When my dad started planning his trip down under, he gave me a list of everything he wanted to do while he was visiting me in Australia – it included just about everything I’ve written about in my blog so far. With only 9 days, I told him it was impossible to see and do what has taken me six months, so we narrowed it down. Despite crossing off two-thirds of his list, my week with my dad was still incredibly action-packed.

Last Thursday, I met my dad down in Sydney. I have to admit, I wasn’t entirely thrilled to go back. My first trip left me feeling underwhelmed, and I remember thinking that besides Sydney Harbour, it felt just like any other typical city. But last time, it was winter. And I was working. I didn’t have my own agenda, and it was hard to bust free. This time my trip was short, but it made me fall in love with the city. It was so different from the first  – my dad and I stayed in Sydney Harbour in the heart of iconic Australia and we had no agenda. We wandered the streets and took a ferry over to Manly Beach. Manly was quaint, but gorgeous, and we enjoyed dinner that night at a German Beir Haus where we feasted on beer and schnitzel, making friends with the Aussie waiter and other travelers sitting at our communal table. The next day we headed over to Bondi Beach. In the heat of summer, Bondi was swarming with people. We soaked in the sun, went swimming in the surprisingly icy water, and headed back later for a last minute Bridge Climb.

Dad and I on top of the Bridge

I hadn’t expected to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge (twice), but my dad was incredibly jealous that I’d done it the first time without him. We booked the last day-climb, which meant we caught the sunset at the end of the tour, but paid half the price of those going up at twilight. We hiked up in nothing but our breezy Bridge Climb onesies and watched the sky turn pink and orange over the beautiful city.

After two days in Sydney, we flew up to Airlie Beach. Airlie is a small town, and when we arrived it was completely dead. At dinner that night, we asked a local where all the people were, and he responded, “What people? If we wanted people, we’d go down to Sydney. This is how we like it.” And I had to agree with him. While I had expected a little more, Airlie’s low-key-ness made it charming. We weren’t in Airlie to party, anyway. We were there to catch a three-day catamaran trip, sailing around the Whitsunday Islands.

On Sunday morning, we said hello to our home for the next three days: Wings. Our boat had a four-man crew: Captain Tristan and cook Lou Lou from England, Aussie scuba instructor Charlie, and our main man, Clayton, the coolest Kiwi I’ve met. The trip was so much fun. We spent the days swimming with fish, sailing around the islands with a salty breeze in our face, and during the nights we set anchor in the middle of the sea and the sky lit up with stars brighter than I’ve ever seen them. We had to give up our shoes when we boarded the boat, so I spent three days barefoot, in nothing but my bikini. It was great. I didn’t even miss showers because I could jump into the water whenever I wanted.

Wings

The boat trip had three highlights:

1. I knocked scuba diving off my bucket list. Scuba diving, for me, left a lot to be desired. I wasn’t all too thrilled to descend into the deep blue, pressure building in my ears, trying to breathe from an oxygen tank that was heavier than I was on land. It was kind of cool breathing under water at the bottom of the ocean and swimming with the big fish. I don’t know if I’ll do it again, but I tried it. I may have been a little more keen for a second go if I hadn’t managed to bruise my ear drums in the process – yup, I spent days on end with never-ending vertigo because of my failure to equalize properly while diving. Not too fun, if you ask me.

After our first Scuba

2. We visited Whitehaven Beach. I’ve heard great things about Whitehaven, and it lived up to every bit of the fuss. It was beautiful. The sand was fine and white, it was almost as good as having snow on Christmas. The water was crystal clear, turquois blue, and incredibly warm. The best part about the island is that, like many of the other Whitsunday islands, there are no inhabitants. It’s only beach. It felt like I was finding a deserted, unknown paradise, and it was wonderful.

High fives in paradise

3. My dream came true: I swam with a sea turtle. It was the one thing I was wishing for the whole trip, and I think because I wanted it so badly, the turtles avoided me. At every snorkeling spot, the Captain would tell us, “Wow, this is the first time that we haven’t seen sea turtles in this spot. There’s usually heaps of them.” It wasn’t until one of our last snorkels, after I’d given up and taken off my wet suit, that we finally spotted one. I threw my snorkeling gear back on and jumped into the water. I swam with the turtle all along the beach, all the while thinking, “Duuuuude!!!”

