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Hi everybody,
Alright so here is a little summary of my thoughts on the time between the end of Capernwray and arriving home in Calgary.
I went to many places in Australia, saw some of the things I wanted to see, hung out with friends, met random people and had random discussions.
In Coolangatta (6 nights), I hung out with 12 of my friends from Capernwray, mostly with my buds Tyler C, Daralynne, Adam H and Colton. It was great to hang out with them and relax, also celebrating my 21st birthday in Australia!
On the Queensland mission trip(11 nights), I went camping, went 4x4ing on Fraser Island with friends and a few people from the area. Fraser Island is the largest sand based island in the world, and has a 75mile beach that you can drive down. It has forests, a shipwreck and beautiful lakes, including Mackenzie lake, which has water so calm and clean you can drink it (Sean and I drank some, it was like bottled water haha). That included the funny experience of getting stuck on the island because we missed the barge, we had to stay overnight even tho none of us had anything with us to stay overnight. Then we drove up the coast to Mackay and did some work up there a few times, staying at billets places, and we got to spend a day with Barb, who was a student, that was cool. We then trekked down the coast to Surfers paradise and ran a church service. We drove another long way and made it back to school.
After repacking I made it to Sydney(6 nights) and got to do the Hillsong Conference, which was amazing. Great speakers, great worship, great sessions and hung out with 2 girls from Capers in New Zealand staying at my billets place there in some community in Sydney (Toongabbie). Hillsong was great, thanks Rachel for pointing it out to me early on. I also got to see the outside of the Hillsong – Hills church (the conference was at Olympic park, not the church).
Next up I went to Melbourne(4 nights), where Missy ( a girl that joined us for the Queensland trip) hooked me up to stay at her parents place way out in the suburbs, which was really cool. We went to the Eureka skydeck and the next day we drove out to Phillip island to see the koala sanctuary, the seal lookout and the penguin parade, a great day. In my time in Melbourne I also checked out the downtown (or CBD) area which was really nice and did a tour of the great ocean road, which was pretty nice. I also took a tour of the MCG stadium which can hold up to 101,000 people for a game, woulda liked to see a rugby game there. Also I went to the Melbourne acquarium, which was good, I’m not really an acquarium type of guy but I wanted to see one in Aus, to see the sharks, jellyfish and stingray type of stuff.
After not getting the hostel I wanted in Perth(4 nights), I kinda went on a booking spree of booking everything in advance as I made it to Perth. The hostel actually worked out well that I stayed at and it got my attention to book a bit in advance. Also had some really nice dormmates, my first dorm experience in Aus with people other than friends from Capers. So in Perth I saw the swan bells, checked out the big shops area in the CBD, went to Fremantle and biked on Rottnest island, which was pretty cool. Perth was a nice city to hang out in, and they had Dome coffee, which was awesome.
From Perth I had to fly overnight to get to the Whitsundays(4 nights) and it was rainy there. But after a cancelled sailing tour I got on a tour and it was awesome. My hostels there were ok and actually had a great conversation with a guy from Israel for almost 2 hours in one of the hostels. The sailing tour was amazing, met some cool people there and had another conversation about God and faith with a nice girl from Israel. Made some friends on the boat and I got to do snorkelling twice (including seeing reef and beautiful fish around the island) and went to famous Whithaven beach, which was great.
Brisbane(2 nights) was mostly a stop so that I could see the Aus zoo, Aus zoo was pretty cool, saw all the aussie animals I had wanted to see, including the crocs. I had some interesting dormmates there, the zoo was cool and i did checkout Brisbane CBD, walked along the river.
Surfers paradise (2 nights) was a cool place, probably really good for surfing, but it had one main area that was nice but it was pretty touristy. My hostel was good though, tv in the rooms with movies always going, nice dormmates, and I went to dreamworld with 4 girls from my room, which was great, a fun day. Also I went up the Q1 building, which is a huge residential building, at night, great sights (apparently you can see all the way to Byron bay and all the way to Brisbane)
In Byron(2 nights) I just kinda chilled there and hung out with one of the guys from my room. I heard it was a relaxed place and it was true. The hostel I stayed at (arts factory lodge) was really cool, and I spent a day walking up to the lighthouse (quite a walk).
