Part III: *JUMPS OUT OF A CLOSET AND YELLS SURPRISE* / Back to Australia / Surprising my cousin for her 60th!

-Pictures & videos are added at the end of the post (in random order). Happy reading-

Check in luggage was only 10,6 kg. Getting rid of the books must have helped hihi. But I also took some stuff out and added it to my handluggage. Flight was about 6hrs and I had 3 seats to myself, happy days :-)! Didn't sleep much though, could have been the cocktails or the excitement!

Wrote this as I had just landed; I'm here and she has no idea!!! So excited!!! And I might have been a bit mean about it haha, telling her how I wished I would have been there for her 60th (but not saying it's a wish that would come true) and that I was flying to family again (she asked me about that later and I said, yeah and are you not family?! She assumed that I went back to Indo). And I can't believe I'm here either. It's been 3years since I saw them last and supermarkets were empty due to Covid. I then did the Great Ocean Road with a friend from back home that was working in Australia at the time and I got stuck in Melbourne for about a week because of Covid after that. And missed out on a month of traveling through Indonesia. It's strange being back here after such an unwanted departure but so so excited! Landed!

I was super tired and wasn't feeling all that great, might have been from sleep deprivation. And so after getting through customs like a champ, I just sat at the airport for a bit...my mind was on non active. What was I going to do?! Touched base with the family and eventually decided to head down to the appartmentbuilding they had rented and drop off my bags. I explained the situation to the manager and she had no idea there was a surprise, and told me I could come back at 1pm to check in early and prepare my surprise! So I headed into the city by bus for a bit with a paper map in hand (as usual). And this lady on the bus asked me if I needed help after getting off. She told me where to go and said if you see the Christmastree you are in the right spot. Okay, thanks, wait did she say Christmastree???

Yeah she did and there it was, quickly passed it and went to the Central Market, just to find another HUGE Santa at the entrance (the airport was also decorated for Christmas already and I saw so much that I might be over it when I get back home). Anyways, last time that I was here was almost 10years ago. I was there for about 24hrs and met up with a girl I met in New Zealand, she worked at the Central Market at the time and lived in Adelaide. And so even just landing in Adelaide earlier that day brought back some memories (I almost made it on tv as they were recording for Border Security). 

I walked through the city for a bit and decided to walk back to the appartmentbuilding. Ended up to be quite the walk but got back at exactly 1pm! Checked the appartment out to find a good hiding spot for my stuff and myself. I then wanted to take a nap, had about an hour left but it wasn't meant to be. I was texting with my cousin, her husband and her daughter. Telling the husband and daughter about the appartment and where I would be hiding and with my cousin about random things. It was soo funny!! They told me they were there and I figured I had some time left because they still had to check in and so I walked to the window to see if I could see them and they were right at the gate, so I quickly ducked haha. Oh and was the 'anonymous/unknown' that commented on my last blog; are you still in Indo or in Australia yet? I deleted it as soon as I saw it because that could have ruined the surprise!! Anyways, if you leave a comment and thanks if you did/want to, please always sigh it with your name :-).

Anyway, I hid in de closet and waited...front door opened and I heard their voices. It was sooo weird and also so excited! And they did a whole photoshoot and tour while I was dying in the closet haha. And she finally walked into the room I was in and so I jumped out and yelled SURPRISE!!!! She dropped the phone (was recording the appartment tour) on the bed, hands went to her mouth and she almost dropped down to the floor on her knees. Gotcha! Husband and daughter were laughing, I helped my cousin up and hugged her and told her that she didn't really think that I was going to miss her 60th right!! She was in total shock for a bit and kept hugging me but also quickly cussed at the rest because they knew and apparently her brother and sister also knew haha. It was great seeing them again! She still was a bit in shock for the rest of the day haha. We had some drinks, chatted for a bit, headed out to the Central Market. I had just been earlier so I gave them the tour haha.

We had a few days in Adelaide together, went to the Botanic Garden. Basically a city park, but theirs are gorgeous! The plants, the animals. Hundreds of bats that were flying around, colorful birds, it was so so so nice!! And it also felt natural being together with them. My cousin mentioned that to me as well. I also went to the Adelaide 500, the reason they went to Adelaide. It's racing cars. Not really my thing, but it was cool. And loud, very loud! And you also kind of hope something happens, not really a big crash but maybe just a tiny one, haha. And it was also a sunny day and they sold cocktails, also espresso martinis. They are pretty popular here, espresso martinis, saw them everywhere we went!! After the races ended, we went back to the appartment. There was a Robbie Williams concert in the evening that I wasn't going to go to, but it was included in the ticket and so I decided to go anyway. My first concert of an international celebrity. He sang mostly old songs, so I was able to sing a long and he also told a bit of his life story and how he got kicked out of Take That, how he had been sober for 20+ years (I think, could have been a little under as well) and how this tour was a bit of therapy for him. It was a great mixture of that combined with humor and so pretty enjoyable! Oh and we also watched the new Jackass movie, haha we all laughed so hard!!

After Adelaide we went to Glenelg, a harbor/beach town. Cute area and lots of old people! The house they rented was on the beach and almost next to the airport! We heard planes depart and land. And it was so windy at the beach but on our first night me and my cousin (the daughter) went for a quick freezing dip! We spent the rest of our time reading, shopping, walking, watching movies, eating, laughing. I laughed so much with them and it was so great being there and also quite natural! 

On my cousins 60th birthday, I gave her the bag of presents I'd been carrying around, some stuff from holland, an apron I bought in Guatemala and a card from Bali. She got really nice gifts from everybody! We then went out for lunch, harbor town outlets and dinner! All in all I had a great time with them and it would have been nice to join them for the rest of their way back home. I also loved being in Australia again, the surroundings, the wildlife, the people, and of course family!

After our final day togeher of mostly chilling and getting me presents (a silly bunch they are, but so so sweet), they dropped me off in Adelaide again and continued their way to their next stop! I walked around for a bit on my final day in Oz and took the bus to the airport early next morning to fly back to Indonesia.