5 months 29 days later from my first night in australia..

The last night in Australia couldn’t have been any better. Ben and I had met up in Tanilba Bay near Newcastle on Saturday then made our way to Sydney on Sunday for our flight the next day. We went to grab some dinner and found that there were a lot of gays wandering the streets, not out of place for Sydney but stoked to find that Mardi Gras was still in full swing. It was a beautiful night in the harbor city, Ben hadn’t been before, so his American girlfriend showed him around haha. After I played tour guide around the opera house, we decided to follow the sound of techno, knowing rainbow flags and half naked bodies would soon appear. Sure enough on the other side of the botanical gardens on the harbor was the “recovery dance party”, the parade had been the night before and what other way to get rid of a hang over then drinking more and dancing. Tickets were $140 and not exactly in the budget of Ben and Claire, instead we watched the glitter coated bodies drunkenly dance on their yachts, truly loving life. We walked around to the other side to get the view from the hill and sat and people watched, also taken in the pure positive vibe. Ben and I played “who can find a girl first” and “who’s not gay”, while doing so an Asian man with broken English asked what was going on, and we replied with the name of the party assuming he knew that Sydney is well know for the Mardi Gras. Confused by the name “recovery dance party” he suggested a new name of “friendship party”. Ben laughed and in his aussie voice said, “no mate, it’s the Mardi Gras”. The little Asian men squealed with embarrassment and ran up the hill sheltering his family from the scary gays. I found it quite hilarious, what is it about Asian tourists that make them so damn funny? They take photos in front of EVERYTHING and if a peace sign is not accompanied in the photo, a stern face is.
I decided to have my last aussie beer at the rocks, which is a well known area near the harbor where the workers for the harbor bridge lived during construction. It’s a rad place with an old time feel, laid back bars with live bands, my kind of style. I had a James Squire amber and drank it happily, but paying close attention to the bitter after taste if you know what I mean.
*side note.. ummm best day ever. My lap top is an old dog and that battery doesnt communicate to the charger so it always has to be plugged in. after literally a year it just started working. I’m beyond stoked right now. Wowowowowwww. I’ve had some seriousy good karma come around in the past month, Thanks world!

Australia: the summary

Exactly 5 days until I leave Australia. I will have been here 6 months by the time I board that plane. Its currently the weekend at the Urquhart house in Werris Creek, the sun is shining, the mag pies coo and the geckos stare at me through the screen on the window. All these foreign to my home in the beautiful North West United States, but has somehow become natural. I believe I will have a bit of reserve culture shock when I finally immerse myself back into my own culture, certain words and what side of the road to drive on for starters.

I came to Australia for a few reasons, I bought my ticket on impulse and when I realized what I did a few months later I started organizing my trip which changed about 16 times. I finally set the date to September 3rd and had a plan for when I got there and when I was going to leave. Well that plan changed about 31 times and here I am, its middle of summer in February, my skin is a color that I didn’t know existed, an 8 year old is asking me what a “tortilla” is and I’m watching the Olympics in Australia. You can’t plan anything when you travel, and that’s just the first thing I learned..

I’m learning every day as a 22 year old in a foreign country with no college degree. To be honest I thought I had it all figured out. My summers were devoted to Northeast Maryland where I played capture the flag, sang the moose song and spending countless nights under the stars with people who got it. They understood why we were all there, spending our summers with 7-16 year olds rather then drinking beers at home. I was finishing my pre-reqs at PSU, snowboarding all the time in between class and saving up enough money to travel. Life doesn’t really care what your plan is, and there's nothing you can do to prepare otherwise.

I’m ok at 22 years old that I have realize that I don’t have it all figured out and what I wanted in life a year ago, may not really be what I want now. Damn I feel so naïve.

I thought that coming to Australia would do a lot of things that didn’t happen. I thought that magically ex-boyfriends would disappear from your mind completely, I thought my dad would learn to use the computer so we could keep in touch, and I thought I would obtain this power, a shield type that would protect me from the horrors of the world. Traveling over an ocean doesn’t cure uncertainties or lose ends unfortunately, but none the less my experiences have been amazing and the lessons from those unexpectedly priceless. So what did I get out of dropping out of school, my life and leaving my country for 6 months? A lot..

-I’m ok with loving someone that’s wrong for me
-I don’t like going to clubs as much as I thought: I hate yelling to talk, lack of clothes and cover charges. If I want to dance I’ll go to a bar with music
-I love traveling by myself: being on my own agenda is great. Somedays I was in the mood to find a corner of the beach and camp out with a book, not speaking a word all day. When I was feeling social, meeting friends was easy. Everyone else at the hostel is a backpacker too, and meeting new people is what we do.
-Americans proportions are outrageous: coffee sizes are much smaller, I’ve noticed my addiction has been cut in half because of this
-Chocolate milk can be considered a meal when youre on a budget
-I actually enjoy wine: Thanks to working at a Spanish restaurant that required me to “know” the wines.
-“mate” is my new favorite word of male affection
-It’s ok to be cautious with who you surround yourself with. For me I truly invest in my close friends and hurt when they hurt, I’ve learned that surrounding myself with people who have the same ideals isn’t being judgmental, its healthy.
-I stopped “fixing” people
-I rediscovered my love for reading: I’ve read 10 books while I was here
-Karma exists
-Being positive does wonders
-Rediscovering your childhood is a bizarre experience
-Everyone’s “happy” is different: whether that’s a boat driver for scuba divers or a hippie in Nimbin
-Living simply is humbling: I was forced to throw out a lot of my stuff once I started backpacking. I realized looking the best can be really draining, and actually not caring gave a new sense of freedom.
-There are children in this world that have never experienced the smore
-Someone I admire, admires me.
-There isn’t a single person in the world that doesn’t care what other people think.


