So i'm home now, took a while to get here because of problems with my flights... Damn heatrow!! But well, i'm here now. And it seems like i never went away! Frustrating, actually! It's pretty boring i have to say -i got so used to being social and doing something all the time and now my new energy's just waste! I'm just busy trying to figure out what to do next year.

But yes, it's been a pleasure my dear readers! My oz experience's over so is my blog as well. It was great, but it's time to move on! ...new adventures are waiting for me!!

xxx

your mari

All righty, so at the moment i'm back in sydney, sitting in the very same internet cafe which i used to go to update my blog in my early oz days. I was so happy yesterday, it really felt like i came home! i know every street and station and the bext places for everything (ok, i love exaggerating!)  and it feels just so good. now i've got actually only three full days left and i have lots of people to meet, lots of paper work to do, lots of things to buy and lots of places to see!

The whole outback-experience was amazing! just amazing, words can't describe it. beautiful lanscapes ans sunsets ans sunrises ans damn it was cold! -5 and we slept under the stars without any fire to keep us warm so yeah, i got ill! i'm harassing everybody by coughing all the time and nobody's able to sleep! we also spent a night on a kettle station and they had lots of animals there and even a pet kangaroo called mary! boy she loved to drink beer! and ayers rock was beautiful, incredible! i'll put some photos here some day so you can see it for yourselves.oh actually i don't have lots of time to write after all, have to rush to a market to buy preeeesents! exciting, huh?

ok so coming home soon: leaving on thursday 3pm aus time and then flying to hong kong-london-manchester and arriving in helsinki 10.30 pm on friday and then the drive home.... a long way home!

ok but talk to you really really soooon! by the way once again i lost my finnish sim so if you want to text me just use my aus number (though i can't answer) or mail or oh, even CALL! ok bye bye take care besos!

So I'm still in Cairns, have worked here for three weeks already -hard to believe! I'm staying in a hostel called the Serpent, in a special room for staff members since i'm also working there. So well, i'm in charge of changing the sheets in all of our ensuites and doubles and twins and kings, and all in all have to take care that everything's clean and nice there. I work from ten to one every day and don't get paid officially but free accommodation and an evening meal which is fair enough i guess. It's hard work sometimes since the hostel's pretty big and popular >lots of rooms to be done and in most hostel you only work for, say, 12 hours a week to get your free bed but well, i'm still ok here. I got completely burnt out last week cause we had another job as well for about 10 days, so to put it short we'd get up in the morning, start working, have 30mins to crab something to eat and then work again till eight and walk home which takes an hour. I think i don't even have to tell you how horrible it can be when you're constantly in a hurry and don't have any time to even sit down! So altogether last week we worked about 65 hours and slept... hmmm.. not so much! It's so hard here, it's 9 of us sharing a room (and the one and only bathroom, and we're all girls!) and everybody's coming and going all the time, getting drunk, being loud... Everybody's got different working times so it can be bit of a pain. But now i can sleep during the days so it's better -i'm getting my energy and good mood back! It's so nice to settle down somewhere for a while and especially now we get more privacy compared to an ordinary dorm room. and we have a patio as well and a nice sofa there... so cosy! nice for naps! and this is what i've been wanting for a while, just time to do boring stuff -read, knit more hats and we even baked some rolls yesterday! Yeah, finally an oven!

It's almost the end of my time in australia, can't believe! Well, i can hardly even remember my first weeks here and it seems so distant but still.... i can't imagine i'll be home in just four weeks from now! I have two more weeks in cairns, doing nothing basically, and then i've booked a so so so expensive trip to the outback and ayers rock. I'm having a safari from cairns to alice springs -3 days, and then a few days to recover and then a tour in the red centre. it's gonna be unbelievable, we get to sleep under the stars and see uluru both at sunset and sunrise... lots of cool things, i'll tell you more when i've actually done everything! And after the centre i fly back to sydney for five days and then home. I know i'm gonna cry! Leaving sydney is the hardest part, it feels like home!

I've met so many amazing people and made such strong bonds i couldn't even expect... But since we're all in the same position and going all the time it's not so hard to say goodbye. I know i'm gonna meet them again, because that's how we are. It's so impressive how much in common you can find with these random people who just seem to walk into your life from around the corner, you never expect that and yet it's the best thing you can ever get! So many soul mates... I've definitely learned a lot, i'm glad i came here. It hasn't always been easy at all, but i've managed to get through all of that and as an award got the best feeling: being proud of myself. And although it's such a cliche i've definitely got some new perspective on my life in general, my future, my old life that's waiting for me in finland... it's to be seen if it turns out to be a good thing or if i'm getting really confused after all! That's the reason i have such mixed feelings: happy to see everybody and get "an easy life" for a moment, but sad to leave  my freedom as i learnt to know it and nervous about my reaction to.... everything! Everything. I've definitely have some time to think.

But one thing is for sure: it's gonna feel so divine to go to a sauna, have a whole room for myself, my bed, my clothes and FOOD! not pasta.

Talk to you all soon, take care, write!!!

And the biggest congratulations to my dear sister and the whole family (and ME, the aunt ha ha!) for the third lovely little princess!!! I'm almost dying out of joy, just smiling like crazy all the time! Wish i could have been there! Iso hali kaikille!

it should work now, let me know cause i can't check it myself with this computer. Also don't worry about me if you can't hear anything from me for a week or so, won't probably have time to use the internet at all: mornings cleaning at the hostel to get my food+accommodation and then working elsewhere the rest of the day. But yeah, it only lasts maybe 10 days so then.

