I thought it would be a cool idea to chronicle all the places I have lived in my 8 years in Sydney. So here they are:

Station street, Newtown:
I shared a room with an Italian guy Nicola Mapelli in Newtown and lived there for about 3 months while the renter of the room was away. Had some sick gatherings in the house which had a patio and outdoor party area, and even a weird fat little dog that used to sleep on my face.

Elim place, Broadway:
After living in Newtown we put off finding a new place literally until the last minute so we found a place on Gumtree. It was a shithole sharehouse in Broadway right next to The Landsdowne hotel with paper thin walls and a neigboring housemate who liked to pray at all times and demanded silence.

Rooftop tent, broadway
After eventually being kicked out of my room in Elim place, I had nowhere to go and no money or a job (and was reluctant to ask for help). I found my way onto the rooftop of a hostel (circular building on Broadway next to The Landsdowne hotel) and decided to camp there in a tent for a little while. I ended up liking it there and decided to stay for a month. I put a lock on the gate up to the roof and hid my tent under a tarpaulin, and even managed to land a job by going to the apple store each day and using their computers, and buying a suit from vinnies.

Glebe village backpackers, Glebe point road
I decided to move into a hostel in Glebe point road for a few weeks, in order to be a bit more comfortable. I lived with 6 other people in a room and got to meet some cool travellers, and the hostel’s cat.

Above the Colombian, Oxford Street
My Italian friend Nicola said that he had found a place to rent in a room above a gay bar, The Colombian on Oxford street. He said I could stay on his couch for a few nights and I ended up making a bed under his stairs and a room by sticky taping a sheet to the roof for a door. We lived with a Spanish DJ called Zeus, 2 brothers from holland who liked to get high and a few other foreigners.

Storage room, Jono and Paris’ house
Eventually the landlord of the apartment came around and kicked out all the squatters who were staying in the room, especially me who she was most angry at for turning the under stair area into a room. My friend Paris asked if I wanted to stay at his house as he had room and I gladly accepted. I lived in the front storage room/sun room and made myself a nice little room. Eventually Sam another room mate moved out and a room became available.
My room, Roseville
And now here I am, with my own room in a house which I pay rent for, and all is well!

Currently, I am still in Sydney.

I am still working on my Teaching English as a Foreign Language qualification, but that should be done quite soon. I am thinking about a September or October leaving date. As to where I am going, that is something I still need to decide. I know its going to be somewhere in Asia, and somewhere fairly nice and not too backwards. I am leaning away from China and Korea, I was thinking perhaps Thailand (Bangkok) or Japan or Singapore. Somewhere like that! Whenever I see a picture of the Earth or i'm zoomed really far into Google maps, I remember how big the world is. And that everything in my life is all just happening on this relatively small ball of atmosphere. Humans were meant to be nomadic I think. I mean people can argue forever about whats really 'natural', but the worlds a big place and it feels right.

I have bought myself a nice new camera, the Sony NEX5 to take photos wherever I go. 

As I learn more about what it will really means to be a teacher the more I realise how much of a big task it will be. To stand in front of these students who will expect so much of me! Lucky I already know how to speak the language at least. 

I have a new job that starts on Monday, which will be my final job in Australia, which I will be using to pay the last of my rent, and to save up and buy a plane ticket. It seems things are all changing in Sydney at the moment, my apartment lease will be over soon, a lot of my friends have gone travelling including Rusty who just went around Europe and to study in Sweden for a bit. My sister just got an internship to study in an international government related position, and it seems like everyone around me is at the stage where they are figuring out what they want to do with their lives. Its certainly how I feel at the moment anyway! 

I feel like I have just the right balance of youthful endeavour coupled with some small amount of wisdom to go travelling. You need a mix of things to set out and do something like this, and in no small measure is rash thinking a factor. But still they say life is like a book and those who don't travel read only one page. I think part of my motivation to go travelling in the first place stems from the adventure I had sailing from England to Australia with my parents when I was 12. I know the world is a big place (from what I can remember) and now I just want to get out there where im actually at the age to appreciate it.

I always come across great people with profound insight into the world and happiness and one trait they all share is their knowledge of travel and the world around them. As a believer in the 'eternal balance', I think that if a person were to be born in a nice wealthy area, but never got a chance to see the other side of the spectrum, how can they appreciate what they have? Sure things are okay when you are in a nice situation, but at the same time there is always another side to it, someone else living in poverty, and someone else who is less fortunate being exploited to make the jeans im wearing, for example.

Anyways didn't mean to ramble on for a bit there, just wanted to verbalise some of my motivations for going travelling! I found a nice quote from a guy called Henry Rollins, which ive just posted below.
Henry seems like an interesting guy so ill do some more research on him. 

I'll update this blog when I get closer to my departure date.

Until next time!

xx