My Fave Aussie-isms

Hello! Apologies for the delay in this post, the house Wi-Fi has been about as functional as the Mavs defense against the Celts in this year’s NBA Finals (i.e. not very - go celts). We had a bad spell of Wi-Fi and cell service when I started in April and now again in June. I think we’ve narrowed it down to either some big rainstorms followed by [controlled] flooding in the Hawkesbury area or having a full house of 6 people with higher than healthy amounts of screen time in their down time.

Prior to arriving in Australia, I had read about the spotty coverage and poor connectivity, but I didn’t really take into account how much I’d rely on technology during my down time (or how remote an hour outside of Sydney can feel.) Aside from the major cities and suburbs, Australia is still a pretty rural place (especially infrastructure-wise) and my budget-friendly Vodafone plan is fighting for its life out here. 

Another reason behind my lack of posting is the inevitable ups and downs that come with leaving my life of friends and family and comfort 8,348 miles away (or a whopping 13,434.8 kilometers). It’s hard to feel the desire to share much about my experience when I myself don’t feel all that clear on it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some incredible people and made some great friends, and for that I am feeling super thankful. However, merely acknowledging that life at home will go on doesn’t make it any easier to handle in the moment. I knew I was going to miss my mom’s birthday, both my sister and best friend’s bachelorette parties, an engagement between two close friends, and countless other summer memories. I’ve also never had to manage seasonal depression in June, so that’s a new one! It’s been particularly challenging to understand my emotions around missing someone that I met just before this adventure… a connection that fell victim to unfortunate timing and my steadfast decision to move to Australia. Connection is a finicky thing, whether it be between two people trying to keep in touch across continents or my phone to the Wi-Fi router 🥲 I’m not necessarily upset with my decision to come out here, but I am hoping to gain some clarity on the pull that I felt for this journey at some point soon. Regardless, I’m proud of myself for doing something difficult and continuing to explore what it means to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

In the last month, I’ve been focusing on work and making it out alive without injury via feral young thoroughbreds. Just today one spun, reared, and struck out at me on the other end of the lead, but hey, that’s [racing] show biz. I’m nearly at the end of my time at Hannover and I have some travel planned up the East Coast, which has me really excited. That being said, this move to Australia has taught me just how much I value quality time and close proximity to my loved ones. I cannot wait to be home with them.

Anywho! On a more cheery and lighthearted note, the past few months have armed me with some new vocab and cheeky phrases… so let’s dive in to the list, shall we? 

Arvo = Afternoon… “hey you working this arvo?” 

Bogan: The Aussie term for redneck or hick, but it’s like… kind of endearing? 

Bin Chicken: Technically I think it’s the White Ibis bird, but it generally refers to a common bird scavenging for some food… In the US our pigeons would be the bin chicken.

Brekky: Breakfast, let’s go grab some brekky! 

“Chuck a sickie”: Calling out of work (when you are in fact not sickie)

Crack the shits: You’d use this to describe someone that gets upset or angry at something… “Yeah and then he cracked the shits because I was late” etc.

Cunt: You know I had to include it, and I love the casual nature of this one… if someone (you’re friendly with) says something just a lil outrageous you can give them a “nah cunt”. Also applicable for cheeky little cunts or good cunts!

Esky: Ice Cooler

Fair Dinkum: True or honest 

G’day: I haven’t actually heard this as much as I thought I would, but it feels wrong to exclude it.

Good as: Essentially means good as anything, and you can really put any adjective in front of “as” and just let it ride… sweet as is a good one too.

Headcollar: For my horsey folks, this is a halter…

Heaps: Many times…  “Aw yeah I’ve gone there heaps” 

How ya going? A casual greeting to ask someone how they are or maybe how their day is going. 

Kiwi: Someone from New Zealand

Maccas: McDonalds… Macca is also the name of one of the retired horses on the property and I love it for a pet name.

Mate: Universal term for anything and anyone really… used on poorly behaved horses, a friend that just said something outrageous, or a friendly greeting, “ay mate!”, or a friendly disagreement “nah fuck off mate”. 

Nah, yeah: Yes Yeah, nah: No

Nup: An exclamation of nope! Like if you see a snake or a spider… NUP.

Root: Sex… just don’t tell someone you’re rooting for them alright? Unless of course.. you’re trying to.

Rugs: For my horsey folks, they refer to horse blankets as rugs. A sheet is a cotton, an outer layer is a canvas, and a wool cooler is a woolie!

