Well yes, of course, the pandemic, this historic period that for sure moved the whole world somehow. But here I am now two years later, writing this post in the exact place I wanted to be: Australia. To be precise I am writing from Adelaide, the capital city of Southern Australia, one of the world’s most liveable cities.
Back to Australia
The country of the kangaroos, the wide-open spaces, the desert, the natural wonder in the middle of nowhere, the many deadly animals, the country with one of the world’s longest roads, the beaches and the great barrier reef… We can keep going forever listing all of the particularity of this amazing country, the beauties Australia has to offer are endless and definitely “to be seen”.
Students, backpackers and tourists each year are attracted by this country. Some backpackers move here with the interest of living far from home and pushing themselves to get a life experience, so as to get out of their comfort zone. Others do it as a reward to themselves after the school degree and someone does it as well to start a new chapter, find their own luck with a career and settle their life in a place they always dreamt about.
Each person I meet during my life as a traveller has taught me different ways of seeing life. For sure most of them try to do it as much as they can to really enjoy every little step they take. So am I, indeed.
Why did I come back to Australia after two years?
We all know the pandemic had brought different rules in all the countries, Australia kept their border close – to most of the world – for almost two years. So the answer is simple, I didn’t have any other choices apart then wait. But why I have decided to make my way back here it is a different story.
Experiencing this country on my first working holiday visa, I had more of a normal approach – the same when you are moving to a new “home”, or to a city you are going to live there for years. So at the end of January 2019, I arrived after an endless flight in Sydney and there I stayed for 6 months.
I was working in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House – the most iconic sights of Australia- and living in a 19th-floor apartment with a view. When my visa was half the way to the end, I finally decided to start looking for a farm job, which would have allowed me to renew the same visa for an extra year. So in August, I reached this small village 140km south of Cairns, Tully.
What an experience was for me…
Yes, this was one of the reasons I did come back to this country, not only the little village with one main road, one big supermarket and just over two thousand people who live there. The VIBES.
The vibes that this place had were amazing, the feeling I had were most of the time positive, and the friends I met there made up one of the best groups of people I’ve ever met.
Once in Queensland, I could see what I was missing the most by living in a big city like Sydney and working many hours in the kitchen. I was missing my feeling, the nature’s sounds, the fact I could be happy only to have seen a beautiful butterfly during my day, the chat I could do with my Australian colleagues and the “to be seen” talk done with a Wales’s woman who lives in Australia most of her life.
Just the fact of sharing the happiness – in any form – with someone else for me was gold and still, it is now. So the answer at “why have I made all my way back to Australia after two years?” can be easily explained:
To continue my life experience here and travel as much as I can this stunning and huge country.
Two years between Australia
Let’s go back to the end of January 2020 and quickly do a summary of what happened.
Just after my first year of working holiday visa “down under”, the plan to get back in Italy for the summertime was strong and solid: travel throughout Asia for three months, enjoy my seasonal job as a chef in one of the best resort of Sardinia, and after that spend some months with my family, then leave Italy after Christmas to go back to Australia. Things haven’t really gone that way though, my plan to go to Hong Kong had to be cancelled so I stayed instead in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the first two weeks and my trip follow through Thailand and Vietnam almost without any problem.
Almost because the last week in Vietnam was a bit of a nightmare, the cities and villages started to have fewer tourists and the fear of this virus was becoming bigger. Many accommodations during my trip weren’t accepting people with Italian passports as at the beginning of March 2020 my country was having lots of cases.
So when in Hanoi I had been refused to book a room in three different accommodations, I started to question myself: should I keep going with my plan and fly to the Philippines on the 15th of March or should I go back home, where I could at least be sure to have a place to stay?
My answer got built by other updates, mostly from the Philippines government which, on the 13th of March, announced a lock-down in Manila for the day my ticket to enter the country was booked. Meanwhile, Europe had already too many cases to keep the borders open and the many restrictions made most the airline companies take the decision to delete most of the scheduled flights.
