"Success Leaves Clues"

I absolutely love this photo! I found it on a website which I've been reading lately, called MarcandAngel.com. Sometime on the internet I stumbled on their site and took a few minutes to read some of the featured articles, mainly about life improvement.

 A few of my favorite articles on the site were 15 Ways To Live, and Not Merely Exist, which really goes with this photo, and my favourite: 12 Things Successful People Do Differently. More importantly, this article reminded me of a great book I just finished reading that I really want to tell people about! Before I left Byron Bay, I bought this book for my bus ride to Stanthorpe and over the last 2 months I've been reading it chapter, by chapter, applying the principles to my life.

When I think, "Am I really living?" I am inspired to live and love more in the moment while pushing endlessly towards my greatest dreams. What do you think of?

The book is written by Siimon Reynolds who suiting enough, is an Aussie, A High Achievement Expert and Coach as well as the Founder of $500 Million Dollar Company). The book is called  "Why People Fail: The 16 Obstacles To Success and How You Can Overcome Them". He also has a blog called SIICOACH where readers are can view tips on how to perform better and achieve more, faster, while still enjoying life.

When I read the book and seriously applied some of the tactics to my life, I felt their effectiveness. While reading it, and still afterwards, I have been using some of the techniques and have found myself inspired. Since then I have began planning and acheiving more goals and stepping out of my comfort zone even MORE then normal.  I wanted to share this book in case there's anyone out there like me who has a lot of dreams and wants to do A LOT in a short period of time, while still enjoying life.  To read reviews about it, click here.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the book:

"If you're not growing you're dying"

                                 "Clearly the future for anyone with a growth mindset is huge"

                    "We become how we breathe"

"There are two reasons why people dont persist with goals. The first is poor self-image. The second reason people dont persist is they believe there is something wrong with failure.
                                                     
                                                                 "Success leaves clues"

Boonoo Boonoo National Park, Australia

Boonoo Boonoo National Park (pronounced bunna-bunoo) is a national park on the  northern border of New South Wales. We heard about it from my hippy, landlord lady, Autumn. She said the nature there was amazing with a massive canyon and lots of swimming spots. Only a 40-minute drive from Thulimbah, Queensland led us on a dusty, bumpy ride into to the bush where the park is. The drive was wicked. Scenery was stellar. This is a place worth going, hands down. 

Transitioning from scorched and golden fields to the greenery of gum trees mountains, the further we drove into the bush the more beautiful it got. A path lead us from the parking lot down to look-off point immediately, an early pay-off. But it just kept getting better. After that, it was all forest, rolling mountains, swimming holes, rock canyons and waterfalls!  

Want to know more about Boonoo Boonoo National Park? Read reviews here

We stood beside a waterfall at the first look-out, staring into the valley ahead. Waterfalls in Australia, check! We kept on down the trail which led us to a miniature Grand Canyon of rocks( mind you it was still huge!) The rocks completely engulfed us, we were like ants. We scaled in between them and over them, around them and eventually got to a second waterfall which was gorgeous. The hike was fun especially with so many people rockin their flipflops. I busted my pair eventually. Oh well , they lasted me over 6 months, way to go Payless! Lucky for me, Paul had an extra pair of "pluggers" as he would say in his British accent. Id defintely recommend good walking shoes for this.

Boonoo Boonoo is worth the day trip but would also be great for camping!

Eventually we found a small beach and a good swimming spot, and the guys jumped in even though it was freezing! I took some photos of the plant-life up there, and practiced skipping rocks. Skipped my first one- ever! woo!

 It was really gorgeous up there, blooms of yellow and red, growing on rocks, cacti, and beautiful rock formations shaped from the strain of time and pressure. I didn't want to leave, it was so serene. We all wanted to camp up there on that beach but had no supplies. Maybe next time?