I’m coming back to Portland after 10 months of absence. I’m starting over with a new look on things and excited for it. I don’t have it figured out and I’m also ok with that. I do know that I will be a nurse someday and snowboarding is one of the only things that clears my mind. That I have great friends in Portland and more around the world. And of all things that I listed above the most substantial lesson I learned what that everyones happy is different. My happy is most definitely different from others, but that doesn’t make right, or them. A lot of people get suck in their own beliefs and/ or what society tells us is the “right way” to think or live. I admit that I have been somewhat of a victim to that, its hard not to. You learn a lot when you travel and being inspired is up to the inspiree.

Australia: lucky placement

My trip is slowing coming to an end. I think it’s been a perfect amount a time. The smart thing would have been to go home just before Christmas and go back to school for winter term, but that didn’t line with my travel plans. So here I am..

When I needed it most, I somehow scored the most perfect job. My original plan was to traveling down the east coast, end up in Sydney and find a job there. I’d only need it a month before I went to Fiji, so I would have had to lie to employers and say I was staying longer, I hate doing that but I didn’t have a choice. I looked hard for a job and somehow scored one JUST for the month and February and that’s all I needed. I’m nannying for a family with three girls ages 5, 8, and 11. They live in Werris Creek in New South Wales about 40 minutes outside Tamworth. Its very country out here, the driveway is a dirt road that goes through cow country and about 3K’s alone. There’s literally nothing but horses, cows, plowed fields and mountains for miles. I couldn’t imagine having a more fitting job. I get up early and ride all morning, the land is all cow grazing so all the gates are open, there’s a bit of elevation lining the driveway and makes the most amazing view of this farmland, not to mention good trails. They have 5 horses.. one white horses named QC that has become my favorite. A chestnut horse named Bull’s-eye who has ran off on me twice, and in return has gotten his ass worked pretty hard. A black horse named Wasp, we had a bit of a disagreement in the beginning, but are becoming good friends now. A grey dapple named Mischief who I have yet to ride. Lastly a pony named Star-Maker that I’ve only ridden bareback, I can already tell he is a brat, but he’s too cute to get mad at.
My girls are great. Wilha the youngest and predictably attached herself to me. We play superheroes on the trampoline and I tell her stories about the tooth fairy and how she wears a rainbow dress and her favorite food is pumpkin soup.
Darcie is the middle aged one and very mischievous, she tries to get away with things with me because I’m not mom or dad, but I’m not dumb. I laugh at it, because I know I’d do the same. She loves her littlest pet shop toys, which I totally loved when I was her age. We talk pet shop and I let her get away with silly things like throwing noodles on the wall.
Maddie is the oldest being 11 and is extremely responsible for her age, she’s the school captain at her school and always talking about what she’s learning. I haven’t gotten very close to Maddie, but I’m a big fan of her.
Three girls all close in age, it’s an interesting afternoon when they come home from school, and I try to get an activity going before they start picking at each other. I’m usually pretty tried from riding horses and cleaning in the heat all day, it really reminds me of camp. At camp I woke up at 6:30am to feed and groom, then worked all day with them, only to get back to my girls around 5pm and had to get pumped for evening programs. Its not quite camp status at the Urquant house and the food is much better. But it is the same in the sense of being surrounded be things I love and keeping focused. Horses keep my mind clear, working the green horses until they finally pick up the correct lead is extremely rewarding and morning trail rides actually allow me to think about nothing, which is rare. The girls remind me of a time of simple happiness, the beauty of imagination and what I want to do with my life, help others.
Life is very simple out here in Werris Creek, but much needed. Almost two months of traveling the east coast I was always on the go not to mention drunk half the time. Words can’t describe what a phenomenal time I had trekking around beautiful east coast aus, but its good to detox and get ready to come back to reality.

The popular kid, isn’t so popular. Wake up America.

I’ve been on my own for only a week and a half and I really wish I would have backpacked on my own sooner. I love being on my own schedule, meeting new people and seeing whatever I want, when I want. I guess this is a warm up for future travels (I’m already planning my next one, South America. haha). For the future, I’m going to be picky about who I travel with, its not like many of my friends back home travel much anyway, which is part of the reason I’m blogging the following. As expected, I’ve met a lot of backpackers from all over the world in the past month, and in the 100’s of people I’ve met, I’ve only met 3 Americans, all of them only being over here for one month, either break from school or a few weeks off work.
The first American I met, I was really embarrassed for him. It’s only natural for other culture to generalize a country off their experiences. He was a 20 year old male from San Diego, California. He started talking to me at Fraser when we were camping at the aboriginal camp. He noticed that I was wearing rainbow flip flops, a give away for the west coast and asked me what I thought of Australia, I gave him my honest opinion of loving it and asked for his. His response was so stereotypical arrogant American, I nervously looked around to everyone near and hoped they were to drunk to notice him. ‘I mean I don’t know what the big deal is, Australia has beaches and so does California, there’s to many mosquito’s and people are weird, I’m excited to go home in a week. I only came out here because my mom had to go to Brisbane for work”. I quickly drank the rest of my drink and said I needed a refill, I didn’t want to associate myself with him, especially since he was American. Throughout the night when people learned I was American they jokingly (but not) asked if I was ready to go home too, obviously they had met Blake. I felt I had to quickly get on a soap box and preach that not all Americans are that way, it didn’t matter, so I stopped justifying.
The second Americans I met are two girls that I currently share my dorm room with. Being excited they were American girls and backpacking, I started chatting to them. They were nice, and responded to my questions, but quickly grabbed their bags and went for bigger and better things. I tried to talk to them a few more times, but it was a one way conversation for the most part. They were also in Australia for only a month. At night, at all the hostels everyone eats together and gets to know one another, those girls ate together then went to the room, never socializing with anyone else. In the past month I am 100 percent of the time assumed as Canadian and when correcting someone, they are shocked. The response is either “and you’re by yourself” or “you really don’t seem American”. I’ve come to realize through talking to others and seeing it for myself that America sucks as a backpacker…
So listen up America.. for those of you who want to travel, but you’re waiting around for your friends, stop being a baby and go for it on your own. Those of you who go together, stop being babies as well and embrace this opportunity to talk to people, learn about other cultures, and be stoked about being in a new. I am more and more becoming embarrassed of my country, not only because of the numerous bad experiencing other backpackers have had with us, but the image our own country portrays as well. That being Hollywood and politics. I had no idea how influential movies and the media was until coming to Australia. Every person I met asks me at least one “is it really like blah blah blah in the states” (referring to Mean Girls or The OC). That’s obviously not necessarily the American peoples fault, but rather Hollywood. Secondly, our wars. I had no idea how many countrys were involved in Iraq until meeting people from Denmark, England, Germany and Poland that were either going to war in Iraq or have already done their time. America truly is the popular kid of this world, almost everyone gets on her good side because she is so powerful, it’s a bit sad to know so many other country’s are fighting our war. On a brighter side of things, most travelers who bring up politics are stoked on Obama, and he is definitely giving America a better reputation.
I’m annoyed that our country doesn’t encourage travel like others, that we tend to think we are better then everyone and that have set a bad image of ourselves. For the most part I know I’m fortunate to be from America, I just wish there weren’t so many fuck wits. The end.

