G'Day Australia!

Australia! What a breath of literal and metaphorical fresh air. After a seemingly inexplicable (but nonetheless legit) bout of stress in the Fall spurring on intense pangs of homesickness, Australia was exactly the douse of Western culture we needed. Cue the entertaining English, seriously breath-taking vistas, endless open-road and the notable infatuation with bacon, we felt right at home--all whiffs of former anxiety flying out the window to the open sea!

So as per our very loosely made plan, we flew in and out of Sydney, and beyond that all we wanted to do was drive as far North as our little van would take us in the next three weeks (which turned out to be way less than we had first envisioned--We seriously underestimated the size of Australia!). With Tyler's ambidextrous driving skills raging, we put the pedal to metal in our new rolling home. As we headed out of Sydney we kept thinking 'Huh, this is kinda like Canada'-- Big open roads carved out of huge rocks, a river or lake around every corner...but then we hit the coast, and WOW! Australia! Because it was all pretty sweet-as, let me give you the highlights...

The Aussies: Ahhhhh the Aussies; the endearing, amazingly friendly, mildly racist, ultra spirited, unapologetic Aussies. Can't say enough great things about them. If they weren't friendly (which they are), they were at the very least entertaining--Between the bikies, bogans and the sweet ladies running the Driver-Revivers (free coffee stands on the highway to wake-up the roadtrippers--Genius) there was always someone to chat with. Always up for a chat, to the point where we had to wonder if anyone had anywhere to be. Now, Canadians have a reputation for being friendly, but Aussies take having a yarn to a whole new level. Asking an idol question at the gas station would often turn into a full-on round table debate over the merits of block ice vs cubes, and leave Tyler in the parking lot wondering what was going on and where I've been. Oh, and if the birds didn't wake you up at the crackers, the Aussies would. The first morning we woke up in a beach parking lot I was super confused to find people everywhere exercising at 5:30am..jeeeeze. I guess that's how they manage all those steak pies!

The Van: We picked up our sweet little Mystery Machine on Day One and reluctantly gave her back on Day 22 of our adventure. To say we adored her was an understatement; the van life and all its close, cozy campiness is certainly for us. Upon making her acquaintance we quickly dubbed her Sheila (for all our 65+ Aussie ladies at the Bowling Club) and Sheils for short (...we had recently binge watched Shameless and who can't help but love looney-tooney Shiels?!). After spending last Christmas in India-- which lacked a certain je ne sais quoi  in the cheerful department, dammit, we were hellbent on feeling the spirit this year. Once the stockings were hung with care, twinkle lights were strewn and the interior (and inevitably our faces) was covered in glitter, we truly felt that home is where the heart is. And what's Christmas without a hiccup er two? Sooo when you rent a van with 500,000Km one could expect a breakdown. Do you really need a clutch tho? With Australia's obsession with roundabouts, one might say yes. A big shout-out to Carl the Mechanic for fixing us up during Christmas, and for his hospitality!...When your van is broken, so is your home. (Again, those Aussies!)

The Camping: When we were looking for a hot shower we booked into a legit campground. Otherwise, we spent some nights parked in beach-side parking lots (always with the risk of being moved along in the night, but waking up to the most beautiful scenes was worth it). A major thumbs up for Australia is that most beach parking lots have a shower and toilets which are cleaned daily and always fully stocked with toilet paper (it's the small things you miss after living in Asia). The public facilities are so good that we ended up parked in a day-park for three days over New Years, not even bothering to pretend we were packing up when it got dark. We spent another night at a beautiful and peaceful fairground in the hills. We spent another night at the Bowls Club parking lot-- Much like the Legions in Canada, there seemed to be a Bowls Club in every small town. Bowls Clubs are lawn bowling clubs with a restaurant, pokies (VLTs) and a bar. Essentially, the Legion with one catch--You can pay to park and camp in the parking lot. Yupp, no need to drink and drive when you can stay four nights for the mere cost of $5--Although we only camped out one night, we were totally sold!

Not a bad view in the morning!

The Barbecues: You cannot go to Australia without noticing and partaking in a sizzle or two. 'When in Rome' doesn't even touch how wholeheartedly  we entered into the scene. Breakfast, lunch and dinner happened on either a public flattop or our own little grill out the back of the van, either way, we were up for a barbie. Not only are the bbq's awesome and free, they seem to attract company. Everyone wants to know where ya from, what ya doing, and what ya grilling. We got the best travel tips, local secrets and advice just hanging around the bbq. Oh, and the meat in Australia is certainly a thing....And damn it's tasty! To the point where we were driving by a field of cows and I involuntarily uttered 'mmmmmm'. (I know, vegans shield your eyes.) But that's not the only thing we grilled--To some suspicious eyes, the french toast, fajitas, and stir-frys were perhaps not the traditional Aussie cook-out, but whatevvvvs.

