Australia Photo Book Part 2 [2014-2015]

Kata Tjuta

Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta, quite impressive to see these huge rocks on both sides and the small opening at the end

Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta, reflecting in the small water pool

325

Fackin' s r e t a e w o r C

326

THE FESTIVAL STATE

South a i l a r t s Au CAPITAL CITY

ADELAIDE

AREA

1,043,514 KM²

POPULATION

1,682,600(2014) 327

At the border between the Northern Territory and South Australia along the Stuart Highway

The dingo fence near Coober Pedy, world's longest fence with a length of 5,614 km

328

Camping on a rest stop between Mala and Coober Pedy, this young dingo was watching me

The dingo fence near Coober Pedy was build to keep the dingoes out of the north-eastern part of Australia

Underground Art Gallery in a so-called dugout in Coober Pedy

Sign near Coober Pedy to warn for the abundance of mine shafts in the area

Underground Art Gallery in Coober Pedy

329

There's even an underground catholic church in Coober Pedy

Jeweller's Shop Noodling Area in Coober Pedy, a place where rubbish from the opal mines is deposited

330

Found some opal at the Jeweller's Shop Noodling Area in Coober Pedy

George Burford's Dugout, dug into this hill, these dugouts are cool in the summer and warm in the winter

Coober Pedy, sometimes called "Opal Capital of the World"

This random row of old televisions was a funny sight just outside Coober Pedy

331

COOBER PEDY

THE BREAKAWAYS 4 DECEMBER 2014 I arrived here in the afternoon and stayed till sundown

The Aboriginal name for this area is Umoona

332

These mesas in combination with the small hills make it look like that the small hills have broken off the larger ones, that is where the name The Breakaways comes from

333

COOBER PEDY

TOM'S WORKING OPAL MINE

I took a self-guided tour through this opal mine of Tom which is originally from Scotland

6 DECEMBER 2014

A digging machine which is connected with a telescopic pipe to a "blower" on the surface

334

For the big work, the miners use explosives

A rotating lift in which rubbish gets deposited on the surface

A wall with some holes in which explosives would be placed

335

The blower, invented in Coober Pedy, is a giant vacuum cleaner that is connected to a digging machine and sucks up dirt from up to 30 m underground and dumps it on the surface

336

A blower, a distinct feature in the Coober Pedy landscape which is literally filled with piles of rubbish from the mines

These signs are placed everywhere next to the highways and so also at this mine

337

An emu running away from me between Cooper Pedy and Port Augusta

Between Coober Pedy and Port Augusta, truly enormous birds, a wedge-tailed eagle, Australia's largest bird of prey

A group of emus on the way from Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

338

Me cruisin' from Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

The landscape between Coober Pedy and Port Augusta is pretty empty

Eucolo Creek near Pimba, the white stuff is all salt

339

Eucolo Creek near Pimba with a lot of salt in the water and beautiful colours

Saw a couple of these lizards, head up high, sunbathing on the road, this is near Port Augusta

340

Animals on road sign in 3 languages on the way to Port Augusta, I added Dutch as the 4th language: "Dieren op de weg"

PORT AUGUSTA

FLINDERS RANGES NATIONAL PARK

In this national park I've seen a lot of emus

8-9 DECEMBER 2014

Me and my Ford Falcon at the Stokes Hill Lookout

341

Bunyeroo Valley Lookout, I drove through the valley on the dirt road that is visible in the centre of the photo

342

The Yourambulla Caves were officially closed, I think because these stairs were a bit unstable, this is Site One

Site One at the Yourambulla Caves

Site Two at the Yourambulla Caves, the paintings are always in sheltered locations with protection from the sun

Site Two at the Yourambulla Caves, on the right are most likely animal tracks

343

Site Three at the Yourambulla Caves

Wilpena Pound as seen from Mt Ohlssen Bagge

344

Site Three at the Yourambulla Caves

Stokes Hill Lookout with a local inhabitant posing in between the grass

345

Coober Pedy

SA Flinders Ranges NP

Port Augusta

Adelaide

Hahndorf Kangaroo Island

TOUR FORD FALCON FORTE WAGON

Mt Gambier

e d i a l e Ad Adelaide, capital of South Australia and surrounded by wine regions,

POPULATION

was founded in 1836 as a planned city by British settlers with the

1,304,631(2014)

streets named after them. The city centre is set out in a grid layout with large squares and is surrounded by parklands. Attractions include museums and galleries in the city, but also, not far from Adelaide, Kangaroo Island.

DATE(S) VISITED

09-12-2014 till 05-01-2014

The spot I camped at for a couple of weeks between shopping centre Harbour Town and West Beach

A common sight at the supermarkets, it is normal to just leave the shopping cart on the parking area and drive away

Coopers, the beer from Adelaide, it's the largest Australian-owned brewery

I took the Falcon Forte emblems off my car to send home as souvenirs

348

My car parked near West Beach

Free city bike hire, so I hired this bike and had to wear a helmet as this is required by law

My favourite iced coffee, the double strength from Barista Bros

A shower at West Beach I used regularly

349

National War Memorial

A building that used to be the market, it was constructed in 1904

The Central Market, a famous market with fresh produce

The Central Market

350

Fowlers Lion Factory building now converted into an arts precinct

St Francis Xavier's Cathedral

South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) building, interesting architecture

tage icon, the pie A South Australian heri

t pie in a pea soup, I

floater which is a mea

el had in Kings Head Hot

351

Me during Christmas, swimming in the sea

This art object got a little addition for Christmas

352

I got this package for

Christmas from a loca

l woman that wanted

A deer in a shopping mall around Christmas time

to do a good deed, the

re's even a 100 dollar

in there!

ADELAIDE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

Pacific Cultures Gallery, truly an enormous, impressive and interesting collection, I visited this gallery twice

22 DECEMBER & 24 DECEMBER 2014

Pacific Cultures Gallery

353

Items from the New Ireland Province PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

354

Items from the New Ireland Province PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from the New Ireland Province PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from the New Ireland Province PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from the New Ireland Province PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

355

Items from the New Britain PNG in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from Papa New Guinea in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from Papa New Guinea in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

Items from Papa New Guinea in the Pacific Cultures Gallery

356

ADELAIDE

CHRISTMAS RIVERBANK DISPLAY

Merry Christmas was displayed on signs in a lot of different languages

31 DECEMBER 2014

These gardens are right next to and from the West End Brewery which also organised this Riverbank Display

357

The West End Brewery on the background

358

ADELAIDE

ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 22 DECEMBER 2014

359

Aboriginal art

Aboriginal art

360

Aboriginal dot painting

Aboriginal art

361

"Das swings unt roundabouts fur der kinder? Ja? Nein! Sweinhund" by Jake Chapman

362

ADELAIDE

ADELAIDE'S ELDER PARK NEW YEAR'S EVE 2014

People gathering in Elder Park for the live music and the firework shows at 9 and 12 o'clock

31 DECEMBER 2014 - 1 JANUARI 2015

Alphabette

363

The Timbers, a band from right here in Adelaide

364

Countdown, 5 seconds to 2015

First selfie of 2015

365

Coober Pedy

SA Flinders Ranges NP

Port Augusta

Adelaide

Hahndorf Kangaroo Island

TOUR FORD FALCON FORTE WAGON

Mt Gambier

o o r a g Kan Island Kangaroo Island, named in 1802 by Matthew Flinders, was first connected

POPULATION

to the mainland. Then it was occupied by the Aboriginals which later

4,417(2011)

disappeared due to rising sea levels causing it to become an island. It is Australia's third largest island with a size of 150 km long and between 90 km and 57 km wide. The koalas on the island are, unlike the koalas on the mainland of Australia, not suffering from a disease. Kangaroo Island is also home to a subspecies of the western grey kangaroo which is named the Kangaroo Island kangaroo. Tourist hotspots on the island include Admiral's Arch, Seal Bay and Remarkable Rocks.

AREA

4,405 KM2 DATE(S) VISITED

03-01-2015

Loads of penguins near where the ferry arrives on Kangaroo Island

These are silvereyes or white eyes and are native to Australia and New Zealand

368

The kangaroo island

kangaroo, they only

live here and are the

only kangaroos on this

island

KANGAROO ISLAND

SEAL BAY 3 JANUARI 2015

Seal Bay, home of an Australian sea lion colony

369

370

Sand dunes with bright green plant growth

371

t a h w So ’ n i o d you ? o v r a this

KANGAROO ISLAND

HANSON BAY 3 JANUARI 2015

The koalas on the mainland of Australia all have a disease, on Kangaroo Island they don't have this disease

Kangaroo Island kangaroos

373

KANGAROO ISLAND

REMARKABLE ROCKS 3 JANUARI 2015

374

Naturally sculptured rocks

375

KANGAROO ISLAND

ADMIRALS ARCH 3 JANUARI 2015

Admirals Arch

A rugged coastline

376

New Zealand fur seals

New Zealand fur seal

New Zealand fur seals

Me in front of Admirals Arch

377

Hahndorf is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia, due to WWI it was renamed Ambleside for a while

Visited the FruChocs shop in Hahndorf, the FruChocs are an official Icon of South Australia

378

Got some RaspberryChocs and PineappleChocs in Hahndorf, pieces of dried fruit covered in chocolate

John Francis Peggotty was a dwarf bushranger riding an ostrich, this statue of his ostrich is located in Meningie

The Big Lobster aka Larry the Lobster, one of Australia's Big Things located in Kingston

Camping at a rest stop in Coorong National Park

379

Got a flat tyre on this gravel road in Coorong National Park

A shingleback lizard, that is telling me to back off by showing it's blue tongue, in Coorong National Park

380

My second flat tyre in Australia, now in Coorong National Park

The Cave Gardens in Mt Gambier

MT GAMBIER

BLUE LAKE 7 JANUARI 2015

Blue Lake as seen from the lookout

381

The lake is on average about 72 meters deep and is the water supply of Mt Gambier

382

The blue colour is at its brightest between December and March

MT GAMBIER

UMPHERSTON SINKHOLE 8 JANUARI 2015 View from the top looking down into the garden

This used to be a cave but the ceiling collapsed making it a sinkhole in which a garden was made

383

A couple of possums that live in between the openings in the wall

384

A possum eating a piece of an apple, they are used to being fed by tourists

385

Oi! a y c n a F cuppa?

Traffic sign, watch out for kangaroos, possums and koalas in Hamilton (VIC)

A flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos making a lot of noise near Hamilton (VIC)

The Giant Koala near Dadswells Bridge (VIC), also part of Australia's Big Things

387

Fackin' s r e h c t a p e g Cabba 388

THE PLACE TO BE

a i r o t c Vi CAPITAL CITY

MELBOURNE

AREA

237,629 KM²

POPULATION

5,821,300(2014) 389

HALLS GAP

GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK 9-11 JANUARI 2015 Billimina Art Shelter

Billimina Art Shelter

390

Manja Shelter

Manja Shelter

Manja Shelter

Part of the Grampians has been hit by a major bush fire in January 2014, so some art shelters were officially closed

391

Billimina Art Shelter, officially closed due to a bush fire

Ngamadjidj Shelter

Gulgum Manja Shelter

Gulgum Manja Shelter

392

Gulgum Manja Shelter

A sign destroyed by bush fire at the Gulgum Manja Shelter, officially closed but I didn't want to miss it

An Australian Icon, the grass-tree or kangaroo tail

393

Bunjil Shelter, this is Bunjil, the Aboriginal creator and ancestral being, it is the only known rock art painting of Bunjil

MacKenzie Falls

MacKenzie Falls

Broken Falls

394

Sundown at the Reed Lookout, I slept here on the parking area in my car

Sundown at the Reed Lookout

Sundown at the Reed Lookout

395

The Balconies, these rocks are nicknamed Jaws of Death

The Boroka Lookout,

396

r wasn't that great

the unfortunately the wea

Me inside the Jaws of Death aka The Balconies

The Pinnacle

A huge collection of rock towers build by travellers that have visited The Balconies, a rock tower is an universal symbol to indicate that someone has been there already

397

Racing against an emu, on the background is the Toscana Olive Plantation

The Silverband Falls, named that way because of its appearance

398

The Silverband Falls, the water disappears in the ground and doesn't form a stream

My car broke down on this highway in the evening so I parked it right here near Stawell and went to sleep

The next morning my car worked again and I managed to drive to Stawell and brought my car to a mechanic

The mechanic in Stawell advised me to dump the car but changed the coil pack anyways

399

t e g a n I’m gon m o r f s heap O e l t t the Bo

PORT CAMPBELL

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD 12-13 JANUARI 2015 The Bay of Islands

The Bay of Martyrs

401

Great Ocean Road, here I come!

402

Beautiful blue water at The Grotto

The Razorback

The Bay of Islands

403

The Grotto as seen from the lookout

404

The Grotto

The Arch

Island Archway

The London Bridge, it was named that way because it used to be connected to the mainland but that piece collapsed in 1990 leaving 2 tourists stranded on the part on the right

405

The Twelve Apostles at sundown

406

Loch Ard Gorge

At the Loch Ard Gorge on the beach

Me at The Twelve Apostles

407

The Twelve Apostles at sundown

Me at the Cape Patton Lookout

408

Watch out for koalas for the next 25 km traffic sign

A wet koala between the Great Ocean Road and Cape Otway

409

A red wattlebird at Teddy's Lookout in Lorne

Drive on left in Australia

410

Castle Cove

The Great Ocean Road as seen from Teddy's Lookout in Lorne

The beach in Lorne

Aussie feet, my thongs

sunburned on my feet

at Aireys Inlet

411

The Great Ocean Road as seen from Teddy's Lookout in Lorne

412

413

The Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch near Aireys Inlet, the Great Ocean Road is the biggest war memorial in the world

Me with my Ford Falcon at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch near Aireys Inlet

414

Me at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch near Aireys Inlet

Urquhart Bluff near Anglesea

Started travelling with my car when it had 358.130 km, and now 131 days later in Geelong I've driven exactly 20.000 km

A masked lapwing in Geelong, a bird native to Australia

Flat tyre nr 3 on a parking area in Point Cook

A superb fairy-wren which is common in southeastern Australia

415

GEELONG

BAYWALK BOLLARD TRAIL 17 JANUARI 2015

Portuguese Explorer (nr 3), the Baywalk Bollard walk is a trail that takes you to a total of 48 painted bollards

416

Eastern Beach Open Sea Bathers (nr 6)

Bathing Tableau (nr 7)

Eastern Beach Life Savers (nr 8)

Eastern Beach Life Savers (nr 8), the artist has painted hidden rabbits on almost every statue

417

Bathing Beauties (nr 13)

Scallop Fishermen And Woman

418

Fireman (nr 20), these bollards came from an old pier that was demolished the in 1980s

Volunteer Rifle Band (nr 23), there are also other objects used in the creation of the bollards like music instruments

Tram Conductress (nr 22)

Corio Rowing Club (nr 33)

Western Beach Sea Bathing Co. (nr 29), they are painted by Jan Mitchell

419

Photographic Group (nr 42), the rabbits are a link to the fact that rabbits were first introduced to Australia here

Father And Son Fishing (nr 37)

420

Steam Captain (nr 26) on the left and Sail Captain (nr 27) on the right

Scotsman (nr 40)

Koori Hunter (nr 41), all characters played a part in Geelong's history

421

Student Teachers (nr 47)

422

Morris Jacobs (nr 48)

In Victoria they put signs next to the roads, at which work as been done with on it the costs for the government

Traffic sign, look out for wombats, on the way to Yarram

A yellow-tailed black cockatoo in Pakenham, they are native to southeast Australia

423

LONGFORD

TOMATO PICKING JOB 31 JANUARI 2015

All the information he provided was not correct and so I did this job only for one day as I didn't want to work for this guy

424

One of the tomato fields

A bucket of tomatoes, it was paid per bucket, not per hour as he said

There was something on the tomatoes that made by hands black

The house in Golden Beach, not enough place so I slept in my car, the tomato picking itself was close to Longford

425

The beach in Golden Beach

An Australasian swamphen in Emerald Lake Park in Emerald

426

A Crimson Rosella at the Backpackers Hostel in Emerald

Kangaroo minced meat I got in Emerald, it is available in supermarkets in Australia

Blood moon in Emerald

An eucalyptus tree in Emerald which sheds its bark, one of the reasons is to provoke a fire which will kill surrounding trees

A shephard's pie, a meat pie with mashed potato on top, in Gembrook

427

EMERALD

EMERALD BACKPACKERS WORKING HOSTEL

One of the entrances to the hostel

5 FEBRUARI - 11 MAY 2015

The parking area in front of the hostel where I parked, and slept in, my car

428

The kitchen, a complete mess as always, with frying pans in really bad shape, luckily I had my own

The living room with some dining tables after a regular weekend

The TV room, a room filled with couches and a telly (television)

Every day we took one of the vans from the hostel to get groceries at Woolies (Woolworths supermarket)

429

I was part of a cooking group, meaning I'd cook once a week for 5 people and the rest of the week someone else cooks for me (fltr Sophia (ES), Wendy (TW), Me, Tim (DE), Steve (UK), Matthew (UK) and Kelsey (NL), Tim and Kelsey were not part of the cooking group)

I made a lasagna for the cooking group

Oven dish by Kim (DE)

Burger by Wendy (TW)

430

Dish by Matthew (UK)

Sushi by Sophia (ES)

The cooking group, fltr Wendy(TW), Matthew(UK), Me and Sophia(ES)

Pasta by Emiliano (IT)

Dinner by Steve (UK)

Barbie (BBQ) at the hostel

431

Drinking games around a bucket of goon (cheapest wine there is)

Group picture at the hostel, quite a large group of people that were all staying at the hostel

From left to right Rita (HK), Inga (DE), Sen (TW), Patrick (IT) and Me

Little (destructive) fire going on outside

432

Through the Emerald Backpackers working hostel I got a job at the Glenara Nursery, a tree nursery of a family of farmers which are part Dutch and owned two big farms near Gembrook. My job was mostly taping trees, that were grafted by the farmers, airtight. But I also planted, dug and bundled trees. Also fun was the occasional BBQ with beers. I worked here for a good 3 months.

433

GEMBROOK

WORK AT GLENARA NURSERY

The entry to the property of Ryan, the farmers are part Dutch but can't speak Dutch

6 FEBRUARI - 9 MAY 2015

The van with which we drove on the farms to the various fields of trees

434

Grafting, the farmers made a cut in the tree and put a piece of branch of another type of tree in there

Just outside Gembrook on the Beenak Road, it was a 20 min drive from the Emerald Backpackers hostel

We tape it airtight and the branch will join together with the tree after which we will cut the tapes later on

435

Plum trees, the first trees I worked with, all taped

Plum trees in the beautiful landscape

A man made lake in the back, the water reservoir of the farm of Ryan, we had a couple of barbies there and then I also went for a swim

436

Shaking the leafs off

Apple trees in a foggy morning

Grafting maple trees in progress, taping the trees is something I've done a lot and this is a common sight

Ryan behind the barbie at the lake, they went to get the barbie from their other property down the road with a tractor

437

Part of the property of Ryan with the fields of trees

In between the apple trees at the property of Darran

438

Gathering seeds that will be used for planting trees

Taping trees with the farmers Daniel and Ryan and backpackers Casper (DK), Bryan (UK) and Matthias (IT)

The farmers, 3 brothers, from left to right Darran, Daniel and Ryan

Stripping branches of leafs for grafting, with from left to right Matthias (IT), Daniel (Farmer) and in the back Bryan (UK)

The dad of the farmers and owner of the farm had a collection of tractors including this one, I didn't drive it though

Tidy up the sprinklers at the property of Ryan

439

The farms had an orchard with apples, plums, oranges, mandarins, grapes, grapefruits, etc which we could take with us

Bryan (UK) emerged in peaches trees

440

Me and Bryan (UK) and in the back Ryan and Daniel (Farmers) in a field of peaches trees

s (IT) on the back of

Matthia Me, Bryan (UK) and

mer)

the ute of Daniel (Far

Planting peaches trees with Matthias (IT) at the property of Darran

Peaches seeds that we will be planting

Digging the trees, the tractor scoops them out and we take the trees and beat off the dirt with a rubber hammer

441

The scoop attached to the tractor which scoops out a row of trees

Max (DE) putting a pile of trees on a pallet

442

Picking up the trees, beating off the dirt, putting them into piles and put them on pallets

Bundling trees, picking up 5 trees and tying them up using a special knot

A bundle of trees, also attaching a label with the type/name of the tree

Pallets with bundles of trees in the shed at the property of Darran

Left to right: Max (DE), Ryan (Farmer), Flo (FR), Emiliano (IT), Fabrizio (IT), Me and Darran (Farmer)

Goodbye barbie for me

443

n e e s a Have y s g n o h my t ? e r e h anyw

ALEXANDRA

DOOF 28-29 MARCH 2015

A 2 hour drive from Emerald, in the middle of the bush, there was this illegal doof going on

445

The DJ boot, psytrance music was being played at the doof

I remember arriving at the doof, the beat of the music getting closer, the lights projecting on the trees, awesome!

