Another Year Gone...

Here goes... I realize that there are still 2 weeks left of 2008, and who knows what could happen. Maybe some huge event will change my life before then. But assuming that won't happen, here is my top 10 list of 2008. I'm the luckiest girl alive.

10. Meeting Jay & Maz...
I met so many amazing people during my journey through Australia, but the 2 that I'll never forget are my cousin Jay, and my best Aussie mate Maz.
I met Maz on Fraser Island. We both worked at Eurong Beach Resort and soon discovered that we shared the same crazy sense of humour.
We became friends almost immediately and spent the next 2 months walking down the beach, venting about our hate for our job and coworkers, and eating.
I've never met somebody with the same love of chocolate as me. It was like meeting the Australian version of myself.
And then there was my cousin Jay... before I'd arrived I didn't even know that she existed. Somehow we got in touch and decided to meet up once I arrived in Brisbane.
It took awhile, but we finally met, and it was as if we'd known eachother our whole lives. We didn't care that we knew nothing about eachother, we were family.
The day after we met, we booked a trip to Fiji together. 3 days later, I moved in with her, and stayed for 2 months.
9. The First Snowfall...
I hate winter, cold, and especially snow. That said, when I went for a road trip to Lake Louise with Ryan and Carley and it started snowing, it was almost magical. The beauty of it overwhelmed me, it was something that I was so used to but hadn't seen in so long. The temperature wasn't too cold, the lake wasn't yet frozen, and we made snow angels with my Australian friend Simone, who was mesmorized by the winter wonderland as well. I felt happy to be Canadian, if only for a day.
8. Karaoke Nights...
It might not seem like a big deal, but 2008 was the first year that I sang karaoke on my own. It was in Cairns, Australia. My new group of friends had nominated me as the group representative, which required me to compete in "Backpacker Idol". I was so nervous, but when it was all said and done, I was so glad I'd done it. After 21 years of being plagued by shyness and self esteem issues, finding the ability to sing in front of a group of people was a huge milestone for me. Not to mention, I won the contest and free drinks for our entire table. Now there's nothing to it. You'll find me every week on stage. I realize how stupid it sounds, but quite honestly, singing "I Will Survive" that night in Cairns may have changed my life..
7. Life in the Tropics...
I moved to Cairns, Australia in January. It's a small town, a bit smaller than Red Deer in Far North Queensland. It's overrun by tourism, but for good reasons. It's a complete tropical oasis. Inland, you'll find mountains covered in World Heritage Rainforest, cascading waterfalls, and on the coast you'll find beaches lined with palm trees, and the amazing Great Barrier Reef. In the summer (January), temperatures average +40. Even at 3 am, it rarely dropped below 30 degrees. I loved every moment of it. I had a great tan, a great routine (Beach, dinner, party, sleep) and I was living my dream.
6. Sailing the Whitsundays...
For 3 days, I lived on a yacht, sailing through the incredible Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. I slept on the deck, being rocked to sleep by the waves, climbed a mountain for epic views of the islands, saw dolphins, turtles, and a dugong, and lazed on Whitehaven Beach, listed among the top 5 beaches in the world.
5. Fiji...
Before Australia, Fiji seemed like such an exotic destination, I almost wondered if it even existed. I was incredibly lucky and found flights for only $174 each way, and set off for 10 days in paradise. Somewhere between the island hopping, and sunsets, I wondered what I'd done to deserve this. It was a perfect way to end my trip, and top up my tan before returning to the land of snow.
4. Starlight, Starbright....
You can't explain just how bright the stars are on Fraser Island unless you've seen it. You know on movies, when the sky is so lit up that it looks like a painting? It was like that, but better. On the beach, far from lights or civilization, you can clearly see the milky way and millions of stars shining brightly. We were standing there, listening to the crashing waves as the tide came in, staring in awe at the sky. The first night, I counted 5 shooting stars, and the second night, 6. Even I couldn't think of that many wishes..
3. The Best New Years, ever...
My first moments of 2008 were spent in Sydney's Botanical Gardens, overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Surrounded by 20,000 other people, I counted down the final seconds of 2007 and then watched an incredible 15 minute fireworks display. These aren't your ordinary fireworks. I knew at that moment that if this was any indication of how the rest of 2008 would go, I was in for one amazing year. I couldn't have been more right.
2. No Place Like Home...
Coming back home after 12 months is a pretty surreal feeling. When the plane landed in Calgary, and the flight attendant said "If this is home, Welcome Home"... I started crying. There was no holding back. I was home. As hard as leaving Australia was for me, coming home was amazing. It was the little things that made it what it was.... The first glimpse of the prairies and Rocky Mountains as I flew in, seeing Ryan standing there waiting to take me back to Red Deer, that extra large ice cap Ron and Ryan made sure to bring to the airport, the look on my mom's face when I walked up and hugged her... it was an emotional journey back, and definately a VERY close runner up for number one memory of 2008.
1. Freefalling...
NOTHING compares to adrenaline rush of jumping out of a plane at an altitude of 14,000 feet. Not only did I skydive, but I did it over the Great Barrier Reef, and landed on the beach. I've never felt such a high in my life. You feel like you can do anything after you've jumped out of a plane. It was something I never thought I'd do, and now that I've done it, it was maybe the greatest thing I've done in my life, aside from going to Australia in the first place.

