Hey Mate, How Ya Goin'?

I arrived in Australia and felt like I was in... America. Sure they talk a little funny and drive on the other side of the road but other than that I was in a parallel universe. They speak English, listen to the same music, watch the same television shows, drive pick-up trucks (or utes) dress in a similar fashion (with a little more emphasis on the shorts with long socks combo) and even call soccer, "soccer". But I decided the best thing about landing in Australia on that March day was realizing that the nearest squat toilet was hundreds of kilometers away!

Australia is about the same size as the U.S. minus Alaska but instead of lots of corn in the middle they've got a lot of dessert. As a result most people live close to the coastline and surf a lot. And not only is their country of a similar size but Australia's history is remarkably similar to that of the U.S. When America got its independence, Britian had to find a new place to send convicts. They started sending them to Australia and eventually people started to want to go there on their own. They've got a similar abysmal track record with the native population. Australia's even got its own gold rush and wave of European immigration after WWII. What they don't have is a war of independence. Apparently Australia still can be bossed around by the Queen of England. Her face is even on the money.

Australia is pretty isolated because it sits out in its own little corner of the world and doesn't seem to make a lot of fuss. It doesn't get a lot of international media attention (well, maybe that's because they don't have any nukes) but they certainly seem to pay attention to American politics. By watching the nightly news I can stay up to date on the latest U.S. political scandals. Not that I particularly care anyway but I could if I wanted to.

I started my journey through Australia by visiting Perth. Perth's claim to fame is that it is the most isolated city of its size in the world. How enticing! Anyway, it was nice to readjust to western culture after all the months I spent wandering around Asia. Perth is also one of Australia's newest cities so on the walking tour it wasn't surprising to find that one of the highlights was "check out the really cool tree in front of the hospital." Apparently I had found a country with even less history than my own.

Melbourne was up next and brags about being voted one of the world's most liveable cities. I have to admit it is a really cool city. It has a really nice artistic and fun vibe. And lots of guys walking around wearing really skinny jeans.

I moved on north to Sydney where I got to see the famous Sydney Opera House. It looked a lot smaller than in my imagination but impressive nonetheless. In Sydney I also got to go to my first Australian zoo. I loved seeing the kangaroos, wallabees, wombats, emus and koalas. One of the fascinating things I noticed (or couldn't miss based on their loud squaking) was all the birds that look as if they've escaped from the zoo but are in fact native to the area. Cockatoos and parrots noisily fly around the city all day.

Brisbane was next then the beach towns of Byron Bay and Noosa Heads and finally the world's largest sand island: Fraser Island. I went on a camping trip that allows backpackers to cram themselves into a 4x4 and drive all over the island, even on the beach. The island was absolutely beautiful but we literally had to fight off the dingoes at our campsite at night.

Further north I stopped in the town of 1770 where I went snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. The fish were just as beautiful and amazing as my previous snorkeling experiences but this time I got to swim for a few minutes with a gigantic manta ray. It was similar to the experience of swimming with whale sharks in Mozambique.

I headed back to Sydney next and attempted to use my Working Holiday Visa. The thing is just about every backpacker in Australia is trying to do the same thing. I had a brief stint as a cable salesman before deciding that it was time to move on.

I really like the Aussies (pronounced "Ozzies" just so you know) with their friendly "no worries" attitude. I'm going to miss being in a place where I can say "keen," "heaps"and "reckon" in the same sentence and still be regarded as completely normal. And I'll definitely miss being called Love, Darling, and Doll. Now, if you'll excuse me I think I'll make a visit to the bottle shop one last time for a little bit of goon before I head on over to Argentina.