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Journals:
Journal 1: Preparations
Roosendaal, 21th of Febuary 2003:
I'm sitting here 3 days before I'm off to Australia......feeling a little bit nerves, but joyfull. Saturday the 22th my going away party and Monday at the airport saying definitely goodbye for a whole year!
Yes all the preparations are made, took me a while but there all worth it.
Journal 2: Arriving in Sydney the 26th
The flight was long, 26 hours but the travel in total was 32 hours. And the first day I was really sick. I'm better now! Saw a lot of things and went to Manly and Bondi beach, also the MARDI GRAS!!!!! That was supurb Wow!
Journal 3: Goodby Sydney, hello New Zealand!
Sydney, 9th of March.
Yes this week and a half in Sydney was great, met really nice people and did a lot of things, like a real tourist: Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Darling Habour, Botanic Gardens, Australian Museum, went clubbing, etc....
But now I'm going to New Zealand, the north and south Island!
Planned to go hiking in a few national parks, go swimming with dolphins, horse backriding at the beach, glacierclimbing at Frans Josef and a lot more. Ah just enjoying life!
Journal 4: Auckland
Auckland 11th of March,
Well my flight was ok, little bit of turbulance. Staying here for a few days to arrange my futher travel in New Zealand. From the start met some people for a drink and a bite to eat! And f..k it's raining over here, so it looks just like The Netherlands.....
Journal 5: Up North!!!!
16th of March,
Yes people at lot has happend:
I went up the real top of the North Island, to Paihia and also Cape Reinga! Amazing
Snorkling and saw really beautifull blue fish! Went swimming with Dolphins and boogyboarding on sanddunes!!! We also had a bit of an accident with the coach and a personal car, but there were no severe injuries, luckily!
So now I'm off to do the rest of the North Island of NZ, and there will be more news soon!
Journal 6: North, kiwi family and South
31th of March 2003, Nelson
Hi there, Yes I've been up to a lot:
Sea kayaking at Hahei, Black water rafting at the Waitomo Caves with glowworms, White water rafting at Rotorua, Sky diving at Taupo, did the Tongariro crossing at the national Park and stayed with a kiwi family for a week at Ohakune and went horsebackriding every day! It was all amazing.
In Wellington I went to the Lord of the rings Exhibition, AWESOME!
And had the Linx ferry to the south Island and now I'm in Nelson, just before I'm heading to Abel Tasman National Park. The North Island was great and now I'm really excited to do the South part!!
So stay tuned, with love Jessica
Journal 7: The Amazing South Island
Queenstown, 21th of April 2003
Well it has been a while since I wrote something on my site, but it was such a busy and awesome time!!! In Nelson I met a really nice Canadian girl Whitney and we traveled together for a couple of weeks and had lots of fun together! In Nelson we did some hikes but most of the time we spend in the Hot tub or the swimming pool relaxing, what a backpackers life he....After that we went to the Abel Tasman National Park and boy did we had good wheater and a lot of luck. We went to Barkbay with a watertaxi and saw some seals from a meter up to the boat!!! And we did the coastal track back from Barkbay to Marahau, so beautiful!
From Abel Tasman we went to Punakaiki and the Pancakerocks and to Barrytown. In Greymouth we got out to go to Arthurs Pass, oh so good. Here I bumbed into some old travelmates and we had a good time. We also hiked/climbed up to the Avalanche Peak, but it was snowing so badly that it was too dangerous to continue out journey to the top, but we had some awesome views and you know it's all about the views with hiking!!!
Well we continued our journey with the Straybus to Frans Joseph where I did the Heli hike, all worth the money! And in Fox Glacier we went to lake Matheson to see the awesome reflexion of Mt Tasman and Mt.Cook!!!
From there to Haast where there is nothing to do, but a couple of locals came in with really cool Jetboats and a lot of beer and after an hour we arranged a free jetboat ride early in the morning, waauuw!!!So Thankx for that guys
From Haast we went to Wanaka to relax for a couple of days and what a nice town it is!!! Funny cinema the Paradiso and a good climb up Mt. Roy, with again excellent views.
