Tag: culture

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We expected to be better at this…

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

So Tami kept her part of the bargain, flying halfway around the world to bring us our stuff.

(That’s not a turn of phrase, by the way.  She actually did.  Fly, that is.  Pretty much halfway around the planet…with our stuff.)

And now we had to deliver on our part…unique and interesting cultural experiences.

But how do we even top flesh eating fish cleaning your pores?

Or getting mugged by a sacred temple monkey!?

Um…hey surfing!

20120309 (18)Yeah, yeah!  Bali is famous for surfing!  It’s a thing!

Yeah, this’ll be good…

Continue reading “We expected to be better at this…”

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In The Details

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

When we called Bali the Cancun of Australia, we had no idea how right we were.

Because, like Mexico, people do come to Bali to drink cheap beer on the beach, party and buy cheap souvenirs so Bali caters to that.  And they even have a good sense of humor about it:

20120228H - Bali at night (2)But that’s not all this island is.  Because Bali, like Mexico, is far more fascinating when you’re paying attention to the details.

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Sacred Monkey Theives

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

The Balinese have an odd relationship with their monkeys.

On the one side, they are considered sacred (and therefore protected and allowed to live where they want) for their ability to ward off evil spirits from the temples they inhabit.

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20120310E - Monkey Forrest walk around Ubud (31)

…and that’s good.  Because those temples are pretty amazing

On the other hand, they raid rice paddies for food and snatch the tourists’ purses, wallets – pretty much anything they can get their hands on.

…which is kinda bad.

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Criminals vs Rebels

Departing Australia

Australian friend: Well, we are a bunch of criminals over here.

Us: Is that considered better or worse than the bunch of violent rebels we come from?

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One of the things that has amazed us about Australia has been its similarity to the United States.  In some previous articles we talked about how the “imperfect mirror” taught us some pretty profound lessons about racism (theirs and ours) but the little things were just as fun.

We have the same TV shows
(2 and a half men is a big deal down under…who knew?)

we drive big cars
(Mad Max was an Australian movie…)

and we speak
(…’a horribly maimed version of’…)
the English language.

After all, we we’re both colonies formed by the same father country!

So as a salute to the continent that is a country and that constituted one of the largest single portions of our journey, here are some of the little things that made “down under” so interesting…

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The Cancun of Australia

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Sailing out of Australia would have been a great idea except for two things:

1) We had arranged to meet Tiffany’s sister in Bali on a specific date.

2) Our work holiday visa in Australia was expiring fast.

As we’ve said before, a key element to being good crew is being able to be flexible.  Since we had to be somewhere at a specific time…oh and that our visas were set to expire in about 12 hours, flexibility was not something we had in abundance.

So a quick flight later and we found ourselves in what we’ve heard called the

 “Cancun of Australia”

20120224 (1)                                                          Continue reading “The Cancun of Australia”

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House or Travel?

Karumba, QLD, AU

As our time wound down in Australia we found ourselves having a difficult conversation about a choice we could not had foreseen coming when we first started this adventure.

Karumba beach sunset

Like we said last week, we had a good time “living the dream” and we were successful at said dream; we had completed what we originally set out to do.  Much more than what we originally planned actually, as this whole “sailing to Australia by way of Tahiti” kind of came together on the fly.  What we had not anticipated was that the dream would actually be fairly profitable. You see, Australia had been good to us on the job front and their wages for the jobs we worked were, when compared to the United States, 2 – 3 times higher than what we would have been paid in the states.  Alongside that we had watched our money very carefully and saved every chance we got.  Also don’t forget there were 2 of us. What that all boils down to is that when we originally planned our trip, we had not expected to leave Australia with a surplus of cash. As it turns out, we did have quite a reasonable surplus…which led us to a question we weren’t sure how to answer:

House or Travel?

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Backpacker Jobs How-to

Karumba, QLD, AU

100_3110How the heck are we doing this?

This article comes by way of a reader.  Travis asks:

“I love to travel and have recently come to the decision that I should spend my youth doing what I love.  I found your blog while searching the internet for how to get it done, and it was like a diamond in the rough.  My tentative plan is similar to your own.  I’m going to be here probably another year.  In that time I’m going to work and save to start my trip.

But my real question comes once I get where I want to go.  That place is Australia and I would like to live and work there for awhile.  Maybe making my way towards Europe if I can really save some good money while I’m there (in Australia).  This is the point where I start wondering if that’s all just wishful thinking.  I’m a little foggy on the whole “working in a foreign country and actually making more money there than I would here in the US” part.  For instance, How do you find a job? Place to live?  If you do why are employers and landlords so okay with the idea that you would only be there for a couple months?”

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Victoria Grog Files

250px-Flag_of_Victoria_(Australia).svg

Victoria, AU

We had two opportunities to check out the wine regions of Victoria.  The first was just after we finished up our time working at a horse racing stable and the second is when we decided a mandatory piece of the great Australian road trip with Tiffany’s brother Chris was to jump-start his education on “How to find wines I like?”  While both visits were brief, they both netted solid results on quality vino.

Unfortunately, it was easier to find the beers of Victoria elsewhere in the country than the wines.

Continue reading “Victoria Grog Files”

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Tradies

Karumba, QLD, Australia

Disembodied audience voice: So Greg & Tiffany

You’re out in the middle of nowhere,

Us: Yep

Disembodied audience voice:  Far enough out that the EMT needs volunteer drivers and the nearest medical facility is an hour away by ambulance?

Us: Right

Disembodied audience voice: 28 foot crocodiles?

Us: That’s what they say

Disembodied audience voice:  And you’re tending a bar at a pub.  Serving drinks.

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“Thongs” mean “flip-flops” in Australian.  It leads to funny conversations.

Us: There’s betting too.  Mostly drinks though.

Disembodied audience voice: 

TO WHO!?

Who the heck is willing live there!?

Continue reading “Tradies”

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Sure I’ll drive the Ambulance

Karumba, QLD, Australia

Bar Manager: Greg, You’re sober right?

Greg (bartending): Uh, yeah?

Bar Manager: Right, you’re the only one so do you mind driving the ambulance to the hospital while the medic works on the patient?

Greg: uh…

Queensland Ambulance

Do I get to use the siren?

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