New update: Better late than never

Oops, this blogpost is about half a year since the last one, so I guess it's time for an update from down under. I am in this beautiful country they call Australia for over one year now, and I must be honest, other than the East Coast I haven't seen anything else in Australia, which is why I applied for my second working holiday visa here. Yes, you heard that right, this girl completed her 88 days of the so-called specified work to apply for a second working holiday visa. Normally you can only have one of these in your life, unless you do this regional work. And a few months ago, they even introduced a third year working holiday visa, but in order to get that you need 6 months of farm work and I don't know I'll be able to get that.

I've decided to not go in too much detail about all of the farmwork that I did for the past couple of months, because it really isn't that exciting and it's a lot of the same, picking/packing different fruits. Some of it

sucked -really hard- and some of it was really not that bad. In between the different jobs and in the weekends I did plenty of other stuff, visited lots of waterfalls in the area and tried to see as much of Cairns area as possible. But the wet season sometimes prevented us from going places.

About a month and a half ago, my application for the second year got approved after a long wait of 5 weeks. 88 days equals around 3 months, but it took me nearly 6 months to complete this. Luckily I started well in time, but still it was quite tricky if I was going to finish in time. I thought I was going to finish all of my days at the mango farm where I was working in December until January, but since that season didn't last as long as usual, I was still 2 weeks short of my 88 days. In the beginning I wasn't too worried, because there was a good chance I could work at an avocado farm that usually starts in February, but that farm started late this year and that's when I started to feel the nerves and worried more that I wouldn't get my days done in time. So I decided to go back to a working hostel for a little bit, until that farm would start and get some extra days.

I was very relieved to learn that the avocado farm started 2 weeks after I went to the hostel, because I didn't really like it there at all. The farm was alright and the people on the farm too. But in the hostel I just felt a bit out of place, maybe because I knew it was only for a short period or maybe because I wasn't used to staying in a hostel anymore. Anyway, it was too expensive for what you get and I was just glad that I could leave the place. It was good that I did it though, because it got me an extra 12 days for my visa, which made the pressure a lot less to finish all the 88 days.

Now, almost 2 months after my visa got approved, I finished the avocado season. Brandon and I both worked on the avocado farm, and he still had another few weeks of pruning ahead of him, so I tried getting a job until he would finish this. Luckily I found another job within a week of finishing at the avocado's where I could work until Brandon would finish. Little did I know, that I would only last 1 week at this place.

It was a small restaurant in a small town near the avocado farm, with one chef and myself as the only waitress. I went on the interview and everything seemed all right and cool and my first day would be short after. There were a few bookings and I was a little nervous, because it had been a while since I last worked in a restaurant and I never was the only waitress in a restaurant. So I tried to figure out all the things I needed to do and which of them had priority. The place had been closed for about 7 months, but the first 2 nights were good, the owner was happy, I was glad I had a job and everything went fine. After the first few days however, things started to turn a bit sideways. The owner went from: "oh my god you're amazing, I'm so glad you're here" to a little blunt in his responses, like "Have you even read the menu" and "I've been in this business for almost 20 years, and you always do it this way". I understand that he has more experience and wants to run his restaurant a certain way, but the way he turned 180 degrees surprised me and the things he asked me to do; I felt like they didn't really fit my personality to be honest but, he's the boss so I tried to use the feedback that he gave me. However, at the end of the week it turned out someone else with more experience also applied for the job he initially hired me for, and I got told that he didn't need me to come back anymore.

Clearly I was a bit surprised. Even though he gave me some feedback, to be fired came unexpected to me, since I didn't feel that I got much of a chance or opportunities to take his feedback to heart and use it while working, but oh well! I wasn't too bummed about it

since his 180 degree mood change didn't really appealed to me, but I was disappointed that I didn't have any income now and had to wait for about 4 weeks until Brandon finishes pruning. Also in our last talk before I left, he said some stuff that made me feel like I had really failed, even though I know now that's not the case. Maybe some of the people reading this will think that I'm blaming someone else for being fired, but my conclusion is that the owner was ready to re-open again, I was the best option at the time, but someone 'better' came along and he replaced me just like that. *snips fingers*

Anyway, so now I'm unemployed again but I'm not too bothered, because I got to go on another dive trip and went back to the great barrier reef about 8 months after getting my Divemaster certificate and 6 months without diving, so that was exciting too. Hopefully I get to go on another few trips, because Minke Whale season just started in June and lasts til July and I would loooooove to see a freaking whale (!!), even if it's only 4 or 5 meters. A whale is a whale, right.

Some other exciting things are coming up too. Brandon and I are planning a road trip along the West Coast of Australia! When I first planned to go to Australia I wasn't really too interested in the West Coast, but after meeting people in Thailand and throughout the East Coast, so many people recommended going over to the other side, that I started to think about it more and more. I'm super happy that Brandon is coming with me, because it wouldn't be the same without him. So we're doing that after he finishes pruning, which will be in 4-5 weeks time and we're planning to start in Perth, see a bit of South West Australia and then drive all the way up to Darwin, all in about 6 weeks time. I've been looking forward to go travel again ever since I had to start my farmwork and now that I'm finally well out of my financial crisis and saved enough money to go on an adventure again, I'm super excited for this trip!

Not long after the West Coast trip, my mom is coming to visit me in October. We will meet each other in Melbourne after about 1.5 years since I left the Netherlands, and if you know my mom you'll know that this is destined to be an emotional reunion. (I mean, how can it not) We will do the Great Ocean Road together and see a little bit more of the state Victoria, which is awesome because as I said, I haven't really seen much besides the East Coast and this gives me the opportunity to really explore the rest of what Australia has to offer. She will stay 3 weeks, which means we'll have all that time to catch up, make memories together and enjoy each others company. I don't think I ever had that much alone time with my mom, so I'm really looking forward to really spend this time together.

And it gets even crazier, because after that -around late December- my dad and two younger brothers are entering the land down under to also be reunited with their beloved daughter/sister, which I'm so grateful for and obviously I'm looking forward to having the family around for Christmas and New Years. My dad really wanted to visit Sydney and initially wanted to travel from Sydney to Cairns in two weeks -and for the people who don't realize how big Australia is, it's about the size of Europe: BIG!- So I suggested that we start in Brisbane and drive down to Sydney in two weeks, after which my brothers unfortunately have to go back to The Netherlands because of their school obligations, and my dad and I continue to drive further down to Melbourne.

Everyone booked their tickets, so it's all happening not too long from now!! Two of my friends are also considering coming to Australia and are trying to work it out with their jobs, so hopefully everything turns out good and we get to party big time! I'm trying to plan all of these three trips at the same time, which gets a little hectic sometimes, but

it's soo worth it knowing that everyone is coming to visit me! I couldn't be happier and I'm just so thankful.

I apologize for the long wait, even though I really don't think many people read this blog lol, especially since I haven't uploaded anything for the past 6 months, but I will try and do my best to upload a bit more now that I've got all of these exciting things coming my way.

See you when I see you X