- The Nullarbor
- Esperance
- The Great Southern
- Lovely Freo
- Rottnest Island and the Quokkas
- Holidays down under
- Perthday and Housesitting in Mandurah
- Mandurah to Yanchep National Park
- Lancelin & The Pinnacles
- Pink Lake & Kalbarri National Park
- Shark Bay
- Francois Peron National Park
- Quobba Blow Holes
- Coral Bay
- Exmouth & Cape Range National Park
- Working in Hyden
- Whale Sharks
- Karijini National Park
- Dampier Peninsula
- El Questro
- A Sun-Soaked Adventure: Unveiling the Best Beaches in Exmouth, Australia
My dear friend Ellen wrote me a note each month I was away. Every month brings a fun anticipation! In the December letter, we were given the task of taking a photo wearing Santa hats on the beach. We quickly bought two nice ones and headed to Fremantle. It was another hot day, and we wanted to get a little bit of a festive feeling. We enjoyed a refreshing beer on the beach chairs with a view of the ocean and then took the necessary photos as evidence. We spent Christmas Eve just the two of us at the campsite. It was a quiet evening with mixed feelings for both of us. On such days, you really miss the warmth of home and family (although it’s warm enough here :D). On the other hand, it’s so special to celebrate the holidays on the other side of the world in the summer.
Around 6 AM, we received a phone call from Sem, Ely’s brother. They were still celebrating Christmas Eve. Despite having some sleep in our eyes, we enjoyed the call and got to see everyone. On Christmas Day, everything is closed here. From shops to supermarkets to even restaurants. This is truly the day Aussies celebrate with their families. So, we had no choice but to spend another quiet day at the campsite.
We are located near two large water reservoirs. I briefly considered taking a refreshing swim, but being a scaredy-cat, I decided against it. Instead, we enjoyed the sunshine with our feet in the water. When we went to brush our teeth, we came across a beautiful spider. Fortunately, it wasn’t venomous, but I still preferred not to be bitten. To top it off, we found a tiny spider in our car. At night, it was time to call my family. We couldn’t say much in return (it was the middle of the night, and we didn’t want to wake anyone else up), but feeling the Christmas spirit in our tent was lovely.
Additionally, Alizée brought her New Year’s note, and I was able to be part of that too. A month ago, as a surprise, we both sent cards to our families back home. We hoped they would arrive on time. And yes, they were surprised and very happy with the cards. Mission accomplished!
The next morning, I made delicious banana pancakes with mango to keep a little festive spirit alive. Boxing Day, which is actually the day after Christmas for us, is also celebrated here, and some shops are open. I had enough of resting and sitting around. We decided to spend a day in Perth. We walked around the streets but were slightly disappointed. Both of us don’t really enjoy busy cities; we prefer nature. Moreover, most of the shops and nice eateries were closed. Our stomachs started to growl more and more. Eventually, we drove to our favorite spot nearby: Freo. Creatures of habit, right?! 😉
During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we continued to stay peacefully at our campsite. We’re a bit stuck here because Linde is coming to visit us for three weeks in February. She’ll be arriving in Perth, and then we’ll travel with her up to Exmouth. Our initial plan was to work in Hopetoun, but that fell through. We also tried to find work here but to no avail. Okay, we didn’t search too hard -:D But it’s not a good time because it’s summer vacation, and many students are looking for work. We still have two job possibilities in Broome (further up north). So, fingers crossed that we’ll have better luck there; otherwise, we’ll have no choice but to return earlier when our funds run out. But those are worries for later.
We signed up online for “Workaway.” It’s a type of volunteer work. You receive accommodation and meals with the host family in exchange for a few hours of work (which can vary greatly, and the hosts choose). It’s a super cool initiative, and we were really excited about it. I started the search with enthusiasm. The options were a bit limited because neither Ely nor I prefer to be around pets. We found about five advertisements that looked promising and sent them an email. A few days later, we received a positive response from a young couple. We could move in with them starting from January 10th. Exciting prospects!
We also visited Cape Peron and enjoyed the beautiful views there. In the late afternoon, we were invited by two couples to the campsite to play petanque. It turned into a super fun evening, and we also got to savor a delicious dinner made by Mary. Australians are incredibly hospitable here. A few days later, we played a very enjoyable card game! We enjoyed their company and had a lot of fun.
After waiting for a few days for a response from our Workaway host, I started to get impatient. I wanted certainty about whether we could start or not. We were losing hope, and I came up with another idea. Why not go “traveling” to another country for a month? It would be an excellent opportunity to see the rest of the world. Two eternal indecisiveness together makes it really difficult to make decisions. After much deliberation, we settled on Sri Lanka. So, from January 14th to February 13th, we’ll embark on this journey. We’re really excited about it!
The tranquility here is refreshing because we were exhausted after four and a half months of traveling. But the urge to travel again is starting to grow. We can park our car at Steve & Sheila’s (the people we met at the campsite) driveway in Mandurah for a month. That gives us the reassurance that the car will be safe. Ely can also keep his insulin in their refrigerator during our trip.
Neither of us felt like celebrating New Year’s Eve at our campsite. We booked a room in the old prison in Fremantle. We slept in an actual old cell in a bunk bed. It wasn’t pretty romantic, but also suitable for recovering from the hangover -:D There was a BBQ in the brewery and later a party. The music seemed 20 years behind here, but we had a great time. Celebrating New Year’s Eve in such a unique setting was so different. We went to bed around 1 AM and slept wonderfully in our cell. The following day, we slept as long as possible until it was time to check out. We had breakfast, showered at our campsite, and enjoyed a peaceful day.
It was a nice experience for us to spend the holidays here. If we could choose, we would have preferred to spend them at home. The Aussies do their best, but celebrating Christmas in the summer is just not the same.
X Inez & Ely
Weeral een toffe blog toch ook met gemengde gevoelens want we hebben jullie gemist met de feestdagen. Maar blij dat jullie genoten hebt.Op naar nieuwe avonturen! En wij kunnen zeggen dit jaar zijn ze terug!????????Veel liefs.moekie
There is no place soo good than home sweet home
Daddy