The end of a big journey and the beginning of a new one

I’m sitting @ Brisbane Airport, after a long travel thru Australia and to myself. Right now it feels quite unreal that I’m leaving, this place has become home for a while and I don’t realize how far it is from where I go to.

Since I’ve come back from Cairns I spend some days in Noosa and on Fraser Island. I missed out to see the Whitsunday Islands, so at least I went to Fraser, world heritage listed and with 123km length and 22km at its widest point the largest sand island in the world. I was lucky to get a small group of 17 people to go across the island in a 4wheel drive bus. We were also very lucky with our tour guide, a professional photographer (http://www.petermeyerphotography.com/) who lives on the island for 15 years already and got us to spots other tourist don’t go to.

lake mckenzie

driving on clouds

maheno wrack

2 days of beautiful nature, crystal clear lakes to swim and heaps of bumpy rides on the big bus. After these 2 days I spent the night in Hervey Bay to see my friend Jules race (yes the one of the tiger).

The last days were quite intense, yesterday night we had an unexpected lovely dinner at Jules’ house with a couple of friends and some good laughs, after a day on Noosa beach and last Australian fast tanning sun.

My luggage is checked already (by the way, I am a lucky person, I called Qantas about a week ago to make sure that they’d apply the British airways luggage fee and not the Qantas one), they put a remark in my booking and at the end there was such a confusion I didn’t got charged at all for my bike. Just for the record, international Qantas luggage policy could have cost me close to 1000AU$, in the best way 175AU$ for the national flight plus 40BP for the long flight to London, plus would have had to recollect and checked again. They just smiled and said, “Okay, luggage goes directly to London”. Good sign for the travel ;)

When I arrived here I was tired, confused and unsecure about what would happen during my stay. I didn’t know a lot about this country I had chosen for my journey. Today, 74 days later I’d call this place part of my heart, a second home maybe which was always good willing and kind. I am aware that I’m not only lucky with my luggage, but with so many different things:

I am lucky to know people who welcomed me with open arms and lend me their house to stay, I can’t say thank you often enough Luke and Amanda!

I’m lucky to have taken this opportunity to travel on my

own during 2,5months.

I’m lucky to have met so many lovely people, most of them I mentioned in my posts. It’s not about expanding the facebook friends list; some of them have made their way into my heart, in their very own ways and I hope to see them very soon.

I am lucky catch up with some of these guys soon in Germany, in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Roth and some places I still ignore. And not a long time to go, I’m counting the days already.

I made my journey; it was MY journey, filled with joy, sadness, smiles and great moments. I realized that you don’t need a lot to be happy. Actually, when I packed my backpack yesterday I thought that I still have too many things in there. 16kg plus the bike bag, but still too much. I haven’t bought many things here, a couple of cushion cases for my future couch, 2 t-shirts and a pair of thongs. That’s all. I could have seen a lot more of Australia, but my journey wasn’t so much about filling a list with destinations, but live the moment and be happy, prove myself and be content just with who I am.

I can’t tell where or how, but I found myself and I’m happy and good with what I found. It was a long way, I got upset and angry I cried, I laughed, trained hard, said hello and goodbye many times, I danced, ran, cycled, swam, dived and played in the sun. Somewhere in between it just happened. Maybe in the moment I stopped looking for it.

Until the moment I’ve taken 12 flights, 3 to go, spent almost 70h on planes when I’ve arrived in Spain. I’ve slept in 13 different beds (that sounds weird), I’ve packed my bike 8 times, unpacked it 7, logged 16 dives, had 3 really long nights, cycled 2300km, ran 400km and swam over 100km (and that’s pretty bad compared with my friends from Noosa). I lost my fear of flying (just proven on some heavy turbulence) and the brakes on my bike work a lot less than they did when I’ve arrived. And I’ve now been to 5 of the 5 continents.

I found out that the person I love most in the world is my brother. I’m a triathlete and a diver. I’m 80% German, 20% Spanish, I love veggies, coffee, mango smoothies and got addicted to sweet potatoes. And I love Australia.

Now I’m on my way back to Europe, can’t name it “home” right now, that’s the new journey that starts once my feet touch the ground in… I don’t even know where it starts. In London? In Malaga? When I start the long drive to Germany? Who knows, somewhere in between.

I’ve lived quite a bit in the McKenzies house, but just a few days ago I read text, posted on their fridge:

When we travel we cast off the labels that normally define us. We can re-evaluate the habits, beliefs and values that are handed down by culture. There is a moment in a good journey when you realize who you are – independently of roles, money, conveniences and comforts. That is the moment when you value yourself as “just” a human being, it is the realization that if you want to flourish, you had better start with a deep valuation of humanity. Travel is consciousness-raising. (Lindsay Oishi 2005)

I think there’s nothing more to add. But no worries, I’ll keep writing!