Australia!

G’day mates! I have (sadly) just landed back in the States after my crazy adventurous month in the land down under and it was a bloody good time! I honestly do not even know where to begin. This past month was filled with so many adventures, explorations, and new experiences! I could not even begin to talk about every single thing that I have gotten to do or how incredible of a time I had, but I’ll do my best. 

First off, I traveled with WorkAway, and if you’ve never heard of it, it is this great company that has host families all over the world and you basically get to live with them (for free) in exchange for a few hours of work a day. Every family is different and you can do anything from helping in the garden, working on the farm, or taking care of the kids. WorkAway is an amazing way to travel and I would recommend it to anyone!

I lived with an amazing host family in the middle of the bush (or woods for all you Americans reading this) in the Great Otway National Forest. My “job” for the month was taking care of three-year-old Leyland when Kate was teaching. That was technically what I was needed for, but on the days where Kate wasn’t working, I hung out with her and Leyland and just helped out around the house. Kate has a huge garden, so we would work in the garden some days, I would help clean up around the house, or help with cooking, just kind of anything that needed to get done. WorkAway is an amazing way to travel, but it’s definitely not just a free ride, you have to pull your weight. But it’s definitely the best way to experience the culture of the area. 

My host family (Kate, Pete and Leyland) was incredible. My experience would have been much less exciting and adventurous without them. They are a very outgoing and social family, so we had something going on every single day, whether it was working the bar at a friend’s plantation home, going to a different friend’s massive garden to pick boxes and boxes of vegetables, going to a bike ride/music festival fundraiser, or having people over for an outdoor pizza cooking, bonfire, and movie night, there was always something going on! 

There were two other travelers who were also staying with Pete and Kate. Tobi was from Germany and he had been traveling around Australia for the past year and a half and Alex was from Western Australia and had been traveling through Australia for the past 9 months. Everyone called us three the triplets, and those guys definitely made my experience so much more entertaining! We always hung out together, cooking dinner, playing guitar, going hiking, camping, collecting firewood, or just hanging out by the fire goofing off together. 

My days were filled with exploring the Otway waterfalls, driving down the Great Ocean Road, camping in the back of a ute, sleeping under the stars in a swag, playing guitar by the fire at night, learning about gardening and permaculture and so much more! 

Since we lived in the middle of the bush, there was no phone service and no wifi with very little technology and I LOVED it. Our society is so engulfed with technology, it can be so hard to escape it. But when you do, it is the absolute most refreshing thing in the world. I left my phone behind at the house or in the car pretty much the whole time I was there and it was the most freeing thing in the world. Life is so much better unplugged! 

One day (probably my most favorite day in Australia), we went to a fundraiser for a friend of Pete and Kate who had an accident a few years ago and is now in a wheelchair. The fundraiser was a 25km bike ride down a mountain where we rode through the most beautiful vast fields and valleys and dense luscious forests. It was all downhill and just feeling the wind blowing through my hair, going so fast, while seeing the most incredible scenery, I just felt so free! It was probably the coolest bike ride I’ve ever done. We finished the bike ride at a friend’s property where all few hundred of us that were there set up tents and swags in this huge field and listened to seven bands play on the stage that they built and lit a massive bonfire. We ended up staying up till almost 4 in the morning, hanging out by the fire, meeting so many people, listening to the bands, and dancing barefoot in the sand. I remember one moment dancing and looking up at the stars and feeling more free and alive than I have ever felt.

The next day (probably my second most favorite day in Australia), we woke up to the smell of eggs on the camp stove and had a nice relaxing morning, just hanging out and playing guitars by the fire. We left around noon and just did some work around the house all afternoon. Once the sun started going down, we lit a bonfire and fired up the wood burning stove outside and cooked homemade pizzas complete with a topping bar! After dinner, we set up a projector on the stage Pete and Kate had built at their house and brought all the couches outside and had an outdoor movie night. We watched Into the Wild and that movie ignited this fire in me to travel, live on the road, and live a super simple life. It was a crystal clear night and you could see millions of stars and I remember at one point, just looking up, with Rise by Eddie Vedder playing in the background and thinking to myself that life just doesn’t get any better than this. I fell asleep looking up at the incredible universe that we live in and feeling with every ounce of my being that life was so unbelievably good in that moment. 

