one year in australia

(not so briefly)

Last autumn, when the weather began to cool and the days grew shorter, I packed up my big orange suitcase, hugged my mom and dad goodbye, and headed for Australia. This big, mostly empty island in the southern hemisphere had been calling to me for months, ever since I visited briefly in January of last year. After a frustrating year post-graduate school, I felt like I needed to go on a big adventure before I got too suddenly settled in my adult life.

I wasn’t alone! Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world come to Australia for a working holiday. A chance to live in a new country and explore all it has to offer while still having the opportunity to work to fund your travels. In the last year I’ve met people from Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Chile, Canada, and SO MANY BRITS among many, many other nationalities. I’ve only met a few Americans though, and often when I meet new people they say I’m the first American they’ve met in Australia.

They ask me why that is, and I have to explain that long term travel is just not something Americans really do. More people are traveling internationally, yes, especially with low cost airlines becoming so prevalent, but these are often short trips. Max two or three weeks. Taking a break from school or work to travel long term is terrifying, because it completely disrupts the lifestyle flow we’ve been raised to follow. High school, college, job, marriage, kids, retire then you can go travel, if you can afford it.

Deviation from this plan can feel terrifying, like we’re letting down our parents and teachers and mentors who worked for years to set us up for the best possible future. It feels like if we fall behind, we’ll never catch up to the success of our peers. It feels like if we’re not actively doing something to improve our employment opportunities through education and work experience, we’re not doing anything worthwhile.

Except we know how beneficial long term travel can be to building independence, instilling self-confidence, and broadening our worldview. It’s a cliche that American college students will come back from spending a semester abroad in Italy and say it changed their life, but it most likely actually did! But it doesn’t have to stop at just one semester.

I got my bachelor’s degree one day shy of my 21st birthday, and I graduated with my master’s at 22. I was completely speeding through these big life moments when I still had no idea what I wanted to do. On top of that, I was losing faith in the system I trusted my whole life. I did well in school, got into a good university, and studied something very employable for my master’s. Then after graduating, I was facing rejection after rejection from every job I applied to. I was living in Washington, and it became very clear that I was not cut out for the rigorous demands of the DC job market. I started to realize that even if I was hired, it would be for a job I probably wouldn’t like in a city I definitely did not want to start building my life in.

So even though I felt like I was letting myself fall behind, I stopped my fruitless job hunt. I went home, saved up some money, and came to Australia just in time for the start of my second summer in one year. At the time, two summers sounded incredibly indulgent and almost risky. Like too much sun would have Icarian effects on my life. But while it seemed like perfect metaphor for me putting my leisurely desires before my serious adult responsibilities, it ended up being the best decision I’ve ever made for my mental health.

But while the reasons for my ardent love for Australia are incredibly obvious to me, I know my family and friends back home just don’t get it. I don’t blame them. How could they know from so far away!

So today I’m looking back on this past year in Australia, with the hope of bringing to light some of the things that make me feel like I’ve found myself in a really good place. I hope this explains, at least a bit, why I can’t come home just yet.

1. The Food

I’m not talking about Vegemite and fairy bread or whatever else you’d find on a Buzzfeed article about Australia, I’m talking straight up ingredients. Eggs with yolks the color of ripe persimmons. Sweet, crunchy bell peppers the size of my head. Real passionfruit! In every grocery store! The quality of the produce here is just phenomenal, and most of it is grown in Australia. I don’t know if it’s the climate or the soil that causes the high quality, or if Australians just have higher standards than Americans and they simply wouldn’t stand for the sad yellow egg yolks we have.

I’ve been trying to cook a lot more at home, so I’ve really been inspired by the bright colors and rich flavors available at literally every grocery store. But when I don’t want to cook, there’s plenty of seriously incredible restaurants to choose from.

Something I find really refreshing about Australia is how most of the massive chains that have completely taken over the food scene in America are nowhere to be found. There’s McDonalds, Burger King (which for legal reasons is known as Hungry Jack’s down here), Subway, and like one Taco Bell and that’s it. No Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Panera, Chili’s, or any other mid-tier chain that’s only popular because its familiarity appeals to Americans afraid to step outside their gastronomic comfort zones.

Restaurants here are more likely to be locally owned, and even if one restaurant group owns several venues they’re often each their own unique concept. Altogether, this just creates a sense that these business owners actually care about their customer’s experience and are willing to put serious creative and developmental work in to create a product they’re proud of. In the United States, it feels like the independent restauranteur who actually cares is just losing out to the profit-maxxing Goliaths of fast casual dining. Maybe that’s the fate awaiting Australian restaurants, but for now there’s an abundance of really excellent spots.

2. The Coffee

This gets its own entry apart from food because one, coffee is a drink not food, and two, Australian coffee is legitimately the best in the world. I’m a coffee lover raised by a caffeine addict mom and a roasts-his-own-beans coffee snob dad. I drink a lot of coffee, and I know good coffee. You can walk into any random cafe in any city in Australia and they’ll make you a delightfully airy, fluffy cappuccino with the perfect dusting of chocolate powder for like $3.00 USD. Then you can walk fifty feet down the block the next closest cafe and get one that’s just as good. It’s better than Italian coffee, there I said it. I don’t know what the secret is. It could be that all the baristas have mullets and patchwork tattoos. It could be that Americans still hold a twinge of a slightly homophobic anti-European aversion to espresso drinks that is holding us back from putting our full American excellence into our coffees. I’m not going to question it, it doesn’t matter.