too easy

On the ferry back from Fraser Island, the anxiety set in, job time. I’m down to $400 at the moment, and if I don’t find a job with in the next week or so, things could get ugly. I see it as a personal failure calling mommy or daddy for money. This is my trip, my choice, my dream and asking for money is not an option unless I have done everything possible to avoid it. The night before Fraser, I made friends with Mark, the manager of the hostel, who said some promising words of a job, I had my fingers crossed.
We all got back to the hostel around 4pm, tried hungry and covered with Fraser Island aftermath, that being dirt, sand, camp fire, goon, beer, fresh water, salt water, mosquito bites and probably traces of dingo hair. Our first thing on the agenda was obviously showers and naps, and then a photo/ music exchange get together a bit later. After we felt human again we swapped photos, reminisced on the trips and talked about our future travel plans. The next morning we said our good byes and that was that.
I found Mark the day before and gave me some contacts in Hervey Bay for a job. I found myself all over town, on the internet and calling people all day. By the end of the day I had three potential jobs! All which said they needed a bit of time to review resumes and talk to bosses. I started chatting to one of the girls who worked at the hostel named Rachel, I asked about her opinion on jobs and what to do in general. Being that it was the afternoon the hostel was slow and so we spent some time researching and sending resumes. It felt amazing to know someone genuinely wanted to help. She kept calling me babe like an older sister, it was cute.
She made arrangements with Mark for free accommodation in exchange for two hours of work a day. This would give me time to figure out my job situation, I thanked them both a million times.. with a smile they both said..

“too easy”

So I found a job that couldn’t be more perfect. A nanny for three girls 5, 8 and 11 taking them to and from school and hanging out with them till their parents get home around 7pm. During the day mom has asked me to keep their ponies in shape! Amazing, hanging out with kids and riding horses, two things I love. food and board is covered so the cash is mine. I couldn’t be happier, don’t you just it when everything falls into place so perfectly? I’ve committed to the hostel until Tuesday, then I leave for Noosa. I stay in Noosa three nights then Surfers Paradise for two nights, then Byron Bay for two nights, and then I fly to Sydney on the 26th. I’ll be there for 3 nights then off to Tamworth for my job. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly since I decided to be on my own, I wish I would have done it sooner. It feels good to be on my own schedule and agenda, everyone else at the hostel is in the same boat, so meeting people is way easy. 40 days till Fiji!!!

*loving life

road trip.. week two

The last couple days on magnetic consisted of snorkelling the many bays to choose from, we made sure to rent a stinger suit because of the jeillys, they look RIDICULOUS, but I would rather not risk getting stung. I laid in the shade because my sunburns and still managed to get a bit red on my back from just scanning the beach for shells.
Moving south
We took the ferry back at 3:30pm and headed for hydeaway bay, a place LJ’s grandpa had recommended. We got there after dark, so not being able to find/ see the ocean we set up camp at a caravan park. LJ and I have turned into grandmas on this trip, we go to bed around 9 or 10pm and wake up between 6 and 7am. Its really not a choice when you’re camping in Australia, the birds have an opera that starts as soon as the sun comes up and being that its summer the tent become a mini sauna not long after the opera starts. Being in this routine, the next morning we had the tent packed away by 7am and made off with a free night stay.. shhh!
We made our standard oatmeal down the road looking over the beach and decided to explore coffee in hand. We discovered that the first 300 meters was shallow coral, shallow as in, no deeper then my knees. We had a nature exploration for the next hour, sea cucumbers, fish, coral, calms and my favourite being scardy cats. Not their real name but I had to name them something. They are this little plants that are red, blue, white, pink or orange, and when you come near them they all retract into their pod, I loved them.. haha.
After our marine life fun, we stopped in Dingo Beach for directions to Airlie Beach where we decided it must be called Dingo Beach because they breed with the dingos. Airlie was beautiful, definitely tourist, but that’s what I am. LJ nonchalant directed me to a booking office to look at all the amazing stuff we could do and next thing I knew I was handing over money. Totally worth what we are getting for our money, but I now have to really watch myself with money.
What we planned? 1 full day on around the Whitsundays, snorkelling, Whitehaven Beach, hiking, lunch all included. The next was Fraser Island, 4 night and 5 days on Fraser with 6-10 other people. We get handed a 4 wheel drive and go for our life exploring the island. Im pumped!!
We had met Chris a week or so back when we were driving up to Townsville. He had given us his address being (Airlie Beach) and phone number and said we could pitch our tent in his front yard if we wanted. We called him earlier in the day and he said we were more then welcome. Chris was great, he greeted us with a beer and introduced us to his two big dogs. We chatted for a good while until Georgie his girlfriend) came home, he asked what we hadn’t eaten since we had been on our trip and our asked we veggies and meat, so that’s what was made. They wouldn’t let us help with dinner at all and were served an amazing meal, after noodles and soup for dinner night after night, this was gourmet to us. They were great conversation, and told us they were more then happy to have guests. Chris being from England, his family is on the other side of the world and Georgie having no family left. We spent the rest of the night on the porch drinking XXXX gold beers and playing with the tree frogs which are 10 times bigger then the ones I’m use to seeing at home.
When we had met Chris the first still just outside Miles, he was driving a huge school like bus. He had just bought it and planned to revamp it into a travel bus that he and Georgie would take all around Australia. That was our sleeping arrangements for the next few nights, which was actually amazing because it didn’t become a suana in the mornings.