Seccy: Security guard pronounced “secky” 

Servo: Gas station 

“The other day”: Prepare for this to be any day in that particular Aussie’s lifetime. 

Thongs: flip flops 

“Too easy”: Typically used to acknowledge some type of instruction or favor… “Hey can you do xyz tomorrow arvo?” “Yep, too easy” (important to note, I don’t think it actually has to be that easy, I’ve learned.)

Tradie: A tradesman, good ol’ blue collar boys (or gals!)

Ute: A pickup truck - “yeah you can take the ute.”

“We’re not here to fuck spiders”: This one really threw me when I heard it the first time, and I’m not quite sure I understand it… but if someone says this to you, you’re probably standing around taking too long doing nothing when you most definitely should be doing something. 

I’m hoping I’ll update this post with some more fun stuff after traveling to different parts of the country in the next month, so stay tuned!

Also, thank you to the people that have reached out about these posts, there are so many of you that I haven’t necessarily spoken with in some time, but it feels so good to know we can stay in touch in some way with these updates. When I first created this blog, I thought I’d be driven to post a lot more, but there were no expectations set for a reason, remember?! The last thing I want is for this site to feel like a burden, but I do hope to share more soon.

xoxo,

Alli

A day in the life…

Today I want to share what a typical day of work looks like on the farm with anywhere from 140 to 160 young thoroughbred racehorses. Though the days are long, the weeks are flying by. There’s only about a month left of work before I set off to travel Australia in July before returning home. Truth is, I drafted this to publish last week, but have been feeling a bit uninspired to share my life as it’s easy for the days to feel and look the same. I really don’t have much of a life outside of work right now (relative to before) and that’s alright. The reality of a working holiday visa is that you’ve gotta put the work in before the holiday. All that said, I’m grateful for the quiet time to reflect, gain experience, and remind myself of the value in being comfortable being uncomfortable.

Our schedule is typically released on Tuesday evenings with the weeks starting on Thursday (payday). Everyone works six mornings a week with one full day off, and about three to four afternoon shifts in addition to those morning shifts. It works out to be about 38-42 hours a week, which isn’t all that bad considering some other equestrian jobs I’ve worked in the past (cough 90 hours at the first week of the national horse show cough cough). With the exception of Sundays (7:00AM) we start at 6:20 every day and end around 12:30 for the morning shift. I’ve been lucky the past couple of weeks with a half day before my day off on Thursdays, so I can get into Sydney in about an hour and a half via the train and explore different parts of the city (feel human again.)

5:20 AM: Wake up! Given the 16-hour time difference with home, I typically use the first 15 minutes of my day to catch up on texts and socials. Said texts usually come from my mom, sending photos of Gus and Pete and all the animals back home that never fail to make me smile. Leaving family and friends is one thing, but leaving pets for extended periods of time without any way of telling them that I’ll be back soon is so heart-wrenching.

5:40: Get dressed and bundled for the day. It’s winter here in Australia, so the evenings get pretty chilly. The morning temps are between 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit, with a whole lot more humidity than Colorado. I typically wear my Ariat paddock boots, jeans, and about three layers on top, with some sort of hat. By 10:00 AM the weather usually hits the mid-60s with nice sun, so the layers are quite helpful.

5:45: Breakfast. Before arriving in Australia, I rarely ate breakfast. I was on somewhat of a lazy intermittent fasting schedule. Given the physical and busy nature of the job, I’ve realized how vital it is to fuel my body appropriately. Some mornings it’s enough to eat a protein bar, banana, and my Amino Lean energy supplement, but other mornings I put together a bowl of yogurt mixed with some protein powder, peanut butter, honey, and some bee pollen (great for energy + recovery).

6:10: Leave for the farm: There are currently six of us living in the staff house about 10 minutes away from the farm. We have one shared vehicle for the house, but have been taking the farm truck (or “ute” as they call it here) back and forth to fit everyone as necessary.

6:20: Morning meeting and assignments for the day: Everyone working that day will meet in the tack room to receive their assignments. With ~150 horses to feed, check, and care for, the day has to start early!

6:30: Feed grain: I’m typically assigned to the barns or a specific set of yards to feed. All of the grain is prepared the day before and organized in stacks topped with a lid listing the correct stall (or box/yard) numbers to ensure each horse receives the appropriate grain and supplements. It’s been pretty cool to learn the ways simple tasks are done on a farm of this scale. A couple of people are typically assigned to “spellers” where they take the buggy across the farm to all the horses “spelling” in the paddocks.

