Flirting in Australia

Australia! I have been in you for 15 months now. Infatuated? ABSOLUTELY! You are amazing and the people that I have met here have been some of the greatest I will probably know in my life!

However, I can't help but remember, that before I came, everyone told me: Australia, watch out for the men! I never understood it! I'm just now starting to see what people mean.

Australians, in my mind anyway, are these handsome, tall, buff, surfies, or tradies, or miners, or farmers at a cattle station. (Can you tell that I've visited WA, NT, and Tas, but have yet to spend any significant time in a major city?)

I've had a number of Aussie "boyfriends" along my travels, and I think they are all still awesome blokes. Honest enough and very straight forward. But for whatever reason, I started thinking: do Aussie men (and women alike) know how to
flirt? I am on a mission to find out, this week!

Melbourne, You're Missing Out.

You're missing out Melbourne, I don't know how else to put it to you! I know part of it is my fault - I'm the one that decided not to drink this month... which has probably caused me into going into some kind of mildly depressed state, which in tern makes me sit at home, on my computer or in front of the tv, feeling sorry for myself.

THIS ISN'T ME. I don't sit at home. I DON'T WATCH LOADS OF TV!
I'm always out and about and socializing and... drinking!!!

But I'm also always working, Melbourne, and here lays the problem. I need some kind of income, in order to be a happy person. I would love to wander into a different bar every night, ride the train and get lost in your awesome suburbs, and your graffiti filled alleyways. But I feel like I'm being punished with this lack of employment. Punished for what? For having fun in Tas?

Too experienced to serve fast food and clean houses, but yet a "foreigner" so no desk job.
My only options can't be cold-calling scams, or direct sales on street corners, can they be?
I am one step away from cleaning houses in lingerie over here. Do I really deserve the punishment of having to do that sober? I know I joked around about skimpy shifts before... I lied. I'd rather not play.

So let's change my luck this week. Let's get me paid. Let's introduce me to some awesome people. Let's not have any more "penis" phonecalls from gumtree douches. Thanks in advance, soon to be your best friend... when I'm back to my normal self.

For if I'm not rocking out 5/7 days each week... and meeting people... and laughing every single day, then Melbourne, I can't love you as much as everyone's expected me to. And I know, I love you!

Top Three Places to Make Great Life Choices

Honestly, even as I sit here blogging this, being behind a computer just gives people the sense of urgency, doesn't it? You try to type fast, but fuk up a lot... your eyes get tired and the fan of your laptop starts running loud so you have to tilt it up to one side and type all crooked.

I guess the only time we're on laptops for fun these days anyway is for porn. Everything else we could do with our tablets or smart phones. And I think all of these devices just add to the stresses of life. I, for example, checked my emails 8 times today to see if anyone wanted to give me a job (it's been less than 24hours since I've applied)

So, instead of behind these bright screens - get outdoors.

My best life decisions were really made for me in one of 3 places:

On the back of my motorcycle! For real, no music or traffic or distractions. You, the road, and nature... and your thoughts. But I guess when you're peacefully content, decision making is easy (miss you, motorcycle).

While climbing a mountain! There's something to be said about starting at the bottom and then keep putting one foot forward in front of the other for hours on end. It's called STUPIDITY, actually but others call it hiking, and we do it to feel that way we feel when we reach the top of the mountain and get to enjoy that sip of whiskey.

And by the ocean. The ocean has that calming affect on people. Same as a fire, You can just sit and stare and think and contemplate. I journal a lot by the ocean, I wish I could blog, but I've ruined enough devices due to sand and water, and do not need to add "laptop".

"All You Need..."

I remember sitting around with my friends one day, in my "regular life" (that's what I refer a 9-5 existence as. Being "normal", having a routine. Regular. That time before travel. Anyway...) talking about the things girls talk about (when the topics are not "boys" or "sex"). We were talking about fears. You know - some people are afraid of heights, others of spiders, and me... I couldn't think of what I was afraid of. Loneliness? no. Being lost? no.

I started up this discussion asking "wouldn't it be amazing, if you got blindfolded and put on a plane and dropped off somewhere you've never been before, where you didn't know the language, with only $50? That would be awesome!!!" None of my friends felt the same way.