Ciao ciao!

the girls having fun at airlie beach

whitsunday sailing on The British Defender: a 24m beauty!

Whitehaven beach on the background

it was great great great!

trying to reach the clouds

we're nordic so we just had to play with the snow.... oh, sand!

my glasses feat sara

i did it! i snorkelled at the great barrier reef! a bit scary but amazing!

magnetic island and the great views

the girls went fishing... any luck? Hmm that's another story!

Us with the skipper and fishing master

magnetic island and the queen of it hah

in airlie, having a nap in the park

i found a little creature that looked a lot like mia..?

this is old stuff from bundaberg. it's around 6 o'clock, freezing, and we're waiting for the work to begin (and the sun to rise) me in the orange and mia  making me warm.

We were supposed to be sailing today but there were problems with the boat and the whole trip got cancelled! Merde! You should be proud of me cause i made some nice and furious complaining phone calls to the tour operators after they told us our options were to 1)pay $150 of extra to get to another boat  2)wait 8 more days to get to the original boat 3)just do nothing about it and forget about sailing at all. Well, to be honest the calls didn't really help but all in all everything's ok now thanks to a really helpful travel agent and we'll be sailing TOMORROW jihaaa! I hope it's gonna be lots of fun and that the weather won't totally suck like right now!

And about Fraser Island... It was really really nice! What could i tell you? Well, we were 9 people in  a 4WD, driving together for 3 days in the forest and at the beach -saw some really amazing places and  played "truth or dare" while sucking in our goonie under the stars. I'll put some pics here as soon as i can and you can see it for yourselves.

Ha ha i thought i had loads to update but now i'm just lazy and cutting it short and not telling anything special. But hey, at least you know I'm alive! Oh yeah: i have a new hair cut now, Mia (my all time favourite hair dresser) cut it with my nail scissor-look-a-like scissors (=doesn't maybe sound so professional??) and it's so good! Tack tack.

And what comes to our plan of just  lying on the beach and getting a nice tan... well, didn't really happen. It's just raining raining & raining. ironic, it must be nicer back home at the moment than here. At least weatherwise :D

Ok, going now, pics coming soon! Send me m@il! Take care, byee!

going to work, around 6 o'clock and the cows & sunrise, sunrise...

me and kerstin having lots of fun (as always, oh what a great friend she is!!) and she's wearing a hat made by ME!

panu, mari, kerstin & henry

wicked swedes+my trvel buddies mia & sara with a room mate chris

my birthday cake (or the rest of it after our greedy attack)

town of 1770, beeeeeautiful!

maaari herself

Ok where to start!?  At the moment i'm still in bundaberg doing fruit picking. My third week here already wow! It's hard, hard work, let me tell you that! It really is. Imagine 7-11 hours of constantly bending down for example to plant lettuce or to pick eggplants in 30 degrees or so.. My poor back! And they are smart - people don't save much because they only give us aneough work to pay for our rent and buy a couple of bags of noodles and that's it. Well, this week has been better to be fair. Lots of hours. So how long am i gonna stay? Who knows! Till i have even a bit of money. It's all about the money (MEJAAAA, not alexia!)..! Kerstin stayed for two weeks but last sunday she left me all alone here, without the car, without anything! Which is not true by the way. Don't feel bad for me!

OK where was i again?? Yeah, the hostel's pretty bad and the work's really hard but the people are nice and that's why it doesn't feel so hard to stay. Every friday we go to the local pub for the happy hour and then continue to a park nearby and drink some goon (=a ridiculously cheap drink that's pretending to be wine but isn't) and have fun! And every week everybody, and i mean absolutely everybody, is just hammered! Really really drunk which just makes it nicer! And yeah, every week the police comes to get us a bit quieter but it doesn't really work -damn those backpackers! And speaking of which my birthday was really nice -though it happened t be the good friday so couldn't get to pubs. But we just went to the park again. And i got a cake with 20 candles and sparklers and a birthday song!!! Nice. And thanks everybody for your birthday wishes!

Ok sorry have to cut it short, the bus is leaving to go to the shop. Need to get some food so byeeee!

The past few days i've been handing out flyers to get some money but it's hardly anything. And the thing is, it's a bit humiliating! There are flyer-people everywhere and ohh so much waste paper i tell you, people! And then i've just slept and slept and i guess most of you my dear readers know that if i want to, i can sleep A LOT. But now i'm so sick of these lazy-ass comments that i get really aggressive if someone suggests i'm maybe sleeping a bit more than the others. And yeah, now they are a bit afraid of my morning personality and leave me alone. Oh thanks, no more people coming to me to wake me up!!!! If u don't have money and you're a bit afraid of the sun and the heat there isn't so much to do. So i got a bit bored and cut my hair! Just a bit though, don't worry. No britneys. And i just eat! Dangerous, it's definitely good to work again! Get some exercise.

Speaking of which i should go now, i'm trying to get a magnum for free... my friend's working in the reception and i'm a pig and taking advantage of him (and he's happy to be used!)

Ok speak to you soon, ciao! XXX