The story continues...

Wow, where to start?? Last update seems months ago, but it hasn't even been 3 weeks... Time doesn't seem to matter much over here at the moment. It's great!! Well, I'm home in Melbourne at the moment, but before we get onto that, let's go back to Kalbarri where I left you last time.

So we did the hiking/canoeing trip in the Kalbarri gorges, which was amazing. It was a really hot day luckily, and it was so beautiful. Not that we could really canoe, in fact we were really crap, lol, but hey, sometimes that just doesn't matter, haha. Paul and I even went for a quick swim in the river!! Very quick, coz it was freezing!! Looked a lot more inviting than it was, haha.

Kalbarri was pretty much the last stop before returning to Perth for real. We had a stop over at this 24 hour rest area one night where it was pitch black at night and so the starry night sky was just amazing :) Then on to Perth, or actually Fremantle. Of course had to see the Fremantle prison... very interesting!! I also went to visit Froukje, a friend from uni back in Utrecht who's doing a uni year in Perth. Was awesome seeing her again, and coincidence had it that I was there for her birthday!! Party party :) Had heaps of fun that night, it was great :)

That was basically it as far as the WA part of our holiday... Next day we were off to Alice Springs!! We did a 5-day red centre 4WD safari there (and yes Kyle, though not African, it was a real safari :P), which was absolutely great despite me getting sick halfway through and despite the way too early wake-up calls in the morning (which were tough for a non-morning person like me, haha). Our tourguide Ned was really coowl and our group of 19 people (of which 12 spoke Dutch, haha) was a very nice group. So we had an awesome 5 days :) Among the stuff we've done was Uluru & Kata Tjuta (aka Ayers Rock & The Olga's), King's Canyon, Glen Helen Gorge, Standley Chasm and Palm Valley. I know the names might not mean much to a lot of you, but it was all just beautiful :) And the days were nice, warm and sunny while the nights were absolutely freezing, but not too bad while we were sitting around our self-made camp fire :) All in all, we had an amazing couple of days in the centre :)

But then came the most exciting part of our holidays as fas as I'm concerned... we went to Melbourne!! I was so excited, haha. We left Alice Springs late in the arvo, so we had sunset from the plane, which was sooo beautiful!! And then we finally arrived in Melbourne!! So good seeing mum again, who came to pick us up :) Very strange too and I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, but it was very awesome :) Next day we met up with the rest of the fam for dinner, which was very very awesome too. So good seeing them all again after so long :) It's the strangest feeling, coz it feels like coming home but so much has changed in my two years away as well. It's so good though :D Like I said, time doesn't seem to matter much at the moment... And finally my two families have met, and it's great. I just couldn't stop smiling that night :)

Did a lot of sightseeing around Melbourne the next day. I was surprised at how little I had actually seen of the Melbourne inner city sights!! So that was coowl that I got to be a real tourist here as well :) In the evening we met up with the Corbetts again for dinner in the city, which was very nice. Strolled along St. Kilda Pier afterwards... Just another great day had :)

Since then I've been trying to catch up with friends basically. Met up with my beautiful Melly and her boyfriend Al for lunch on Friday. Again a bit overwhelming, but very exciting and very awesome :)

Saturday, Renske and Paul left for Holland again and my parents left for a few more days in Byron Bay with my aunty, so I've been 'home' since. Went to some stranger's 21st at night with my good friend Kyle. Very coowl seeing him again, and it was a really fun night!! Even though I didn't know anyone but Kyle, so I was the strange Dutch girl again, haha. Oh well...

Sunday I went out to see dad & Monique do a gig in Brunswick. So coowl, coz I had really missed that!! Me and Damien were basically the only crowd, but it was really good hearing them play again :) Loved it :)

And now the last two days I've been taking it real easy, coz I'm still not completely back to 100% since getting sick on the safari. But I've got a couple of things planned for the remaining days, trying to catch up with people during the week and this weekend I'm also going away to Venus Bay for the weekend with Kyle, Mel, Al and some others too I think :) Should be awesome :)

Anyway, to make yet another long story short, Australia 2007 is still love :) The best thing about being here is that I don't have to miss so many people, coz the Dutchies are only a few weeks away and most of my Aussies are here with me :) It's great :D Hope everyone's enjoying their holidays if you have them, or just simply enjoying life if you don't :) Keep smiling!!
Love Carine
xxx