The area of Sydney known as “The Rocks” is the oldest part of the city. Back in the day it had a reputation for drunken debauchery and prostitution. Sounds like my kind of place. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Oh well. Now on weekends during the summer they have street markets and live music. I’ll probably end up taking the nightly ghost tour at some point.

I stopped into Fortune of War, the oldest pub in Sydney, for a couple pints. $10 (about $7 US) for what was pretty much the equivalent of Bud Light. Everything is expensive in Sydney.

When 2 people are sitting next to each other at a bar in Australia and they both have on Red Sox shirts it begs the question, “Where are you from?” The couple sitting next to me in Sydney, Australia was from freaking Attleboro, 25 minutes away from where I live. Massachusetts is like Isla Fisher in Wedding Crashers. “Don’t ever leave me…..Good, cuz I’d find you.”

I spent the next 2 days dealing with the important tasks of finding a place to watch the Patriots game and then getting up at 5:30am to go watch football starting at 7. I held off on drinking until alittle before Pats kickoff, but it would be a long day. PATS WIN!!! #OneMore

After a recovery day (yes, it took the whole day), I headed back out to explore the city and make my plans for Australia Day!! I visited the Anzac War Memorial and saw the Welcome Wall, which is sort of an Australian version of the signature books at Ellis Island.

AUSTRALIA DAY!!! Headed down to the Opera House bright and early to find a good spot for the festivities and planted myself firmly on the wrong side of the giant ship where they would do the salute to Australia. The daytime was mostly about the parade of decked out boats in the harbour and the floating, live entertainment.

The night was about celebrity performances, fireworks and drinking. Keith Urban must have been busy, because other than The Wiggles, I didn’t know any of the Aussie celebs that performed.

Highlight of the day: Kangaroo burger for dinner.

Coming soon: The Blue Mountains and world famous Bondi Beach

Stay tuned!!

*Accidentally deleted all the pictures off my camera today. Won’t make that mistake again. Thankfully I’ve been using my phone some too.

I’m finally here!!!! It only took 3 flights and an entire day lost somewhere in the space time continuim. I did not have a January 19th this year. I mean, technically I did, but it didn’t last 24 hours. Thursday was lost to a 16 hr flight across time zones and the International Dateline. Thankfully, I slept for about half the flight, because the time I spent awake was brutal. Wedged in the middle of a 3 person row, with crappy food, uncomfortable seats and no escape because the other 2 managed to sleep most of the flight. I only peed twice the whole time. Yes, you needed to know.

When the plane landed, I was excited to see that it wasn’t raining. It had rained in my stops in Toronto and Vancouver and was forecast to rain in Sydney all day today. By the time I cleared customs and headed outside to the shuttle, it was pouring. Met a lovely couple, Erica and Junior, on the shuttle bus who are here from Miami for their honeymoon and also heading to New Zealand, so we had lots to talk about. Checked into my beautiful suite (it’s a 6 person male dorm room) and headed to my room. Open the door and one of my new roommates is asleep. I have yet to go to the room and not find someone sleeping. I can tell I’m going to love hostel life.

Thankfully, it had stopped raining after I had gotten settled and cleaned up, so I headed out to explore. Sticking true to my “I don’t have a real plan attitude,” I picked a direction and started walking. Huge success!!! After about 30 minutes, not only did the street lead straight to the Sydney Opera House, but right as I arrived, I bumped into Junior and Erica. We walked around Circular Quay and took the obligatory tourist pictures and then went our separate ways.

I started my walk back towards the hostel. Walking around Sydney is interesting so far. I’m afraid to jaywalk at times because I’m not really sure where the cars are supposed to be coming from. Also, I’m not really sure which side of the sidewalk to walk on. They drive on the left, so logic says they would walk on the left too, but alot of people walk on the right. I’ve been going with the middle and then dodging right or left depending on which side they are coming at me from. It’s basically like staggering drunk around the streets of Boston. What really made me feel right at home though, was that I managed to get lost for about an hour when all I had to do was take one street straight back. These aren’t nice, neat little blocks. It’s really got the “Fuck your map” Boston feel to it.

It’s alittle after 8 here and the post-flight adrenaline got burnt off by all that walking. Also, because it’s gross out. They tell me it’s 30 degrees out, but it was definitely like 80 with 90% humidity. The metric system alone is enough to keep me from moving here permanently.

PS….No kangaroo sitings yet.

