well - the journey has begun. i have made it all the way to byron bay - though only a mere 12 hours (by bus) away, i feel as though i have entered another country. one run by hippies.
but before i get into that, i suppose i should backtrack to the great adventure it has been to date. my last few moments in sydney consisted of saying goodbye to bondi beach, watching a few last-minute aussie shows (bondi rescue, neighbors and palm beach) and then heading off to meet ariana. we had decided to finally get to one of the moonlight cinema shows playing at the local park. this was something that had been going on every night for the past few months and it's any wonder why we didn't get there sooner.
paying the price one would normally fork over to go to a regular movie theatre, we bought tickets that allowed us into a secluded section of the park and laid out blankets on the grass to sit on. okay, we forgot the blankets, so we laid out beach mats instead. nice and bamboo-ey for the bum. at least our tickets came with complementary cardboard "chairs" to limit the chance of back kinks at the at of the night. when we managed to figure out how to set them up, they resembled something of a make-shift toilet seat instead.
we settled into our seating arrangement and dug into our personal supply of wine, chips and dip. wine was, after all, a whoppin $8 a glass if bought there. good thing i'm not much a fan of it to begin with. beside us the VIP seats got complementary drinks for the show along with their own personal beanbag chair. for the rest of us common folk it would cost $7 for such a comfort. i chose to stick with my cardboard toilet.
eventually the giant inflatable screen came up and the sun set. we were ready. as it happened, paranormal activity was playing that night - something of which went nicely with the evening bats screeching in the background. we settled in to be slightly terrified. my last night in sydney couldn't have been better.
after the movie ariana dropped me off at the bus stop. the bus came. i got on it - surprise, surprise. we were off for an 8 hour overnight journey to coffs harbour - a city north of sydney. i put on my seatbelt (first time i've ever had to do that in a greyhound bus), inflated my neck pillow, put in the earplugs and secured my sleeping mask over my eyes. i was set for the night and failed at my attempts to not think of how ridiculous i must have looked to others as i tried to get some sleep. it worked - kind of.
eventually we made it to coffs harbour at which point i hitched a ride with another hostel curtesey bus to get to my hostel. it was 8am and i couldn't check in so i walked around and checked out the beaches. then i checked in and went out to walk some more. i hit up the main town, the botanical gardens and then back for some din-din.
the next day was more of the same only i made it all the way to the "big banana." it was yellow and completely and utterly unnecessarily gigantic. i went there with the sole purpose of getting a picture. i did. and then i had a banana smoothie as i gazed at the big banana and wondered who in the world thought of the brilliant idea to start australia's curse of the "big things" phenomenia. apparently it started as something to attract tourists, but now it is a big joke among tourists and most australians simply grow red with shame that they are still standing. or at least that was my experience with the big banana. check out more of the "big things" at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia's_big_things
that pretty much summed up my journey through coffs harbour, and today i made my way to byron bay. a city defined by its exotic scenery, hippie lifestyle and endless stream of travellers - i fell in love at first sight. that and i was completely happy to be getting off the bus. while waiting for the curtesy van to take me to the hostel, i met a fellow traveller heading to the same place. sarah and i hit it off and spent the day settling into byron bay...... i'll save the details for another day. enjoy the pictures in the meantime!
so long, farewell
2 more days. my time is running out. what is left on the clock i have been filling with the "last" experiences i may ever have in sydney. who knows when i will be able to sink my feet into sand so soft it is like silk against my skin. who knows when i will be able to walk down the street in barefeet and have no one raise an eyebrow. who knows when i be able to live in a flat only a 2 min walk from the shoreline. who knows when i will be back again.
yesterday was my last day working at nino's. my last day working at a juice bar that overlooks the ocean. my last day working with people who have become my friends in the last 5 months. my last day serving regular customers who have become my family. i said goodbye to it all.
today was the day i moved out of my flat. i packed up my trusty green pack and walked out, closing the door for the last time. i have officially re-entered the world of nomads. no home. no keys. no job. nothing aside from the excitement of knowing that everyday will be a new adventure of self-discovery. it may sound a little cheesy - but i'm not going to lie - it's true.
it's wierd to be saying goodbye to sydney... as much as i know it is not "home," it feels that way just the same. it has become my home. i have friends here. i had a job. i had a flat. i had so much and now i have to give it up again and say goodbye to that of which i now love. i know there is more out there - i am incredibly excited to continue on my journey to see the rest of australia. but it is still sad to have to leave all that i have found good here.
one customer who is a frequent regular at work (bob) commented that my leaving meant it was the "end of an era." i don't know so much about that as i think the definition of an era would have to be a significantly longer time than 5 months, but even still it is hard to know that people from sydney will miss me as much, if not more, than what i will miss them. goodbye's are hard. they are harder when you know there is a very small chance you will ever see each other again.
