Bye bye Australia

Things have gone so fast. Lionel arrived (lionel, thanks so much for taking care of me when I was half dying and it was great to travel a bit with you), my ears got crazy, no time to rest and we are on our way to Melbourne and Cairns, saw Nemo and his family (check the photos of Lionel) and a shark (AWESOME) then back to Sydney and hop, it's time to board for Queenstown.

It has been hard to leave Australia because I really had a nice time there and I met really nice people but most importantly I had time to know them and this makes it even harder to leave.

I have spent my last night with my flatmates, we went to an oktoberfest party. Ahhhh those Germans having fun (singing weird songs, hammering nails in logs or dinging bells)!!! Well, I guess this is the nice diversity of Europe.... Anyway really good evening, the photos are in the Sydney album.

I was asked where do I put Australia with regards to the other countries I have visited. Well, since I had a life more similar to what I would do in Amsterdam I would say that I would put it next to Loas and Cambodia simply because it would not be fair to compare my experiences. I was not really backpacking like in South East Asia and I got much more time to know people which as I said made it hard to leave. Overall I had a really good time in Oz, I saw beautiful landscapes, a orange/red sky that did not happen since 70 years, surfed, saw lot of wildlife but more importantly my batteries are now ready for another half year if intensive traveling which will no doubt bring me a lot.

As for the bread and except the good bakery my flatmate knew this is not good and NZ is pretty much the same so far so I would put them just above Thailand.

Finally I wish I could have stayed in Australia and if I had to start my round the world trip now I would take 2 years, spend one in Oz (and work 6/9 months) then continue my journey. This is to show how I liked living in Australia.

I have updated the photo links on the right hand side. Check the end of the pictures of the trip of Lionel they include the pictures under the water from the Reef and check Sydney for the pictures of the sand storm and the BMWs.