ale.
Yesterday I
flew to Cairns where Im now writing this message in 35 degrees (Celsius), next
to the pool at the hostel J
Tomorrow
and Monday Ill be enjoying the Daintree rainforest, on Tuesday Ill conquer
the Tully-river during a day of extreme-rafting and on Wednesday Ill be hoping
my parachute opens after free falling for 60 seconds. The next day Im going to
explore the Great Barreir Reef in a scuba diving session
Next week
Ill put my flight schedules on my blog for my return-flight to Belgium...
Today is my
last day in Glass House Mountains. Tomorrow Im flying to Melbourne from the
Sunshine Coast Airport.
I wanna
thank everyone at the hospital, volunteers, vets, nurses, other staffmembers
for the wonderful experience. I was privileged to work with the Australian
wildlife in one of the biggest and maybe the best wildlife hospital on the
planet.
Also a big thanks
to my housemates Amber, Pete, Didge, Sabi and Sweetie. Keep on digging J
Ok, what
happened since my last message
On New
Years Eve we had a poolparty (thanks Brook), so I spend the first houres of
2011 in the pool. How cool is that J.
The 2nd of
January we (Amber, Richard and me) went herping (reptile-spotting) in the
evening. We saw a lot of animals in the hills near Maleny. We saw a Scaly-foot lizard, a Bandy Bandy-snake, three
Spotted Velvet Geckos , two possums, a Barn owl, a couple of dead snakes and a
fat frog J
My last days at
the hospital were really great. I spend a lot of time inside the hospital and
saw a surgery on one of the koalas (Adam). These two months
have been very beneficial for me as an assistant-vet.
And btw:
Marsupial are cool!!
After my last day at work we had a nice bbq at our house for everyone...
This weekend I
stayed fore a couple of days with really nice people at Hervey Bay (thanks
Nat) We went jet-skiingand
skimboarding on Friday.
Saturday and
Sunday I went to Fraser Island for a 4WD-tour (four-wheel drive). The island is the
largest sand island in the world. and the summum in 4WD-country...
We went on an
amazing rain forest walk, swam and sun-baked at Lake McKenzie, looked at a
dingo, saw the 75-years old shipwreck Maheno, spotted the fish at Eli Creek,
ect
Now Im packing
my bags to leave the Sunshine Coast.
Ill spend a
couple of days in St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne. And Monday (March 24th)
I start the Great Ocean walk in Apollo Bay. A seven-day walk (110km) trough
forest, on rocks and beaches and next to waterfalls with a tent on my back,
stove in my backpack and tablets to treat the rainwater so I can drink it. I finish this
trip on Sunday 30th.
After the Great
Ocean Walk Im going to Tasmania, but more about this in a next message
Even een
kort berichtje omdat ik erg veel vragen krijg i.v.m. die overstromingen hier.
Ten zuiden
en ten noorden van Glass House Mountains (waar ik momenteel verblijf) zijn de
zwaarste overstromingen in Australië in 60 jaar met jammer genoeg al enkele
doden en vermisten. Gelukkig zit ik hier in een gebied dat wat minder getroffen
is.
Gisteren
hebben we wel wat zandzakjes gevuld, gewoon uit voorzorg, maar we hebben ze nog
niet nodig gehad. Er waren wel heel wat mensen die niet naar hun werk konden
omdat de straten en treinsporen overstroomd waren. Voor slangen, haaien en
krokodillen moet je in bepaalde plaatsen altijd opletten, dus die berichten in
de kranten hierover zijn allemaal wat overroepen. Hier ligt er niemand wakker
van een slang in het water J.
De overvloedige regen voel ik wel een beetje in de winkels, die problemen hebben met bevoorrading. Maar desnoods eet ik champignons J.
De volgende
dagen voorspellen ze wat beter weer, waardoor het water wat kan wegtrekken en de Sunshine Coast terug zijn naam waard kan zijn.
Volgende
woensdag vlieg ik naar Melbourne. Maar daarover meer in een volgend bericht.
Ik ga het
deze keer in het Chinees, euhm Nederlands doen, want de dagen en weken vliegen
hier voorbij en heb de tijd nog niet gevonden om een deftige Engelse tekst te
schrijven
Ik maak
hieronder een kort overzichtje van alle interessante plaatsjes die ik de
laatste weken heb aangedaan.
