I visited 7 countries.  Every country had amazing sights, people, and experiences.  So – here’s what I will remember most about each place.

Thailand. Buckets. Alcohol in buckets. Radioactive sized giant freaking cockroaches. Hot. Very hot. The trek of death. Elephants. Island hopping. Scuba diving. Beach bars. Amazing conversations with amazing people.

Cambodia. History. What people can do to each other. Ridiculously long bus rides. Amazing beaches. Fruit shakes. Angkor Wat. Most impressive temples ever.

Laos. Hammocks. So many glorious hammocks. Bungalows. The Mekong River. Waterfalls. Caves. Monks. Tubing. Rice fields. Village life. Being alone. Being removed. Being there.

Vietnam. Boats. Tet. The cake binge. Worst bus rides in the history of bus rides. War history. Tunnels. Tailoring in Hoi An. Overstimulation. Conversation. Ridiculous conversation. Fun.

New Zealand. Hiking. Amazing amazing hiking. Beaches. Water taxis. Skydiving. Bungy jumping. Lakes. Forests. Volcanoes. Glaciers. Nature. Being connected. Being alone.

Australia. Family. Wild coast. Empty. Untouched. The outback. Canoeing. Pristine white sandy beaches. Surviving Karijini. Kakadu. Good times with good friends.

Indonesia. Bali with Box. Snorkeling a shipwreck. Things living in the ceiling. Room of death. McDonalds delivery. $3 margaritas. Food poisoning. Earthquakes. Temples. Fucking mosquitoes.

It was an amazing 315 days. I never imagined I would experience so much in that time. With the exception of a few incidents, every minute of it was incredible.

I have learned. About places. About people. About culture. About the world. About me. I know how to be alone. I know how to connect to the world. I know that everything doesn’t always go the way you want. I know that everything goes the way it needs to. I know that every experience can change a person.  I love that. Travel can change you.  It’s changed me.

- Dysentery. That’s never fun. No matter how many times you become afflicted. Never fun.
- Series of unfortunate events. Bad things come in many… sick, room of death, bed collapses and gives me small heartattack, bedbugs round two, small earthquake, still sick. Bad times.
- Questionable spots on my sheets. Questionable spots on my towel. Questionable stains on the walls.
- Bugs. Bedbugs. Cockroaches. Mosquitos that feast on me while I’m asleep. The fact that bugs get bigger in warm climates.
- Overwhelming chaos. The noise. The traffic. The horns. The hassling. The smog. The smell (you must experience it to understand). The piles of garbage. The lack of sidewalks.
- Being stared at continuously. I know I’m giant and pale and have funny hair, but it’s not like I’m the first strange foreigner you’ve seen. Please stop pointing.
- “Transport? Taxi? You need ride? Where you going? Where you from? Have a look. You want sarong? You want batik? I give you good price. Nice hair. Rastaaaaa. You want mushrooms? You want weed? Have a look. Tour? You need transport? …..”

And yet… I loved it last time I was here. I will love it all again in a matter of days when I’m feeling better. It’s all part of the experience here. It is more than made up for by the amazing sights, the friendly people, the delicious food, the warmth of the cultures. Soon I will love it again. In spite of or because of it all. Right?

Kuta. The most people generally see of Bali. A ridiculous tourist spot that’s overpriced but oh so much fun. Though rooms were more than I’d expected, food was cheap, as were the frozen margaritas. Celebrated Box’s birthday with drinks, mustaches on our fingers, dancing, cats (he’s loving it!), and of course, McDelivery. Were sung to by the tourist information boys (“pretty woman”), and random man on beach (“hello, is it me you’re looking for?”).

Ubud. Peaceful and quiet after the chaos that is Kuta. Wandered the colorful market, selling questionable tourist wares like wooden penis bottle openers. Found a tiny restaurant with 5 tables and amazing food. Visited the Monkey Forest and provided endless commentary for them. Ridiculously entertaining. I think we’re actually only 7.

Tulamben. Ghost town. No one stays here, yet it’s overcrowded with divers and snorkelers during the day. We stayed. In a room that was unnaturally hot, had a resident giant lizard, a “skylight” (giant hole) in the ceiling, and a creature living in the ceiling. But the snorkeling made it all worth it. Amazing! US Liberty shipwreck 50m from the beach. The ship is covered in amazing coral and home to thousands of amazingly colorful fish. I love the ocean.

Lovina. Arrived after taking the miniature local bus, where my head hit the roof and I felt a bit like a monster. Black sand beaches. Amazing sunset. Sick. We blame the chicken.

