The most exciting part of our holiday, however, was yet to come: my Dad, brother and two cousins from Italy joined us for 10 days.
On Friday 7 April, 2017 my Dad and Stefan arrived whereas Matteo and Simone landed on Sunday 9 April, 2017. Since I have been fighting cancer this was the first long distance holiday together with the entire family and it taking place in South Africa, our loving country, just made it all the more special. For my two cousins it was their first ever time in Africa, and we were extremely excited to share with them our experiences, stories and simply show them why we fell in love with this country. We booked a beautiful big pool villa during their stay at Eden Rock Estate, a luxury estate located in Pennington and hence close to our friends. Obviously we made sure that there was a bit of program organized for my cousins so as for them to experience some African adventure, cuisine and culture.
And again I broke my promise that I wouldn’t keep you waiting too long for updates, but believe me this time I have a very good reason to stay away from my laptop. Once I felt comfortable with my new Lenvatinib therapy I was able to enjoy my days without any side effects but I started having another issue: my wanderlust was not satisfied and I immediately had to change this. Why waste time on cold winter days in Germany staying indoors and afraid to get sick when instead I could be sitting somewhere soaking up the sun and feeling good, strong and positive? Even my doctor had already come to the conclusion that “TRAVEL is my therapy”, because every time I travel and follow my passion I get an extra kick of energy.
We headed on a day trip to the Great Ocean Road one of the world’s most scenic drives and listed as Australian National Heritage. The road stretches 243 km along the south-eastern coast of Australia between Torquay and Allansford offering curving roads with striking views. The Great Ocean Road is mainly famous for the “Twelve Apostles”, a collection of giant eroded limestone sticks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. In the same National Park you will also find “London Arch”, a natural arch also formed by erosion. Other key attractions include the Bay of Islands, an impressive large collection of mammoth rock outcrops, as well as the “Gibson’s Steps named for the series of steps leading down to Gibson’s Beach. Unfortunately we were not very lucky with the weather that day, and hence we were not able to see the last two sites, but we still had a beautiful scenic drive and great views over the Twelve Apostles.
The city of Perth lies on the Swan River, just 10 km from where it flows into the Indian Ocean. On our first day we simply walked around the city center to get overview of the city, as it is relatively small and a quiet city compared with those on the east coast. We went to Elizabeth Quay that is home to the Swan Bells Tower, and from where we walked towards King’s Park, which is a 400 ha of both wild and cultivated parkland. It offers nice views over the city and Swan River.
We flew up from Melbourne to Darwin, the capital of the region “Northern Territory”, also called the Top End. It is a very tropical region and hence the best time to visit is in winter during the dry season. Darwin is a quite modern but relaxed town. On our first day we simply chilled at Bicentennial Park with a view over the bay before we started our tour. We had booked a 9 day journey with Adventure Tours joining many other backpackers with the trip ending in Alice Springs.
During Easter we had two weeks of vacation and obviously there was no way I would be sitting in Melbourne doing nothing. I wanted to see Australia and what this continent has to offer. Hence, another German student (Anja) and I decided to go on a road trip from Melbourne to Sydney for the entire two weeks.
After spending 6 months in Mexico for my internship, I had the opportunity to do a semester abroad at Victoria University in Melbourne and this was my next destination for another 6 months – Australia. Besides studying and attending university lectures we had great time together with Ozzies as well as other students from my university in Germany.