I like turtles

We made it back to the mainland on Christmas Eve, but the adventure wasn’t nearly over. Immediately after checking into our hotel in Airlie, we went skydiving. Again, I wasn’t expecting to go skydiving (twice), but it was even cooler the second time around. I loved watching my dad get ready for the jump – he said he wasn’t nervous, but I think he was. Because I had done it before, my skydive instructor insisted we go first. I honestly wasn’t the least bit scared. We boarded the tiny plane and had an amazing view of the islands. The only time I got butterflies was when we reached 14,000 feet and we opened the plane door, leaning out to see the view, with no seat belts on. Then I was free falling. I think it was even better the second time around. Without the nerves, I felt free like a bird.

Successful landing

In less than 48 hours, my dad and I had conquered sea, land, and air. What an incredible way to spend the holidays!

After all that, I was ready to spend Christmas lounging on the beach. It was really strange celebrating in the middle of summer, but hey, I’ve always wanted to know what it would be like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island, hang my stocking on a great, big coconut tree. My dad and I spent Christmas day at the Lagoon right off of the beach and met some of the coolest people. That has to be one of my favorite parts about traveling – the people. I’ve found that the people in this country are especially friendly, and when you’re in a place filled with backpackers, everyone wants to be your best friend. On Christmas day alone, we made heaps of friends just floating around in the water. There was Vincent from Belgium and Anna from Germany, who met at Airlie Beach and are training to work on a boat. Michael and Marco from Switzerland who are traveling around Australia in a camper van for several months. Tom from England who came to Sydney two years ago and never left. Tal from the Netherlands who is traveling for a year through Australia. And Roy from Israel who first hitch-hiked through New Zealand, and then came to Australia a year ago to tour around as a professional beat boxer. He’s leaving in three months, and when we asked him what was to come next, he said, “I’ll go home, say hi to some people, and then I’ll be off on my next adventure – I just haven’t figured out where yet!”

Christmas at the Lagoon

We had just come off of an action-packed trip and my dad and I felt so accomplished, but we actually weren’t nearly as cool as most of the people we’d talked to. We went scuba diving, but met people who were scuba certified. We went skydiving, but met heaps of people who’d jumped out of planes well into the double digits. I thought I was adventurous for moving to Australia for a year to work, taking a couple weeks here and there to travel, but most of everyone we met were not just “on holiday” – they had made travel their lifestyle. They are true wanderers. It makes me want to jump outside of comfort zone even more than I have already.

I said goodbye to my dad a couple days after Christmas, after a short trip to Brisbane, and we are both off on our separate adventures now – me to Melbourne and my dad to a week-long motorcycle road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. Yea, my dad is pretty cool. I will post when I can! Happy New Year to all!

With school out for summer, I've been busy entertaining the kids at home all day every day. Today was somewhat rainy, so we were stuck inside watching movies and playing games. Christian wanted to play a "board game" - the Game of Life - which used to be a board game, but is now an app on his and Tea's iPads… I know, my head almost exploded too at the knowledge that not only is this classic game an iPad app, but also that 11- and 6-year-olds have iPads (call me old-fashioned, but I think it's pretty ridiculous that young kids - and even babies - are more likely to be found absorbed in expensive technology than playing with other kids). Anyway, I was psyched to play since it was one of my favorite games when I was younger. As a kid, playing Life is exciting because it lets you experience growing up - something that seems so far off in the future and unreachable - getting married, buying houses, having kids, and racking up money until retirement.

This time I hated playing the Game of Life. And not just because it was on an iPad.

In this Life, no one wants to go to college because it means you're moving too slowly. The only job option I had was to be a Salesperson. Even when I lost that job and went back to night school with the chance to choose a Good Job, my only options were to be a Lawyer or a Doctor - neither of which I would ever go near in real life because they are jobs that take up almost all of your time and energy. I immediately got married, bought a house, filled my car with virtual pink and blue plastic babies, and had zero choices along the way. Every other turn, I was suing my friends or getting sued. For me, the best parts of the game were when I landed on a Life Tile that told me I'd visited the Great Wall of China, and when I came to a fork in the road and had to choose to Take the Risky Path or continue on the Safe Path of Life. I chose the Risky Path, of course.

In the end, I didn't win Life because I didn't live fast enough, I didn't have the most expensive house, and I didn't make the most money. That's complete bullshit if you ask me.

