| More People I've met along my journey! |
| Chris from Berlin, in Rethymno, Crete, Greece. We met at the hostel, she was at the end of her 2 week vacation and back to real life. We enjoyed the Venetian port and loads of Greek food, as we spent 3 days together talking, suntanning on Crete's south shore, driving through the central part of the island, and visiting the Palace of Knossos, a Mionan society that was discovered in the early 1960's. It was from Chris that I learned that "sometimes we travel in order to talk" and she got to hear me play a stolen bugle from a German soldier at a Greek Music Taverna where we had dinner and the drunk owner who spoke German let me play. We also got great Cretan Mountain tea there from the owners since we returned a second night to their restaurant just for the tea and they gave it to us! Karen from New Zealand, met on Santorini. She was at the red sand beach the same time my friend Erika and I were, one of the only tourists left on the island in late November, and we found out that we were going to be in Bali at the same time! So we exchanged emails and we spent 5 days in Bali together! She was at the very end of 20 months on the road - 8 months working in England, 8 months in Amsterdam and 4 months on the road, and is headed 'home' to somewhere in New Zealand. I'll probably look her up there when I arrive. We spent time in Legian and Kuta Beach on Bali and shared a hotel room, where I learne dmore Kiwi speak than I ever have! We also were able to split the costs of round-the-island tours (not that they were expensive, but no one would take a single person around the island for less than almost double the price). We enjoyed the monkey forest, north coast, Ubud art village where I decided to stay 4 more days after she left, hot springs, mountain temples, water temples, temples of the dead, temples of the gods, Lovina, many Indonesian meals together, and of course, pool and sun and warm beach and shopping. Robert, Juan, Gloria, Richard, Gunnar, Hannes, Sophie, Anki, Howard, Ruth, Valerie and Serge, the group that survived Kakadu in Darwin, Australia in the wet season with me! Ok, we have Munich, Columbia, Brisbane, Freibourg, Stockholm, England, and Holland on this trip. There's so much to say about each person it's hard to put it all down here. I appreciated the way that Howard, 66, from England, walked and talked with me on the way back from Motorcar Falls in the extreme heat. I was one of the last people in the group (other than Gunnar, who we blew the whistle on since he lagged so far behind that we didn't know where he was!) Unforntunately he has no email and doesn't use computers so he probably won't even know that he's up on the web. He shared photos of his hand-carved caravan in England with us. We were lucky to have such a good group and HOT guide! Sophie's got a really cool new company - if you want to go to Sweden, please check out: www.csweden.net Craig from New Zealand, Craig from Mt Isa, Tristan from England, Michael from Newcastle, Eddie from Germany and Shannen from Canada - my Maggie buddies! I spent a very warm XMAS with this group, as well as Doobie and the evil cook. How fun dancing at Maggies! And lounging by the pool and playing vball and talking about travels and 50 STATES IN THE USA... I didn't want to leave! Manly Cottage Inn housed many new friends, and since I was there for 2 weeks I hung out with many great people. The special ones were Micklas and David from Sweden, two friends that met in the military and were travelling and working around Australia. We went to the Bacardi Latin Dancing festival downdown Sydney at Darling Harbour together, as well as many runs to the Steyne, the pub on the beach at the steyne Hotel. Brilliant pool masters! I was glad to meet a fellow Nick Drake fan, and we shared mp3s. Valentina and Toby, two Swiss friends travelling together before Val goes to Perth to study English (although she was already studying it with me, quizzing "put on, put off? take on, take off?), were much fun. their first night we hit the Steyne and met her friend Ariane who had worked there and knew EVERYONE. We went to Sydney together and explored the Paddington Street Bazzar Market and had a great time at Jazz at the Domain, an outdoor concert that was part of the sydney Fest. Eline from Holland was getting ready to go home early, and anxious to start working again after her 4 months in Australia. We hung out together at the beach and almost every day in the tv room and kitchen, sharing salad recipes and laughing at the various drunk people that came back late in the evening. BBQs out front and Mission Impossible 2 (filmed in Sydney!) and the various lame and good music on tv were all commented on regularly. Bastian, also from Holland, and Zia & Reana from England, came to the cottage with only a few days left in my trip, but we hung out at the room and the Steyne and had graet talks about travels and politics and working and laughed at the 18-year old who was living in his car, had run out of money, and didn't have a driver's licence and slept periodically in our room (for free!) I bought some speakers off of him so I could share my mp3 music with others and so I could listen to it on the ship. Dawn from England, Mary, travel agent from NYC, and Angela who was completing her New Zealand trip and was nursing a hurt foot after doing some amazing tramps and treks all made my time complete at the Bon Accord Hostel in Akaroa. Listening to "jazz" in the rain and watching people watch the water flow under our living room, we frequented the space heater and enjoyed a great walk up in the hills over a nearby farm, talking about girl and travel stuff. Angela and I enjoyed a drive out to the end of the Banks Penninsula to see what was there and explore the really small Maiori church at the end of the road. |