Beetroot, Pumpkin & Lychees

During one of my many flights to Australia, a nice middle aged woman told me during conversation "to take pictures of all the strange things throughout your travels. You won't notice it during your time in Australia, but it's very easy to forget all those small, everyday things that you come to love."

As you know from my last blog, Em and I made it out alive from WA and are now soaking up the sun in Port Douglas, Queensland. With the remaining weeks hanging over my head, I've started to think of all the funny things in Australia that I've come to adapt to...and even think as normal. I'm actually worried - am I going to go through culture shock when I get back to Ohio?? I thought it was supposed to be in reverse!

I started to take more pictures. No, not like the million and one photos I have with Emily....but of cafe menus, street signs or odd things that catch my eye. A "sushi and waffle" place or an ice cream shop half turned into an Internet cafe....what strange combinations. On the other hand, how genius! Just think about it, if I have to run to an Internet cafe to print my resume, do you really think I'm going to pass up that mouthwatering milkshake that's staring me square in the face, especially when it's so easy to eat?? I love the fact that Australians are very much European when it comes to presentation. Colorful menus and chalkboard signs can be seen outside almost every cafe. Wide open displays of sandwiches and morning pastries. Even in cold Melbourne, outdoor seating would always be occupied - people enjoy being out in the crisp air and seem perfectly content reading the specials penciled on the window or scrawled on a large board by the door. The signs are both eye catching and HEALTHY. The biggest seller, which I just recently realized was a bit out of ordinary from home, is juice. Different concoctions of apple, watermelon, orange, pineapple and mango advertised as an "immune booster" or "liquid breaky!"....or ones that I'm not a big fan of - containing carrots, beetroot, ginger and honey to help those horrible hangovers or gain some antioxidants. The biggest difference from these cafes than the ones back home is the fact that they are simply juice. You watch the employee put the steroid size carrot through the juicer. You could even choose which apple out of the dozen if you're really that picky. No fake supplements or essential amino acids thrown in there to false advertise and bring up the price. It's just pure goodness and tastes delicious :)

I've also adapted to funny things like pumpkin used as a savory ingredient verses a sweet one. For the last time - no, I would not like pumpkin on my pizza! I don't even want to get started with beetroot. In my previous knowledge, I thought this was a favored vegetable of the older generations and maybe that odd family member. I stand corrected. Salads, sandwiches, dips, juice, pasta....you name it - it's there. Aussies could just eat this up. As for me, I'll be happy to make it back to my land of pumpkin pie and green colored salads.

I've tried to taste as much of the different foods 'down unda' as I can during my time spent in this country. Lychees are a very popular tropical fruit, eaten whole or found in sweets and martinis. It looks like a clear, egg shaped jellyfish to me....but if you get past the gooey texture, it has a nice sweetness to it. Add it to my martini, but that's about it for me. Kangaroo is an obvious popularity. My first meal of kangaroo wasn't until Perth, eight months into my trip! My main reason being how expensive it is. However, Little Creatures is known all over Perth for their kangaroo skewers...and with my employee discount, I couldn't pass it up! It has a slightly gamey flavor and unique tenderness to it that's unlike any meat I've ever had. Kangaroo also has the least amount of fat and highest amount of iron in comparison to any meat source...so it's definitely high on my list!

Meat pies. Sausage rolls. A full English breaky. Chicken/avo/capsicum toasties (aka avocado and peppers). Steak sandwiches. Kangaroo skewers. Wedges with sweet chili sauce. Olives and feta. Fresh Juice. I feel like I'm a fat girl trapped in a skinny body. I'm starting to make a list of my favorite meals that I know won't be the same when I get back home....hahah unfortunately, my list looks like it's made up of the unhealthy bar food and pastries. I haven't been good at keeping up a food blog, because honestly - I never eat out! The last time I've enjoyed "fine dining" was at a wood fire pizza place, celebrating our second night in Perth. On the other hand, if the life of a backpacker has taught me anything, it's how to eat on a budget. The key is friends....between four people and a bottle of wine, you can make a tasty spaghetti bolognese or vegetable curry for less than five dollars. Perfection.

I think that's enough rambling on food...I'm getting hungry and the last of my groceries are a tin of baked beans and half a loaf of bread to share with Emily. On a exciting note, Christa Rossell is on a plane to Australia at this very moment!!! It's been almost a year since we've seen one of our best friends and I couldn't be more happy to see her. The three of us have rented a camper van to take us down the east coast, stopping at all the hot spots, and ending in Sydney. We're saying goodbye to normal living, as we'll pretty much be living out of this van for three weeks!!! On August 17th, Christa heads back to the States as Em and I fly to Melbourne to say our final goodbyes to Australia. I'll try to write during our last adventure - but realistically, I'll be living out of a van....so don't be surprised if my next big blog isn't for a few weeks :)

~ Cheers ~

nomads

Melbourne – Ritz for Backpackers. Jessica House. Carlisle St, St. Kilda. McIlwrick St, Windsor.