Cheers to the best year of my life, and the experiences and people who made it what it was. I can only hope next year will be half as incredible as this one was.
BRING ON 2009!

Photos from the Journey.

Denarau Island, Fiji

The picture doesn't even do it justice. I saw this sunset the night I arrived in Fiji.

It honestly took my breath away. I take nothing for granted, I know how lucky I am.

Sydney, Australia Years of planning and a lifetime of dreams brought me to Sydney. The first time I saw this bridge, I actually felt tears in my eyes. It's moments like this that you realize you aren't dreaming, you are LIVING the dream.

Bounty Island, Fiji

I spent my afternoon lying underneath this palm tree, taking in the sheer beauty of Fiji.
This is my paradise.

By the way... All of these pictures are my own, edited with my newest website addiction... http://www.picnik.com/

.and.it.begins.

And so it begins, another blog obsession for me. I really need to stop joining every application on the internet.

So la-di-da... I suppose I'll do the introductions... I'm Krysta. I'm 22 years young, proudly Canadian, but currently having the time of my life in Australia, doing the "Working" Holiday thing. That said, I'm unemployed at the moment. I'm hoping that maybe that will change later on this week. How did I end up way over here in the land of Vegemite (which I gave an honest effort to enjoy, but couldn't bring myself to do) and kangaroos? Well, about a year ago I was seriously at a miserable point in my life. Nothing was really wrong, yet I was never really happy. So I got 2 jobs, worked 80 hours a week, and when I finally had the money, I bought plane tickets and got rid of everything I owned, with the exception of a backpack, which has faithfully came along with me this entire remarkable journey. Oh, I'm not as brave as I sound either. I came alone, but only because my friends refused to join me. The first time I saw a spider the size of my hand, I was standing on a couch waiting for the 70 year old woman I was staying with to kill it. No sir, I'm not brave. I'm just doing what I want to do and attempting to overcome my fears along the way. It's been 9 months now, and my happy go lucky dream world is coming to an end in 2 months. I don't honestly know what it will be like going home... seeing everybody once again is going to be amazing, yet at the same time, reflecting upon how far I've come in the year away from home (dude, I jumped out of a plane!) in comparison to how little has changed is going to be a tough realization to grasp. Yeah, I'm pretty dramatic. Life's not that bad, in fact, I'm incredibly priveledged to be where I'm at right now. Guaranteed, 3 months from now, I'm going to be blogging about how much I miss Australia, how perfect life was and why did I have to take it for granted. That's me. Life will go on, and I'll never change.