Together with psychedelic light effects that were extra impressive to people using LSD

It was quite cold at night so a campfire kept us warm

446

MDMA aka XTC available from a drugs dealer at the doof

The DJ boot, the next day

My ride to the doof together with Matthias (left) and Sophia (right) to which this awesome hippy van belongs to

We arrived in the evening and the doof lasted till we left the next day in the afternoon

447

Florian (IT), Matthias (IT) and Sophia (ES)

Whip cream charges that are used as a recreational drug on the doof

448

Group of the hostel around a campfire

We went to the doof with a big group of the hostel in Emerald including these lads, posing in front of the semi-stolen van of the hostel

I was going to travel on and I had to get rid of my Ford Falcon Forte Wagon which was in "limp mode" and was just not working properly anymore. I called a scrap dealer which picked up my car from the hostel.

It has served me well, took me over dirt and gravel roads and has been my home for a long time.

I've driven a total of 20.857 km with it.

449

Grampians NP

VIC Melbourne

Warrnambool Port Campbell NP

GREYHOUND BUS FORD FALCON FORTE WAGON BOAT

Geelong

Emerald

Great Otway NP

Golden Beach

e n r u o b Mel Melbourne, founded by British settlers in 1835, is the capital and most

POPULATION

populous city of Victoria. Known as Australia's Coffee and Cultural

4,442,919(2014)

Capital being the birthplace of Australian rules football (Australia's most popular sport), and of the Melbourne Shuffle (a rave and club

DATE(S) VISITED

dance). Besides that Melbourne is famous worldwide for its street art

April - May

which is allowed on specified locations including Hosier Lane, Rutledge Lane, Croft Alley and Union Lane.

Went to Box Hill, an Asian styled suburb of Melbourne, with Ivy and Yaya (their English names) from Taiwan

The beach at St Kilda

Melbourne has the largest urban tram network in the world, trams have been operating continuously since 1884

The Abode 318 building on Russell Street

452

ia, here ed Macca's in Austral McDonald's is nicknam

in Melbourne it's the

first time I saw it on

Flinders Street Station, I arrived here when I went to Melbourne from the hostel

the building itself

Luna Park in Melbourne

Grill'd, a burger restaurant chain in Australia

453

Having dinner at Mamak, an Malaysian restaurant, with Rita (HK) and Kim (DE)

The Coop’s Shot Tower in Melbourne Central Shopping Centre

454

Architectural Fragment by Petrus Spronk

Brother Baba Budan, a coffee shop with a ceiling of chairs

Brother Baba Budan, the best coffee in Australia you can find in Melbourne and this is one of the best in Melbourne

ANZAC day on the 25th of April at Federation Square with a lot of poppies, the symbol of remembrance

Delicious spicy dinner at the Mook Ji Bar

455

Public Purse by Simon Perry

Lentil as Anything is a vegetarian restaurant where you can eat and pay what you want or can

Nando's, a chain of restaurants with a selection of sauces ranging from hot to extremely hot

Angel by Deborah Halpern

456

Angel by Deborah Halpern

Neon Natives in Cocker Alley

457

Melbourne typography at the Queen Victoria Market

Melbourne letters filled with name tags at the Queen Victoria Market

458

Left my own name tag at the Melbourne letters at the Queen Victoria Market

MELBOURNE

GRAFFITI STREET ART APRIL - MAY 2015 Caledonian Lane

Lees Place

459

Union Lane

Duke Street

460

Union Street

Earl Street

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

461

Graffiti by Sarah Masson in Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

462

ier Lane

Wedding photos in Hos

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane

By the looks of it, a marriage proposal in Rutledge Lane

463

Hosier Lane

Graffiti by Solfes in Fanley Lane

464

Graffiti by Urban Cake Lady in Fanley Lane

AC/DC Lane, named

after the Australian

rock band AC/DC

Graffiti, probably by Rad, in the AC/DC Lane

Graffiti by Mike Maka or Makatron and Cezary "Cruel" Stulgis in the AC/DC Lane

Graffiti by Mike Maka/Makatron, Conrad and Hancock in the AC/DC Lane

465

Graffiti by Mike Maka/Makatron, Heesco, Cruel, Conrad and Hancock in the AC/DC Lane

Graffiti by Heesco in the AC/DC Lane

466

Graffiti portrait of Cherry Bar owner James Young in the AC/DC Lane

Graffiti by Steen Jones in Duckboard Place

Duckboard Place

Graffiti by Steen Jones in Duckboard Place

467

Artists Lane

Artists Lane

Graffiti by Kaff-eine in the Artists Lane

Artists Lane

468

Artists Lane

Artists Lane

Artists Lane

469

Artists Lane

Artists Lane

Artists Lane

Saint Kilda Graffiti in Mitford Street

470

Graffiti by Sofles in Croft Alley

Graffiti by Sofles (on the right) in Croft Alley

Croft Alley

471

Carlton Street

Carlton Street

472

Carlton Street

Graffiti by Jacob Coppedge Stevenson Lane

Stevenson Lane

Stevenson Lane

Stevenson Lane

473

Graffiti by Deb in Mc Ilwrick Street

Stevenson Lane

474

Graffiti by Deb in the Rankins Lane

Graffiti stencil by Banksy in Colonel Tan's at Revolver Upstairs

Graffiti stencil by Banksy in Colonel Tan's at Revolver Upstairs

475

Graffiti by Kaff-eine

in Warburton Lane

Graffiti by Ryot in the Graham Street Skate Park

476

Duke Street

Graffiti by Ryot in the Graham Street Skate Park

Graffiti by SEAR and D.ROQ in the Graham Street Skate Park

Graffiti by Putos in the Graham Street Skate Park

477

Graffiti by Urban Cake Lady in Duke Street

478

Duke Street

The Spirit of Tasmania ferry I went with from Melbourne (VIC) to Devonport (TAS)

My ticket for the Spirit of Tasmania ferry

Photo kiosk on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry

479

480

Fackin' s r e t a E e l p p A

THE HOLIDAY ISLE

a i n a m s Ta CAPITAL CITY

HOBART

AREA

90,758 KM²

POPULATION

514,700(2014) 481

I took the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne to Devonport on Tasmania. My return ticket was set on 7 days later and I'd hired a car for those 7 days at Europcar.

That was everything that I'd planned. Upon my arrival I went to the visitor information centre to pick up brochures. I started travelling and my route formed on the way.

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Hired a rental car for 7 days at Europcar in Devonport

Number plate of my rental car

I got an Hyundai i20 as a rental car with only 18.866 km on it

The interior of my rental car

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Orientating where I want to go with brochures from the visitor information centre in Devonport

Mural by Keith and Loretta Sommer in Sheffield

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A mural in Sheffield, the town of murals

On the way from Sheffield to Cradle Mountain

QUEENSTOWN

CRADLE MOUNTAINLAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK

A lot of snow in this national park, a bit of a surprise as you won't think of snow in Australia, this is at Ronny Creek

13 MAY 2015

Dove Lake boat shed, normally there would be a beautiful view on Cradle Mountain but not now due to the fog

485

Dove Lake boat shed

Tasmanian pademelons on the Enchanted Walk, they are endemic to Tasmania

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Tasmanian pademelon,

they only live in Tasman

ia (previously also sou

th-eastern Australia)

Crash Markers, black posts on places with deadly accidents and red ones for injuries, this is on the way to Queenstown

Nelson Falls in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

On the way to Queenstown

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Iron Blow Lookout, a lookout over an old open cut gold mine

Huge pipes of an hydro-electric power station in Tarraleah

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Russell Falls in Mt Field National Park

, a y n o Good Mate!

Horseshoe Falls in Mt Field National Park

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Visited the Cadbury factory (chocolate brand) in Claremont

Cadbury factory in Claremont

Cadbury Caramello Koala shapes at the Cadbury factory in Claremont

The Cadbury range in the shop in Claremont

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Cradle MountainLake St Clair NP

Devonport Mount William NP Launceston Ben Lomond NP

TAS Hobart Freycinet NP

Tasman NP

BOAT HYUNDAI I20 RENTAL CAR

Hobart Hobart, initially known as Hobart Town or Hobarton, is the capital city

POPULATION

of Tasmania and the second oldest capital city of Australia. Tasmania

217,973(2013)

was first named Van Diemen's Land by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman when Hobart was found in 1803 as a penal colony by the British.

Nowadays distinctive features include the Tasman Bridge and the 1,271 meter high Mt Wellington.

DATE(S) VISITED

15-05-2014

The view at Mt Nelson

The view of Hobart with the impressive Tasman Bridge from Mt Nelson

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Hog's Breath Cafe, a chain of restaurants in Australia

HOBART

MT WELLINGTON 15 MAY 2015 A lookout building on top of Mt Wellington

A lot of snow and also foggy on the top I couldn't see much from the top

495

Halfway up the mountain

Meltwater coming down the mountain

The drive downwards

Truly beautiful view and beautiful drive up and down the mountain

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PORT ARTHUR

TASMAN NATIONAL PARK 16 MAY 2015

The Tasman Arch

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A superb fairy-wren at The Blowhole in Tasman National Park

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Waterfall Bay Walk

Waterfall Bay Walk

Waterfall Bay Walk

Maingon Bay Lookout

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A benneth's wallaby enjoying the sun on the beach in Fortesque Bay in Tasman National Park

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Waterfall Bay Walk

Remarkable Cave

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e v a h s ’ Let e i b r a b a w o r r o Tom

A drive-thru BWS (Beer, Wine & Spirits) bottleshop with multiple lanes in Sorell

On the way to Freycinet National Park, a shoe fence, an example of things travellers create along tourist routes

Watch out for tasmanian devils, unfortunately they are really rare

On the way to Freycinet National Park

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SWANSEA

FREYCINET NATIONAL PARK 17 MAY 2015 Cape Tourville

Wineglass Bay

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Wineglass Bay as seen from the lookout, name this way because of the shape of the bay

Me on the beach in Wineglass Bay

Wineglass Bay

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A laughing kookaburra on top of a traffic sign on the way to St Helen

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BINALONG BAY

BAY OF FIRES 17-18 MAY 2015

Binalong Bay

Orange-hued granite rocks in Binalong Bay

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Binalong Bay

Eddystone Point in Mt William National Park

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Orange-hued granite rocks in Binalong Bay

A pelican in Binalong Bay

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Sunset at Cosy Corner North

Sunset at Cosy Corner North

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Sunset at Cosy Corner North

Sunset at Cosy Corner North

t u o k o Lo e s o h t for ! s o o r fackin

SCOTTSDALE

MT WILLIAM NATIONAL PARK 18 MAY 2015 A wombat grazing on a large field of grass together with another wombat and a couple of kangaroos

A grazing wombat

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A wombat that was grazing on a large field of grass

513

Eddystone Point

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A blade of grass drawing in the sand at Eddystone Point

A benneth wallaby along the Kangaroo Forester Drive

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A wombat suffering from a disease that makes them blind and deaf

The James Boag brewery in Launceston

Slept here, close to Latrobe, and I've been driving on a dirt road as you can see

James Boag, the beer from Launceston on Tasmania

Close to Latrobe, this is how dirty I delivered my car back at the rental company, I didn't have to pay more though

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The road up the Ben Lomond in Ben Lomond National Park

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519

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Fackin' RoundaboutAbouters

THE NATION'S CAPITAL

n a i l a r Aust l a t i p a C y r o t i r r Te CAPITAL CITY

CANBERRA

AREA

2,358 KM²

POPULATION

385,600(2014) 521

Canberra

ACT

GREYHOUND BUS

a r r e b n Ca Canberra was a planned city and was created as the capital city of

POPULATION

Australia because a choice couldn't be made between Sydney and

381,488(2013)

Melbourne as the capital city. Also created was a new state around Canberra, The Australian Capital Territory. The city is the biggest inland city of Australia and home to a lot of national attractions like the Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial and the National Gallery of Australia. Also Australia's coins are made here at the Royal Australian Mint.

DATE(S) VISITED

23-05-2014 till 24-05-2014

Eastern Rosella

A sulphur-crested cockatoo

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Guzman Y Gomez, a Mexican chain of restaurants in Australia

Benjamin Shine Exhibition at Canberra Centre shopping mall

First time in a long time that I slept in a hostel bed again, this is in the Canberra City YHA

tre shopping mall

ibition at Canberra Cen

Benjamin Shine Exh

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CANBERRA

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL 23 MAY 2015

The Bridge of the HMAS Brisbane on the left and the HMAS Brisbane Gun Mount on the right

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A wall with names of soldiers that died during the wars

Mosaic image representing the navy

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Mosaic image

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Detail of the boot of the mosaic image on the left

Amiens Railway Gun

9.2-inch Howitzer

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The propeller of the HMAS Australie

Simpson and his donkey Sculpture, a famous person in WW1 that provided first aid by using donkeys to carry soldiers

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15-centimetre Kanone 16 (Krupp)

The HMAS Brisbane Bridge

Bomber Command by Neil Dawson

Bomber Command by Neil Dawson

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CANBERRA

HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT 23 MAY 2015

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On top of the House of Parliament, the logo of Australia with a kangaroo and an emu

Inside the House of Parliament

Inside the House of Parliament

Inside the House of Parliament

533

n r e h t u A So , o o t t a t s s o r c a e b t s that mu ! n a g o b ’ n i k c a f

CANBERRA

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT 24 MAY 2015

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The current Australian 1 dollar coin

Adelaide Inglot, used as bank notes during the gold rush in SA

These Dutch coins from a shipwreck were the first coins in Australia, they started with foreign coins at first in Australia

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Old Dutch coins from a shipwreck with coral grown around them

Due to a shortage of coins they punched out a smaller coin out of a big Spanish dollar coin creating twice as much coins

Various coin designs

Various coin designs

Various coin designs

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The Proof Coin Room, here they strike uncirculated and proof coins

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games gold medal

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A robot in the circulating coin hall

Triangle coin for the 25th anniversary of Australian Parliament House in 2013

UNESCO World Heritage Great Barrier Reef colour printed coin from 2015

Selectively gold plated 1 dollar coin from 2014

A machine that visitors could use to strike an ANZAC dollar coin

I made an ANZAC 1 dollar coin

539

CANBERRA

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA 24 MAY 2015

Australian art: Panorama (with floating point of identification) by Gordon Bennett

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Alive and Spirited: Ngal-Kunburriyaymi by Peter Marralwanga

Alive and Spirited: Rainbow Serpent and Figure by Jimmy G. Namarnyilk

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Alive and Spirited: Rainbow Serpent and Figure by Jimmy G. Namarnyilk

Bark painting & sculpture before 1980 Gallery

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Bark painting & sculpture before 1980: Kundaagi - Red Plains Kangaroo by Yirawala

Bark painting & sculpture before 1980: Crocodile Dreaming by Bardkadubbu

Bark painting & sculpture before 1980: Ngalyod and the Yawkyawk girls by John Mawuhndjul

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Bark painting & sculpture after 1980 Gallery

Bark painting & sculpture before 1980: Fire at Caledon Bay at Munggurrawuy Yunupingu

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Bark painting & sculpture after 1980

Bark painting & sculpture after 1980: Painting by Timothy Wulanjbirr

Bark painting & sculpture after 1980: Painting by James Iyuna

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Urban Gallery

Bark painting & sculpture after 1980: Painting by Samuel Namundja

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Urban: ASH on me by Tony Albert

Colour My World Hand coloured Australian photography: Christmas holiday with Bob's family by Ruth Maddison

Colour My World Hand coloured Australian photography: Christmas holiday with Bob's family by Ruth Maddison

Colour My World Hand coloured Australian photography: Christmas holiday with Bob's family by Ruth Maddison

Colour My World Hand coloured Australian photography: Christmas holiday with Bob's family by Ruth Maddison

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Sidney Nolan - Ned Kelly series Gallery - Ned Kelly was a legendary bushranger in Australia around 1878-1880

Sidney Nolan - Ned Kelly series Gallery

Sidney Nolan - Ned Kelly series: Death of Constable Scanlon

Sidney Nolan - Ned Kelly series: The trial

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The Aboriginal Memorial

orial

The Aboriginal Mem

The Aboriginal Memorial

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The Aboriginal Memorial

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Torres Strait Islands

The Story of Rama

The Story of Rama Gallery

The Story of Rama

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The Story of Rama

The Story of Rama

The Story of Rama

James Turrell - Perceptual Selfie

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s ' t i w o H ? e t a M goin'

Fackin' Cockroaches

THE PREMIER STATE

h t u o S New Wales CAPITAL CITY

SYDNEY

AREA

809,444 KM²

POPULATION

7,500,600(2014)

Opal, the public transport card in Sydney

Funny roundabout in Sydney

"Heavy metal, Soft head" advertisement close to Sydney Airport

556

A piece of famous Strawberry Watermelon Cake at Black Star Pastry in Sydney

Pie Face, a chain founded in Sydney selling meat pies and sausage rolls

Two Aboriginal paintings I bought at the Karlangu Aboriginal Art Centre in Sydney

Surfish cafe at Bondi Beach with a beautiful wall painting

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The State Library of NSW in Sydney

On the floor of the State Library of NSW in Sydney there was Tasman's map in old Dutch which I was able to read

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Inside the State Library of NSW in Sydney

Aboriginal art at Sydney Airport

SYDNEY

BONDI BEACH 26 MAY 2015

The pool of the Bondi Icebergs Club that is getting hit and filled by waves of seawater

559

The pool of the

Bondi Beach

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that is getting hit Bondi Icebergs Club

by a wave, the woman

re 5 seconds ago

was walking right the

Hi from Bondi Beach graffiti by Steen Jones

Graffiti by Mr. G or Graham Hoete at Bondi Beach

Graffiti by Sydney based artist Mulga aka Joel Moore at Bondi Beach

Graffiti "The Food Chain" by Lily Keenan from Western Australia at Bondi Beach

Graffiti at Bondi Beach

Graffiti at Bondi Beach interacting with the trash bins encouraging to throw rubbish in there and recycle

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Graffiti by Jenny McCracken and Anton Pulvirenti at Bondi Beach

Graffiti at Bondi Beach

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a t o g u yo r e d l o h y b b u t S love?