As the sun was just going down we scaled back down to get back to the path. As we all met in the parking lot we sat down at a picnic table and one of the backpackers that was with us rolled up a joint. I looked over when I heard her yelling. She pointed up to a cookaburra bird in a tree. It turns out this bird just swooped down and stole her joint. I thought that was pretty funny....!

Other Stories:
Cape Byron's Lighthouse 
Tea Tree Lake, Lennox Head, Australia
30 Things Ive Learned About Australia
Australian Working Holiday Visa

How To Play "THINGS" The Drinking Game

The town of Thulimbah literally disappears at night and is lost to the darkness. It's pretty much non-existent so on a Saturday night so you have to make the best of it! We find ways of occupying ourselves with tunes, some good Aussie beers, bonfires and occasionally the Canadian Club whiskey finds its way out of the freezer.. 

Lately we've been getting into the drinking games. Like "Roxanne", the drinking game where you have to drink everytime Sting sings "Roxaaaaannne".
 Or "Things"!! The Best Drinking Game In The World.:)

How To Play "THINGS":
The great thing about this game is it is really fun to play with good friends but also with strangers. It adds a whole new element of humor to the game.

1)Start off passing around a sheet of paper and pen. Have each person write down several different sentences starting with things. for example: Things you see in the subway, things you should never say to a priest, things you miss about home, things you cant live without, things you love to hate etc. Make sure there is a good variety of questions

2) Then cut up strips of paper and hand them out to everyone, and give each person a pen. Make sure all of the pens are the same color. Put a hat in the middle of the table.

3) Elect one person to read out a question, for example: Things you see in the subway
 

4) The other people all write down an answer in block letters. It can be funny or serious, it can be true, it can be made up, and can even be made to imitate the answer that other plays might give. Then they should cold their paper strip/answer in half once and put it in the hat.

5) The point of the game is for the person reading the question to then draw out the answers, read them a loud and after everyone is done dying of laughter that person must try to guess which player said what. Some of the answers you get are hilarious! If the answers are correctly matched with the person who wrote them the writer has to drink. But if the question reader is wrong they will have to drink! This game is a blast, try it!

I asked one Estonian, one Brit, and one Canadian,
"What Do You See In The Subway?"

Featuring Stanthorpe

Stanthorpe is soooo boring. This is my opinion but I am entitled to it! I find myself wondering, "Why are the only interesting things in Stanthorpe related to alcohol?"

Is that a coincedence or a reflection of this place and the people who live here?

Passing Time With Backpackers & Rebel Pigeons

Australian sunsets are gorgeous

Thulimbah can get pretty boring, but as Ive heard an Aussie say:

 Only boring people get bored.

For me, when I'm not working it's just the simple things that make life delicious! Have a hot tea in the garden, do some yoga in the yard, snap some photos, whatever. To just enjoy nature the way it was intended, away from the noise of cities and chaos.

Still, sometimes I get restless out here! Even though I do feel great coming back to the country after a shopping day in the nearest town, Stanthorpe. (blah) The wildlife just out of the town is incredible, especially the variety of birds. Im not used to seeing wild cockatoos and rebel pigeons so I could sit outside just watching and listening to them forever. I love the colored parrots-except when they wake me up at 3 am..true say!

I have renamed the Crested Dove, The Rebel Pigeon

I've been in Thulimbah for almost two months now, but surprisingly the time has just flown by. I have been working for 6/ 8 weeks so maybe that's why, but there have been some good times here.

Out of restlessness my creative streak has been coming through, and Ive taken up photography and Ive been baking like mad!  Herb Bread, Foccacia, Banana bread, raisin scones, mango pie, shortbread cookies, chocolate macaroons, you name it! My new housemate Paul from England has even pitched in money for baking supplies so he can get in on it.

 Tonight is his 32nd birthday so me and the other housemates are having a celebration dinner for him that he doesn't know about yet. Tatsu and Yuki, our Japanese housemates are going to make Vegetable Tempura and I am going to make coconut cake topped with fresh strawberries from a local farm. Perhaps have a few drinks of Canadian Club too?

