The Endless Winter - 2 weeks to Australia

Ok, I am getting excited for my adventure.  People have been asking me why now, summers around the corner?  And it's going to be winter in Australia.  Well, it pretty much worked out with the Visa, once your excepted you only have 3 months to go, my deadline is June 12.  I don't mind going at this time.  In San Diego the worst months are May and June ("May gray" and "June gloom"), short non-nontechnical explanation being the hot air coming from inland making contact with the cold air off the ocean causing overcast sky's around the beach areas, there are few sunny days during these months.  January and February are the raining months (in SD) by the way, if your planning a trip here, come in July, August, or September.  But the kicker with the summer is the traffic is terrible and beaches are packed.  Also I work outside (for my company) about 25 percent of the time most and the new development is happening east of San Diego, Orange County, and LA, in San Bernardino or Riverside County so it gets very hot (up to 120 F).  I don't see how people could live out there, it's just windy and hot; all the residential tracks are filled with "cookie cutter" homes.  We also work in Nevada and Arizona, those jobs always seem to be popping up in July and August, go figure.  Del Mar Fairgrounds have a big fair-carnival in the summer, then horse racing, so traffic is bad all the time after work, makes my commute almost an hour and a half, as opposed to half an hour.  Another reason I don't mind is the surf is better in the fall-winter, more swell in the waters.  It gets a lot more windy in the spring here at the beach causing the surf to get all choppy and waves are really small in the summer.

So, a little about Australia.  Gas is averaging about $5.80 a gallon over there.  England is actually around $8.00 a gallon.  And everyone complains here, it's actually cheap compared to other countries.  Thats kind of a bummer for me, but they have a good train system, so I will try that out for sure.  I would like to get to the famous Ayers Rock in the north central part of Australia, and I believe the train cuts near that area.  It's going to be the beginning of winter when I get there.  In Australia winter is June through August and summer is December through February.  However, the temperature in Sydney rarely goes below 50F, winter averages between 50-60F, then goes up to close to 80F in the summer.  So it stays a little warmer than San Diego.  San Diego gets in the high 30's in the winter.  The ocean temperature in Sydney is about 74 right now, but drops to about 65F.  In San Diego the water is between 63-66F right now, ranges from 57 (in winter) to 70 (in summer).  So, you need to wear a wetsuit from October thru May-June in San Diego, you can trunk it between July to September.  You can get by without a wetsuit longer in Sydney.  Also, as you travel north of Sydney the temperature increases.  Summer in Australia is the rainy season too.

I had to put in my notice to work last week, they were pretty shocked when I said I was moving to Australia, but I am working till I go.  So I still have lots to do.  I was able to sublet my room easily, thanks to craigslist.org, that website is amazing in San Diego.  The first person responding worked out perfect, and I had a ton of people respond to the ad.  Now, I just have to sell my truck and put my stuff in storage and I am set.  My neighbor is adopting my half pipe, so that should make my landlords happy.  Next weekend I am taking a roadtrip to Nor Cal with my girlfriend, Abby.  So, I am cramming in as much as I can before I go.  We are heading to Pismo Beach, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, and eventually make it to Santa Cruz.  Stay tuned for that adventure.

3 weeks to Australia

Hey, so this is my first post.  I would like to show my appreciation of a trip I am about to embark on in the wonderful country Australia.  I have recently got a work-holiday visa for Australia and leave June 9th from Los Angeles, California.  I currently live in San Diego, California.  I moved to Oceanside (North San Diego County) 4 years ago, lived there for a year and then moved to Pacific Beach (City of San Diego, but north of the downtown area) where I still live.  I work in Carlsbad (North San Diego County) as a civil engineer at an environmental and geotechnical consulting company, EEI.  

I have been having second thoughts on moving to Australia in the last few weeks but decided I need to go there.  It has been a tough decision, having to leave my girlfriend, quite my job, leave my apartment, move further from my family, move away from my set of buddy's, sell my car, put my stuff in storage, and then do it all over again when I get back.  I have made a good place for myself in San Diego, California and it isn't easy to leave.

I have wanted to go back to Australia since I left there from my study abroad program in Wollongong, Australia back in 2001.  What makes me miss it so much?  Well there are several reasons but to sum up the Aussie lifestyle in one description is you don't have to wear shoes! That's right, people in my class would be barefoot; in supermarkets you see parents walking around shoeless, so it is very laid back.  It fits my personality, casual clothing, not overpopulated, friendly people, living on the coastline, pubs all over, basically a San Diego with 90 percent less people, cleaner ocean, and less populated surf breaks.  Basically a dream.  When I was there I said to myself, "If people knew about this place better everyone would try to move here".  But Australia does something the United States does not, they restrict the people that emigrate there.  I mean the U.S. does that too but come on, look at the illegal Mexicans that hop that border every day.  But I found my way to get back in.

So I will talk more about things but let's get a quick synopsis of my plan once I get there.  I have a friend Benny from uni (short for the university I went to) that lives in Sydney (Manly Beach) and a friend John that lives in Wollongong (still goes to uni).  I am going to crash with Benny for a week, feel out Sydney, get a vehicle, surf a bunch, look at jobs in the area, basically get oriented with the move.  Then I am going to drive to Wollongong (about an hour or more south of Sydney) and stay with John for a few days.  I applied to WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms), which allows you to work on a farm for a few hours a day and they give you a place to live and feed you, some even pay.  I am waiting on my book that gives a list of farms to work on. Hopefully I can find one in Tasmania near the beach, if so I will drive south after my stay in Wollongong, stop in the famous Bells Beach, and then take the ferry to Tasmania.  This is the plan for now.