SYDNEY

VIVID SYDNEY 2015 25-27 MAY 2015

Affinity by amigo & amigo (Simone Chua & Renzo B. Larriviere ) and S1T2 (Chris Panzetta & Naimul Khaled)

564

Enchanted Sydney by Spinifex Group

Enchanted Sydney by Spinifex Group

Enchanted Sydney by

Spinifex Group

Enchanted Sydney by Spinifex Group

565

Light Origami by Masakazu Shirane and Reuben Young

Exposed by Mark Gregan, Leo Trimboli, Catalina Chica and Patrick O'Dowd

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Light Origami by Masakazu Shirane and Reuben Young

Paint The Town by 32 Hundred Lightning (Iain Reed)

Our House by Them Sculptures (Tom Dekyvere)

Piano Stairs by Reuben Young, Andrew Handmer, Jessica Chalker, Annalie Killian and Tim Carr

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Harbour Lights

Wave Chandelier by Mark Dyson and Oliver Tanner

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Luna Park

Splendens by Vossarch (Jon Voss)

Sydney Opera House Sails by Universal Everything

Geometric Eye by Liam Filson

Sydney Opera House Sails by Universal Everything

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Sydney Opera House Sails by Universal Everything

Sydney Opera House

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rything

Sails by Universal Eve

Arclight by Studio Workshop and Matsys

Entitle by Amanda Parer

Kaleidoscope by Stephanie Shehata and Erin Slaviero

Internal Galaxy by AJdesignCo. and Andrew Wilson

Mechanised Colour Assemblage by Rebecca Baumann, Danny Rose, Paola Ciucci, Lucia Frigola, Cédric Péri and Emanuele De Raymondi

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Mechanised Colour Assemblage by Rebecca Baumann, Danny Rose, Paola Ciucci, Lucia Frigola, Cédric Péri and Emanuele De Raymondi

Mechanised Colour Assemblage by Rebecca Baumann, Danny Rose, Paola Ciucci, Lucia Frigola, Cédric Péri and Emanuele De Raymondi

Mechanised Colour Assemblage by Rebecca Baumann, Danny Rose, Paola Ciucci, Lucia Frigola, Cédric Péri and Emanuele De Raymondi

Harbour Wave by Andre Kecskes

572

SYDNEY

WORLD PRESS PHOTO 15 EXHIBITION 26 MAY 2015

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Development and Pollution by Lu Guang

Rescue Operation by Massimo Sestini

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Behind a Window Blind by Turi Calafato

Crime Without Punishment by J茅r么me Sessini

Crime Without Punishment by J茅r么me Sessini

Cold Blood Colombia by Paolo Marchetti

Act of Forgiveness by Arash Khamooshi

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TRAVEL JOURNAL & STATISTICS

AMSTERDAM: THE JOURNEY TO AUSTRALIA / 27 MAY 2014 On the 27th of May 2014 my journey to Australia started in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). There I met 6 travel companions that, just like me, booked their trip to Australia with the company Australian Backpackers.

From Amsterdam we took the plane to Sydney (Australia) with stopovers in Bangkok (Thailand) and Taipei (Taiwan). The journey of 18,975 km took a total of 36 hours and 10 minutes with 11 hours and 35 minutes spend on stopovers.

During the flights I watched some movies and on the 10 hour stopover in Taipei I had a shower in my hotel. Then I had a walk through the streets surrounding the hotel. During the whole journey to Australia I only slept on the last flight from Taipei to Sydney and so I managed to make a smooth transition, without a jetlag, to the timezone in Sydney. On the 29th of May 2014 I arrived in Sydney.

words with, said mate and love to me. As well as every greeting from strangers would include the question "How are you?". But apparently this was normal in Australia.

SYDNEY: START TRAVELLING / 02 JUNE 2014 The end of that first week was coming and so we had to decide what to do next. Panic was setting in throughout the group, travelling alone was unimaginable and so alliances were made. I teamed up with Anita and we booked an Hop On Hop Off ticket for the Greyhound bus from Sydney to Cairns. Later on we would be joined by Vera and Lianne.

BYRON BAY: MY FIRST BUNDABERG GINGER BEER / 07 JUNE 2014 In Byron Bay I had my first Bundaberg Ginger Beer. This is a non-alcoholic drink with ginger in it and I really loved the taste!

NEW SOUTH WALES

BYRON BAY: WRONG BED IN THE BYRON BAY YHA HOSTEL / 07 JUNE 2014

SYDNEY: FIRST WEEK IN AUSTRALIA / 29 MAY 2014 In Sydney our first week was all arranged by Australian Backpackers.

We stayed in a hostel called the Manly Bunkhouse. I'd never stayed in a hostel before and this one, with 6 beds and the enormous mess of 2 roommates, was a bit of a shock to me.

The first day we had some TimTams, which are famous Australian biscuits, and in the evening we had a BBQ with some kangaroo steaks.

That week we visited various attractions in Sydney and also, just outside Sydney, the Blue Mountains. Coincidentally Vivid Sydney 2014, a big light festival, was going on. This was very interesting to see with installations and elaborate projections on buildings including the Opera House.

During this week I was suprised that pretty much everyone I exchanged

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A funny thing happend in the Byron Bay YHA hostel, the room was such a mess and I didn't know which bed was still free. Nobody was there and so I waited a while and had a walk through Byron Bay. When I got back there was still nobody. Because I was tired I decided to just take the one that was most likely to be free and went to sleep. But as you can imagine it wasn't the right one, I was woken up by a German guy in the middle of the night. "What are you doing in my bed!?".

Oh well, it was this guy that had put all of his stuff on the bed that was still free and so he couldn't blame me.

QUEENSLAND BRISBANE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SOCCER 2014 IN AUSTRALIA / 19 JUNE 2014 During my stay in Brisbane there was an interesting match in the World Championship Soccer 2014, Australia had to play against The Netherlands.

Together with a group of Dutch people, wearing orange and with Dutch flags painted on our cheeks, we went to a place called La Dolce Vita Ristorante. In that bar, which was filled with about half Australians and half (Australian)Dutch people, we watched the match. It was an exciting game and The Netherlands won with 3 against 2 for Australia!

Later on we watched another match of The Netherlands versus Spain at 5 o'clock in the middle of the night on a public square in Brisbane.

During other matches of The Netherlands I was traveling and watched them wherever I could.

BRISBANE: BACKPACKER FOOD / 20 JUNE 2014 Having been a backpacker for a while, I know what backpackers eat and drink in general. Backpackers try to eat cheap and easy rather than healthy. Common breakfast was Weetabix and a common lunch was toast, as the cheapest bread was so bad, toasting it was the only way to make it better. A loaf of the cheapest bread was 1 dollar at Coles (months later this dropped to 80 cents). And a common dinner was pasta with pasta sauce or pesto.

The first couple weeks I was in Australia there was a special on carrots in the supermarket Coles. A kilo of carrots for 1 dollar and so almost every backpacker was eating carrots. Quite funny to see!

If backpackers got something in restaurants it would be, a soft serve cone at the McDonalds for 30 cents (in summertime 50 cents). A frozen coke for 1 dollar at the Hungry Jacks (the name of the Burger King in

Australia). A 1 dollar coffee or 2 dollar hot chocolate milk at the 7Eleven.

But also when I was traveling later on I got a lot of coffee from the Coles Express which was only 80 cents. A Coles Express could be found at Shell service stations.

And if a backpacker was really out of money or forgot to buy something, they would have a look on the so-called "free food shelf" or "community shelf". This is where people put stuff they can't take with them or don't want anymore. This also happend with books.

BRISBANE: TRAVELGROUP FROM BRISBANE TO AGNES WATER / 22 JUNE 2014 In Brisbane our travel group consisting of Anita, Vera and Lianne split up and I met 3 other Dutch girls called Evelien, Tessa de J. and Tessa U. that I went traveling with. I traveled with them till Agnes Water where we split up and from that point on forward I went my own way.

RAINBOW BEACH: FRASER ISLAND / 26-28 JUNE 2014 In Brisbane I'd booked a tour to Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world. It was a tag along tour in 4WD vehicles that would leave from Rainbow Beach.

The total group we went on the tour with consisted of 5 cars with about 8 people per car. The car I was in consisted of Samuel and Amy (UK), Melanie (DE), Stefan (CH), Evelien, Tessa de J., Tessa U. and Me (NL). We switched turns in driving so everyone had a chance to drive. I drove on the beach on Fraser Island and also a bit inland, this was a lot of fun to do! While driving we played our own music with some cheesy tunes in there as well like "Barbie Girl"(by Aqua) and "Blue"(by Eiffel 65).

On Fraser Island I visited Lake McKenzie at which the sand is so fine that you can scrub your skin, brush your teeth and polish your jewels with. And I visited Indian Head, a coastal highland with a beautiful view which was used as a court by the Aboriginals. Close to Indian Head are

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the Champagne Pools which are pools that are filled with water during high tide and were used by the Aboriginals to catch fish. There's also Eli Creek which is a fresh water creek of which the water has been filtered thoroughly by sand and was so clean that I could drink it straight out of the creek. Close by is the SS Maheno Shipwreck as well, probably the most photographed piece of rust in the world. It is a ship that was stranded on Fraser Island in 1935 and abandoned there. The last thing I visited was Lake Wabby, a lake that was created due to sand blocking the creek.

On Fraser Island I stayed 2 nights at the Badtjala Nation Thoorgine Centre campground. There I had fun nights with campfires.

One night I went to the beach together with Sam and Amy, where we enjoyed the stars which were absolutely amazing! Starting on the horizon on the left and running all the way to the horizon on the right. And so many stars, stunning! We were so taken up by the stars that we didn't notice the dingo that was sneaking up on us until it was just meters away.

But I turned on my torch and scared it away. Back in the campground I noticed a drunk German girl that was sleeping on top of my sleeping bag so I decided to sleep in the car that night.

AGNES WATER: SURFING / 03 JULY 2014 Surfing is a typical and popular sport in Australia. So I had to try this and in Agnes Water I could take a 3 hour surf lesson at the local surfing shop.

Together with a group of people we went to the beach where the instructors gave me a surfboard and a wetsuit. There the instructions were as follows: Lay down on the middle of your board, feet behind the surfboard, chest and shoulders up and look over your shoulder for a good wave. When you see a good wave coming, start peddling, when you feel the wave is starting to push you forward, peddle a couple more times then place your hands under your chest, jump up and place your feet in the centre of the board while bending your knees slightly. The last thing you had to do was to keep standing.

Surfing was much more difficult than I thought it would be. I managed to stand on my board just once and fell down after a second or so. It's about execution, speed, timing and balance. Nonetheless it was a lot of fun to do!

ROCKHAMPTON: BULLRIDING AT THE GREAT WESTERN HOTEL / 04 JULY 2014 BUNDABERG: THE BUNDABERG RUM DISTILLERY / 01 JULY 2014 In Bundaberg I visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery where I went on a tour. On the tour I saw the production process and learned about the history of Bundaberg Rum. This was very interesting. There was also a museum with various old and new Bundaberg Rum packaging and advertising materials. At the end of the tour I could taste some of the rums. The one that I really loved was the Bundaberg Royal Liqueur, a rum with chocolate and coffee flavour. This rum was very popular and they couldn't make enough of it yet to make it available in bottleshops throughout Australia. And so it was only available from the distillery itself. I bought a bottle of Bundaberg Royal Liqueur and also a vintage Bundaberg Rum bottle with on it "Bundy Rum". "Bundy" is an abbreviation of Bundaberg.

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In Rockhampton I went to the Great Western Hotel which was famous for their arena where they do bull riding. This was interesting to see but I was also wandering why the bulls went so crazy. I thought that this would be because they had a rope around their balls which I would find cruel. However this was not the case, the rope was around their bodies and tickled them which is why they jump like crazy.

ROCKHAMPTON: JOB AT AUSSIE RIVER TURF / 22 JULY 2014 From a guy in the Rockhampton YHA hostel I was told about a company looking for workers, specifically Dutch and German workers because of their work ethics. So I called the guy and I could work there. The company

was called Aussie River Turf and my job was to lay down grass in gardens and parks in the area of Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Emu Park.

Every day that I worked here I was picked up in the morning, most of the time around 5.30 but once even at 2 o'clock at night. Then we drove to where we were going to lay down grass and we started working. The grass would come in rolls that were placed on pallets, we picked up the rolls of grass, rolled them out and lined them up next to eachother. After that we would sometimes roll the grass with an heavy roller and someone would water the grass. Then the job was done and we would either go to another place or call it a day.

My colleagues included the owner of the company called Ben, some regular Australian workers and 3 French backpackers. I also worked a couple of days with a backpacker from England and New Zealand.

The job was dirty and tough, but that was alright. There was a foodvan coming by almost every day that sold meat pies and sausage rolls which is a typical snack in Australia. The owner and Australian workers were a bit rude to backpackers and didn't treat us that well, although I'd accepted that.

Reason why I left is that there wasn't enough work. With my wages I could barely pay the hostel and my food and so it was almost not worth it at all. I worked here for about 3 weeks and made a total of 946 dollar in about 57 hours.

The owner did call me multiple times a couple of weeks later because he had work available but I was working at Helena Cleaning Services then.

ROCKHAMPTON: FIRST KANGAROO SIGHTING / 15 JULY 2014 During my work at Aussie River Turf I was lucky to see my first kangaroo.

I was working in a residential area and all of the sudden there was a kangaroo jumping around through the street and over the fences in the front yards, very funny to see!

Kangaroos are common in Australia but, because I've always been traveling with the Greyhound and had always been in towns or cities, I'd never seen one before.

ROCKHAMPTON: ROCKHAMPTON YHA HOSTEL / 26 JULY 2014 In Rockhampton I stayed in the Rockhampton YHA hostel where I made a couple of friends that stayed there a bit longer too. One of them was Mohammed or Mo, a refugee from Iran. He was always cooking food and sharing it with me every now and then and so I returned the favor. In the hostel was an oven, this is not common for hostels, and so I made a lot of dishes in the oven too including my favourite, lasagna. Another friend was a 76 year old guy from Western Australia called Kite, his van broke down and he stayed there while his van was being repaired. He told me stories about his experiences in Australia which were very interesting to hear. Because I've stayed here for this long and had a couple of friends, I felt at home and had a great time!

ROCKHAMPTON: CONSTRUCTION WHITE CARD / 28 JULY 2014 After Aussie River Turf, the owners of the hostel said that a guy had called them that was looking for workers, so I called him back and I could work there. The company was called Helena Cleaning Services and the job was cleaning on a construction site and therefore I needed a Construction White Card.

I did the course to get the White Card online and it cost me 67 dollar. For the course I had to read some information and answer about 35 questions in a so-called "Short Answer Assessment". Then I had to call them to do a "Verbal Assessment". During this test I had to answer two questions based on a situation they told me about a guy trying to lift something that was too heavy for him. I passed both of those tests and the third and last one was a "Student Declaration" which had to be filled in by someone that would confirm I had done the tests by myself. I had Kite, a guy from Western Australia that also stayed in the hostel, fill it in. Then I went to the Justice of Peace with my ID so they could confirm my identity and the White Card was send to me.

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ROCKHAMPTON: WORKING AT HELENA CLEANING SERVICES / 08 AUGUST 2014

ROCKHAMPTON: STAYING AT THE HOUSE RENTED BY HELENA CLEANING SERVICES / 12 AUGUST 2014

After I had my White Card I needed steel cap boots, high visibily clothing and an helmet. I got the steel cap boots from the hostel and borrowed an helmet and an high visibility vest from the company. Before I was allowed on the construction site I also needed to get through an induction which would teach me the safety rules specific to that construction site.

My job was to clean an expansion of the Rockhampton Hospital which was still under construction. The expansion was brand new but with a lot of dust because of the building activity. I cleaned several floors and also the roof. From mopping the floor to dust removal and detailing like removing unwanted paint drops. The building itself was the highest building in Rockhampton and with Mount Archer in the background this was a beautiful sight. Even more during sunrise in the morning!

The last couple of weeks that I worked at Helena Cleaning Services I stayed at the house the company rented in Rockhampton and so I got free accomodation and food too. The house had a typical building style for that area. Build on pillars of about 3 meters high and so to get into the house I needed to go up some stairs. The space underneath the house was fenced and had been turned into a barn. In comparison to the hostel I had my own bed and we had a freezer, so we ate icecream regularly. We took turns in cooking for eachother and so when it was my turn I made a huge lasagna. We also used the BBQ quite a lot that was located in the barn underneath the house.

ROCKHAMPTON: FINISHED WORK AT HELENA CLEANING SERVICES / 30 AUGUST 2014 ROCKHAMPTON: MY COLLEAGUES AT HELENA CLEANING SERVICES / 09 AUGUST 2014 During the time I worked at Helena Cleaning Services I've always worked with Dave (HU) and Efrain (CO). But I also worked with 2 students from Nepal, a backpacker from Sweden, one guy from Mexico and another guy from Colombia. With Dave I went fishing a couple of times for which I bought a telescope fishing rod with an "egg-beater". Unfortunately we didn't catch anything. With Efrain I went to Yeppoon where we drove on the beach, this was fun too! On the way back to Rockhampton I saw some wild kangaroos again, one of them had a little "joey"(baby kangaroo) in the pouch!

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I worked at Helena Cleaning Services for a good 5 weeks then the project was having a break and would be continued a couple weeks later. I made a total of 4,621.50 dollar in 257.25 hours.

ROCKHAMPTON: KITE KNIGHT / 01 SEPTEMBER 2014 Kite Knight is a 76 year old guy from Western Australia. He was staying in the hostel for a while and so I got to know him a bit. In the beginning I had difficulties understanding him because of his accent, but I got used to that after a few days or so. He used a couple of expressions all the time like: "Yeah I know what you mean by", "Stinkin swines they are!", "Ow heck yeah!", "Bloody charlie", "Oh here it goes", "Isn't it amazing", "Oh well, fair enough", "That's funny that is" and "Well there you are see".

He was waiting for his van to be repaired. When he got his van back we did a trip to Mt Morgan and the Gracemere Saleyards, which was the largest cattle sales facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

ROCKHAMPTON: SEARCHING FOR A VEHICLE / 03 SEPTEMBER 2014 After I was done working at Helena Cleaning Services I had the money for a vehicle. I wanted either a Toyota Hiace Van or a Ford Falcon Wagon and ended up choosing for a Ford Falcon as this was cheaper than a van. I also wanted to get a dual fuel, meaning it can drive on LPG and unleaded petrol. LPG is a cheap fuel in Australia, not so much inland but it certainly is along the coast.

I searched for a Ford Falcon on Gumtree, a kind of Ebay in Australia. In Rockhampton there was pretty much nothing and so I started looking in Cairns and Brisbane. I found 3 options in Brisbane, one from a backpacker and two from locals. One of the locals answered my questions about the car very shortly and so I didn't like that one that much. The backpacker did answer my questions but as I knew backpackers don't take good care of their cars in general I found the third one the best option. It was a local and he answered my questions thoroughly.

It was a Ford Falcon Forte Wagon which only drove on LPG. This was not what I wanted initially because LPG was not available everywhere.

But it did had 2 tanks and could drive a good 800 km when filled up completely. So I decided to check that car out.

BRISBANE: CHECKING OUT THE FORD FALCON IN BRISBANE / 05 SEPTEMBER 2014 Booked a flight on the 3th of September and on the 4th of September I flew to Brisbane in 1 hour and 5 minutes, leaving all my stuff at the hostel except for a small bag I took with me.

I arrived in Brisbane in the evening and I thought that there would be an hostel close to the airport, but there wasn't. So I searched on internet and found out that there was a McDonald's not that far from the airport that was open 24 hours. So I decided to just sit in the McDonald's all night, not sleeping and drinking coffee.

The next morning I took the airtrain and then the bus to Holland Park West, that is where I had a meeting with Tim, the owner of the Ford Falcon.

Tim arrived with the car and I started walking around it, checking it out from different angles. Tim asked me if I wanted to check under the bonnet and so I did. To be honest I didn't have a clue to what to look at, I could see that there was an engine in there, looks alright I guess? The only question and thing I knew to look at was the oil and cooling liquid. But Tim said that he'd filled that up recently and so there went my only question, out of the window. Next up was a test drive.

I sat down behind the wheel, Tim on the passenger seat, and I said "Could you explain this to me? I've never driven an automatic before".

