Arriving in Melbourne I had absolutely no plan whatsoever. I never really anticipated that this journey would turn into a journey of transformation and self-discovery. I had booked a hotel for the first two nights, which basically left me one day to figure out where I was going. The taxi ride from the airport was the first sign that this trip would most certainly show me an entirely new world. No matter where I go, that first drive from an airport or port is always like tasting a new dish. So much can be said about a nation and its culture just by looking at its road signs.

Finding My Pace: The Importance of Slowing Down

I got a few hours of sleep and then started to explore the city. I felt almost frantic trying to do everything all at the same time. After a day of running around, I realised I needed to take a breath and slow down. At the time this was nothing more than a momentary thought. Today I realise that it was in fact a monumental breakthrough in how I live my life. I found a hostel and booked a bed in a dorm room for a week or so. This decision, one which truly does not seem like anything other than a logical step, was the decision that started a journey that would last a lifetime. 

At the hostel, I met so many people from so many places. It is so long ago and yet some of those conversations are still very clear in my mind. There was one young man who was creating his own website so that he could upload photos for his friends and family to see. This was in 2001, before Facebook or Twitter and long before anyone could even imagine an app or a smartphone. Fascinating as this was at the time, the most I was capable of was sending an email via Hotmail.

I listened to people who had travelled down the coast from Cairns. Others who had just crossed from Perth as well as those, who like me had only just arrived. Unlike me, they had already planned every part of their trip. So many stories from so many places. For some strange reason, I decided that the Sunshine Coast would be the next place I wanted to go. Pretty much everyone knew more about Australia than me at this point. I knew nothing about the famous Gold Coast, the Great Barrier Reef or any of the extreme sport adventures backpackers risked their lives with while exploring this vast country. Why the sunshine coast caught my attention I do not know. Nonetheless, I booked a flight with Virgin Blue and flew to Brisbane. 

A quick round of the city taught me about the flooding they had dealt with over the years, that there are a lot of bats living along the river and that Koalas are incredibly heavy. I also discovered that those little kangaroos are in fact wallabies and that emus are very cheeky. But I didn’t have time to waste.

I found a bus to surfers paradise and left this fabulous city behind. Another Hostel and with it many more fabulous people all following their desire to explore the world. I went on a club crawl and danced all night without drinking a drop of alcohol. Walked along the beach for hours and lay on the beach watching the skydivers floating back to earth. I remember all the people I met there. One special individual, however, would help me to step way outside my comfort zone and take a step closer to becoming the person I was always meant to be. 

Tales and Connections That Last a Lifetime

Her name was Cleo. Sadly I have lost touch. It wasn’t easy to keep those relationships going once our days in the Australian sun came to an end. All we had was emails. No Facebook to keep us connected through time and evolution. But while I have lost touch, there is no way I will ever forget what this incredible woman did for me. She taught me how to relax and enjoy the moment. How to stop running and trying to do everything. How to stop and smell the roses, or in this case take a photo of the giant jellyfish on the beach. 

Breaking Free from Comfort Zones on a Rollercoaster Ride

Our first excursion together was to visit Sea World where I discovered that polar bears are not white and that screaming your lungs out on a rollercoaster makes the ride so much more fun. My only previous experiences with those kinds of rides had not been all that fun. I had tensed every muscle in my body and held my breath. But Cleo just breathed and screamed and threw her arms up in the air. Once I did the same, I realised that it wasn’t the rollercoaster that was unpleasant it was the tension and the fight to control what I was not able to control. I let go and allowed myself to just feel the motion.

I had done something that had always terrified me and I not only survived but thrived through the experience. If this is how I felt after stepping out of my comfort zone and onto a rollercoaster, how great could it be to break away from all those other irrational fears? How liberating to step away from those ridiculous expectations I had of myself. 

Our culture, our family and society continuously impose standards and ways of thinking upon us. We are weighed down by how we feel we should feel, think and act all the time. But how much of that is real and how much of it is nothing more than a thought pattern imprinted in our mind without us even knowing why. This was the beginning of a very long journey of discovery. Why do I think what I think? Why do I want what I want and do I want it because I do or because I think I should? These are questions I now ask myself every single day. Who am I and how much of who I am is what I think other people expect me to be? 

Cleo and a Rollercoaster changed my way of thinking and through that my life. While I do not know what would or wouldn’t have happened had I not met her, I do know this much for sure. I would not be sitting here writing this today, had our paths never crossed. One of my greatest teachers and an exceptional person. We met in Surfers Paradise on the Sunshine Coast but our journey didn’t end there. While this day at Sea World had set something in motion, the following weeks would manifest it and ensure that it became a part of who I would become way down the road. Where ever you may be Cleo, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having touched my life.