oceania

the toyota land cruiser that took me and kai from darwin to rockhampton

when i finally did make it to sydney, i had no where lined up to stay. my last hitchhiker friend dropped me off at a train station, and i took the metro into downtown syndey. i figured this would be my best bet to find a hostel. and i was right. immediatly after stepping off of the platform i saw multiple different youth hostel signs. the first one that i passed by, i ended up staying in for two weeks! i quickly befriended three irish girls who were staying in the same room as me. at the end of the two weeks, they were moving into an apartment, and invited me to tag along until my move to auckland! sydney was kind of a laze-about time for me, after my roadtrip with kai, and the truckers. i was relishing in being in one place for more than 24hrs. one of the highlights of my trip to sydney was taking the ferry to manly to meet up with a friend. who recommended i check out nannying. i had mentioned to her, that i was interested in staying roughly in one place for my time in NZ and not popping around too much over the holidays. so i was thinking of getting a job. so i then became addicted to checking ads, and sending out tons of emails, in hopes that i would find a family willing to take me over the holidays, and for my time in NZ. several days before my flight to auckland i got a call from a woman named jo. jo and her husband paddy were looking for a live in nanny for their four children; for over the holiday season. she sounded delightful on the phone, and after the initial call i had my hopes set on her family. the pattersons. after a few phone calls and emails later, i was offered the job! and im happy to say that for the past month ive been staying in stratford, new zealand to the patterson family. the children are zak(10), hannah(8), cooper(4) and keith(2). i feel like ive been here for months. when the time came for me to pack up and say by to orla, siobhan, and aisling (irish girls) it was tough. just when i meet someone and get to be good friends with them...i have to leave. jo and hannah picked me up in new plymouth, and i felt like we clicked right from the beggining. today is december 27th, and i have officially survived my first christmas away from home. not as blubbery as i thought i would be. i think it had something to do with the fact that it wasnt as christmasy here as it is at home, so there wasnt as many triggers to set me off. like arols on the radio, main street and each store front window decked out to the nines, snow suits, or stockings with clemetines at the bottom. so yeah, i guess it just didnt feel the same. plus this was the first christmas where i wasnt the youngest one in the house ahha! i cant believe the international part of my trip is almost over. in less than a month i will be flying back to calgary and attempting to make my way across another country. this one being my own though. i hope to be back in nova scotia sometime in february or march. wish me luck!

darwin

i arrive at the darwin airport at 3am.
i was lucky enough to find a couchsurfer in darwin named dan.
dan even offered to come get me at the airport at that outrageous hour, which i was so happy for.
on the flight to darwin i met a canadian girl from quebec, who was planning on staying in darwin for a week or so, while she tried to figure out where to go from there. since we had similar plans, and hit it off really well we decided to exchange information and hopefully met up. so over the next week in darwin gabrielle and i met up in the city centre and contacted many different people who were looking for travel mates for an aussie adventure!
one day we met up with an irish guy named kai. unfortunately for gabrielle and i, kai could only take one person. and since gabrielle's main focus was to travel the west coast, and kai was heading east, i decided to say farwell to gabrielle and leave with kai.
i met kai on a monday and we left for the outback the following morning. kai owns a beast of a landcruiser, which was perfect for the terrain we were about to face. i told him thats my plans were wide open and i was game for anything. and he told me that he really wanted to get to australia's most northerly point before wet season hit, so we set off for cape york.
kai and i spent almost three weeks camping in the outback. this was by far my favorite part about my trip to australia. we slept somewhere new almost every night. and 99% of the time it was just a spot we picked in the bush on the side of the road. highlights include waking up in my tent being stared back at by 19 kangaroos, seeing all of the indigenous communities, and of course making it to cape york, the northern most point of australia.
i needed to make it to sydney by the end of november, and kai was looking to head west, to central australia, so we split paths in rockhampton. and this is the part i waited to tell my mom about till after it happend. i decided i wanted to hitchhike!
kai was not thrilled about the idea, so we picked a decent looking spot on the side of the road, and i made a sign saying 'south', although i knew it wouldnt last long since it was POURING rain out! and kai parked a little down from me, so he could see who picked me up, and get their plate numbers. within two minutes of standing out on the road, a white suv stopped, and i jogged up to the side to see where he was heading. his name was ian and he was heading five hours down the road to maryborough. ian was the first of the four guys that took me from rockhampton to sydney. this was the thrill and experience of a lifetime. although i must admit, im not in any hurry to do it again.