It took all day but I made it to Sydney(2 nights) and stayed in a hostel that was nice, but way to expensive. I went to Paddys markets in the morning, then up the centerpoint tower, then to Circ. Quay and the Rocks, then across by the Opera house, the bay, then the parks, Botanic gardens, the Dominion and Hyde park in a full day of exploring and more picture taking. The next day I tried to get to Hillsong church but that didn’t work out, then went to Bondi beach (had to see Bondi, and it was awesome) and took a bus back to school.
After arriving at school(2 nights) and seeing all my buds again(11 second sems from my semester) and meeting the 1st sems (5 new ones), I repacked my bags and got ready to head home, after spending a day catching up, walking and then watching a movie and catching the sunrise my last morning at Capernwray. It was a crazy short time back at Capers.
I flew to Singapore and on the plane it hit me I was leaving Aus. The eyes were watering. My Aus journey was officially over. The friends, the sights, the nervous excitement, the new people, the experiences, God blessing me with all those sunny, hot days in places it wasn’t supposed to be sunny or very warm (and things working out somehow for the best when it wasn’t sunny), the freedom, the learning so many things to miss, after all, it was 7 months of my life that I will never forget.
So in Singapore (2 nights – a bit of a pattern eh), it was hot, 28 and humid 11pm at night. Singapore was nice, went on a bus tour, had a relaxing quiet time in the botanic gardens, paying too much for internet and checking out the harbour front.
My flights home were not amazing, but alright. I flew on a packed plane to Tokyo stuck between 2 people, but the plus was that I got talking to the guy next to me from India for an hour near the end. From Tokyo (a 2 hour stopover) we had a 10 hour flight to LA, that was also packed (and I once again had a middle seat), and the food was pretty pathetic, but I talked to the guy from India for over an hour again, and a bit to the girl beside me from Tokyo (well, a student in LA). Interesting to hear stories from the Indian guy and talk a bit about God, parents, school, culture and travelling. I got to LA and had a 4 hour layover, with heaps of security then a 3 hour flight home to Calgary as the sunset with tons of legroom (emergency exit window seat, sweet).
After getting my luggage, my dad picked me up from the airport, good to see him. Got home and saw Nat and Ryan, and watched the Stampeders hold on for a win on our new big screen TV.
So my travels were great, lots of experiences and I spent a ton of money. Travelling alone was an experience like no other. At times it did get a little lonely as you’d expect, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone, having total control of my trip, and it forced me to meet new people. If I was with friends already, I wouldn’t make that effort to interact with others. And I wouldn’t have the freedom to decide at the moment, what I wanted to do. I could do what I wanted.
It was a little weird being home, but after coming home to a house full of love, friends that I missed, and the same sort of setting that I left in January (aside from the awesome heat!), the adjustment wasn’t too hard. The jet lag wasn’t that bad either. Though I still am in need of a job and money to pay for Uni (my 3rd year of a bachelor of Commerce degree) and more time to spend with everyone haha. It has been almost 2 weeks since I left Aus, and I do miss it (and all the awesome friends I made there), but that was to be expected.
Ok so here are a few of the things I would do if I went back to Aus and had some more money and time to burn (and possibly a travel buddy):
Broome (donkey rides)
Darwin (different city and kakadu national park)
Tasmania (great place to hike and beautiful apparently, but solo would prob be boring)
Ayers rock ( a big rock, but a famous big rock, this is not at the top of the list, maybe someday with family or something, camp out at the rock?)
Snowy mountains (go skiing or snowboarding in Aus, my buddy Mark did just that)
Experience more of the little towns in western aus and Victoria.
Scuba diving in the reef would be cool (but expensive, just to say i did it i guess, but i did snorkel already...)
See the top end rainforesty area and islands.
New Zealand (of course gotta see new Zealand, apparently really beautiful, home of Lord of the Rings and another place to Ski/snowboard)
other places in the area (island countries)
drive in the outback.
and im sure there are others to see that would be cool, also doing most of the things i did again would be good.
