Brisbane (and other places), Australia: Home Sweet Home

Home! After 7 months of eating, drinking and sightseeing my way across France, Spain and Portugal I was back in Australia for 1 month. Within 2 hours of getting off my 25 hour trip home I was at a bar drinking with friends.

The first couple of weeks involved many catch ups with friends, family and ex-colleagues. However, the adventure didn't stop. For my birthday I headed north with an old friend, Sora, to explore awesome landscapes and hike through subtropical rainforest. The destination was Montville, a little town in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland that is known for lakes, national parks, crafts shops and wine.

The 2 days involved relaxing on a secluded property with a spa bath, a bottle of wine waiting in the fridge and a deck with sweeping views from countryside to ocean. We also squeezed in some hiking in a subtropical rainforest... The perfect recovery from a long trip.

After another week of normal life I was off again, this time camping in the unbelievable national park of Girraween, a place I had been wanting to visit for over 2 years. Girraween N.P. is famous for its incredible and gigantic rock formations. It is situated on the boarder of NSW and QLD and over 3 hours drive inland from the coast. So far it is my pick for Australian National Parks.

My team of camping enthusiasts and close friends comprised of Sora the Explorer, Isis and Yui. After a good night's sleep we were up early for breakfast, one good thing about camping with girls is not having to live off baked beans and noodles. We were soon off to explore these amazing volcanic granite rocks that surrounded us and see many kangaroos along the way.

How many girls does it take to cook my dinner?

The campsite

Balancing Rock

Isis using her powers

A little edited

Soraroo

After a half day of hiking we drove to a little near by town, Stanthorp, a town very famous for wine and apples in Queensland. After lunch and unsuccessfully trying to find an open winery Isis and Yui drove back to Brisbane. Sora and I decided to stick around for another day of camping and hiking.

Again we rose early ready for 10 hours of hiking. We decided to do the entire southern circuit having done the much shorter northern circuit on the previous day. We walked many kilometres on the hot granite drinking many litres of water while taking in the spectacular sights.

Why did we wear black for a day of hiking in the heat?

At the end of the day Sora and I were extremely exhausted and decided to drive 3 hours back to Brisbane. The awesome camping car broke down twice on the way back. Sora asked why I was so calm and not worried when we were stranded on the side of the highway with no phone. I said it's fun and challenging when things go wrong and if worst came to worst we could camp the night. It also tests the strengh of real relationships and the character of people. If people fight when something goes wrong it's a weak relationship. If two people work together and enjoy destroying the problem together it's a strong relationship...  This was a minor problem and I got the car started again.

After more goodbyes and catch ups it was time to embark on my journey once again but not before Sora organised and hosted a Korean BBQ farewell at her place with some of our close friends on my last night back in Australia... The perfect send off!

Next stop Santiago, Chile via Sydney

Lessons Learnt:
Good friends will always be there.
One month home is very short.
There are always new experiences and discoveries near and far.
I will always feel at home in Brisbane.

Getting Started

Hi I’m Trent and I’m an experienceaholic, I’m giving up my comfortable latte sipping lifestyle in a trendy inner-city Brisbane suburb to be home-free and unemployed for 3 years (aka a bum). On 24 June I will be embarking on a 3 year around the world adventure. I have created this blog for 3 reasons, firstly to share my experiences with others. Secondly, to have one place where I can go in old age, with a tissue box in hand, to reminisce on good times. Lastly, to try not to lose too many Facebook friends by ramming 3 years of constant awesomeness in their faces.

Well that’s the short introduction and I recommend you stop reading. If you want the long version go to the kitchen, make yourself a coffee, grab a blanky or snuggy then come back.

More about me, I’m an educated 27 year old that stares at spreadsheets on a computer all day. I’ve worked fulltime in the Finance/Investments industry for the last 6 years, I also have 6 years of post-school study under my belt and I am a member of Mensa. .. blah blah blah.  During brief periods in my life I’ve been a soccer player, boxer, tennis player, runner, “Networking Crasher”, golfer, rugby player, tour guide, event organizer and a salsa dancer. Most recently I’ve tried Karaoke and Yoga.  If you hear a strange, almost unbearable, yet intriguing noise in a far away city that sounds possibly Australian it is more than likely me trying to sing or getting stuck in some strange yoga position called the drunken leprechaun.

So why throw away staring at spreadsheets on a computer screen to travel the world? In 2011 I had a few brief and exciting encounters with other countries. After returning from my second trip, I don’t know if I was still drunk from Oktoberfest or high from Amsterdam, either way I decided to let random explorers (aka Couchsurfers or CSers) sleep on my couch and have a key to my house while I went into the office to check up on the spreadsheets. Most people thought I was crazy by giving complete strangers a key to my house. I was onto a winner! I would come home to all my washing up done and I had more fun than my days as a “Networking Crasher”. During 3.5 months I learnt, shared and partied with 100 new people, 25 of them sleeping on my couch. It was these 3.5 months that made me realise I had to travel the world otherwise it would be the biggest regret of my life.

Why should you read my blog instead of the thousands of other travel blogs? Firstly, thank you for reading this far. If the scroll button on your mouse got stuck try banging it on your head a few times. I’m hoping to provide fun and unique experiences and advice from the prospective of a predominantly normal person.  I will also provide an insight into the challenges of giving up a very comfortable and steady lifestyle for an unknown and possibly not so comfortable few years ahead. I hope a 3 year adventure will become the norm for people in their mid to late twenties... Pourquois Pas?

Happy Reading!

Trent

^Networking Crasher – in 2010 I attended a few Finance networking events. They always had open bars, plenty of food and lots of people I had never met before. I had a great time so I started going to events outside of Finance, pretending I worked in areas I knew nothing about. The thought of getting caught was exciting plus I had a lot of fun and always went home drunk and full. I had a collection of 40 name tags… Give it a go!

Update: The real leaving photos

My leaving work present

Just before leaving Australia for the airport