A night in jail
I’m going to Christchurch to stay in jail. Yes, voluntarily. In the suburb Addington, about a 20 minute walk to the city center, they’ve transformed a jail into a flash backpackers. Jailhouse accommodation offers privates and dorm beds. Most of the building still looks like it used to, but with…
88 days diaries: There’s no escaping Gumeracha
I survived my last day. In the morning I had the shed to myself. There was nobody. It was quiet. At 8AM I already had two customers, brothers. They wanted 8 boxes of second grade. I just didn’t have 8 boxes. The boys were not in a rush, so as…
Weekly travel theme: round
In Australia’s outback there are a lot of curious places. One of them is a town that fully believes the aliens have landed. In the coffee shop you can find articles that tell you all about it. I wonder what would happen if you addressed your mal to space… This…
City of recovery
Christchurch is a city that’s recovering from the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. We are a few years further now, but the damage is still visible throughout the city. It is strange to see empty plots where once there’d been buildings. Some buildings still stand, but have obvious damage. You…
Crossing hills
“Walking? Are you sure?” the girl at reception said in a French accent. “It’s really steep!” She stared at me with a frown on her face. Of course I went anyway. There is a gondola that takes you up the hill for $25. If you want some exercise however, you…
Roving around Rovaniemi
The Arktikum museum in Rovaniemi, Finland, deserves more time than I could give it. Being on a time limit I felt like I had to rush through the exhibits. The different sections of the museum showed a lot about living in the arctic. There was a replica of an old Sami…
Great Ocean Road by campervan
The Great Ocean Road is best done when the sun is shining and the temperatures allow for a swim in the ocean. However, since summertime is limited, I ventured onto this scenic road in autumn. The wind was strong and cold and I was dressed in jeans and lots of…
Looking back at my time in Oz
On the 14th of February 2012 I set my first steps in Asia on a stopover in Taiwan. The excitement to start my big adventure was subdued by a nasty break up, but I tried to enjoy everything as much as I could. About a week later I landed in…
88 days diaries: When the end is near
The end of my 88 days was quickly approaching. I didn’t want to stay much longer, but how do you talk about this with a stubborn, unpredictable farmer? When the others said they wanted to leave in a week, they were sent away straight away. I wanted to do the…