Why Do I Like It Here So Much?

Previously I posted about what I miss about Canada, and mentioned that there are more things I miss, I just didn't add them. Since then, I've had countless people (read: 4) ask me exactly what it is I like about Australia so much to want to move here permanently. Well folks, I'll give you a few things to chew on here:

The Weather - Yes, say what you want about surviving Canadian winters being "character-building" or "frostbitten-fingers-amputating" but at the end of the day, we all love the summer because it's warm, and we don't like being cold. Folks, the weather here in Australia has been nothing short of sensational. Granted, it *is* summer here in Aus, but even the winters are balmy. Sydney is apparently a lot like Vancouver, in that it doesn't get freezing cold, but it does dip below zero. Luckily, I won't be in Sydney for the winter months, and I'll be able to work on this pathetic Canadian tan (reada: pasty white flesh).

The Beaches - For thos of us who have spent a small amount of time near an ocean, looking out over the water is a pretty incredible experience. Granted, it's merely water with a high amount of salt, but the beaches along the east coats of Australia have been pretty nice to look at. I understand that they're even nicer on the west, near Perth, but I'll have to see those in the next year or so I suppose. But any beach that features topless women (like all the beaches around here do) puts it into the top 5 of my favourite beaches right away.

The People - Canadians are a friendly bunch, but I have not met more open people than I have here in Australia. I'll relate a story that actually happened before I even got into Oz:

I was in the Fiji airport reading a book after a really long flight from LAX (Worst. Airport. Evar.) and was just zoned and jetlagged pretty bad. About an hour before my flight to Sydney was about to board, a woman about 40-ish sat next to me, and asked me if I was going home to Sydney, or just to visit. Of course, as soon as I started tossing in my "eh's" and "aboot's" she knew I was Canadian. So she immediately told me to get out a pen and paper, and she told me 3 pages worth of places to visit, and things to see and so on. We had to board our plane, of course, but it turns out we were on the same plane, even though the flight numbers were different.

Anyhow, we saw each other in the Sydney airport again, and she asked me to smuggle in a bottle of Grand Marnier (she would have just been over her duty free limit, and I didn't have anything with me anyways). So I did, and met up with her outside the customs desks. She had a 5 hour layover in Sydney before she had to go to Port McQuarrie (just up the coast a little) so she offered to take me around downtime Sydney, just to get me familiar with it. She took me out for lunch as well, took some pictures, and gave me her address, email and phone number that if I ever wanted to crash on her couch as I'm passing through Port McQuarrie, to give her a call, and she'd set me up no problem.

Here's the funny thing: This was the first of many instances where people I've met have offered me a place to stay, food, or what have you after only knowing them for a couple of hours. I don't know any Canadians who would do that to a complete stranger from out of the country. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

The Intangibles - Some of tthe reasons why I want to stay, can't actually be put into coherent sentences. It's just that the atmosphere out here is so... laid-back? That's not the right word, really, but it's the best one I can come up with right now. People just kind of do whatever. The other thing is that it's a very backpacker friendly country, and people here are used to meeting people from all over the world. I can say that I had met very few Europeans back home, but my mobile is full of phone numbers and email addresses from people all over the world. It's cool just hanging with people from Germany or England listening to their perspectives on things.

Of course, these may seem like odd reasons, but I think this is one of those things where you really need to experience life on the other side to appreciate it fully.

Oh, and the partying. Good God, the partying... I'll save those stories for another time, but people, I'm just saying... It's insane.

Ciao!