Two Years Later

So today marks two years since I last set foot in Australia.

I can't claim it's been two years of real travelling, since I've been stopped in the one place since January, but Roatan is a holiday island so my life still has the same feel to it. People are always coming and going, which means meeting new friends and having to say goodbye to them sooner than I'd like. I'm just no longer the one having to lug my bag along to somewhere new all the time.

Looking back and thinking about all the beautiful places I've been in those two years, the incredible things I've been lucky enough to do, and the amazing people that I've gotten to meet, it's fair enough to say that I have no regrets about the sacrifices I had to make to make this all possible.

I've gotten to dive all along the Mesoameican Barrier Reef. I've climbed volcanoes and seen them erupt with my own eyes. I've swam in the lakes of now extinct volcano craters. I've made massive progress towards some day being properly bi-lingual. I've been to my first Burning Man and spent 8 days in the desert. I've explored some of the most raved about Cities in the USA. I've wandered through the ruins of a bunch of ancient civilisations. I've dived in the cenotes of the Yucatan. I've eaten the cheapest tacos from the dodgiest looking street vendors you can imagine. I ate a cooked spider; on purpose. I've been to the most extravagant Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. I got to see Cuba before the trade embargo lifts and rode around in beautiful cars nearly twice my age. I've lived on a beautiful Caribbean island and gotten paid to dive. I've made some life-long friends from all over the world who I look forward to visiting some day (or yet again!). It's been a wonderful year! Some day I hope I'll catch up on writing about it all :P

Nothing lasts forever, but the changes can always be seen in a positive light. I can feel this trip beginning to draw to a close, so I'll probably be seeing a lot of my Australian friends again in the not too distant future. I'd love to hold out just long enough to miss Melbourne's winter, but I'm not sure that I'm going be able to make it that far. I see challenges in my future readjusting to life in Australia and the ridiculously high price of everything, finding a new place to live, a new job to keep me busy, and trying to fit back into a friendship circle that has evolved so much since I last saw them; but those are all bridges I will cross as I come to them. For now I'm still relishing the last few months of this amazing journey. Thanks for following along the ride!