Part of this trip was about putting myself into situations that I would never have had the chance to be in at home and to emerge stronger. One of those situations was social. Being able to start a conversation with anyone has not always been hard. But I do actually have a shy vein in me. But even more importantly, I wanted to learn how to be comfortable in not starting a conversation with everyone I see. I wanted to figure out how to sit in a room full of people and not feel obligated to chat, but at the same time, be able to chat whenever I feel like it. If this sounds petty or hair splitting then I apologize for not conveying it properly, but it is more than relevant to someone who is traveling alone for 13 months.
Either way, there was a rough patch in Byron Bay where I wasn’t really connecting with anyone. There were plenty of people around and I mad small talk with most of them, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get any sort of a genuine connection. I was in Byron for 3 nights and if I couldn’t make it work out, I was going to try a few more cities in Australia and then just move on to South East Asia ahead of schedule.
It seemed that everyone I met in Byron were just kids who had just turned 18 and were just looking to get smashed all day every day. I thought It was odd to come this far across the world to accomplish something that you can do at home in your local pub. And the people who didn’t want to get wasted wouldn’t open up for conversation. The room was full of drunken monkeys and frightened mice. Finally after about two days of sharing space with the mice, they began to open up. It was weird, all at the same time in the same night, a social clog just broke loose. In those two very socially uncomfortable days, I found it. My stride that I hope to keep for the rest of the year. My stride that I hope to keep forever. This is the ability to start a conversation with anyone but not the need. Since then, I have comfortably spent days alone in public and comfortably started conversations with just about everyone.
I am now in Noosa, which is the Beverly Hills of Australia, but in true Ausie fashion, the department stores have backdoors that lead to perfect beaches with stellar waves. While I was in Byron Bay, I had the pleasure of making Kangaroo Steaks. They are cheap, and way more tender than beef, it cooked properly. The meat is a little sweet to the taste and the blood that comes out is bright red. Apparently it is better for the environment because kangaroos are less destructive to the land and the atmosphere than cows.
I also went and rented a long board to go surfing for the day. The water was perfect, the waves small, and the sun shining. So I brought my sunglasses out with me. It was like fishing without a hook. Who cares? But low and behold. I caught a wave and there was a kid learning to surf in my way. I forgot to hold onto my sunglasses and it became a very expensive day indeed.