Now having a blast of a time in Queenstown and everything keeps getting better and better!!!
Especially the NEVIS bungy jump, I like the adrenaline.......
Journal 8: From Queenstown and further on...
1th of may 2003, Dunedin NZ
When we left Queenstown we where heading to Te Anau and Milford Sounds, really beautiful with the tall mountains rising out of the sea and big waterfalls and wonderful wildlife again.
The day after from Te Anau to Invergargill and Jessica took the option to go to Stewart Island, the right choise, because it is absolutely stunning especialy with rare birds on Ulva Island and beautiful nature!
The day after from Invergargill to Dunedin and in between 'The Caitlins' and her wildlife up to 2 meters, Hookers Sealions and Yellow eye Pinguin wauw!
Well Dunedin is nice aswell and I'm enjoying my stay.
Saturday Christchurch and Sunday up to Lake Tekapo for a stay on a farm for 10 days.
Journal 9: Last week in NZ
7th of May 2003, Lake Tekapo
Well time flies by and so I'm in my last week here.
I really enjoyed every minute in this goreous country and don't be surprised when I come back again within a few years.....
This week I'm at a family in Lake Tekapo and it just couldn't be better. Big, beautiful house, just beside the lake and in between the mountains. Big room, with a double bed, a spa! Good food, good company and the weather is been treating me really nice (sun every day!).
Tuesday I'm heading of to Christchurch and the 15 of May I'm flying to Sydney again to start my Jilleroo course the 19th of May, jjjiiiiihhhaaaaa!
Well take care
and I'm so gonna miss New Zealand.....
Bye
Journal 10: AUSTRALIA
From Jilleroo to Strapper,
17th of June 2003, Kaniva, Victoria
Well it has been a while, but my time has been really fantastic.
When I arrived in Australia again I went to the Jackeroo and Jilleroo (Leconfield) School in Tamworth for 11 days and it was the best Ozzie experience ever!!!
Mustering cattle and sheep, sheering the sheep, trowing the calves to mark and brand them, lassoing, cracking the whip, fencing, natural horsemenship, great cowboy games and parties and so on......We had a great group of 16 wonderful people and a staff of 5. Yes I really felt a Jilleroo those 11 days and it was really hard saying goodbuy to all those wonderful persons. But a call came in for a job: training racehorses in Victoria and so a new adventure began. Annette drove us to Sydney, there we (Janet and I) took the nighttrain to Melbourne and Kylie & Dominic were the ones who picked us up there and drove us all the way to a little town called Kaniva and even further to Telopea Downs near the South Australian Border. And it is just great riding the racehorses every day, a lot of cantering and going to the races.
So I'm staying here for a while, planning the rest of my trip at ease.
And for now take care and see you later
Jes
Journal 11: Working and Birthday
24th of July 2003, Kaniva Victoria
Yep still working at Bindarra Park Racing Stables and it is still amazing and I'm learning a lot. Been to the races a couple of times now and yes....we had a few winnars and that feeling is great!
While working here, I celebrated my 24th birthday and boy was I drunk, of course a headache the next day (serves me right). I have to say, at a moment like this, I really miss my friends and family back home....But thanks all of you who send me B-cards and E-cards and presents!!! And the ones who called me, many many thanks, things like that just make me realise that I have really good and lovely friends and I do miss you guys so much, especialy now I have a regular working life ha ha. I just can't wait to travel again and be on the road, exploring more of this beautiful country.
The 30th of August I'm travelling to Adelaide and heading to Alice Springs and so on, Yoehoe!!!!
Well take care you all and Big hugs
Jess
Journal 12: Changes and moving on
22 September 2003, Quorn SA
It's been two whole months sinds I last updated my website and boy does time flies by.
