I’ve always taken a lot of pleasure in travelling to places vastly different to Australia. Whether it be a place where I can sample as many delicious snacks as possible or somewhere that looks like it’s straight out of a postcard, you can bet I’ll be there with my silly little backpack in tow.
While this sounds like an excerpt from a 2016 wanderlust Tumblr page, I feel like I’ve had a very obvious realisation during a work trip to Darwin: I’ve been sleeping on the incredible sights Australia has to offer.
Let me explain.
Before I got this gig at PTV, I quit my job and headed to South America for four months. Originally, I’d planned to move overseas for good until COVID put a stop to those plans. Instead, my partner and I settled on four months of galivanting so we didn’t have to be as scrupulous as we would on a longer trip.
While you’d think that would mean we stayed in gorgeous hotels with swim-up bars, what it really meant was being able to occasionally book some private rooms in hostels, instead of having to bone in the hostel shower block.
Anyway, it was the experience of a lifetime.
We spent almost a month hiking through beautiful mountains in Patagonia, we took silly little pictures at the salt flats in Chile, we celebrated Argentina’s world cup win IN Argentina, we rode the cablecar system in Bolivia, and we got extorted by police in Columbia. You know, all of the usual and exhilarating experiences that travel has in store.
When I got home with negative money in my bank account, no savings, and a new job on the horizon, I felt like my next trip would be years away and it filled me with dread. While I was stoked to be home, reunited with my dog and the ability to actually have some privacy, I felt stuck. And although I was starting my dream job, I’d spent so long working towards my South American getaway that I didn’t know what to plan or look forward to anymore.
A house deposit? A hot Euro girl summer? Who fkn knows?
As I got settled in my job, I became used to that stuck feeling. That was until I got the call up from NT Tourism to head to Darwin to cover Bass in the Grass music festival. You can bet I was fkn stoked. I’d be lying if I said this gig doesn’t have perks.
But instead of just being zoomed up to enjoy the festival, we had some time to see the sights of Darwin.
From the local markets filled with laksa and pawpaw salad, to exploring the beautiful landscapes in Litchfield National from an actual helicopter, we had a packed schedule that gave us a taste of what Darwin had to offer. It was fucking incredible and I felt so lucky for the experience. Trust me, I’m aware of how much of a privlidged asshole this makes me sound.
And although I was living the high life on this trip in ways I could never afford organically, it lit a fire in me to explore more of the country instead of jumping overseas at the first chance I get.
So while it might be me and my ‘98 Toyota Camry on a highway instead of a boat trip on the harbour or a helicopter over the national park (I told you, they really treated us to the high life) I’m excited to actually commit to exploring Australia and not being as much of a self-righteous asshole.
The post How A Work Trip To Darwin Inspired Me & My ‘98 Camry To Travel Aus Instead Of Going Overseas appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