Whether we were in a park or on the streets of Sydney, there was always a need to sizzle!

The Animals: Australia is home to some pretty weird and wild stuff. Being suckers for a viral video we had seen and heard cautionary tales of the deadly spiders, snakes, sharks, crocodiles, and jellyfish lurking around every corner. After having seen a couple snakes we were much more interested in the cute stuff-- Koala and Kangaroo hunting was high on our agenda. After driving for two weeks and watching kangaroos casually chill under trees, we had seen them do little else but laze and lick their forearms (a great trick to cool down). We were dying to see a kangaroo actually bounce. On our way to Sydney for our final days we drove past a troop of kangaroos just chilling and decided enough was enough-- we were out to have a closer look. To our surprise kangaroos are the most chilled animals ever ---No wonder we hadn't seen them bouncing beforehand. Some 'roos were curious, some were super friendly, and some could careless that we were there. All had a doe-eyed, semi-stunned sweetness about them. We pet them, shook their paws and got our fill of these truly unique animals moving about. So cute when the little ones bounded on by....a bit intimidating when the papa 'roos made their move. Nonetheless, all adorable animals!

In search of a bona fide koala sighting, we spent a few mornings checking out Noosa National Park hoping to see a koala in the wild. Although we enjoyed some great nature walks which culminated in a beauty of a beach, koalas were just not happening. So we headed to Daisy Hill Koala Centre where there were a couple koalas in their interpretive centre, and perhaps in the huge eucalyptus forest...but who the hell knows!? If
they were out there, they weren't revealing themselves. The koalas in the centre were hilariously docile (to the point where we initially thought we were looking at a stuffed animal). Total stoner marsupials.

Finally, the birds. The bloody birds. There is really no need for an alarm clock anywhere in Australia. Between the kookaburra cackling and the rainbow parrots squawking, sleeping in beyond sparrow's fart was nearly impossible.

The Towns&Beaches: As mentioned before, we had planned on covering a lot more ground in Australia, but we didn't for two main reasons; Australia is a mammoth, and we would get way too comfortable in one place. The beaches and the seaside towns were a perfect recipe for a holiday. I was not prepared for the vastness of the beaches. At every turn there was an equally stunning stretch of beach with endless sand, beautiful water and virtually no people. Despite the shark, jellyfish, current warnings, we took every opportunity we could to check out a beach--which was not hard. Most of the beaches we stopped at was edging or smack dab in the middle of a great little beachside town. Byron Bay, Numbucca Heads, Rainbow Beach, Kingscliffe, Booreen Point, Lennox Head, Nelson Bay, Nimbin (Albeit, not a beach-side town, but this little metropolis has is its own unique allurements)

The Cities: As overnight parking or 'camping' as we'd like to refer to it was nearly impossible in the cities, we really only hit up Sydney and Brisbane. Brisbane is a beautiful city, but the true highlight was catching up with our friends Jo and Ahmed. Being with Jo, our first Aussie friend whom we met in KL in her home country was a treat. Jo and Ahmed were full of travel advice, new Aussie expressions and answers to all our burning Aussie questions- 'If a sanger is a sandwich, what do you call a sausage?! and 'What is Macca's?'. It was great to spent time together, meet her family and laugh. Thanks for the driveway bed&breakfast, ya'll!

We hadn't heard the most rave reviews about Sydney from Aussies we met on the road (but I'm from Ontario, I get it---People love to hate 😉). But Sydney! What a great city! We stayed with super hospitable friends of friends (Thank you so much Erin and Carmel! You guys are absolute stars!) off trendy Oxford Street. The location was perfect for exploring the city on foot (definitely got our 10,000 steps!). We spent four days in Sydney, and it was just not enough. We took a peek at the groovy neighborhood at Bondi Beach, people watching, eating fish and chips and checking out the beautiful coastal walk to Coogee Beach. (All was lovely but honestly, the famous city beach was a bit anti-climatic after three weeks of stunning deserted coastlines). We spent a day rambling around The Rocks, the tourist-cladden, convict settled neighborhood which edges the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay. With several pubs (hotels) claiming to be the oldest in Australia and some pretty iconic landmarks on hand, we had no trouble filling our time. And finally, we spent a day riding the ferries to Watson's Bay and Manly Beach. What an amazing city to have bays and beaches around every corner! Loved our day of icecream, more fish and chips and city-beaching at some quieter spots.

Altho our time in Australia was too short, it was absolutely amazing (have I mentioned that already?)! We returned back to KL rejuvenated for 2017 and with heaps of memories that make us smile-- and that's truly what a holiday should be about. Although we have no immediate plans to head back to the land down under, we are totally going to take a page out of the Aussies' book and embrace the roadtrippin' way of travel. Our next big purchase will be a van, and whenever possible, we will be hitting the open road. And during those long hours on the road, we'll inevitably reminisce about beautiful Australia. All I can say is, Good onya, Australia!