3. The Culture

Australian culture brings to mind images of tanned barefoot surfers, barbecues, and an all-too-nonchalant attitude about deadly predators. These walking stereotypes exist here of course, but that’s not actually what I want to talk about. I’ve spent most of this year in Melbourne, the cultural capital of Australia and my favorite city in the world. It is by far one of the most culturally rich places I’ve ever been to. It doesn’t have the storied cultural legacies of places like New York or London, but the art scene in Melbourne is alive, accessible, and weird in all the best ways.

Most bars and some restaurants will bring in a DJ on certain nights, if not a full live band, so the streets are just filled with cool music like every night. There’s a really healthy jazz scene too, where the music feels very fresh and modern while still paying homage to the genre’s roots. I’ve stumbled upon so many little pockets of creative expression around this city, from an amateur comedy night in the cramped upstairs loft of a bar to a poetry reading that felt very eerily Weimar. Both were free of course, as is the massive and stunning National Gallery of Victoria, which I wrote about in a previous Substack post. With so many free, unique, and soul-enriching activities scattered throughout the city on any given night, there’s a palpable creative energy in Melbourne that I find really inspiring.

4. My Home

This one took me the longest to find, but it was absolutely worth the wait. I live in a big house in a quiet little neighborhood with four lovely people and one very fat cat. I moved here about two months ago when I was subletting a room from one of the girls that lives here, and I immediately fell in love with the home. High ceilings, stained glass windows, and a big backyard with a wisteria-covered pergola over the coziest little outdoor sitting area. I didn’t want to leave! And luckily, I didn’t have to. When someone else moved out of the big room upstairs, my new housemates offered the now vacant room to me! It’s huge, gets incredible natural light, and is an absolute steal for the nightmare that is the Melbourne rental market. Most importantly, I live with wonderful creative people who are lovely tidy housemates and also lovely friends. After nearly a year of living out of a suitcase in sublet rooms and a harrowing three months in a budget hostel in Queensland, I finally have a beautiful, cozy, and safe room of my own.

5. The People

Finally, the most wonderful part about my time in Australia so far has been the people I’ve met.

Last weekend, I hosted a big Halloween party with my housemates in my aforementioned dream home, and all my friends came. A year ago I had no idea any of these people existed, but last Friday a whole slew of them made the trek all the way up north to my house, in costume, because their American friend invited them to a Halloween party.

My Irish friends came, dressed as clowns. We met at a hostel in Queensland, where we all trauma-bonded through our mandatory three months of farm work that would allow us to apply for an extension of our working holiday visas. I was the only American that entire time, so I just sort of aligned myself with the only (somewhat) English-speaking group there: the Irish (UK citizens are exempt from the farm work requirement, because they’re too soft). Such hilarious people, and every single one of them with hearts as large as their big Irish heads. Alcoholics, yes, but fun ones, and the best gossips you’ll meet.

My work friends showed up too, to celebrate the eve of my last shift. We worked at an English pub together, so naturally they were all British. If our place wasn’t so poorly run and frequented by creepy drunks, I would have stayed for the people alone. For being British, they were actually quite funny. And very, very sweet. A trait I abused the hell out of, because no way was I going to be changing any kegs.

My friend Bernardo never shows up anywhere alone or empty-handed. He has the charisma of a cult leader, but he’s too much of a peace-and-love stoner to do anything malicious with it. So he just always has a group of his friends (or followers) surrounding him, so he can go on philosophical rants whenever he pleases. Actually kind of Christlike in many ways. He’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met, like an up close look at how religions get started. And his friends are lovely too, we absolutely dominate our weekly trivia night.

And of course my dear American friend had to be in attendance for my big Halloween bash. My tether to the homeland, Mackenzie is the one person who won’t think I’m weird for talking about my passion for corn-based food products. We pledged to be friends before I even arrived in Australia, when I wanted to sublet her room and we found out that we were both American. She told me there weren’t many of us here, and I sort of didn’t believe her. She was completely right though, and I’m so glad we decided to stick together.

I’ve lived a few different places in my young adulthood so far, and I had a good handful of friends in each of them. But somehow, it’s never been easier for me to make genuine, meaningful connections with people than it has been here in Australia. I have no idea why, but I won’t question the incredible luck I’ve been granted.

mandatory wildlife pic

In short, the reasons why I love Australia range from superficial indulgences like good coffee and tasty eggs to some seriously beautiful connections I’ve made with really interesting, creative, and supportive people. I feel like I’ve spent the last year building a life that is meaningful and important and will shape me into the adult I want to become. The more grown adult, I mean.

At the same time, I know life is about balance. Anything this good has to come with a few caveats, and there are some major ones.

One, I have no real way to stay. There are a few paths I can take, but right now I’m only guaranteed one more year. I could spend six months of that year working on the farm again, but after that I’d still only get one more year to stay. Other options include going back to school and/or getting married. Not really in my life plan for the next year. So that’s a challenge I’ll have to navigate, and maybe it’s just fate that I’m only supposed to have a few years in Australia before moving on to something else.

Two, the one that brings me the most guilt: it’s far. Really really far. A fifteen hour flight from San Francisco, and not a cheap one either. So I don’t get to go home very often at all, and it’s a tough sell to get any of my family and friends to come out and visit me. The people I love and the place I love could not possibly be further apart, which is completely unfair.

Every rose has its thorn as they say! But my life would be so much easier if I was just granted Australian citizenship for being such a brilliant and profound writer and the government also paid for all my friends and family to move here too.