Perth – Sundancers Hostel. Hines St, Hilton.

Port Douglas – Parrotfish lodge.

Seven homes in eleven months. I lived in all these places for various amounts of time in Australia, from one week at the Ritz to four months in Windsor. These are not simply names of places I’ve stopped over during a fun weekend on the Gold Coast or holiday in the Whitsunday Islands – they each had a special impact on me and at one point I considered each of these my home.

Think of your favorite place in the world. The place you go to in the back of your mind to calm you, focus, or meditate. If anyone has done relaxation exercises before a big race or big exam – you know what I’m talking about. It’s your “happy” place. Well, without going further melodramatic on everyone, I’ve found that place of mine. It’s a park at the end of the main street in Port Douglas, Queensland. A circle of grass carved out over the rocks with tall, outlining palm trees overlooking the ocean and mountains of the Daintree Rain forest beyond. Em and I went there the other day to take what must be the millionth photo and soak up the sunshine. We got to talking. Like I said, it’s my “happy” place….it brings out thoughts, emotions, laughter, reminiscing and smiles.

I leave Australia one month from TODAY. Eleven months have passed….and where have they gone??? Well, for one thing – it hasn’t gone like I expected. We rocked up to this country with wayyyy too much luggage, expecting to sort out comfortable housing, proper jobs and a steady life pretty easily. Mistake number 1. Things may look difficult, but that doesn’t mean it has to be terrible. I look back and we had the time of our lives just trying to figure out the journey. We thought hostel living would be the worst thing that ever happened to us. “Sharing a communal bathroom?? Yuck.” Well, without Ritz I wouldn’t have met the amazing friends that truly made up some of my best times in those first few months. And Jessica House...that’s just funny. I got to have a puppy for a few weeks, but really the only life lesson with that move was – don’t rush into things!! Our house on Carlisle Street in St. Kilda was a step up in the fact that we had our own place to take care of and call our own. We literally had to put the bunk beds together piece by piece and clean the bathroom with fuming chemicals until it finally went back to that original shade of bright green. We created a life of friends and work in an environment that almost made you feel guilty if you were homesick or woke up in a bad mood. People thrived on making the most of life. We lived around the corner from a sunny beach, cappuccino strip, the iconic Luna Park and a pier where penguins would play around sunset. Did I have the “proper” job that I originally intended to find?? No. We both had to work our butts off in hospitality this entire year to make our way through this country, but I don’t regret a minute of it. Each job, each person and each place taught me something about myself that I didn’t know before.

So the grand plans of AUSTRALIA!....beaches. bbqs, surfing, sunshine, sheilas, crocodile dundee, 'no worries, mate' mentality…..became something entirely different to me. Em and I didn’t end up living in a sunny beach town (pretty much opposite until now) traveling to New Zealand or Southeast Asia, and could name about a hundred more places in Australia we’d like to still see for that matter. But when I stepped off that plane last September, I would never have guessed I’d make the friendships, however fleeting, that would impact me for a lifetime, that I’d make instant connections with people and still keep in touch – even if it means months/years without seeing them, find love and discover heartbreak, and explore a country that always seems to offer more as soon as you feel you might have reached an endpoint. Eleven months ago, I would never have expected to find Melbourne the city that I will always consider my “home away from home”. When we made it to Perth, I found friendships that made me realize, once again, why I am traveling. It's sometimes not the places you end up, but the people you meet along the way that make it significant. As poor as we all were, get ten good friends in one room and somehow you all creatively make feasts from nothing and have wine and laughter to last night after night.

Now, I find myself sitting in one of my favorite places in the world in Port Douglas. It is in every way paradise….small and friendly, a gorgeous main strip lined with palm trees and coral colored buildings, and set in Northeast Australia with tropical rain forests to one side and white beaches to the other. I live in a small room with my best friend plus four other people. I work at the hostel for free rent and live out of a bag. I eat at free bbqs and only cook when I have a bunch of friends to share it with. I’m renting a van to live in as three of us travel down the east coast for my last three weeks in Australia. I’m in no way living in luxury or working a “proper” job….but I couldn’t be happier. All these months and experiences have shaped me into who I am now. I can finally say that I’m living like a “true” backpacker (shout out, Josh!). This lifestyle is not forever – so I guess it’s easier to live out of a bag when you know there’s an endpoint – but it does enable you to live in the present and cherish where you are and the friends that you get to share it with.

