Adventures Down Under

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Time flies when you’re having fun! Can’t believe I have been gone for nearly four months and it’s 2015! I swear I try to update this more often but I am unbelievably busy for someone with no job! Busy being awesome, that is. Full time job. I’m in Bali now but i will have to tell you about that later- I spent three months in Australia and haven’t updated about it yet! Australia was awesome, but let me start at the beginning. So. After the Philippines, I flew to Sydney, where I only planned to stay for a week or two before I headed to Melbourne. Somehow, I ended up staying for two months. First lesson that I know already- never make any plans. I am so happy that i stayed though! It was SUCH a great couple of months. I was staying with one of my very best friends, Taigen, and her (hilarious) husband in their beautiful home in Surry Hills. I had my own room, Taig gave me her bike to use (which was awesome once I got over the unsettling feeling of riding on the other side of the road), I got a job and the sun beamed down almost every day. I was doing lots of yoga, saving money, beaching tons (Sydney has over 100 beaches- a beach bums ultimate dream), and feeling awesome. How could i leave? I caught up with some old friends, made a bunch of new friends, and had so much solid bestie time with Taig. Also knowing it was raining in Vancouver every day made me appreciate every beach picnic and bike ride a little bit more.

I was working at a German restaurant that was crazy busy which was surprising- I had no idea Australians had such a massive love for schnitzel! Working there was good, I liked everyone I worked with, with the exception of the manager who successfully brought a black cloud of negativity with him wherever he went… Just the worst. I knew I wasn’t going to be there for long though, so i tried to kill him with kindness (unsuccessful) and be awesome at my job (successful) and I didn’t feel bad when I text in sick to enjoy my last weekend in the city. I can’t really share what happened that weekend but it was truly one for the books.

Sydney is a great city, full of colorful neighborhoods- Taig and Ollie live in Surry Hills which is super cool and trendy- where else would Taigen live, really. It’s super central and full of good eats, funky bars and cool shops, and i could ride to work in under ten minutes. I also discovered a personal new favorite hood, Newtown! It’s like an Australian version of Commercial Drive, but with more street art and Asian cuisine. Killer graffiti and the best pad thai in the city? So good. I even got food poisoning from a thai restaurant there and I don’t love it any less.

And the yoga in Sydney! Just need to talk about this quick because this blog is called Yogi on the Road, after all. I decided to hit up a couple studios for their into pass- usually a month of unlimited yoga for a discounted rate. The first studio I went to is called Body Mind Life (30 days for $50), and they have a studio in Surry Hills and one in Bondi. What a beautiful studio! Big and bright, on a quiet road and great classes running all day long- if you are ever there, check out Michael’s class, he is awesome, I also went to a couple great classes by Vanessa, and Noelle if you want an ass-kicking of arm balances and inversions. When that month was up, I joined another studio in Surry Hills called In Yoga ($25 for two weeks). There is a teacher there named Nicole who is awesome- i think maybe she owns it actually but she is great. An interesting thing about both studios is that most of the classes are heated- and Sydney is HOT! Seems a bit unnecessary to heat the rooms when it’s 35 degrees outside, but you do leave feeling like a million bucks. A million of the sweatiest bucks.

Australia definitely has some killer ideas Canada could adopt. One of my favorite things is that tons of the little restaurants are BYO wine, so you can bring in a bottle (or two) and they just charge you a small fee (around $2) to drink it! Another thing is that the pubs there (and there are loads) don’t do table service, you just order your food at the bar, and then they give you a little buzzer that goes off when your food is ready. You can sit wherever, join whoever, and just go to the bar when you need another drink instead of waiting for your server to come back over. It’s way more social and you aren’t confined to one table, I loooove it. You also don’t have to tip in Australia, and the tax is included in the price on the menu, so you just pay exactly what is says! Imagine that. The wages are way higher there too, so if you work in the service industry you actually make enough to live on… Without tips! Another fun fact is that employers are supposed to pay you MORE when you work on the weekends! Your salary goes up on Saturdays, and even more on Sundays. Personally i think working on Sundays should be illegal all over the world, but at least a bigger payday softens the blow!

I bid farewell to Sydney and came to Melbourne on the 23rd, just in time for Christmas with the Canadians! Three of my Canadian friends have been living in Melbourne for ages, and then two more came from home for the holidays so we had a little Canadian Christmas crew. We had a big party and drank sangria, ate soooo much food, exchanged some gifts, cooled off in the pool and danced the day away in the sunshine. So awesome to celebrate with some of my favorite people in the world, on the other side of the world! A couple of days (and one block rocking drum and bass show) later, three of us borrowed a car (from ANOTHER Canadian friend- we are everywhere!) and some camping supplies to do a little road trip down the Great Ocean Road. With a name like that, you can’t NOT drive down it, right? It was awesome, so beautiful and so nice to get out of the city! We camped overnight and saw SO MANY KOALA BEARS. Trip MADE. We arrived home on New Years eve and had a mostly chill evening because we had a crazy daytime festival to go to the next day and we wanted to be in tip-top shape! We woke up feeling good (probably the first time ever), got ready and then the festivities began. 24 of us took a giant hummer limo to the festival, which took place on the grounds of this insane mansion. There was five (I think) stages, the sun shone all day, and I wasn’t even the first person to fall asleep at the afterparty! Also met a boy. Killing 2015 already! I just had so much fun in Melbourne, so much good friend time and fun days and great parties and tons going on. I was sad to leave but after not working for three weeks and having all the fun, I had to come to a cheaper country. Bali is way cheaper and i am back by the beach and could not be happier! I will update with my indonesian adventures soon. Sending love and sunshine home.xo