Yes I Know, I Have Horrible Blogging Skills

    Well this is quite the overdue blog post. Things have been quite a whirlwind since I left Sydney, both good and bad, and every time I sat down to write a post I didn't even know where to begin. 

    Last I left off I was ready to depart for a tour of Kangaroo Island and The Great Ocean Road, so I suppose I will begin there. After spending a day in Adelaide (which was all I really needed there) I was picked up at the crack of dawn to make the long drive and ferry ride over to Kangaroo Island. Over the course of two days our tour guide drove us through basically the entire southern coast of the island. Yes, I saw lots of kangaroos (as well as ate some for lunch one day, which was surprisingly fairly good), as well as koalas, echidnas , lizards and wallabies--but I didn't eat those! I also took a crack at sand boarding and kayaking. The tour group itself was a disappointment, mostly comprised of older Germans who refused to speak English (as I have learned seems to be the unfortunate trend in Australia among the abundance of German travelers), as well as a group of 4 Irish siblings who decided off the bat that they wanted nothing to do with my friend and I. Fortunately I did the tour with a friend I had met in Sydney, and we had a fabulous time together goofing off, enjoying ourselves, and not really being bothered by the other lame tour-goers :) 

     Following the two days on Kangaroo Island, my friend Stacey and I were again picked up at the crack of dawn to make the trip along the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne. Luckily this tour group was filled with many more young travelers, and Stacey and I immediately fell into a group of really amazing people. Ironically enough the 4 Irish siblings were on this tour as well. Their first priority was to inform everyone on the tour group what awful people Stacey and I were (mind you they didn't speak one word to us on Kangaroo Island). But as these things tend to go, people were generally turned off by their harsh cattiness and didn't think twice about befriending Stacey and I. The Great Ocean Road mainly consisted of a lot of driving, a lot of stopping to look at rocks in water, one absolutely amazing hike up the Grampians and a lot of late nights bonding over copious amounts of wine & beer. But minus the little sleep I got, and the 630am wake up calls I painfully struggled through, I had an amazing time. 

    After driving the entirety of the Great Ocean Road I arrived in Melbourne. I was immediately excited for a fresh start in a new city, and a lot of my friends from the Great Ocean Road stuck around in Melbourne for about a week so I got to continue having some fabulous times with them. Unfortunately though, the first hostel I stayed at in the center of the city was awful. The people were so unfriendly, the bathrooms were horribly dirty and it was in a pretty awkward location in relation to the center of the city. Luckily I tried to spend as little time as possible in the hostel, but the negative vibe from the hostel really began to wear me down. It's hard to explain how a hostel could have such a huge impact on your trip to a city, but as a solo traveler hostels are the main source I have for meeting people, especially without a job. And as I began to spend more time staying in the hostel I just got more and more lonely as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my time in Australia. Nothing seemed to be falling into place as I wanted it to anymore, and I just started to feel really lost. 

     A few days into my time in Melbourne, I got an email from my program office about hospitality job openings in Perth. I had never even considered going to Perth, but the opportunity seemed like something I should explore so I sent off my resume. I was instantly asked to set up a Skype interview and from there I was offered the job on the spot. The job is a 3-6 month position as a barista at the Rydges Hotel that pays really well and will give me consistent hours. I think the lack of stability combined with the constant confusion of what I really want to do here has started to drag me down, so I am hoping this job will give me some stability and a sense of purpose each day.

      I decided to spend another week in Melbourne before I left for Perth, but at a different hostel a little bit outside of the city in Melbourne's beach town of St Kilda. While the hostel was better then the previous one, I still didn't love it. Part of that may have entirely been me. I think once I decided to go to Perth I just kind of gave up on trying in Melbourne. Which in hindsight I think means I probably spent a little too long in the city. I think another component is my utter exhaustion with living in hostels. I have been staying in them for two months now, living out of a suitcase, and I am honestly sick of it. I just want my own space and my own home and a much more stable life with some stable friends. 