Well with pain in my hart I left the raceshorses and beautiful people in Telopea Downs in the beginning of september, but not after jumping out of the startinggates as training on the track, going to the races and see our precious horses win and not after having heaps of goodbye diners and goodbye party's. My last weekend there I even went on a 2 days trailride in the Southern Grampians, just speechless I am....Gorgeous and adventurous, sleeping in a swag near the campfire and riding through swamp and seeing heaps of kangaroo's, emu's and swans also there nests. Wauw Australia is just the best place to be.
But there are also times that you have to say goodbye and this goodbye wasn't easy, because I really made special friends here.
And because of those friends, I got really lucky. Another local racehorse trainer has a sister up in Quorn, near Port Augusta and he called her and gave me the number, so after I stayed a couple of days in Adelaide, Glenelg. I cruised to Quorn and she already arranged a job for me in the local Hotel; The Trans Hotel with Trish and Michael. Wonderful people and a great place to stay and work, unfortunately just for two weeks, because I want to go to Darwin before the rainseason starts. And I was so lucky to meet the Brown family, just lovely people. Their son worked at the National Park (Flinders Ranges) so I got to go with the rangers themself in the 4WD truck, through the park and a couple of days later had a beautiful flight above the whole area, wauw! I even been invited by a teacher to come to the local primary school and talk with the kids about The Netherlands and all the differences, it was great, they just didn't stop asking questions and when I came in they all said: Hello Miss Hagenaars...It;'s good to see the kids so interrested in countries overseas.
And the other girls of the Brown family, already arranged jobs for me up in Alice Springs and Darwin, so everything seems to just go by itself.
But now the time has come again to move on and be on the road again, so again it's sad enough to say goodbye to those wonderful people I met along my way. You guys will always be special to me and I really hope to see you again one day.
With love and hugs
Jess
Journal 13: The Center
1 October 2003, Alice Springs
When I left gorgeous Quorn (SA) and surroundings and picked up Petra, a girl who travels up with me, we left for Cooper Pedy and what a drive! It is definitely an interesting town and yes we visited Crocodile Harry, he's an old man now, but in his younger days he lived as a sort Tarzan and killed a lot of crocs, now he lives in a cave full of bra's and panty's of women and it's full of pictures and paintings all over the walls and ceilings and he tries to grope you but you can tell him of. What a legend he is.
Of course we went to the breakaways as well. And we went underground camping.
yeah you guys Australia is one unique place on earth, but then...
We went to Uluru and when you see the sun shining on that humongous rock rising from the earth and meanwhile playing didgeridoo music playing in the car, you become silent. And the valley of the wind walk in the Olga's, ever better if I can say so. Wauw.... unfortunately when we wanted to see the sunrise, somebody backup with his car and bumped into mine, luckily still drivable, but we have to let it get repaired in Alice or Darwin. So that was a little setback. But of course our fun couldn't be spoiled that easy, so later that day I went for a sunset camel ride to Mt. Conner near Curtin Springs and all my worries just disappeared.
The next day we set off for Kings canyon and that was amazing as well, especially when you walk down to the garden of eden en hear the birds and sit near the pool of water, when it is 36 degrees, yeah the walk back was so hot.
Anyway in the evening we had to stay in Erldunda, because it got dark and later on we met up with the guy of the reception in the bar, a few hours and a good party later we could stay the next day for free in the backpackers room with a real bed (we've been camping all along the way), watch dvd's in his house and cook a good diner, al because he likes seeing people enjoy themselves and life especially, so that was so good and friendly.
Well we arrived in Alice Springs now and I had a busy day seeking shops to repair my car. But in a couple of days I'm taking of again and now to Darwin and probably with another travel mate, because Petra is gonna work here. (Plenty of jobs here by the way).