koh lanta, old town

main street old town

when i arrived in old town i was dropped off at mango house, where the manager (a beautiful thai girl named tan) greeted me. i told her i was there to meet susanna. and she instantly grabbed her cell and gave susanna a call to tell her i had arrived. minutes later susanna arrived to mango house on a motorbike and greeted me with a huge welcoming smile. she told me to hop on to her motorbike. two problems...1)im not tiny and the bike was, and 2)i had my massive pack on my back as well. but needless to say, i made it in one piece to susannas home. on the drive down the main street in old town we past a sign that read 'sun longtail boat tours' she explained that when she moved here, she married a local thai man, and they started a long tail business together. which she still runs. when we arrived at susanna's thai style waterfront home, i was in awe. i could not have ever imagined that when i was in thailand i would have the pleasure of staying in such a beautiful home, right on top of the sea! her house is in the shape of a rectangle and is built on stilts atop the seabed. so when the tide was coming in, i could hear and see the waves crashing beneath the floor boards!

old town market

during my week with susanna i got accustomed to her thai lifestyle. every morning i would go into town and buy a 40cent breakfast from a muslim-thai woman, i also got to test out driving a motorbike for the first time, and driving on the 'wrong' side of the road! and one night susanna's neighbour meow (meow is thai, meaning cat) came over to set up a fishing line for me. it consisted of a washed up old sprite bottle with a bit of twine wrapped around it, with a shrimp secured to the hook at the bottom. that night i caught a fish!!! when i felt a tug at the line i yelped, which meow understood as the universial sign for 'i think i've got something'. he came over and helped me reel in a catfish!!! so needless to say, my stay with susanna was amazing. i even taught her and some locals to shotgun! hhah she was a natural. susanna was another one of those couchsurfers that i knew i would see again. after my stay on koh lanta came to an end, i flew back to bangkok, where kirsten had agreed to let me stay for two days before my flight to...AUSTRALIA!!!

koh lanta

my beachside house

when i arrived to koh lanta, i was dropped from the big night bus with the other passangers. we were dropped at a small travel agents shop to wait for mini buses, which would take each passenger to the island they are headed to. everyone was wearing colored stickers so that the thai men driving the mini buses could distinguish who was going to what island. as i looked around i quickly realized i was the only one with an orange sticker. all the other backpackers i was standing with slowly got picked up by mini buses heading to koh phi phi and phucket. phi phi and phucket have the image of party destinations, that receive a lot of young travelers seeking out cheap booze and full moon parties. i however was looking for something different. i wanted to drown in relaxation. i wanted to spend days on end rotating from sleep, eat, swim, read, repeat. i wasnt in the mood to party till i puke. so koh lanta, thankfully has turned out to be perfect for me. when my ride finally did arrive, it was not a minibus. a tiny red pickup, with a toothless old thai man, who spoke no english, drove me to my next stop. i had booked five nights at a beachfront "resort". since im here in low season everything is a little cheaper than it will be in a few weeks time. so i paid 1500baht for five nights, 1500baht is equal to 50canadian dollars. for that price i got a bungalow with a fan, i skimped on the aircon. it was definitely for the budget mindset, i wouldnt recommend it for mom and dad. but for ten dollars a night, i could make it work. the beach was just a few steps from my front door, and i spent those five days reading and eating...just like i had planned. i even befriended i local restaurant owner who is a muslim-thai named luke. he helped me arrange a day trip of snorkeling! so one day i went out to a tiny island called koh bida. i was thrilled when i boarded the boat that they handed out sea-sick pills. but i was prepared and i brought my own, which they found hilarious. i loaded up on my drugs and passed out for the two hour ride to the island. when i woke up, i found out that three of the other people on the trip were puking off the side of the boat...seeing as how that is usually me, i felt like a champ! when i jumped in the water i was instantly blown away by the mass amounts of electric colored fish surrounding me. i felt like i was on the set of finding nemo. but later that night i realized i forgot something important while i was out that afternoon snorkeling. i forgot that my butt was facing the sun all afternoon . needless to say, for the next couple of days i dealt with a burnt bottom. the following day i befriended a fellow backpacker from canada, and four blokes from england, who had just arrived from malaysia. we spent the following days basking in the sun, and sampling bucket drinks, and banana spring rolls! on tuesday we headed off in separate directions. this was the day i headed off to meet my next couchsurfing host, susanna.