Even though it was just a kids' game, Life made me really frustrated. I kept thinking about how I really couldn't picture myself getting married or having kids or any sort of conventional career. I've expressed that to people before and they usually tell me it's because I'm too young - those feelings will change when I get older. But I see people my age and younger who are settling down, getting engaged, married, kids on the way. It's not that I'm too young to be thinking that way, it's just that I don't feel like a traditional lifestyle is for me. I don't want to continue on that Safe Path of Life that will get me to the finish line the fastest. I have no desire to have the biggest, most expensive house. I don't want the most high-paying job that everyone envies. I don't care about having enough money to retire at Millionaire Estates. For me, collecting the Life Tiles, the experiences, is what is most important.

The Game of Life would tell me I'm losing right now, taking me sweet old time - I have no place of my own, no serious relationship, and the little money I'm making is immediately spent on travel. But I could not be happier choosing that Risky Path over and over again. If I lived the way Life told me to live, I would be miserable. I would have "things," but none of it would be valuable to me. My life is an adventure, and while what I have cannot be measured in dollar signs, it is more than I could ever ask for. I wouldn't be happier any other way

If you ask me, I think I'm coming in first by a mile.

It's been really difficult getting into the Christmas spirit here in Australia. Being from the Northeast, Christmastime is usually celebrated with hot chocolate next to the fire place with a blanket of white snow outside. Here, we're at the opposite side of the spectrum. It's so hot, I can't remember the last time I woke up in the morning not drenched in sweat. It's sunny and warm and we can lounge by the pool or go to the beach. We're in the middle of our summer, and Aussies even joke about Christmas being the hottest day of the year.

I always preferred summer to winter, and after spending the past four years in Boston - where winter lasts from about October until April - I had convinced myself that I wanted to live somewhere where it was warm and sunny every single day, where I would never have to worry about taking out my winter coat or getting frost bite. But being here with the endless summer has made me appreciate the cold. Christmas certainly isn't the same without it.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Today, we celebrated Christmas at the Hockridge house. Since my host family is traveling over the holidays, we wrote Santa a note to come early this year - so there were heaps of presents under the tree when we woke up this morning. It was a really strange day for me. I sat around the house in my jorts and singlet, listening to Christmas carols about white Christmases and chestnuts roasting on open fires. For dinner, we had cold seafood and Aussie pavlova. It was nice, but all I really wanted was to bundle up and go make snow angels until I couldn't feel my toes anymore, and then cozy up by a fire with some gingerbread cookies and cocoa. I know they say you always want what you don't have, but I want everyone at home to know how lucky they are to be snowed in right now. They may be wishing for some sun and warmth, but it just isn't the same Christmas feel without all that white.

Wishing I was singing this right now…

I just spent a wonderful ten days with my Mom in the land down under. It’s been hard being so far away from home, maybe more so for my family than for me, and it was so good to have time to show my mom what my life has been like here in Brisbane. She arrived just in time, but extremely jetlagged, for an Aussie Thanksgiving – and with my host family away on holiday afterwards, we spent the week in this wonderful house. Her main request was to experience some Aussie wildlife. We went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary so she could cuddle a koala, and I think she would agree with me now that they aren’t as cute and cuddly as they seem. They’re actually pretty hard and smelly with really sharp claws. We had a blast at Lone Pine though, hanging out with all our new kangaroo friends.

New mates

We also spent a day in the city of Brisbane. We wandered down the Queen Street Mall to the Wednesday food market where we grabbed some free samples of fruits, veggies, candied nuts, and some lunch for the road. We walked down to Southbank and I found myself looking at the city with new eyes, as she noticed little things that I’d grown accustomed to. We sat at the beach in Southbank and soaked up a little sun, then quenched our thirsts at the outdoor Surf Club.

Mom and I at Southbank

I had originally planned to be running around all week, up and down the coast, wanting to show my mom all the best things I’ve seen around the area in the short amount of time she had here. But instead, we sort of threw away all our plans and just relaxed, wanting to enjoy our time together. We lounged around the pool, watched movies, cooked meals, and caught up on some lost time.

