#backpacking australia

[rvboss]

5 BEST 4WD ROUTES IN AUSTRALIA FOR BACKPACKERS | RV Boss

Australia is a land of adventure, and for backpackers seeking an off-road thrill, there’s no better way to explore the country’s rugged beau

[bwebtravels]

“Hey, nice chacos!” – The moment I knew Brian was cool. After all, only the coolest backpackers have them. And Brians have Yellowstone rainbow pool design on them, so you know he’s a badass. 

“Hey, thanks, chacos are awesome!” – The moment I walked away and almost MISSED the opportunity to be Brian’s friend. Luckily, fate would give me a second chance. 

Later that week I would head out into the middle of nowhere woods in Eungella national park to Platypus Bush Camp with hopes to see a Platypus. This humble but very cool campsite had a few platypus viewing pools and hand painted signs advertising “bum nuts” for sale. (Um, “bum nuts” are eggs. Like chicken eggs. BEST LINGO EVER.) 

I pulled into the parking lot and behold, Brian was there! Always good to see a familiar face. I learned that he happens to be covered head to toe in awesome tattoos, hikes long tracks around the world, writes code and has a good eye for photography. He shared some goon and we admired the stars. 

Later we would be reunited Byron Bay where we walked the beach and hiked Mount Warning. And then Sydney where we walked downtown, saw the bridge, the iconic Opera House and then the Botanic Gardens. We admired all the trees and plants and I bought a whole stack of tacky postcards. 

It’s pretty cool that we’ve been able to spend this much time together even with our different itineraries and the 1800 kms between where we met and the big city. As a lonely traveler, having  friends that bring sunshine into your day is as good as gold! Thank you, Brian!

[bwebtravels]

Australia Backpackers have an incredible resource in 2019… The Internet. And, each other. Every big town has their own backpackers group which makes it easy to make friends and organize trips, etc. When I was in Cairns I posted about planning a rainforest trip. Mel was the only person who liked it, so I took a look at her profile. Later it would turn out that I would never make such trip to the rainforest due to van problems. 

Later I wound up in Townsville, 347 km down the coast. I had just come from a dingy farm in Bramston Beach where I was asked to leave after just two days. I then tried to park my van at a hostel outside of Townsville and it was so creepy I ended up getting a bunk at this place instead. By the time I got to my bunk, I was feeling cagey and aggressive. 

Then Melissa walked through the door. I was immediately disarmed when I saw this familiar face. “Hey, I know you! You’re the girl who liked my post on the Cairns Facebook group!” She looked at me like I had three heads and laughed. She didn’t remember, but humored me and told me about her Cairns experience. It turns out that she and I are both plant based “chefs” who felt (and continue to feel) defeated by Australia. We bitched about it together and it provided me some comical relief. 

That night I made dinner and Mel helped, making some awesome Tahini sauce. The next morning we went for a sunrise hike up Castle Hill. We declared it a moment of new beginnings. We parted ways after that but kept in touch over social media. 

Later on we met up in Byron bay, 1500 kms down the coast. We got dinner, went to a startup event and pigged out on free food and went lawn bowling. It felt good to laugh and be silly and do some more bitching about all the rejection we felt. Melissa, thank you for being such a good friend!

[bwebtravels]

Kelly is one of the kindest, sweetest people I have met in Australia. I get the sense that she can read people well and tune into what they really need in that moment. She was there for me when I really needed someone to lean on, which she maybe didn’t even realize!

Kelly and my paths overlapped just by chance. She was supposed to be off on vacation and I was to watch her dog for her, but she decided to stay home for a couple more days and so graciously let me get settled in my new rooms for the next 10 days. 

Once we got to chatting, I asked about what she does and she told me all about the school she works for. It is a great community that brings up refugees. She teaches English as a second language to kids. She told me about how they show up so shy and quiet but after time they learn, get more comfortable and express themselves freely and how beautiful it is. She told me about a morning ritual at the school where they sing a song together and the lyrics are about unity and being there for each other. I think it is beautiful that a place like that exists and how amazing it is that she gets to be a part of it and make it real. She gets to help them transform and become a part of this foreign society. 

 At that stage in my journey I was going through a bit of heartache. I had been thinking about an old flame and how I missed them dearly. I opened up to her about him and she said “he sounds wonderful”. It was so soothing to my aching heart to hear some kind of affirmation that my heart was in the right place. 

