Nomadic going on settled

Byron Bay, January2019

Going to Byron felt like the next natural thing to do. As I was running out of money fast I decided to settle down there for a bit to earn and save. I arrived on a Saturday and was completely overwhelmed. Not by the town itself, which is small and hardly rises above 2 stories but by the amount of people. Tourists and locals alike were all out and about on the streets. I had not realised it was the last Saturday of the summer holidays so the town was absolutely packed. I planned on saving money and staying on a campground outside of town but on arriving I decided I needed to be in hub to get that social contact going again, which is another reason why I ditched the campsite far out of town and checked in to a hostel in town. 

Christina and I on the eastern most point of mainland Australia

The same afternoon I met Christina, a lovely girl from Spain with whom I spent the rest of the day on the beach and after we did the lighthouse walk for sunset. It was a great way to start my days in Byron. It’s always so incredible to find someone, between all the people you meet along the way, with whom you can relate to in so many ways. Christina told me how she had been looking for a job here for a week already now and hadn’t had any luck so she ended up flying to Melbourne on Tuesday. Obviously this made me worry as I was getting in desperate need of a job as accommodation was really expensive with the summer still in full swing. Despite this I still walked around hours handing in my resume to every- and anyone who could give me a job.

It’s these kind of people you meet though, who really make me love travelling. The kind of people with whom you just connect. It’s the kind of people where you share life stories with before having asked their name or just forgot it instantly lol. 

My first few hours in Byron were super overwhelming which sent me spiralling. It was another moment of crisis in my head which I let run me over for a bit. And almost made me leave again. I’m so glad I didn’t though, thanks to a Skype call home and this beautiful new friend I met I pushed through, once again.

The following day I started talking to some other guys in the hostel which ended up in us going to the silent disco on the beach, with the full moon. Needless to say it was awesome, it felt so good to feel so alive and happy in the moment again. 

After a couple of days in my first hostel I decided to move as I just didn’t feel the ‘vibe’ going on there (the vibe being: party). So I walked across the street and around the corner to the YHA and asked for a room. Of course this place was almost as expensive as the last but I walked around and had a way better feeling about the place than the last so I moved. And thank god I did. Funny how life sends you across the street like that sometimes (literally haha). 

Life had it that I was able to score a job for accommodation there which would save me sooooo much money, so naturally I immediately took it with both hands. Around the same time I had started working at Cypress tree, a small Mediterranean restaurant in town which serves magnificent seafood. It was quite a fun job and the hours were perfectly combinable with my work at the hostel. Unfortunately this wasn’t the place for me to work after all, after a good week the owner told me they weren’t in need of my help anymore. So I received my pay and was thanked politely for my help. 

But as if they were waiting for this to happen the very same day I got a message from a restaurant where I had walked in with my resume, if i was still looking for a job and if so, if i would like to come in for a trail in a couple of days. 

And so I started working at Fishheads, a nice little restaurant right on the beach. Better pay, more hours and still manageable with my other job made me a happy kiddo.

from housekeeping

to the front of house

The whole “work for accomodation”thing was the best opportunity I could’ve gotten as this enabled me to live super social while saving big time on acc. costs. Most hostels work with volunteers who work about 15hours a week for acc. The work depends obviously on the time of year and what the hostels needs having done but I got a position with housekeeping. And even though I don’t think you’ll ever find me doing that full time I was easy work in shifts of 4 or 5 hours 3 mornings a week.

During my very first day at the hostel I did the free lighthouse walk, which was one of the activities done by the hostel.

side note; I always try to do the activities organised by hostels I go to, they’re usually either free or very cheap and it’s an excellent (and easy) way to meet people. 

So on the walk I met Yanina, a not your typical backpacker girl from Germany who was on a vacation in Australia from her life on the (cruise)ships. Anyway, we started talking about the horse tattoo on my back. 

Yanina and I after yet another fun night out

again side note: I have found that tattoo’s are also always such an easy way to start up a conversation with perfect strangers. 

We ended up spending most her time in Byron together, going out for drinks and diner and to the beach. I was great and I was able to see her again a couple of weeks later due to a change in her itinerary and I hope to be able to see her again somewhere around the world wherever we may get to!

