The last bits and pieces and the end of an episode

Noosa turned out to be a nice spot on the east coast. It's laid back and relaxed and immediately seemed to be welcoming to me. Helping to this fact was also the backpacker where I stayed: Noosa Flashpackers. A little bit of advertising here is in order I guess! Although located a little out of town, more in the direction of Sunshine Beach (what a nice name - wouldn't you want to stay there, now?) it's ideally located to visit the national park, just around the corner. The backpacker itself is very modern and has all the facilities you need and more: super clean air-conditioned rooms, 2 pillows ( :-) ), a swimming pool, free breakfast and free Internet (which, for the backpacker, is a real treat seeing as internet costs so much in Australia). They even had rain showers :-). Needless to say I indulged in a little over-pampering myself haha :-).
Obviously I explored the national park, where there are a few walks to be done. Following the advice of a certain someone, I set out for the coastal track. This passed by Alexandria Bay (with a nudist beach), rocky places with well-sounding names like Devil's Kitchen and Hell's Gates and Tea Tree Bay. Once again I bathed in tea tree oil, and loved the effect on my skin!
Of course all the mentioned places had gorgeous views on the ocean and it was a great place to just sit, relax, watch the waves and try to spot dolphins (without luck though). What I did spot in the end, was my first koala! The cheeky bugger was hanging in a tree, sleeping of course, and hiding well out of sight. But some nice people pointed him out to me.

From Noosa I took the Greyhound bus once more to Byron Bay. I stayed here for 2 nights and loved it! The city is Australia's hippy walhalla and you could immediately soak up this atmosphere: everything was much more 'chiiiiilllll, duuuuuude' :-). Not only was it nice to sit back and relax at the beach - just walking around the town had its charm as well.
Of course I had to take a surf lesson here. Can't go to Byron and not surf! So I booked my lesson with 2 familiar faces from Fraser Island (which was a very nice plus) and in the afternoon we set out for Lennox Head. Well, the waves there were - in my humble beginner's opinion - wild! They came crashing from everywhere and were higher than myself. Beat that, North Sea! We got a tiny bit of explanation on the beach as to what a wave actually is, what rips are and what to do if you get caught in one (swim hard!). Then we learned a bit of techniques but since the water is the only place to be, off we went into the waves. It took me a few tries, but in the end I stood up nice'n'right and I was able to catch a few waves into shore. Wahoooo, there I went! And apart from a bit of bumps and bruises, no serious injuries were sustained.
For the rest I walked the walk around Cape Byron, where I spotted dolphins (wheeeee
!) and which had once again spectacular views. Yes, Byron Bay, you were wonderful.

From here on it went to Sydney on an overnight bus, where I arranged some practical stuff for the rest of my trip, and the same night I took another overnighter to Melbourne. Exhausting trip, but I didn't want to waste too much time in Sydney.
Melbourne is a big city as well, but the stories are true: it does feel much more European than Sydney - wider lanes, trees in the streets, wide sidewalks, trams in the middle of the street ... I liked it. I didn't spend a lot of time here though, just enough to soak up the atmosphere and watch some tennis on the big screen on Fed Square.
The next day I went on a three day tour along the Great Ocean Road. The group was small and nice so we moved pretty fast and saw a lot of the road. Again we were treated to beautiful sights, especially around the 12 apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. This is very dryly said, but there are just no words to describe what you feel when you see it in real life. I felt very small, in any case. And happy :-).
The tour brought us to a wildlife park as well. Although I'm opposed to putting animals in confinement, I did get to hold a baby wallaby, a baby koala and a snake :-). Not a poisonous one though, but still, I was scared out of my wits. But we're here to experience new things, right, so I couldn't NOT do it :-). Strange and cold!
The rest of the trip took us along the Grampians national park, which was full of the typical Australian wildlife: koalas, kangaroos, emus, spiders, snakes, lizards ... We also did a nice rock walk with breathtaking views, and walked to a aboriginal rock art centre. Here i sustained my first (minor) injury: yours truly slipped over a twig (!!!) and fell, and pulled her thigh. Luckily there were 2 lovely physiotherapists in the tour group so in the evening they were able to tape me up and give me anti-inflammatory pills. Now I'm still sometimes restricted in some movements but it's not as bad anymore :-).
After the tour we were put on a bus towards Adelaide, where the temperature reached about 40°. Pret-ty hot, I must say. The town is nice, seemed very colonial to me, but my time there wasn't much because I flew back to Sydney the day after, to prepare for my next intercontinental flight: the one from Australia to Thailand, which is tomorrow :-).
It was time to say goodbye to the coolest Belgian in Sydney, Frauke, so we went to the beach once more and talked about everything and nothing, you know, the things in life when you're on the other side of the world :-).
And thus, with that ending, I have ended my Australia life the way I started it; I clearly remember me arriving in Sydney with all my bags and Frauke's face would be the one I saw first. And now hers will be the one I see last here.
Australia, we had fun, we had good times. But now it's time to move on.
Goodbye Ozzie, hello Thailand!