New Journey!

It's always hard to say goodbye. 29th of August 2015, I reached Australia with no friends, no plans, no destination, and just holding a goal of self improvement. I've travelled all around southern Australia from Sydney, to Perth, to Adelaide, to Tasmania, and eventually falling in love with Melbourne! Not once did I expect to meet so many friends, create so many wonderful memories, do so many things, and even found God. Before I depart onto my journey, I had a rush of overwhelming joy and happiness... My co-workers gave me a farewell party. My church friends gave me a farewell hangout. My care group gave me a farewell dinner. My friends came together to bid me farewell with a hot pot night. I truly treasure every moment that has been spent here in Melbourne and it has been extremely memorable.

After I say goodbye to all of my friends, it was time I head off and continue my journey through Australia~ I have been in Melbourne for seven months and although I am in love with Melbourne, I don't know what hold in my future. I want to see the rest of the country before I depart even if I wish to return here someday in the future.

Louie, a friend I met at the hostel, and I planned a trip to take a bus from Melbourne -> Adelaide. We have found a relocation deal online where we relocate a car for Hertz from Adelaide -> Alice Springs for $1/day and we are given 3 days to get the car back to Alice Springs. 16 hour drive wasn't so bad after all! I was originally planning on making pit stops Adelaide -> Coober Pedy -> Uluru -> Alice Springs, but Louie said it's more worth it to stay at Uluru for more than just the night. I ended up miscalculating because we had Tuesday 12PM to Wednesday to Thursday and return car on Friday 12PM. Technically, we had 4 days to drive to Alice Springs. Also, I got exhausted as a solo driver and was running behind schedule, so we decided to just relax and not take it too hard on myself.

Boy what an experience of a trip haha... First day, I picked up the car at 12:36PM but we didn't really head out until 2:30PM. We reached Port Augusta by 8PM, relaxed at McDonald's for 2 hours, brushed our teeth, washed up, and ate. We were going to call it a night, but I was pretty wide awake, so we decided to continue driving and see how far we can get. Worse idea ever! All my friends suggested that I shouldn't drive during dusk to dawn because that's when the animals starts to come out since most animals are nocturnal. The whole way, I was driving 80km when the max was 110km. The way from Port Augusta to my next stop, we saw at least 6 kangaroos standing on the side of the road looking at my car pass by. Two were standing in the middle of the road; luckily I was driving slowly. I also hit a rabbit that jumped out all of a sudden. We ended up in Glendambo before I called it off... Mainly because I was tired and we didn't have enough gas to reach to the next stop haha... Glendambo wasn't even a town. It was a pit stop with little cabins for truck drivers to rest. We ended up parking at the gas station and slept until 7AM when the gas station opens again. It was my first time sleeping in a car overnight at a place that was completely pitch dark. I was so scared there were going to be desert burglars! Everyone was warning me about those scary stuff. >_> But we were fine. We got gas and continued going in the morning until we reached Coober Pedy midday. This town is the world's biggest opal mining town. We finally figured out that we miscalculated our time, so we just took the rest of the day off to look around. Louie already been to all these places when she did her working holiday, so she showed me around. We wanted to save on accommodation by showering at the TAFE school and just sleep in the car again, but we finally decided to get a hostel so I can rest up for driving. We went to Crocodile Harry's Underground Nest and I ended up teaching Louie how to drive that night! Haha... As scary was it was, I think she'll adapt.

We took a shower at the hostel again before heading out! Haha... The opportunity to shower is scarce when you're travelling long distance! The drive was smooth and I tried to rest every 2~3 hours before we reached a pit stop an hour away from Alice Springs. It was a free 24 hour camping site, so we decided to park there for the night because Louie said it might be dangerous to park at Alice Springs overnight. Apparently, Alice Springs has a crime issue where Aboriginal people get violent due to their low employment rate... It was nice to stop there for the night because it was pitch dark out there and for once in my lifetime, I saw the Milky Way~ It's pitch dark where my parents work up in New Hampshire, but I don't see the Milky Way, just stars. It was beautiful... What a journey. We rest up in the car before getting to Alice Springs.

I came here as a vacation. If I like it, I'll find a job here. Louie came here because it was her happy place when she was here for working holiday. She wanted to come back in search of a school opportunity because she no longer wanted to stay in Melbourne. We have been here for 5 days now. How do I feel? I don't know... Alice Springs has a population of 27,000 people. Everything closes around 7PM with exception of Woolworths and Coles. It's a nice quiet town, but it's not what I was seeking for when I left Melbourne. I wanted to experience a countryside life and work at a farm. In Alice Springs, the job opportunities here for me is either McDonald's, restaurants, retail stores, or office life jobs. Louie felt that I was kind of bored of the place and she felt bad that it seemed like I came here just to drive her here, but I reassured her that it was part of my travelling experience. I haven't done much these few days other than just relaxing. I applied to a few jobs in Darwin and places in Queensland. We rented a place for $115/week and we plan on heading out to Uluru after our week is up.

I don't know what lies ahead of me, but I know it will be a bright future! ^_^ Time to get some sleep~