One last post in the land of Europa.
I have spent the last couple of days in Zierikzee (Holland) with my family. I can easily say Zierikzee is one of the most beautiful towns i have visited, it is a hidden gem.
Sooo i planned to relax, eat away and sleep in a bit, but no! I think my family thought i had become a bit fat over the last 3 months of indulgence, so they sent me on my way to explore my mothers hometown by bike, all 25kms of it. It was worth it though, was a crisp clear cold day and the sea was calm, it was beautiful. Too put back on the calories i had lost i bought some caramel cookies from a supermarket on wheels, veryyy handy those things.
Today i made my last rounds around Zierikzee, topping up my already overflown pack with Dutch goods, requested by my mother. I bought an apple pastry and watched the locals do their thing.
So now, i am sitting next to my zipped up pack ready to move onto my last final destination. My Kinder stock is looking very tempting so i will leave it at this..

Europe, i WILL be back.. and Kirsty you are taking over, see if you can do a better job than i have =P

Last post also before this barefoot aussie girl is heading homeee, after 31 different beds, 4 months of waking up to european skies and chasing summers end. now loving beer, wine red red wine and seafood. Chocolate has been the staple, french pastries the rest.

last weeks gave up pearls to portuguese shores. lisbon loving, old smiling faces peering from behind reflections in crumbling tiled buildings. buying boots to kick up storms of autumn leaves and for the wintry cold. scrounging as much delicious fruits and spices, roasted chickens and baguettes from sunday markets as we could. Sought out oldish new friends in lyon, had tumbles down stairs and tumbles elsewhere.. The heart that was cemented there months ago is still stuck firmly in place, Hopefully the little boys can snatch it back, or ill simply have to go and fetch it in a few years ( happily :)).

Croquettes and patate met mayo bought with my last few euros as soon as i reached dutch soil, ahh going to miss european food haha hopefully that means ill be missing some extra weight too! Gorgeous becky looking after me, eat pray love and james franco dreaming.. Said my last goodbyes to the lovely dutch families and nooooow taking about 24 hours to say goodbye to paris! In typical parisien style was asked "can i kiss you?", hopefully my last invented boyfriend walking out of the toilet. Haha how will my self confidence last back in oz where its utes first, footy second and girls last but only if she watches your footy matches?!

mother will probably now dislike me for not taking life seriously enough and start to think i have become like the other brother and sister who have seen europe but ah well thats life..

Now i leave it up to kiiiirst and laur, who im hoping will survive Morocco! Please keep our dreams alight with stories of adventures. It wiilll be me again soon i hope

Peace :) miek

snorkels and film in Lagos

europa la de da

Forget about 80 days around the world lets make it 80 years
Things to do once or dozens

Dive in egypt
Skydive NZ
Motorcycle South America
Sail the Mediterranean
Smoke the Carribean
Serenade Spain on my guitar
Fly a little plane through Africa
Pilgrimage through the far East
Gypsy caravan Romania
Eat Europe
& stir up the good old Aussie dust

Have got the travelling bug WOOHOO i've got it!! Was worried for a few years there that i wouldnt. That i might be stuck in little old tasmania forever, right up until the huge sense of relief stepping onto that Boeing 77something to be whisked away. 

Wanderlust ahhh, what a wonderful disease. 30yr old SA guy on the plane on his 7th trip to europe and halfway through his 3rd round the world trip. Im glad that once started it doesnt stop. 

I will dance to my own reflection and stomp on the chains. I will go to uni, only so the world will see my face again. It wont be swallowed by a house and car, two kids and a dog. Oh no no no i have wanderlust, you cant just bury that. 

We mortals

musefully subdued by afternoon sun  we watch on where the gravels still and the dogs steal the steets people exhausted, Eyelashes reflecting in the last rays, on our dirty Spanish skin eating peaches smiling at donkies kicking up the dirt, covered in bites from foreign bugs our money dwindles through our fingers like sand
The sun donating it's goldeness to the moon so we turn in awe, like game clowns mouths at the show that you aim balls at, to face the moon, who keeps our attention out the back window for a good while
Wishing I could expand myself into a magic carpet covering every square cm of Portugal not to waste a single smidgeon
As some might say it's like being slapped in the face by a big wet cold fish til your mouth drops open in shock and someone sneaks some magic potion into your mouth and it instantly rides your blood like a wave to the shore 
Long stretch of road watching the sun set lined with palms replicating like dejavu of our hitchhiking 8 hr trip south from petchuburi to chumpton feeling the vibrating magic from it's  soil even before our feet hit your ground
Portugal you mother fucking flipping trickling shining diamond of the gods fallen into an odd shape of map I'll consider getting you tattooed to my forehead you make me that excited

Grooving to architecture on the beach
Nothings been funner
Nothings been tastier
Nothings been sunnier
Boys have never been cuter naturally  consumed by a little crush wrapped in glow in the dark sheets and a mighty lovely laugh
Gypsy scattered caravans in the woods tall pines casting their shadows 
West winds under my skin the arvo sun catching the breaks, old men hog the bus stations with their chitterlings chatter well feed loyal dogs walking sticks and grandpa hats we walk to the one foodstore to grab some grease along a dirty country road skipping and dancing trucks blowing dust in our face
No one wondering the hills just us and our tents blistered feet sweaty backs one could be wealthy if a surfer and farmer honks all within one day maybe otherwise just our tired feet and the road

Laura

'surely this was a touch of fine philosophy; though no doubt he had never heard there was such a thing as that. But, perhaps, to be true philosophers, we mortals should not be conscious of so living or so striving. So soon as I hear that such or such a man gives himself out for a philosopher, I conclude that, like the dyspeptic old woman, he must have 'broken his digester' Herman Melville    

trundling through portugal

Tuesday got off to a good start, all set for our huuuge journey to little Aljezur. took a whole half an hour, possibly our shortest distance between places. excited but deceived by the brochure, it wasnt quite on the sea (give or take 10 ks of winding roads). but didnt matter, Aljezur is just like my little Forth but with white houses :) Gum trees, handymen at work, birds twittering, hills rolling and cows along with the buzz of traffic. Hostel was super funky.



5 star mattresses, sleeping bags and the brothers grimm. salmon and pineapple pizza and cadburys :D. super cheap ingredients from the little corner store for Pancakes and banana chocolate cake cooked up using inventive methods. xavier rudd, kooks, ben harper and cat empire strumming through the air chosen by the cute dreadlocked hostel receptionist.





Aljezur a deliciously peaceful little town. Old ladies inviting each other over for coffees, saying hello to the old men trundling past. cats and dogs floating around. farmers farmering.



Went for a bit of a hike, to the beach. camping gear and fruit & fit bars spurring us on. vans zooming past full of surfboards and surfers and 15ks later we puffed happily into Arrifana.







The Portuguese coastline is absoooolutely stunning! every stretch we've seen of it has had us amazed. descended the winding road down the cliff to sit on the beach of Arrifana and jealously watch the surf campers carving it up.. well at least having a bit of a boogy board on their long boards. scampered around searching for a place to camp, bit of a fail. ate all our supplies and checked into another hostel hehe.



watched the sun set over the lonely cliffs and shuttered up summer houses. watched some news :| eek you sort of forget about the rest of the world. french still striking and threatening travel plans. Indo hit by tsunamis again. Argentina's first man is dead. the world is still out there somewhere.. lets just watch the sun and dream of other places :)