Goin' Down Under

Remember that guy I mentioned earlier about him convincing me to go visit him in Australia? Well, this is about that time..

One of my favourite spots in Bondi

I flew out from Vancouver, BC because one of my bestfriends and I spent our birthdays together snowboarding up in Whistler. It was an amazing week and after, I left all my riding gear and winter clothes with him as I left for Australia.

Travel tip: It was cheaper to buy 2 round trip tickets separately. I bought a round trip from Toronto to Vancouver with WestJet, taking me there BEFORE Australia and taking me back AFTER Australia. Then, I bought a round trip from Vancouver to Sydney with Air NewZealand. In the end, I stayed in Vancouver for one more night before heading back home to Toronto. That way, I was able to bring my riding gear, leave it and pick it up on my way back home. Also, if you're traveling for a ski trip, make sure you book with an airline that does NOT charge for sporting goods! I had no idea about that but luckily WestJet is one of the airlines that doesn't charge you.

W @muscle_up_mike

He picked me up from the airport as I landed in Sydney at around 8am. All these years I've been dying to go to Australia and I was finally there! The first thing he made me do.. was help him move from one apartment to the other. Wait, what?? Here we are,10am, barely any sleep from the 17hr trip, moving! At least he bought me a coffee first? Once we were all done, we settled into his new apartment and headed straight to Bondi Beach. It was about a 15min walk from his place and as we were getting there, I was in complete bliss. The sun was shining, there were beautiful people everywhere and the ocean was calling my name. We went for a dip and I remember watching him dive into these massive waves thinking, "I'm screwed!" He laughed as these waves kept taking me and I couldn't seem to get up fast enough before the next one would hit. After we went back to shore, we decided to go on a little hike to the other side of the beach. We went off trail and found this little hiding cove. The rocks were amazing and the view was absolutely breathtaking! When we got back, we went out for pizza and as we were looking for parking back at the apartment, we noticed there was a vespa taking up space. So, we rolled the vespa a few inches up in order for our little car to fit. The next day, our tires had absolutely NO AIR in them. Lol! And the best part? It was a rental. Thank goodness we had an air compressor to fill it up just enough to make it back to the rental place.

Travel Tip:

DO NOT move somebody else's vespa LOL Always get the car insurance on rentals because anything can happen. Also, most credit cards like my American Express has rental car insurance included, so, check yours first before paying extra at the car rental.

The next few days we just toured around the city and took it easy. We trained at his gym, Fitness First Australia, and the turf was on a balcony looking out into the city. Who wouldn't want to train with a view like that? He brought me to the famous Opera House and to Harbour Bridge, which I wasn't too keen on. It was something I HAD to do because I was in Sydney, but it was super boring and very touristy. For dinner, we decided to walk into town and found rental bikes that people had just left there. Can you guess what we did? Yup, we took them (after a lot of convincing on his part) and stashed them at the back of his apartment so we can use them again the next day. Hah! As the weekend ended, he had to go back to work and I had to make my next move..

I signed up with this website called, CouchSurfing, which you might have heard of. Its a website where travellers come together as a community and let other travellers stay at their place.. for FREE! They have to approve of you first and then its all up to you on whether you go or not. Yes, it sounds extremely sketchy but the people I met were super rad! I found a guy who lived downtown Sydney and I ended up staying with him for one night. He was an absolute gem! He took the day off to spend the day showing me around. We went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales (he knew I loved art), this secret park looking out at the bridge and to Darling Harbour for dinner. Darling Harbour was super cute! It was like a little fair with a ferris wheel and a shopping centre filled with different restaurants with patios looking over the water. Beauty!

The next day I rented a car and slowly made my way to Melbourne. I stopped in Canberra, the Capital of Australia, just to take a picture of their parliament building.. only to find out it was under construction. From there, I took the "scenic" route which took me into winding mountains where it was super foggy the whole time (so much for scenery). I could barely see the car infront of me and I actually thought I wouldn't make it. Imagine driving in a foreign country, where they drive on the other side of the road and not being able to see where you're going. Ya! It was definitely a fun drive! I kept missing gas stations and my car charger broke, just as my phone was dying, annd I was using it as my GPS. Finally, the gas light went on and all gas stations were closed! I kept going and found a no name gas station that was just about to shut his lights off. I went in, bought a new charger and filled up before driving into the night. I got off the highway, almost falling asleep and totally forgetting where I was that I ended up driving on the wrong side of the road! Luckily, there were no cars and I noticed the arrows on the road pointing the opposite way of where I was going. I arrived in Melbourne around 2am and headed straight to my uncle's place where he kindly let me stay for a few days.

