Goodbye Australia??????

(The photos app on my computer keeps crashing!! Going to try to sort that out, but if you want photos in the meantime send me a message and I’ll send some!)

After arriving in Brisbane from Bali, I began my goodbye tour in Australia, checking as much off my remaining bucket list as possible. Kind of.  Honestly, I got a bit lazy in this era, but I think a slightly slower pace was good for me.

I started in Byron Bay, living one of my favorite traveler lifestyles of surfing+yoga. I met up with my friend Elisabeth from Sydney and shredded. Byron has such a great vibe to it.  It is a pretty popular spot for East Coast surf town enthusiasts, so I was a bit worried about crowds going into it.  I found visiting in winter diminished the potential crowds while maintaining a good buzz of energy that I adored. I ended up going to Gold Coast for 2 nights, just to quickly find myself on a bus back to Byron Bay to enjoy it further.

I went down to Port Macquarie for further chilling.  I specifically chose the hostel I was staying at as they advertised their Mario Kart soooooo a necessary stop.  The travelers in this hostel were generally in their late 20s as opposed to the 19-year-old Germans. I just can’t seem to break free from them everywhere I go (no hate of course just an observation).  I enjoyed the older crowd that was less focused on going to the same tourist traps every traveler goes to.

After a devastating 12:45am-4:20am Greyhound bus, I found myself in Newcastle to visit Sarah, a friend from Rhode Island.  I had an excellent tour of the city, lots of playtime with the kids and puppy, and a spectacular home-cooked meal.  A much-appreciated reprieve from the previous weeks of hostel hopping.

I made quick work back to Sydney and hopped on a flight to Uluru, aka the big sacred rock in the middle of the country.  I’m learning how much I enjoy multi-day adventure tours when traveling.  Seeing Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon was an incredibly rewarding experience that has been just about #1 on my bucket list since before I came to Australia.  I was on an amazing 3-night camping tour with a pretty amazing group of folks I am very grateful to have met. 

Now I am back in Sydney! Reminiscing on the few months I lived here and planning my next steps in Southeast Asia.  It hasn’t sunk in that I’ll be leaving the country that I’ve spent nearly a year in, and I don’t think it will at least until I stop moving.  I’ll save my outtakes of having lived here for another post.  For now, I know that there are 1 or 2 places I’m a little upset to have missed in my time here so (oh no!) I’m left with no choice but to come back one day.