Eungalla national park

It was nice to finally have a lazy morning before we headed off to Eungella National Park. Chris made us really coffee (not instant), while we chatted with chain smoker Georgie on the porch. Our GPS who we have just started calling “m” names gets confused, so meridith ended up taking us a funny way. The drive to the park was beautiful, probably my personal favourite scenery thus far. Lush hills, with cows to decorate, mango trees lining the road and a few palm trees mixed into the a country type to spice it up.
The hike into the park was nothing, only about a mile till we got to the falls, which was a good thing since it was so humid. On the way up LJ tried to catch lizards and I kept my eyes on the trees. One of the things I’ve been telling LJ is that I wanted to swim under a waterfall while I was here, well today I got to do that. It was so nice to be back in fresh water that was actually refreshing. We watched the boys jump off the huge rocks a few times before we conquered the boulders. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon staking out a boulder to lay out and read on.
We took a different way home and was even more beautiful then the drive out, LJ was great and ran over all the snakes we saw on the road. Just as we pulled in the driveway Chris was leaving to take the dogs on run, so we went with. They leave across from 100’s of acres of sugar cane fields and take ziggy and mini to one of the cleared fields. The sun was setting which made it all picturesque, it was so nice to enjoy the afternoon, instead of hurrying to throw up the tent, make dinner on our gas stove and get showers in before it got to dark. It was a nice to know that there are good people in this world that still look after one another and that it was totally genuine.

Whitsundays
Jan 7 2010

Georgie works in the harbour right next to the Mantaray docks and offered to drive us so we didn’t have to deal with parking. Being a part of the industry she introduced us to the crew on a more personal level, then gave us a few motherly words and smiles and waved goodbye. The boat was comfortable, large and a smooth ride to Hamilton island reef that only took about an hour. Once we parked the boat a bit off shore we threw on the stinger suits and masks and started for the reef which was a good 300 meters from the boat. Once I got to the reef, I had to stop for a second and just float, take it all in. by far one of the most amazing pieces of nature I have ever seen. Although this once the second time I was snorkelling the GBR this spot was much better and much bigger. We also were allocated more time.
Next stop was Whitehaven Beach, they dropped us on the opposite side of Whitsunday Island, then hike to the lookout and then down to the beach. This is one of those places that’s on all the postcards, in plenty of photography books, magazines and see on the discovery channel. Whitehaven beach has sand like no other beach in the world and is the 4th most photographed place in Australia. This sand has the most silica which is the necessary chemical needed to make high quality lens, so NASA is always trying to get its hands on the white sand. The boat side of the island on the other hand is all coral and shells, I love the contrast.
Of course it was another lovely dinner of salmon with Georgie and Chris followed by Cadbury chocolate, I love life. haha

The Great Australian roadtrip.. week one

LJ and I have been planning this trip since I bought my ticket about a year. We the plan is, is to drive inland all the way to Townsville, Queensland then drive down the coast all the way to Sdyney where we will part ways. The time frame is December 26th-Febuary 2nd(ish). Should be an amazing adventure experiencing the east coast!

Day 1
Just a bit of mud
Dec 26th 2009
Christmas wasn’t quite Christmas this year. Not like I have been much of a holiday person in past years, but still, Christmas means cold, hot chocolate, sugar cookie decorating etc. This year it was about 80 degrees, and I worked. I wasn’t complaining since that meant double wages, yes please and thank you. After work LJ and I drove to Inverloch where her family’s beach house is. After a lovely Christmas with the MacArthurs we left around 10am on the 26th. The first day we drove 7.5 hours to West Wyalong where we planned to camp. Being on a very tight budget we split a less then average café burger and decided to find a side road to camp on. In the process of this we saw a potential spot just off to the side of the local footy ground. By this time it had been raining for a good two hours and everything was quite moist to say the least. Our source of transportation on this trip is a very small mazda purple bubble that we have now named as “Bubsie”. Half around the footy oval we got stuck in the mud. EFF. We called road side service and even they told us that we weren’t getting out.
We made the most of our situation and accepted that this is where we had to sleep. Conveniently the footy field had a three-sided shelter over its bleachers, with one open area at the end big enough for our tent and out of the mud, rain and wind. We even had hot water left in the thermis for some tea, perfect.
The next day we woke up early, the rained had stopped and most of the puddles were gone. LJ and I put our brains together and after a mix of sticks and some sand we found we manage to get ourselves out of the mud! Pretty impressed with ourselves we were.

Just a bit of water
Day 2
Dec 27th 2009
The rain hadn’t left us yet. We were caught in numerous rain storms along the way, even being turned back and having to take a different road. We finally made it to the Warrumbungle national park where it was all blue sky’s. Beautiful camp ground with showers thankfully to wash the mud off from the night before. I was pretty excited about how tame the kangaroos were, so I slept with the kangaroos. Around dinner time the rain started again and so did the lighting, anddddd didn’t stop until the next morning when we found ourselves flooded out. The creek (which was now a river) had risen almost a meter over night. Nothing we could do about it, so LJ took a nap in the car and me on the picnic table. I attempted a friendship bracelet from my camp counsellor days and failed, not to self: even number strings not odd. After using all my phone credit calling every ranger in the area we finally had two rangers come rescue us around 1pm. It had stopped raining for a few hours and the creek already went down. They cleaned the debris from under the bridge and the water dropped even lower. They joked about grabbing the surfboards we had on top of the car if we got swept away, I didn’t laugh. Luckily we made it across and drove for the rest of the day to catch up on time.

