My Australian Moments

I believe that travelling is about moments. The unique moments to you and who you shared them with. Even the most remote places have been travelled; documented; seen. But not by you. I recently backpacked across Australia for the best part of a year and wrote a travel blog for the first time. Mostly for myself (but also so my mum could read to know I was alive). These are some of the best, weirdest and funniest moments from my trip:
Staying at the already surreal Coober Pedy opal mining town, in the middle of nowhere South Australia and spending a night in an underground ex-mine turned dorm in the middle of a once every ten years, freak, dust storm, replete with fork lightning, dust twisters and thunder storms. On Halloween. And sitting in a Pizza place during the storm and laughing as the local, so Ozzie it hurts, miners came running in to buy a drink because “the bloody roof’s blew off the pub”;
Arriving in Melbourne and meeting my travelling companions friends who invited us to a house party. So the 6 of us in our group tag along and ended up gatecrashing a Mexican house party which already had 30 people there. In a room the size of a shoe box. Discovering that Mexicans uniformly are some off the nicest, friendliest people you could meet and are so welcoming and sure do love to party. Even if you all can’t fit in the kitchen at once and have to rotate around the room in a very ordered fashion.
And then finally a solitary moment; not one I shared with, or was made by other people. But one I will always remember for me. Being in the majestic Kakadu national park for 3 days with a 50something German couple who spoke limited English (but laughed a lot) and a very serious and quiet Ozzie guy in his 40s. Hiking and climbing everyday in 50 degree heat. With no WiFi or phone signal. And getting to a point where I was no longer thinking about anything other than what was going on at the moment (beautiful view, amazing scenery, being so fucking hot). And actually being in the now for at least a few hours. Sitting looking at the world as it passed me by and just being serene and happy and excited and content and looking at the grand scale of the scenery around me and “getting it”. And then getting on a coach and writing none stop for about 6 hours, completely unblocked and focused.