My own Pizza, Chocolate Macaroons, Veg Shephard's Pie, Scones & Red Veg Curry!

Rebel Pigeon Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

Where The Hell Am I? Welcome to THULIMBAH, QLD

Greetings from Thulimbah..
Home of The Big Apple... Aka The Middle of Nowhere!

I wouldnt even consider "Thulimbah" a town, its more like..where a rail-crossing, a restaurant, store, campground and a few houses meet on the outskirts of Stanthorpe, another middle of nowhere place somewhere in the dusty part of Queensland. So far I have been here for almost two months, but somewhere in between working 12 hour days and dodgy internet connection My Roaming Backpack has been getting the back burner!

All I know is that the magical land of Thulimbah is off of the New England Highway in the middle of The Granite Belt, which is Queensland's grape, stone fruit and apple region. There are hundreds of acres of farm all around me and I am also on the summit of a mountain, which makes the weather here crazy! Ive seen it fluctuate from sunshine to hail in 5 minutes!

Its a quirky little place here.


Beside the house I'm renting is a caravan tourist park, called The Happy Apple. Its basically a mixture of backpacker berry-pickers from all over the world living in these massive tents, mixed in with Aussie people who live here all year long in their mobile homes. Its an interesting mix that's for sure! 

The owner of the park is Autumn, a really cool and creative hippy lady who keeps the area beautiful with her gardening and other small touches. She is also my neighbor and my landlord!  At the moment I am renting a 5 room house from her and sharing it with 4 other people, a couple from Japan, a guy from England and my friend Scott from Canada!

We all usually work during the week and then spend the weekends relaxing, having some drinks and a bonfire, and now that summer's here we are going out for hikes! Yeeeeaaah.

Finding Work in Australia as a Backpacker

Since getting into Australia in August with a Working Holiday Visa (WHV), employment options were looking really scarce and my savings account was feeling it! I had always been told harvest work was abundant in Australia because no locals wanted to do it. But what I learned when I got here was much different than that. Even locals here have a hard time finding farm work!
I will tell you one thing, it is not a good country to travel without any income- true say. Things here are lucratively expensive! A coffee costs 4$, a sandwich 10$, a cinema ticket 20$, a hair cut is 40-80$. Some source of income is a must, otherwise it is easy to spend 1000$ a week.

Getting A 2nd Year Visa:
In order to be eligible to come back to Australia for a 2nd year on my WHV,
I would need to:
1) work in the agriculture sector
2) work within specified postal codes (excludes all major cities)
3) work for 88 days and have employers sign form 1263. 

In other words, I needed to find steady farm work- and fast! Scott and I teamed up, searched online classifieds, job boards and even calling The Harvest Trail on a regular basis. Nothing. In fact, the people at the Harvest Trail hotline were of very little help. We applied to several jobs directly everyday, sending resumes and cover letters. Still nothing! We were running out of options.
There is no good place to run out of money, especially Down Under. Things here are really expensive, jobs are hard to find, the country is massive- cities and towns are spread really far apart and transportation costs a lot. It is particularly hard to find decent farm work because there are so many foreigners in the country.  I quickly realized just how expensive transportation can be! I have easily spent 1000$ AUD. on transportation since I entered the country 3 months ago, including trains, buses, taxis, ferries etc.
 
Car Or No Car? 
 Having your own car is a definite plus in Australia, but again is another expense. You need to weigh the cost of the vehicle against how much money you expect to earn, the cost of the distances you need to travel and the length of time you will be in the country, PLUS, how much of your money you can get back after you sell the vehicle when departing Australia?  I decided 6 months was not long enough to be in the country to buy a camper van- so I have been finding work without. I am more limited for work opportunities without a car but it also saves me a lot of paperwork, hassle of finding/ selling a car, and wont tie me down. Any time I want to leave Australia I can, because I have no car or belongings to deal with- just me and My Roaming Backpack.

