GOLD COAST –no man’s land…no job no licence no gold.

Been back in the ‘REAL WORLD’ or lets say back on mainland for just over 2 weeks now I think. During which time, I have now experienced the biggest FAMILY Christmas my little life has seen, got a shock back to reality with PAYING for things which I might have taken for granted…WINE? And also well, HOLDING myself back to not go too crazy in BUYING things… I have also just landed myself a job up in some of the most BEAUTIFUL mountains, I have bought a car..yes…my first car (that I have bought with my OWN money –here comes responsibility...) and ooo the stories I will be able to tell you when me and this guy (my car) go on adventures.


I’m not sure what you see in the news but the WEATHER is a little CraZZZY, half of Aus is FLOODED…when I say flooded I mean FLOODED… on our trip today we had to detour 3 or more times to get across a river after which we crossed it anyway, with water up to the sides of the doors…(Toyota landcruiser…I KID YOU NOT!)

So the word is out, my new friend, the car, is a SUZUKI, Jimny…silver, second hand…it has a TAPE player…CUTE!

SO as the SUCCESS story goes… I CAN.. do many things..BUT dear friends the REAL joke is on me… here it is…I’ll say it out loud here online…something that most of my family don’t even know…yes, I, Ilse Maritz, have already failed my Learners licence twice… I can get a job and I can buy a car, a garmin, a camera, I can pass an interview and can work on an island, BUT…a learners licence in aus…. I, once again, KID U NOT!



2010….YOU BEAUTY!!

So as the weather continues to be MISERABLE on the ‘gold coast, and all of the Eastern Australia, where cyclones are up at Lizard Island, I found myself being EXTREMELY nostalgic… missing the snow and America, the Island and the sun, and just life in general at home…looking at pictures of everyone and everything and just realising WOW… what a year…what life… 2010..aaa...what a BEAUty!!! (said like Steve Irwin)

I must say I look back at my friends that I studied with and to all of you, I say WELL-DONE and congratulations… you might not know it but I am so proud of all of you ( I know what you’ve done and where you are at-never underestimate the power of a motor mouth everything tends to come my way ;-) ) on a year of GREAT success…on weddings and travelling and settling and success. Cheers to you, 'Heijke op die maan’! i.e enjoy some cheese and drink a glass of bubbly on the moon ;-) … you deserve it…its 2011 soon and we all survived.

So Christmas this year, I made a ham, yeah MADE it…made it beautiful, and also a little cold soup, which I garnished with a piece of parsley…all I could find… what went through my head…'oooeee…Hennie sal my DOOD maak as hy dit sien!’ ;-)

And to everyone else, I know, 2010 has been a year of AWESOMENESS…new friends, old friends, MORE friends, friends for life, snowing and islands and bush and animals, love and peace, peace and heartache, employed and unemployed. Travelling. Living and longing. Crying and smiling. But most importantly remembering and laughing – laughing laughing and laughing.

I drink ANOTHER glass of Champagne yes, (I have become a champagne Fanatic, morning noon OR night –it just works! ) but yeah (aussie TwAnG!) I drink another one on 2011…on the adventure that it WILL bring us all!!! Hold on kiddies its gonna be SICK!

I pray for your joy, happiness love and success this year, may you chase your wildest dreams and reach your highest goals, and drink champagne while you doing it!


Love. Peace and HaPPiNess.

2010...in a nutshell - it's been real!