Anyways,
Thanks for reading,
Adam
Alright so here is a little summary of my thoughts on the time between the end of Capernwray and arriving home in Calgary.
I went to many places in Australia, saw some of the things I wanted to see, hung out with friends, met random people and had random discussions.
In Coolangatta (6 nights), I hung out with 12 of my friends from Capernwray, mostly with my buds Tyler C, Daralynne, Adam H and Colton. It was great to hang out with them and relax, also celebrating my 21st birthday in Australia!
On the Queensland mission trip(11 nights), I went camping, went 4x4ing on Fraser Island with friends and a few people from the area. Fraser Island is the largest sand based island in the world, and has a 75mile beach that you can drive down. It has forests, a shipwreck and beautiful lakes, including Mackenzie lake, which has water so calm and clean you can drink it (Sean and I drank some, it was like bottled water haha). That included the funny experience of getting stuck on the island because we missed the barge, we had to stay overnight even tho none of us had anything with us to stay overnight. Then we drove up the coast to Mackay and did some work up there a few times, staying at billets places, and we got to spend a day with Barb, who was a student, that was cool. We then trekked down the coast to Surfers paradise and ran a church service. We drove another long way and made it back to school.
After repacking I made it to Sydney(6 nights) and got to do the Hillsong Conference, which was amazing. Great speakers, great worship, great sessions and hung out with 2 girls from Capers in New Zealand staying at my billets place there in some community in Sydney (Toongabbie). Hillsong was great, thanks Rachel for pointing it out to me early on. I also got to see the outside of the Hillsong – Hills church (the conference was at Olympic park, not the church).
Next up I went to Melbourne(4 nights), where Missy ( a girl that joined us for the Queensland trip) hooked me up to stay at her parents place way out in the suburbs, which was really cool. We went to the Eureka skydeck and the next day we drove out to Phillip island to see the koala sanctuary, the seal lookout and the penguin parade, a great day. In my time in Melbourne I also checked out the downtown (or CBD) area which was really nice and did a tour of the great ocean road, which was pretty nice. I also took a tour of the MCG stadium which can hold up to 101,000 people for a game, woulda liked to see a rugby game there. Also I went to the Melbourne acquarium, which was good, I’m not really an acquarium type of guy but I wanted to see one in Aus, to see the sharks, jellyfish and stingray type of stuff.
After not getting the hostel I wanted in Perth(4 nights), I kinda went on a booking spree of booking everything in advance as I made it to Perth. The hostel actually worked out well that I stayed at and it got my attention to book a bit in advance. Also had some really nice dormmates, my first dorm experience in Aus with people other than friends from Capers. So in Perth I saw the swan bells, checked out the big shops area in the CBD, went to Fremantle and biked on Rottnest island, which was pretty cool. Perth was a nice city to hang out in, and they had Dome coffee, which was awesome.
From Perth I had to fly overnight to get to the Whitsundays(4 nights) and it was rainy there. But after a cancelled sailing tour I got on a tour and it was awesome. My hostels there were ok and actually had a great conversation with a guy from Israel for almost 2 hours in one of the hostels. The sailing tour was amazing, met some cool people there and had another conversation about God and faith with a nice girl from Israel. Made some friends on the boat and I got to do snorkelling twice (including seeing reef and beautiful fish around the island) and went to famous Whithaven beach, which was great.
Brisbane(2 nights) was mostly a stop so that I could see the Aus zoo, Aus zoo was pretty cool, saw all the aussie animals I had wanted to see, including the crocs. I had some interesting dormmates there, the zoo was cool and i did checkout Brisbane CBD, walked along the river.
Surfers paradise (2 nights) was a cool place, probably really good for surfing, but it had one main area that was nice but it was pretty touristy. My hostel was good though, tv in the rooms with movies always going, nice dormmates, and I went to dreamworld with 4 girls from my room, which was great, a fun day. Also I went up the Q1 building, which is a huge residential building, at night, great sights (apparently you can see all the way to Byron bay and all the way to Brisbane)
In Byron(2 nights) I just kinda chilled there and hung out with one of the guys from my room. I heard it was a relaxed place and it was true. The hostel I stayed at (arts factory lodge) was really cool, and I spent a day walking up to the lighthouse (quite a walk).
