Prompt #3: Music and travel memories often go hand in hand. A song can inspire our explorations, or it can take us back to a specific place and time. Tell us about your travel playlist and what it means to you.

“Music is what feelings sound like.” –Somebody

I often find myself listening to an album on repeat while traveling. So whenever I hear Manu Chao’s La Radiolina I’m taken straight back to Panama (and my first solo trip). Flaming Lips and I’m on the bullet train in Japan, Sigur Ros or Silverchair I’m on a long bus ride somewhere in Morocco, Air’s Moon Safari and I’m in Australia (I had the chance to see Air at the Opera House in Sydney on my RTW trip – which was “super surreal and amazing” according to Olivia of 2008), Eel’s Shootenanny! and I’m in Turkey, REM and I’m in Athens (they did a free concert while I was there, for the launch of MTV Greece), Velvet Underground and Wilco is Romania & Bulgaria, and Beach House takes me to Iceland.

It’s amazing how much your different senses can transport you to a distant travel memory – whether it’s sound, scent or taste. So here’s Air’s Remember from their 2008 show in Sydney that always leaves me grinning.

Have you seen any shows while traveling?

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My second sailing experience was in Greece. The boat was much smaller and we actually had to help out, which was really fun! However, we didn’t get a lot of sailing time in because of the weather was so mild in the Mediterranean. I still want to take a sailing class and learn to sail a little boat. I think I’ll put that on my next 101 Things in 1,001 Days list!

Unfortunately, I forgot to check what hostel I booked at so after taking the shuttle in to town, I had to go check my email. Thankfully, I ended up being only a few blocks away. I’m staying at Base Backpackers, which is a huge 4 story hostel. I don’t typically like huge hostels, but this one is in a great location (it’s basically part of the Cathedral Square) so it’ll be fine for a few days. I spent the afternoon walking around the Cathedral Square area in the rain, got a Starbucks coffee (Don’t you judge me! It reminds me of home!), and doing laundry.

Oh and the biggest news of the day? I finally had Mexican food! Well, fresh mex, but it was actually good. Expensive for a burrito, but good. Oh and I’ve been laughing all day because Christchurch is so much like home. I love seeing all these fleece wearing, sandle and sock footed, granolas (except they call it muesli here)!

We made really good time on the way back to Sydney and hit Central Station by 7:30pm. I walked to the hostel with my pack, checked in, called about Air tickets, but there wasn’t an answer. I decided to just go for it and bought a metro ticket down to Circular Quay and jogged from there to the Opera House. It was 8:15 by the time I got there. They had shut the ticket window as I was coming up the stairs, but will call was still open. The lady at the window was so cool. She said that they had a few tickets still and that I’d just missed part of the opening band. And then she was like “I’m going to give you really good seats.” I ended up in the 8th row, front and center! Cool beans! Air came on about 30 minutes later. Definitely a $99.95 AUD well spent. Loved, loved, loved it. It was also the chillest show of all time, which is good for at the Opera House. And they were both wearing white, they’re so French, lol. The skinnier one (I don’t know their names) played guitar and used the distortion mic, while the other one looked smuggly out at the crowd, over his keyboard. They played most from Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie and then came back out for a 5 song encore. This was the perfect ending to Sydney and Australia. Absolutely perfect and surreal.

I did a search on YouTube for videos from the show. Here are a few:

See you in the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand).

We cut the afternoon short and headed to the local bar. Not much surfing lessons today, more like “you girls stand like ballerinas on your boards.” I felt like smacking him in the head with my board! The one thing I was doing right was my stance. I actually told the old codger that I snowboard, and that shut him up a little bit. :)

Hot showers are so amazing after a day of surfing, so is food. The basic necessities of life, I guess. After dinner we chatted around the “campfire” and Rosco played guitar. He learned “Country Road” for me, so I was forced to sing it. Oh and I learned that Kyle is 36. I guessed his age at exactly 36 and I thought he was going to fall off the picnic table in shock. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for people to guess ages, you just have to look at their face and eyes, (please note: wearing a beanie and surfing doesn’t make you look 25).

It seems like everyone who isn’t American has seen “Team America: World Police.” It’s a funny movie, (although a very typical Matt Stone and Trey Parker creation). So my nickname here is “America,” as in the line from the movie: “America, F%$K yeah.” So every time I catch a wave Kyle’s fists are in the air and he’s shouting “America, F$#K yeah!” Anyway, I was really proud of my efforts this afternoon. I even picked out my own wave, instead of just waiting for the “go now, go, go” yells.

By five o’clock we were all exhausted and headed back to camp for showers and dinner.

I’m glad I chose the “non-camping” surf camp. After being in the water, I just wanted a warm shower. Dinner was in the building outside, but there’s a roof, so it’s more of a pavilion. There was a vegetarian option and Rosco, the chef, is a decent cook. After dinner, we sat around the picnic tables and chatted with the other surf group who is leaving tomorrow (well two of the guys are joining our group). Ladies, please note: The male/female ratio at surf camp is about 2:1.

