Australia

In the middle of October I landed in Melbourne where I explored the artsy city for a couple of days visiting their zoo, searching for  graffiti, and looking for cheep authentic Australian food. Most zoo’s have the typical big cats, elephants, and a few other go to exhibits, but Melbourne’s zoo was full of animals I had no idea existed making for a entertaining afternoon. From Melbourne I flew up to Brisbane and after staying in the most atrocious hostel I would see on the entire trip I quickly bussed south to the surf town of Byron Bay.

In Byron I stayed with a guy I had contacted through couchsurfing.com. It worked out perfectly: free place to stay, free guitar lessons, and friends with surf boards. I spent two stellar weeks catching a few waves, learning a few chords­, and working. My job was passing out fliers for a travel agency in town.  The job consisted of yelling "FREE INTERNET?" for hours, not the most mentally stimulating, but I made the $10 dollars an hour that I usually spent that same night. The surfing was fun, the guitar came along slowly, and the town was a blast. Most nights I watched live music and struck up memorable conversations with crazy hippies, other travelers, or locals.

After Byron I got a ride down to another surfing town and couch surfed with great family in Lennox Head. The last day I spent in Lennox Head proved memorable because of its public holiday status. The Melbourne Cup is a public holiday where most of Australia gets drunk, bets, and watches a 3 minute horse race. Even with the rain it proved to be a memorable day where I more than quadrupled my $6 of pocket change. 

Blue Mountains!

At the end of my trip I spent a few days exploring Sydney. During one of these days I took a train up to the Blue Mountains in search of one of Australia’s great outlooks. When I made it to famous outlook I was humorously only able to see about 40-50ft into the clouds. Sydney was a great city with spectacular views and a lively crowd of travelers. Whether it was the driving on the

other side of the road or turning lights on by flipping them down, my month in Australia showed me new ways a looking at things as traveling always tends to do. After a month of surfing and relaxing I felt ready for next three months I would spend exploring Asia.