I’m happy to be leaving a country for the first time. All the countries were beautiful. Even the USA despite Bush. Apart from a few places, Australia was rubbish. Expensive as hell, boring, too big, too boozy, too touristy and lots of rain. Plus a ruined car, 2 cameras, a laptop hinge and a DVD drive. Cost for 8 weeks: just under 6000€.
Sure, it was a lot of money just for bad luck. But even the money that I used sparingly for travelling flowed through my hands in torrents. Only rarely were my minimum expectations met. A recent study puts Sydney ahead of Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world. If they had factored in tourism, it would probably be the most expensive city south of the Andromeda Nebula.
Still, nothing was wasted. I’ve learnt to do without a lot. To travel far to see little. To see more and differently than the chronically boozy backpackers, especially in the juggernauts of the East Coast.
I was rarely happy here, unlike in New Zealand or Fiji. I just drove around without a plan and without a destination. Every five minutes there was a rush of endorphins in my head, like when I was a little kid on the way to the fair: absolute joy at what was about to arrive. And then it arrived.
Only very few things arrived in Australia. The red in the outback, and the howling coyotes under the clear starry sky. The white sand in Jervis Bay. The concert sky in Melbourne, and a good, expensive person. Three happy days with good wind for kiteboarding. Two beautiful sunsets. Two months.
The last few days in Sydney. I walk a lot again. Chinatown. Across the Harbour Bridge to Luna Park. On the ferries across all the inlets, then on the tram to Bondi Beach. There’s no wind, my kite is mouldering in its pack. There are no more great moments. The good thing about it? I’m learning to be happy about the little things.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.