Day 3/4
Lots of driving, but it needed to be done. Not gonna lie, it made me smile every time LJ slammed on the brakes not to hit a kangaroo crossing the road. Hah, a kangaroo, crossing the road, amazing. We stopped in another one store, one pub town for breakfast and started chatting to an English guy who now claimed Australia as his home. When we said our good bye he gave us his address and phone number and offered his front yard for us to camp in. We were pretty happy about this because Airlie Beach is a pretty spendy place.
The environment changed slow, but I was happy to see some real outback at the end. No towns for miles, red dirt and short trees. Ant hills in thousands, as high as my waist, cows with lots of skin and kangaroo road kill.

Day 5
Dec 30th 2009
Finally!! After a short 4 hours drive we finally made it to Townsville, Queensland. It’s extremely tropical, rains off and on, but warm enough to take a shower in. Lots of palm trees and plants I’ve seen in Hawaii, not to mention an ocean that you can’t swim in because of the jelly fish. Tonight we are staying in a hostel, and head out early tomorrow to magnetic island for new years!! Full moon party on the beach, should be pretty incredible.

Day 6
Dec 31st 2009
Happy birthday Ben O’neill!! A new years eve baby, you are, have a good birthday.

New years eve! New years eve! It absolutely dumped rained the night before and still continued through the morning. LJ and I had done laundry the night before which didn’t matter now, where it hung wet as ever on the line, so not wanting to add to the collection we threw on our bathing suits and took it down.. haha. We took the ferry over to Magnetic Island in the morning and got to our hostel at base backpackers around noon. This hostel is amazing, huge bar, dance floor, pool, kitchen and laundry. Not to mention its literally ON the beach. I sit here now writing this blog next to the pool which is also next to the beach. Although the ocean up here is packed with jelly fish, which means no swimming, it’s still nice to wake up to the sound of the ocean and look off into the beautiful turquoise water.
We made friends with the other guys camping next to us and had pre drinks outside their tent. After yelling at the Japanese girls that they were lame for going to bed before midnight, we went down to the party around 8pm. The byron bay native we made friends with managed to score some VIP passes for us, which meant access to the pool all night. I wore a dress with a bathing suit underneath so pool time was easy access. Pool toys some how meant the game of who can stay on the longest. Somehow I managed to drown a few skinny Swedish boy but overall I lost at this game often. I met people from France, Sweden, Germany, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, England, Denmark, Switzerland. It was quite global, and it felt great. *btw Rena, sawatsksdf is a province? I didn’t believe this Canadian until he showed me his license. I was stereotyped all night once again, but I’ve gotten to a point where I think its hilarious. Yes, if you don’t shut up I will go get one of my 8 guns and shoot you. We danced, drank, swam, drank, danced, swam and at 5:30am when the sun came up, it decided it was bed time. Happy New years, from Australia.

possums, coffee addiction and cadburry chocolate

possum.

Ben and I were driving around in the country just outside Melbourne when we saw something furry on the other side of the road, Ben pulled over "Lets save the possum, otherwise he will get smushed"! Being human, of course I would save the animal, but the word possum put an image of an American possum in my head. That possum being an ugly grey, pointy nosed, rat tailed pest. When we got to the possum a crow was trying to pick him up, luckily we got there in time and Ben scooped him in his jacket. I was a bit hesitant to look at it, but when I did I saw the cutest animal I've ever seen. Big brown eyes, little paws and ears and mousey fuzz with a long tail that curls at the end! Ben and I took him to the vet and said goodbye, I was really excited to be a part of a aussie rescue.



coffee addiction.

One of the first things I noticed about Australia was that their portions (including coffee sizes) are A LOT smaller then the states. The biggest size they have here would be equivalent to our small. Trying to save money I have been ordering a small or when I'm feeling rich, a medium. Come to find out they only put one shot of espresso in their standard drinks, where as my standard coffee in the states has three shots. Another thing to note is that they don't have drip coffee here, only instant or espresso press. So when at home I'll have the espresso press which is equivalent to one shot of espresso per cup. Anyways, my point being that I have unknowingly cut my coffee addiction in half. I stayed with Ben for a few days and had to get back to Geelong for work so I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 7am to catch the train. I forced a cup of instant coffee and made note to get another coffee after I got to the station. I found a Starbucks and some gourmet coffee shop right next to each other and decided on the Starbucks to give me a bit of home. THEY HAD AMERICAN SIZES :) I was stoked, extra shot skinny vanilla latte please, "is three shots ok?", ummm yea! 30 minutes later my whole body was tingling and my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I hadn't had a caffeine high like that since I worked at Abercrombie during Christmas shopping. Although I love feeling invincible via caffeine I knew I had had to much. But a triple shot latte was my norm at home! So its true, Australia's portion size has cut my addiction in half. Good thing, I'm probably adding a few years back to my life.


Cadbury Chocolate.

perfection. Yes we have Cadbury at home, but turn over the back of it, its owned by the Hershey company, so not REAL cadbury. There are about 10 different kinds of Cadbury and I've tried a majority of them, so amazing. I eat way to much chocolate.

