Travel Blog #2

Beginnings, Beaches, and Big Trees

Programming notes: You can now subscribe to the blog to get updates when there are new posts! If you choose to do so, it will function like a newsletter, or a blogsletter, if you will. Okay, on to the main event:

Sydney Day 2

I started my day early, excited to get going and to get out of the cramped hostel. As I learned from my sister (who learned it from our mother, hi mom), I wanted to pack in as much as possible today as I likely won’t be in Sydney again anytime soon. There’s a simple process to achieve this: 1) coffee - flat white with oak milk, naturally, I’m in Straya, 2) acquire snacks and beans to fuel the days activities as meals cost money and take time, 3) in your haste to embark on the adventure forget your new water bottle somewhere so you maintain a steady state of dehydration 4) don’t stop walking!

The botanic gardens were, in a word, sensational. So many good trees! More big trees than you can shake a stick at! Probably the biggest trees I’ve seen in my life, not to mention the succulent, rose, herb gardens and rainforest areas. It is extremely good. Everyone should go if they’re ever in Sydney and also love being around trees so large you can’t capture them in an ultra-wide lens. The path along the water apparently serves as a running path for what I assume are running clubs, though club feels like an understatement when you see more people running than are in most towns in Idaho.

Seeing the Opera House was quite surreal. I’m reminded of Finding Nemo when I see it in photos, and being next to it I felt the same, which probably says something about my personality. It’s massive in person and interesting to walk around as the angles and shapes are just different than what you see in the photos (or Finding Nemo). There’s also a very impressive bridge nearby, which is neat, and you can look at both from the cafe and/or bar under the Opera House. Tourists also need flat whites and glasses of wine, not just opera aficionados.

After a quick nap and lunch, I made my way to Coogee to traverse the Coastal Walk between Coogee and Bondi. It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday arvo (afternoon for you Americans) and a really pleasant walk. It took a couple hours to meander along the paved path amongst the neighborhoods, rocky cliffs, lovely beaches, all filled with sun-soaked mirth and merriment. The ocean was just stunning, gorgeous blues and greens with the sun shining down quite brilliantly. Having spent time in Maine and Long Island recently, the ocean just feels different here. It could be the fact that the beaches are sandy :) I think I was among 3 other people I encountered the whole day wearing sun-smart clothing, or something that wasn’t swimwear. Being a Montanan, cheap, AND bald in Australia, I wasn’t taking chances in the sun or buying sunscreen - a sun-hoodie at all times for me, thank you very much. I finished my evening with my first Australian beer (nope, not Fosters) and the tastiest empanadas I’ve ever had (sometimes you do need to buy a meal after 10 hours of walking when the beans just don’t cut it).

Hobart

I flew to Tasmania Monday morning was overwhelmed by the sense of awe and anticipation, and strangely, familiarity. I have been dreaming about traveling to Australia since the summer of 2023, and Tasmania has been my focus for much of that time. Seeing it from the plane, flying into Hobart, seeing kunanyi, I was genuinely giddy. So many hours researching, planning, and dreaming, and it’s finally here! They say the air in Tasmania is the cleanest air in the world and it certainly felt like it. It was fresh and crisp and bracing compared to Sydney.

Hobart immediately charmed me. I find understanding the vibe of a city sort of nebulous. Sometimes a place feels inviting and welcoming, sometimes indifferent and apathetic, sometimes you have to work to find the secret charms, and sometimes it’s just not quite right. For me, Sydney was the latter. As my friend Caleb remarked, some places you visit and you think, “I’m glad I came” and you’re happy to leave. Maybe if I had more time in Sydney I’d feel differently. At any rate, Hobart has felt very different and I’m looking forward to exploring it more. Tuesday I walked to the city center from my Walkaway to explore a bit and do some work at a cafe. There are cool and interesting shops, many coffee shops, a map shop(!), lots of outdoor gear stores that would be right at home in the Rockies. Expect updates from these stores and all the cool things I learn when I spend more time in the town and get a better sense for what it’s all about, and when I get a sweet map from Geographica.

At the time of writing, I’ve been gone a week, which has simultaneously felt like a lifetime and a single moment. Sometimes two things can be true at once. One significant thing I’ve observed is that when you spend a lot of time dreaming and planning, essentially basing your life decisions on a single goal, it’s easy to expect life to feel different or more significant, like the sun now shines a little brighter or you’ve discovered you suddenly can see a deeper shade of blue, now that you’re living that goal. I knew the grass wouldn’t be greener here in Tasmania and that traveling in Australia would not fundamentally change my life and fix my problems (though one can hope). What has struck is that it feels like everyday life: wake up, do your tasks, decide what and when to eat, talk with the people surrounding you, look out for cool trees and birds. It reminds me of a quote from Douglas Adams’s Life, The Universe, and Everything: “‘the past,’ they say, ‘is now truly like a foreign country. They do things exactly the same there.’”. I don’t feel positively or negatively about this, it just is. It’s actually encouraging because it proves to me that we get to find and create the beauty/meaning/interest/fun for ourselves. If we want to have enjoyable, interesting lives, the onus is on us to make that happen. Learn to delight in the simple things and be curious about others and it probably doesn’t matter where you are. Learn to be okay where you are, in this present moment, and enjoy the beauty and absurdity of life, and you’re on a good path to finding some sense of contentment in life. This is the life we get. It’s unfathomable to consider events that have conspired to get us here to this moment, so let’s enjoy it, shall we?

This week's quote:

“It’s the unpredictable incidents between official events that add up to a life, the incalculable that gives it value.” 

- Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust

Powerful lyrics from the song Saturn by Sleeping at Last that remind me not to take this life for granted:

With shortness of breath

I'll explain the infinite

How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist

Courage,

Trevor

"Fill your life with meaning. Life is precious. Do not waste a single second."

 - Rog Bennett