Lightly surprised he explained to me what I needed to do and I drove away. I was also used to driving on the right side of the road but here they drove on the left side. So apparently due to the steering wheel being on opposite side as well I drove very close past the parked cars on the side of the road. Tim was freaking out a bit "Drive more to that side, you're almost hitting the cars!". Then at some point we found out I was still driving with the handbrake on... I hadn't noticed this and so the handbrake really needed some work. Tim then took over the wheel and drove a bit on the highway. As cars driving on LPG are a bit less powerful, he wanted to show me that this one was still powerful enough.

The test drive came to an end and I decided to buy the car. I knew the car would be checked for a Roadworthy Certificate which means that the handbrake would be fixed. Also the LPG system of the car would be checked. Both the Roadworthy Certificate and LPG Certificate are required by law when selling a car. My feeling of the car was the only thing I could go on because I didn't have any technical knowledge of cars. The asking price was 2,600.- but I managed to talk it down to 2,425.- dollar.

BRISBANE: DO DO LAND BY GRUPO PUJA! AT THE BRISBANE FESTIVAL / 06 SEPTEMBER 2014 The Ford Falcon needed to be checked for a Roadworthy Certificate and a LPG Certificate on monday, that was the first possibility. So I had to spend the weekend in Brisbane and coincidentally the Brisbane Festival started that weekend! There was a show called Do Do Land, which was

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a light acrobatic aerial show based on Alice in Wonderland performed

by Grupo Puja!. They used a crane and cable to lift the artists in the air while they were doing their acrobatic moves. Live music made the show complete, it was really interesting and impressive to see!

BRISBANE: PICKING UP MY FORD FALCON / 08 SEPTEMBER 2014 On monday the 8th of September I picked up my Ford Falcon at around 6 o'clock in the afternoon. I had brought cash with me, as much as I could get out of the ATM. The rest I would transfer to Tim's bankaccount. At the pick up I got the Roadworthy Certificate and the LPG Certificate, the only thing I still needed to do is to transfer the car onto my name.

When I drove away with the car it was getting dark, I didn't feel confident in driving the car and I felt completely lost! I've got a car, what am I going to do now?

I decided to drive to the McDonald's close to the airport, where I'd spend the night earlier. On the way I couldn't avoid a toll road. Toll roads work differently in Australia, I didn't have to stop, they just scanned my numberplate and it is charged automaticly. Then I could go online to pay the toll later on or buy a device that I could put credit on and it would pay the toll straight away. At the time I went on that toll road the car was still registered to Tim and so he paid the toll for me. I slept that night in my car at the McDonald's.

The car drives good, when accelerating there's a slight delay between pressing the pedal and the actual acceleration, this is common for cars driving on LPG. Also the car being automatic isn't a problem, it's like driving a go-cart. The changing of gears is unnoticeable except for when I accelerated quickly or when I drove uphill. I did need to control my urge to drive to the left side of my lane because otherwise I was going to hit something sooner or later.

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BUNDABERG: BUNDABERG BREWED DRINKS / 10 SEPTEMBER 2014 Driving back to Rockhampton with my Ford Falcon I visited Bundaberg Brewed Drinks in Bundaberg. The building in which the museum and shop is located is a giant barrell and is one of "Australia's Big Things".

The company is producing the famous Bundaberg Ginger Beer which I absolutely love! But also other drinks, about 11 more, all brewed in the traditional way with natural ingredients and without chemical flavourings.

The brewing process takes longer and is more expensive but it has a much better taste! I bought a bunch of drinks in their shop and send them home to my family. Together with a second bottle of Bundaberg Royal Liqueur I had bought at the Bundaberg Distillery that day too.

ROCKHAMPTON: TRANSFERRING THE CAR ONTO MY NAME / 11 SEPTEMBER 2014 Back in Rockhampton I went to Trainsport and Main Roads Queensland and transfered the registration (REGO) onto my name. To do this I needed the Roadworthy Certificate and the LPG Certificate as well as my driving licence and evidence of a Queensland address where the car will be garaged. This last one is a difficult one as I didn't own a house or anything.

I was staying in the Rockhampton YHA Hostel and so I went to the owner of the hostel and asked them to sign a paper stating I was living there.

For the transfer of the registration I had to pay 59.49 dollar.

ROCKHAMPTON: TRANSFORMING MY CAR INTO MY HOUSE / 14 SEPTEMBER 2014 In Maryborough I'd bought a gas stove with gas containers in Bunnings and in Bundaberg I'd bought crockery. In Rockhampton I bought an air matress, pillows, pans and plastic crates amongst other things at Big W and K-mart. I'd put my backseats down, made a bed inside and put the plastic crates with all my cuttelry, crockery, gas stove and food next to

my bed. I also had two thin ropes going from the front to the back of my car over which I'd put my clothes as a curtain. I also used these to dry my clothes after I'd washed them in a laundromat.

ROCKHAMPTON: STEAK AT ASCOT HOTEL STONEGRILL RESTAURANT / 15 SEPTEMBER 2014 I couldn't leave Rockhampton without getting myself a steak. Reason why is because Rockhampton is known as "The Beef Capital of Australia". The steak at the Ascot Hotel Stonegrill Restaurant was one of the best if not the best in Rockhampton and so that's where I went to.

Inside I was met by the owner which was extremely passionate about its steak. He was explaining every steak to me, what part of the cow it was, what kind of structure it had and how it tasted like. I made my decision and not more than 5 minutes later he came to my table with a hot stone and the steak on top of it. I had to turn the steak around and put salt and pepper on it. By cutting off pieces and pressing them on the grill I could decide myself how rare or well done I wanted my steak. It was the best steak I'd had for sure!

WYCARBAH: MT HAY GEMSTONE TOURIST PARK / 16 SEPTEMBER 2014 The Mt Hay Gemstone Tourist Park is located along the highway between Rockhampton and Blackwater and the first stop on the Dig The Tropic Trail. Here was a mine where thundereggs were found. Thundereggs are gasbubbles that were trapped in lava and have slowly been filled with water carying silica which formed crystals. On the outside they are bubble shaped and when cut in half it reveals the crystal inside.

Because tourists were not allowed in the mine, the owner digs out the mine and deposits everything out of the mine on the surface. After a small instruction about how to recognise thundereggs I could go through the deposits and look for thundereggs myself. I found quite a lot and everything I found I could take with me. I found one big one, about the size of my fist, but I wasn't sure if it was a thunderegg. I could have a couple ones cut in half and so I had this big one cut as well which turned out to be a beautiful thunderegg!

Before this I'd never heard of thundereggs and I had a fascinating time searching and discovering them!

RUBYVALE: SELF-DRIVE SAPPHIRE FOSSICKING TOUR WITH FASCINATION GEMS & CRYSTALS / 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 ROCKHAMPTON: DIG THE TROPIC TRAIL / 16 SEPTEMBER 2014 During my work at Aussie River Turf I'd found out about a trail running from Yeppoon to Boulia which went all the way into the outback. On the way there were all sorts of geo-themed attractions to which I was very interested in. The reason why it was called "Dig The Tropic" was because the trail was running along the Tropic of Capricorn. The total lenght of the trail from Rockhampton, where I started, to Boulia was 1,228 km, one way. During my job at Aussie River Turf I'd decided I wanted to do the trail then saved money for a car and started the trail in Rockhampton on the 16th of September.

Next stop I made on the Dig The Tropic Trail were the Sapphire Gemfields consisting of the villages Anakie, Sapphire and Rubyvale.

In Rubyvale I took a self drive tour with a miner named Keith of Fascination Gems & Crystals. We met at the highway close to Anakie and drove to the Glenalva Fossicking Area. The last part was an offroad track which was kind of tricky with my Ford Falcon but I made it without problems.

At the fossicking area we got picks, shovels and buckets. Our group consisted, besides the miner and me, out of two older Australian couples.

Keith explained and showed us the digging process and also most importantly how to identify the sapphires.

After this I could start digging myself. I had to dig until I came to a layer of bigger rocks, this was an old riverbed and that was where the sapphires

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would be. I had to dig out this layer with a pick and use a shovel to put all the dirt, which was called wash, in a bucket. Then I needed to go to a trommel sieve in which I would trow the wash and spin the sieve until everything was sieved. The small sand would fall out straight away, the bigger rocks would fall out at the end and in between the medium rocks would fall into a bucket. This was the bucket that the sapphires would be in. I took this bucket to the willoughby, which was another sieve in two sizes, that would sieve the rocks in water. After sieving I had to take the top sieve and turn it around in one smooth move and put it on a barrel that we used as a table. Then I had to go through the rocks out of the sieve and look for sapphires. After this I had to do the same thing with the second and finer sieve in the willoughby.

It was really fun to experience the whole process and it was hard work as well, I digged from 10 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon and found 6 chips of sapphire and one stone a bit bigger.

pace which looks quite funny too, the way they jump and move their tail. I also saw my first emu, a large flightless bird native to Australia! I also drove a bit in the dark on the highway, I saw the eyes of kangaroos along the road and I started to drive very slowly. I certainly didn't want to hit a kangaroo and ruining my car in process!

Close to Longreach I couldn't resist trying out my car, when I'd taken over a roadtrain earlier I was very suprised of the acceleration of my car.

Before I knew it I was at 160 km/h. And so now I wanted to know how fast it could go. So when I was driving on a long straight stretch of road, a single lane highway which is common in the outback, I went for it. My car accelerated quickly and went all the way to 180 km/h, but then I found out it was limited to that speed. It would easily have gone faster!

During my trip there were also downsides that I had to take for granted.

I was sweating like crazy at night, there was a lack of showers along the way and cooking on a gas stove is a bit primitive but also had its charm.

Overall, these things couldn't bother me much and I'm happy to had taken the decision to do this trail!

WINTON: MY DIG THE TROPIC TRIP SO FAR / 20 SEPTEMBER 2014 I made it to Winton and the trip so far had been perfect, I'm very interested in minerals and fossils and so this trip really suited me! It is something that regular backpackers wouldn't do and I'm happy to get off the regular route along the coast. The stars at night were amazing, there were so many of them because there was not much light pollution here. The towns were small, remote and had a kind of "cowboy" feeling.

On the way I'd seen roadtrains regularly, these are trucks with 3 or 4 trailers which can be a massive 53 meters long! These roadtrains were also responsible for the amount of dead kangaroos along the way, at some point there was a dead kangaroo every 5 meters! The dead kangaroos was also what attracted birds of prey that circled above the carcasses and land to eat the meat. Some of them were quite big, those were wedgetail eagles which is the largest bird of prey in Australia.

I've also seen a lot of living kangaroos, standing tall on their back legs at the side of the road, looking at me curiously with their ears up. But when I stopped to take a picture they always jumped away at a fast

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WINTON: AUSTRALIAN AGE OF DINOSAURS MUSEUM / 20 SEPTEMBER 2014 The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is located in Winton, which is part of the Dig The Tropic Trail but also the Dinosaur Trail. The Dinosaur Trail is a seperate trail consisting of Winton, Richmond and Hughenden.

In the Age of Dinosaurs Museum there were bones displayed of dinosaurs found in that area. During the tour the tourguide explained about the story behind these dinosaurs.

New dinosaurs were found quite regularly and the museum had a lot of bones in storage that still need to be prepped. The bones were stored in the same building as the laboratory which I visited as well. To see the huge collection of bones but also the size of the bones was really impressive! The bones were wrapped in gypsum, positioned on pallets and placed in racks. On the gypsum they had written when it was found, which bone it (most likely) was and the name of the dinosaur.

In the labotory volunteers were cleaning rock of dinosaur bones with small drills and behind magnifying glass, very interesting to see! Everyone could become a volunteer and help to prep a dinosaur bone.

Normally a museum is quite protective, everything is behind glass and you'll have to keep your distance. But here it was totally different, I could see everything from up close and even touch some things. I enjoyed my visit to the museum a lot!

OPALTON: VISITING AN OPAL MINING TOWN / 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 Opalton is an opal mining town about 100 km from Winton and the road to Opalton was all dirt and gravel road. The town itself was nothing more than a couple of sheds build with corrugated sheets. The entrance to the town was marked with a couple of pillars with a sign, an old fridge and a toilet filled with stones containing traces of opal. When I drove into the town I had the feeling I was in a movie, a movie where travellers go to remote places, get killed and are never heard of again.

Opalton was an area of designated fossicking land, everyone interested could rent a piece of land from the government and start mining. There was also an area where the miners deposit rubbish from their mines. This was where tourists could do some noodling or specking, meaning look on the ground for opal that was missed by the miners. I went noodling and found tiny pieces that have no commercial value but it did have value for me. I also found some fairy stone, this is sandstone with tiny specks of opal which were only visible in direct light.

Opal is a stone that reflects light in many different colors, a beautiful sight! The miners in Opalton had a way to treat the fairy stone so the opal becomes more visible. They didn't really want to tell me how they do it exactly but I do know the rough version. They cook the stone in fire, making the sandstone turn black and so there is more contrast between the sandstone and the opal making it better visible.

OPALTON: LARK QUARRY DINOSAUR STAMPEDE / 22 SEPTEMBER 2014 From Opalton I drove to the Lark Quarry Conservation Park, better known as the Dinosaur Stampede, which was another 100 km further and once again all dirt and gravel roads.

At the visitor centre I took a tour to the Dinosaur Stampede, this is an area where footprints of 3 different dinosaurs are preserved in stone. I found this extremely interesting to see and it was kind of a shock to me as well. Seeing the footprints in stone made dinosaurs all so real to me all of the sudden.

Because of the position, the direction and space in between the footprints, scientists have come up with a story that is most likely to have happend.

About 95 million years ago the outback, as dry as it is now, used to be an area with a lot of plantlife and a lake. Some 150 chicken and emu sized two legged dinosaurs came here to drink. A huge meat-eating theropod dinosaur saw them and started approaching slowly. He then took a turn, attacked and charged into the group of dinosaurs. Those dinosaurs left a gigantic mess of footprints all heading in the same direction.

The small ones are a bit more difficult to see but you can definitely see them, more impressive however are the big and clear footprints of the large meat-eating theropod dinosaur! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Dinosaur Stampede and found it very interesting to see and hear about the dinosaur footprints.

WINTON: ARNO'S WALL / 23 SEPTEMBER 2014 Back in Winton I visited the locally famous Arno's Wall. This was a wall, of about 2 meter high and over 70 m long, made by a Germany miner.

He had incorporated all sorts of things in his wall like sewing machines, tv's, typewriters, lawnmowers and even a couple complete motorcycles.

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BOULIA: STONEHOUSE MUSEUM / 24 SEPTEMBER 2014 The end of the Dig The Tropic trail is the Stonehouse Museum in Boulia.

In the museum was a small but impressive fossil collection displayed.

It were fossils of swimming reptile dinosaurs that were found in that area. This was unbelievable looking at the dry sandy outback nowadays.

But there used to be a big inland sea which has retreated a long time ago due to climate changes. A local Australian found out where the last pools of water used to be and so went digging on those places finding some amazing fossils. One of the best fossils is an icthyosaur skull.

dry riverbed in some kind of small golfcart sized 4WD vehicle. He was kind enough to pull me out using his winch. Thank god!

Then I started looking for a place to sleep again and ended up parking my car behind a roadtrain so my car wasn't visible from the road.

RICHMOND: DINOSAUR TRAIL / 26 SEPTEMBER 2014 The Dinosaur Trail that I mentioned earlier consisted of Winton, Richmond and Hughenden. I had to go back to the coast because I booked The Whitsundays and so I decided to complete the Dinosaur Trail by visiting Richmond and Hughenden as well.

MT ISA: SIZE OF THE TOWN BY SUPERMARKET / 25 SEPTEMBER 2014 During my trip in the outback I'd seen towns in different sizes. It was funny to see how you I could see how big a town was based on what supermarket there was. If they had a Woolworths (Woolies) or a Coles then it was a big town. A medium town would have an IGA or a Foodworks and a small town would have a Friendly Grocer or a General Store.

When I arrived in Mt Isa, it was a relief to finally see one of the bigger supermarkets again. The last time was a week earlier in Emerald. The smaller supermarkets were more expensive and so I tried not to buy too much there. I had a collection of canned food in my car, and so that is what I'd been eating all that time.

MT ISA: MY CAR GOT STUCK IN A DRY RIVERBED / 25 SEPTEMBER 2014 In Mt Isa I tried to find a place to sleep in the evening, it was getting dark and I took a road which led me into a dry riverbed. I didn't notice that untill I drove into the soft sand. I tried to turn around immidiately but it was already too late, my car got stuck in the sand.

I tried digging out my car but every time I tried to drive away it would dig in further and further. I was about to give up and thought of just sleeping there for the night. But luckily there was an Aussie driving through the

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RICHMOND: KRONOSAURUS KORNER / 26 SEPTEMBER 2014 In Richmond I visited the Kronosaurus Korner which is a museum with a large collection of fossils including a couple almost complete dinosaurs!

They had an almost complete fossil of an ankylosaur which is a small plant eating dinosaur called Minmi. And an almost complete fossilised skelleton of an pliosaur with only a handful of tiny bones in it's fins missing! Beside these they had fossils of squid, fish and turtles.

Only a handful of specimens of a Kronosaurus have ever been found and most of them were found in that area. In 1932 an almost complete skelleton of an Kronosaurus was found in Richmond. In front of the Kronosaurus Korner is a huge statue of a Kronosaurus wich is based on that skeleton.

RICHMOND: FOSSICKING FOR FOSSILS / 26 SEPTEMBER 2014 Richmond is called The Fossil Capital of Australia and about 12 km outside of Richmond there are 2 Free Fossil Hunting Sites. I went to those sites to try to find some fossils of my own. Here I found some fossilised shells.

HUGHENDEN: AN ECHIDNA CROSSING THE ROAD / 27 SEPTEMBER 2014 Between Hughenden and Alpha I was driving on this red sandy road and I saw something crossing the road in front of me. I got out of the car and I noticed some sort of a hedgehog. Later on I found out it was an echidna aka an anteater. It was walking but when it noticed me it started running. I went after it to have a closer look, then it rolled itself up and dug itself in. Funny animal to see!

ALPHA: PETRIFIED WOOD IN ALPHA / 29 SEPTEMBER 2014 Alpha is a town that is part of the Dig The Tropic trail but that I'd skipped earlier. Petrified wood is found in Alpha and that is what I was after.

When I arrived in Alpha I had a look in the dry riverbed and found a couple of small pieces of petrfied wood.

Then I went to the visitor information centre where I spoke to the owner, an old woman passionate about petrfied wood. She had a big collection of petrified wood at the visitor centre and told me stories about what she and other people had done with the petrified wood. The woman had a ring made with a piece of petrified wood. She noticed that I was very interested in petrified wood and that I wanted to have a piece of my own. She showed me her collection and said that I could take whatever I wanted. However I wanted to find my own piece of petrified wood and so I declined and asked her where I could find some myself. She said that the area where she used to send people too was fenced off now and that people can't get there anymore. So she gave me some possibilities where I might be able to find some.

I went on my way but couldn't find the place she was talking about. So then I stopped at the side of the road, looked a bit on the ground and found a piece of petrified wood! Then I started looking along the road and found a whole bag full of it!

With the bag I went back to the woman at the visitor information centre to ask her if this was all petrified wood and it was! She was quite happy to see that I found pieces of petrified wood myself.

RUBYVALE: SAPPHIRES DIY FOSSICKING TOUR IN THE SAPPHIRE GEMFIELDS / 01 OCTOBER 2014 After Alpha I ended up in the Sapphire Gemfields again and decided to have another go at fossicking for sapphires. This time I hired all the equipment from the Little House of Gems in Rubyvale. They gave me the equipment together with instructions on where to go.

I'd fitted all the equipment in my car which included a pick, a shovel, two buckets, two jerrycans of water, a big bucket and a willoughby. They'd directed me to the Rewards Fossicking Area where I unpacked everything and set it all up. I spend the day digging and sieving but I couldn't find much. I did find one yellowish transparant stone which I showed at the Little House of Gems when I returned all the material. They said that it was a zircon which is a type of mineral similar to a sapphire but less valuable.