Ik kan het
ook samenvatten onder regen, regen en regen Al wil dat niet zeggen dat ik
daarvoor thuis gebleven ben. En regen bij 28 graden valt eigenlijk wel nog mee J
Het eerste
weekend van december heb ik in Noosa doorgebracht. In de jeugdherberg Helse
Lodge kwam ik een vriendelijke Italiaan tegen waarmee ik me dan s avonds in
het plaatselijke nachtleven heb gestort. De zondagmorgen zijn we vroeg
vertrokken naar Noosa National Park Een zonnige morgen die de voorbode moest
zijn voor een warme zomerdag Helaas Nadat we aan de andere zijde van het park
waren aangekomen en aan het genieten waren van een plons in de Pacific Ocean in
Alexandria Beach, begon het oude wijven te regenen (leg dat maar eens uit aan een
Australiër)
Nuja, veel
keuze hadden we niet en nat waren we toch al, dus keerden we volop genietend terug
Tussendoor nog enkele optredens gezien ten voordele van Sea Shepherd Nog eens naar Noosa geweest om te gaan surfen, maar er waren die dag geen goede golven Kerstbbq gehouden in AZWH (Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital) Nog een bbq gehouden voor wat vrienden
Het
kerstweekend heb ik doorgebracht in Burleigh aan de Gold Coast (net ten zuiden
van Brisbane) Ik verbleef er bij de ouders van Brooke, een dierenverzorgster
uit de zoo Ongelofelijk gastvrije mensen waren dat.
Een zalig
kerstmaal, waar ik kennis heb gemaakt met mijn nieuwe liefde...Ze heet
Bundaberg, is 37 graden heet en is lokaal verwekt Voor de mensen die geen
zin hebben om het zelf op te zoeken: het is rum J
Op Boxing
Day heb ik s morgens voor de eerste keer gesurft, erg leuke ervaring. Ik lig
wel nog veel met mijn gezicht in het water, maar toch nu en dan een goeie wave
gecatched Thanks Ray, you were a wonderful teacher...Verder nog Byron Bay en Sufers Paradise bezocht
In het hospitaal gaat het werk ondertussen lekker voort Ik leer ongelofelijk veel bij. Heel wat
van de dagen breng ik door bij de koalas. Kuisen van de verblijven, eten
geven Maar heel regelmatig mag ik ook wat binnen in
het ziekenhuis helpen Vorige week kreeg ik een kans om na de werkuren nog wat
te helpen omdat iemand ziek was uitgevallen Het was een werkdag van 8u s
morgens tot 1u30 s nachts, maar het was het waard. Baby-possum eten gegeven
(zie koddige foto), red-bellied Black Snake gezien, koala verzorgd die
aangereden was door een auto L, vleermuis gezien die vast gezeten had in prikkeldraad...Thanks Tash (even though u
dont know what Im talking about J).
Twee weken geleden mocht ik ook de koala Zoron gaan vrijlaten ten zuiden van Brisbane...Na een groot uur rijden, hadden we in een parkeen goeie boom uitgezocht voor Zoron...Het duurde slechts enkele seconden voor hij zich in de top van de boom bevond...Zalig om dit mee te maken, want hier draait het ziekenhuis toch om, het vrijlaten van de dieren in hun natuurlijke omgeving...
Nog 2 weken
en mijn werk in het AZWH zit er op. Ik ben dan ook in volle voorbereiding om de
rest van mijn trip te plannen, maar daarover meer in een volgend bericht
Ik wil
trouwens ook iedereen die een berichtje nalaat op mijn gastenboek, reageert
op mijn posts of gewoon mijn blog leest eens bedanken Leuk te zien dat niet
iedereen me al vergeten is J
Iedereen
die verjaart tussen november en april ga ik nu ook gelukwensen, 3 piepers en
een koalaknuffel geven. Sommige dagen kan ik niet op internet en zou het dan jammer vinden dak sommige mensen zou vergeten...
My first
two weeks as a wildlife warrior are a fact. Im working five days a week at the
Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital, and Im really loving it. I have learned so
much. Not only about the lovely koalas, but the hospital also treats
freshwater- and saltwater turtles, lizards, (sea)snakes, birds (from
butcherbirds to pelicans), echidnas (great animals), possums, bats,
Everyday
about 20 volunteers, and 15 veterinarian and vet nurses work very hard to help
the animals recover.
And I have
the privilege of working worlds most famous koala, Frodo
Last
weekend (20th Nov) I went for a walk near Glasshouse Mountains and tried to climb Mount (Mt) Beerburrum (280m), Mt Tibrogargan (364m) and Mt Mgungun (253m).
