Our first week in Australia
has been an amazing one, due in no small part to the kindness of others we have
received.
Cairns
Through our Hospitality Club membership (one of the
organizations I researched for an article on long-term travel and rent-free
living and joined shortly thereafter), we met Anne and family.
Anne and her husband Kerry (who was sadly out of town while
we were visiting) have four grown-and-growing-up kids, and a history of fostering
many other children. And when they haven’t fostered kids, they have fostered
great relationships with travelers to whom they have offered up their home. We
were lucky enough to be two of those travelers.
Right from the airport pick up, to the warm welcome and armloads
of fruit from the trees in the backyard, we were immediately made to feel
welcome. Conversation flowed, and we had trouble finding any silence in the
flow.
In fact, we were invited to accompany Anne and her daughter
on a three-day road trip to visit Kerry in the outback. But sadly we had to
decline as we had a plane to catch out of beautiful Cairns
too soon for our liking.
We were amazed with not only Anne’s kindness towards us, but
also towards the world in general. “If everyone gave what they have the
capacity to give, and stopped taking as much as they can take, we could improve
the world substantially,” was one of the many poignant things Anne said to us
on the subject of humanitarian work in light of our recent Burma
relief project. She cites her own way of giving what she can as
fostering kids; a responsibility she almost shrugs off as being minimal, but
which most people would have trouble even imagining.
We truly hope to be able to return to Cairns,
to explore this beautiful tropical area of Australia,
and also to explore a deeper relationship with this family that leaves us
speechless.
Thank you Anne and family, for your kindness.
Brisbane
Upon arriving in Brisbane,
we found heaps of further testaments to the kindness of others.
First, Ben at Bunk Backpackers was so kind
as to hook us up with accommodation at this bustling popular hostel. We arrived
on the Sunday of a long weekend, and saw the place in full swing. The adjacent
bar was packed and full of life by 7pm,
and even though we were tired, the energy pulsing through the entire building kept
us up and going for hours.
We met and shared meals with some couples from Ireland
and Denmark,
along with heaps of Australians who were visiting Brisbane
for both the weekend and a good time.
In fact, Ben’s kindness went above and beyond the call of
duty: we were supposed to pick up the World Nomads Ambassador van on the
holiday Monday, not knowing it was a holiday. Ben tuned into this before we
ever would have and called Travellers Auto Barn (un-requested) on our behalf to
see if they would be open for our professed pick-up – of course he discovered they
would be closed. So he arranged for us to stay another night at Bunk, ensuring
there would be space for us.
Thank you Ben, for your kindness.
Once we picked up the van, we met another Ben – from just
outside of 
central Brisbane. We
also met him through the Hospitality Club. He came into town to shoot
the breeze with us about all things Australia
and travel, and invited us back to his place to stay with him for a few days
while we stocked up the World Nomads Ambassador van. We were treated to a real
Australian welcome dinner of kangaroo steaks (we have a new favourite meat),
and continued to share travel stories and pictures for hours on end. We poured
over maps, planned parts of our Australian trip, and discovered a few insider’s
secrets to gems in Oz that we may never have found otherwise. (Stay tuned for
our adventures in these wonderful places)!
During our stay with Ben, he had to work during the
daytimes, and so he simply left us to our own devices and tossed us a house
key.
In the evenings, we spoke about hospitality exchanges, and
how the interaction with other travelers is inspirational. We could see Ben
squirming in his seat as he listened to our stories of travel, and flipped
through his own Lonely Planet guides planning his next trip. Even when he needs
to be at home, Ben takes great pleasure in living vicariously through his
guests and in so doing he keeps his own fire alive.
On our second night, we were all invited to the house of a
friend of Ben’s, where we watched a rugby game on the tele. Talk about
Australian culture.
Thank you Ben, for your kindness.
We have made promises to these kind people that they are to
stay with us, wherever we are in the world. We really look forward to being
able to host people like Anne, Ben, and Ben, along with so many other
travel-minded-people we have yet to meet. The exchange of experience,
personality, culture, and laughs is a mind-boggling and very special experience.
How else could we have found ourselves sitting around
Australian kitchen tables and enjoying hospitality, good company, and cultural
exchanges? Through trust, a few tools like the Hospitality Club, and the
kindness of others, anything is possible.