EMERALD: HERO 3+ GOPRO SILVER EDITION / 03 OCTOBER 2014 In Emerald I went to Dick Smith Electronics where I bought an Hero 3+ GoPro Silver Edition. I did this because I wanted to be able to take photos and videos underwater when I was going to snorkel at The Whitsundays.

CLERMONT: HUGE DUMPTRUCKS / 04 OCTOBER 2014 When I was driving near Clermont I noticed a row of huge dumptrucks.

These dumptrucks were used in the mines and were really enormous! I stopped and had a walk around them, the wheels were almost twice my height! Very impressive!

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EUNGELLA: LOOKING FOR PLATYPUS / 06 OCTOBER 2014

AIRLIE BEACH: PLAYING THE DIDGERIDOO / 08 OCTOBER 2014

A platypus is one of only 5 egg laying mammals, the other 4 being species of echidnas. The platypus is endemic to East Australia and Tasmania and is featured on the 20 cent coin of the Australian dollar.

Earlier I was told by a Dutch couple at the Glasshouse Mountain near Brisbane that they had seen some platypus in the Broken River in Eungella National Park. And so I wanted to see those animals too.

I arrived at the Broken River in the evening and had a look at the lookout point to see if there were any platypus, but there weren't. The platypus is nocturnal and so the best chance to see them is in the evening or early in the morning.

I stayed the night in the Broken River Bush Camping for which I didn't know I had to pay until the next morning and so I'd stayed there for free.

That morning I stood op early and I had a look at the lookout point over the Broken River again, but also this time I had no luck. So I walked a bit further till I came to a small kind of lake in the Broken River and there it was, a platypus! The platypus was searching for food on the bottom of the river and so kept diving under and came back to the surface again after a while. It came reasonably close to me and so I could take a good look at it. The platypus looked really cute with it's tail like that of a beaver and it's beak like that of a duck. It was the only one I'd seen there and I'd loved seeing it!

Airlie Beach basically consists of one street, at the end of that street was a store where they sold opal, aboriginal art and didgeridoos. If there were enough people in the store they gave a free didgeridoo lesson and when I was there I participated in one of those lessons.

A didgeridoo is a wind instrument that was made by the Aboriginals and is believed to have originated in Arnhem Land, this is east of Darwin. A traditional didgeridoo is made from an hollow tree which has been eaten out by termites. At the mouthpiece end there is wax applied which helps to form a better seal.

Playing the didgeridoo is done by vibrating the lips and making tunes by changing air pressure and releasing air in bursts. Good didgeridoo players can breath in through their nose while continuing playing the didgeridoo, this is called circular breathing. I had a try on the didgeridoo and I sucked at it. It was quite difficult to do but I guess it takes practice.

The owner of the shop did a demonstration on the didgeridoo and I really loved the sound it made!

AIRLIE BEACH: BACK AT THE COAST / 08 OCTOBER 2014 When I arrived in Airlie Beach it was the first time after a while that I'd seen the sea and it was stunning to see the blue water and the sailing boats. What I also wasn't used to anymore were the amount of people in the streets. So many people compared to the outback towns, I didn't really like that.

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AIRLIE BEACH: THE WHITSUNDAYS / 10 OCTOBER 2014 In Airlie Beach I parked my car on a hill close to a hotel and then went on a cruise to The Whitsunday Islands with a sailing boat called the New Horizon. The trip was going to take 3 days/2 nights and we had about 25 a 30 people on board.

We went to Whitehaven Beach, this is a famous beach of which the sand is extremely white and very fine. It was one of those places of which photos would be used as a desktop background and what people think of when they think of paradise.

I went snorkling on 2 different spots, one was close to Hamilton Island.

Saw a lot of colorful fish and before I knew it I had been snorkling for 10 a 15 minutes and ended up far away from the others. I also saw a clownfish better known as nemo, though the color was a bit darker and not as bright orange. The coral had some beautiful parts but also

a lot of parts that looked grey and dead. I guess the coral is suffering from the amount of tourists visiting it. From the boat we also fed some huge moonfish and an eagle. The trip overall was exhausting but well worth it!

NELLY BAY: ARRIVING ON MAGNETIC ISLAND / 15 OCTOBER 2014 In Townsville I booked a ticket at the FantaSea ferry to Magnetic Island.

Included was free parking for my car in Townsville for the duration of my stay. When I arrived on Magnetic Island I was met by a group of penguins standing on the rocks at Nelly Bay where the ferry arrived. Also close by were a bunch of rock wallaby, I fed them some bread and watched them jumping smoothly over the rocks.

HORSESHOE BAY: FORTS WALK ON MAGNETIC ISLAND / 15 OCTOBER 2014 On Magnetic Island I walked from Nelly Bay to Horseshoe Bay and on the way I did the Forts Walk. This is a walking track that took me to some old WWII buildings including 2 gun placements with some bunkers, a command post and a signal post. It was very interesting to see! From these buildings I had beautiful views. The signal post was the highest point on the island and from there I had a wide angle view over much of Magnetic Island. The command post used to be camouflaged to look like the surrounding rocks, this camouflage was gone now but on pictures it looked so real!

HORSESHOE BAY: RAINBOW LORIKEET FEEDING / 15 OCTOBER 2014 On Magnetic Island I stayed at the Bungalow Bay Koala Village YHA Hostel where I could feed Rainbow Lorikeets at the end of the day. They would land on top of my head, on my shoulders, arms and hands to eat the wet bread we fed them. This was pretty funny, despite the fact that they would occasionally shit on me.

INGHAM: WALLAMAN FALLS / 18 OCTOBER 2014 In Ingham I went to the visitor information centre and asked about the Wallaman Falls where I wanted to go to. The woman there told me about it and after I had a look at some brochures. Meanwhile a German girl called Chrissi had come inside and asked the woman about the Wallaman Falls as well. She was traveling by bike and the woman found it too dangerous for her to go to the Wallaman Falls by bike. She said to her while slightly raising her voice: "You might want to see if you can get a lift from someone". I was busy looking at the brochures but I did notice that she raised her voice a bit, I looked and saw Chrissi laughing and the woman repeated the sentence, a bit louder this time. This time I did understand it and I offered Chrissi a ride.

Bike in the back of the car, we drove to the Wallaman Falls which is Australia's highest single drop waterfall. We had a look at it from the lookout and the sight was very impressive. Then we hiked down to the rockpool underneath the waterfall and together with a group of people we'd met on the way we'd a swim.

That night we stayed at the parking area and the next day we saw a huge goanna! It was walking slowly and we tried catching it but then all of the sudden it could run very fast and climbed up a tree! Amazing!

Then Chrissi and me decided to see if we could get to the top of the waterfall. There was no hike going there and officially we're not allowed to go there but we really wanted to. We had to swim through the river and climb over rocks but our efforts were rewarded. We arrived at the

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top of the waterfall and had a shower underneath the small waterfall that was there. The view was absolutely spectacular and breathtaking!

Such a beautiful experience!

CARDWELL: CHRISTINE AKA CHRISSI / 18 OCTOBER 2014 After the Wallaman Falls, Chrissi went on a hike to Hinchinbrook Island and I went on my way towards Cairns. I've had a great time with her! In Cardwell we had something to eat and then we went our own way.

It is quite surprising how fast you become friends when traveling and also how hard it is to split ways again!

ETTY BAY: LOOKING FOR A CASSOWARY / 20 OCTOBER 2014 A cassowary is a flightless bird that is native to northeastern Australia.

It is an endangered species and there are estimated to be only 2.000 a 2.500 left in Australia. Reasons for their decline are habitat loss, roadkill and dog attacks. So to be able to see a cassowary you got me a bit lucky. I asked where I had the most chance to see one and they directed me to Etty Bay. On the way to Etty Bay there were traffic signs next to the road warning me for cassowaries. Also if people would see a cassowary crossing the road they could relay this information to the authorities which would put a "recent sighting" sign at that position. This all to try to prevent cassowary roadkills.

The beach in Etty Bay was regularly visited by a couple of cassowaries.

However when I was there I didn't see them and I left. However I tried a second time a day later and this time I was lucky to see one! I was cooking a bit after I'd a swim in the sea and all of the sudden I heard some people making some noise. And there was a cassowary!

I took my camera and came closer to have a look, incredible! The bird was huge and looked prehistoric to me with it's horn on top of it's head and it's brightly red and blue coloured neck. It doesn't really have feathers,

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more like hair, and it had sharp and powerful claws with which they could rip open kangaroos if they wanted to. They mainly eat seeds and fruits and that was the reason why it came to the beach.

The cassowary was casualy walking on the beach and eating berries that had fallen down from the trees. I've been following the cassowary all this time until it dissapeard in the rainforest. I found it a very interesting and extraordinary bird!

CAIRNS: CROC BURGER AT THE OUTBACK JACKS / 24 OCTOBER 2014 In Cairns I went out for dinner at the Outback Jacks. Reason was a sign on on the outside of the restaurant that had "Croc burger" on it. That sparked my interest and I decided to get a croc burger.

The croc burger was a burger with real crocodile meat. The meat was that tough that I couldn't bite through it. So I ate the burger and the crocodile meat seperately. The crocodile meat tasted a bit like chicken and was very white.

CAIRNS: HEAPS OF FLYING FOXES / 26 OCTOBER 2014 Next to the library in Cairns were a couple of trees that were filled with flying foxes aka fruit bats. With filled I mean really filled, there were heaps of them. When it started to get dark they got active, started flying around and made a lot of noise. Funny to experience!

CAIRNS: OCEAN FREEDOM BOAT CRUISE TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF / 26 OCTOBER 2014 Cairns is known as the access point to the Great Barrier Reef, which is the most famous coral reef in the world. I'd booked a cruise with the Ocean Freedom at Peter Pans, a travel agency.

With the Ocean Freedom I went, together with a group of people, to

the Upolu Reef which took just over an hour to go to. On this journey I became seasick unfortunately and at the first stop I didn't even go into the water.

At the second stop it was going a bit better but I wasn't ready to do the dive yet that I'd already paid for. I tried snorkling a bit and went to a sand cay, a small beach in the middle of the sea. This felt very special!

I was better and so I went on the dive. Normally it was one instructor on 2 persons but because I was the only one left I got a personal instructor.

I had gotten instructions on how to use the diving equipment on the boat earlier and now it was time for the real deal. I put on all the equipment and jumped into the water. There was a small bag in my wetsuit that was filled up with air which would keep me afloat and even out the heavy diving equipment. This bag could be emptied so I would go deeper and it could be filled up with air again to go up.

When I went under water for the first time, breathing through this airpiece, I was freaking out. The only thing I wanted was to go back to the surface and so that is what I indicated to the instructor. He tried to calm me down but I was just freaking out too much. And because he wouldn't let me go to the surface I just pulled out my mouth piece forcing him to take me up again. Back at the surface I could think clearly and I went for another go. This time I was perfectly fine with it, I was breathing heavily, as I could hear this underwater, but I was fine.

At the ocean floar there were large clusters of coral where we would swim to. On the way I saw stingrays quite regularly, they were all well camouflaged, hidden underneath the sand, with only their eyes sticking out. The first time my instructor was pointing at the sand and I just didn't see it. Besides stingrays I saw a lot of different colorful fish and a lot of clownfish aka nemo's. The coral was beautiful and of much better quality than I had seen during my snorkling sessions. There was a clam that would close when you would move your hand close to it and also some coral that would retreat when it was touched. At some point we swum to another coral cluster with an open space underneath it. My instructor pushed me down to look underneath the coral. And there where 2 reef sharks! I didn't know they would be there and, a bit shocked, I looked at them. They were larger than I thought they would be, about 1.5 m!

This was the first time I went diving and it was such a wicked experience!

It was scary at first but after that first minute I felt fine and enjoyed the beautiful underwater world!

OAK BEACH: BREAK INTO MY OWN CAR / 28 OCTOBER 2014 On the way towards Cape Tribulation I visited a beach along the highway and when I came back to my car I couldn't find the key! Found out that I'd left my only key in the ignition, had locked the door manually and slammed the door! Damn!

I was thinking of calling Ford or some roadside astistance that might be able to help me or perhaps just smashing the window. Luckily I had left my window open for just a couple of centimeters. This was by far not enough for my hand to go through but it was enough for a branch. And so with a branch I managed to pop the doorhandle and got access back to my car! After this I said to myself that this would not happen again...

But as you can imagine, it did, multiple times! Luckily I was pretty much always driving with my window open for a couple of centimeters and so I could always break into my car the same way.

Once I'd stopped in the outback to take a picture of a large collection of termite mounds and I'd locked my car again with the key inside. Thing was, this time my engine was still running as well! Fuck! Oh well, I managed to break into my car with a piece of metal wire from a nearby fence and continued on my way.

COW BAY: MY TRIP TOWARDS CAPE TRIBULATION / 30 OCTOBER 2014 Cape Tribulation is about as far north as I could safely go with my Ford Falcon. Via a major detour I could have reached Cooktown but further up is real 4WD territory. Cape Tribulation is surrounded by the Daintree Rainforest and is sometimes refered to as "The place where rainforest meets the sea". To get to Cape Tribulation I needed to take a ferry to cross the Daintree River. In the evening I arrived at the ferry and went fishing

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in the river where salties(saltwater crocodiles) are common! I didn't see any crocs but did catch a fish of about 50 a 60 cm, I didn't know what it was. I slept that night close to the ferry.

Early next morning I took the ferry towards Cape Tribulation and drove up the mountain towards the Mount Alexandra Lookout where I had a beautiful view over the Daintree River meeting the sea. Then I went to Cow Bay and I was surprised by a cassowary crossing the road with 4 chicks! I parked the car, jumped out and went after them to get a closer look. Awesome!

CAPE TRIBULATION: THE HOLLOW STRANGLER FIG TREE / 30 OCTOBER 2014 During the Marrdja Boardwalk I saw a strangler fig tree which is a very interesting tree, these are trees that start to grow on top of another tree.

The roots of that tree will grow down to the ground and they will wrap around the host tree. By doing so they take nutritions and light away from the host tree which will eventually die! The strangler fig that I saw had already killed its host tree which had rotten away and so a hollow strangler fig tree remained, amazing!

COW BAY: MY THIRD CASSOWARY SIGHTING / 30 OCTOBER 2014 I couldn't go any further after Cape Tribulation because then I had to cross a shallow river with big rocks. That I couldn't do with my Ford Falcon. And so I went back to the ferry in the evening and saw another cassowary crossing Noah Creek, magnificent!

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TOLGA: HAD A NECKLACE MADE WITH PETRIFIED WOOD / 01 NOVEMBER 2014 On the way I passed an art gallery and jewelry store called Rainforest Gems in Tolga. Here I noticed that a woman was making some juwelry and that the guy was polishing stones on a polishing machine.

I had a lot of petrified wood in my car that I'd found in Alpha. And so I thought that I could have a piece of petrified wood polished to make a necklace. I asked if the guy could polish a piece of petrified wood for me and so he could. We choose a piece of petrified wood and he polished it in 3 different grades. After that he drilled an hole in it and put a black string through it. Now there it was, my necklace with a piece of petrified wood I'd found myself!

ATHERTON: THE CRYSTAL CAVES / 01 NOVEMBER 2014 In Atherton I visited The Crystal Caves which is a museum unlike any other museums. It's build to look like a cave in which all the specimens of minerals and fossils are incorporated in the walls. People are encouraged to go inside and discover the minerals and fossils themself and are able to touch them too. There is an enormous and beautiful collection displayed in the museum which has been gathered by a Dutch guy called RenĂŠ Boissevain. He and his family had immigrated to Australia where he started out by digging for agates in the Agate Creek gemfields, I would go there later on as well. Since then he travelled the world to search for nature's treasures. The crown jewel of the museum is the world's biggest amethyst geode called "The Empress of Uruguay".

It's over 3 meters high and a real beauty!

To enter the museum I got a helmet with a light on top and I could go and look for the minerals and fossils myself. It really was an experience to visit the museum and I was very surprised of the extensive and beautiful collection that had been gathered here!

MALANDA: HUNTING FOR A TREE KANGAROO / 03 NOVEMBER 2014 In Yungaburra my hunt to see a tree kangaroo started. I'd heard about a tree kangaroo and was very curious to it! It's funny that when I thought of Australia, I thought of kangaroos but didn't realise how many different kinds there are. Especially including wallaroos and wallabies. Of the tree kangaroo there are 2 different kinds in Australia, I was in the territory of the Lumholtz's tree kangaroo. The other one, the Benneth's tree kangaroo, lived more north in the Daintree Rainforest. In Yungaburra I'd a look in Petersons Creek but I didn't see a tree kangaroo.

My hunt for a tree kangaroo continued at the Malanda Falls in Malanda but also there I didn't see any. At the visitor information centre they send me to the Nerada Tea Plantage, this would have been my last chance to see one as I wouldn't have continued my hunt after this.

At the Nerada Tea Plantage they directed me to some trees and said that tree kangaroos would be there quite often but hadn't heard of any sightings that day yet. Together with the help of a fellow countrymen I'd met in the shop I went to look for a tree kangaroo in the trees. It took a while and we almost gave up but then we saw 1! No 2! Actually 3, because one of them had a little joey in it's pouch! Wow, cool! They were looking down at us with their big tails hanging down. They didn't move much but when one did it moved smoohtly over the branches and jumped from one to another with ease. Awesome to see this animal as it was pretty rare to see one too, a lot of Australians had never seen one!

MT SUPRISE: THE UNDARRA LAVA TUBES / 05 NOVEMBER 2014 Close to Mt Surprise is the Undara Volcanic National Park where there is an extensive lava tube system. Lava tubes are formed when a volcano erupts and the outside of a lava flow cools down and becomes rock while at the inside the molten lava keeps flowing. At some point the lava flow stops and leaves an hollow lava tube. One of the lava tubes in the park was 160 km long! Reason for a lava tube this long was that the lava flow was consistent and well isolated. The heat couldn't escape and

so it only cooled down 1 degree every kilometer.

I went on a tour where we went to a collapsed section of a lava tube.

There I could go inside the lava tube which was really impressive! The size of the tube was much bigger than I thought it would be. Before I heard about these lava tubes I didn't know such a thing existed and it was an awesome experience to see this up close!

FORSAYTH: VISITING THE AGATE CREEK GEMFIELDS / 06 NOVEMBER 2014 From Georgetown I went to the Agate Creek Gemfields which was a 120 km drive. There I was completely alone and all over the ground were small pieces of agate just laying around. So I gathered quite a lot with various colors and patterns. Most of the pieces I gathered were about 3 or 4 cm big but I also found some bigger pieces.

FORSAYTH: FLAT TYRE / 06 NOVEMBER 2014 On the way back to Georgetown from the Agate Creek Gemfields I got a flat tyre. The road between the Agate Creek Gemfields and Forsayth was a gravel road and, to be honest, I wasn't taking it slow. I felt a bit like I was rally racing and had a fun time driving. But then I noticed something weird with my left front wheel, I stopped and I had a flat tyre!

Damn! I knew that in the back of my car there is a spare wheel. The jack was hidden away in an compartment behind the spare wheel in the back.

And so I replaced my wheel, the whole time I was doing that I didn't see anyone. So if I would really have gotten a serieus problem with my car that I couldn't fix myself, then I would have been waiting there for a while.

Later on in Mt Isa I went to some different garages in order to repair the tyre, however the hole was too big and so I needed another tyre. Because a second hand tyre wasn't available, I bought a complete new tyre that cost me 100 dollar.

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NORTHERN TERRITORY TENNANT CREEK: LIFE IN THE OUTBACK / 13 NOVEMBER 2014 Lately when traveling in the outback in Queensland and the Northern Territory I'd been experiencing some downsides. One of them was the fact that I'd been sweating a lot, sometimes drops of sweat would come out of my skin. Sleeping in my car had become uncomfortable because of that. Another issue were the flies, they were quite aggressive as they would try to fly into my ears, eyes, nose and mouth. Wherever I would get out of my car, the flies would be on me within 5 seconds, crazy!