Australia: things I'm missing and things I'm not

Missing:

Noahs bagels.. wheat bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese
Neil Fritzgerald
Oregon beer (Deshcutes, Ninkasi, laurelhurst etc)
TOMS shoes
David Lock
Rock climbing at the Circuit
Cheez its
Pine trees
College football
Snowboarding
Shannon Smith
Thai Peacock (restaurant)
Good Mexican food
Happy hour
My cat Mac
The price of alcohol
McMeninmans


NOT missing:

Cold cold weather
AMERICAN POLICY (health care system, education, economy etc)
Certain Portland residents
Large amounts of homeless people
Having a phone
Parking tickets
Not having any time to read
American radio stations
Anxiety
Pollution
Stupidly large portions when going out to eat
Orange County
Raccoons
Liquor stores closing at 6pm
Obesity
American chocolate
Overly religious people
sales tax

..AKA LOVING..

that Australia is a really green friendly country
Tim tams
Cadbury chocolate
Public transportation
The obsession with footy
ALL aussie animals
The ascents
The yogurt
$2/$1 coins
The nightlife
aussie boy
vodka/soda.. in a CAN

Australia: a job.. I actually enjoy

After a week of fun, I put my head down and went job searching. In two days I dropped off and applied to about 30 jobs. A week later "Black Bull Restaurant" called me for an interview. The interview went great and I started the following Monday. Black Bull is a gourmet Spanish restaurant that has an amazing wine selection as well. Although the shifts are a bit short, I actually love this job. My customers are usually "foodie" couples or a small group of middle-aged friends who love a good glass of red wine.
My night consists of talking to customers, learning about wine, awing over the amazing food as I bring it to the table, accepting the jokes that get thrown at me for being American and speaking the small amount of Spanish I know to Herando. I really enjoy the people I work with and that I'm finally learning how to make coffee. It's nice to not hate going to work, not to push sales on people and to be busy. Retail has been a majority of my work history and I hate it. I hate refolding the same pile of shirts because the store is slow, pushing sales and lying about how amazing that ugly shirt looks, dealing with unruly customers because "the customer is always right" and watching irresponsible moms let their kids use my store as a playground.

So obviously I'm stoked to be working in a restaurant, people come in because they want service, weird. I really enjoy talking to people and my ascent is always a conversation starter. Yay.

Blackbulltapas.com.au

Australian country side with my Australian country boy

After breakfast with Rich and giggling about G-bung madness Ben and I headed out to Bright Monday afternoon. The drive was beautiful through aussie country side complete with vineyards and livestock. We got to Bright around dinner time and went into town to find food which ended up being pizza. The place we went to was BYOB and I was more then happy with that, if I ever open a restaurant I'm definitely having it BYOB, such an amazing idea. Ben use to be on fire crew in Bright and had lived in a loft above a shed behind an old couples house, and that was our accommodation for the next two nights. The loft was adorable, right on the river and a great view of the mountains (which are more like big hills compared to oregon.. hehe). For the rest of the night, Ben and I were cute and just listened to the rain and drank beers.. bliss.

The next day was pretty great. Ben's friend Jeff had heard he was showing an American around Bright and decided to be a part of the hosting and took us to mt. cobbler. WOW. It took us a good hour of winding back road's and pot holes, but it was more then worth it when we got there. Mt. Cobbler had about three waterfalls that we gawked at before actually climbing out on them. When we got to the top we could see the whole valley, it was amazing. I felt special, because not many of the locals knew about this place, let alone a traveling American. After cracking a beer and taking in God's beauty we headed home and on the way back I saw my first kangaroo! It's so odd to me that this foreign animal that would be in a zoo at home runs around wild. It would be like a squirrel or deer to someone in the states, just another back yard animal. None the less I didn't hide my tourist excitement and squealed even louder when I saw a joey in the pouch!
That night we went to Ben's friend Sharpy's for dinner which was pickled pork. Yum. He has two son's, 4 and 6. I still can't get over ascents on little kids, it's so cute. It's good to see that Ben has so many good people in his life that go out of their way to spend time with him.
The next day we had tea with the couple that we were staying with. It's known to neighbors and friends that they have tea at 10am every morning and anyone is welcome. Having tea with a bunch of older people put a smile on my face, I definitely want to do something like that when I'm older. After tea we went for coffee with another couple Ben is friends with, a bit closer to our age this time. After that we walked around Bright which is an adorable mountain town. We made a few more drop in's to say hello to of all Ben's fans, we headed to Ben's dad's in Briagalong. The drive was phenomenal. We took a back road to cut some time and of course for the scenery. Australia has had quite a few forest fires in years prior but is in the process of regrowth, the result, indescribable. Funny how something so beautiful came from something so devastating. Nature is amazing in that way and I definitely felt like I was witnessing something bigger then myself. That is what I love about the mountains the most, the feeling of something bigger then you, powerful and alive. Ben stopped a few times so I could take pictures of this prehistoric looking world. Every few miles my surroundings kept changing drastically, not to mention we didn't see any type of civilization for a good few hours, I felt so alone but a good type of alone, alone and at peace. One of the stops we made was a big open field used during the summer to graze cattle. The air was a different level of clean and fresh, and the clouds looked like they were only a few meters above us, such a feeling of being alive I couldn't help but pinch myself and check that I wasn't dreaming of a place so exhilarating.
The ute took quite a beating from all the pot holes, windy turns and mud so Ben and I pulled over by a river to give the breaks a.. well.. break. Ben being as prepared as he is had a blanket and we were something out of a movie, laying by the river and watching the clouds.
A few miles down we stopped at the Dargo bar for a few beers, which is apparently a well known aussie bar. Inside the walls were lined with "stubby holders" which would be our cozie and of course the staple akubra (the aussie cowboy hat). The only trait that through off the aussie vibe was that baseball was on TV, the angels were playing, so I wasn't complaining. An hour down the road, we got to Briagalong, and went in search of food. Ben and I had started to get in a bad habbit of skipping meals because of all the distractions. The aussies love their fish and chips so I was happy to try their version of fish when my stomach was starting to eat itself. My conclusion of aussie fish and chips? Mo's in Newport, OR is better :) but the aussie still do a good job. Ben's dad's house is an adorable farm house complete with a view and the matching dogs. In the states the typical farm dog would be a collie or lab, but in Australia its the kelpie, looks kinda like a blue healer. Everyone was gone at home except Ben's sisters boyfriend Barry or as Ben calls him.. Bazzo. Bazzo is a tall lanky farm boy with the strong aussie ascent and attitude to fit. I finished off a bottle of champagne, we all played some pool, I sooked because the boys kicked my butt. The next day was amazing, LJ had told Ben that horses were basically my life growing up and that riding was something I didn't get to do very often anymore. Conveniently Ben's dad and sister owned horses! After a reassuring conversation to Erin (Ben's sister) that I was more then an experienced rider we got the go ahead. In my experience of riding horses for 15 years all the men that I met that were my age and knew how to ride were major hicks and obviously not being my type. The whole racism and illiterate thing doesn't exactly float my boat. So when Ben started speaking horse lingo and told me he knew how to ride, he instantly went up in my book. The ride was amazing, it rained off and on but it was still warm out which made it kinda romantic.. haha. The horses were great and I was happy Ben let us get some fun in and ran a bit. Swoop being an ex-race horse and Red being a stubborn follower, we had quite the race. I always forget how much I loving riding until I'm actually riding.
That night Ben and I decided to make dinner for Bazzo as a thank you for letting us crash. So being from California we know how to make some damn good tacos so that was my suggestion. On a side note, I have come to realize how much the Mexican culture is intertwined with the American culture. Every American knows basic Spanish words, can name at least 5 Mexican restaurants with in 5 miles and most likely employs one whether it be a house keeper, gardener or construction. So it was shocking to me when tacos wasn't a common meal and that I got a confused look when I said "no bueno". Anyway, it made me smile that my simple taco meal was a hit for Ben and Bazzo, I'll have to make enchiladas next time :)
The trip over all was perfection, good company, amazing sites and even a great surprise in the end with the ponies. And yes, to all of you at home scratching your head about "this Ben guy", pretty uncharacteristic of me to not be sampling the aussie cuisine, its true. We just fit well at the moment and seems to fall into everything I want, so why not? :)