Those friends are still living in their fancy houses, working their 9-5's. Me? Well. I have $2.32 in my account right now. Nothing in savings. Negative, oh I don't know $9,000 on my credit card? (I'm afraid to look). But I am alive, and way happier than I was in my "regular life".

The title of the blog is Backpack n Flask.

The premise is, is that's all you need in life to be happy. A roof over your head and some food doesn't hurt, but the one amazing thing you learn while traveling is that people are beyond awesome. There are such wonderful characters out there, that I would have never met had I had more than $2.32 to my name.
(written of my situation, current day, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

Sex When Traveling.

Alright, so I guess I'm wondering what everyone elses opinion on the topic is.

Is sex while traveling easy? complicated? difficult?

I mean, meeting "the one" is a little tricky. You're always moving around. You don't wanna settle down and they can't always follow you. That can be a good or a bad thing.

Meeting people in new places can be difficult as well - but these days we have couchsurfing and meetup and tinder. And besides, we're in hostels all the time. Plenty of people and beds, and alcohol. What more do you need?

And then I have the more in depth questions. When girl from Country A and boy from Country B have sex in Country C.... and they had a baby in said country? Do you like, automatically get citizenship?

Anyway, I have my own answers to these questions, but would love some contribution for my next two blogs. Please give me your two cents. Cheers -

If You Want it Bad Enough, You'll Make it Happen

... If You Don't, You'll Find An Excuse. 

That's one of my favorite quotes ever. And I believe it to a T. Nothing is impossible, you just have to work harder for some things than others.

I've been in Australia nearly a year. I've met a bunch of amazing people and lived in some decent places and some real shitholes. And it's funny when I talk to my friends (both here and back home) and they ask what I'm doing. I keep explaining that I'm heading north. That I'm chasing the sun.

The problem is... that's been my 'plan' for so long, that the sun has come and gone and now I'm heading in the wrong direction. I'm heading to the city of Darwin right in time for wet season. When all the tourists and backpackers fuk off, when the streets are quiet. And where everyone is counting down the days till the rain stops and the "dry" is here once again.

I get to my destination, despite some minor obstacles on the way (of course I do, I'm stubborn). And now the locals ask me "What brings you to Darwin?" A simple question, and at the same time with a little shock in their voice. No one really comes here this time of year, I guess. I don't even know how to answer. I guess I've been heading here for so long, it was more about getting here, and less about why. But since I'm here now, might as well make some money.

Spoiler alert: apparently everyone's gonna be complaining about the "buildup" of the rain for a long time, and then the rain itself. Sounds like a fun next couple months!

What Can I Tell You, That You Don't Already Know?

A backpacking blog, hey?
A "I went to this touristy spot and did this touristy thing that everyone does when they go there story. I'm in Australia guys! Do you really want to know about all the surfers I've met and all roadkill kangaroos I've seen?

I guess I'm struggling with ideas as to what I'd like to write about. Should I bitch about how slow the hostel wifi is? Or rant about how I REFUSE to learn French while I'm in this country (which is true by the way, where did all the french come from?) I need inspiration!

I guess I'll tell you of the now and work my way backward to how I got here: I have just moved to Darwin, Northern Territory. It's been a month since my shitty little car got me here, and still I am living in a hostel (which I promised myself I would never do - I was never going to be "that person"). The flask has not been full for as long as I could remember, so the Backpack'n'Flask thing is rather irrelevant. I resorted to cider a long time ago while poor in Australia. About the same time I learned about what real dehydration was (nothing like Canada, btw).

I just finished a conversation with a friend of mine where I was once again pointing out the obviousness disadvantages of not having money. Truthfully though, being poor gets old when you're always moving around. But it's not the driving that causes a lack of funds.

"I only have $3, not even enough to buy a cider. I ate cereal, pb&j and 2min noodles today" I told him, as he started to lecture me about money. To which I got super defensive "I drank all Friday and Saturday night" I said "spent too much money on alcohol and then ate hungover takeout food. I spent so much money on booze this weekend, that now I can't afford a cider on Monday. Those are my current problems". That's a real conversation. That is my current state. So if that's my biggest problem, I think my perma-vacation is going alright.

Let me tell you about it!