Em and I have moved all the way from the lovely Ritz backpackers, dusty Jessica House, creepy Carlisle, “home away from home” McIlwrick, heartbreaking Sundancers, bogan Hilton and now to the laid back, tropical Parrotfish. I’m home in one month and Emily is off to teach in China for one year. I really hope I won’t move seven times next year as I travel back home to Columbus, Ohio….but at the same time, I don’t see this as the end as my life as a nomad. Even if I settle back in the Midwest, I plan to keep traveling and discover the world. It’s a passion that I don’t want to let go of and now I have friends all over the world to help me out! Australia, Canada, England, Mexico, France, Holland, Germany, Ireland…..I will even have my best friend in China.

I have one more month with Em to explore the sunnier parts of this country and weave our way back down to Melbourne, back to where our adventure began. The ending will be bittersweet, but not something I'd like to dwell on now! If you’ve made it this far, thanks for following this sappy blog. More to come soon of life in Port Douglas, funny diets, swims in the Great Barrier Reef, encounters of the rain forest and plans of the upcoming weeks :)

Cheers and good day, mate

Little Creatures

Last Sunday, I spent my morning rushing around our tiny house before work trying to find anything to do with anything that would suit a "fairy tale/nursery rhyme" theme. I ripped up some tights, wore some bogan jean shorts and a green top, put on some brilliantly bright green make-up and eyeliner across my face, tangled my hair, made a cardboard sword - and there you go, I was a Lost Boy from Peter Pan! Why, do you ask I decided to where this this to work?? Well, like I told the many customers throughout the day - Because we can!

These last two months would be much different if it wasn't for this incredibly fun loving place, Little Creatures. It's vibrant, loud, quirky, fast-paced, and simply put - completely different than any hospitality job I've ever worked in. In a time where I had to say just one too many goodbyes and questioning my time in Perth - this job came about and the people I met just picked me right back up from the ground. I found myself in a world of backpackers and Australians alike, all working their butts off and having a blast doing it at the same time. We have fancy dress themed Sundays and are encouraged to be ourselves at work and dress as we please. Little Creatures is HUGE. Everyone talks about how "quiet" it is now because of wintertime, but the brewery still averages about 12,000 seated customers per week in this small town of Freo.

It's funny - I've found that Western Australians are afraid to step out into the "cold" weather of 60 degrees F in June ... I can't begin to count how many absurd comments I've gotten for wearing a tank top during work by Aussies who stroll into Creatures wearing what I can only describe as heavy duty ski jackets.

We were told that during the week between Christmas and NYE of this year, Creatures had a turn over of more than 67,000 customers!! I can't even begin to imagine this. During my first few weeks as a "newbie" my job was to help deliver the drinks and food throughout the ENTIRE brewery....and when it's busy, you are literally expected to SPRINT. Aka. the job description - runner. So there I was sprinting up and down staircases, across the "great hall" to the outside area back to the front patio, through the brew house next door...back up the stairs...I felt like I was running a marathon each day! I was exhausted and burnt out, but then again I had an incredible workout schedule fit quite nicely into my days...so I wasn't really complaining. What really got me through the long days were the people I worked with. After every shift there is always someone sitting outside waiting to have the long awaited, refreshing "staffy" drink with. It's a great way to meet people and start a social network. It's probably why Creatures works out so well, everyone seems to be great friends...and even if not, you always look after each other and work as a team.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I'm now bartending as well - which has brought a whole new twist to work. I love it! If you come visit, you'll still see me running around like a mad woman...but I can pour you a pint and recommend a nice beer or cider to match your palate :) I'm now starting as a waitress (more up my ally), so we'll see how that goes. So, in this ever slow moving "city", things are working out pretty well. I still have my amazing roommates from Amsterdam (Roy and Isabelle) and most of the original bbq gang....Emily, Josh, Solene/Clemont (France) and Nick/Linda (Germany). We're missing both Edgar and Minnie (Mexico), but they are both now enjoying warmer climates - so I don't feel too sorry for them! I also have a workplace that I enjoy going to each day. The last week or two, I've actually been asked to leave Creatures with my coworkers....hahah after one pint, they just can't get us to go away!

I wish everyone back home could visit.....if only I wasn't half a world away. Click on the link and check it out, I'm hoping to find a way to ship some Pale Ale's home for Christmas!

https://www.littlecreatures.com.au

Missing everyone to pieces, see you in two months :)

W.A. - Waiting Always

Fremantle, Western Australia.....terracotta roofs, palm trees, rocks and red clay, "New Frontier" land?, cappuccino strip, Aboriginal artwork, sunny days, freezing nights, busy afternoons turning to empty evenings, extended holidays, closed shops at 5, unreliable transport.....waiting always.