Driving in an upside down world

Driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road is hard to cope with.. not to mention I have only driven a manual a few times in my life, so I'm not very good at the whole shifting while trying to remember where I need to be on the road. Lj and I were talking about it, and why do some country's drive on the left and other on the right? Well the truth is, is that the left side was originally dubbed as the correct side to ride a horse on and walk because most people are right hand and could draw out their sword on an on comer if necessary. In the late 1700s, the shift from left to right that took place in countries such as the United States was based on teamsters' use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no driver’s seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse and held his whip in his right hand. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons. He did that by driving on the right side of the road. But gues what.. %72 of thr world drives on the right.. so you should just follow the trend Australia and drive on the right side, so I don't have to adjust. Thanks.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone

Rough times are meant to amplify the good times in life. I just wish I could believe that fully when those black clouds find their way into my sunny days. I have a tattoo even that is meant to remind me of whats important and whats worth living for. Three hearts on my wrist, a place I see often that stand for live laugh and love.

Well enough philosophy and a bit more Australia :).. I got to play with pretty birds on Saturday on the way to Shaun's grand final. The birds here are really tropical and make funny noises, I enjoyed being a tourist and feeding them.
AFL(Australian Football League) is similar to rugby in my opinion. I'm missing college football season back in the states and I'm a bit sad about that.. So this game was definitely a good enough to hold me over for awhile on missing football back home. Anyway, after the first two quarters I had a pretty good understanding of the game and I didn't mind looking at the boys who obviously have to stay in good shape for the game :). The end of the fourth quarter, they were down by two goals and ended up making three to win the game, quite an amazing first game I would say. Of course the boys had to celebrate their victory, so LJ, Em and I joined them at their club house. LJ and I drank until 3am and ended up getting home at 5am. They have mixed drinks that come in cans, including something called a pulse which is basically vodka and red bull, so those nasty things kept me up very late. It was fun being a novelty and hearing all the stereotypes about American. Everyone is much more laid back and friendly I continue to find, and I have no problem with that.

After sleeping all day on Sunday, we decided on round two at a bar called G bung. Definitely a Portland kinda bar, minus the copious amounts of broken glass everywhere including places it shouldn't be like in my drink. Yea.. I may be suffer from some internal bleeding for the next few days, no worries, Australia has universal health care.. yay! Dream team (Shaun Liz LJ and myself) never not have a good time so it seems and it was yet another good night. I started to feel a out of my element when people at the bar started talking to me.. note to self, aussies sound EXTRA aussie when intoxicated. LJ had to translate most of the time or I would just nod my head and act like I knew what they were saying. They also play this lovely game where you throw change in someone drink and they have to "skull" it. I'm not up to aussie par with drinking, this is true. So I didn't impress many people when it took me a good 5 minutes to "skull" my beer.At the moment I'm smiling about quite a few things, and it feels good. I can't find very many things that I not only like but love about Australia. I think the only thing I will find myself missing will be the mountains and snowboarding.. but winter in the states hasn't come yet. I'll have to block snow report websites from my computer, I might die if this season is as good as last year.

But when in Rome, do like the Romans. So it looks like surfing will have to replace my first true love for now. Australia summer is close enough!

Australia: finally

After four years of dreaming about coming down under, I’m finally here. My interest for Australia started when I was young with all the unique animals, existing only on that continent. It grew after I met a few aussies and came to learn that there wasn’t an aussie I didn’t like. When I bought this ticket, it was out of spite, anger and frustration going to show that good things can from bad.

Boarding the plane in LA was beyond exciting, I called the people who matter most one last time and I didn’t look back. The 11 hour flight was amazing thanks to a very large ambien cr pill. I slept like a rock for 8 hours straight and woke up with no grogginess. My layover in Fiji went well too, the airport people ushered me through a short cut because I was one of the few that had a continuing flight. I bought a water with a 5 dollar American bill and ended getting back 4.50 Fiji. Nice exchange rate there! The flight from Fiji to Sdyney went well also, I thought it was funny that the fruit that they served us with our meal was all tropical fruit since we had just left Fiji. I got through a majority of 1984 on that flight, finally getting to the good parts of the book. Flying into Sydney I saw the opera house and THAT was something that put a smile on my face. Actually seeing something so famous and monumental with my own eyes was exciting.

