This is it.

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Two long years of travelling solo across the whole of Australia and two Asian countries, Thailand and Laos, has now come to an end. My main goal, to start a new life in Australia, squashed by the GFC, left my soul paralyzed and my dreams crushed in Oz. I fell into a nasty state of depression in Western Australia. I’d been offered a full time job with offer of sponsorship working for a pest control company but immigration turned me down due to lack of experience. This would be my second attempt crushed. My first attempt at sponsorship was with my cousins husband Phil, working in Sydney as an IT recruitment consultant. I’d never worked in recruitment before but had previously spent the last 18 months working for Fujitsu in England (the world’s second largest IT Company after IBM). My stint as a recruiter would last only five months. I left on my own accord for a number of reasons. The GFC had hit during my first six weeks there, the company seemed way too small to survive. Although there were some good people there I never really felt comfortable and I disliked a certain manager but most importantly I hated the job. I was employed as a skivvy for Phil. He told me my job was to source his candidates while he tossed it off in the pub, more or less. His words, not mine. An intelligent business man he was. A reassuring and responsible boss he wasn’t. I looked up to Phil when I first started working with him. He fluttered around the city without a care in the world, brimming with confidence. But towards the end I saw bitterness in him. The stress of the GFC was obviously getting to him and cracks were staring to show in his friendly ways. He turned into a bully. I remember he made a female colleague cry once. I can’t remember exactly what it was that he said to her but the whole office took note of Phil’s callous behavior and his torrents of unaffectionate abuse became more and more common. In less than two weeks he had turned from someone I admired strongly to someone the rest of the office despised. The company wasn’t making the money it had previously and Phil was losing sight. With less and less control he became a very different being. Being the new boy, drafted in because of family ties, I began to think I would be singled out too. Talk was on the cards that sacrifices were gonna be made, and me being the last one in, I thought it only fair I be the first one out. So on good terms with all, I handed my notice in and left.

Leaving Phil’s place, luckily, was a blessing in disguise. I believe I would have started to hate him myself had I stayed much longer. But I bare no grudges with him and never really did. After I departed, I felt relieved. I had no plan B and was pretty depressed with the way things had gone though I was determined not to lose faith in myself. After I’d spent a month off mulling about in Sydney pondering what to do next, I made friends with a guy called Oli who introduced me to the idea of farm work in order to extend my visa for another year. I’d not even been in Australia six months by this point but I was damn sure I wasn’t going back to the UK in a hurry, an extension sounded like a perfect excuse to leave Sydney and see a bit more of Oz. It was to be the beginning of a most spectacular journey which took me over all six states. The only significant places in Australia I didn’t visit were Ayers Rock and Canberra. I stuck to the coast throughout the whole twenty five months.

Now is not the time to revisit Australia however. This blog is about the end. The end of two years successful travelling with no legal complications, no violence bestowed up on me, no theft of my possessions and no accidents of grave importance. I’ve meditated with monks, swam with sharks, drove the great ocean road, ran in a marathon, rode elephants, climbed mountains; water rafted rivers and all sorts of other life exciting shenanigans. I’ve even managed to save enough money so as that I return to England with the exact same amount I left with over two years ago. I thought I was never going to get used to the fact that immigration of Australia threw me back but I eventually bounced back. Asia gave me a new meaning to life. It rebuilt my confidence and invigorated my sense of adventure further and when I get back to England it will be a short visit. My plans are already made and I’ll be out again in January working in far away countries teaching English and travelling some more.

So this is it. The end is here. Starbucks in Bangkok airport shall be the place in which I post this blog though Im sure there will be many more to come when I begin a brand new chapter in January.

Peace and love always.
Richmeister.

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