thai everybody!

so im in thailand.
i never thought it would be possible to sweat so much. when i arrived in bangkok after a lengthy flight from istanbul to abu dhabi and abu dhabi to bangkok, i was pleased to experience smooth transportation from the airport to my new cser's apt. her name is kirsten and she is from australia, but is teaching english as a PE teacher in bangkok. since i arrived in the morning, kirsten was at work. which led to me dropping off my luggage at her building, and proceeding to tour around bangkok all by myself, and jet-lagged. when i began to wander from kirstens apartment, i was culture shock. everywhere i looked it was a bussle of activity. and the street food was cheap and EVERYWHERE! unfortunately they cook with lots of oyster and shrimp here, so i couldnt order any of it, because i cant eat shellfish, and they dont have menus, or speak english! and i couldnt get over how smiley everyone was. i felt very comfortable walking alone there. the first thing i did was find an air conditioned mall, and got my first thai massage. it was amazing, and for 6bucks an hour, i knew it wouldnt be my last.
when i met up with kirsten that night, we went out to dinner, and i got to meet some of her friends from work. over the next fews days at kirstens place i learned to navigate bangkoks 'skytrain' with precision. the skytrain is a subway like car that was built to reduce congestion on the streets. which is why it was built a top the city. when you ride it you feel like you are at disney world. on my second day there kirsten surprised me with a vip ticket to the thailand open! i was thrilled to spend an afternoon watching the pros play tennis in thailand. i was also lucky to be there over the weekend which meant i was able to attend the famous JJ market! one of my previous couchsurfers warned me to get a map before i went because its like a maze there. he was right! but my navigation skills are horrible, so i just let myself get lost and asked for help when it was time to go. i hit 'time to go' after purchasing thai silk robes, handmade chop sticks, and delish spring rolls among many other souvenirs that i had to lug to the post office to send home the next day.
one of my previous couchsurfing hosts from switzerland (marco) had been to thailand last year, and he recommended that i check out a small island called koh lanta. koh being the thai word for island. i went to a travel agent near kirstens apartment and checked out prices. and that very day i booked a night bus to koh lanta! i had lucked out and there was even a couchsurfer on the island who agreed to host me for a couple night when i was there! so i said goodbye to kirsten and caught a 19 hour bus ride to koh lanta!!

