Last week I finished working in Hervey Bay. But no, I didn’t leave right away. That week I spent my time with people that are important to me and whom I’ve got to know better during past few months. It was sad and hard to say goodbyes on different days to different people, some of them leaving as well.  But I’m glad I got to know them all, some of them better than others. It felt like leaving home again and no wonder since all those people were like family to me. How I miss going for a coffee and cake, having ice creams, talking about everything, listening to good music, watching movies, just sitting at the breakfast eating pancakes, having someone to talk to.

Last Monday I arrived to Great Keppel Island and I fell in love with the island straight away! The island is stunningly beautiful and there are so many trails you can walk and see new places as you go. My first thought was to stay for three nights but it just wasn’t enough so I extended my stay for three more nights. The island life is just so relaxing. I sleep in a tent, in a bed though and during the night you can hear possums wondering around, bats screaming up in the trees, curlews calling to each other. The electricity is on roughly from 6 am till 11 pm and it suits me just fine. To walk in the darkness you just use your flash light so you won’t run into anything, possums for example like I almost did last night. On Friday we had a really nice bonfire at the beach and we sat there for hours. There are no roads on the island, just tracks and trails going from place to place. The beaches are stunning and snorkelling is a good way of passing time but so far I’ve just walked and enjoyed the sun. After darkness there isn’t much to do but to sit around, eat, talk with people, play cards and since it gets colder during the nights everybody heads to bed fairly early, cos in bed it’s nice and warm at least! There are no proper shops on the island so you just bring all your food from mainland with you.

I know I just finished working in Hervey Bay but I just fell in love with the island life so much that I’m going to work there for my accommodation for a while. I just don’t want to leave. Well, I had to come to mainland today to get food cos I barely had anything left. It’s hard to try to think what all I will need for the whole time but I’ll try to get the right amount of food. I know I definitely need cookies, sweets and chocolate! :D

When you travel you get to meet a lot of different people. We’re all used to different things depending where we’re from. Some miss proper bread, some miss good Italian food in a restaurant near their home, some miss good cakes, some miss good chocolate. I miss proper rye bread, and some good sweets you can’t get here. But I guess you kind of replace them with different things or you just get used to eat a bit differently while you’re travelling. And people do get creative when travelling. It’s possible to bake bread or make a pizza without oven!

While travelling you meet a lot of new people and you get some new friends too. But being away makes you appreciate your friends back home, or at least it’s the way I feel. I miss my friends and sometimes their words make me cry because the words mean so much. And like one of my dearest friends said: “These kilometres between us don’t change our friendship - at most they will make the friendship even stronger.”

"It takes a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye."
- Anurag Gupta -