Back to Kuta. Still sick. Arrived miles away from anything and walked for what felt like hours. Finally found a guesthouse, with a room that smelled of toilet and a strobe-light, headache inducing fan/light situation. My bed was a bit suspect as it was a thin thin sheet of wood that formed to my body and the posts of the bed frame. Not comfortable but I can deal. At about 2:30am when I was nice and sound asleep, my bed collapsed. Mostly. So now my feet are up and the rest of me is definitely on the ground. Waking to splintering wood and crashing noises is disconcerting. We are not amused. Switch rooms in the middle of the night to one that smells worse if possible and try to sleep. Wake up next morning to switch hotels and recover. Still sick. Unpleasant at best. Say goodbye to Box who flies back to Oz, sad. Get up at 4am to catch my own flight, discover bedbugs about to feast on me. Seriously. Not again.

Bali was good times, despite the being sick and the room of death and so on. Perhaps because of it all. Adventures. Challenges. Bonding experiences. Heh. I look forward to the rainbow crochet extranaganza. Maybe you’ll like it.

The Easyrider Bus! Ok. I generally dislike tours. I don’t like being herded around and told what to do. Self drive was not an option, nor was the severly uncoordinated greyhound bus, so I opted for the least tour-y of the buses, let’s you hop on and off, and so on. Perth to Broome. Here we go.

Cervantes. A hop off point that apparently no one has been dropped at for years. No one was there. One other person in the hostel. But one of my favorite spots on the whole west coast. Stunning white sand beach, complete with double rainbow when I arrived, and I had it all to myself. Went out to the nearby Pinnacles. I love rocks. Rocks in the middle of the desert are kind of fascinating.

Kalbarri. Epic epic canoe trip with Box. We did twice as much paddling as anyone else mainly because we sucked. Good times. Went horseback riding for the first time ever. Almost died a little, but the power of these animals is amazing. Visited Kalbarri national park and got my first taste of spectacular gorges.

Denham/Shark Bay. Visited Ocean Park, full of pretty and ridiculously knowledgeable marine biologist boys. Saw all sorts of deadly creatures. Went to Francios Peron national park, where red sand dunes blend into white sand beaches that drift into turquoise waters. Spotted rays and sharks and dolphins. Amazing place.

Exmouth. Oh Exmouth. So many good times. Went snorkeling with whale sharks – the biggest fish in the world. Swimming next to a 4m fish is kind of indescribable. Looking down at the depths of the endless ocean takes your breath away. Went to the amazing Turquiose Bay, which had some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever done, and some of the best stories I’ve ever heard involving sea cocks and nude beaches. Language barriers are an endless source of entertainment for everyone invovled. Lived off black and gold brand burgers for three nights in a row. Only $2 a meal. Budget traveler rejoices, stomach does not. They do not put the f in fresh…

Karijini. Red. Dust. Everywhere. You can tell who has been by the coating of dust on everything they own. I thought I had a tan… no no, that’s just Karijini dust. What an amazing place though. Absolutely spectacular gorges, waterfalls, pools, and everything else. Almost died multiple times on the slippery wet rocks, cut my feet up, nearly got hypothermia, it was spectacular. It was a little bit magical.

Coral Bay. One street. White sandy beach. What more do you need? Failed attempt at snorkeling, winds foiled our kayaking, but a day on the beach is never a waste. Ever. Said goodbye to all the easyrider folk and caught the overnight greyhound north. Seats of death. Leeeeever. Ah, good times.

Broome. Hammocks. Hammocks will sum up Broome for me. Good choices were made from hammocks. Saw Cable Beach – it is wide and sweeping and white with turquiose waters and all of that. It’s also hot. And windy therefore saaaandy.

Kakadu National Park. The top end! Another spectacular park with gorges and red cliffs and waterfalls and breathtaking scenery. I can’t really describe it all and pictures just won’t do it justice. You have to swim in a pool surrounded by red rock walls and green trees and white beaches. Incredible. Slept in a swag underneath the stars. Waking up in the middle of the night, seeing the sky bright with stars, and drifting back to sleep… not bad.

Darwin. Not at all what I was expecting. Bigger. Louder. A whole lot of drinking goes down here. Tour guides can get free beer. My liver has been given the all clear. So… good times. Said goodbye to new and old friends. Said goodbye to Oz.

The end. I love Australia. I always will. It was the first place I ever traveled to. It brought me back a second time. And there’s still more to do and see. I’ll be back again.