gobble gobble

so leavıng slovenıa was way harder than ı thought.
ı guess that ıs one of thıngs ı have to deal wıth when ı decıded to stay somewhere longer than usual.
ıt was lıke sayıng goodbye to best frıends when ı knew ı wouldnt be seeıng them agaın for a long long tıme. but ım happy to say that weve been keepıng great touch ever sınce ı left ljubljana!
when ı arrıved ın croatıa, ı was ın rıjeka, ıt was overcast and wasnt what ı expected at all. ı felt lıke ı had traveled back ın tıme. the buıldıngs and transportatıon, and even the people made me feel lıke ı had gone back ın a tıme machıene. ı took a bus from rıjeka to a tıny seasıde town called ıcıcı. when ı arrıved ın ıcıcı ı went to the tourıst offıce and asked where the best cheap place to stay was.
ın the majorıty of croatıa there are not hostels, so the cheap alternatıve ıs a homestay. people rent out a room ın theır house and you just stay wıth them. the concept ıs a lıttle weırd, and the detaıls of accomodatıon change based on each famılıes preferences, but ı stayed wıth a woman named tatıanna, and ı got my own bedroom ın her house, wıth an attached bathroom. ıt felt lıke luxury compared to all the hostels ıve stayed ın. however my tıme ın croatıa was mostly spent plannıng on how to leave ıt. ı only spent three days there, and the whole tıme ıt was raınıng. and on one of the days ıt hıt me that ı hadnt spoken englısh, lıke had an actual converatıon wıth another person ın three days! THREE DAYS! ıt makes sense, cause ı was travelıng by myself, ı was the only one rentıng a room ın tatıannas house, and no one spoke englısh...but ı lıttle pıece of me felt lıke tom hanks ın cast away. ı was afraıd ı would forget how to talk, so ı sang ın the shower a lot haha.
when ı left croatıa ı took a four hour traın rıde to zagreb (capıtal of croatıa) and had an eıght hour stop over ın zagreb before ı caught my fırst nıght traın, whıch took me through croatıa and ınto serbıa! ı arrıved ın serbıa at sıx ın the mornıng and had to waıt for one hour before catchıng a new traın that took me on an 18 hour traın rıde through serbıa, macedonıa and ınto greece! ı arrıved ın thessalonıkı, greece at mıdnıght and had no where to stay. luckıly ı located a 24 hour ınternet cafe and found out ı had gotten a responce from a couchsurfer ın thessalonıkı named marıa! ı arrıved at her house about an hour later and ı greeted her wıth a hug, whıle she told me ı could fınd a place to sleep on the terrance. ı was a lıttle confused, but proceeded to the terrace anyway, where ı found TWELVE other couchsurfers campıng out on her terrace. so ı got out my sleepıng bag, found a stray sleepıng pad and cozıed up for the nıght. ı stayed wıth marıa for four nıghts. thessalonıkı wasnt what ı expected from greece at all. ıt was very crowded, polluted and there were stray cats and dogs everywhere. ı thınk sısterhood of the travellıng pants ruıned my perseptıon of greece. ı was expected turquoıse waters wıth lıttle seasıde towns buılt on clıffs wıth small whıte houses lınıng the shore. but ı thınk that postcard perfect scenarıo only happens to exıst ın the south of shore on lıttle tıny untouch ıslands. ı guess ıll have to go back.
durıng my stay wıth marıa ı booked my next bıg move! ı bought a flıght to thaıland!!! my flıght ıs leavıng from ıstanbul on the 22nd! whıch meant that ı had a lıttle over a week to get to my flıght. sınce ı knew ı wouldnt be able to make ıt to the part of greece that ı had always ımagıned, ı decıded to cut my losses and head to ıstanbul! ı lıned up two couchsurfers who lıve rıght ın the heart of ıstanbul and then ı bought a tıcket for a nıght bus whıch took nıne hours. but ı fınally arrıved ın ıstanbul and met my fırst host ramazan.
ıstanbul ıs a crazy cıty. seeıng as how half of the cıty lıes ın asıa and the other half ın europe, you can only ımagıne the cultures that collıde here. there ıs an endless lıst of thıngs to see and do, from the grande bazarr to the thousands of mosques to the seasıde palaces! and my god...the food! when ı thınk about countrıes wıth amazıng food ıtaly ıs usually the fırst ın my head. but no one ever tells you about turkey. ı thınk ıve eaten out for most of my meals here and ıve trıed a dıfferent tradıtıonal turkısh food almost everynıght. last nıght for ınstance my second host murat and ı were comıng home from a bar and he was hungry so he stopped for a type of tradıtıonal turkısh street food...ı asked what was ın to and he dıdnt know the word ın englısh, so he mımed out somethıng for me, whıch after a few guessıng rounds we settled on the correct body part beıng SHEEPS INTESTINES! they looked lıke ground beef, and the vendor just frıes them up wıth veggıes and chucks them ın a bun. ım not gonna lıe, ıt looked pretty good. but ı saved that 'fırst ' for another nıght.
one unfortunate thıng about ıstanbul ıs that ıts the fırst place ıve felt ınsecure as a sıngle female traveler. sınce the majorıty of the populatıon ıs muslım here, lots of women a heavıly covered up. so when ı fırst arrıved here ı had shorts and a tank top on, and men would just stare and stare. ı got really uncomfortable about ıt, and havent worn shorts or a tank top sınce...so ıts been a pretty sweaty vısıt to turkey.

catch up

so its been a while.

right now im in ljubljana, slovenia and tomorrow im leaving for ičići, croatia. it seems like months ago that i was leaving to meet joel in zurich, but ill try my best to catch you all up!