Loreto and I at the tea tree lake

The other good friend I made is Loreto, from Chile. We met as we were in the same dorm at the time and stayed in contact throughout my entire time in Byron which was so great. We both had jobs and she moved places but we still managed to get together for waterfall adventures, strange meditation sessions and just beach chills. 

Even with the rocky first few hours in Byron I am so great full for the opportunities I got (and took) in my new home away from home, the beautiful Byron Bay.

So as life in Byron settled and I was working almost 45hours a week some weeks I learnt some new things in life.

Stay tuned for more Byron livin’ !

xoxo Liz

the second of many 700k

The Alpine national park is home to Victoria's highest peak, Mount Bogong which stands at just under 2000m. In winter prime back country skiing territory, during the summer the hills provide excellent walking trails and views alike.

And views is what I got. The beginning of the Great Dividing range is an absolutely stunning region most known for the wines coming from the Yarra Valley, but coming from the north it's just a beautiful driving through Mount Buffalo national park.

Day one: Ky to Smoko, December 15th

Leaving my familiar home of Kyabram behind after a great last night BBQ with friends I headed toward the coast. As I had 3 whole days to get to Mallacoota, my spirits were high as I turned up the music and drove through that flat dry bushland toward the hills!

Dinner done right

An easy 3 hours later I found myself on the Smoko (free) campground a couple of k's outside the charming town of Bright which is the base for exploring both Mount Buffalo and the Alpine National parks. Which was exactly what I was in for the following day, so I set up camp next to the river surrounded by gorgeous nature.

Disclaimer: be fire wise guys!
as we were so close to the river, there was no wind
and it had rained quite a bit the previous
weeks we deemed it safe to start a small fire 

Ovens river made for a perfect (chilly) wash in the morning

looking up at the hills I was to overcome the following day

Up, up and over the hills

 But first, time for some brekkie

I found the Lavender Hue farm thanks to a friendly recommendation from the tourist information centre in Bright. I find this is almost always the best way to find local gems, certainly in more rural areas. Local knowledge is such a great bonus and helps you keep away from tourists where possible! And this was nothing less.

A beautiful little farm just north of the little township of Harrietville along the Great Alpine road. Obviously I had scones and a flat white for brekkie (when in doubt; eat scones :p ). What a great way to start the day, I wandered around the farm a bit, wrote in my book and simply enjoyed having brekkie in such a beautiful place before I headed off further along the ever winding Great Alpine road.

 And so I went, up up and up to the top. Stopping every now and then where possible to have a break from the narrow, steep and winding roads leading up to Hothem Heights.

This Alpine ski resort town was a bit eary with the bad weather coming through and the little movement as it was off-season. 

It was breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless at the top even though  I had to put on long jeans and a jumper and a rain jacket to stay warm.

Renes Lookout

Mount Hothem ski resort

Baldhead Phipps Forest

 

The way down was mercifully less windy and gave me a bit more room to enjoy the views around me in stead of having 300% concentration on the road in which case I had to find a place to actually get out and find a spot to enjoy the surroundings.

Anyway the way down was long but easier and with better weather and I found this beautiful lookout for lunch about halfway down.

Connors Hill

An hour later I found myself this lookout for another leg stretch and to take in all of the mountains once again before heading off toward the ocean.

 

 It was a good 5 hours from the summit of Mount Hotham to having my toes in the southern ocean once again.

It was pissing down rain when I arrived (which obviously didn't stop me from getting my feet in the ocean after 4 long years). Thankfully by the time I had found a place to sleep, went to the shops and had dinner the rain had stopped and I headed to the beach to be treated to this absolutely gorgeous sunset.

 

Last leg: Mallacoota

Thanks to my hosts I found two wonderfull little spots on my way to Mallacoota. Both the rainforest walk and the falls are little known and beautiful spots to to as quick detours from the road to my new home for a while.

Next up my first Aussie Chrissy and a jam-packed two weeks with a wonderfull family !

xoxo Liz

Captivating Costa Rica

Costa Rica 2018

In my last year of uni I had to do a 3 month internship. Naturally I wanted to do this outside of Belgium, knowing I would want to use my degree internationally after graduation. 

It took a lot of hard work and dedication to get the required grades to be able to go on an international internship.When I got the green light I chose Costa Rica for it's lush wildlife, obviously wanting to work with wildlife. I was correct in thinking this would be a great place to do so.