MATARANKA: MATARANKA HOT SPRINGS / 15 NOVEMBER 2014 In Mataranka I visited the Hot Springs. First the Thermal Pool which was a pool made during WWII and was used by the officers stationed there.

Close by was also the Rainbow Spring which was feeding the hot water to the Thermal Pool. Around the hot water stream there was other type of vegetation growing, more tropical by the looks of it. There were some flying foxes hanging in the trees and I saw some wild pigs and wallabies.

A short drive away I also visited the Bitter Springs, this looked more natural as there were no concrete walls on the sides like in the Thermal Pool. There were also some plants growing on the bottom of the creek.

The temperature of the water was about 34 degrees, in comparison to the temperature at that time it wasn't a big difference and so it didn't feel like it was that hot. It was actually refreshing!

KATHERINE: NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK / 16 NOVEMBER 2014 Near Katherine I visited the Katherine Gorge and the Edith Falls, both part of Nitmiluk National Park. At the Katherine Gorge I went to the

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lookout at which I had a beautiful view. I didn't realise how big the gorge was until I saw a canoe on the river that was running through the gorge.

At the Edith Falls was a big rockpool where I went for a swim. It was a so-called "Crocodile Management Area", this meant that they had set traps at entrances to the swimming area and that if a croc was spotted that it would be removed. Nonetheless there still was a small chance of a croc being present but here it was quite safe in my opinion.

I also did a hike to the Bemang Lookout and the upper cascades where I had a swim as well. At the Bemang Lookout I accidentally stumbled across a geocaching treasure box. This is a worldwide sport in which everyone can hide a box and leave instructions on a website for people to be able to find it. Inside the box was a logbook and various objects which I could take but then I would also need to put something back in the box. I left my name in the logbook and put some of my famous businesscards, that I'd made back home, inside the box.

BATCHELOR: LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK / 17 NOVEMBER 2014 On the way to Darwin I went to Litchfield National Park. There I visited the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine, Cascades, Wangi Falls, Florence Falls, Tabletop Swamp, Buley Rockhole, Tolmer Falls and the Magnetic Termite Mounds.

The Wangi Falls was pretty cool, I went for a swim and then went on a hike to the top of the waterfall. There I illegally went to the edge of the waterfall where I had a beautiful view downwards! Just before I left the Wangi Falls I saw a lizard there, I think it was a water monitor, when I came closer it jumped into the water and dived underwater.

The Buley Rockhole was interesting too, it consisted out of a number of cascades and rockpools where I had a swim in.

The Florence Falls were beautiful! It consisted of 2 waterfalls and it was a beautiful view from the lookout. Then I did the hike towards the rockpool underneath the waterfall, there I had a swim. The rockpool was surrounded by a rock-face with plantgrowth on it, this looked gorgeous!

The Magnetic Termite Mounds were astonishing! These were mounds that have been build by termites. They were wide, flat and sharp looking

and all of them were build with north-south orientation. Reason for this was to control the temperature inside the mound. Besides the magnetic mounds there were also cathedral mounds, these were more bubble shaped. Cathedral mounds were common throughout the outback while the magnetic mounds I'd only seen there. The largest termite mounds were a staggering 3 or 4 meters high!

a t-shirt and the drops of sweat were coming out of my skin! Sleeping in my car at night was awkwardly similar to swimming. I had a flynet installed at one of my windows and so I could open my window without letting flies or mosquitos inside. But this also didn't help much at night.

In Kakadu National Park at the Mirral Lookout I was that desperate that I even tried sleeping on the roof of my car! This didn't work out and I ended up with a couple of dents in my roof. Reason for the high humidity was the build up for the wet season that was coming.

DARWIN: ADELAIDE RIVER QUEEN JUMPING CROCODILE CRUISE / 19 NOVEMBER 2014 JABIRU: KAKADU NATIONAL PARK / 22 NOVEMBER 2014 On the Adelaide River I did a Jumping Crocodile Cruise with Adelaide River Queen. I went on a boat which would cruise the Adelaide River to look for crocs. The tourguide was a real Aussie in the way he talked, quite funny! He would tell interesting stories about people that had been killed by crocs but also about the crocs themselves. Then he would have a piece of meat on a string attached to a pole with which he would splash in the water. This would get the attention of the crocs and then he would make them jump to the meat. The crocs were sneaking up and one of them managed to grab the meat by surprise. When the crocs do jump they do this by moving their tail and they can jump as high that their back legs came out of the water.

Seeing the crocs up close was very impressive, their skin and their green eyes. The crocs were so powerful, fast and sneaky, incredible. I'm convinced that they see people as prey. I've gotten a lot of respect for those animals. The cruise itself was definitely a cool experience though I didn't really agree with the fact that they teached these animals to jump. They turn it in a kind of a zoo and in the process also making these crocs even more dangerous.

DARWIN: SWEAT, SWEAT AND SWEAT / 21 NOVEMBER 2014 In Darwin I've stayed in total about one day. The humidity was driving me crazy! The locals would walk in the streets in suits and I was wearing

Kakadu National Park is a huge national park, almost half the size of The Netherlands, located southeast of Darwin.

There I visited Cahills Crossing, a famous spot for saltwater crocodiles which I wanted to see in their natural behaviour. I was at the lookout, which was an elevated part with a drop of about 2 m next to the river.

I was searching the water for some crocodile eyes sticking out of the water and didn't see any crocodiles at first. Then all of the sudden I saw a crocodile, right underneath me! It was laying in the mud about 4 meters away and discovering it was a bit of a shock to me! Extraordinary animals! Later on I saw another one which had a big fish in its mouth.

After that I visited Aboriginal rock art sites in both Ubirr and Nourlangie and I found this fascinating! The paintings were located on sheltered places like overhanging rocks and most of them are painted in the x-ray style. This meant that they would also paint the organs and bones of the animals and people. The paintings depict food, ancestors and stories.

In Ubirr there were stories about thieves that were killed after they'd stolen a fish and about two sisters that were eaten by crocodiles. In Nourlangie was a painting of an European ship, this was most likely a painting about the first time the Aboriginals saw Europeans! Some of the paintings were estimated to be over 20.000 years old!

Another beautiful place I visited was Gunlom where a scene of Crocodile Dundee had been recorded. The road towards Gunlom was marked as a 4WD road but as I really wanted to go there I decided to see if I could

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get there with my Ford Falcon anyways. The first part was no problem at all but then the last part was tricky. It was a road full of bumbs and with big rocks on the road. Normally I wouldn't have taken this road but now I was almost there I decided to go for it. I was driving slowly, slaloming on the road while quite regularly rocks would hit the bottom of my car but I made it! Gunlom was a waterfall with a rockpool underneath, this is where Crocodile Dundee catched a fish in one of the movies. I took a hike to the top which was quite steep but rewarding as the view up there was spectacular! At the top there was a rockpool as well where I took a swim. There would be a small waterfall connected to the rockpool of about 5 meters or so and then there would be a plateau with the big waterfall at the end. Thing is that from within the rockpool I couldn't see the plateau and so it looked like I was on the edge of an enormous cliff.

One of the most beautiful sights I've seen for sure!

Furthermore I visited Mamukala, the Bowali Visitor Information Centre, the Mirral Lookout, Yellow Water, Maguk and the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Centre.

KATHERINE: RUNNING ON FUMES / 22 NOVEMBER 2014 In Kakadu National Park I was running out of LPG and on the map it said that Pine Creek had LPG. I was going to make it. But when I arrived I found out that there was no LPG there! Damnit! And so I needed to go to Katherine which was the closest town that I knew of had LPG. The DTE ("Distance to empty") said I had 49 km left but Katherine was 90 km away! Well I decided to go for it, I did make a picture of an advert for a tow service in case I got stranded. If I would have run out of fuel I couldn't hitchhike to the service station to get a jerrycan of LPG...

I was driving 60 km/h on a 130 km/h road, roadtrains overtaking me, but everything to try to save fuel. Halfway it got dark and I had to go to sleep, I parked it not far from the highway on a side junction as going any further would have taken more fuel.

During the night I had another sitback, that I discovered the next morning.

I had 3 cracks in the shape of stars in my window. There were a lot of tiny

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cracks in my window already but now 3 of them had expanded quite a lot! Later on I had a look for a new window but this would cost me about 350 dollar and I didn't want to spend that kind of money on it so I just left it at that.

My trip to Katherine continued, my DTE said 10 km but the distance to Katherine was 45 km... Driving slowly, pissing off people behind me on places where overtaking wasn't allowed. Then the DTE hit zero and...

I kept going, waiting for my car to really run out of LPG. I was running down the hills on neutral, everything to try to save fuel. And I kept going for a good 30 km after which I reached the service station in Katherine!

I made it, thank goodness!!

KATHERINE: MEETING ABORIGINALS AT THE KATHERINE HOT SPRINGS / 22 NOVEMBER 2014 Back in Katherine I decided to go to the Katherine Hot Springs that I'd missed earlier. The springs were a collection of small pools that were connected by a small creek. The last pool was occupied by a group of Aboriginals that were a bit wasted. They were drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages and were a bit violent at times. I was taking pictures of the pools and they were posing for me. The Aboriginals have some distinct characteristics that can be seen in the photos including round cheeks and a wide nose. They have less resistance towards alcohol in comparison to Western people which have been drinking alcohol for a long time. So when Aboriginals drink alcohol they get wasted much easier. In the Aboriginal communities alcohol is banned.

I went swimming in the pools, the water was about 34 degrees but the temperature outside was 40 degrees and so it felt quite refreshing. I started at the source and followed the creek all the way to the last pool where the Aboriginals wanted to get on the photo with me. At some point one of the Aboriginal womans approached me and she was starting a conversation, asking me whether I was single... I said that I had a girlfriend to escape the situation though she kept talking to me. Then a guy

approached me saying the woman was his wife which sounded a bit like a threat. But finally I could get out of the conversation and I left which was a relief!

TENNANT CREEK: KARLU KARLU OR DEVILS MARBLES / 24 NOVEMBER 2014 Close to Tennant Creek were some huge boulders that were balancing on top of eachother. This was an intriging sight and looked like an higher force had been involved. It is a sacred site to the Aboriginals and there are a lot of dreamtime stories about this place. However those stories are not public knowledge and are only known to Aboriginals that have a certain status, gender or age etc. The Aboriginal name was Karlu Karlu and in English it was called Devils Marbles.

The boulders were formed because of cracks in a huge block of granite.

Water had been expanding the cracks and eroded off the edges creating big boulders that were balancing on top of eachother.

The boulders were still being influenced by the weather and so pieces of rocks were breaking off and some boulders had split up. I climbed on top of the boulders where I had a beautiful sight on the surrounding landscape in which there were much more boulders.

ALICE SPRINGS: ABORIGINAL ART / 27 NOVEMBER 2014 Alice Springs, also called the Red Centre, is located in the middle of Australia and the outback and is known as the hub for Aboriginal art. I visited various Aboriginal art galleries including the Mbantua Art Gallery and the Iranti Art Gallery. In the Iranti Art Gallery I bought two paintings, both from Reg Pengarte. Reg Pengarte was an Aboriginal artist from Alice Springs and his painting style, called the "x-hatch" style, is common in the Top End of Australia. One of the paintings I bought featured a kangaroo hunting story with shields and boomerangs. The other one a turtle hunting story with spears.

YULARA: KINGS CANYON / 29 NOVEMBER 2014 From Alice Springs I visited the West McDonald Ranges and took the Mereenie Loop Road, which went through Aboriginal owned land. Then I reached Wattarka National Park, where I visited Kings Canyon.

Kings Canyon was a huge gorge with the Garden of Eden inside and with Kings Creek running through it. I did the rim walk which was officially closed at 9 o'clock in the morning, it was 10 o'clock when I arrived and so I had to jump the fence. The walk took me along the edge of the gorge and also inside the gorge along Kings Creek. This was absolutely one of the most beautiful things I'd seen! The layered rock formations and the views from the rim inside of the gorge were truly gorge-ious!

YULARA: HALF YEAR IN AUSTRALIA! / 29 NOVEMBER 2014 On the 29th of November 2014 it was exactly 6 months ago that I arrived in Australia. Coincidentally that day I'd also been driving over 15,000 km in total with my Ford Falcon. Some milestones right there!

YULARA: ULURU AKA AYERS ROCK / 30 NOVEMBER 2014 Uluru, also known as Ayers Rocks, is probably the most famous toerist attraction in Australia. It is a huge rock in the middle of Australia and with huge it is really huge, I was very supprised! At Uluru I did the Mala Walk and the Kuniya Walk. During those walks I saw various caves with rock paintings and could see Uluru from up close. At the Mali Walk there was a ranger guiding the walk and telling about Uluru and the Aboriginal stories about it. This was very interesting!

Though Uluru is sacred to the Aboriginals, there was the possibility to climb Uluru. I was in doubt whether I would climb Uluru as I knew it was sacred to the Aboriginals. The climb would open at 7 o'clock in the morning and when the temperature was going to be 36 degrees or more it would close at 8 o'clock. Also when it would be raining or when the

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wind was too strong it wouldn't open at all. So only a small chance and that morning I had the opportunity. Still in doubt, but the amount of people that already went up there and the fact that it was only a small chance to do the climb, I decided to do it.

The climb to the top was exhausting and quite steep. On the top of Uluru there were white lines directing me to a monument. There I saw a gecko, I touched its tail which then broke off and the gecko ran away!

Amazing and scary, apparently this was a self defense mechanism. They just grow a new tail later on.

The view on top of Uluru was magnificent, it was the highest point in the area and everything else was pretty much flat except for Kata Tjuta. I was happy that I'd done the climb as it really was an extraordinary experience!

YULARA: KATA TJUTA AKA THE OLGAS / 30 NOVEMBER 2014 Not as famous but impressive nonetheless was Kata Tjuta, also known as The Olgas. Kata Tjuta means "many faces" as this is what it looked like from a distance. At Kata Tjuta I did the Valley of the Winds Walk and the Walpa Gorge Walk. The Valley of the Winds Walk took me through Kata Tjuta in between the big stone formations and with some awesome views! The Walpa Gorge Walk was a walk that went to the Walpa Gorge, a gorge that went from wide to narrow. The more towards the end I got the more impressive the huge rock walls on both sides became!

ERLDUNDA: FROZEN KANGAROO TAILS / 02 DECEMBER 2014 Between Yulara and Erldunda I came past the Mt Ebenezer Roadhouse and in the freezer I discovered frozen kangaroo tails! I was quite surprised, what would people want with a tail of a kangaroo? I asked the people in the roadhouse and they said that it was a delicacy to the Aboriginals.

They would put the kangaroo tail on the fire, burn away the hairs and grill them. Then they'll eat the meat right of the bone. They also told me that normally the Aboriginals would hunt the kangaroos themself but

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that they hunted them to extinction on their own land. As they were not allowed to hunt outside of Aboriginal owned land they had to buy the kangaroo tails now.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA COOBER PEDY: THE OPAL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD / 06 DECEMBER 2014 Coober Pedy is well known for its opal and underground houses and buildings called dugouts. The town was extremely interesting because of multiple things. The landscape around the town was filled, really filled, with heaps of deposits from the mines. All about 3 or 4 meters high which were made by another distinct feature of the landscape, blowers!

Blowers are basically powerful vacuum cleaners that could suck up rubbish from within the mines, up to 30 m underground, and would deposit it on the surface. Build on top of pickup trucks so they could move around. They have been invented in Coober Pedy.

In Coober Pedy I did a tour in Tom's Working Opal Mine in which I could go inside and check everything out. This was interesting to see, I also saw the part of the machine connected to the blower inside the mine. This was a bulldozer with a telescopic pipe that makes it able to move forward and still keep connected to the blower on the surface.

I also went inside an underground art gallery and an underground catholic church. Amazing! The dugouts have ventilation shafts and are cool in summer and warm in winter, perfect!

In Coober Pedy there was also the Jeweller's Shop Noodling Area, this was where miners deposit rubbish from their mines. Tourists can go through the deposits hoping to find opal that was missed by the miners.

I found a bunch of small pieces of opal there.

Coober Pedy was definitely one of the most interesting towns I'd seen in Australia, I was truly fascinated by the whole look and feel of the town!

The blower was a very interesting machine and at the entrance of the town they'd put one on pillars and there was information about how it worked. Amazing!

PORT AUGUSTA: FLINDERS RANGES NATIONAL PARK / 09 DECEMBER 2014 From Port Augusta I decided to visit Flinders Ranges National Park. On the way from Coober Pedy to Port Augusta I'd seen a lot of emus, much more than in other parts of Australia. And this continued in the Flinders Ranges, mostly in groups of about 4. I chased after some emus and it looked so funny when they ran away! They would put their head up high and their plumage would shake up and down with every step.

I had a beautiful drive through the Flinders Ranges on a dirt road and enjoyed the views from the Bunyeroo Valley Lookout and later on the Stokes Hill Lookout. At Welpena Pound I did the Mount Ohlssen Bagge Walking Trail that brought me to the top of that mountain. There I had a stunning view over the Wilpena Pound, a mountain ridge in the shape of a "C".

On the way to Port Augusta I visited Arkaroo Rock and on the way back to Port Augusta I visited the Yourambulla Caves. The Yourambulla Caves were officially closed. But then again I was probably only going to be there once in my life and wasn't going to let a fence stop me. In the caves of Arkaroo Rock and the Yourambulla Caves was some Aboriginal art. But the rock art in Kakadu National Park spoiled me because in comparison this wasn't that impressive to me.

ADELAIDE: AAHHHH WHAT IS HAPPENING!?! / 26 DECEMBER 2014 When I arrived in Adelaide I was getting a bit depressed. The change between traveling in the quiet outback all by myself to looking for work in a busy city was too much. I managed to find myself a spot near the airport and a shopping centre called Harbourtown on the West Beach Road. From there I had access to a McDonalds with free wifi, a Woolies

supermarket and West Beach was on walking distance. There I spend a couple of weeks in which I had to acclimatise to the city.

The first weeks were difficult but then it would slowly get a bit better. I did an online course for an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) which I needed if I wanted to work in a bar. But then I couldn't see myself working in a busy city and so I switched to looking for a job outside of the city. I called a bunch of roadhouses throughout South Australia but all of them didn't need anyone. Then I went looking for farm work, I called various apple farms but there was no work available until a couple months later.

ADELAIDE: MY AUSSIE CHRISTMAS / 26 DECEMBER 2014 Locals had started to notice me as I was camping in my car for a couple of weeks already on the same spot. Also the police had noticed me and had come by twice at night but didn't get out of their car. The third time they came during the day, looking in my car where I was watching a movie. I said "Hey mate, how it's going?" and he said "Oh nothing, I was just looking if you're still alive" and I said "I'm alive". And so he greeted me and left without any problems.

A local woman came by and asked me if I was alright, if I had money for food and whether I had credit on my phone. I said that I was alright and that I was used to camping in my car. She then gave me a chocolate Christmas clock, I said that it wasn't necessary but she was resolute.

Then later that day she stopped by again, asking me if I had some dinner already. Because she was going out for dinner with her husband and a friend and they wanted to invite me as well. Crazy! I kindly declined and thanked her for her kindness and once again said that I was alright.

This was not the end of it, a couple days later she came by again, this time with a Christmas package. I didn't want to take it but she was really resolute and she said that I needed to take it as she would feel better then. So I did and when she drove away I openend the box. It was filled with things backpackers don't get, luxurious cheese, sausage, chocolate eggs, biscuits and a couple Corona beers. Besides that there was 100

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dollar in there! I couldn't believe it, such kindness, something I would never have expected! If I would see her again I would be trying to give her back the money, that it was too much and I would thank her again.

I was also thinking of getting her address so I could send her a Dutch package when I was back home. Unfortunately I didn't see her anymore before I left...