Well take care and see ya Journal 14: Up to Darwin and beyond! 12 October 2003, Darwin
Well what a journey it was from Alice to Darwin. I had to get my car fixed in Alice and find a new travel mate, well what a awesome chick I found now, we had heaps of fun and great adventures and now we continue to travels together! But first: From Alice we drove to the Devils Marbles and camped there, beautiful, the next day drove to Tennant Creek and swam in Mary Ann Dam, before heading of to Mataranka and the Bitter springs, natural hot water spring where we saw: snakes, bats, rock wallabies, fire flies, beautiful! At night we heard such a strange noise that we didn't dare to go to sleep (we where alone on the campground) and it sounded like a guy making grunting noises, at first we were scarred and then we started laughing and in the end went to sleep and every time we try to produce the noise we laugh our asses of. Well after all that we went to the beautiful Katherine gorge for canoeing and swimming, really gorguous out there, you can also see the marks of the crocs on the sandbanks, so when we came back and asked where they were during the day they said, well did you pass the first 2 gorges.. yes ,well you swam with 80 crocs then, because with this weather, they are sleeping on the bottom of the water......OK. Good to know that now and not before we went....
Anyway we camped over at Edith falls and the next day went swimming at the upperpool and saw the beautiful falls, then we left to go to Litchfield National Park and that was even more gorgeous!!! Went swimming everywhere we could and stayed over for the night and woke up from a wild pig sniffing on our tent ha ha. We had so much fun and it was all so beautiful and with this in our mind we set of to go to Darwin and then suddenly a wallaby hit our car (probably the other way around), luckily no real damage, altough the wallaby was in half.... So I was so sick of al the car trouble, that when we came to the pertol station in Batchelor and a woman was interested in my car, as a joke I said, want to buy it....2 days later it was sold in Dawin to her, so as the rest of my gear the same day and even on that same day a call came in for a lift. Not just a lift; a 4WD lift to the bungle bungles and Kimberleys to Broom, so Janett and me continue our travels together but now along the west in sted of the east coast! And with Leah, where we are staying in Darwin, we are going to Kakadu NP. it couldn't be more beautiful!!!
So you see, stay open to and for people and you will experience the most beautiful and surprising things in life.
Big hug Jess
Journal 15: The West is astonishing, 6 November 2003, Exmouth
Hi there you beautiful people all over the world. Well Jess is in Western Australia and it is beautiful (of course indescribable, but I will give it a go)
To catch up; Janett (the girl I'm traveling with since Alice Springs) and I spend a good week in Darwin, sold my car there and met some great people along the way. There we caught a ride with Dave and his 4WD to the Bungle Bungles and Kimberley's on the way to Broome at the West coast.
I can't start to tell you how big everything is there, the Echidna Chasm (so high, but at some places we had to squeeze ourselves trough), Mini Palm Gorge, the Cathedral Gorge with a refreshing little pool at the end and then the Beehives, just wauw and the red, black and yellow colors. I don''t think that even my photo's will show the true beauty of this natures best. And it was so bloody hot, with so many flies, but all worth it!!!
After all this we went on our way to some more gorges, but what I liked was Tunnel Creek, a sort of underground cave with 2 openings and water inside, so we needed to go in with torches and prepared to get wet, halfway there was a opening and there were so many ghost bats, wauw, yeah quite an experience. Up till now the gorge I like best is (I think) Windjana Gorge. Beautiful high on both sides with gorgeous colors, but with plenty of nature and trees, bushes on the sides and in the little water there is, a lot ( and I mean a lot) of fresh water crocs, boy did we took heaps of close up pictures.
Then the most refreshing gorge is Bell Gorge. We had to make quite an climb, but the waterfall and the big pool all to ours self's was so worth it. So after camping in the heat for more then a week with so many flies, we where glad to arrive in Derby and spend some time there, fishing of the Jetty, with one of the biggest tidal difference in the world (11 meters in 6 hours). the fishing was funny, especially when the hook got caught in my skirt, I could't stop laughing nor could Janett, who almost wetted herself : )
Anyway, when we finally set route for broome, it was really nice to arrive there, unfortunately just mist the sunset at the beach, but that didn't stop us, we ran up the beach and jumped with our clothes on in the waves, and how refreshing that was, finally after such a long time (traveling up the Center, Hot Darwin, but Crocs, more outback) yeah the beach and sea again!!!!
