When I left Canada to move to Australia, I thought I would travel forever. And here I am, years later so happy to be in the same place for so long. There was a lot that happened in the middle, and that’s what I wanted to share.
In reality, what I experienced was a lot more than travel burnout, I actually was listening to my intuition and building my relationship with myself, that’s when I felt it was time to stop travelling.
This post is a lot different than what I normally write about—such as travel guides. I’m curious if others have felt the way I have, or might just want to hear what my experience has been like.
Living Abroad: Multiple Times
Shifting way back to when I first started travelling… I was 16 and travelled to Brazil for a Rotary International Exchange. It was my first time on a plane, and away from family and friends. Thinking back, I can’t believe how brave I was, deciding all of this at age 15.
Even though this trip was planned with a program, and I was under supervision, it was an incredible time to experience another culture. Brazil is still one of my favourite countries to this day, the food, language, people and spirit are completely different from Canada where I grew up. It’s a trip I will forever be grateful for, and it opened my eyes to travelling in a unique way.
Lots happened between returning to Canada at 17, and before deciding to move to Australia years later. I studied and had a lot of grit, got a degree in journalism, worked in editorial and for a financial publication. Each experience helped shape me into who I am today, which I’m also endlessly grateful for.
However, before deciding to move to Australia, there were a few major roadblocks I was facing at the time. Life felt so challenging and chaotic, and I didn’t have proper coping mechanisms in place to manage stress and anxiety. Due to a multitude of reasons I wasn’t feeling my best and couldn’t ever ‘shut off’ and relax. It felt like I was just putting one fire out after another and not addressing the root problems.
My solution? Go travel again! And, after a short (but sweet), two week holiday to Europe, going to Tomorrowland, the Netherlands, and a road trip along the coast of Portugal, I knew I needed more time to travel than a few weeks. I realized too, I hadn’t stopped working since I started at 14. I wanted to experience something completely different than my life in Vancouver, BC. I loved BC, but the winters were gloomy and I needed a change.
Australia became an obvious choice because of the Working Holiday Visa option, and as I had always wanted to travel there. Maybe from watching the Sydney Harbour’s NYE fireworks on Canada’s news, or the cute animals like kangaroos. And, I really craved different weather than what I experienced in Canada.
Thankfully my partner and I both qualified for visas, and we left in February, the tail end of Canada’s winter and Australia’s summer.
Living Abroad for Five Years: Biggest Takeaways
Going to Australia, I expected it to be fun, carefree, and sprinkled with a bit of hard work. I did not expect the amount of self-growth, learning and perseverance that actually happened in those years. I left Australia a completely different person. Because my life felt quite tumultuous before leaving Canada, I thought I could live with ease for a while.
The first few years in Australia didn’t have a lot of ease. In February 2019, my partner and I landed in Sydney. After buying a van, we started searching for “regional work” to extend our visa and travelled the country. At the tail end of the year, we ended up finishing the regional work on dairy farms, then experienced the bush fires. A few months later, and we were stuck due to the pandemic.
Finally, we left New South Wales and did another farm work stint in Northern Queensland. Even though each of the work experiences up to this point were regional farm work, I loved a part of each of them. For example, I didn’t enjoy waking up around 3 a.m. to get covered in cow poop milking cows five days a week. I did however love spending time outdoors while working, and getting to know the cows. Did I enjoy feeling exploited by farmers, doing the “dirty work” because Australians wouldn’t do it for minimum wage? No, but I did enjoy doing something different than sitting behind a desk as I had in the past.
The time travelling Australia had many moments of isolation, it can be hard make friends while travelling. When we did make friends though, it made all of those lonely moments worth it. As much difficulty and frustration I dealt with those first few years in Australia, I wouldn’t take any of it back, because I never would have known the outback, or Australia’s nature as well as I did. The singing birds, the flopping emus, the shrieking birds of prey, the shiny snakes, or the scarily huge spiders. All of these pieces are what made my time in Australia momentous, beautiful, and life changing.
After leaving Queensland, we spent some time in the Northern Territory before heading to Western Australia. Travelling through these areas were both grande and rugged. Crocodiles, bats, boab trees and all. We experienced the sublime of Northern Australia during those few months.
Actually, I had never felt so unattached to outcomes at this point. With so much moving around, and leaving toxic jobs, I felt so comfortable in the unknown. I had no idea if we could find jobs again, or when more money would come, but we had enough for the time being.
When we finally arrived in Perth, life already felt different because we didn’t have to race off to do regional work again. We were about to go onto our last working holiday visa, and found an apartment relatively quick. Over the next few weeks we both found jobs.
I felt that no one in Australia would hire me in an office job, so I initially went for hospitality roles. Before moving to Australia, I worked for over seven years in hospitality, tourism and customer service roles. I was so burnt out from them I never wanted to do them again. Assuming I wouldn’t be able to get a job I really wanted, I went “into the fire” of hospitality work, and after a few different opportunities, I quit. Then, just two weeks after that, I landed the job that I would have for the next few years. It was a weird turn of events, but I felt this was the first moment I put my foot down to the poor work conditions that I experienced previously.
Over those next few years, life was the most easeful I have ever experienced. I had coworkers that felt like best friends, a workout studio that helped my body feel strong, and I sewed clothes in my spare time. During the summer, we went to the most beautiful beaches in the world in Perth like Cottlesloe, City Beach or Coogee. And, when time allowed it we took our van—and later an SUV—down South for camping trips.
With so much spare time, I learned to relax in a way I never had before. I didn’t worry anymore, it wasn’t that I had less reasons to worry, I understood how pointless it was. The salaries in Australia are considerably higher than in Canada, and we had low living costs, so I no longer had to worry about whether there was enough. I grew out of my old scarcity mindset that I had most of my life, but especially as a student years ago.
The most important factor in how my life felt at this point was gratitude. I was so incredibly grateful everyday for the life I had and the amount of ease I moved through each day with. It really felt like I had time to move through the years of stressful times previous, and enjoy each present moment fully. I also felt like I wasn’t just moving towards one specific goal, but rather living in ease. Life was really enjoyable in a way I never expected, and honestly never thought I could dream of.
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