 Weather Kills Jobs
It pays to follow the weather as a backpacker before and while you are in Australia. It happens that apprently 2012 has been a bad year for crops, so job openings are fewer and further between. Some crops of grapes and strawberries have been completely destroyed in Victoria state and Queensland- meaning more competition for work from other backpackers. And trust me, there are shit tonne of them! Sometimes it seems there are more foreigners in Australia than Australians themselves.
  
Take What You Can Get
My advice to backpackers looking for farm work in Oz is take what you can get when you can get it- dont be picky. One day there may be tonnes of work, the next day the crop may be finished, destroyed, or for some reason there is no work left. You can always work your way up from one job to a better one, but any job is better than no job. 
While I was just getting settled in and enjoying Byron Bay and Lennox Head, I got a call to work at a hydroponic herbs farm. It could possibly lead to me working 88 days, enough days work to get me my 2nd year working in Oz. The job was in Queensland about 3 hours away and they wanted me there in 3 days.  Id have to leave Byron Bay (so sad!) but I was focused on my savings account and that 2nd year visa (I like to keep my options open, just incase).  I packed my things and split ways with Scott. I traveled by bus and headed west just over the border of Queensland- The Sunshine State. Ironically when I crossed the border it was cold, grey and starting to rain! 

 From Stanthorpe I got hooked up with a ride from the employment agency that told me about the job. I got dropped off in a small town called Thulimbah, my new home for who knows how long?? It could be a month, it could be five?

Cape Byron's Lighthouse

Its been a few weeks since I left Byron Bay, and I just now found these photos! My last day in Byron we headed up to the famous Byron Bay Lighthouse, which rests bare to the wide ocean on the most easterly cape of Australia. I can only imagine the sunrise here! Popular walking trails with gaping views lead up to this lighthouse at the Byron Bay look-off point.

 Its definitely a beautiful place, Id love somewhere like this to go every morning. Take a walk with a tea, spend half an hour just listening to the ocean crash on the rocks and miss the crowds..Great place for thinking. The view from the top is literally almost 360. Its definitely worth going.

Views on the walk up to the lighthouse

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The Purpose of Travel Writing

Home

30 Things Ive Learned About Australia

Going to Australia or thinking about it?  

Well, what can I say... The Land of Oz sure seems like a fucking strange place- in my opinion, anyways. I'm not in Kansas anymore! I cant say its one of my favourite places Ive traveled, but Ive definitely learned a lot and had some good times so I wouldnt take this experience back for anything!

Here are 30 good, bad, ugly, interesting, funny or just weird things Ive learned while Down Under!:

Blue-tongued lizard

Did you know.........?

1. Everything, everything is cheaper here on Tuesdays! Pizza, Cinema ticket, whatever. 
2. Australia is home to; parrots, penguins and cookaburras, platapus and yes, dingos- blue-tongue lizards, infamous poisonous red-backed and funnel web-spiders, and the eastern brown snake! Some famous last words said to us before we headed into the country..."Watch out for all the shit that wants to eat you." (Its really not that bad...)

Rail Barrel

3. When you see black cockatoos flying in flocks of 6 this means RAIN!
4. RAIN. This four-lettered word might as well be renamed LOVE in Australia. It doesnt come often and when it does people LOVE it! Almost everyone here has and uses rain barrels and theyre often used for drinking water. Water is a super sensitive resource here, really. I`ve woken up in Australia without any drinking or shower water before. (House-hold solar panels have also really caught on here.) 
5. Drive-through beer stores are everywhere! Enough said.

6. "Magpies"- the famous black and white Australian bird that hates bicycles! They are known for actually attacking bicyclers- swooping, pecking helmets! Australians use a stick through the top of their helmet to deter the birds. Yep, they just bike around with a stick poking out of the top of their helmet. I heard of one guy who actually got his eye pecked out by a magpie- Ill take the stick any day. 