The past three weeks in Perth have been...well, unexpected. Emily, Chris, Josh and I rocked up to Perth expecting a small, surf-life type city and I can't begin to tell you how wrong we were. Driving 3700 km from the east coast to west coast basically makes one feel like you have entered a completely different country.....and considering the vastness of Australia and the fact that over half of Western Australians haven't traveled outside their own state or would even care to, pretty much confirms this feeling.

How do I describe my first impressions of WA compared to the bustling city life back in Melbourne?? SLOW. Everything (and by this I literally mean EVERYTHING but the occasional bottle shop and few pubs) closes at 5....so if you want food to feed the family or need money to pay the bills, better make sure you're out of work before then! Holidays last dayssss on end. The four of us arrived in Perth around the Easter holiday. This definitely put a damper on job searching when most of the town was shut down and the exact same parade and festival went on 3 DAYS in a row....I almost went crazy thinking the days were beginning to repeat themselves. Every other house on my street is under some sort of renovation - and I'm pretty sure will continue to be so for months on end. It seems like Aussies simply decide to work only when they feel like it. The Aboriginal community is huge, accents are much harder to understand...and I've learned that Western Australians do NOT like it when I boast about the East Coast!

Emily, Josh and I live in a suburb called Fremantle. Yes, the group of four became three - Chris left for England about two weeks ago when circumstances led him to feel the need to go home. I won't even get started on that one, it's been a tough situation to handle....but the three of us are coping with the sad goodbye. Fremantle is good for two types of people: A. the retired or B. the travelers needing to save money. There's not much to do here but enjoy a hot cappuccino in the afternoon or have a bbq at night, so for now - Emily and I are working and saving. I'm currently employed at one of Australia's best known breweries, called Little Creatures. I Love it! It's probably the best (and hopefully one of the last) hospitality jobs I will ever have. Located in the heart of Fremantle's harbor, it offers gorgeous views to sit and enjoy a refreshing pint and bucket of chili mussels on a sunny Sunday afternoon. (Nice advertising, huh?). They employ backpackers from all over the world, which gives a fun atmosphere and amazing people to get to know. I'm also currently bartending for the first time in my life...I'm not the best, but hey - I told you western Australians were patient people!

The next four weeks won't be the most exciting of times, but will be much needed for the coming adventures. I'm joining the bandwagon with this slow paced town, enjoying bbqs with both new and old friends, saving some cash, and waiting. This month has been full of ups and downs, hellos and goodbyes. Em and I have to say another sad goodbye in July, as Josh heads back to the freezing, maple-syrup covered land of Canada......we'll miss you!!! Then it's back to the original two, or shall I say - amazing duo, as Em and I set off for our final, two month chapter in Australia....GET READY!

~ Across the Nullarbor ~

When Emily and I first decided to move to Melbourne, I purchased Bill Bryson’s book In a Sunburned Country. Of course, I had great intentions to read it’s entirety before leaving….but as usual, life gets in the way – I skimmed a few pages about Melbourne and was off to this distant continent. Now, stretched out on my sofa bed (in only what I can describe as a house on wheels), and with 3700 km ahead of me, I once again opened up this book. In our 6 day adventure I found myself not only reading it, but starting to write notes, blot down facts, and bore the heck out of my friends with my new found trivia. I felt like I was in history class and LOVED it! How have I never learned the full history of this country? Let me entice you with some of Bill’s knowledge:

- The Nullarbor Plains (Latin term for “no trees”) is an area four times the size of Belgium without one scrap of shade. It is one of the most forbidding expanses on earth….dun dun dunnn

- The vast, desolate landscape in Australia is much due to an old English bloke in 1859, who decided to bring over 24 rabbits for entertainment. Before this idiot, much of the land was rather lush and flowers would spring back after drought….but thanks Sir Blah Blah Blah, the wild rabbits mated (well, like rabbits) and devastated the land. Now, up to 300 million are running all over the place.

- Year 1956: “Foreign cuisine” basically meant spaghetti from a can and Perth was still just at the end of a very long dirt road.

- Australia is the only place in the world where one-humped camels exist…huh, who knew??

- This guy explained Mossys (mosquitoes) to a KEY. “Flies are of course irksome, but the Australian variety distinguishes itself with its very particular persistence. If an Australian fly wants to be up your nose or in your ear, there is no discouraging him. Flick at him you will and each time he will jump out of range and come straight back.” I can brag and say I killed a few flies during our trip through the Nullarbor, but I’d be lying if I said it was due to my swiftness rather than the fly’s sheer laziness to not leave my arm.

