Southern Hemisphere tour 2010

BTW for the last month, I spent 2 weeks in Sydney, a city that will eat you alive and has all the expense of other big cities but not the charm to make up for it.  Not that it was all bad, I saw lots of art, bands, films, indie shows, indie theater, the opera house, the harbor, tons of vintage shops, record shops, cafes, good restaurants, used bookstores, took lots of photographs, video, made drawings, wrote, created, walked and walked wand walked…  Suburban life was great, but Sydney does have this weird vibe that I just can’t put my finger on that makes it kind of…nauseating.  I know New York is like this insane swirl of craziness and energy that takes hold of you and runs you ragged, but it’s a different kind of crazy, kind of like being in love.  Where as Sydney is crazy like an underpaid hectic job.  That’s the best I can describe it.

Oh and during my stay in Sydney I journeyed to the Wildlife rescue and saw kangaroos and koalas and wombats!!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!

After my 2 weeks in Sydney I went to this amazing backpacker/surf camp called Surfaris, where I spent another 2 weeks working for accomodation.  This was definitely a highlight of my trip, I absolutely loved this place and everyone who worked there or surfed there.  I swam in a tea-tree river, laid out by the pool, ate amazing food, got to experience true small-town camaradarie, attempted to surf(really it was more practising falling off the board gracefully), and took long walks and bike-rides to the beach (once at nighttime which was much more terrifying than I thought it would be, I could hear all the nocturnal animals rummaging around in the bush around me and had visions of every single scary movie I’ve ever seen.  It was worth it in the end to see the blanket of stars over the ocean on the other side of the world).  I also painted rooms, had great conversations, and got to do some sign painting and art making, which was really awesome.  I did get sick for a few days, which was a bit of a bummer, but I will only ever think of that time with fondness in my heart.

So that’s the jist of Australia, the short-hand if you will.  It was great, but I got to say New Zealand trumps it.  Actually, New Zealand trumps everywhere, and anyone who has known me for a while might remeber a time when all I would talk about was how I was going to move to New Zealand to a city named Wellington (a place I just happened to find on the internet).  Well, I’ve been there now, and that spark has been reignited.  It’s my 2nd favorite city I’ve been to in my life.  There was a part of me that thought “”I have a work visa thats good for an entire year, I could get a job at that awesome bar, become friends with that cute guy at that awesome cafe, and work my way into the Wellington film industry starting with the Hobbit that’s already in pre-production.  Then I could get a roommate and just never leave”.  But don’t worry, I’m coming home, at least for a little while.  I miss everyone too much not to, and I still think about New York every single day, but I will be back to Wellington some day. Oh yes. I will be.

Well, It’s been over a month since I’ve lost my travelling partner, and I must say it is vastly different to travel by yourself.  Even though this experience has changed the core of my being, traveling alone is hard, and can be very lonely despite all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way.

The problem is you meet plenty of people, create an awesome connection, and then part ways within a day or 2, maybe a couple of weeks if your lucky.  That’s the plight of the traveler: you’re always moving on.  Or if you’re not then the travelers you meet are, either way it has become quite a bummer having “goodbye” be a much more frequent occurance in my vocabulary than ever before.  But when you spend so much time with yourself, and have to rely on yourself for everything, you definitely get a new perspective on life and learn things you may not have expected.  I, for example, have learned how fortunate I have been at all points in my life that I’ve had someone else around to share experiences with.  It’s one of those things we take for granted, something that I won’t take for granted ever again (and hot showers, that one will last a lifetime).

And I miss Bama so much it hurts to even type this sentence.  She was there through every sickness and freak out I’ve ever had in my adult life, and I wish she could be here with me, she would love it.  There was a homeless guy in Sydney I passed by every day and he had a Brindle Pit-bull who was always right by his side, usually laying in his lap.  I would think about how that guy had more of a home than I did at the moment, he had his best friend with him always at his side.

Anyway, don’t get me wrong, this has been the most amazing experience of my life so far, and I’m taking every experience back with me ready to conquer New York!  I just never thought I would be homesick, which is actually a good thing to realize, it feels really good to know that I have people I love to come home to and that I’m actually excited to be coming back.  3 more weeks in the most beautiful place I’ve ever been in my entire life… guess I should stop focusing on lonliness and go absorb mountains, rivers, lakes, glaciers, and SHEEP!

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