Crossroad

Giigan and I have reached a crossroad in our journey. After careful consideration over the past two to three weeks, I have decided that spending nine months or so working and travelling in Australia, in much the same way as we did in NZ, just isn't my thing anymore. It feels like my life would be put on hold if I was to stay here, because it doesn't feel like the experience would differ much from the one I already got in NZ. My feeling is that I have already found what I came on this journey to find, and that my place isn't here anymore.

There is a time for everything, and right now I'm ready to begin a new chapter in my life.

This decision has nothing to do with travelling together with Giigan. We've been on the road for well over a year by now, and still get along, some might say remarkably well. Giigan will remain in Melbourne for the time being, and in Australia most likely until his visa expires in about a year.

Yesterday (Sunday 13/9/09) we travelled by train, bus, taxi and hitchhiking to get to the Red Hill Brewery on the Mornington Peninsula. There we celebrated our year-long journey together with plenty of good food and beer.

My immediate plans are to travel through Australia for the next two weeks. I'm leaving Melbourne tomorrow morning (Tuesday 15/9/09). I'm joining a three day tour of the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide. From Adelaide I continue to Alice Springs in central Australia, where I go on a three day tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Olgas and Kings Canyon. My last destination in Australia is Darwin, where I will arrive on 27th September.

From Darwin I will fly to Bali in Indonesia, where I'll start a 2½ month journey through the whole of South-East Asia, taking me through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. In early or mid-December I will fly from either Bangkok or Hong Kong to Copenhagen, where I'll join the demonstrations during the UN climate change conference, before going home to Finland for Christmas!

I look very much forward to the coming months and the future, and my spirits are high, as are Giigan's. It's been an incredible year travelling in Oceania. We've seen and experienced marvellous things ranging from climbing volcanoes, Kiwi beer festivals, snorkeling with whales, road trips, making new friends and so much more. The most remarkable thing though, has definitely been being able to make the decision to embark on a journey like this in the first place; to leave friends and family and our lives back home behind. That is a decision I can honestly say I probably wouldn't have made on my own. I am immensely grateful to my travel companion Giigan for being in a position to, and having the will to see a bit of the world for an extended period of time.

We will continue with this blog of course. Giigan writing about his Oz experience, me about my long journey home.

This is not omega.