i met joel at 6pm in the zurich train station. my arrival overlapped with his previous csers departure (they were two guys from austria). so we all made a big dinner together, which was amazing, because one of the austrian guys was a chef! that night i also met joels roomate rene. the next couple of days i showed myself around the city, and even bumped into a local who gave me some great advice on visiting croatia. on my second to last night at joels he informed me that two other csers would be joining us that evening. they were also canadians, and also from waterloo! they met us at a bar around 11pm, after having hitchhiked all day from geneva, where they had spent the night sleeping on a roof! i felt like a rookie compared to their amazing adventure...but after hearing a couple stories about unplanned hitch-hiking desperation, i was soon very comforted by my train and bus taking routes. zurich was just as expensive as i had imagined, which is why my transition to austria wasnt that hard to make.

when i left zurich i headed to innsbruck, austria. where i had gotten a last minute couchsurfing host acceptance from two girls who were new to the world of cs. when i arrived in innsbruck, my hosts (julia and raphi) were waiting for me as i got off the train! it felt more like i was visiting old friends than venturing into a new city alone. we clicked instantly and i cant imagine what austria would have been like if i didnt get the chance to meet them. unfortunately my stay in innsbruck was not graced with nice weather, instead i dealt with rain and cloudy skies. when mom asked me what the city was like, the best was i could think of to explain it, was like a bigger banff....but european. my two night stay quickly changed into a week and a half visit. and when it came time to leave even raphis boyfriend thomas and his roommate offered me their apt to stay in if i wanted to come back, or if my next host wasnt working out. i knew when i said goodbye to them that i will someday see them again. which is weird, because most of the time when i am saying goodbye to people i meet here while im traveling, i know in the back of my mind that i will probably never see their face again in my life.

my next city was salzburg, and my host was david, a veteran cser having completed a eleven month round the world trip just the year before. david introduced me to friends of his from the salzburg cs community when we went on a hiking day trip up my first mountain! and he took the time to take me on mini road trips too! for instance, one afternoon we went for a drive, and halfway to our destination he informed me that we were now in germany! who knew it was so close?! so i guess i made it to germany afterall! there was a four day chunk in my schedule where i didnt have a host lined up, so david offered for me to stay with him longer, and thats just what i did! which gave me just the right amount of time to fit in all the geeky sound of music stuff that i could! it was crazy to stand in the same landscape that the movie was filmed in.

after salzburg i headed out of austria and into slovenia. i was greeted at the dated train station by my host sašo (pronouced sasha) and three girls. two of which were his roommate janas (pronouced yana) csers, and the other girl, heather was a friend of his from north dakota, who he met while they were both serving in the military in kosovo. that first day in ljubljana, sašo showed us around the entire city centre, to get it out of the way. they next day janas csers left and my slovenian adventure began! because heather was visiting sašo for two weeks, he already had a bunch of sweet day trips planned for her to do with him! on my first night here i met jana, sašos roommate. we got along very well, and she asked me how long i was staying for. i explained that i would only be there for two nights, but she asked if i could stay a little longer because that weekend they were going to visit a national park, and then spend sunday at her mothers organic veggie farm! obviously i changed my plans. before we left for our weekend adventure, friday was also packed full of fun. heather, sašo and i made a day trip to....VENICE! once again my geography skills have failed me, and i had no clue i was so close. i was thrilled when heather and sašo asked me to join them, because that was one place in italy that i really really wanted to get to see. jana was jealous that she couldnt come with us, but those feelings quickly disappeared when we headed off for a weekend of camping at the lake. unfortunately we were rained out, and ended up spending saturday night at janas moms house. but i honestly am not going to complain about that, cause i had a great sleep and her mom is too cute for words. she speaks much better english than she lets on, cause she watches the discovery channel all the time haha! on sunday heather, jana and i spent the entire day next to the veg garden prepping veggies for freezing for the winter, and for our dinner that evening, while sašo did ˝manly˝ tasks like chopping wood and fixing the broken fence. the food we ate that day was entirely from the garden. it was soooo good! we didnt head back to ljubljana until late sunday night, and with no plans in my immediate future jana heather and sašo convinced me to stay for another week, because the next coming weekend they were all heading to the croatian coast for a camping roadtrip!!!! i had the time of my life. i still cant believe that this is really happening. it is now monday afternoon, and heather left early this morning to head back to north dakota, and i am leaving tomorrow morning for croatia in search of inspiration for the next section of my trip. i dont have any csers lined up, so i will be staying in whatever accomodation i find when i get there.

ill try and keep better updated next time.

p.s. the pic above is of heather, čili (pronouced chili) janas dog, sašo and me on a walkway up to a castle near bled, slovenia.