We spend a heavenly week in Broome at the beach trying to catch waves and watching the sunsets, but now janett and me moved on. Dave stayed in Broome and we left with 2 Canadian girls (Tammy and Leah). Went to Karajini NP, for more gorgeous Gorges ;) and after that to Exmouth and!!!! Turquoise Bay, where we went snorkeling (for me the first time) and it was amazing, we saw, reef sharks, sting rays, turtles, so many beautiful and colorful fish and coral, the underwater world is so relaxed and time forgetting, wauw. My new hobby is definitely snorkeling. And in Thailand, I'm going on a scuba dive course for sure!
Well as you can notice, I'm definitely enjoying myself here in Australia. Sweeties, take good care and have fun
Luv Jess
Journal 16: The last months, 6th of January 2004, Melbourne
I haven't worked on my website for 2 months and time flies by, so hard to catch up with all the things that happend.... Anyway, after Exmouth we headed down towards Perth, saw some good stuff on the way and as always enjoyed our time. In Perth Janett and me stayed in a Backpackers, wich I'll never forget, because my purse and phone got stolen from right beside my pillow when I was sleeping. No real drama's but some special personal belongings will be lost forever...
After a very good week in Perth I flew to Melbourne and my luck was back again: I could stay with Janetts friends, woke up the next day and somebody offered me a 2 days Great Ocean Road trip, just what I needed! And when I came back somebody else already arranged a job for me at a Pizza and Pasta Restaurant, so I started working straight away, 6 nights a week. I had a wonderful time with all the people there and the time flew by. Before I knew it was Christmas and I was with Emily's family in Meredith, so good! Janett, Janet, Shiho and me celebrated New Years in Melbourne with great bands, festivals and beautiful fireworks and so an other year past by,but what a fantastic year it has been!
Journal 17: Goodbye, 18th of January 2004, Melbourne
Well as you all know that plans always change....so did mine:
I packed my bag, send some stuff home, left my job, had superb goodbye parties, said goodbye to really special persons, 1 in particulair, had a flight from Melbourne to Sydney, stayed with a good friend of mine, but...... I didn't leave!
I rescheduled my flight and even went back to Melbourne. Why....I just couldn't leave Australia yet (and that special person ha ha).
But unfortunately I can't stall time any longer (imagine my sad face now).
I have to say goodbye and move on. If I don't change my plans again (you never know) I'll be flying out from Sydney Saterday the 24th of Jan to Singapore and travel via Malaysia to Thailand for my last weeks of my years travel.
My time here in Australia has been absolutely fantastic, and I met so many beautifull, friendly and definitly great people, so I want to thank you all. For making my trip, my year, probably the best of my life. You guys will always be in my memories, most of you in my photoalbum and the very special in my hart...
I hope to see some of you in my home country and you are always welcome at my place. For the ones who won't be travelling overseas, I hope to see you guys again one day, who knows when and where, sometimes the world is a small place and maybe (probably) I'll come back again.
With love and a big hug
-x-
Jess
Journal 18: The final goodbye and the last week, Thailand the 16th of Feb 2004
I hope you are all doing fine!
Well as we all know, all good things come to an end and so does my years travel......almost.
As most of you might know, I kept putting off my departure out of Australia for various reasons, but I couldn't change my visa or my years return ticket so I had to leave and that really hurt!
Especially saying goodbye to such a nice country and the people in it and certainly leaving that special person behind, not knowing when we might see each other again.
So Friday the 13th seemed a good date for a sad day like this.
Anyway I flew from Melbourne to Sydney and from Sydney to Singapore. I got sick at the end of my flight, when I arrived I felt sick, tired and sad. Found a place to stay but when I woke up in the morning I discovered tics in my bed who had been sucking my blood, so I was quiet upset and went to the person running the place, not that he could do much at that stage.....