Half march I was finally home, in self-isolation, after more than one year away from my family I wasn’t even allowed to see most of them as of the restriction. Looking forward to starting with the plans I had once I left Australia, I had to change most of them.
Nonetheless, my two years were luckily filled with job experience and holidays. I could work for the winter season in a stunning snowing destination as it’s Sankt Moritz in Switzerland and I had the chance to work as a Sous chef in one of the most famous restaurants in London.
… these two years of waiting for Australia to open their border wrote a big chapter of my life, I could get to know more about myself and my interest, I visited some beautiful places in Europe and still, I could spend unforgettable time with my family and friends as I used to do when I was living in Rome.
Looking back now this time was gold for me, as I could plan my way back to Australia in a deeper and more conscious way.
Australia’s plan, two years late…
Travelling through Australia ain’t always been in my dream, or at least not one of the first ones. As a dreamer, my mind goes anywhere around the globe, since a young age I wanted to visit every corner of the world, or so far as possible.
London experience gave me the opportunity to meet many people while working, I could work with Australian people who made me interested in living and travelling to their country. This is how I got to know the chance to obtain a working holiday visa and do it so. After my summer season in Palma de Mallorca, back in January 2019 I bought my one-way ticket to Australia and did my “Aussie experience”. Having worked most of the time I didn’t get the chance to travel all over, so here I am now, doing my second year of visa with a different mindset: to travel as much as I can.
June is known as the winter season’s begging here in Australia, and here in the South of Australia, the climate gets colder than in the north of the country. This is why I decided to start my road trip as soon as possible, in a week’s time I will leave Adelaide and make my way to far north Queensland.
The road trip plan is to drive the outback of Australia, reach first Airlie Beach and Whitsundays and then go up within the Daintree Rainforest. This will be spread over 18 days, more or less. The actual drive inland won’t meet special touristic sites as someone might expect, but I am pretty sure I will be able to make an amazing experience and why not, see some good things as in landscapes, village and others.
How will I travel?
Entering again this country I realized the first thing I had to do was buy a car, not an everyday car, no. Since I was a teenager I always loved big cars, not that I know much about cars, but of course, I have my tastes.
As I have never owned a car in my 28 years, I decided to finally buy something I dreamt about for a long time: a second hand 4 wheel drive car. A 2005 Mitsubishi Pajero. It was challenging to find the one for me, but after 20 days of going around the Adelaide suburbs for the different inspections, suddenly a french couple who just ended their 2 years road trip ended up in this “little city” in South Australia.
The car they were selling was just what I was dreaming of for the last few years, set up already for the trips and camping and in fair conditions in terms of kilometres, engine and other important components of the actual car.
If your plan is to come to Australia with a working holiday visa and do a road trip, my advice to you is to check well what you are buying. Give yourself some time before you make your final decision, as you can be lucky and get a very good deal from someone who’s leaving the country. At the same time, do not stress too much to find the perfect car. Australia’s secondhand car market is a big deal so buying a car won’t stop you to own it only for a few months and changing it for a better one.
Why am I here?
But now let me tell you briefly what the actual plan for the following years in this country is.
Having lost myself a bit in the last year, I have made it all the way here to get all the pieces of me together again. To bloom once more and to do that so I will need to do things I always loved: travel, eat, practice mindfulness and live to protect our earth. I am here to experience all these things and I want to share everything with you, so this will be the space where I can write to you my tips and how my life experience will go.
As for travelling, I came back to Australia to visit what I haven’t seen yet and to experience working on the farms, so I can learn more about agriculture and get more connection with the earth.
I am sure this experience will allow me to appreciate more what we call “the little things”. Gestures, actions, looks, natures, flavours, and smiles. In short words: small things that nurture and sustain you in life.
This, readers, is just the (second) starting point of my Australian path and so expect to read more about how the trip is going. I might have some good tips for you and, if you are a young person who would love to do the same experience, with the opportunity to have a working and holiday visa and travel around this awesome country, wait for the new post so you can get more motivated on visiting here. As well if you are keen to visit Australia as a tourist these articles will help you to plan an unforgettable road trip experience.