Spelling is a term that describes racehorses going out to pasture to rest and recuperate as they prepare for the next race or racing season.

6:40: Begin mucking out the stables. There are 57 stalls or yards across the property that must be cleaned every day. Only one barn uses shavings, while the rest are filled with straw. To my horse people - it was such a strange adjustment learning to muck out straw, but now that I’ve got the hang of it I almost prefer it! Mucking usually takes up the majority of the morning, but plenty is going on across the property while the barns are being done.

If I’m tacking up or treadmilling horses, I typically muck out a specific set of yards that takes about an hour and then start that task. The work list is set each morning and consists of horses being ridden, treadmilled, or put on the automated walker. There are two treadmills, two tracks, and one automatic walker on the property. Every horse’s temperature is recorded and they are assessed for any injuries before work.

10:30: Sweeping aisles, tidying up the barns: Once all the boxes are cleaned, the waters refilled, and hay is thrown, the barn aisles are swept and tidied. Cleanliness and organization help ensure safety for both horses and humans.

11:00: Additional jobs begin... anything from filling up straw boxes, holding horses for vets, moving horses from pasture to boxes, medical treatments, laundry, making PM feeds, and raking walkways. These jobs change from day to day, but I’ve become pretty fond of making feeds. There’s some sort of organizational itch that is scratched by following the feed board and organizing the buckets for the next feed time. I’ve also had the privilege of holding a couple of colts to be gelded (gory), and some ultrasounds and X-rays. These horses are elite athletes and are treated as such.

12:30 Lunch: The morning shift typically ends around 12:30 and we head home for lunch. Those who are working the PM shift typically return to the farm at 1:50/55 which makes for about an hour lunch.

I have to say, in writing this post it doesn’t feel like I can do justice to the amount of work, collaboration, and communication it takes for the farm to run smoothly day in an day out. Everyone on the farm is included in a Whatsapp group, where we share photos, updates, and requests needed to complete the daily tasks, but if you know anything about horses, you know they find the most creative of ways to surprise you at the most inconvenient of time.

12:45: Lunch goes by pretty quick, I usually put together a turkey and cheese gluten free sandwich, or tuna salad on a rice cake, with carrots + hummus or a bunch of grapes. On quick lunch days it’s a simple cup of noodles or microwaved soup before heading back to the farm for the afternoon shift. On half days, it’s a treat to hop in the shower and have the rest of the day to relax and recover. Unfortunately, we only have one car right now, so it’s challenging to leave the staff house during time off.

2:00: Feed grain and hay: Same thing as the morning, all the boxes and yards on the property are grained, given hay, and their waters are topped off. Those assigned to spellers drive the buggy out to the paddocks to feed and check in on those horses.

4:30: Once every horse is fed, treatments are completed, the aisles are swept, grooming areas are tidied, the walker footing is raked, and the trash is taken out, we head home.

4:45 Home! Usually I take some time to decompress, about 30 minutes or so to just sit down on my phone and aimlessly scroll. After that, it’s into the shower and a quick dinner. I’ve been pretty good about prepping a couple of meals but it’s purely for sustenance. Dinner is usually made up of rice, steamed broccoli, and sauteed chicken with some variant of indian sauce. Though it’s no culinary achievment, I’m actually pretty stoked about how much I’ve simplified my diet while working on the farm. Being able to control of my diet without the social schedule and pressure is an unexpected silver lining of remote farm work.

7:30: I try to start winding down around 7:30 by reading a book, watching some Netflix, or writing. I’m actually kinda surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying the writing process with this blog and journaling in general. I’ve always held some amount of pride in articulating my feelings, communicating directly, and expanding my vocabulary, but it feels good to write in a way that I want to share with people, so thank you all for reading! Until next time…

xoxo,

Alli

In retrospect…

Alright, I've been mulling the idea for this post over in my head for the last six months or so, and it finally feels right to publish these thoughts on the day of my 31st birthday... so here goes. I’ll preface this post by sharing that I’m not in the best headspace right now. I’m incredibly homesick, questioning the “why” behind this adventure, and just generally exhausted.

However, I am proud to say that I’ve reached a point in my life where I recognize the tough times don’t have to last as long as they have in the past, and I’ve developed the tools to get myself out of whatever funk comes my way. I did my best to mentally prepare for the rollercoaster of emotions that would come with moving halfway across the world, and I just have to take a deep breath and remember that. 