After that I went straight to the bus station and got on the bus to Kuala Lumpur (I had enough of cities so I wanted to go to the island as quickly as possible).
Met nice people who where going to Koh Pha-nang as well so we traveled together and that was quiet good. Got an overnight bus to Hat yai (thailand) and from there an other bus to the pier and then the ferry to the island, so I have been traveling for 3 days... very tiring.
I was so glad to have a bed and just sleep, but when we saw those beautiful cheap beach huts and the roaches in them, aaarrrhhhh. We wanted to change.....only the aircon, with 2 double beds and a bath were left and when we saw that we decided to stay there the rest of the week, mmmhhhh
Finally peace and quiete....and some luxury ha ha.
The weather is good and the beaches are nice. Today we (me and a couple of girls) went shopping, YES! and checking out everything.Tonight see a Thai boxing match and go to the half moon party and tomorrow we are going to explore more of the island on our mopeds (scooters) and do some snorkeling....
I already booked the ferry, bus and train back for Friday to Bangkok, so on Saturday before I fly out, I can do some more shopping!
But for now relaxing and enjoying my short stay at this beautiful island.
I really miss you guys, but I found out that my best friends and family want to come and pick me up from the airport on Sunday, so that will cheer me up and I really want to see all off them again and probably straight go partying with the Dutch carnaval!
Well you beautiful people, take good care, have fun and stay in touch!!!
With love and a big hug
Jess
Journal 19: Home Roosendaal, the 27th of Feb. 2004
Hello everybody,
My last week in Thailand was great, I could really relax on the beautiful beaches in secluded bays of the east side of the Island. Thai massage of 2 hours, relaxing and reading my book in the hangmat (?). Delicious Thai food every day and I met an Australian girl from Adelaide, so Oz wasn't that far away from me : )
I got a tan on the 3 hour boottrip on the way back! And the nighttrain back to Bangkok was comfortable, but I didn't sleep much. Bangkok was really busy but enjoyable, especialy because everything is so cheap.
And then the long flight home last Saturday night.....with a stop in between in London where the weather was complete different, I changed my thongs for my boots....
The welcome at the airport was really nice, but it was so strange to be home again, I couldn't get used to it the first day and I went to bed early because of the time difference, woke up in the middle of the night, and so on...
Well......what to say, I'm home and it is snowing, could the difference be even bigger.
I'm really happy to see everybody again, but I had many mixed feelings this week. You guys made such an impact on me that I miss you and my life that I had in Oz.
It has been such a wonderful year that it is hard to come back to reality.
But no complains I got the year that I wished for and even more!!! And when I see all my photo's it even seems like yesterday.
For the time being I'm sorting out my stuff and catching up with friends and family and then in the next couple of weeks get a job and get my life on 'the Dutch' track again.
This all sounds maybe a bit negative but my time away has been so good and the difference is so big, it is hard to get used to again.
Up to now I had a bit of plans, study and after that travel. Now I'm home and have to think about what I want next.... so many possibilities, but what do I want.
So there is a huge gab.........the future. And sometimes it's scary, because nobody knows what is gonna come next.
Well enough of my inner fears, I'm a strong independent woman and I will figure this out and laugh about it in a couple of weeks.
Anyway, I hope you are all doing fine, do stay in touch and I hope to catch up with you personly over the mail or phone the next couple of weeks.
Take care and keep enjoying life, it always has surprises!
With all my love
Jessica
And for all my friends at La Porchetta, A big and special hug!!! Miss you guys, miss u Sunny!
Journal 20:
Roosendaal, 17-07-2004
Well I've been back now for 5 months and so much happend. I still feel confused.
It felt like beeing put back in a tight suit and follow society's rules again.
Anyway I have a great job now and organizing trips all over the world and every now and then I have to go on inspection myself or go along on the trips, this is great and exacly what I needed.
For now I will see what life will bring me.
Love Jess
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