Vagabonding Field Report: Sydney to Cairns, Australia

Cost/day:  $50

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
A duck-billed platypus. Though sadly, it was only in the zoo. My friend and I were constantly on the lookout for one in the wild and we were let down big time to never come across one.

Describe a typical day:
Every day that we were in southern Australia was beautiful and sunny and warm. We went to the zoo and beaches, walked around Sydney taking photos, got lost on trains, hitchhiked, cooked pasta in our hostel every night, visited our friends that we met in the Asian district and helped them at their shop, and tried to avoid the terrifying animals/insects you hear so much about. When we made it up to Cairns, we had the bad luck of hitting some bad weather. It rained pretty much every day for a week, but we spent the time with people at our hostel from all over the world, cooking and talking and going out at night. We had a really lovely time.

Describe an interesting conversation you had with a local:
We did a bit of hitchhiking in Australia, which for some reason we had assumed was pretty safe. In our experience, it was– in fact, we were picked up by some really amazing, fun, generous people. One group even took us to a bar-b-q and put us up for the night. But, everyone that stopped for us said they did so out of concern for our safety…apparently there was a notorious killer who had just been jailed for murdering people he had picked up hitchhiking. This was interesting to find out.

What do you like about where you are? Dislike?
I really liked the people in Australia. Everyone seemed to come with a generous, boisterous, adventurous spirit and was instantly likeable. The spaciousness was really nice too, it made everything feel exciting and infinite. Sydney was one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to, and once we were out of the cities we loved it even more. Nature was overwhelming, exotic, and perfectly photogenic there.

Describe a challenge you faced:
Sometimes it was difficult figuring out how to get around since Australia is so huge and sometimes a little expensive.

What new lesson did you learn?
Australia was the near the beginning of our round-the-world trip, so I really learned how capable I was when it comes to traveling and problem solving. Getting around with no idea where you are or exactly where you’re going was a very new experience, and fortunately it was fun and life-changing. It made me realize that travel is one of the best things I could ever do with my time, money, and resources. Also, Vegemite is disgusting.

Where next?
Next is on to Peru and Hawaii!