I Feel Like my Life is just Starting to Begin

It is 6 a.m on Friday the 15th…I just got off the phone with Marchant back home and it is 3:00 p.m Thursday the 14th for him. So technically…I am living in the future compared to most of you. I’ll let you know how it is. Writing this from the 36th floor of a beautiful skyscraper in the CBD of Melbourne. I booked an airbnb for the past two nights and the queen bed has been amazing..compared to the bus and hostels…each of them are great experiences and have their pros and cons..but this morning..its been nice chilling in this big bed in a one bedroom apartment with an absolute amazing view of the city..See Below.

The past week…I wrapped up the work exchange with Alistair and Sarah. Sarah and I killed the open mic the other night. We got to meet some of Al’s friends and mingled with the locals of Glenorchy for a few hours while listening to people give it their best shot…my personal favorite was an Eric Clapton cover performed by a few of the locals and sung by a man from Czech Republic. I will upload the video to the posts here soon. Videos take a little while for me to download them to Vimeo. I am hardly sitting down on this trip…if I’m back in the room..I’m situating my bag or preparing for the next day..or going to sleep. If I’m typing these it’s usually when I have forced down time. I will pack up here in a little and make my way to my next place at St. Kilda beach.

Last thing about the work exchange…I have a new friend in Sarah…who worked her ass off on the farm. Al had a bus for Sarah on the other side of the property as well…she stayed opted to stay in her own van lol I don’t blame her. Having Sarah there made the entire thing much more manageable and enjoyable….I think we both agree on that. We will have stories to tell and reminisce on forever from this workaway..Al..Kinloch. We agreed that it was a unique and beneficial experience…but it wasn’t necessary to do it any longer than the two weeks that we did it for…when you do this type of solo travel you don’t usually stay in one spot for that long..so it was nice to get our feet settled in a beautiful part of the country…while we made plans for our next moves. Sarah ended up landing a civil engineering job in Wanaka..a town an hour north of Queenstown. It’s a beautiful outdoorsy town situauted beneath the mountains on a blue lake…Glaciers aren’t too far off from it. Sarah is from England..lived most of her life in Scotland..and now is going to give New Zealand a go for the next two years…she loves long…long hikes and getting outside as much as possible. I’ll look forward to seeing her updates and wish her well on these future endeavors…moving to another country…knowing no one..is a big jump..a courageous one.. We are proud of Sarah.

We gave Al hugs and then Sarah and I headed to drop me off in Queenstown where I would spend the next couple nights before my flight to Aus. I regained the adventure energy again and it was setting in that I was free to do whatever I wanted to now. I enjoyed good meals in town..stayed in a hostel in rooms of 10 people..met a lot of folks from all over..rode in a “shark”…a little two person capsule boat that goes under water and flips around…one time is for me on that one…thank goodness I didn’t eat before it. It was fun..but a little intense if you are claustrophobic in the slightest…which I do happen to be nowadays…trying to beat that…just gotta breathe. I also took a helicopter to Milford Sound..rode on boat in it..took the helicopter and landed in on top of a glacier…no big deal.

I was planning my next moves and I was craving a big..international city. Melbourne or Sydney…I asked around to many…I googled many comparison articles.. I don’t think there was a wrong choice here. Melbourne aligned better to what I enjoy in a city. Arts..music..culture.. Melbourne would give me a place to explore for a few days and then hop to the next place….I think I rushed the next move in booking a flight from Melbourne to Tasmania this Sunday(St. Patricks Day)…After talking to many Australians and Kiwis…Tasmania is truly a beautiful place..but it is going to feel and look a lot like New Zealand…and less people….right now I’m really wanting to interact with a lot of people…I definitely got a nature fix for my first 3 weeks…now if I can mix nature and people…then I’m golden. So I’m thinking of doing what most people tend to do and that is going up the east coast..Sunshine Coast..Gold Coast….maybe even Darwin at the top of the country. I can exchange my flight to Tassy to any of these places…Steve Irwin’s son is running the Zoo his father worked at near Brisbane…and….I think that is so cool…I need to visit.  I could also hightail it to Bali…or even Japan if I wanted to.

So my options are open..because well..I’m traveling solo..and traveling solo you get to make every. Single. Decision. How beautiful is that….it is truly my favorite way to travel….traveling with others can be great too don’t get me wrong…but there is just too many special things about traveling solo.

Melbourne is much bigger than I expected…I can’t give it labels or blanket statements on it because there is just too much to see… I don’t think even 5 days is enough to fully get it…but just from what I have seen so far…. I really enjoy.

I’m staying in the CBD and it’s bustling..all the time…parts of it feel like NYC…very walkable…restaurant after restaurant….tons of asian restaurants…I’ve noticed alot of Korean BBQ…there are lots of Asians here as well. There are pubs all over the place…they call them “Hotels” here…There is a mix of modern and then  a late 90’s theme to the area….for some reason I have gotten early 2000’s vibes from my two days here…

The first night here…and I do this when I land in big cities…I just start walking…very aimlessly…no earphones…taking in all the sights and sounds….in this case I hadn’t eaten in awhile so I was looking for food..and there is food options every where… I don’t want to settle for something yet…I am sure that the ideal place will be just around the next block if I keep walking…I’m not using maps or yelp…I just hope that the ideal place comes about…I’ve done this in many cities and I don’t know if its good or bad…but I end up walking miles and tiring myself out because I can’t decide…because I’m afraid if I stop at this restaurant then I would have missed out on the best food in the world just around the corner.. Zack just feed yourself something cheap and then you can walk however far you want…oh well. After dinner I stumbled across this alley with a bunch of kids in their 20’s hanging out watching this band..it’s free..it’s funky. I love it. There is basketball hoop hanging on the brick wall in the alley and three girls are casually shooting on it. The bar next door is two female Dj’s playing house music…getting some European vibes at this stage for sure…or is is Australian vibes? Who knows…but people are living…mingling…dancing..not on their phones….I noticed that in the nightlife in Queenstown….lots of dancing…lots of talking….feels like a time before phones. Its great.

The CBD is eclectic…parts of it is gritty…parts of it is swanky. Overall…It all feels very artsy here..very international. I explored a couple neighborhoods that are my speed as well….Richmond and Fitzroy. There was a big match of “Footy” last night…first of the season…it would be like a Buckhead team playing and Alpharetta team. I thought footy was a different term for Rugby. The ball is similar….but the players are more lean…the field is oval not rectangular like rugby…the field is absolutely massive. I was just trying to figure out how cricket and rugby work…now I Gotta figure out how “footy” works. It’s a big deal here it seems.

My friends and neighbors had twins today…Chas and Hanna Williams…I woke up to pictures from Chas for the babies….they are beautiful…boy and a girl….I remember before I was leaving on this trip they were getting the house all ready for them to be here….the nursery was the cutest thing ever with two cribs in there….by the fireplace they had two super small brown..baby chairs on each side. So happy for the Williams!  I look forward to meeting them when I get back….it has been a little surreal the past couple years of seeing friends get married…have kids…seeing big life changes unfold…I’m sure I’m one of the first divorces in a lot of our friend groups…that’s okay too….this life is ever changing and we all have to adapt to change or we won’t survive. Life is moving quickly as I approach 30 years old…I feel like my life is just starting to begin.