     So here I am, in Perth, crossing my fingers that a new city with a new job will help me get out of this funk I've slipped into. I never came to Australia to be a backpacker jumping from one place to the next on my own, and I am still not sure that that's even what I want to do. But in Perth I won't necessarily be a backpacker anymore and I can try out the living and working thing, which was always my plan from the beginning. I am trying to go there with an open mind and just let whatever comes to me come. But I also know Perth won't necessarily be the answer to the hard times I've been having. And maybe nowhere in Australia will be. But all I can do is give this opportunity a chance, and see what comes from it, and go from there. So stay tuned. At the very least I expect Perth to clear my head a little and give me more a sense of what I want from this trip and from this stage of my life. And I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes next.

    And of course, a few pictures to add to all the million words I just threw at you :)

For Those of You Not on Facebook...

Just thought I would post a few more photos of what I have been up to in Sydney. They are all on Facebook, but for those who aren't friends with me on facebook (or don't use facebook) I thought you might enjoy a few visual pieces of entertainment with me and some amazing Aussie animals :D

Not much else to report as of now. Today is my last day in Sydney, and then I am off to start my next adventure tomorrow. I am definitely excited for a change of scenery, a new place to explore and new people to meet! Once I get all settled into Melbourne, and after my trip along the Great Ocean Road, I will update a post with pictures and details about my latest adventure!

A Change of Plans

    I suppose to start this blog post off, I should first apologize for the lack of blog entries that past few weeks. Things have been quite a whirlwind of ups and downs and trying to figure everything out. And the biggest obstacle I have faced up to this point has probably been realizing I need to to let go of my expectations from coming to Australia and be willing to readjust my plans.
    I initially came to Australia with the idea that I was going to move here. I would find a place to live, and a job, and maybe a nice group of Australian friends and I would make a semi-permanent life here for the next twelve months. I never intended to be a backpacker, nor did I pack with the logic that I might be lugging my stuff all over this massive country. I picked Sydney with no rhyme nor reason (it was always Sydney vs. Melbourne and Sydney has nicer weather so that was the final deciding factor) and I didn't think it really made a huge difference which city I was in. I was going to be in Australia so there was no way I wouldn't love every part of this country.
    When I first showed up to this hostel in Sydney I was terrified. I didn't know a single person, it seemed like everyone was settled into a group of friends, and I had no idea what I was doing. And as I slowly gained more confidence, met more people and settled into Sydney I started to feel more comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that I have been living @ the same hostel for a month now. And while the city of Sydney never stole my heart (definitely not the way Rome did), I was so intent on making Sydney work out the way I wanted it to because I just couldn't stand the thought of showing up in another new city and not knowing a single person again.
     Four days ago I hit my one month mark of being in Sydney and I have come to the realization this city is not quite working out for me the way I want it to. Finding an apartment seems impractical unless I want to live with ten other backpackers crammed into a two bedroom apartment. There seems to be more of an abundance of backpackers and immigrants then there are Aussies. And most importantly I think I have just found myself in a rut here in Sydney. So I have come to the conclusion that it is definitely time for a change of scenery.
    In one week I am going to be leaving Sydney and heading down to Melbourne. Due to a small SNAFU with my hostel booking (combined with a huge music festival the weekend I arrive) I had to add a little adventure to my trip before I actually stick around in Melbourne for awhile. So before arriving in Melbourne I will head over to Adelaide and do a two day tour of Kangaroo Island followed by a three day trip along the Great Ocean Road which goes from Adelaide to Melbourne. After this trip I will arrive back in Melbourne where I have a hostel booked and will see where it goes from there.
    I do need to find work sometime in the near future, so finding work in Melbourne would be ideal. However, I don't want to go to Melbourne with any expectations this time. I'm not going to show up and immediately figure out where to work and where to live. I think my first priorities need to be getting a lay of the land, figuring out what Melbourne is like and just letting myself figure out if I really like the city. If I do love Melbourne, then I will stay for awhile, work a bit and hopefully find a flat that is cheaper than living in a hostel. And if I don't like Melbourne then I am just going to move on to another city. Lucky for me, Australia is a massive country and I have no doubt that there's a city for me here somewhere that is just waiting for me to fall in love with it :)

Learning the Life of a Sydneysider

    As I start to settle into life in Sydney, I try to remind myself every day to take things as they come and not build my plans around expectations. Some days this is harder than others, but I try to remind myself to just take it day by day and enjoy every minute.
    Surf Camp was quite an experience. The days consisted of eating, surfing, sleeping, eating, surfing, eating, sleeping, repeat. While I was exhausted at the end of the day, it was a lot of fun. I was able to stand up on the board a few times, had some cute Aussie surf coaches to help me along the way, and made some really good friends. I am not sure if I will take up any more surfing while I am in Oz, but it was definitely an experience I am glad I had. Never again will I be able to say that I surfed the waves on the Australian East Coast :) Below are a few shots of me in action!

