happy australia day! {a little personal story about my second home}

{no big deal, just a picture of my “backyard” in coogee}

{this song always reminds me of mornings in australia getting ready for work}

not sure if i’ve mentioned this before, but i moved to australia after college and lived there for just under a year. i had always dreamed of going to australia, but because i played lacrosse in college, the seasons never worked out for me to study abroad {don’t get too excited, i was on an “intercollegiate varsity” lacrosse team, so it was in no way division 1 haha}. so being as today is australia day down under, i thought it could be fun to fill you in on one of the best experiences of my life.

after graduating from the university of rhode island in 2003, i worked at the newport yachting center in newport, rhode island and planned/designed weddings {that’s when the wedding bug bit me!} and festivals {oktoberfest, anyone?}, and then moved on to work for sailing world magazine, planning their regattas and traveling around the united states to work onsite at each one. i lived with my best guy friends in downtown newport and we had a blast. but i knew my window for moving to another country was closing as each day passed, so i decided after much deliberation to just do it and move to australia. i have no idea how my parents agreed to this idea, but i saved up about $1,500, applied for my work visa, packed up all my things, and jetted halfway across the world with just my rolly bag and backpack. solo.

{view from the plane as we approached sydney}

honestly i wasn’t even phased about moving there alone. i’m not sure why, i just wasn’t! but as soon as that plane landed in sydney on january 1st, 2005, it suddenly occurred to me that i knew noone, except for a friend who lived down in melbourne, who i would visit later in my trip. it was then and there that i realized i had a choice: get nervous, or go out and meet people! and meet people i did. when you’re traveling alone, you have no choice but to make friends along the way. i got a job planning events {not teaching} at a private school in downtown sydney and worked with some of the kindest, most amazing colleagues who treated me like family. i moved in to a small apartment 1 block from the beach in coogee, a beach suburb outside of sydney. i traveled to the blue mountains and camped out with friends from my first hostel. i went to the beach on the weekends, frequented the bar with my group of friends i made, fell in love with tim tams and coopers, and lived life to the fullest.

{this was australia day, 2005. i actually had a normal outfit on before i was bombarded with aussie gear}

once my work visa was up, i traveled to new zealand and toured the north island, and met some amazing friends along the way while there. i then renewed my australia travel visa so i could go back, and then proceeded to travel along the entire east coast of australia, from cairns {home of the great barrier reef}…

{my german friend (on right) and i rented a scooter for the day. she spoke barely any english and i didn’t speak german, but we got along perfectly}

… to noosa {my favorite place on earth}…

{my travel companions, john and marnie (marnie’s on the right). we all still keep in touch to this day and marnie even visited me a few months ago on her way back to calgary!}

… to fraser island…

{i’m the one in the hat holding the car door doing an awesome west coast sign; this was on fraser island}

and everywhere in between.

{back when abercrombie was cool, haha}

once all of my australian visas expired, i made my way back home to surprise my family just in time for the 4th of july {you should have seen my mom’s face at 3am when i woke her up} :). but before i went all the way back home, i made a 2-week stop in fiji, where i visited several islands and was “adopted” by one of the local families.

{i miss them!}

in fiji, life was so simple and i loved it. i loved the people, their warm smiles, and their kind hearts. every day at 4:00, we would walk down the beach to another family’s house for homemade cake and tea. coconut cake, banana cake, it didn’t matter what kind it was, it was always my favorite part of the day, and to this day remains as one of my fondest memories. i can still taste the still-warm-and-just-from-the-oven cake, no icing needed, eaten with our fingers from a little mismatched china plate.

my fijian “sister” even took me to church with her - an open air church where all of the local neighbors would sing in perfect 5 part harmony, no instruments in sight. it was one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever heard.

{our last sunset}

as gorgeous as fiji was, the mosquitos were enough to have me ready to head back home, with a journal full of experiences from the past 9-months and a backpack full of trinkets for friends and family.

looking back i always have a sense of happiness, remembering all of the fun times, and even some of the not-so-fun times. i am so glad i just took the leap and did it, without holding back. life is short but sweet for certain and you only live once - do it up!

so, to my fellow aussies, happy australia day - i miss you!

Tagged as: australia