Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Goodbye Australia!

How can I sum up my time here? Australia was like a mediocre date; she was average looking, you took her to Montana's for dinner, got slightly tipsy, didn't get laid, but hey, second base will do. It's obvious to say that things didn't go according to the plan I had prior to arriving here. The railroad job never materialized, and neither did the big amount of money I had counted on for another two years of traveling. Instead, I'm taking lemons and making lemonade. A little less cash, but still armed with a great plan, I'll make my way back home to make a much needed visit to family and friends, and hopefully make some more money to continue my journeys.

The past few days have been quite chaotic, trying to run around and get all my errands done before I left that I didn't really have any time to reflect, and it wasn't until this morning that it really hit me that I'm leaving. I did enjoy most of my time here. I rode in on an emotional high and unfortunately the crash of my plan also crashed that high, but I have since rebounded back and am ready to bring on the good times again. I'm leaving with the same amount of money I arrived with, in good spirits, and the physically strongest I've ever been. I'm sad to be leaving my friends here, but that's life on the road; goodbye's are inevitable.

Australia did have some amazing travels in store for me. Tazmania, Melbourne and the Central Coast of New South Wales were all incredible in terms of scenery and experience. Fortunately for all of those, I had family along with me. I do wish I had a little more time and money to catch a glimpse of the Outback and the Great Barrier Reef, but there's always the future. I didn't really care too much for the culture here, the only real pronounced difference is the heavy emphasis on sports, and being I'm not much of a sports guy, it didn't impact me very hard. I did like the pub culture though, I wish we had as much variety at home as they do here.

Will I return? It is still a possibility that I might head back to Tazmania if that visa issue ever gets resolved and TasRail calls me. How strong a possibility I don't know, from the way things have been I would guess very small, but I can't discount it entirely. For another vacation, Australia will rank very low on my list. I feel there's simply too many other countries on my list that would trump it without a thought. I'm still in the East > West mode, but with the money I have left and my urge to see mountains again, Hawaii and Alaska seem like the best route home.

Next stop: Honolulu!!

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