Australia Entry #1 - Introduction and Getting to Australia

Introduction

Back in my sophomore year of college, I had the opportunity to go to Chengdu, China on an internship program. During my time there, I had a job, but was also taking some classes for credit and one of the classes stressed the value of writing a weekly journal during my time abroad as a way to process and put into words the new experiences I was going through at the time. I personally think that one of the most important things you can do in your life is learn from your past experiences and find the things that you enjoy. There’s been plenty of times that I have gone for walks around town back in Wisconsin and New Jersey where I would take a picture of a house and jot down a reason why I liked a certain part of it or a new perspective on how things are run in different countries. I want to be able to write a journal for my thoughts, not just to keep people in the loop back home about how things are going out in Australia, but also as a way for me to remember the adventures and struggles of this part in my life twenty or more years down the road. I want to write about the ways I have done things, things that I like and don’t like, and getting into the weeds of things like finances and planning trips to go see different places and just move my thoughts from my brain to a digital media. I also want to share pictures! Now, with the introduction out of the way, here’s a few thoughts on the first few weeks before and arriving in Australia.

I plan to write one of these every two weeks or so, as I think that’s more sustainable for the long run of three years.

Getting Things Ready

Through most of March and April (and honestly ever since like January) I spent a lot of time getting things ready for getting out of my apartment in Wisconsin, getting all my bills and services canceled, and getting furniture sold. It felt a bit disappointing that there were things that I had spent two years getting to make my space my own having to be sold for usually less than I paid for. Still, I think I enjoy decorating my living space as the constraints of the floorplan and furniture lets my mind think of all these cool different configurations for where to place things and how to make a space uniquely mine that I was looking forward to seeing what I could do with my space in Australia. I also spent some time exploring a few other places I hadn’t been yet in Wisconsin. I wanted to go see Taliesin and House on the Rock, but unfortunately those places were closed until around mid-April. Ultimately, I think I did good in the things I sold off (a couch to a girl that was moving into a new apartment on the east side of town, and some exercise equipment to a mother with some rowdy boys probably going to college soon) but I very much appreciate one of my uncles back from Connecticut who was used to doing long haul drives making his way over with a trailer attachment and helping me load things back to New Jersey. On April 5th, I got a phone call early on my drive to work that my uncle was going to be entering Wisconsin at around noon, so I pivoted to taking a half and half day and made time for some goodbyes around the office. I was also lucky enough to have lunch with one of my ODBAs, Meenoi, who was at the campus for some training so we spent some time chatting. I left work around 1 PM and drove back home and started to pack a few items into the back of my car before my uncle arrived and we put the larger furniture items into his. It was a lot of work, but we got everything ready for the drive by around 5-6 PM.

The Drive

Afterwards, I had a 17 hour drive ahead of me back to New Jersey. Previously in the week, I was messing around with Cruise Control around some highways and parking lots to get comfortable with my car’s use of it. I had only ever driven 3 hours straight for a trip out to Door County back in September, so I wasn’t really aware how I would feel. My uncle and I parted ways and took our own pace to get back to New Jersey. My first stop was to fill up at a gas station and to buy myself a Monster Energy drink for the road, as my coworker Elisha mentioned that it was what I needed for the long road ahead. I noticed an “Aussie Lemonade” flavor which felt like destiny so I went with that. Then, I got onto the BeltLine highway and was greeted with the absolute worst traffic I’ve experienced in Wisconsin throughout all my time there. Supposedly there was a pretty big accident and so I spent more time getting out of Madison than afterwards taking the highway from Madison to Milwaukee. Lovely. The rest of the drive was pretty smooth sailing. I cooked some kielbasa and cut it up into slices and ate it like beef jerky throughout my drive, and was able to get through Chicago and a part of Illinois without taking a break. I took my first 30 minute break or so in Portage. I kept driving through Indiana, Ohio and the western part of Pennsylvania throughout the night, taking a stop here or there to fill up gas and/or stretch my legs and I cracked my Monster Energy drink around midnight and had a pretty great stretch of driving from midnight to around 4:30 AM where there were no cars and good tunes. Around 4 AM I thought to drive by a rest stop to try and get some sleep as I started to feel the effects of not being able to focus on the road. It wasn’t too bad, but I knew it would probably get worse. Unfortunately, while I had a pillow and blanket ready and the rest area was pretty good, I wasn’t able to get too much sleep. I closed my eyes for a while, but woke up and realized only 40 minutes had passed, and just knew this wasn’t going to work. Some louder trucks were nearby and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Around 6, I started driving again to finish the final stretch through Pennsylvania and it wasn’t the best until like 9 AM. It got a lot better after I stopped by a McDonalds and got a coffee and some breakfast, but I don’t care to remember those hours. I arrived back in New Jersey around noon and got home around 1 PM on Saturday April 6th after around 1,000 miles of driving. I enjoyed a few days with hometown friends and family and did some final work before my flight out on April 11th (Thursday of the following week).

Overall, with less than a year of driving under my belt, I feel like I could make my way anywhere at this point, which I personally think was a big accomplishment for me. Maybe I will drive out to Mt. Rushmore next time I’m out in Wisconsin, haha.

Other

I also included some videos of a real estate agent out in Melbourne doing inspections of some properties. I didn’t get the first one I applied for, but paid slightly extra for the second one to make sure I, for sure, had a place to live once my hotel ended. It was priced at $560 AUD a week, or around $1,750 USD a month. I was paying $1,050 a month in Wisconsin for a bigger place, but I guess I won’t be paying transportation costs and will be able to walk to the grocery store, work, and train stations for when I want to travel a bit further.

Images and Videos

Link here