So everything was going great..until.. Sydney airport. I had decided at the last second to skip Sydney and go straight to Melbourne to meet up with LJ, so I had to schedule a separate flight. After getting both my bags I went back through the airport to check into my flight with JetStar to Melbounre. When I got to the counter and out my bags on the scale, she said the bags have to be 20kg and mine being a total of 50kg. I said fine, I’ll pay the extra fee, I was surprised they didn’t charge me in LA and it so bound to happen. She got out the calculator (weird I thought) and after a few punches of that she said, “that will be 530 dollars”. WHAT?! How is that possible?? Apparently its 10 dollars A KG that you have extra. Wow. So she pointed me in direction of the storage which I ended up declining because that was outrageous priced as well. So I decided it would be cheaper to throw stuff out then to pay that outrageous fee. So here is this American in the corner of the airport throwing out perfectly good shampoo, shoes, t-shirts etc and putting all my heavy stuff in my backpack to make my bags lighter .This cute Asian girl walked by and I asked her if she wanted my ADORABLE red Steve Maddens (because they weren’t about to go in the trash) and her friend ended up being the same size shoe as me and grateful took them. When I got back to the counter I put my bags up and it totaled to 40kg, perfect! Nope. It was 20kg total, not each!! So I ended up paying 200 dollars to get my fucking clothes to Melbourne. Not happy.

The flight was only an hour and a half and I was more then ready to be there. LJ looked exactly the same and we made quite a seen as we both squealed and jumped on each other at the airport.

LJ, being the thoughtful muffin she is rented a hotel room in Melbourne for two nights, before we headed to Geelong, which is where she lives outside of Melbourne. We quickly got ready and went out to eat at this cute Italian place and paid for it all. We met up with her friends, went bowling and had drinks bought all night! Her friend Liz even brought me vegemite and crackers with my name on it. They were so thoughtful and excited to meet me, it felt good to know that LJ had obviously spoke highly of me to them. We went back to the hotel the first night a bit early, obviously me being tired and expecting to suffer from jet lag with waking up 5 times that night to come. Well let me note I’m the worst when it comes to jet lag, the worst. Even when I went to camp every summer at the east coast it would take me the whole week of staff training to adjust to only a 3 hour difference. Thailand and Europe were obviously worst from that, getting sick both times and always being tired. Well that night I woke up once and slept until 8am. Amazing! That whole next day I wasn’t tired at all, I took a short nap and we ended up going out and everything. I didn’t suffer from jet lag at all!!! It’s honestly a miracle.

The next day LJ and I explored Melbourne which is like.. New York City and Portland had a baby with some Hawaiian roots. I loved it, cafes, art, small restaurants, museums, parks, such a cute city. Lots of culture, clean and old and new buildings just like Portland. The café we ate at also reminded me of Portland with the menu being a bit more gourmet and the décor being modern. At breakfast I learned that coffee doesn’t exist. Only drinks made with espresso which comes in small glass cups, and not your normal porcelain mug, odd.
The rest of the day we walked around, went to a sunday market and enjoyed people watching. We went to the Eureka sky building which is one of the highest buildings in the southern hemisphere. It was quite amazing and a great way to see most of Melbourne. We also went to the art museum and had a good collection including an Andy Warhol. LJ and I shared a sandwich at federation square and threw the extra bread to the birds. We named our favorite seagull Henry, who had quite the talent. He caught the bread where ever we threw it! Haha. After that we went to the "bottle shop" to buy some vodka which was $40 for 700ml which is smaller then our standard bottle (a fifth). I was so shocked, so friends if you want to send me something.. send me alcohol.. haha. LJ and I got ready and met up with her two friends Liz and Shaun and went to the casino where we lost 50 dollars. boo. We met a bunch of boys at the casino who I expected to buy us drinks, but apparently that's uncommon here, I'll have it get use to that.

The next day we headed to Geelong where LJ lives and goes to school. It's a little beach town and a lot smaller then Melbourne. Her house is old and she shares it with two other girls and two fluffy cats. Theres a big back yard with a place to have a garden, which I am very excited about. So far I'm having a hard time going from 95 degree weather to 55 degree weather. Although it's not necessarily cold, its a big change. I love the weather though, it rains for part of the day then its sunny, which makes it very beautiful and crisp. I hadn't seen the rain since I left Oregon, so I was very happy to see it again. Sitting on the wrong side of the car and driving on the wrong side of the road feels extremely awkward as well. It's as though I'm in an upside down world. Even when I wake up in the morning the sounds are different, the birds are more squawky and the cars are more buzzy. All in all, I'm so happy to be here. It's as though LJ and I never left each other and our friendship is still solid and strong. All my worry's have seem to drift away and I haven't thought about home once. It's only been three days and I think I'm already in love with this land of kangaroos.. which I still haven't seen yet.

one way ticket

Right now I'm feeling worried, unsure, scared, hopeful, nervous, annoyed anxious and excited.

I'm worried Australia won't work out the way I want it to, because nothing in my life lately has seemed to do so.

I'm unsure about the people in my life and why I don't seem to relate to most of them anymore

I'm hopeful about the future, about Australia, my love life, and my ultimate dream as becoming a nurse

I'm annoyed with people who don't evaluate themselves and their actions

I'm anxious because its genetic

BUT most of all I'm excited. I'm excited to leave California, to go to a country I have never been to before. To see LJ, a camp friend I haven't seen in two years. To have not have a cell phone. To only have to suit cases full of clothes and essentials. To eat vegemite and to meet new people. To truly be 22 and take adavantage of no commitments and live this life. To leave knowing I have an amazing supportive family and a few good friends at home. To eventually go back to the city I love and start over.

Life sure throws a lot at us. How we deal, is essential. I'll embrace it. Here I come Australia, get ready for me..