After Christmas another local woman came by giving me a complete Maccas (McDonalds) meal (cheeseburger, fries, coke and a sundae) and another guy said that he had leftovers from Christmas that he wanted to give to me, I declined but thanked him! I was flabbergasted by the kindness I received, somehow I had the feeling that the Aussies were a bit more sensitive. Being seperated to the rest of the world by an ocean, a good economic situation and where not much violence was happening.

They had whatever they wanted and were more likely to help others.

And whenever something would happen it would have a bigger impact on them than it would have on the rest of the world.

ADELAIDE: ADELAIDE'S ELDER PARK NEW YEAR'S EVE 2014 / 01 JANUARY 2015 My initial thought of where to celebrate New Year in Australia was Sydney.

However I wasn't there yet, I was in Adelaide, and I found out about an event in Elder Park with some live music and fireworks. That is where I went to. Funny fact was that Australia is one of the first countries where it is New Year, much earlier than in The Netherlands.

During the event there was live music from: The Timbers, Ryley, Echo and the Empress, Alphabette, Prime and Thom Lion, The Tamers and Corey Theatre Music. This was fun, I liked the songs of The Timbers, for example "Bound for South Australia".

There were a lot of people and 2 firework shows, one at 9 o'clock and one at 12 o'clock. Both of the firework shows were amazing! They were matched to the music and was very cool to see! Especially the endings

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were awesome, so much fireworks! The 9 o'clock show took about 10 minutes and the 12 o'clock show about 15 minutes. Although I was alone, I thoroughly enjoyed New Year in Adelaide!

ADELAIDE: KANGAROO ISLAND / 03 JANUARI 2015 From Adelaide I took a tour to Kangaroo Island with Sealink. The ferry left from Cape Jervis and arrived 45 minutes later at Penneshaw where there were a lot of penguins on the rocks.

On Kangaroo Island I visited Seal Bay which was home to a colony of Australian sea lions. These animals went out far on sea and searched for food at a depth of 200 meters for 3 days straight without sleep. In that time they would eat a third of their body weight after which they returned to shore to rest a couple of days. I saw 10 a 15 of them laying on the beach. On the way back to the bus I saw a kangaroo which was dark brown. I'd never seen a kangaroo with that colour before. Apparently there used to be western grey kangaroos on the island but somehow the island made them change their colour and they are now a subspecies known as the kangaroo island kangaroo.

At the wildlife sactuary Hanson Bay I saw some more kangaroo island kangaroos and also some koalas. The koalas on the mainland of Australia were all suffering from a disease which the koalas on Kangaroo Island didn't have. Also they didn't have predators on the island and so they had been increasing in numbers enormously on the island.

Then the tour took us to Flinders Chase National Park where I saw the Remarkable Rocks, a remarkable shaped rock formation close to the ocean. Also in this national park is Admirals Arch which is an arch eroded and shaped by the water.

I enjoyed Kangaroo Island, it was beautiful! Though I didn't like the tour that much. I had decided to do the tour as this was much cheaper than taking my car to the island myself. But the tour did mean that I lost a lot of freedom, freedom to decide where I wanted to go and how long I wanted to stay somewhere.

ADELAIDE: START TRAVELLING AGAIN / 06 JANUARI 2015 I had decided that I either wanted to work or travel. Because I couldn't find work at that time in Adelaide, I decided to start traveling again instead of wasting any more time. And so I was going to do the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne where I wanted to try to find some work again. When I started travelling again it was a good feeling, finally getting somewhere again!

SALT CREEK: STUMPYTAIL LIZARD & SECOND FLAT TYRE / 07 JANUARI 2015 Close to Salt Creek in Coorong National Park I had taken a gravel road.

Here I saw a funny lizard with various names including bobtail, blue tongue lizard, shingleback and stumpy tail. They were lizards native to Australia. The ones I saw were black with a stumpy tail and when they felt threatened they opened their mouth as wide as they could and showed their blue tongue. This was very funny to see!

When I'd stopped the car to check out another shingleback lizard I heard something sissing. Damn! It was my right front tyre that was punctured!

I changed the tyre and got a bit of help from some people, almost everyone that passed me asked if I needed help.

Later on in Mt Gambier I bought a second hand tyre as the profile on the flat tyre was almost gone and so repairing it had no use.

MT GAMBIER: BLUE LAKE & THE UMPHERSTON SINKHOLE / 08 JANUARY 2015 In Mt Gambier I visited the Blue Lake of which the water was blue, really deep blue! This had something to do with elements in the water that scattered the blue wavelenghts of the sunlight. Almost all the water in Australia was blue but this one was even more blue!

Another tourist attraction in Mt Gambier was the Umpherston Sinkhole,

which used to be a limestone cave that collapsed. Inside the sinkhole they made a garden. I went inside of the garden which was an extraordinary experience! Inside the sinkhole in spaces between the rock wall I saw some brushtail possums.

VICTORIA STAWELL: FORD FALCON BREAKDOWN / 10 JANUARY 2015 My Ford Falcon Forte Wagon had taken me a long way to Australia but the trip had taken its toll. I had a cracked windscreen, not a lot of profile on a couple of the tyres and my automatic transmission had been failing.

In the northwest of Grampians National Park I was driving on a dirt road when the engine just stopped. I tried starting it again and it would drive for a bit and stop again. Then an Aussie came by which was a mechanic and he had a look but couldn't find anything. He did offer me to tow me to a nearby town but it had to be the next day as he had been drinking that day. This was also the reason he took a road through the national park to avoid the police! Funny, I said to him "So I had a drunk guy taking a look at my car just now?". Anyways, the engine started again and I would try to make it to a town myself with the mobile number of this guy in my pocket as a backup. I made it to the highway near Dadswells Bridge, where they have the Big Koala, another one of Australia's Big Things.

On the highway I headed towards Stawell and the engine stopped again.

I stopped on the side of the highway, waited a bit then started the engine again to drive a bit further. The engine would just quit constantly. It was dark and raining like crazy when the engine stopped again and I decided to park it next to the highway. Right there and then I went to sleep.

The next morning I made it to Stawell, though there were some loud bangs coming from the engine. In Stawell I found a mechanic and let him have a look at it. He connected a computer to the car and there was the

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list of things that was wrong with my car. He said to me "It's not worth fixing, you gotta ditch the car, mate". But I wasn't ready to get rid of my car and my house yet and so I asked him what made the engine stop.

He said that this would be the coil pack and I asked him if changing it would allow me to drive my car to Melbourne. He said that it would and it would cost me 270 dollar. And so I let him change it and he said to me "When you're in Melbourne, ditch the car mate!"

thing about it was that underneath the waterfall there wasn't a stream forming, the water dissapeared into the ground.

Furthermore I visited the Baroka Lookout and the Pinnacle, both lookouts with gorgeous views! Also McKenzie Falls, which was quite impressive to me considering the fact that I'd seen so many waterfalls already.

WARNAMBOOL: ACCIDENTAL STAY ON A GAY CRUISING AREA / 11 JANUARI 2015 HALLS GAP: GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK / 11 JANUARI 2015 In Victoria I visited Grampians National Park which was gorgeous and filled with a lot of magnificent vantage points!

There were some rock art shelters in Grampians National Park that I visited, most of them were officially closed due to an huge bushfire that had struck the Grampians in January 2014. But again, I wasn't going to let this stop me from seeing the rock art.

The areas were indeed quite black and the trees were all black but were regenerating as green leaves were coming out of the trees again. I visited the Ngamadjidj shelter, Billimina shelter, Manja shelter, Gulgurn Manja shelter and the most important one, the Bunjil shelter. This last one contained a painting that depicts Bunjil, the Aboriginal creator of the land, and his 2 dingos. It is the only known painting of Bunjil which is what made it so special. The rock art in general was simplistic in comparison to the rock art in Kakadu National Park. But nonetheless cool to see, there were quite a lot of handprints from adults but also children.

I also visited the Reed Lookout which was an high lookout point with an impressive view! I watched the sundown here after which I spend the night there. Also close to the lookout was the Balconies. On the way towards the Balconies there was a huge collection of rock towers. They were build by travellers to indicate that they had been to that place. I had to make one myself too. Then the Balconies itself, also known as the "Jaws of Death", was quite cool. It consisted of a couple of rocks sticking out above a cliff where I stood on top of.

Another attraction in the Grampians was the Silverband Falls. Strange

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Warnambool is a city close to one end of the Great Ocean Road. There I decided to sleep at Pickering Point, a lookout point with a hike along the coast. However when it got dark cars just kept coming and going while this was not a populated area. There was a car next to me with a guy in it that had been there for a while. I thought that he might be sleeping there as well. With the lights of the cars shining in my car every time I couldn't sleep. And I decided to go for a walk along the coast to see if I could see some nocturnal wildlife. I didn't see anything but I did meet a guy that was walking there as well. What the hell was that guy doing there at that time? He started talking to me and so we had a conversation over where he came from, where I came from and what I thought of Australia. Then the conversation went in another direction, about gay events and the acceptance of gays in The Netherlands and in Australia.

And then he told me what was really going on here... That spot was a popular gay cruising area and he was gay! This was the guy from the car next to mine, when I went for a walk he thought that I wanted to hit it off, oops! During our conversation he'd already figured out that I wasn't gay and then I returned to my car and found another spot to sleep close by.

PORT CAMPBELL: THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD DAY 1 / 12 JANUARI 2015 Between Allansford and Torquay I visited the Great Ocean Road which is a beautiful winding road along the coast. I spend a total of 3 days on the Great Ocean Road. The first day I visited the Bay of Islands, Bay of

Martyrs, the Grotto, the London Bridge, the Arch, the Island Archway, the Razorback, the Loch Ard Gorge, Thundercave, Muttonbird Island and the famous Twelve Apostels. The coast was beautiful with the blue water and the interesting rockformations!

The most famous attractions on the Great Ocean Road are the London Bridge and the Twelve Apostels. The London Bridge is a rock island in the sea that used to be connected to the mainland but the bridge had collapsed a while ago. The Twelve Apostels were 8 limestone stacks in front of the coast in close proximity to eachother. I visited the Twelve Apostels at sundown which was a magnificent sight! That night I slept at the parking area of the Gibson Steps.

PORT CAMPBELL: AUSSIES AND SURFING / 13 JANUARI 2015 Along the Great Ocean Road I slept the first night at the parking area of the Gibson Steps. The next morning it was stormy weather and raining, so I had an extensive breakfast in my car. In the meantime I was witness to a peculiar event. I watched a couple of vans and cars arrive, one after another, with Aussie surfer dudes in them. They would take a look at the sea and got very enthusiastic, put on their wetsuits and ran down to the beach with their surfboards under their arms. I put on my jacket and went to the beach as well during which I got soaked. The sea was rough and the surfers were having the time of their life. This was another realisation of the popularity of surfing for the Australians!

APOLLO BAY: THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD DAY 2 / 13 JANUARI 2015 From Gibson Steps I continued on the Great Ocean Road and visited Castle Cove and the Cape Otway Lighthouse. On the road between the Great Ocean Road and the Cape Otway Lighthouse were a lot of koalas in the trees next to the road. I took some time to look at them, they looked a bit sad as they were wet of the rain earlier. On the way back I was lucky to see a woman realeasing a young koala that had been fallen out of a

tree before and she had taken care of. The koala looked were cute when it was climbing up the tree.

Further towards Lorne I visited the Carisbrook Falls. That night I slept illegally in a corner of the parking area next to the Foodworks supermarket in Lorne.

LORNE: ACCIDENTS WITH MY CAR / 13 JANUARI 2015 During my trip on the Great Ocean Road I had some incidents with my car. The first accident was when I was looking for a place to sleep and I took a side road which was very steep. Due to my failing automatic transmission which caused for a delay between switching in gears I couldn't go up the hill. And so I had to back down backwards without entering the Great Ocean Road as this would be quite dangerous without being able to look for traffic. And so I turned it backwards by driving off the road into the dirt. In the process I lost a plastic part underneath my car close to the wheel. It was just a part to catch the dirt coming off the right front wheel, no worries!

The second accident was caused by the condition of my tyres, they were worn out. I'd never had problems with it before but then that moment came. I took a corner on the wet and windy Great Ocean Road and when I accelerated out of the corner my car started sliding. It slided on the other side of the road and I couldn't turn it around. Luckily there wasn't other traffic on the road and I didn't panic so I could get back in control of my car before it slided off the road. There was a gorge on the right side of the road and a solid rock wall on the left so that could have ended badly. My heart was beating like crazy and I had to pull over for a moment to calm down. I decided that from that moment on forward I would take extra care when driving my car.

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LORNE: THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD DAY 3 / 14 JANUARI 2015 After I slept the night illegally in Lorne, with "No Camping" and "No Sleeping in Car" signs all around town, I went to Teddy's Lookout. This was a lookout point with an amazing view over part of the Great Ocean Road, it was beautiful to see the road from a high viewpoint!

In the visitor information centre of Lorne there was an exhibition called "The Great Ocean Road Story". It was an exhibition which told the story of the Great Ocean Road from the start till the end in text and pictures.

This was very interesting! I found out that it was build by and made for soldiers that returned from WWI and so it was the world's largest war memorial. Continueing on the Great Ocean Road I passed the Urquhart Bluff, the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch, the Split Point Lighthouse and Bells Beach, home to famous surf brands Ripcurl and Quicksilver.

a couple minutes watching it searching for food and flying around. There were also some other superb fairywren, they were brown. Only the breeding males have this bright blue-purple colour.

GEELONG: STAYING AT A SERVICE STATION / 18 JANUARI Between Geelong and Melbourne was a service station not far from Avalon airport, there I could legally stay in my car and I could take a free shower at the BP fuel station. I spend a couple of weeks there while I was searching for work through the Harvest Line, a government project to help backpackers find farmwork.

GOLDEN BEACH: TOMATO PICKING JOB / 29 JANUARI 2015 GEELONG: BAYWALK BOLLARD TRAIL / 15 JANUARI 2015 In Geelong I noticed some interesting wooden pillars or bollards that were painted to represent persons. I found out that there were at least 48 of them and that the pillars came from an old demolished pier. I followed the complete trail along the Geelong waterfront and had a look at almost all of them. The bollards represented persons and events in the history of Geelong. On almost all the bollards there was an easter egg in the shape of a rabbit that was hidden away in the paintings.

This was a link to the fact that rabbits are a plague in Australia. They are not native to Australia, together with the fox, and were introduced by the English for hunting.

GEELONG: SUPERB FAIRYWREN / 17 JANUARI 2015 When I was walking along the Geelong waterfront I noticed an active, and bright blue-purple coloured bird with a long tail. It was a superb fairywren which I wanted to see for a while now and there it was! I spend

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Through the Harvest Line I got a phone number of someone that was looking for workers on a farm. So I called the guy and the conversation was a bit weird, the only thing he said was "Yes you can come, I text you address, oh and rent 140 and transport 8 dollar per day". I got an address in Yarram and the work would start in about 1,5 week. I texted him asking what kind of fruit it was and how much it was paid. He answered that it was tomatos and that it would be 16,37 dollar per hour. That is not well paid but I decided to do it.

So I drove to Yarram which was over 300 km from the service centre I stayed at. I avoided Melbourne as driving in a city or town was simply a disaster due to my failing tranny (transmission). When I arrived in Yarram I met some other people that were also there to do the tomato picking.

From them I heard completely different amounts for accomodation and transport. But more importantly about the wages, the guy had said to them that it was paid per bucket and not per hour. Weird! Then I met the guy, a small Turkish guy all busy and screaming to his co-workers.

The accomodation would be in Golden Beach, another 95 km away from Yarram. I followed with my car and when I got there, there wasn't enough

place for everyone to sleep in the hired holiday houses. I just slept in my car again in the front of one of the houses.

The next morning I went, together with a large group of backpackers, to the farm close to Longford where we got an explanation of the job and my fear was confirmed, it was paid per bucket. In the backpackers world paid per bucket means most of the time shit wages, especially the first week or so. At that point everything this Turkish guy had told me was a lie except for the fact that it was tomatos that I would be picking. I would get 1.70 dollar per bucket and one bucket would be about 150 tomatos I think.

I started picking the tomatos and I had to select the tomatos I picked as well, a good proportion of them were soft, damaged or didn't have enough colour yet. My hands got totally black during the picking, apparently of dirt that was on the tomatos. A week later my hands were still black after this.

At some point I was picking tomatos in one field nearing the end and the bus with most of the backpackers left to another field leaving me and a small group of people there. So when we had finished there we had to walk to the other field of tomatos. This irritated me because with "paid per bucket" I only got paid when I was filling a bucket. Then at the next field I was filling buckets until I ran out of buckets. So I had to get buckets at the other end of the field, again not getting paid during that time. At the end of that day my back was hurting from continuously bending but I knew that would get better. I'd done 37 buckets in about 7 hours which would mean that I made 63.50 dollar that day.

That evening I was in doubt, I was basically out of money with a broken car and so I needed money. But on the other side I didn't want to work for this lying, screaming bastard with the paid per bucket style work.

And so I made the decision to not continue working for him and left without saying anything. My pride was too big and whoever left after the first day would not get paid and so I got nothing. I did have the experience though and with that I fucked off. It did put me back in the "broken car and no money" problem again. At that point I felt like I wanted to go back home but if I would have made that decision I would have gotten more money of my Dutch bankaccount. And then I would have travelled some more first!

PAKENHAM: FORD FALCON IN "LIMP MODE" / 29 JANUARI 2015 On the way back towards Melbourne my Ford Falcon went into "limp mode". That meant that my car had detected that a component was failing and that it was now operating on reduced performance to make sure the driver could make it to a mechanic. In my case the automatic transmission was failing most likely as I had trouble with it for a long time already. I managed to drive it to Pakenham where it completely stopped working. Luckily later on it did work again but barely and I drove it to the library where I stayed for a good week. There I cleaned out my car and put all of my souvenirs, including a lot of minerals that I'd found myself and a bottle of Bundaberg Rum Royal Liqueur, in a package so I could send that home. I had to get more money from my Dutch bank account to pay for the package and to search for another car. This annoyed me because my intention was to not spend that much of my own money in Australia but to earn money for my travels there.

Finding a new car with the budget of about 1,000 dollar I'd made available didn't work out. A friend in The Netherlands had told me about a working hostel in Emerald where he had worked. I decided to try to get there with my car and drove there during the night as I tried to avoid traffic.

EMERALD: EMERALD BACKPACKERS WORKING HOSTEL / 05 FEBRUARI 2015 I made it to Emerald with my car and found the Emerald Backpackers Hostel. I had parked my car in front of the hostel and still used it as a bedroom. The owner was Chris and he was half Dutch, he gave me a job starting the next day at a tree nursery.

The hostel was a bit of a mess and things were broken all the time.

But then again living with at least 30 or 40 backpackers it is bound to get messy, especially in the weekends. As everyone was working and stayed at the hostel much langer, I could actually get to know people.

We watched movies, tv series, had campfires and drinking games. And I visited Melbourne a couple of times with friends. I also found out how

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popular weed was, being Dutch weed was less interesting to me because it was legal I guess. But in the hostel, filled with German, English, Irish, Taiwanese, Italian and French people, pretty much everyone was smoking weed every day. It was a fun community! In this hostel I felt at home in Australia for the second time, first time being in Rockhampton.

GEMBROOK: JOB AT THE GLENARA TREE NURSERY / 06 FEBRUARI 2015 On the 6th of Februari 2015 I started working at the Glenara Tree Nursery in Gembrook. There were 3 farmers Ryan, Daniel and Darren which were part Dutch but didn't speak Dutch except for a few words. They had 2 farms and the company was owned by their dad. Their mum did the administration, a real family business. I worked on both of the farms which were pretty big and one had its own water supply. It was a huge man made lake which is common for farmers to have as they are not allowed to use the water in natural streams during a drought. I had a swim in this lake a couple of times after work. The first week was quite hard, I had to bend over to get to the trunks of the trees. So my back was pretty sore at the end of the day. I also got sunburned pretty bad on my back. But after that week I was used to it and it was still hard work but that was oke. Coincidentally my friend in The Netherlands that had directed me to the Emerald Backpackers hostel had also worked here!

