Here we go…. another year abroad. Not sure what to expect, but it’s got to be better than going back to the U.S.
Our Working Holiday Visas were approved a day after we applied for them. This was different than the instant acceptance we had gotten from NZ. While the NZ Working Holiday Visa was free, Australia’s Working Holiday Visa cost AUD $485. We set off for Aus two weeks later, with a round trip ticket LAX to Melbourne. The plan is to buy a van and work our way up the coast, stopping when we find somewhere we like.
When we land in Melbourne, we’ll most likely use the same SkyBus Nushaw and I took when we explored on a layover. The bus is AUD $20, and has wifi, which was perfect for our layover excursion. It’s pretty easy to find when you walk out of the airport, and you can buy tickets at the booth. The bus comes pretty frequently, I didn’t wait long both times I used the service. On out layover, Nu and I did get lockers for a few hours at the airport to stash our backpacks while we explored the city.
Jordan and I got a hostel in Melbourne near the Queen Victoria Market. We spent an afternoon wandering the isles of your regular tourist crap of stuffed kangaroos holding an Australia flag mixed with leather purses and bags, kangaroo skin rugs, Akubra hats like Crocodile Dundee’s, knives, Aboriginal art and Melbourne shot glasses. I vow to stop here on the way home and get myself a kangaroo rug for my forever home.
We went to Flinders Street to find a bar that night. We landed on Young and Jackson, a great joint right next to the old Flinders Street train station. We grabbed a couple of schooners and a table. We hadn’t been there for too long before people began joining us and buying us beers to welcome us to the country. The first was a very nice gay couple in town for a visit. Then a man sat down saying his wife was continuing her shopping while he came into the pub. They were from Canberra, Australia’s capitol. The man said I would get along with his wife famously. When she joined him later, we found he was right!
The six of us enjoyed a wonderful time as we chatted for hours about where they had been in the U.S., where we should go in Aus and comparing drinking songs. As it turns out, America has pathectic excuses for drinking songs, while the Aussies and British have amazing ones.
Jordan and I wandered back to our hostel to crash for the night, feeling happy and welcomed into this new country. Tomorrow we will look for a van so we can begin our adventure soon!