even still - i am happy to be on the move again. excited, really. there are so many memories from sydney i will bring with me as i go. things such as living in a hostel for a month. the endless search of flat-hunting. doing a day-trip to the blue mountains. endless days lying on the beach. meeting thousands of people from all over the world. watching "bondi rescue" on tv and knowing i was just at the beach a moment ago. learning to surf. making hundreds of freshly squeezed juices at work. walking in the rain. running the coastal walk. trying out the numerous beaches that line sydney. playing tennis into the evening as bats fly overhead. seeing the sun rise over the ocean horizon. watching dolphins play in the rolling waves. eating sushi. dealing with a break-in, power outage and a fire alarm at work (all within a few weeks). and the list goes on....
and now, as i switch gears, i can only imagine what is out there for me to still experience. so many people to meet. places to see. food to eat. things to do. i know i won't be able to fit in all it, but it's going to be so much fun trying!
yesterday was my last day working at nino's. my last day working at a juice bar that overlooks the ocean. my last day working with people who have become my friends in the last 5 months. my last day serving regular customers who have become my family. i said goodbye to it all.
today was the day i moved out of my flat. i packed up my trusty green pack and walked out, closing the door for the last time. i have officially re-entered the world of nomads. no home. no keys. no job. nothing aside from the excitement of knowing that everyday will be a new adventure of self-discovery. it may sound a little cheesy - but i'm not going to lie - it's true.
it's wierd to be saying goodbye to sydney... as much as i know it is not "home," it feels that way just the same. it has become my home. i have friends here. i had a job. i had a flat. i had so much and now i have to give it up again and say goodbye to that of which i now love. i know there is more out there - i am incredibly excited to continue on my journey to see the rest of australia. but it is still sad to have to leave all that i have found good here.
one customer who is a frequent regular at work (bob) commented that my leaving meant it was the "end of an era." i don't know so much about that as i think the definition of an era would have to be a significantly longer time than 5 months, but even still it is hard to know that people from sydney will miss me as much, if not more, than what i will miss them. goodbye's are hard. they are harder when you know there is a very small chance you will ever see each other again.
even still - i am happy to be on the move again. excited, really. there are so many memories from sydney i will bring with me as i go. things such as living in a hostel for a month. the endless search of flat-hunting. doing a day-trip to the blue mountains. endless days lying on the beach. meeting thousands of people from all over the world. watching "bondi rescue" on tv and knowing i was just at the beach a moment ago. learning to surf. making hundreds of freshly squeezed juices at work. walking in the rain. running the coastal walk. trying out the numerous beaches that line sydney. playing tennis into the evening as bats fly overhead. seeing the sun rise over the ocean horizon. watching dolphins play in the rolling waves. eating sushi. dealing with a break-in, power outage and a fire alarm at work (all within a few weeks). and the list goes on....
and now, as i switch gears, i can only imagine what is out there for me to still experience. so many people to meet. places to see. food to eat. things to do. i know i won't be able to fit in all it, but it's going to be so much fun trying!
all in the name of adventure
time is ticking and the moment is getting nearer - the moment of which i pack my single bag and set off on another journey. exactly 3 weeks from now... a mere 21 days and i shall be off. what i will see, experience, put into memories i do not know. all i know is that i am fortunate enough to have 2 awesome friends to share my adventures with.
the "plan" (it seems to change everyday) is to set off on a 5 day solo journey up the coast to where i will meet my friend ariana in brisbane. from there we pick up our oh-so-cool retro campervan and drive our way further north untill we reach cairns. at that point (10 days from when we meet in brisbane), we'll fly back to sydney... and then it's "part 2" for me. i will pretty much meet up immediately with anika in another super cool campervan and we will go south, taking in the rest of new south wales, victoria, tasmania, south australia, and then, finally western australia. and, no - we won't forget the sandy desert of the outback. 5 weeks later we hope to make it to the uber amazing city of broome - a place most don't even bother to see. a place i didn't even know existed until i came here.
and that is all the details i can give at this point as, on both trips, we haven't a clue of what we will actually be doing. it will be an adventure of the unknown. an adventure where we can spread our wings and drive a country so spectacular that a couple months won't even fit everything we hope to do.
but before i get ahead of myself here... it is still the planning process for my newest adventure to be. i find it so incredibly fascinating to be thrusted into planning for a journey when it is not just my thoughts, desires and needs have to be met - but that it is also about what my friends want to do as well. so many decisions to make. so many discussions. so many phone calls, text messages and emails. so much time going back and forth on what we want to do, bring, see that sometimes i forget why we are even doing it to begin with.
it is not like my last adventure that was on my own - solo. i only had myself to think about... sure, sometimes that had it's downfalls in the fact that there was no one to make sure i had everything covered. i simply had to do it all myself. and yet, at the same time - i could do it all my way and make decisions in half the time than what it takes to think of an idea, get in contact with the other person, talk to them about it, see if they want to do it to, give them time to process and then maybe (or maybe not) they will be on board as well. if they're not, it's most likely because they now have an idea of their own that they want to run past me and then i have have to sit down and think about if i would be game for that. the amount of times ariana and i have gone back and forth on whether we want to start in cairns or start in brisbane is endless... and even as i write this i know we are not 100% certain as we still have to officially book flights.