Katoomba and the Jenolan Caves. The Blue Mountains of Australia are cold.  Who knew Australia got cold? I remember warm and sunny the whole time last go round.  Regardless though, amazing scenery – the Three Sisters Mountain range is pretty spectacular.  And caves.  I’m certain I’ve mentioned how much I love caves.  The Jenolan Caves are right up there.  You take pictures and try to describe it all, but you have to go stand inside a cave to experience it.  The immense size, the overwhelming darkness, the silence.  Its incredible.

Katoomba to Byron Bay. Overnights in Belmont, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, all of which have their own charm.  We made so many stops along the way between these places, I can’t remember which went where.  I remember lots of incredible beaches, stunning views, and ridiculous roads.  Small towns.  Fish and chips. Ocean view hotels.  A nice start to the east coast.

Byron Bay. Ok, so I loved Byron Bay last time I was here.  I still love it.  It has this alternative, hippie kind of vibe, it has amazing beaches, it has a lighthouse with spectacular views, the most easterly point of Australia, it has everything! Days spent on the beach, soaking up the sun and walking in the ocean, wandering through the shops, horrifyed at the prices of the same clothes I bought in Thailand, watching the sunset from the lighthouse, eating on balconies, people watching, and trying to rid ourselves of bed bugs.  Fun.  So bed bugs – nasty little creatures.  Staying at a rather spiffy hotel, had a nice bed all to myself, when I notice a bug.  Ok, just one, no big deal.  Wait… there’s another.  And another.  Look up a picture of bed bugs online (I don’t recommend it), and verify that is in fact what I’m dealing with.  Luckily, I saw them before I actually slept in that bed.  Unluckily, my bag was open and touching the bed.  So the fuckers infested my backpack and all my stuff.  So we spent the night vaccumming, inspecting, and washing and drying everything trying to get rid of them.  Jerks.  I feel all crawly just thinking about it.

Noosa. Another amazing beach.  Another amazing sunset.  You would think beaches would all start to blend together, but they really don’t.  They all have their own character.  They’re all pretty awesome.

Rainbow Beach. Hardly even a town its so small, but its kind of awesome anyways.  Rainbow colored sands on the beach, which is rugged and wild looking. Amazingly nice hotel, free pizza, great beach, what more could you want?

Fraser Island.  My favorite place in Australia.  It used to be second, but we’ll get to that later – it wins now.  Its such an amazing place.  So we rented a 4×4, rode across on the barge, and arrived at Fraser Island in the rain.  Our windshield wipers don’t work, the road is complete washboard, and is rattling everything loose, we can’t see anything or drive faster than 15km/h.  An adventure.  The next couple days are bright and sunny, and we see Eli Creek, the Maheno Shipwreck, Lake Birabeen, the coloured sands, and all the sights the island has to offer.  The beach is the highway.  You can drive for miles without seeing another person.  It’s an amazing feeling of freedom.  The beach is wild and spectacular.  You can’t swim because there’s sharks.  There’s dingoes just waiting to eat your baby.  It’s kind of awesome.

Bargara.  Went through Marybourough and visited the statue of Mary Poppins.  Ate delicious fudge. Drove through Bundaberg – home of rum and ginger beer, onto the beachside town of Bargara. Disappointing.  The beach was more rock than sand.  Sampled ginger beer, which is terrible.  Cannot sample rum because my liver still has mono.

Rockhampton. Passed through the tiny speck on the map villages of 1770 and Agnes Water – mostly because we had to stop at a place named after a year.  Good beaches.  Weekend marketplace.  Nice stop on the way through to Rockhampton.  Now this was mostly a stop because it was convenient.  They’re supposed to be the beef capital of Australia, but apparently have shit steak.  I opted for nachos, because its harder to screw those up.  Would have to say this is my least favorite place.  There’s just nothing here.

Airlie Beach.  From Rockhampton, through Mackay, all the way up to Airlie Beach.  Holy crap are things ever far apart in this country.  I mean I know its a big country, but until you start driving it you don’t quite get it.  Spent 4 days in Airlie Beach, because there’s rather a lot to do in the area.  Spent a day out in the Whitsunday Islands, on the Camira catamaran (which was purple and awesome!).  Saw Whitehaven Beach, which was my favorite place, but was very very different from how I remembered it.  I blame the tides for it being smaller, and the people.. for all the people.  Anyways, its still very pretty, with all the bright white silicia sand.  Stopped for a bit of snorkeling, which was disappointing, because the snorkels were broken and the coral was dead.  The Whitsunday Islands are really quite spectacular, but because everyone thinks so, there are endless tours, endless amounts of people, which result in killing the coral and ruining the beaches.  How do you see something and share it with the world without ruining it?