When she left, she gave me a cookbook of raw desserts. That was so special to me. I am so grateful for her kindness in a time when I really needed it, even though maybe she didn’t realize it.

[bwebtravels]

I enjoyed moments between John and I because we are very different people but had a great deal of respect for each other. It seems like this is very rare in our world today!

When I arrived on his farm, I knew hardly anything about gardening and he taught me some basic things like how to spread mulch efficiently and what to weed and what not to weed. He dealt with my inexperience in stride and for that I am grateful.

One of my favorite memories of John is when we were doing work out in their young food forest. I was up on the swales and couldn’t figure out how to turn on the tractor. He was 100 ft away and trying to shout instructions my way. I couldn’t understand what he was saying (this is surprisingly not at all rare with the Australian accent) and shouted back “No hable Australian!” He walked my way and loudly muttered “Dang foreigners!” We both had a laugh.

John and I had many conversations about sustainability and food. He had an understandably skeptical (possibly resentful) view on vegans but was polite and respectful to me about my lifestyle. Actually, he and his wife hosted a vegan BBQ AND vegan cooking workshop (by yours truly) on the same weekend when I was there, so that speaks volumes. At the end of the day, they both really like food and want to share with people, especially those who like healthy, organic food!

During our chats I acknowledged that food production at large has a lot of work to do to be sustainable and that meat is just one part of that. And he pointed out that while meat is the most destructive food product, there are more sustainable ways to produce it too. We agreed that is true. We talked about the militant vegans who give vegans in Australia such a tough reputation and I expressed to him that I don’t approve of their destructive ways. (I find it counter productive to the movement— If you’re interested I can send you the blog I wrote about it.) It was refreshing to have an intellectual, non-emotional conversation about these things and not dwell on diet titles and rules but rather on systems and practices. We both see ways to have a better world, and it is much more meaningful to focus on that rather than our differences.

John and his wife didn’t want to eat meat in front of me, but after a long week of curry (and me stressing that I was not judgmental), they made themselves a steak dinner (I had a veggie burger) and we were able to enjoy each others company in peace!

[bwebtravels]

Bud has to be one of my favorite and impactful people I met in Australia. Bud is an American man from Florida who has lived in Australia for most of his life, but still has that sweet southern accent that was so comforting and familiar to hear when I arrived at my fourth WWOOF destination, Acacia Health Retreat. 

Every night at dinner we would bow our heads to pray and he would thank the Heavenly Father for all he blessed us with and asked him to lead us to what needed to be done next. Having been a preacher, Bud had no shortage of inspiring words, related to the Divine or otherwise. There were many meaningful conversations that took place around that table and I was very grateful for the time and space to contemplate my own spirituality. 

My favorite memory of Bud was when we went to church on the first sabbath that I was there. The pastor got up in front of everyone and said “Well, there was someone who was supposed to do the teaching today, but they are not here, so, who’s going to do it?” Everyone looked around the room, confounded. Noemi, the WWOOF host at Acacia said, “Don’t worry. We’ve got Bud.” As if she had a secret weapon in her back pocket. Bud, with his head held high, worn iPad in hand, stood up and took his place at the head of the room and delivered a powerful, passion filled sermon on the fly. Totally badass. As he delivered the lesson, the audience savored his every word. It was clear that this is what Bud does best, and it was a prime opportunity for him to own it and shine. I know it can be rare to see people in this form of themselves, so I truly appreciated the opportunity to witness it.

There were many kind words spoken to me from Bud that helped carry me through my long and sometimes dim journey. Thank you, Bud!

[bwebtravels]

Australia has stripped me down. The real me has been exposed over and over, quickly. Staying in a new place every week, being dropped into a new environment with new personalities to navigate, it is emotionally wearing.

I have lost my filter and tell people what I really think. I have lost my patience with people and come off as not-so-nice. For all the times I have been lifted up and celebrated and have faced twice as much loneliness and rejection. For all the times I’ve had big laughs, I’ve cried just as hard. I’ve gotten the message through being asked to leave farms, a bad airbnb review and dirty looks. Sometimes it feels like “we don’t like you” but really all it is is “we’re all different”.

Part of me takes this to heart. It makes me want to evaluate what I might need to change about my ways, but equally, or maybe more so, it makes me realize I just don’t have any fucks to give. :)

[bwebtravels]

All said and done, this will be my route of mainland Australia. 

I will also hit up Tasmania, but have yet to plan that one. ;)