introduction

21, 404 miles.

That is the distance I have traveled to reach my beginning and end.

A full circle, a round completion, nearly the entire almost full circumference of the globe.

21, 404 air miles, 44 hours and 20 minutes of sitting on an airplane, and all of that for what?

To say I've been to the other side of the world?

To see a kangaroo in the wild, to feel the Queensland sun, to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean?

To trek in to the bush, to pick a spot on a wild and unknown map and simply go, to experience an all together different and strange place?

To watch dolphins at play? To hold a koala to my chest and smell its scent and cradle its weight? To go camping under the darkest of night skies and worry about getting bitten by a dingo while going for a midnight stroll?

And I guess the answer would be ... yes. Yes, to all of those things and more.

Yes to the kangaroos and Queensland sun and Pacific Ocean.

Yes to the bush treks, the unknown and wild spots on the map, the unfamiliar sensation of a new place.

Yes to the dolphins and dingos and night skies.

Yes, yes, yes. Yes to it all.

21, 404 miles to reach, explore and leave my dream destination.

44 hours and 20 minutes of sitting on an airplane in order to be able to say 'I've been there.'

An almost complete rotation around the globe, simply to pack up and come home again.

This, to me, is really what my trip to Australia has been all about.

Traveling, completions, new beginnings.

21, 404 miles to reach where I started, to the point where it all began.

44 hours and 20 minutes spent en route, time spent simply for the joy of traveling.

This, the time and distance, is my trip to Australia.

And this, words and paragraphs, is my blog about that same country.

This is what Australia has been for me. These are my memories, my photographs, my recollections. This is my journey.