and even more so - the last time i did this much planning, i was heading off to the mountains for an unknown amount of weeks. all i had was the pack on my back. i was more concerned with making sure i had enough bandaids and photocopies of my backcountry maps than i was with ensuring we get the best-suited painting on the side of our campervan. back in june, i was busy selling my possessions and airing out my tent on my living room floor as i contemplated the maximum amount of food i could squeeze into my over-packed bag. now i am trying to determine whether i would rather go white-water rafting down the tully river (queensland) or do a sunset camelback ride in broome. so different and yet so the same.
then there is the budget. how to fit everything in and still leave the assurance that we won't end up singing and dancing for spare change on the streets of some foreign city so we can just make it back "home" again. and what happens when anika and i head off and one of us falls in love with a place and simply does not want to continue on? what happens if we decide we simply don't like each other's company anymore? but more importantly, what will we eat in our '70s style campervan? so many questions, so little time.
and yet - through all this planning, preparing and (hopefully) coming to an agreement on what our adventures should be like... i know it will be awesome. it already is. dreaming about it is half the fun - knowing that the possibilities of what we encounter out there are endless and that we will be there to experience it all to the full. to see it. to smell it. to taste it. to be it. it all awaits - 3 weeks away and i wish it were today....
(coastal sandstone, maitland bay, bouddi national park, new south wales, australia)
the "plan" (it seems to change everyday) is to set off on a 5 day solo journey up the coast to where i will meet my friend ariana in brisbane. from there we pick up our oh-so-cool retro campervan and drive our way further north untill we reach cairns. at that point (10 days from when we meet in brisbane), we'll fly back to sydney... and then it's "part 2" for me. i will pretty much meet up immediately with anika in another super cool campervan and we will go south, taking in the rest of new south wales, victoria, tasmania, south australia, and then, finally western australia. and, no - we won't forget the sandy desert of the outback. 5 weeks later we hope to make it to the uber amazing city of broome - a place most don't even bother to see. a place i didn't even know existed until i came here.
and that is all the details i can give at this point as, on both trips, we haven't a clue of what we will actually be doing. it will be an adventure of the unknown. an adventure where we can spread our wings and drive a country so spectacular that a couple months won't even fit everything we hope to do.
but before i get ahead of myself here... it is still the planning process for my newest adventure to be. i find it so incredibly fascinating to be thrusted into planning for a journey when it is not just my thoughts, desires and needs have to be met - but that it is also about what my friends want to do as well. so many decisions to make. so many discussions. so many phone calls, text messages and emails. so much time going back and forth on what we want to do, bring, see that sometimes i forget why we are even doing it to begin with.
it is not like my last adventure that was on my own - solo. i only had myself to think about... sure, sometimes that had it's downfalls in the fact that there was no one to make sure i had everything covered. i simply had to do it all myself. and yet, at the same time - i could do it all my way and make decisions in half the time than what it takes to think of an idea, get in contact with the other person, talk to them about it, see if they want to do it to, give them time to process and then maybe (or maybe not) they will be on board as well. if they're not, it's most likely because they now have an idea of their own that they want to run past me and then i have have to sit down and think about if i would be game for that. the amount of times ariana and i have gone back and forth on whether we want to start in cairns or start in brisbane is endless... and even as i write this i know we are not 100% certain as we still have to officially book flights.
and even more so - the last time i did this much planning, i was heading off to the mountains for an unknown amount of weeks. all i had was the pack on my back. i was more concerned with making sure i had enough bandaids and photocopies of my backcountry maps than i was with ensuring we get the best-suited painting on the side of our campervan. back in june, i was busy selling my possessions and airing out my tent on my living room floor as i contemplated the maximum amount of food i could squeeze into my over-packed bag. now i am trying to determine whether i would rather go white-water rafting down the tully river (queensland) or do a sunset camelback ride in broome. so different and yet so the same.
then there is the budget. how to fit everything in and still leave the assurance that we won't end up singing and dancing for spare change on the streets of some foreign city so we can just make it back "home" again. and what happens when anika and i head off and one of us falls in love with a place and simply does not want to continue on? what happens if we decide we simply don't like each other's company anymore? but more importantly, what will we eat in our '70s style campervan? so many questions, so little time.
and yet - through all this planning, preparing and (hopefully) coming to an agreement on what our adventures should be like... i know it will be awesome. it already is. dreaming about it is half the fun - knowing that the possibilities of what we encounter out there are endless and that we will be there to experience it all to the full. to see it. to smell it. to taste it. to be it. it all awaits - 3 weeks away and i wish it were today....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
