Day 266! Wow, I didn’t even realize but yesterday marked 100 days till a full year of traveling… wild! Today took a fun twist, as a group of us ventured outside of the city in search of our first wild kangaroo encounter.

My first nights sleep back in a hostel was less than ideal. For starters, there’s a snorer in the room… then 4:30am rolled around and an alarm went off. Then 5:30am. And then at 7am one of my roommates received a phone call. He tried to whisper but it wasn’t working well… I tried to ask him to step outside of the room, but my attempts weren’t successful.

So after trying to fall back asleep, I just decided to get up and start my day early.

It wasn’t the worst thing to get my day started on the early side. I had the kitchen practically to myself and made myself some avocado toast.

I scarfed that down and then headed to the TV room to lounge on the couches and read more of my new book. I also spent some time researching jobs and reaching out to companies to see if I could snag any jobs that way.

Immy rolled into the TV room around 10:30am saying she was going to the gym soon. Originally I said I’d go later in the day, I was really sore from yesterday. But after reading a few more pages, I decided to head to the gym with her. This was definitely the right call.

I did leg day, my first on in months. It was a great workout and a perfect way to kickstart my day.

Unfortunately, my day was going to consist of a lot of walking. Starting with the walk back from the gym.

My next hike was up to the third floor of the hostel… which was difficult after an intense leg day work out. But I managed and was able to shower and get ready for the rest of my day.

I went back downstairs to cook myself some lunch! Today I was making quesadillas.

The kitchen was alive with people making their breakfasts and lunches. I was able to sneak in my pan and make my “famous” quesadillas. They were super scrumptious.

Our plan was to head to a park outside of the city to potentially see wild kangaroos! I honestly thought I’d see crazy wild animals all around, but they’re nowhere near the hustle and bustle of the city.

But before we left, I wanted to pop my CV over to another gelato place nearby. I had messaged them on Instagram and they told me to swing by and talk to the manager, Susie. I got a copy of my resume printed off and headed on a 7 minute walk to the establishment.

Halfway to the shop, my resume flew out of my hands and into the road… and right as this happened, the light turned green. I watched as my resume floated further away and got run over by cars. Eventually the traffic let up and I ran and grabbed my litter.

I then walked back to the hostel and told them the funny sob story. They more than happily printed me another one. I set back out onto the road and made my way to the gelato shop.

I asked one of the people working if Susie was there andddd… it turned out she was on her break. So I left my resume and emailed her saying hello and asking for a better time to come in.

I went back to the hostel a bit disappointed I didn’t get the chance to talk to Susie. But I’ll hopefully get to chat with her soon!

But my disappointment quickly vanished. Immy and I sat down for a game of chess while we waited for everyone to get ready.

Then Immy, Welmoed, Cam, Jade, Mathis, and Matias set out for a very nice afternoon excursion.

We were on a 40 minute bus ride to Westerfolds Park. This park allegedly had wild kangaroos roaming around it. Sure enough, it did!

We spent a good amount of time wandering, staring at the wild kangaroos, and enjoying nature.

The kangaroos weren’t the happiest we were in their space, but they weren’t trying to box with us either. It was super cool seeing kangaroos outside of a zoo setting!

We all started getting tired and hungry. So we found a bus stop and headed back to the hostel. I was hungry, but it wasn’t dinner time yet. So I made myself some Vegemite toast! Something I’ve quickly grown to love.

After an hour of chatting with other travelers in the dining room, I decided to cook up some of the beef and rice I made yesterday for dinner.

After that, I grabbed my book and sat back down on a couch in the TV room. Shortly after; my friends asked me if I wanted to join them to the bars. I said sure, but had no plans on drinking.

We went to the same bars as last time. I kept to my plan of not drinking, which I was happy with (saving money). There was a nice group of us laughing and chatting as the night continued.

Immy, Lewis, and I headed back to the hostel and there were a lot of people hanging out in the dining room and kitchen. I spent the next hour plus chatting with new hostel friends.

Turns out, two of them are in my room… and I suspect one of them was the 7am phone caller. BUT they were both really nice and kind people, so I forgive him.

I enjoyed chatting with all the different travelers today. But it was time for bed! Hopefully tonight I’ll get better sleep than the night before!

– Elie