Soooooo, at the end of March I sold my car, said goodbye to Melbourne for a second time and set off on my travels. Again.
I met Billy, Conor and six other friends in Byron Bay. I flew up there to join them in their van which they had been travelling down in from Cairns. It was so great to see everyone, as the previous month of working full time on top of being semi homeless wasn't the most ideal of months.
Ready and prepped for a few days of tanning in Byron Bay, it seemed I had actually arrived in a climate similar to that of Swaffham, though with a few more bare footed hippies wondering around.
Luckily the weather picked up and I was able to get the tan back and embrace what I had always pictured Australia to be. It was quick to see how much more breathtaking the beaches up the coast were compared to the crystal meth-esque sands of St Kilda.
We spent our time in Byron on the beaches, heading up to the lighthouse and passing the most eastern part of Australia! We stayed in the arts factory in our tents, and soon learnt how one dreadlocked guy had been living in his tent there for the last seven years. Fair.
Whilst in Byron, we drove over to Nimbin, a little hippy town which hosts those that didn't want to leave the Aquarius festival back in the 1970s. A few characters were definitely stuck in some weird time warp, but it was a funny day out.
After leaving Byron after four days, we headed south to Coffs Harbour to set up camp. Travelling with seven other people is something I'm definitely not used to after travelling mostly on my own. It was a good experience, however when it came down to decision making was a bit of a nightmare. Though, everything did work out in the end.
It was good to stop in this little town as there is a big chance I'll be cucumber picking here for three months! Bit of a curveball life change, however Sophie did hers here and she's coming back out in May for her second year visa. If I didn't do my farm-work, I wouldn't be able to travel Australia with her after September. And plus, in one year I haven't seen half as much as I wanted to. I don't think I realised how big Australia was.
Travelling in a van down the coast rather than on a greyhound bus, meant we stumbled across a lot of little beaches which were absolutely stunning! The photos really can't do these views justice.
After Coffs Harbour, we then set off to Seals Rock where we nearly all died of hypothermia. Not even an exaggeration. Our camping equipment between 8 of us consisted of 3 x $5 tents, a tie dye scarf and a Brazilian flag. Conor and I slept in the van this night and it wasn't much better. Well... until we turned the engine on for some heating (we weren't too popular the following morning. Whatever)
This quickly confirmed we weren't going to be camping at our next destination, the Blue Mountains. We would have genuinely died. We checked into a cute little hostel which seemed to transport us to some south of France ski chalet. It was delightful. The Blue Mountains were stunning.
Our next and final stop was Sydney. We spent a week there in a wonderful little house thanks to an Air B and B find. We stayed in some professional skateboarders house, who was friends with snoop dog apparently? This didn't come without drama though, when we locked ourselves out of the house and had to break in. Oh also I fell asleep in an uber and got charged $120, but that's another story. It was such a treat to unpack and stay in a room where you weren't woken up by the guy on the bunk above you making weird noises.
My time in Sydney before was pretty short, so it was good to spend longer than 24 hours wondering around the city. We did all the typical tourist things, Manley, Bondi and Coogee beaches and also the walks around Circular Quay. Oh, and a drag queen night too. We did all consider maybe living in Sydney wouldn't be so out of the question, but then realised how much we bloody love Melbourne.
Now we're back, living in a hostel and realising how much we miss that Air B and B. Luckily we quickly found a beautiful house in South Yarra, a great area which I'd never even considered living in before. The move in day on Wednesday cannot come quick enough!
I know I'll be back in Melbourne for a month at least, but I'm having serious farm work dilemmas. Do I do it or not? Doing it would mean I could stay in Australia past September, so I could travel with Sophie. Going home to start real life again doesn't fill me with happiness either. But 3 months. 88 DAYS OF PICKING CUCUMBERS. Really? I have no idea. Fingers crossed the next blog post I write, I'll have made my mind up.