• Walking over the Harbour Bridge. Sydney is such a gorgeous port city. The view from the bridge was great. However, the Sydney Opera House looks bigger on TV. ;)
• Circular Quay (pronounced ‘key’) and the harbour ferries.
• The Sydney Opera House at night. The Opera House bar, which is right on the harbor, is open to the public and great for people watching and views of the harbour front.
• Exploring The Rocks neighborhood at night and grabbing a drink (and a bite of kangaroo pizza!) at one the oldest cafes in Sydney.
• Spontaneous fireworks over the Opera House (no one knew what the occasion was).
• Sydney shopping. After traveling and wearing the same clothes for a month, it’s nice to feel girly again! I bought nail polish, splurged on Body Shop Honey Shampoo and Conditioner and bought a new tank top.
• Darling Harbour restaurants and park.
• Sydney Public Transport is so easy to use. I bought the Daytripper travel pass one day and used it for the bus, train and ferries.
• The Toronga Zoo is quite possibly the coolest zoo ever. Finally, I get to see all the Aussie animals I haven’t seen in the wild. I saw dingos, kangaroo, and koalas.
• I caught the ferry to Manly Beach, had lunch and found the perfect black Billabong bikini and boardies.
• Trying to stifle the comment, “The dingo stole my baby!”

I was expecting Sydney to be much more expensive, but it’s actually not that hard to budget travel in Sydney. My hostel was $22, and if you stay in a more central location (like the CBD) you can walk everywhere, which cuts down on transportation costs.

Day 1 starts out overcast and rainy. I chose one of the guided trips, instead of the self-drive option, after hearing about other backpacker’s trips all the way down the coast. The self-drive sounds fun, but if you’re traveling alone you just get put with any group, and I’m only going to be here for one night anyway. We met our guide at the island and loaded into the truck/van/4×4 wonder. Now I’m really glad I didn’t choose a self-drive/camping trip with this weather. We started the day by hiking to a lake and then hiking through a rain forest area to picnic for lunch. It’s gorgeous here, and parts of it remind me of the pacific Northwest. After lunch we drove to Lake McKenzie to swim and exfoliate with the silica sand. The sand is like a scrub so we did facials while swimming. It started to warm up in the afternoon, but is still overcast. The cabins at the King Fisher Resort are great! It’s almost like a 3 star hotel! ;) After hosteling it’s so nice when towels are provided. Classy! Dinner was good, especially after a long day of hiking and swimming. I love tours that feed you well. After dinner we sat on the porch and chatted. Then, ‘America-basher’ came over. Some Canadians, eh? Time for my weekly travel complaint… Things I dislike: girls who talk about being naked all the time, “I love being nude” or “well there’s nothing better than being naked.” Seriously? Grow up, and say something of value! While I’m on this rant about backpackers… another thing that irks me is guys who say they work in engineering or economics and then won’t answer any further questions about their ‘careers.’ It makes me think they deliver coffee at an engineering or financial firm. It’s enough to make me turn snobby and start throwing around my “comma, MBA”!

Day 2 starts with a yummy breakfast. This place really knows how to do food! I quite possibly am overeating here. After breakfast we headed out to 75 Mile Beach, which in fact is only 60 miles. The driver (our guide) tells a lot of funny anecdotal stories and island trivia. Yesterday, he was late picking us up after our hike because a self-drive group ran into a tree and were blocking traffic. I’m glad I’m not splitting that insurance deposit. Whew! After stopping at a few creeks and shore areas, we hiked up to the top of some cliffs. It reminded me a lot of some spots on the Oregon coast and Hawaii (Oh no, I’m that girl now). We could see tiger sharks down in the water, really close to shore. Note to self: don’t swim after lunch. Actually, they have signs on the beach that say not to, but we did go wading. After lunch, we headed to the Champagne Pools. It was so gorgeous! It’s right off the coast and the waves crash over rocks that form a pool, so it looks like champagne. High tide was chasing us on the way back, so he drove like a mad-man on the way back down 75 mile beach, before the coast was undrivable. There is reason they have seat belts. Good times! When we got back, we got to use the resort pool area. I found a pond with lounge chairs on the other side of the pool, where I chilled and watched the sunset. Sometimes I just have to give in to my antisocial tendencies and take a break from people. :) After dinner, all of us on the shorter trip took the ferry back to Hervey Bay.

Overall, I would put Fraser Island as a “must-see” for Australia. It’s a natural wonderland, with hundreds of freshwater lakes and cool things to see. And it’s the largest sand island in the world! It’s also a prime dingo-spotting destination. I however didn’t see any dingos in the wild, so I’ll be photographing them at the zoo in Sydney.