Last days in Oz

Another fact I think I failed to mention before was that I'd actually left my home, 3 Coquette street, before the trip to Central Australia. Here's a small update of the day in Geelong before that trip! M&M had had a few days to spare, and decided to take a ride on the Great Ocean road. Meanwhile, I was back in Geelong getting ready to leave, and slowly started to put all my stuff from over the year into bags.

M&M had hit a bug or two (million) with their rental car when hey returned it to Geelong. This, together with our adventure in the outback definitely proves that Australia sure is a buggy land. It's quite interesting to note how the bugs actually have created patterns on the front bumper that remind me of those magnetic field patterns you see in physics books. Did you know, by the way, that there are more ants in the world than humans, in kilos? That's a pretty insane fact as well.

My goodbyes to Geelong took place here and now, even though I wasn't yet entirely leaving the town. I would return for the few days before my flight to Berlin. However, this was the last time I walked home on Villamanta st. and crossed Pako st., and while I was at it I said cheers to my four legged friends I'd made on the way. I don't entirely know how to describe the feeling I had while walking back: It's like leaving home without it being home. I had gotten attached to Geelong, but then again I'd always known all of this was just temporary. And deep within I was happy to have it that way.

It's strange how you notice all the small details of a place you didn't see before when you're expecting not to see it anymore. You're more aware, taking in everything with your senses to make a memory out of it. That's one of the big things I'm taking home with me from here: To be more aware, to live more in the moment. Combined with the fact that we never tend to travel around in our own homes and surroundings (a lot of the locals here have travelled a lot less in Australia in their whole life than I'd done over a year, and I reckon the same goes the other way in Finland), I now know what I'm going to do next year in Finland. I'm going to stay there and explore home with opened eyes. 

Mari and Markus stayed at the house a few nights before, and before heading for the airport Kate came and took most of our stuff to her place. There was a lot of it. We then celebrated the last night on Coquette st. with some kangaroo steak and feta salad, and I said goodbye to Patty and Trish from the house. The next morning we got up real early and headed for the airport for Alice springs. 

- Now, if you want to fill up the gap between here and the next few images, read the previous blog posts about everything we did in the Red Centre. We had an absolute blast there! -

The day we returned from Alice Springs I had dinner or went out later with pretty much every friend of mine left in Australia. First we had chicken parmis at the Bended Elbow, which, if you've been reading my blog, also was the first bar I ever went to in Australia and Geelong. Then, I said bye to Markus and Mari who continued their journey to New Zealand, and most of the rest continued on to The Nash, where we teamed up for a quiz night. It was a good last evening together, thank you all for coming!

I was staying at Kate's house the last two nights, and the place was pretty much crammed with my stuff. In the morning of the last day Kristian and Cory joined in and we went swimming to the local swimming hall, and ha, I even got to go to a sauna for the first time in Oz! Talk about getting used to home again, right? After the sauna we went by the store and got stuff to make a huge brunch which we enjoyed in the front of Kate's house. The sun was out and I enjoyed every last piece of the warm Australian summer I could! 

Having packed my stuff ready for the flight next morning during the day we went over to Cory's place in the evening to watch a movie and I enjoyed a Cold Rock ice cream on the way there. The next morning I got another show of hospitality as Kate insisted to drive me all the way to the airport, and off we went. Not much later  I was sitting in the terminal by myself and having the last taste of an Aussie Grand Angus burger at McDonald's I was going to have for a good while. I was going home after spending almost ten months on the other side of the world.

Thanks to all of you who made my last days in Oz some of my best!