Review of the 6 months in Australia

6 months of nothing in Australia, Photo by Cris Saur on Unsplash

Foreword

When I started writing this post, I had just been in Australia for 6 months. Since then, there has been the road trip, and some of my ideas have been turned upside down… But first, let’s come back to the first 6 months.

6 months already in Australia!

Here it is, today it’s been 6 months that I’m in Australia! 6 months that I’ve sent everything away, my stable situation, my tiny Parisian apartment, my passion for improvisation and my friendly life (yes and sexual as well) hectic!

Time has gone by so fast that I don’t even realize that I have less than 6 months left here, less than 6 months to find myself.

Yes, because the purpose of this break was to see more clearly what I want to do when I get home… uh… I still have 6 months, more than 180 days, more than 4320 hours to think about it again…

Still Perth!

6 months, not at all like I had imagined!

I could see myself finding a job in Perth quickly, working two months and buying a 4×4, fitting it out and carving the road, alone… and then discovering Broome, working there, then Darwin, and working there… etc etc. etc. Finally at the end of August I should have been in Cairns… My goal : to avoid winter ! Well… How can I say… Missed! The covid decided otherwise, and considering the situation in Europe, I wouldn’t complain !

Autumn is over, winter is coming to an end and spring is already on its way…

So 6 months, 6 months in Perth, 6 months in the same Hostel, 6 months in the Spinners family. It’s not what I imagined but I had a good time and I’m not unhappy.

The routine that sets in…

I was running away from the routine and fell right back into it. New friends, new habits, new schedules, my life is once again regulated by work and by the days that follow one another and are similar.

My job as a gardener pleases me, but forces me to maintain a healthy routine and lifestyle. Get up at dawn, and go to bed not too late to avoid doing more damage than I already do. I go to the gym almost every day, and this rhythm leaves me little room for improvisation. I write less than I would like to, and I gave up my freelance jobs for a while. But I intend to take them up again soon.

Not so easy to save money

I have more than enough money to live here on my gardener’s salary. By the way, Australia’s great thing is this: everyone has their share of the cake, all the jobs are relatively well paid and the economy is in good shape. Ah, and here we are paid by the week or by the fortnight (that’s my case). And that helps!

I earn almost as much as when I used to negotiate thousands of euros in margin, to pick up leaves and mow lawns? Yes, it makes you want to come back haha.

Yet I don’t know where all my dollars go, but they disappear faster than they come. Outings, restaurants, birthdays and excursions add to the few hours of shopping. Routine has made me lose sight of the size of my bag, and the desire to feel beautiful, even here, has taken precedence over my good resolutions not to buy anything … There is no doubt that I will have to buy a new suitcase.

Well I still managed to put enough aside to go 11 days on a road trip at the end of August. And beware, I can even offer myself a trip to see whale sharks, for more than 400 dollars!

Tee-offs, false starts

Hostel life is evolving more and more. New faces appear and disappear. The desire to make an effort and to get to know the newcomers tends to disappear. Sometimes I feel invaded, sometimes I enjoy talking with the new inhabitants, but most of the time I am indifferent, I work, I follow my routine, I don’t really have a place to retrace everyone’s journey…

If new heads appear, others disappear. The departures in July and August were numerous. The winter made some members of the Spinners Family flee. If some departures have been nothing but dust in my environment, others have left a small void.

The departure that I feared the most, that of my buddy Chris, didn’t happen. The few weeks before, I put my life on hold to enjoy the last few days with him. I bent over backwards, probably thinking that I would never see him again. But a few days before departure, he cancelled his flight and decided to stay. False departure then. So much the better, I would have missed him.

Some excursions

If I spent most of my weekends in Perth, going out, going to the beach, walking around and not doing much. I’ve taken two trips for Chris to enjoy before he left… Well he didn’t go, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Lancellin and Pinnacles Desert

One Sunday, a rental car, and off we went for a mini road trip of a day to Lancellin on the dunes to do sand boarding and an excursion to the Pinacles desert. We laughed, we sang, we heckled. In short it was a beautiful day.

If the landscapes did not transport me (Sorry, but the Dune du Pyla is much more impressive), the lightness of the past moments filled me. Pinacles Desert was a small disappointment, a desert ground strewn with phallic rocks. It’s fun to make four pictures, but I’m not sure it was worth the extra hour and a half of driving…

Back to Rottnest Island, the quokka island

For Chris’s birthday, we leave for a day at Rottnest Island. 30 minutes by ferry and here we are pedaling on the deserted roads of the island. It’s winter and we are on weekdays, we are almost alone.

Contrary to the summer, quokkas do not hide. No need to look for them, they are everywhere, they search in our bags, and are happy to be photographed. The little marsupials are adorable, and the stops to admire them are numerous.

The sun is shining brightly, it is warm enough to bathe. I enjoy a moment of sweetness in the coolness of the ocean.

The day passes quickly, and even if leaving with two couples sometimes puts me in a candle-carrying position, I took advantage of this sublime island and that’s the main thing.

And when is the big departure for when?

No, because your blog is nice, but it’s a bit repetitive and boring. Where are the koalas? The crocodiles? The muscular firemen and the surfers?

So, the big departure is not until we’ve made some savings, sorry. In the meantime, the little road trip will make me (and you) wait. Departure on August 28th!

For the rest, I have three options (much more in real life…) to choose from. Option 1, I continue to work as a gardener until I have enough to not work the last 3 months and go around Australia without worrying about the dollars I have spent. Second option, I find a job in mining, cleaning or catering, I would be much better paid, I would have few expenses, but little daily pleasure, and there, cling cling, 3 months later, I’m on a vacation worthy of Croesus. Or last option I change city and look for a job there again, Broome, Darwin or Cairns.

Before the road trip, my heart was leaning towards the first or the second option… Today, my state of mind has changed a bit.

Certainties and doubts after 6 months

Six months is a long time and I’ve had time to build up a few certainties along the way.

The first one, and it will reassure the people who want to see me go home, I plan to go home. I miss France, or Europe in any case. I don’t see myself staying here at all, I miss the good food, the old buildings, the history, the cobblestone streets, the animation, the grumpy French and especially the cheese and cold cuts boards! Well, yes, I miss you too!

I have certainties about my personality, and I feel freer than ever, in my life choices, in my way of thinking. I have definitely left my costume of a wise and fearful little girl and it feels good.

On the other hand, doubts persist about the continuation of my journey here and the rest of my life…

After my road trip, my state of mind has evolved, I’m inclined to change cities in a month maximum, to see something else and break this routine that has already become too much established.