So, so, so happy about it!
I decided to go, finally after looking randomly at flight prices for the last five years or so.. Hah! I didn't even know what I was going to do there when I bought it! I just saw some cheap flight and thought I really want to go, like now, why wait anymore?
I have the money for the flight now, the rest I can manage to save up in what was it, like three months or something..?
And I did, I bought the ticket, applied for a visa, and new credit cards just to be safe, which was the most clever thing I did as I was so stupid while travelling to actually lose two cards while I was out..I blame it on the wallet I had clumsily sewn for my exams.. I have bought a new one now so it won't happen again.. I'm clumsy.. I know!
Anyway..I did buy the ticket and finished all exams at uni by the 6th of December. My flight was leaving Kjevik airport on the 12th. I had packed and repacked my backpack several times. Knew that I didn't really have the money to buy too much clothes there so I had to bring most of it. And it's hard to pack, when you don't really know what you might do! Go rock climbing, swimming, fancy restaurants, clubbing, couch surfing etc.
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| Not my cubes but you get the drift! |
12.-14.12.2013
Travelled for a total of 34 hours approximately, and met a Norwegian guy at the airport in Amsterdam who was going the same way I was, we sat next to each other on the flight, and if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have slept at all for the 11-12 hours we were on that plane! It was so painful at times!
On the next flight from South Korea I got a window seat and no one next to me for 10 hours! Slept for 6 or so, so good compared to the other flight..
I felt like I looked like a troll when I arrived at the airport in Brisbane at 6.40am local time. I was wondering what to do with all the chocolate and some caviar I had brought with me for the couch surfing hosts and my friends and their families… Turned out I didn't need to declare anything, which was great!
My friend Daniel, who I met while travelling to Split last summer with Helene, picked me up at the airport in Brisbane and drove me to his house where I met his family and got to finally take a shower, which was long longed for! I started to feel a bit funny to my stomach, but thought it was just that I hadn't really eaten anything since 4/5am. Though it turned out that I had caught some bug or something on the plane. Just to say, it wasn't very pleasant and it was quite embarrassing to be rushing to the toilet to throw up, when you just met the folks you're staying with. Though this doesn't top my most embarrassing first impression…
I didn't get to taste what looked like a really delicious Aussie BBQ, which they had planned for me, talk about feeling sorry for not wanting to waist good food!
15.-17.12.2013
Since I was feeling a bit better, Daniel took me on a short road trip to Cedar Creek not far from where he lives. We parked by the road and walked for a bit to get to a good spot to go swimming. It was really beautiful, reminded me a bit of some places in Norway in summer, but the nature was so much more exotic.
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| Was so wonderful to get some warm sun again! |
Later that night I went to stay with my first couch surfing host, Skye and her family. She had stayed with my brother in Stavanger many years ago and looked forward to meeting me. They were very hospitable and lent me their house key and told me that I could eat and feel at home while they went for work during the day.
I spent the next days looking around in Brisbane, doing some sight seeing, going up in the wheel of Brisbane, shopping for an Aussie sim-card and chilling at South Bank, there is an artificial beach by the Brisbane river there. South Bank is overlooking one of the campuses of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the university I really wanted to make an exchange to when I read about it last time I attended UiA three years ago. I also attended some Christmas/Santa party with Skye and her family so that her son Jaden could get a gift from Santa.
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| QUT campus, seen from South Bank |
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| South Bank Parkland's river promenade |
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| Brisbane wheel at South Bank |
On the 17th of December I changed hosts. I went to live with Vanessa and her housemates at Rocklea for three nights. I had the first day where I felt I could eat anything without getting sick so it was a great day, with drinks at a South Bank restaurant and delicious homemade vegan enchiladas for dinner. The hosts, Vanessa her boyfriend at the time and her little sister Martina were so great to be with!
18.12.13 = My BIRTHDAY! Woo!
I woke up and went out of my room to be greeted by Vanessa and Martina who greeted me with birthday wishes and a cute card. Made the start of my birthday truly great! During the day I went to the Museum and Art Gallery in Brisbane and to the Science Museum. Saw some works by Pissarro and Picasso which made me a bit starstruck again like I was in Copenhagen. I learnt that in Queensland they have a cockroach the size of a big hamster which weighs the same as two house mice !! Would NOT like to see that beast in real life!
That night we went out for dinner and drinks with some of Vanessas friends, Amilia and Josh at a Lebanese at West End and then we went to some clubs at Fortitude Valley, or as the locals called it "the Valley". We spent most of the night at The Beat, a gay bar with performing drag queens and jelly wrestling. I payed for the taxi home for me and Vanessa and was surprised by how cheap it was, as we drove for quite a while, about 33 AUD which makes about 182 Norwegian kroners, which is less than what I pay to get home from a night out in Arendal, Norway. The day was so much fun! Haven't had that much fun on my birthday in years, thanks to all the great people that were with me.
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| Amilia, Vanessa and me |
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| Amilia, me and Josh |
19.-20.12.13
I spent the next day at the house in Rocklea, took a long walk and jog with the two dogs of my hosts, Rocky and Punk. Was really lovely to do some ordinary stuff like going for a dog walk, missed Stipe a lot at that moment. The next day Martina gave me a lift into the Central Station and I took a train to meet Daniel somewhere near Warner to go with him on a trip up the coast to Noosa.
Johanne Teresie
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