Back Home!!

Yep, I got back to the Netherlands (for more than two hours lol) safe and sound yesterday. My apartment seems to have survived in my absence. I decided to have an easy (but unhealthy) dinner last night and ordered pizza. Today, it was straight back to reality and back to work. It will be only a two day work week though (and I have a nice weekend ahead of me), so I will manage. After I got back from work, I went to the supermarket to buy some much-needed healthy food. I was so spoiled with lovely fruit for the past month, that I was very disappointed to find out that there was barely any (nice-looking) fruit in the supermarket.

I am also trying to catch up with all the news (missed out on a lot when I was on the other side of the world ;)). Sportswise I haven’t missed much with my favorite teams. PSV (soccer) seems to be just as instable as in the previous years. Boston Red Sox (baseball) failed to reach the postseason for the second year in a row. Kansas City Chiefs (American football) had an awful start to their season, although they have been looking a little better lately. Saddest bit though was the untimely death of Marco Simoncelli in the Moto GP race in Malaysia last weekend. Simoncelli, just 24 years of age, was reckless at times, but still recognized as one of the greatest talents in motorcycling. In last Sunday’s race, Simoncelli lost control of his bike and slid directly into the paths of his chasers Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi (Simoncelli’s mentor and best friend). Edwards and Rossi had no chance of avoiding Simoncelli and crashed into him. Apparently, the young Italian died on the spot (Edwards fell and injured his collarbone, but Rossi somehow managed to stay on his bike). Sadly, Simoncelli’s death was the second fatality in one week in the world of motorsport. Last week Dan Wheldon died during a IndyCar race in Las Vegas. So sad.

It is about time to make this blog a little more cheerful. So a little more about the last week of my Big Three-O Trip. I had a wonderful time in Spain. When I arrived in the Communidad Valenciana (Province of Valencia), quite a few members of my family were staying there as well. It was great to see everybody again, we celebrated my return to Europe with a big bbq (ok, it was not really to celebrate my "homecoming", I just like to think it was ;)).

I recovered from my jetlag quickly, so I could enjoy the last bit of my holiday to the fullest. Spain provided me with a fair bit of rain, but –luckily– also with plenty of sunny spells (this past Tuesday was particularly nice). I was able to go swimming in the Mediterranean three times. I went running every day, along the boulevards of Calpe and the Albir. And I had some wonderful food (one of the reasons for me to go running that often, just kidding, I just happen to love my running routes in Calpe and the Albir).

During my week in Spain, I also had some time to reminisce about my time in Australia (still busy reminiscing :)). It turns out that I took 852 pictures (going to be hard to select the best pictures for my photo album). People have asked me what was the absolute highlight of the trip. It is difficult to pick just one highlight, since my time in Oz was full of highlights.

So I will try to pick a highlight (or two or three or more ;)) for every stop along the way:

- Perth: I would go for Rottnest Island and its quokka’s. A bike ride along Rottnest Island would be one of my main recommendations for this specific part of Australia. Rottnest Island is beautiful and the quokka’s are just plain adorable.

- Red Center: although I really liked Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), I was especially amazed by the beauty of King’s Canyon.

- Sydney, Parts One and Two: Ok, have to admit that one of the big highlights of my trip was seeing Philip Quast live three times. What a treat, love to see this guy perform (note: the entire Poppins cast deserves two thumbs up, they were all excellent, what a great musical it was).

Big bonus: the pictures I now got with Philip Quast :P (and the signed program was pretty nice too). Made a charming fool out of myself in the process (I mean, seriously, who says something like: “I am that crazy kid from the Netherlands that was also here last Friday”??? :P). Ah well, that was just me acting a little, well, strange. I am usually very normal lol!!

Have to say that I liked a lot about Sydney (and its surrounding area). The guided walking tour I did on one of my first day in Sydney was a great way to get a “feel” for this big city. Since then, I have developed a particular soft spot for the Sydney Harbour (loved running there!!) and its icons the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (which I climbed, what experience that was!!). And oh, if you want to escape Sydney for a little bit, I could really recommend both the Manly-Spit walk and the Bondi-Coogee walk.

-Tasmania: hands-down Cradle Mountain. I was so lucky to visit Cradle Mountain on a clear day (one of the only 35 clear days of the year). I loved the climb up to Marion’s Lookout. The views from up there were amazing.

- Great Ocean Road/Grampians: helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles (Great Ocean Road) was a huge highlight. But so were the hikes to Reed’s Lookout and Hollow Mountain (Grampians).

- Melbourne: numerous highlights, just like with Sydney. Particularly liked running along the Yarra (whenever somebody would not kick me in the buttocks ;)) and the Queen Victoria Market. Attending the concert of the old maestro Placido Domingo and his muze Katherine Jenkins was also a huge privilege. The ability of Domingo, to (at the age of seventy) still capture the audience with his voice and performance, is just amazing. Bravo Maestro!!

- Lancefield: being able to visit my family for the first time in seventeen years was another big highlight. Great to see them again. Also made my first pizza and (tried to) pet my first calf during my time there.

Writing this bit makes me want to go back to Australia even more ;). Can’t though, at least not for the time being. Right now it is time for bed!!

This will be the last blog of My Big Three-O Trip :(. Am now going to switch back to my regular blog.