It took all day but I made it to Sydney(2 nights) and stayed in a hostel that was nice, but way to expensive. I went to Paddys markets in the morning, then up the centerpoint tower, then to Circ. Quay and the Rocks, then across by the Opera house, the bay, then the parks, Botanic gardens, the Dominion and Hyde park in a full day of exploring and more picture taking. The next day I tried to get to Hillsong church but that didn’t work out, then went to Bondi beach (had to see Bondi, and it was awesome) and took a bus back to school.
After arriving at school(2 nights) and seeing all my buds again(11 second sems from my semester) and meeting the 1st sems (5 new ones), I repacked my bags and got ready to head home, after spending a day catching up, walking and then watching a movie and catching the sunrise my last morning at Capernwray. It was a crazy short time back at Capers.
I flew to Singapore and on the plane it hit me I was leaving Aus. The eyes were watering. My Aus journey was officially over. The friends, the sights, the nervous excitement, the new people, the experiences, God blessing me with all those sunny, hot days in places it wasn’t supposed to be sunny or very warm (and things working out somehow for the best when it wasn’t sunny), the freedom, the learning so many things to miss, after all, it was 7 months of my life that I will never forget.
So in Singapore (2 nights – a bit of a pattern eh), it was hot, 28 and humid 11pm at night. Singapore was nice, went on a bus tour, had a relaxing quiet time in the botanic gardens, paying too much for internet and checking out the harbour front.
My flights home were not amazing, but alright. I flew on a packed plane to Tokyo stuck between 2 people, but the plus was that I got talking to the guy next to me from India for an hour near the end. From Tokyo (a 2 hour stopover) we had a 10 hour flight to LA, that was also packed (and I once again had a middle seat), and the food was pretty pathetic, but I talked to the guy from India for over an hour again, and a bit to the girl beside me from Tokyo (well, a student in LA). Interesting to hear stories from the Indian guy and talk a bit about God, parents, school, culture and travelling. I got to LA and had a 4 hour layover, with heaps of security then a 3 hour flight home to Calgary as the sunset with tons of legroom (emergency exit window seat, sweet).
After getting my luggage, my dad picked me up from the airport, good to see him. Got home and saw Nat and Ryan, and watched the Stampeders hold on for a win on our new big screen TV.
So my travels were great, lots of experiences and I spent a ton of money. Travelling alone was an experience like no other. At times it did get a little lonely as you’d expect, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone, having total control of my trip, and it forced me to meet new people. If I was with friends already, I wouldn’t make that effort to interact with others. And I wouldn’t have the freedom to decide at the moment, what I wanted to do. I could do what I wanted.
It was a little weird being home, but after coming home to a house full of love, friends that I missed, and the same sort of setting that I left in January (aside from the awesome heat!), the adjustment wasn’t too hard. The jet lag wasn’t that bad either. Though I still am in need of a job and money to pay for Uni (my 3rd year of a bachelor of Commerce degree) and more time to spend with everyone haha. It has been almost 2 weeks since I left Aus, and I do miss it (and all the awesome friends I made there), but that was to be expected.
Ok so here are a few of the things I would do if I went back to Aus and had some more money and time to burn (and possibly a travel buddy):
Broome (donkey rides)
Darwin (different city and kakadu national park)
Tasmania (great place to hike and beautiful apparently, but solo would prob be boring)
Ayers rock ( a big rock, but a famous big rock, this is not at the top of the list, maybe someday with family or something, camp out at the rock?)
Snowy mountains (go skiing or snowboarding in Aus, my buddy Mark did just that)
Experience more of the little towns in western aus and Victoria.
Scuba diving in the reef would be cool (but expensive, just to say i did it i guess, but i did snorkel already...)
See the top end rainforesty area and islands.
New Zealand (of course gotta see new Zealand, apparently really beautiful, home of Lord of the Rings and another place to Ski/snowboard)
other places in the area (island countries)
drive in the outback.
and im sure there are others to see that would be cool, also doing most of the things i did again would be good.
Anyways,
Thanks for reading,
Adam
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