Mom’s first wild koala

After 14 months in Australia, my mom has finally arrived after one hell of a trip. All went well, she slept most of the way, but taking off at 9pm local time, flying three flights for 25 hours and landing 6am local time must be rough. We were lucky to have a super early flight and landing late at night. But flying in so early in the morning, we had to keep her awake until it was time to go to bed to make sure she wasn’t suffering from too much jetlag.

I do believe we did a good job of keeping her awake. Breakfast at Alkemist, 6 koalas and hundreds (probably, I lost count) of kangaroos at Coombabah and dinner at Fricken Chicken in Broadbeach. It would have been on the beach if it hadn’t started pouring along with some distant thunder out at sea.

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34, Rings & Dragons

The present came in the form of a very cosy concert a month later.

My first birthday in Australia has come and gone. And even if it wasn’t optimal with having partner with the cold, it still turned out to be a really great day.

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Varsity Wetlands Tree Planting

Mikael and I did something good for both nature and our mental wellbeing this weekend: we planted trees!
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Gold Coast Regional Botanical Gardens

GC Botanical Gardens in Benowa was the perfect place to regain some energy after a period of intense work for both of us. Lots of beautiful nature and wildlife.

Highlight of the day: Our very first snake in Australia since moving here eight months ago!

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Summer Solstice

Summer solstice, three days before Christmas Eve?
Yeah, this will take some time to get used to.

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MIL’s last day in Australia

Elise’s last day in Australia after visiting us for six weeks came and went so fast. It was not without issues though, but we managed to turn a rather problematic situation into our advantage 😊

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Springbrook, Warrie Circuit

I haven’t done too many hikes in my life, well a few. But Warrie Circuit in Springbrook National Park was definitely one of the best ones. Hot tips: Go after a period of heavy rain to lose count of how many waterfalls you see.

Don’t forget to scroll down to the very end of the post to see a couple of videos that I filmed and edited, almost all by myself (Mikael the pro helped of course).

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Rainbow Bay + Snapper Rocks

Coolangatta is such a pretty place. But so far away from Central Gold Coast. Isn’t it crazy that the Gold Coast reaches a massive 70km along South East Queensland’s coast? Beaches as far as the eye can see ❤️

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Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is truly a special place on the Gold Coast. Having been twice in the short period of time we’ve lived here is a testament to that. Taking mother in law was a very nice experience!

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Supermoon

This month’s full moon was the third supermoon in as many months. It must have been the one in August where I saw something red rise above the horizon while playing beach volleyball. I had no idea about it then, but this time, I knew what was coming and we spent both nights down by the beach watching the moonrise.

An extra treat was the Country Music Festival going on at the same time and place. We had dinner in the free festival area, listened to some music, watched people line dance and just watched people in general. Some were so dressed up. I love how this city hosts events like this all the time. And for free! And just around the corner from where we live.

I didn’t take any photos of the festival sadly though, so please enjoy a a few bad pictures of the incredible full moon instead. The phone adjusts the lighting on its own, and it just turns so bad. I asked Mikael to bring his Sony camera, but he didn’t. So that was a bummer. His new Samsung phone is pretty great though 😊. (The first two are mine, the second two are Mikael’s)