Then over the weekend, we set off on a mini road trip down to Byron Bay. I had wanted to make it down to Byron since I arrived in Australia – it’s famous for its beautiful beach and hippie vibe – but I’m glad I waited to explore it with my mom. We drove about two hours south of Brissy and arrived in the small hippie town, and I think we both immediately fell in love. We ate tacos for lunch and spent the afternoon on the beach before heading to our hostel. I had wanted my mom to experience hostel life, but when we showed up at the Arts Factory – an extremely alternative hostel with all types of “funky abodes” – we stuck out like a sore thumb. I think we were the only people who had showered that week, and when they showed us to our “room” (one bed underneath a tarp of a tent, with a broken bug screen, right next to the swamp) we realized we might not be as earthy as we thought. So instead, we made some last minute changes and moved our bags down the road to the Bamboo Cottage.

"Come Play" in Byron Bay

Byron Bay was beautiful. It had such a laid back feel and I could have stayed there forever just to people watch. No one wore shoes, and everyone had dreadlocks or flowers in their hair. Musicians sat on every street corner, bleach blonde hippie children roamed the beach with their surfboards, and topless women bobbed around in the water. Every night, a handful of people formed a drum circle by the beach and everyone who happened by ended up getting lost in the music.

Captivated by the drum circle

On our last morning in Byron, my mom and I woke up at 5am and went to the Cape Byron lighthouse. We drove through winding roads in the dark and hiked along a trail to watch the sunrise from the most easterly point of Australia. I don’t think I’ve ever been closer to the sun. The sky turned pink, orange, yellow, red. I could not be more blessed to have such a perfect end to a wonderful week with my mom, exploring the other side of the world together.

Sunrise at Cape Byron lighthouse

I also knocked off another Bucket List item this weekend: the drive-in movie theater. It doesn't sound as exciting as skydiving or bungy jumping or traveling around the world, but the cast of That 70's Show just made it look too good not to do at some point in life. So Friday night, Kelsey and I drove down to the Gold Coast's drive-in. There's nothing better than being sprawled out in the boot of the Jeep, surrounded by pillows, speakers hanging on the windows, eating Chinese take out while watching the Hunger Games 2.

Loungin' at Yatala Drive-In

The past few days have been unexpectedly eventful and filled with pleasant surprises. A couple days ago, I got a message from a friend I had met in Cairns who has been living and working up in northern Queensland – he had spontaneously flown down to Brisbane that night. I could not have been more excited. I feel like I’ve met many people in my travels who I bond with instantly, but as much as we keep in touch and tell ourselves we’ll cross paths again, it doesn’t always happen. Travelers are constantly being blown in different directions. Jens was one of those people who I’d been hoping I’d meet again, but I had accepted the fact that it probably wouldn’t happen, as he’s returning back to Germany in several weeks. As soon as I heard he was in Brissy, I freed up my schedule and set off on some adventures with him.

We wandered around the city, went swimming in the lagoon overlooking Brisbane lit up at night, and the next morning we drove up to the Glass House Mountains and hiked Mount Ngungun – which was especially entertaining for me, watching Jens practically sprint up the mountain in nothing but some old boots, jorts and a Crocodile Dundee hat. We spent so much time just talking and catching up on what our lives have been like since Cairns, and Jens never ran out of crazy, entertaining stories to tell. We had such a great time. There’s just something about this guy that makes me so happy – his weird ridiculousness and enthusiasm for life – I don’t think it’s possible to be around him without a smile on my face. And because I’m so much fun to hang out with, he extended his stay in Brisbane an extra day, and he and his friends joined our Aussie Thanksgiving feast on Saturday night.

Happy Aussie Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has got to be one of my favorite holidays. It’s all about being surrounded by awesome people who you love, and stuffing your faces with all the most delicious foods. Even though it’s an American holiday, there was no way we Americans were going to miss out on Thanksgiving. An Australian friend agreed to host, wanting to know what all the hype was about, and what started out as a small gathering of Americans missing their turkey and stuffing turned into a house full of friends from all over the world – Australia, America, France, Denmark, Germany. Everyone cooked and we gathered around and ate and drank and talked and laughed, late into the night. I was so thankful for everyone there. For this experience. For being lucky enough to have so many awesome people in my life who are real and genuine and adventurous and inspiring. For having so many adventures to look forward to.

And I’m also thankful to have the opportunity to spend Aussie Thanksgiving with my mom. That’s right, my mom arrived in Brisbane early this morning, just in time for Part II of Thanksgiving with my host family. I am so looking forward to showing her around my world Down Under this week!