Travel Tip:

Fill up your gas tank before it hits empty annnd always carry an extra phone charger. If it's a portable charger, make sure that's also charged! (I had mine but it wasn't charged lol)

Melbourne was a different vibe for me.. To me, it was just another big city with unpredictable weather. They say it has 4 seasons in one day. Totally true! There was barely a beach.. St. Kilda Beach. It was a very small beach with a boardwalk and some cute little restaurants. But it wasn't anything special and it was cold. We found a small beach along Great Ocean Road but didn't get far enough to see the 12 Apostles which is a MUST if you go out to Victoria. Eventually, I got bored of hanging out with my relatives (I know, that sounds terrible) but I felt like a child and I needed to leave.

I used SkyScanner to find the cheapest next flight out to Goldcoast and stayed at the YHA Hostel in Main Beach. I got there a little after midnight so I went straight to bed. The next morning I met some of the girls in my room and headed to the beach with them. After a few hours, they went back and I walked over to Surfer's Paradise. I fell in love. And that's where I thought, "I need to move back here" As the days went by, I met a couple people who I hung out with for the rest of the trip. They took me to Cedar Creek where we swam in rock pools and jumped off cliffs. On my last night, I stayed with another couchsurfer in Surfer's Paradise. A bunch of us made KANGAROO for dinner (YUCK! I had one sliver of a piece and almost threw up), drank until we all felt "good" and went across the street to go for a dip at the beach... at 4am. I gave one of the girls my cellphone and camera while I went into the water with the others, feeling like a fish diving into these huge waves (remember when I couldn't at the beginning? Nailed it!), and when we got back, she was gone! Did I mention I had a 7am flight back to Sydney that same morning? ... Yea, I definitely missed that one LOL. I wasn't too worried about my stuff because she was also staying at the same place, so, she eventually had to make her way back.. and she did, an hour later. I missed my flight and made it back to Sydney a few hours later.

I landed and took the tram back to my buddy's place. He was at work, so, he left me the keys and I took the longest nap of life. When I finally woke up, I went for a walk and realized how good I was being alone.. and how much I liked it. He came home around the same time I was getting back and we walked to go grab our last dinner together; two vegetarian pizzas and one nutella pizza please?! I told him I was coming back and he, of course, did not believe me. We spent the last night just hanging out and watching movies as we talked and ate our pizzas. He actually tricked me into eating mushrooms, which I think are disgusting, but liked it without knowing there were mushrooms in the first place. He laughed as he told me and said, "you won't know until you try" I was so mad but secretly laughing on the inside.. This man was right.. and I will forever remember that because you won't know. For me, I wouldn't know how much I loved Australia if he hadn't convinced me to visit in the first place.. and I wouldn't know if I really wanted to move here until I tried. And thats exactly what I did.

The next morning, he left for work as I stayed in bed a little longer before packing up my things. We said our good-byes and he said, "I'll see you again" So confident that he would, kissed my forehead and left. You know when you instantly feel like someone is a genuine person? He was that person and I can't thank him enough for convincing me to come out here. I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for him. So, I headed back to Canada later that day, stayed in Vancouver just one more night and finally after three weeks of freedom, I headed back home.

I instantly knew I wanted to move to Australia. I came home, saved all the money I could in just a few months and bought my one-way back to the Goldcoast. Its been three months since the move and I am loving every second of it. I dropped everything I knew and had in Toronto. I left my friends and family to go on an adventure most people are afraid of. I am living my life the way I want to.. and no one is going to stop me. I think you too can do the same! The best experiences come from your biggest fears. Get up and go do it! I can't say I regret doing any of this and would do it all over again if I could.

Until next time, babes!

Always,

Me

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