I cannot even put into words how much this trip impacted me and how incredible of a time I had. One night, Alex and I went camping and I wasn’t able to sleep, so I went on a little night hike and I wrote this while sitting by the lake looking up at the stars:

“I’ve never felt so free. I’ve never felt so independent. I’ve never felt so challenged and also accomplished.

I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone a thousand times here and I’ve surprised myself every single time. I have gained confidence.

I’ve never been more proud of myself than I am now. I’ve never accomplished the things I have and I never knew I was even capable of accomplishing some of these things.

I have grown and matured and learned and experienced and lived. 

This is living. This is joy. This is peace. This is freedom. This is life.

Life is good. Life is beautiful. Life is an adventure and it needs to be lived. 

I am living it here. This is what life is about. 

I’ve never been clearer about what I want in life while also having no plan. This is freedom. 

Life starts when comfort stops and adventure begins. 

This is life. 

The world needs to be traveled. It needs to be explored. It needs to be experienced. 

I am so small in such a big world, and yet, I don’t feel small. I feel I am as large as the world because I have the freedom to choose to see it. 

I will see the world. I will experience everything this life has to offer. I will live. 

Life is simple. Life is good when it is simple. Life is good. 

You must seek joy. You must seek adventure. You must seek life. 

Only you can choose how you live life. Live it well. Experience things. Find joy in things. Find adventure in things. Reach out of your comfort zone. That’s when you live. 

Life starts when you find freedom. Free yourself. Free yourself from the darkness of the world. Find freedom. Live.”

I guess I’m a much better writer at 3am when I’m sleep deprived! But really, there is no way I could rewrite these words to describe the way this trip impacted me and spoke to my soul. I felt so unbelievably alive every single day. When I look at the big picture of how much I actually got to see of Australia in the time I was there, it was such an incredibly small, tiny little dot on the map. But I felt like I saw and gained the world. This trip has honestly changed my view of the world and of life. 

This was my first big trip like this and I learned and grew so much. I learned so much about myself and about life and about things that I want out of life. I 1000% got bit by the travel bug and I have gained a deep desire in my heart to see the rest of the world! I sometimes struggle to sleep at night because I’m up just trying to plan my next big trip (hopefully to Europe, so stay tuned!). 

If you want to travel somewhere to get an authentic cultural experience, stay with a host family! That was the best thing I could have ever done. I did one or two “touristy” things the whole month I was there, but the rest of the time, I lived like a local. I pretty much went wherever Pete and Kate were going that day and I got to experience the small town they live in and the small towns around them. I got to experience more of the hidden gems in Victoria instead of the big things Pinterest says you have to do when you travel there. Kate, Pete, Leyland, Toby and Alex have a special place in my heart and they will always be my Australian family!

I’ve been back for about five days now and I miss Australia every single second. I absolutely want to go back and I very much contemplated not even getting on the flight to come home because I loved it so much. Australia will always have a very special place in my heart as being the first of many adventures and the beginning of my travelling lifestyle. 

This was a very broad overview of my trip, and I’m hoping to make another post talking more about the specifics of my trip in case you want any insights of places to add to your future Australian adventures!

Thanks for reading and as always, remember to make every day an adventure!

Do you enjoy reading about all my travels and adventures? Would you like to help my adventures continue by supporting me financially? If you do, then please know, that would mean the world to me! To do this, you can go to my Patreon page to choose which level you would like to support me at! Thanks for your love and support and remember to make every day an adventure!

Life stars when comfort stops and adventure begins.

Meg Simon