Australia
So I’m currently in Australia. Frida left me and I’ve been on my own now for about three weeks. Well, as alone as you can be when you’re traveling … I’m in Melbourne and staying at my friend Igor’s place. He lives in Carlton North, so I’m right in the city. I take walks every day and end up walking for hours and hours without even noticing. It’s hard not to feel like an alien coming to Australia after spending a few months in Africa and Southeast Asia. I’m hoping it’ll pass.
While in Sydney I mostly took walks as well. I’ve pretty much walked all along the coastline, from Long Reef down to Clovelly Beach. Although I can’t imagine living in Sydney it’s definitely one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. I love how everything seems like it’s planned around the ocean; the steep cliffs and the way the climate allows for people to be active and outdoorsy all year round. After people finish work they go home and get their surfboards and run down to the nearest beach. I’ve also seen lots (or should I say “heaps”) of people of fishing from the cliffs, paragliding, running …
Getting around Sydney is not hard although public transport is not the best. They do however have something that my own hometown, Stockholm, completely neglected. Ferries. From Circular Quay you can shorten your trip by taking ferries to most of the suburbs around the city center. I’d love to see more of that back home.
It was so great seeing my friends again. I met Jamie and his girlfriend Holly for a few days in Belgium last year, but apart from that I have hardly talked to them in 4 years. I met him along with Dan and Tom in Central America while traveling there in 2009 among with lots of other amazing people. It felt great to be reunited for at least awhile. Jamie and Holly and their housemates Anna and Jen have been so nice to let me stay at their place in Dee Why.
I’m currently working on editing all the photos I’ve taken. I’m almost done. Can’t decide what I’m going to put up on Tumblr though. Most of them are simply travel photos without any artistic qualities whatsoever, but I’m happy that I have them, even though they mostly take up space on my hard-drive.
I just got in contact with a guy in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, 100 km outside of Sydney. I’m going to couchsurf at his place for about a week and a half in the middle of June, before I head off to California. Very excited about that. I feel like meeting new people and, most importantly, I’m getting a bit tired of the city. I’ll have spent over a month, apart from my little Great Ocean Road adventure with my friend Lisa, in big cities when I get there. It’s going to be a relief to see some open space and to go hiking in the bush. I’m so excited! Thank you, Christian, for hosting me!
Expect an update soon.