My job was mostly taping trees after the farmer had grafted them.

Grafting is making a cut in a tree and in the cut putting a piece of a branch from another type of tree. Then I taped it water- and airtight and the new branch would grow together with the tree. This was one tree can have multiple kinds of apples for example. I didn't know this was possible and I found this quite interesting! I also did weeding, trimming trees, pulling of branches, cutting tapes, planting, digging and bundling trees. I only planted once and this were peaches trees and with digging I experienced almost everything involved with being a tree nurse.

The digging was more active and very interesting again. There was a tractor that pushed a kind of scoop through the ground and would dig out a whole row of trees. Then attached to the scoop were some metal

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bars that shaked off most of the dirt. Then I took the trees and beat off the remaining dirt with a rubber hammer, put them on a pile which I would later put on pallets. Then the trees went to the shed where we bundled the trees per 5 using a special self-tying knot that the farmers had teached me.

Besides the farmers I had various backpacker colleagues, all from the Emerald Backpackers hostel. There was Matthias (Italian), he worked there before me and still worked there when I left. Also Bryan (UK) worked there for a good amount of weeks. Then during digging we had a bigger group with Max (DE), Emiliano (IT), Fabrizio (IT) and Florian (FR). In between there were some more backpackers that only stayed a couple of days at most.

I've had a couple of barbies during the time that I worked there which were organised by the farmers, the first time at the lake at one of the properties. They went to get the barbie from the other property with a tractor, that was quite funny! On my last day they also organised a barbie, this time with a larger variation of meat. Most of the time it was sausages or chicken with bread and tomato sauce. Now they had some steak and pig. And as always it was accompanied with beer!

My last day was on the 9th of May 2015. In total I've worked here for a good 3 months and so completing my so-called farm/regional days with which I can apply for a 2nd Working Holiday in Australia. I earned a total of 8,051.50 dollar in 496.5 hours.

YARCK: DOOF / 29 MARCH 2015 With a large group of the hostel we went to a doof which was about a 2 hours drive away. I went with Sophia (ES) and Matthias (IT) to the doof in the van of Sophia. Her van was pretty cool with a roof that could expand and that way there was a lot more room in the van. Sophia had really made it her home by decorating it with all sorts of stuff and making a little garden outside of her van when she camped somewhere.

The doof was in the middle on nowhere somewhere in the bush and we had to follow a dirt road for a while. When we got closer we could hear the music and saw the lights through the trees. The music they played

was psytranche, normally not my kind of music but I had been listening it for a while and got an appreciation for it. The party itself was a simple, a couple of turning tables, big sound boxes and some stroboscope and light effects. On the party a lot of drugs was available like weed, MDMA, LSD, speed and laughing gas. Before I went to the party I had decided to either try MDMA or LSD and had read about the effects and risks. On the party I went to the drugsdealer and bought some MDMA. I did only one capsule as I didn't want to take too much but I didn't notice much of it. I also tried some laughing gas which was pretty weird. Like I was sedated and I could feel the music as vibrations.

We arrived there at around 8 o'clock in the evening and left the next day at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. During the night there were a lot of campfires going to keep warm. The whole party was a fantastic experience, this music and lightshow in the middle of a forrest!

EMERALD: COOKING GROUP / 27 MARCH 2015 In the Emerald Backpackers Hostel I started a cooking group together with 4 other people. Everyone would cook once a week for 5 persons and the other 4 days someone else would cook. This was really fun to do, especially because we had people from various nationalities and cultures. Every day it was a surpise what we were going to eat. The initial group consisted of Sophia (ES), Steve (UK), Matthew (UK) and Wendy (TW). Later on people left and new people got into the cooking group including Kim (DE) and Emiliano (IT).

For the cookinggroup I made a lasagna, pumpkin soup and rice with meatballs in peanut sauce. Others made sushi, hamburgers, shoarma, various kinds of pastas and much more.

their own way and now Vera was visiting Melbourne which was not that far from Emerald where I stayed at. And so we had a little meetup in Melbourne and talked about our trips through Australia so far. Vera had travelled through Australia with the Greyhound and did tours along the way. She'd travelled through all the states that I'd travelled through but also Western Australia and she'd visited Bali in between. It is funny to see how we both started at the same point and from there went our own way through Australia. And that our paths crossed again in Melbourne where we took a tram ride through the city and visited some of the graffiti streets where Melbourne is famous for.

MELBOURNE: THE GRAFFITI STREETS / 27 APRIL 2015 With Vera I'd seen some of the graffiti streets in Melbourne wich were beautiful and so I wanted to see more graffiti streets. Melbourne is literally filled with graffiti, it is one of the street art capitals of the world. The most famous graffiti street in Melbourne is Hosier Lane in the centre of Melbourne, close to Federation Square. Other beautiful graffiti streets include: Artists Lane, Rutledge Lane, Croft Alley, Duckboard Place, Duke Street, Stevenson Lane and much more. Close to Hosier Lane was another street, short but with beautiful graffiti! It was called the AC/DC lane, named after the Australian rock band AC/DC! A couple of graffiti streets I've visited multiple times with about a week in between. One of them was Hosier Lane and the amazing things was that every week there were new graffiti pieces in the street! It is an ever changing public art gallery, I enjoyed looking at the graffiti a lot! With the cities I've seen in Australia I like Melbourne the most.

MELBOURNE: FOOD AND COFFEE / 13 MAY 2015 MELBOURNE: MEET-UP WITH VERA / 11 APRIL 2015 Vera was one of my original group that I'd met on Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and I travelled to Australia with. Funny how everyone went

Melbourne is known as the coffee capital of Australia, therefore I felt like I needed to get a coffee at one of the best coffee shops in Melbourne.

So I went to Brother Baba Budan, a coffee shop with a ceiling of chairs

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and an unfinished look. The walls were like those of an construction site without wallpaper, some random parts were painted and on some places there were ripped pieces of paper hanging from the wall. I liked the interior style and also the cappuccino with latte art in the shape of a flower.

For dinner I went to the Mook Ji Bar, of which I'd heard about from a couple of Taiwanese people in the hostel. This was very good food! With a group of people from the hostel including Yaya (TW), Ivy (TW), Miya (TW) and Flo (FR) I also went to Top Paddock. There we had a lunch and one of their delicious hot cakes! Another time I visited Mamak, a Malaysian restaurant, together with Kim (DE) and Rita (HK). Another restaurant I went to was Lentil as Anything of which I'd heard about from a couple of hippies in the hostel. At that restaurant you could eat and pay whatever you want. So you can eat for free if you want to. Luckily most, if not all, people pay an honest price for their food, and so did I. Lentil as Anything had a couple of restaurants in Melbourne, I went to the one in St Kilda and had a vegetarian lasgana.

Furthermore I visited a couple of branches in Melbourne of well known restaurant chains through Australia: Lord of the Fries, Grill'd and Nando's.

EMERALD: LEFT EMERALD BACKPACKERS HOSTEL / 11 MAY 2015 After more than 3 months I left the hostel to start travelling again for the couple of weeks I had left in Australia. The hostel became a home filled with friends and so it was hard to leave! I'll probably see some of those people somewhere and sometime again!

EMERALD: MY FORD FALCON FORTE WAGON / 12 MAY 2015 For my Ford Falcon Forte Wagon I had called a scrapdealer which would give me 200 dollar for it. But he didn't come on the day I had made the appointment and so he would pick it up the next day. I would be gone then but he would transfer the money into my bankaccount. As you can

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imagine this never happend but he did pick up the car. I was angry but I couldn't be bothered doing anything about it as my car had been saving me more money than I spend on it.

The car has been my home for the major part of my trip in Australia, it has taken me almost everywhere I wanted to go. It was a powerful car which I had been driving over dirt roads, gravel roads and even some 4WD roads. At the end it did start to have some problems which is logical because I'd been driving it for over 20,000 km without doing any maintenance. I had 3 flat tyres, had the coil pack changed and at the end my car was in "limp mode". I did remove the numberplates and the car emblems that I send home. In order to keep the numberplates I had to report them destroyed to the Queensland Government to be able to cancel my REGO. I had bought my Ford Falcon for 2,425.- dollar and spend a total of 767.78 dollar in repairs and on REGO. I've driven about 20,857 km with it, spending 2,633.72 dollar on LPG.

TASMANIA DEVONPORT: PLANNING MY TASMANIA TRIP / 13 MAY 2015 Early in the morning I arrived on Tasmania, aka Tassie, with the Spirit of Tasmania ferry from Melbourne to Devonport, having arranged only 2 things. My return ticket with the ferry and a rental car from Europcar for 7 days. My rental car was an Hyundai i20 with not even 20,000 km on it.

After I'd picked up the car my first stop was the tourist information centre to get some brochures so I could start planning my trip. Funny fact is that Tasmania, the biggest island of Australia, is about twice the size of The Netherlands!

QUEENSTOWN: CRADLE MOUNTAIN-LAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK / 13 MAY 2015 From Devonport I decided to go to Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. Driving there I got a weird surprise, there was snow! Especially in the park itself, where I was on a higher altitude, there was snow everywhere!

This gave me a kind of an euphoric feeling, probably because I hadn't seen snow in a while. It sure wasn't the temperature, being zero degrees. The snow made the landscape beautiful but I did have limited visibility due to fog. I visited Dove Lake at which there was a boat shed and in the background of the lake there would be Cradle Mountain. Unfortunately due to the fog I didn't see the mountain. On the Enchanted Walk I saw small and funny hopping creatures which weren't that shy. I later found out that these were Tasmanian pademelons!

COLES BAY: WINEGLASS BAY / 17 MAY 2015 In Freycinet National Park I went to Wineglass Bay which was a bay in the shape of a wine glass. There was a lookout that I visited so I could see Wineglass Bay from up high and I also went to the beach. Beautiful!

BINALONG BAY: BAY OF FIRES / 17 MAY 2015 Binalong Bay is one of the places in the Bay of Fires which is known for its coastline with orange-hued granite rocks. The orange is produced by a lichen. The blue water, the white beaches and the orange rocks is a stunning sight. Also during sunrise!

SCOTTSDALE: MT WILLIAM NATIONAL PARK / 18 MAY 2015 HOBART: MT WELLINGTON / 15 MAY 2015 The next day I drove to Hobart, the capital of Australia. On the way I visited some waterfalls in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and Mt Field National Park. Near Hobart I went to Mt Wellington which was an high mountain with a truly magnificent view of Hobart, definitely one of the most beautiful views I had seen! I just kept being impressed over and over again!

PORT ARTHUR: TASMAN NATIONAL PARK / 16 MAY 2015 In the southeast of Tasmania is the Tasman National Park. There I visited a lot of things. Included was Fortesque Bay, there I found a wallaby chilling on the beach, sitting on its ass with it's tail coming out underneath him.

It looked so funny and he wasn't really scared of me! I also visited the Remarkable Cave which was a tunnel through a thick rockwall that was eroded away by the water. And now with every wave the seawater came rushing through the cave.

In Mt William National Park I did the Forester Kangaroo Drive in the evening. This drive took me through grassland where the kangaroos and wombats were grazing. This was beautiful! Especially when I saw my first wombat! I wanted to see this animal for a long time already and now I saw a couple of them at the same time! As curious as I am, I apporached them and even chased one to see them from a bit closer. They looked very cute when they were running. One of them was suffering from a widespread disease among the wombats and had some bald patches.

The coast at Eddystone Point was also magnificent with the sanddunes, the birght green grass and the blue sea!

LAUNCESTON: BEN LOMOND NATIONAL PARK / 19 MAY 2015 Just east of Launceston is Ben Lomon National Park in which I could drive to the top of the high mountain called the Ben Lomond. The drive itself was beautiful following the windy road to the top. The mountain

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consisted of long square shaped rock pillars of which I had a beautiful view from the Watchtower Lookout at the top. I've been driving the last part of the road a couple of times because this was a superb experience!

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY CANBERRA: THE CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA / 23 MAY 2015

DEVONPORT: MISSED THE FERRY! / 20 MAY 2015 Back in Devonport I had enough time to go to the ferry and I hug around a bit in the library. I hadn't seen that I had to check in for the ferry 45 minutes before. And because I took some time to figure out how to return the rental car I came too late. The ferry left earlier and I couldn't board it anymore. It wasn't funny then but now... When I went to the ferry terminal with the huge ferry behind it and all of the sudden I saw the ferry started moving! I was very suprised and started running towards the terminal but I was too late. It cost me an extra day and an extra 124 dollar to take the ferry the next day. I spend that night in Devonport homeless and was very early at the terminal the next day!

DEVONPORT: TASMANIA TRIP CONCLUSION / 21 MAY 2015 Had a blast on Tasmania, a beautiful island! Discovered and named after the Dutchmen Abel Tasman and twice the size of the Netherlands with only a fraction of the population. The roads were spectacular to drive with a lot of corners and elevations, a dream to drive! I've seen Tasmanian pademelons and wombats which were definitely some of the cutest animals of Australia. I've driven a total of 1,846 km and had made the car dirty as! I came here 8 days ago without any plans and my route formed on the way and this worked out quite well! When I missed the ferry I was pretty pissed at the time, I was confined to Devonport for another night and day and it had cost me a good amount of extra money. But I knew I could laugh about it later on, just not right there and then!

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Canberra is the capital of Australia, story goes that when the states of Australia united as one country they couldn't decide on what to make Australia's capital city. The choice was between Sydney and Melbourne and so they decided to build a complete new city roughly in between those 2 cities. And so it is a so-called planned city and with it they also created a new state, the Australian Capital Territory.

I travelled to Canberra with Greyhound Australia and in Canberra I visited the Australian War Memorial, the House of Parliment, the Royal Australian Mint and the National Gallery of Australia.

CANBERRA: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL / 23 MAY 2015 The Australian War Memorial was impressive, it was a building surrounded by machinery that was used by Australia in wars. There's a complete bridge of a ship, a tank and various gun placements. Inside were statues and beautiful mosaic images. Also a lot of nameplates which were decorated with red poppies which is a universal sign to remember people lost in the war. Very impressive!

CANBERRA: THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT / 24 MAY 2015 The Royal Australian Mint is the place where they make all the dollar coins of Australia! There I read about the history of money in Australia, that actually the first coins they used were Dutch coins. And that they used foreign coins for a while until they made their own coins. Also on display were special edition of coins with colour printing and one of them

even had a triangular shape. The Olympic Medals for the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney were made and displayed there too. I could also look into the factory itself. I really loved visiting the Royal Australian Mint!

NEW SOUTH WALES SYDNEY: STATE LIBRARY OF NSW / 26 MAY 2015 In Sydney I visited the State Library of NSW, this was a beautiful library and in the floor in the first hall there is a huge map of Australia in old Dutch! This was very interesting to see as I could read it!

In the library there was the World Press Photo 15 Exhibition going on where I had a look at. In the exhibition were the best news photos displayed which was extremely interesting to see!

There have been great times but also difficult times, during all this time I always had the possibility to return home but I haven't! The opposite has happend, I've extended my return flight to the latest possibility for my visa.

To all people I've met in this travelling backpacker world, we became friends so fast. We're all here with the same open, adventurious and exploring mindset that it was easy to end up in little adventures together. With a lot of people those friendships have been build in just one or two days after which we parted ways again. With others, especially in the working hostel, I could create some deeper friendships.

To all those people, when the next adventure you're gonna be on, involves The Netherlands, hit me up!

SYDNEY: VIVID SYDNEY 2015 / 26 MAY 2015 This was the second time I experienced Vivid Sydney, when I arrived in Australia almost exactly a year ago I also visited Vivid Sydney. I found it an awesome festival with light projections, light installations and beautiful animations! And this year I had a blast once again! Both times there were projections on the Opera House, the Customs House and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia!

SYDNEY: GOODBYE AUSTRALIA! / 28 MAY 2015 My last day in Australia had arrived, this last year had been a blast! A year I can't fully comprehend at once, it has simply been too much. All the experiences I've gathered over this time, things I've seen, people I've met and what effect it had on my own view of the world.

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GENERAL STATISTICS TOTAL SPEND IN AUSTRALIA (AUD)

DAYS SPEND IN AUSTRALIA

-$21,916.21 (EUR 14,944. 32)

TOTAL SALARY EARNED IN AUSTRALIA (AUD)

365

DAYS

TOTAL KM TRAVELLED IN AUSTRALIA

PAYCHECK

________

,619. +$R13 9,286. )

614

(EU

58

2 7 , 6 5 7 KM

WORK & EDUCATION MY JOBS

CURRICULUM VITAE

MY EDUCATION

TOMATO PICKER

SOD LAYER

AT UNKNOWN FARM JAN 2015 (1 DAY)

CLEANER

AT GLENARA NURSER Y FEB-MAY 2015 (3 MO NTHS)

F AT AUSSIE RIVER TUR JUL 2014 (3 WEEKS)

AT HELENA CLEANING SERVICES EKS) AUG-SEP 2014 (5 WE

TREE NURSE

WORKPLACE HEALTH

AND SAFETY

CONSTRUCTION IND CARDHOLDER'S NAM BEN DEN HARTOG CARD NO 1800031

UCTION

E

CERTIFICATE RESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF ALCOHOL (RSA)

ISSUE DATE 30 / 07 / 2014

GALAXY TRAINING AUSTRALIA 17/12/2014

APPROX. NUMBER OF HOURS/WEEKS WORKED

810 HOURS

21

SALARY EARNED (AUD)

ECK PAYCH IE S AUS TURF RIVER

PAYCHECK HELENA CLEANING SERVICES

TOTAL

WEEKS $946.-

PAYCH E GLENA CK RA TREE NURS ERY

$13,619.-

$4,621.50

$8,051

.50

615

FORD FALCON EXPENSES BUYING THE CAR (AUD)

FUEL (LPG) COSTS (AUD)

2001 Ford Falcon Wagon LPG Gas Economical inc REGO RWC Safety

$2,600.00

Holland Park West QLD 4121

$2,600. $2,425,00

AMOUNT $

2660,65

LITERS

2640,50

00

Tim

SERVICE COSTS (AUD) ITEM - TRANSFER REGO

AMOUNT

616

80

$ 59,45

- RENEW REGO $ 431,75 6 MONTHS $ 100,00 - NEW TYRE N - NEW WINDSCREE $ 24,23 WIPERS $ 30,00 E TYR D HAN - 2ND $ 270,00 K PAC L - NEW COI $ 147,65 (+) - REFUND REGO

TOTAL

TOTAL KM DRIVEN

$767,78

60

100 120 140

40

160

20

180

0

200

2 0 , 8 5 7 KM

HI MATE, HOW‘S IT GOIN‘?

In April 2014 I quit my job and went to Australia on a Working Holiday.

I left The Netherlands on the 27th of May 2014 and arrived in Sydney in Australia on the 29th of May 2014.

From Sydney I travelled trough Australia, part by bus, Tasmania with a rental car but most part with my own car I‘d bought there, a Ford Falcon. In total I‘ve travelled an estimated 28.000 km through all states of Australia except for Western Australia. When travelling my route formed on the way and I never knew where I was going to end up the next day. I slept in my car wherever I would end up that day, cooked on a portable gass stove and my lunch often

blue sea to the green rainforest and the red outback. I visited heaps of natural attractions and saw a lot of interesting animals including kangaroos, wallabies, platypus, echidnas, wombats, koalas, emus, cassowaries, saltwater crocodiles and various cockatoos and parrots!

In between travelling I‘ve also worked for a total of about 5 months.

I‘ve been a sod layer, a cleaner, a tomato picker and a tree nurse.

In total I‘ve stayed in Australia for almost a complete year during which I‘ve gained a lot of experiences and met loads of people! I left Australia from Sydney on the 28th of May 2015.