7. There is an Australian Price is Right, (..but it sucks. Shhh...)
8. A "schooner" is less than a pint of beer. (In New South Wales anyways)

9. "Flake" on your menu is shark.
10. If you get stung by a jellyfish, pee on it!! And if you get bitten by a snake, lie down and keep calm while someone gets help. Not to panic, most snakes here have an anti-venom. 
11. "Tips" arent customary here 
12. Aussies love Jamie Oliver & Skrillex 
13. There is a marijuana festival in Nimbin, NSW, called Mardi-Grass and just around the corner, Byron Bay boasts one of the best surfing spots in the world!

Byron Bays Main Beach

14. This country has several multi-cultural cities packed full of Irish settlers, as well as large populations of Chinese, Indian, Italians, South Africans and Germans
15. Tasmania has the same latitude as Canada
16. NEVER underestimate the size of Australia. Always bring enough petrol/gas and when asking directions always ask how many kilometers something is from you, not "how long" it will take. "Not far" could be hours driving! 

Driving in a camper van: Aussie-style

Picking lemons 

17.Finding work as a backpacker is surprisingly really hard. (Competition is high as there are many foreigners in the country.) Don't depend on the Harvest Trail to find you a job- and try to arrange a job before youre in the country- this is an expensive country to choose to support yourself with no income! However when you do land a job and are working full-time, it is easy to make 1000$/week even on minimum wage! 
18. Dont carry a lighter on you at mid-day and definitely dont leave a lighter outside in the sunlight,  not even for a few minutes. It will explode  
19. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. This is due to the depleted ozone layer and lack of protection from the UV light. 

Wearing everything I own, Brr

20. Australia is the LAND OF THE LAWS. It is illegal to spit on an Australian sidewalk, illegal not to buckle up your pet, and for an adult to ride a bike without a helmet! Cops even have the right to pull people over to do a random drug swab from your mouth to detect any drugs, and if you get caught driving with people in your car who arent wearing seatbelts- you pay a fine, and theirs!   
21. It gets cold here! Yes, and even snows, despite popular belief that the continent is warm all the time.The desert regions are the coldest, with blazing hot afternoons.
22. Macadamia nuts, mmm..and tea trees are native to Australia! If youve never been to a tea tree lake before youve gotta try it!!
23. Always avoid tall grass! Respect the wild's habitat.

Light Green=Asian Camphor

 24. Didgery doos were invented by the aboriginals and were first used to open chakras during meditation or trance! (Did you know only 1% of Australias population remains aboriginal?)
25.Camels,  kangaroos, Asian Carp and Asian Camphor trees are all invasive species here. Camels were brought from the middle east to the desert here years ago. Before they became invasive they were used to carry supplies to build houses. Kangaroos here are farmed for meat, hunted in the wild without regulation and treated as a pest nuissance- they endure one of the most unethical slaughters in the world.
 

An abortion pro-hibition sign outside of a church

26. In some states of Australia gay-marriage and abortion are prohibited..WTF?  
27. Australian airport customs are STRICT. If you have a well-used tent or hiking shoes, good luck trying to get into the country with them. Australia has a very delicate eco-system and is virgin to problems like rabies.

28. Most working hostels are scams- dont trust them. And many steal/sell guests passports on the black market, so be very careful. 

29. NO Australians drink Fosters! They drink Coopers, Carlsberg Pure Blonde, VB, anything but Fosters.
30. "The Works" on a burger includes a fried egg! Just sayin...

   Well, there it is. I hope youve gained some inside perspective about the real Australia and whats going down, Down Under. Thanks for reading, Cheers!
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Australian Radio!

Here is some music Ive heard here in Australia, or artists from Australia. Enjoy this variety of Australian Hip-hop, pop, dance, acoustic folk and alternative!