I leave January 18th, but because of travel time and the time difference (Sydney is 16 hours ahead of  Eastern Standard Time) I don’t arrive in Sydney until the morning of the 20th. I have until March 22 to explore the Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania areas. On March 22nd I fly from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand and have until April 25th to see as much of the two islands as I can squeeze in before I fly from Christchurch back to Sydney. Once back in Australia, I will begin my journey up the coast. On May 22nd, I fly from Brisbane to Port Vila, Vanuatu to go visit my friend Matthew Thomas Hardwick. He joined the Peace Corps after college and he never came back. At this point, I have to assume he is King Matthew and walks around constantly saying, “It’s my island!!” That stay will be short, but sweet and full of kava. I fly back to Brisbane on May 31st. That gives leaves me with 4 weeks to do the rest of the East Coast up to Cairns and hopefully head West to Darwin and then South to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in The Outback before I have to be back in Sydney for my flight back to the US on June 29th.

To Do:

Australia:

• Learn to surf without getting eaten by a shark
• Snorkel or dive the Great Barrier Reef
• Celebrate Australia Day in Sydney
• Get the perfect picture of Sydney Harbor
• Climb Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia’s highest mountain)
• Hike Tasmania’s Overland Track (6 day hike, widely ranked among the top 10 hikes in the world)
• Cage of Death at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin
• Cage dive with Great Whites
• Camp under the stars in The Outback
• Ayer’s Rock at sunrise/sunset
• Tattoo to symbolize the trip

New Zealand:

• Cape Reinga
• Waipoua Forest
• Waitomo Glowworm Caves
• Hike Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro (the 3 active volcanoes in Tongariro National Park)
• Lanarch Castle (Only castle in New Zealand. Always visit castles when you have a chance, even if you have to sneak in because it’s closed the day you go)
• Bendigo (gold mining, ghost town that’s been deserted for about a century)
• Fiordland National Park- Doubtful and Milford Sound
• Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
• Geek out for a day on the Lord of the Rings Hobbiton set tour

 

 

 

“Down Under” by Men at Work was the theme song to my first trip to Australia. Just a bunch of kids from New York, packed onto a charter bus and forced to listen to this song every single morning. It was obnoxious at first, but by the end of the 3 weeks we got on that bus and started singing every morning. Almost 20 years later, I still know every word to the song. Vegemite sandwiches are a real thing for anyone who is wondering. Maybe I’ll bring a jar of it home this time.

This trip is going to have a different theme song; “Going Away for Awhile,” by Brett Eldredge. This song perfectly puts into words my mindset headed into this adventure.

My next post will be about my vague plans and some of the things I want to do on my journey….stay tuned.

It’s almost time!! My trip is only 2 weeks away and I still feel like I have SO much left to do to get ready. Everyday I get more excited and more nervous. What the hell did I get myself into? I don’t hike, so why not fly to the other side of the world and backpack across 2 countries. Hostels, campsites and hundreds of miles of hiking trails await me. Such is life though. Whether you’re at home or on the other side of the world, there’s always adventures to be had and I can’t wait to share mine with you through this blog!!!! Please feel free to share the link with any of your family or friends that may be interested.

Some people may think I just woke up one day and decided to take this trip, but the truth is that it has kind of always been inevitable since I spent 3 weeks as a student ambassador in Australia when I was fourteen. I always said when I went back that it was going to be a one way ticket, but I’m not sure I can move that far away from my family anymore. They need me after all, ;). You can’t just replace this much awesomeness in your daily life. In a way, this is still a bit of a scouting mission in case I do ever decide to make it more permanent.

In actuality though, this trip has a deeper meaning……deeper roots. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer has been my favorite book since it was published in 1996. It was more recently made into a movie, so some of you may be familiar with it without having read the book. It’s a look at the true story of Christopher McCandless; a young, college graduate who in 1990 gave up everything he owned and began traveling the West Coast eventually making his way to Alaska, where he would meet his end in August of 1992. McCandless seemed to be searching for some sort of enlightenment. It’s always fascinated me that someone could just drop everything and go with no real idea where he was headed or how he was getting there.

So…..why now? I don’t have an exact answer for that question. Those of you that know me well, know I’ve been lost for awhile now. No real direction in life other than towards the next source of fun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a blast and I’ve done some amazing things. However, it’s also kept me poor and sort of just hovering in the same spot in my life for 10 years. I guess I’m just searching for what’s next in life. A new direction to mix with the current one. Something to actually accomplish and be passionate about other than having more fucking fun than everyone else (I got that award on lockdown).  I have no idea what I’ll learn about life or myself over the next 6 months, but I’m going to find it out on my own.

Just me. On the other side of the world; kickin it with the kangaroos.

 

To my family and friends: Thank you to everyone who has supported this dream and especially to everyone who has contributed to all the gear I needed!! You have no idea how huge it was to save money on buying all that stuff. I love you all and will miss you terribly!!!