Seeing as how this is my first blog ever here, I feel the need to briefly sum up the past 10 months of my life, because they are quite likely the most important and eventful months I've experienced, ever, so far.

September 2007: This entire month, I'd drove my friends, family, and even guests at the restaurant I worked with insane with talks of Australia. Needless to say, I was excited. I bought a backpack, moved out of my house and into my mom's house, and counted down the days, even hours, until my departure.

October 2007: Oh, what a month. Many tears, going away parties, and more excitement than I knew I was capable of experiencing. At my "Official" going away party, the majority of my friends left to go to the bar, because apparently, I wasn't as much. So I cried drunken tears, thought of how unloved I was, did some more shooters, and got over it. They'd miss me when I was gone, I told myself. On October 24th, the day arrived and I said goodbye to my friends, and headed to the airport in a snowstorm. My mom came with me for the first month of my journey, and we spent the remainder of October lazing around the amazing country of Thailand.

November 2007: After Thailand, we headed to Singapore, and then, FINALLY, to Australia. I got off the plane, and was instantly shocked. +15?! It gets cold in Australia? Okay, so it wasn't THAT cold, but I'm a bit hard to please. Eventually, it got warm, and my mom and I spent the month driving up the East Coast of Australia; on the other side of the road.

December 2007: My mommy left me alone in a foreign country. And then I cried. In the end, I made friends, and spent my days wandering around Sydney, taking hundreds of photos of the Harbour Bridge and all that jazz. I spent way too much money, and never did a job as planned. I spent Christmas drinking Vodka Cruisers on the beach, and although I was incredibly homesick, it was an amazing day.

January 2008: I rang in New Years in Sydney, amongst 20,000 other excited spectators. The fireworks were epic, and it remains on my top 5 of experiences this trip. Later that month, I caught a flight to Cairns, a tropical city in Far North Queensland, where I landed a job as a bartender in a restaurant called "Apres", spent many hours at the lagoon to escape the +40 heat, and was crowned Backpacker Idol, winning my new found friends 2 jugs of beer. I hate beer.

February 2008: Constantly at work, but even more play. I convinced my friend flambouyant friend Jake to come to Aussie Land, and he flew up to Cairns for a week before returning to Sydney, where he has remained since. Apparently Cairns gay scene wasn't thriving. We jumped out of a plane, from 14,000 feet, which probably rates #1 on my experiences list. Oh, and I went to the Great Barrier Reef, and although I failed to find Nemo, I swam with a sea turtle, and that was just as amazing.

March 2008: It rained. It poured. There were floods. I was miserable. So I bought a bus ticket, gave my resignation, and planned for more travel the month following.

April 2008: I got on a Greyhound bus, and bid farewell to my lovely life in Cairns. I spent 3 lazy days on Magnetic Island, got a great tan, and then headed onwards to the Whitsundays, where I sailed through paradise and slept under the stars. When the party was over, I moved on to Rockhampton, home of absolutely nothing exciting, but where I met my distant relatives for the first time.

May 2008: Rockhampton was boring, so I headed to Fraser Island, where I saw 5 shooting stars in one night, spotted sharks from the top of a cliff, and witnessed one amazing sunrise. I was quite poor by this time, so I headed back to Fraser Island, and got a job at Eurong Beach Resort, as a restaurant supervisor. Oh, and I became a vegetarian.

June 2008: I worked, and I worked, and then I turned 22. And then I worked some more. I missed civilization and dreamt of being in a big city once again.

July 2008: I left the island after 2 long months, hitched a ride to Brisbane, and met up with Jake once again. We shopped, sipped Starbucks, and I took in the wonder that is civilization. Jake went back to Sydney, and I met up with Jay, my 4th cousin, who is amazingly cool. After a day of knowing eachother, we booked flights to Fiji. Bula.

It's August now, and I'm still wandering the city aimlessly, wishing I had a job, yet not searching very hard for one....

That's about all for this evening. More to come, as I am a lazy, unemployed vagabond.