Reality Bites

I suppose there comes a point in every travelers journey where they realize that living the good life is fucking expensive. I have reached that point. And it blows.

After deciding to turn south, away from the flooding in Queensland, Ryan and I spent a night at his cousin's place in Newcastle. Waking up at 7am to the sound of a screaming aerobics instructor at the gym across the street and stretching out the cramps from sleeping on another less-than-ideal pull out couch, it was the first time I missed my own bed since doing the dorm circuit in NZ.

From Newcastle we headed to Canberra to visit Ryan's brother. Stayed the night in a rad hotel, although it was in a handicapped suite, then changed hotels the next day so we could be in the same one as them as we were planning a big night out on the town. And indeed, we did get very very very drunk. Went to this bar which was like 6 stories with a pub on the first floor, a billiards hall on the 2nd, sexy lounge on the 3rd, disco disco club on the 4th and other bars as you go up.

I'm not sure when we went to another club but we did, and Ryan's brother's girlfriend and I hit the dance floor and we were all taking mad shots and there are photos of us licking people's faces and.... yeah. Reeeeeaally hammered. :-)

As I was too drunk to pull the blinds the night before, I woke up to the hot Canberra sun burning directly into my eyes like the wrath of God. So so hungover. Had a cold bath and crawled to the brother's house for laundry and recovery on the couch.

Next day was the day of EPIC historical adventures - went to the Canberra Gallery Museum, the National Library, Captain Cook Memorial and the War Memorial. Highlights include checking out rad paintings inspired by Ned Kelly (national icon, convict bad ass), reading copies of Captain Cook's journals from his trip on the Endeavor, lots of photo ops.

Did some mad outlet shopping the next day (I bought a $1 belt and 3 shirts for $10) and drove back to Wollongong for some free internet. Crazy - I didn't check my email or Facebook for 5 days, probably the longest I've ever gone in several years... hm. Had a nice relaxing day yesterday taking the dog to the beach, collecting shells, cruising around and heading to the pub for a few.

Today marked a sharp change - I have officially been gleefully unemployed for 3 months. I've been in Australia for almost a month, many nights spent on the cheap at Ryan's parents or relatives house. However, when checking my bank account today to pay off my credit card I came to a shocking realization - this kind of life is expensive. I still have tons of cash to burn but those of you reading this know me, and know that I have an intense phobia of poverty and debt. I am far from desperate but it's reached a point where I now have to make some big girl choices. And it fucking sucks. ><

On the bright side, Ryan also checked his bank shit online and misery loves company. We sat there, both looking at our laptops, and had a good moment of silence to pout. A hard, fierce, 4-year-old-going-to-bed-early pout.

So, as it stands at the moment, he's scheduled to fly back to Canada on Feb 2nd. We're talking about bumping that up to the 21st, with me coming back to Canada then as well. I KNOW. ><

Yes, we could go up to Queensland and volunteer to clean up after the flooding, living on the cheap cheap cheap. I causally mentioned this idea to my Dad in an email and received a sharp reply about snake phobias and sacrificing my safety for Ryan's potential work opportunities. Hm.

Will we go up to Queensland and the Gold Coast? Will we help out with flood stuff? Is it worth burning extra cash to keep this thing going for a few more weeks? And what about when I get back to Canada - where will I work? Where will I live? Blech.