So I applied for an internship at a wildlife rescue centre on the Pacific Coast deep in the jungle and so Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) became my home away from home for almost 3 months.

As I also wanted to see as much of Costa Rica as possible but couldn't during my actual internship (working 6 days a week), I gave myself a week before and after of vacation to see a bit of the country.

Feb 4th, San José & Caribbean Coast 

And so I left cold, wintry Belgium behind for the beautiful dry season in Costa Rica at the beginning of February. 

After a miss understating at the airport (apparently you need an ESTA-visa even if you're not officially entering the US and just staying in the airport for 3 hours) I arrived in the city of San José. 

I had heard and read that the city isn't much special. That most people only spend a day or two at most. So I didn't have my hopes high for the city. But I was pleasantly surprised!

As per usual I did the free walking tour on my first morning, which was really good as usual. Even though San José doesn't really differ to any other big, capital city, I still enjoyed spending the day walking through the numerous parks, learning about the history of the city and country by extent.

Costa Rican National museum

San José is nestled in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, tucked in between 3 volcanoes the temperatures are fairly constant throughout the year with a mean of 22°C.

As Costa Rica is tropical is does come with wet and dry seasons, which obviously makes it a less desirable destination some months of the year.

Fun fact!: San José receives almost 2m of rain every year!

After a fun day, meeting new people, learning new things and getting a hair cut in Spanish I headed back to my hostel to figure out a rough plan for the following week. I wanted to hike one of the nearest volcanoes, but discovered too late that there's only one bus going out there daily and it departed about half an hour before I woke up. So that plan was off the table. Instead, I decided I wanted to see the Caribbean coast as I would be working on the Pacific coast so I would be able to explore that side on my days off. 

Eventually it took me an entire day to get to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, a laid back little town with mostly dirt roads in the south eastern corner of the country. A full days worth of waiting, because the bus I wanted to take at 10 was booked full and the next one wasn't until 12 followed by a 4 hour trip that ended up in an almost 7 hour sweaty uncomfortable bus ride.

Safe to say I was happy to wake up in paradise the following morning. I was promised paradise and paradise is what I got.

I spend the next 3 days, walking along beaches and slices of tropical rainforest, looking out for monkeys and other wildlife, swimming in the tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea and drinking out of coconuts. As well as meeting new people, learning Spanish and stuffing my face with Gallo pinto (a national dish consisting of rice and beans eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner).

In my determination to see as much as possible of the Caribbean coast while I was there, I quite impulsively booked a domestic flight from Tortuguero to Quepos (northern east coast to central west coast). This would save me a full days worth of busses in the best case. Tortuguero is a world renown national park for its turtle breeding and beautiful mangroves. The likewise named town is only accessible by boat and after some research I found a good priced boat that would take me from Límon (which is an hour north of Puerto Viejo by bus) all the way up to Tortuguero. 

It would've been perfect, an awesome boat ride up the coast and a full day to discover the national park then an easy flight out to my internship. 

Allas, things don't always go as you want them to. In my case they don't usually when I start planning stuff haha. hence why I don't really plan a lot of things.

Anyway, less than 24hours after booking everything (flight, boat and hostel) I got an email my flight got cancelled. Apparently the company I booked through (NatureAir), one of the two only companies who fly domestic in Costa Rica, didn't have a licence to fly anymore. This because of a recent crash that killed an American family and the pilot. So in a way I was glad I didn't have to take that flight and possibly crash but still, it left me kind of stumped with my "brilliant plan".

Either way I wanted to see and go to Tortuguero, so I took the boat up. It was an awesome trip. Public transport and tourist trip all in one!

The trip took about 4 hours and the captain stopped to show us all the wildlife along the way.

Hence we saw crocodiles, sloths, monkeys, raccoons and a lot of different birds and other aquatic animals.

Once arrived in Tortuguero, checked into the hostel and walked around the little town, I found a comfortable hammock to figure out what to do and how to get to the other side of the country. 

After a lot of research, a chocolaty snack, a phone call home, many conversations with the hostel mom and a mental breakdown, I found a way around my problems. 

First of all I managed to start the process of claiming back my money through the company. And secondly I found a way to cross the country all be it that I had to sacrifice my full day in Tortuguero. 