Townsville. Wandered up and down the Strand – the waterfront area, full of people doing waterfront things.  No real beaches, but they made some… I’m all for beaches everywhere, but you can tell when they’ve been manufactured.  Its just not the same.  Went up Castle Hill for some good views of the city and the ocean.

Mission Beach. The rainforest meets the beach. There are cassowaries about. The beach reminds me of Tofino, but warmer and with palm trees.  Its flat and vast and empty. There are hardly any people, which makes any beach better in my opinion.  What a spectacular place.

Atherton Tablelands.  Two of the busiest days yet.  So much to do, so much to see! Stopped at a ton of waterfalls and scenic lookouts, lakes, and ridiculous giant fig trees.  Did a rainforest canopy walk.  In awe at nature.  The trees that get eaten by other trees and then eaten by vines and ferns and even more trees.  Its all this indistinguishable mass of green.  Its really quite impressive.

Cape Tribulation. Went on a crocodile cruise, where we spotted 5 or so in the wild, though they don’t move much, so I suppose they could’ve been plastic.  Still look scary.  Crossed the Daintree River on a tiny cable ferry, managed to not get eaten by crocs.  The roads up to Cape Trib are windy and narrow, apparently on purpose, so we can slow down and enjoy the scenery.  Spent a night up there, where giant rainforest bugs threatened to eat us whole, and crocodiles threatened to eat us if we ventured into the ocean (I know, crocodiles and the ocean?! thats just ridiculous).  Made it out alive and back down to Cairns.

Cairns. Pronounced Cannes.  No idea why, but I’m sure there must be a reason.  Attempted to visit the Great Barrier Reef, but was foiled by weather and high winds repeatedly.  No one wants to spend a day yakking on a boat when the winds are 30 knots.  No fun at all.  So, we missed it.  Its ok though, because we saw so much other awesome stuff.  Spent some time in Cairns itself, wandering the city and the shops; went up to the northern beaches, which promised me white sand, but instead it was brown; went up to Port Douglas, which has a spectacular beach (are you noticing a theme about the spectacular beaches yet?); visited a Rainforest Habitat wildlife sanctuary and fed kangaroos; went up to the village of Kuranda by train and down by cablecar;  and generally enjoyed the last few days of the East Coast.

Ayers Rock and the Olgas. So you would think, its just a big rock, how good can it be, right? Wrong.  Its awesome.  Its in the absolute middle of nowhere, which makes it all the more impressive.  The sunrise and sunset show the many colors of the rock.  Walks around it show the formations carved out by the wind.  It’s just so big.  And red.  And awesome.  The Olgas are the lesser known giant rocks in the middle of nowhere.  Even bigger, but not quite as impressive somehow.  Walks into the gorges show the scale of them.  You just need to see it. The outback is a whole other landscape, unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else.  The bright red sands, the scrub bushes, the shocking green valleys, the ridiculously huge rocks, the wild camels roaming around, its pretty fantastic.

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. So, Melbourne is a big city… like scary and big compared to all the small places we have been visiting.  There are trams everywhere, and these crazy hook turns, where you get into the left lane to turn right across traffic.  Its all very confusing.  Attempts to drive to the grocery store were foiled by one way streets and crazy expensive parking.  Did all the tourist stuff, rode the trams, saw Federation Square, wandered the Docklands, bought our tacky souviners, and got a good impression of the city.  Spent two days traveling the nearby Great Ocean Road, which really is quite great and oceany.  The road is literally right next to the ocean, the views are amazing, and there are way too many scenic lookouts to count.  Made it to the main attraction of the 12 Apostles National Park.  The formations are indescribeable.  I’m continually impressed by nature.

6 weeks?! So, we accomplished a lot in 6 weeks.  Saw the east coast, the outback, and the south coast.  Stayed in cities, towns and villages.  Met tons of ridiculously friendly Aussies.  Saw kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, crocodiles, and camels in the wild.  Experienced beaches, rainforests, desert, and everything in between.  It was a fantastic good time, and I’m so glad I was able to have this 6 weeks with my parents and travel with them.  Saying goodbye (for the second time!) always sucks, and I’m gonna miss having them around, but now another stage of my journey begins… Plus, now I have time to rest

www.dhamma.org

Sydney hasn’t changed much. Still a huge, bustling city. The circular quay, harbour bridge and opera house are still just as impressive. The botanic gardens just as peaceful. The art gallery just and weird and mildly offensive. There are still people playing digeridoos at the harbour. I still have the urge to bring a digeridoo home and learn to play it. It’s good to be back.

In other news, I’m feeling much much better. I don’t feel like death at all anymore! I still have no energy, so I don’t fit as much in a day as I would like, but still, quite an improvement. But mono sucks. Don’t get it.