Unfortunately Mt Tibrogargan was to steep to get to the summit, but the view on
the other mountains was fantastic.
Ive also
seen a little bit of the Australian wildlife:
A kite
(wouw), a Blue-tongued Skink, a Rainbow-skink, and unfortunately a lot of
reptiles and birds I could not identify.
LastSunday (28th) I went to Australia Zoo!!
It is a huge park with a lot of Australias native animals (of course Gijs, what else were you
expecting?!? J). A
large collection of crocs, wombats, kangaroos, koalas, emus, echidnas, snakes,
dingos, cassowaries, etc. And also a few exotic species as asian elephants,
tigers, cheetahs, red pandas etc.
I saw
Terri, Robert and Bindi Irwin (respectively wife, son and daughter of Steve) on
The Wildlife Warrior-show where Terri got a surprise by the host of This is
your life. I dont know the host nor the show, but screamed like a little girl
J.
Furthermore
I saw the otters, turtles and elephants being fed and the crocs, birds of prey
and tigers, all in their own show.
Next
weekend (if it is not raining) Im going for two days up north, to Noosa. Ill
drop myself on the beach on Saturday and will visit its national park on Sunday Woehoe!!
As a nice
clincher, Ill give you a few wistjedatjes
Did you
know that:
-Australians
will try to stop you if youre trying to go to work by bike, because they think
youre comitting suicide
-You
have to watch both ways if you cross the road, because everyone drives in the
wrong direction
-Australians
know Stella Artois
-Dutch
people always want to drive orange vehicles, even in Australia. Isnt it, Johan
and Leonie :D??
-I
have to remind myself that there are NO!!! busses on a Sunday, Grrrr.
Thank you for reading my blog, you will be
loved from a distance for 5 minutes But no worries, you can win 5 extra minutes
by writing a message on my guestbook
Mijn eerste blog-bericht vanuit Australië is een feit en tot zover ook
mijn goede voornemen om alles in in het Engels te schrijven.
Op dit moment zit ik veilig en warm :D in mijn zetel naar
televisie te kijken, maar om hier te geraken heb ik toch enkele kleine problemen
moeten oplossen.
Voor ik woensdagochtend in Brisbane one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind kon roepen zijn British Airways (BA) en Qantas er
toch wel in geslaagd om 2 van mijn 3 vluchten met meer dan een uur vertraging
te doel landen. Ok, al bij al kom ik liever te laat aan, dan te vroeg neer te storten Door deze vertragingen en door het
feit dat BA mij vriendelijk op een andere vlucht heeft gezet -zodat ik mijn
volgende aansluiting zou kunnen halen- was er jammer genoeg geen spoor van mijn bagage L Na
$100 gekregen te hebben van Qantas ,voor het ongemak, kon ik verder enkel maar
afwachten in m'n hostel. Dit was echter buiten de K9-hond van de Australische douane gerekend die
het broodje, dat enkele uren voordien in mijn handbagage zat, blijkbaar nog kon
ruiken J Maar no worries, na deskundig ondersteboven halen van mijn bagage, of wat er nog van overbleef, kon ik dan uiteindelijk toch Australië binnen.
In Brisbane-stad ben ik dan maar op zoek gegaan naar een
hostel. Ik vond een kleinere, maar gezellige jeugdherberg (WoodDuck) in het
centrum van de stad. Tijdens die 3 dagen het museum bezocht, aan het strand
gelegen en verbrand geraakt na 2 uur (en dat in de lente J), op mijn bagage
gewacht, rugbystadion gezien, zwembroek gaan kopen, mijn neus gesnoten (want
was nog een beetje ziek) Uiteindelijk dan vrijdagmorgen mijn bagage teruggekregen. Een geluk voor mezelf, maar ook voor mijn kamergenoten die me toch graag wat eerder van boxershort hadden willen zien veranderen (al die werkwoorden zeg)...
Vrijdag nog een nachtje bij een ex-huisgenoot van bosklapper
Sander verbleven in een zalig huis in Bardon, een buitenwijk van Brisbane. Dit werd ook mijn
eerste ervaring met Australian wildlife: die spinnen zijn hier net iets groter
dan in Zedelgem
Nu zitten mijn eerste dagen in het ziekenhuis erop. Erg leuk
werk bij de koalas, maar dit verhaal ga ik volgende keer vertellen want nu
komt er net een buidelbeertje voorbij met een lange snuit en het verhaaltje is
uit