- In 1949 there was no such thing as Australian citizenship…whaatttttt

- Australia holds just 14 species of serious lethal snakes, one of which is the taipan – the world’s most poisonous snake. Mildura, a town in the Nullarbor, (aka a clutter of houses and a gas station with a local pub attached) is somehow the only town on record to have a fatal attack by this 5 foot long, venomous snake. I read this the morning we stopped at this town for gas. Let’s just say I didn’t leave the campervan.

Leaving the bright, vibrant city of Melbourne, I was surprised at how quickly I felt everything disappearing around us. At first, the big buildings, then homes become more sparse, trees become thinner and finally the only thing in sight for miles was literally simply brown/green grass, bushes and a random eucalyptus tree here and there. After a day or two, as much as we progressed, the vanishing point ahead of us always stayed in the same place. There were signs every few hundred kilometers saying, “Stay alive, revive” and black posts every so often indicating a place where a car crashed and someone passed away. It was a weird sense of isolation.

The six day trek from Melbourne, Victoria to Perth, Western Australia is something I would never take back. The four of us found ourselves one night just lying in the middle of the road to stare at the stars….I think I was the only one who couldn’t fully enjoy the moment because of the utter creepiness of how quite it was! The hilarity of some of our situations is something only I think Chris, Emily and Josh can truly share with me – running into gas stations like it was Christmas morning to see if they had meat pies or chips, “plugging” into campervan sites, basically getting forced to party with the entire town of Wirrulla since the only gas pump closed at 7pm, spotting Emus….thrilled to once again entire society as we strolled into the remote city of Perth.

Chapter 3 of my adventures in Australia: Perth, Western Australia

3400 km and 6 days to go...

"We're all a little weird, and when we find those people whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness and call them our best friends."

It's about that time....summer has ended, Melbourne's weather is worse than ever, jobs are scarce, and well life is a bit too comfortable for the backpacker lifestyle....yes, time to MOVE!! Beginning tomorrow, April 14th, Emily Meyers, Chris Johnson, Josh Purdy and I will be beginning the long Journey from Melbourne, Victoria to Perth, Western Australia.

To get a perspective on things. This drive will be about the equivalent distance of driving from Ohio to California....despite the fact that we will be driving across 15 hours of vast, empty dessert and the only wildlife will consist of camels, kangaroos and deadly snakes. Oh, and our destination?? Perth - the most isolated major city in the world. No worries though, mate! I'd like to say we're only driving through the "bush", a term used by Aussies to describe going into the outback....but "not quite there". Our route will be along the southern borders of Australia so we can stop through the city of Adelaide and gorgeous surf town of Esperance before arriving in sunny Perth. The thought that we're staying somewhere close to the water (well at least by the looks of a map...) and not going into the treacherous outback is the only concept keeping me from peeing my pants a bit.

So how did I get myself into this situation?? Not quite sure. What do I know?? I love Melbourne. I love the vibrant city and the incredible people I've met along the way. I love my home and the friends in it. I love how comfortable things are.....but that's where the conflict comes, the word comfortable. We are living like Aussie residents would...which is fun and wonderful and exciting (or would be more exciting with a better job...), but my time in Australia is limited. With proper jobs not working out, it's time to get back to the backpacker lifestyle and start a new adventure!!!

Emily and I began planning our trip like most people - looking up cheap flights. When this became a bit disconcerting, Chris casually mentioned another option....relocation vehicles. This is how we stumbled upon our 6 person, Volkswagen Campervan Cheapa Delux. For $1/day and $500 free gas, we have 6 days to move this campervan from Melbourne to Perth. It's an affordable option that offers an adventurous road trip with four great friends. DEAL. Chris put it in perfect words for me, "what are you going to remember in 20 years, Patty? A 4 hour flight or a 6 day road trip with your best friends?". Well, if it involves me camping out in the "bush" for 6 days and showering in a van - I'm pretty sure I'm not going to forget that!!

So the adventure begins. Another road trip - but this time to a new city with two more friends to add to the mix. It's time to once again get lost wandering the city, walk along strange streets, stumble upon random parks or small beaches, discover favorite cafes...and don't forget those cheap food specials and fun happy hours. I'll miss all the amazing friends I've made back in Melbourne, but I promise to make it back for one last goodbye before we get kicked out of this country :)

Cheers to more job searching, blue waters and surf, a new adventure and many more stories along the way!!!