So the next day after a mere afternoon in the beautiful Tortuguero I woke up at 4:30 to get the very first boat out of the island at 4:45 am. A taxi, bus, a walk across San José, another bus and taxi later I arrived at the KSTR headquarters, a good 10k into the jungle from the nearest town, Quepos. 

And all of a sudden I was home for the next 10 weeks.

Feb 10th, Kids Saving the Rainforest & Pacific coast

The weeks to follow I worked as a vet tech in the wildlife rescue centre clinic, alongside the two vets, rehab intern and another vet tech volunteer. With one day off a week to explore the region most adventures took place far in the jungle in the rescue centre. 

morning foodpreps

  Every morning and every afternoon first things up was doing the food prep for all the animals in our care at the clinic and in rehab. Fresh fruit and veggies were cut up to fit every animals needs and wishes.

The rest of the mornings usually consisted of treatments. These treatments could be anything from the basic administering painkillers, antibiotics or extra vitamins, changing bandages, cleaning wounds to surgeries such as removing an eye or amputating a leg. 

After everyone had their food and medication/treatments done we took to cleaning and enriching the enclosures, always making sure we and the clinic was ready for emergencies/rescues that came in at all hours of the day. 

Following are some snaps of daily life at work

holding Colin, the Squirrel monkey, still for his acupuncture treatment 

Lavalamp in bootcamp during my nightly behavioural observations 

Scarlitto the Kinkajou munching away
on a piece of banana as Kinkajous do 
(upside-down)

Moncho dunking his head in his daily vitamin treatment

Some days weren't much special, just the usual food prep, treatments and cleaning. Other days we would have birds dropping from the skies it seemed. Big, ugly and bold ones like Gonzo to little, pretty and feathery ones like Tiny. All rescues are rehabilitated and released where possible. 

Little Moncho had been held captive as a pet for his entire little life, he got so imprinted on people it was decided that it would not be safe for him to be released into the wild, simply because he would not now what to do in the wild. Lavalamp, however, was one of the many rescues we were able to fully heal, rehabilitate and release after getting electrocuted. 

Patty and Grubby chilling during their
playtime in bootcamp

Gonzo, the baby Toucan during one of his
many feedings

Shrek the Tamarin looking angry at me because I usual was the one to catch him to treat his amputation wound

Tiny, the little parakeet with a broken leg

Holding an orphaned coati for his medical-check

team clinic & rehab for the win ✊💙

On my days off however, I took to exploring the beautiful Pacific coast.  Drinking coffee and having big brekkies with ocean/jungle views, surfing and sea kayaking with friends from work, exploring the famous Manuel Antonio National park or taking the bus to hike to beautiful waterfalls down the coast.

treat yo self brekkies with views to die for

Nauyaca waterfalls, best way to refresh after a 5k hike

wanderlustig in Manuel Antonio nat. park

I met so much incredibly great people, staff of the clinic and sanctuary and volunteers alike. I learnt so much from the vets and all the animal-passionate people I met at KSTR. And I will be forever great full for the opportunities I got working in the wildlife rescue clinic.

April 21st, Playa Santa Teresa 

For my last week in paradise I decided to not travel around but to treat myself to a weeks worth of surfing, pristine beaches and yoga. I did this because I still had a lot of work for my dissertation for uni. So I made the deal with myself that I would spend a couple of hours a day analysing and writing for that so that I could chill for the rest of the day. 

My bachelors dissertation got titled: The human influence on injured wildlife in Costa Rica: a 5 year study. In short I analysed all the animals that passed through the rescue centre, looking at why they came in and what happened to them. It was extremely interesting but extremely time consuming to gather, analyse and process all the data. But well worth it in the end. 

So my last week consisted quite literally of writing, surfing at various locations, exploring the region, yoga and eating. which looked a bit like this .....

A wild Coati foraging in the Cabo Blanco nat.park

Playa Cabo Blanca, well deserved beach
after a good 2 hour hike

Playa Santa Teresa surf

Playa Hermosa surf sesh, with some hostel friends

Playa Santa Teresa

From this beach I took two busses, a ferry another bus, spent a night at the San José airport and two flights back to Belgium, back home. 

my last Costa Rican sunset on the ferry
across the Gulf of Nicoya

And thus I skipped most of the winter, arriving back home in spring to find a new place to live, get a job and work hard to finalise my dissertation and pass my last couple of exams.

xoxo Liz