         Upon returning back to Sydney, my goal has been to find an apartment. However, this is a more stressful task then I initially anticipated. Many apartments inside the city center are filled with 8-10 people in a two bedroom apartment and most of the flat mates are backpackers, not Aussies. I don't think that is exactly what I am looking for, so I have asked my program to help me pick some suburbs outside the city to continue my search. I am trying to find another solo traveler, or two, who is in the same boat as me and who wants to apartment hunt together. If I have a group of two or more, my program will set me up with this housing program that takes you and your friends around the city to furnished, affordable apartments. So that is currently the route I am trying to go as I try to find a place to live. Although I initially hoped to be out of the hostel within a week, it seems I may have to get used to hostel life for a bit longer as I apartment hunt.
    Aside from the recent events, things are good here in Oz. Since I have nothing else extremely exciting to report, I think I will end some post with a few pictures of what I've been up to. Yay! Enjoy ;)

My First Almost Week in Sydney

     Some mornings I wake up and have to pinch myself as a reminder that I am actually here in Sydney. It's still pretty unreal to me, and generally it's moments when I am looking at the Opera House or listening to all the Australian accents around me that I remember where I am. But here I am. And while it's been a week since I left (and a little less than 7 days of actually being in Sydney) things are less and less overwhelming each day.
     This past week has been a whirlwind of sight-seeing, walking around the city, meeting people and remembering what hostel life was like. Aside from the now-and-then homesickness that creeps up on me every once in awhile, I have been keeping busy and having a lot of fun.
     On my first full day in Sydney I had my orientation with the Work and Travel Company. This program has a really nice facility in the center of the city with free wi-fi, a travel desk which provides help with planning any trips around Australia I may want to take and a job resource center that is responsible for helping to place me with any temporary work that may come up. I have kind of put the job hunt on hold for the first few weeks while I'm here and trying to embrace the holiday part of my adventure and let myself be on vacation. After working for so long saving up for this trip. I think I deserve a little vacation before I jump back into the working world! Aside from the logistical help, the Work and Travel Company also serves as a resource for any help I may need with setting up a life here in Sydney--from finding a place to live to dealing with being homesick and so far away from home. It's actually very reassuring to know that at the end of the day, if I needed somebody to help me with any obstacle I feel like I can't handle on my own, they could help me out.
     The rest of my days here in Sydney have been spent purely exploring the city and meeting people. I took a tour of the city, I lounged around the beach for a couple days (sunbathing and playing in the ocean in January? Amazing!) and I may or may not have shopped just a little bit. :) The hostel I am staying at has so far been a pretty solid resource for meeting people. There's a cafe out front where there are always people from the hostel hanging out at, there's a few common tv/internet hang out rooms, and there's a bar in the basement that gets pretty wild later at night. I am in the "backpacker's ghetto" of Sydney, so pretty much wherever I go within a 1 mile radius I am destined to meet other backpackers who are doing the same thing I am.
    Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you are reading this post) I am going to a 5-day Surf Camp. This camp takes me and a group of 60 people two hours outside of Sydney to a private beach where we surf all day and really get a good grasp on the sport. Everyone stays together in beach cabins that are only a few hundred feet from the beach, and every morning and every afternoon we are split into smaller groups of 8 and we are taught to surf. Who knows, maybe by the end of this camp I will be a pro surfer! However, if that doesn't happen, the best part about this camp will be that it is the same group of people for 5 days straight (not like a hostel where people are always coming and going) and I will be put into a situation where meeting people is almost forced on you.
   Anyways, this has been a kind of broad overview of what has been going on with me here in Sydney. I hope that those who have been wondering, especially after my last less-positive post, have had their curiosity filled for the time being. The next post will probably be after surf camp, so I will be sure to give some more updates then! Hopefully I'll have some pictures uploaded next week as well, so for those who just want to skim my ramblings, there will be a visual to go along with! G'day!

