With just over a week left in Australia, I feel it is time to reflect upon my crazy year of adventure! When I originally planned to take a leap of faith and jet off to the other side of the world, I thought of it as an extended (working) holiday – an escape from facing the responsibilities of adult life! Arriving in sydney at the age of 24, I was like a rabbit in headlights. I’d never stayed in a hostel, never lived away from home, and never even cooked myself a proper meal (shameful at 24 I know!!).
Little did I know that my year of travel would be so much more than an extended holiday. I have experienced living and working in one of the most beautiful and busiest cities in the world, taught myself to cook a decent meal, and learnt that I am surprisingly more capable of being an adult than I once thought! I was also lucky enough to land myself a great job and a wonderful apartment in the city too. Despite the amazing times I have had in Australia, every traveller has to admit that there are the hard times; those times you feel down and you would usually pop around to your best friends for a chat, or get a cuddle and a cup of tea from your Mum! Instead, you have to stand on your own two feet and learn how to deal with those bad days on your own.
After living and working in Sydney for 10 months, with lots of travel and exploring in between, it was time to pack up my things and jet off solo up to Cairns, to let the crazy East Coast adventure begin!! This included Cairns, The Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest, Magnetic Island, Whitsundays, Fraser Island, Noosa, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour in 5 weeks. I lived on a boat for 3 days in the Whitsundays, snorkelled with turtles and beautiful fish, camped at and drove a 4WD along Fraser Island, swam in dozens of freshwater lakes, cuddled a Koala, fed and took selfies with Kangaroos and that’s just to name a few!!
I was lucky enough to meet heaps of wonderful, interesting people throughout the coast – no matter how different you are you all have that one thing in common: a passion for travel! That’s the beauty of travel, you meet someone for the first time and two days later you feel like you have known them for years.
So after a year of work, sunshine, partying, socialising, self-reflection and adventure, it is almost time to head home, to where I left a huge part of my heart 12 months ago: home to my family and my friends, to those who mean the world to me. But here in Australia, Sydney particularly, I will now leave a chunk of my
heart. I leave it with this magical city and those friends I have been lucky enough to meet along the way (and can’t forget the dogs Charlie & Arthur!).
Who knows what the future holds, and who needs to! Booking that flight was the best decision I ever made and I would recommend travel to anyone who is lucky enough to have the opportunity.
‘You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place’.
Feed Your Mind & Soul 