Australia - Step 8.8: cute pupper in my last housesit in Perth (ciao Aussieland👋)

I really wanted to come to WA as I saw so many Posts about beautiful nature and beaches here and also amazing sunsets at the beach. Including Kangaroos at the beach. The thing is, I sometimes forget, when I see thing in social media is: its social media. Meaning it shows the nicest and most beautiful little glimpses of whatever it shows. And I am so easily influenced by that lol. I see one TikTok including an amazing spot and I am like „yeah done, flight booked“. I am not saying WA isn't that beautiful, but its very big, so if you travel around in a van for some months, the chances are higher that you cover a lot of beautiful, unrealistic spots and kangaroos at the beach, than in a housesit.

So not the kangaroo at the sunset beach but I finally saw Koalas 🐨 in the Yanchep National Park here.

As always I tried to keep my little routines here including yoga and gym. The house has a bright open room, which is my yoga room. The dog is the cutest pupper ever, he loves nothing more than cuddles and snuggles. Sometimes I took him to the beach (which was illegal, as it wasn't a dogbeach), but he was crazy for jumping into the waves and swimming. And also he behaves really good and comes back to me after his 10minutes of almost drowning in the waves. No kidding, he is the best swimmer I met, I think in his past life he was a dolphin.

The weather was mixed, considering it is winter here now. I still got lucky with some sunny days, on which I walked 18km on the coast to discover some beaches. It is quite empty here in general, the people are nice and the beaches are different than in the other states, but very beautiful.

Being here for only 3 weeks makes it clear to me, that I need to come back at some point, get a van and do a proper trip. Australia has so many nice spots and nature. so I think thats the best way to discover.

Anyways, now are my last days to pass in Australia and I am twisted. Twisted between the feeling of being ready to leave since a while, as I miss my family, Barcelona and cant wait to have European summer. At the same time I will be a bit sad leaving my Aussielife. Being alone in my housesits, discovering new places and beaches, meeting people and woolies + coles.

Tbf my travels here maybe didn't went as expected or planned, but in the end I feel like I still did well.

Now I am sitting at Perth Airport, and to celebrate the occasion, I treated myself to a $17 beer. What doesn’t quite fit is the strange smell here but yeah, celebration of closing a chapter again and this time not just heading to a news sit or city. Nah, this time I am leaving this house, the city Perth, the state WA, the country Australia, this continent and with that this side of the planet.

and I just thought: I’m now flying „home“ from Perth after leaving Germany 11 months ago. And it seems so trivial and natural: at the airport again, check-in, boarding passes, sitting around on the plane, and so on. But when you think about it, it’s not so usual/ordinary. Traveling and having just spent 6 months in Australia is not granted and normal. Not that I never appreciated traveling before, but I think I subconsciously compare myself with all the wild Instagram travelers or friends for whom traveling and backpacking are also “normal.” Sure, you are in your travel bubble and don’t realize that it doesn’t mean it’s the standard. Normal to walk on the beach every day, normal to live in a foreign country and never know what will come in the next weeks. Normal to be 20,000 km away from your family. Normal to meet people from all over the world, live in hostels, go island hopping, and think about where to fly next. I think what I want to say is that when you are in this bubble, you sometimes forget that regardless of what others do and whether their travels are longer, more adventurous, “better,” or crazier: it is not self-evident to do this. At least I believe so.

That being said, of course, I am also sad to leave Australia now. Sydney, Melbourne, Torquay, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Lennox Head, Perth. NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia. And I still haven’t seen almost anything because Australia is just so huge. Whenever I leave a country and feel sad about it, I just say to myself, “I’ll be back.” Then I know it’s not final. I think I’ll come back and then do my long-dreamed van trip that didn’t work out this time.

As I was walking around Perth in the last moments today, I thought, “everything is so beautiful,” and got very nostalgic, but that’s probably normal. The strange thing is that when you are “home” again, suddenly everything is as if you were never away. And it feels like those times somehow happened in another life or a dream or a movie. It’s weird. Anyways.

Now back in Europe: summer, beaches, Spain, family, German beer, starting my life from scratch again lol, sun, Spain, lakes, mountains, friends, Spain, doggos, and so on.