Reporting from Sydney

    G'day mates! For all those who don't know, or didn't guess, I have made it to Australia. 14 grueling hours later and I'm officially hanging out with the Aussies. Despite my anticipations about the miserable plane ride, it wasn't all that bad. Luckily I was able to half sleep/half doze for about the first 8-10 hours and after that the time flew by fairly quickly. Needless to say, I wasn't as miserable as I figured I would be. So that's the good news :)
    So after experiencing my first full day of Sydney, and the best word to describe it would be overwhelming. I am staying at what looks like a pretty fun hostel. It is located in what seems like the center of the city--although I haven't really gotten a good lay of the land yet, so I may be wrong. The hostel is pretty large (7 stories of rooms of bunk beds in all) and is full of people all traveling and/or looking for jobs and pretty much doing what I'm doing. But arriving by myself, with no wing man or friends already waiting for me, I have to say it's pretty intimidating. And although I am sure plenty of people probably know exactly how I am feeling, from the outside it seems like everyone is settling in with ease and I just feel like a deer in the headlights. I definitely find myself feeling very alone. Which is ironic given how many people I'm surrounded by. I've met a few people so far, and hopefully that list will begin to grow, but after just the first day I find it hard to be optimistic. In reality, I am far more homesick then I anticipated I would be. I know this is just something I have to give time and let things fall into place, but it's definitely hard to find the calm in knowing things will work out when everything feels so big and over my head.
    Today, I have my orientation with the program I came here with. I am hoping that this will help clear things up for me. I was jet-lagged and exhausted yesterday so I kind of holed up, so hopefully today I can explore and wander around and keep my mind off of the homesickness and the overwhelming feeling that felt like a gray cloud over my shoulder yesterday. Hopefully the next post will entail a little more excitement. G'day for now!

Airline Rant

     So as today was my last day of work at Peet's, it really hit me that my trip is just around the corner. While I am ecstatic that my barista days under horrible management are finally behind me (with a good chunk of hard earned money to speak for it all), there is no more time to be too tired from those early 6am shifts to procrastinate any longer. It feels like there is still so much left for me to do to get ready to leave, but in just 18 days (ready or not) I will be flying across the Pacific Ocean. Emphasis on the flying situation.
     As some may know, as a graduation present my parents gave me a round trip ticket to Australia. It was great to know that they actually supported my trip (regardless of their sly comments about how I should just stay and hang out with them in California) and this gift meant one less cost for my dream trip that I've been working so hard to save for. And while I do very much appreciate this gift, it meant that if dad is paying he's choosing how I get there. And unfortunately that means using miles and flying on what I consider the jankiest airline ever--United.
     This is a flight of 14 hours and 37 minutes. I can't even comprehend what one person is supposed to do on a metal tube in the air for 15 hours. It would be nice if the airline provided some sort of entertainment help to assist the passengers in maintaining their sanity on such a long flight. But no, not United. As an economy passenger (including economy PLUS), that would just be asking way too much. So what do they give you for the almost 15 hours you're flying with them in economy? Some booze, some dinner, and FOUR MOVIES. Four movies?! Seriously?! And what do they plan to do for the 6 or 7 additional hours once the four movies run out?? Do they make a bowling alley down the aisles? Or should I just twiddle my thumbs once my laptop battery dies? Because, oh, did I mention, plugs for your laptop are only available in business and first class. Apparently, as United was "updating" their airplanes, they couldn't be bothered to move behind business class to install some extra plugs. Did they think us economy folk just happen to have these magical laptops that stay charged for 15 hours? Or maybe, they thought, that if you're flying in economy you just don't get bored. I beg to differ. I'm lucky they're even giving me some free wine to help me try to get an hour or two of sleep.
     Oh Qantas Airlines, how I wish I could fly with you. Qantas has over 500 movies and 250 television shows to choose from in the on-demand entertainment that is provided to the entire plane--including economy! Did I mention that Qantas even has a self service snack bar?  I guess it's official. Australia must really be better then America, all the way down to their airlines. I expect this to probably be one of the most painful 15 hours of my life thus far. And while I know a year in Australia will immensely outweigh the horrendous flight I must suffer through, those 15 hours are still required of me to even begin my adventure.
     And so ends my rant; everything will be positive from here on out, I promise! (And Dad/Mom, if you're reading this, I promise I do totally appreciate the plane ticket, even if I am flying on disgusting United).