Canoe tripping through the majestic Australian Everglades.

Noosa. What can I say about Noosa? It is the stop for visiting the Everglades, which was high on my list of things to visit. So I arrived here last week and stayed at the YHA hostel. Noosa’s oldest building. A listed place, for it is a former girls school. I checked in and they gave me the key to the Rainforest Room. It not only sounded exciting, it was. A huge sixteen bed dorm room, with a big balcony overlooking the actual rainforest. I was in awe of its beauty. A harmonious mix of fauna and flora, broken apart by the different sunbeams finding their way through the vast coverage of tree branches. This was the room for me.

The first night, after I got acquainted with most of my roommates, my Dutch travel buddy Wouter and I had no intention on spending any money. Yet we wanted to go out and discover the city. But somehow we always end up on the beach with a little bit of goon. This time was no different.
About five hundred meters further down the beach, the darkness knew an unforgiving bright spot. There was a bonfire going on. This is Australia. Did we expect anything else?
As we walked towards the fire like heat seeking missiles, we slowly but surely realized this would be where we’d spend the rest of our evening. Thirty to forty people had created a big circle around the bonfire, filling up each other’s inner loneliness. There was music, alcohol, drinking games and people playing with and spitting fire. This is proper backpacking the way you’d expect it from Australia.

The next day I woke up with tropical birds chanting their morning melody. Combined with a girl playing the guitar and singing beautifully, on our balcony. I usually like mornings already. It’s like time travel to breakfast. But this morning just topped every other peaceful one I’ve ever had.

On Friday I had to wake up early. Around 7 am the bus would pick me up for my canoe trip. I was awake at 4. I was way too excited and at the same time too nervous to sleep through my alarm, even though that never happens to me.
There are two Everglades in the world. One in Florida, United States, and the other in Noosa, Australia. A natural region of tropical wetlands, adding to an already awe-inspiring country.
The bus brought us to the ferry, which would bring us to our starting place. A group of nineteen people, divided over eight canoes. These nineteen people would be our only interaction for the next three days. An international mixture of boys and girls, and couples and single people.
I hopped in a canoe with Wouter. Our boat was quickly called ‘The Challenger’ for obvious reasons. We canoed under branches no one would ever think possible and happily sang around while doing so. Badassly we took every possibility to ensure our position as the alpha males. We were even so diligent we arrived at a different campsite, half an hour further than where we were supposed to be. It wasn’t that bad though, because the scenery surrounding our canoe was stunning. I’d come here all the time, if possible. I couldn’t think of a better place to be, if you need some alone time. It’s quiet, you’re on the water and you’re far far away from human life as it is.
We picked up our paddles and went in the right direction this time. Getting back the half hour we lost made me understand the human body a lot better. Like which muscles hurt because of which movements. And the answer to that is; all of them. We were physically broken. So once we arrived at the correct campsite, we had a relaxing swim in the Everglades’ freshwater, which is apparently very good for skin and hair. And I have both of those!
We had a barbecue, made our beds and we ended our day by getting to know everyone, accompanied by a drink or two. (Or seventeen.)

Day two we left the campsite at 7:30 am. We had to paddle upstream for about two hours, followed by a twelve-kilometer walk. Deep in the bush you will find the Cooloola Sandpatch. We walked for about one hour and a half up, passing various animals you’d never want to see outside of a zoo, and were all astonished by the beauty nature holds, deep in the Everglades. Before us lay an enormous dune, the bare sand at its base sprinkled with onion skin fragments of sandstone. Climbing up, the fragments cleared leaving a broad steep sheet of powdery tan-colored sand

By 4 pm we arrived back at the campsite, and repeated our previous night. A refreshing swim, some power food, amazing people and a good night sleep in the marvelous rainforest. The basic ingredients for a memorable day.

On day number three we left the campsite at 7 am and found our way back to the hut where we started, where we arrived two hours later. With some fun and laughs on the way, we ended one of the most amazing trips of my life, before being brought back to shore.

As I am writing this, I realize I am very lucky to have had this experience. I am overthrown with happiness for making the best of my year abroad and grateful for all the people who helped make this possible. My mindset has completely turned around, as I am happier than ever and I gained confidence whilst on the go. No one can ever take this away from me again and it has made me mentally stronger as a human being. This life-changing experience has had a strong but positive impact on my vision on life. I recommend everyone to do the same, whether you’re in a bad period in your life, or a very good one. Traveling will change who you are and it will change it for the better. And that’s a promise.