Australia is a great place: warm climate; warm people; and lots of fun and varied stuff to see & do. However, it just wasn’t doing it for me this time. One reason is that it’s surprisingly expensive. The $1 menu at McDonald’s (not that I went there a lot) is actually $2, and the cheapest meal you could get in a normal place was never less than $10. Thus, most travelers just cooked in the hostel, and I have no desire to cook for myself on this walkabout (i.e. I have no desire to eat pasta every night). Plus, beer was about $8-9 in pubs. No cheers. Most importantly, traveling there was just too easy, familiar, and (I hate to say this) boring. If you wanted to move on to a new place, there was always a way to get there, you asked for your ticket in English (or, online!), paid with currency that had no more than one zero in it, and your transport left AND arrived on time. It was all perfectly orderly…but not what I was looking for.
The backpacker credo states “thou must suffer some” (high prices prices alone don’t count), and I still consider myself a backpacker (within reason). So, while I had planned to spend at least a couple of months in Oz, I decided in Halls Gap that I would get myself to Indonesia ASAP. That’s why I then flew north to Darwin (breaking my “No Flights” rule) as a jumping-off point to Bali, where the “suffering” would hopefully begin.
Which is laughable, of course, because Bali is paradise, of course. More on that in future posts, but I really was happier upon arriving in Bali, as it right away felt different: Drivers allowed past security to greet arriving passengers; emerging from the terminal exit to a swarm of touts selling rides (of ALL types…); crazy currency with way too many zeros ($1 USD = 10,000 Indonesian Rupiah); and, two-for-one beers for $1.50 in the bars at 10pm (that’s right – $1.50 beers in this incredible country!). Even the beaches (which have trees in/on them!) are more exciting. The pic above is of Kuta beach, which is filled with guys selling drinks; guys renting surfboards & chairs; guys selling food, guys selling bow-and-arrow sets (!); guys just wanting to practice their English with you. It’s pretty chaotic at times, and wonderfully so. The only thing Australian beaches had on them were beautiful people sunning themselves. Hmmm, good point… Anyway, I love it here and I’m already thinking about extending my 30-day visa.
P.S. I lied above – I did actually go to McDonald’s a bunch in Australia, but that’s because I could get a “meal” for $4, they had free internet, and my pasta was beginning to nausify me. As penance, I’ve vowed to eat no Western food in Indonesia, and I’ve so far been able to stick with it – I’m lovin’ it!
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