Now, at the risk of sounding cliche, the last year has taught me a much deeper meaning of the lesson: change👏🏼takes👏🏼time, and it’s typically more time than we’re used to (in the age of instant gratification.) Reflecting on the year 2020 and COVID-19, so many of our lives seemingly changed overnight, but it didn’t feel like I noticed until life really picked back up in 2023. Now, in the year 2024, I can say that I’ve finally found my way back to the self that I’m happy to recognize, but it took a long time for everything to fall into place.

The following anecdotes are a chronological attempt to describe the “big” changes that happened for me to change course and adventure to Australia.

1. Weaning off Lexapro in January 2023: We’ll start back in 2023 when I decided to wean off of Lexapro after being prescribed by my primary care physician and psychological therapist in March 2020. Looking back, Lexapro was a really productive tool for me to stabilize my moods and mental fitness as a whole. After making a big move to Denver, starting a new job, and experiencing a rather naive heartbreak in 2019, I was a bit of a mess. Although medications aren’t everyone’s answer, I’m really glad I tried it. By the time 2023 started, I felt I had hit the point of diminishing returns. I was numb, lacked sex drive (a very real side effect), and felt so “meh”. Though I had learned to work myself out of severe depressive episodes, my emotional pendulum wasn’t swinging in either direction, it felt so stagnant.

   I feel it’s important to note that I had stopped regular therapy at the time of this decision, but after giving it a lot of thought and care, I worked with my doctor to wean off. I truly believe medications can help people, but for me, it was important to check in with myself and move on from it when I reached a point that felt right.

2. Being laid off from my tech sales position: Aw this is a good one. In May 2023, I was fast approaching my one-year anniversary with my employer at the time, a small private product analytics startup. I had started exploring internal moves within the company, as I was desperate to get out of the sales environment. I had learned (probably earlier than I wanted to admit) that I’m not a super competitive person, especially when it comes to performative call metrics and quota attainment. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the events, loved my coworkers, and loved working with technical products that did cool things, but none of that was worth it when I dreaded every single meeting on my calendar.

   I’d like to note - I had some really cool experiences with the companies I worked for. My first tech startup, Fastly, holds such fond memories, and I was truly proud to be a “Fastlyan”. I joined the company shortly after moving to Denver, worked with some incredible humans, and was fortunate enough to experience the company’s IPO. I identified with the company’s mission, culture, and still to this day am incredibly proud of their technology that allows us to access our favorite apps, stream our favorite shows, and listen to our favorite music. Looking back, those two years with Fastly were what everyone hopes for when they described the fun tech startup culture, though I fear those good old days are in the past for tech. In 2021, I moved to Datadog, and this was where things turned a bit south for me. Datadog is an incredible product and a very well-built organization, but it was not a great fit for me personally. Despite my struggles, it was a young office and a really fun time…. I learned a ton about corporate structure and how young tech startups grow into stock market juggernauts. Last but not least, I joined Heap in May of 2022 and learned all about the intricacies of digital analytics. It was pretty wild to sell a product that collected such specific behavioral data…. All I can say is I look at the internet a lot differently now after working at these companies.

   By the time May 2023 arrived , I was fortunate to have an understanding manager who could see how much I was struggling and the mutual decision was made to let me go. On May 5th, 2023, I was released from the company and I took what felt like the biggest deep breath of my life. My loving and humorous father now calls this date my “Liberation Day” (I guess distaste for corporate politics and power dyanmics runs in the family?) Though it never feels good to fail at something, I’ve come to realize this day gave me permission to change paths and stop pursuing something that I didn’t truly care about in the first place. I am not fulfilled by a title, salary, or status, and I can now continue on the path to find what does fill my cup.

3. Moving in with my unconditionally supportive parents: I’ve gotta [literally] drive this one home y’all. In today’s world of exponential inflation, where millennials have all but given up on owning a home, and even buying healthy groceries seems to push the budget, I am so incredibly thankful to have my parents. If they hadn’t moved from my childhood home in Massachusetts to Colorado in the fall of 2022, Australia probably wouldn’t have happened at all.

   When I lost my job in May, I was already living down the road from their new house in northern Colorado and the decision was made to move in with them in July. Don’t get me wrong, it did feel like I was letting myself down after having accomplished the cool job, nice city apartment, and independent lifestyle in my mid-20s. Though I was feeling every emotion from embarrassment to internalized anger, this move may have been the single best thing that happened to me in my late 20s. 

   Now, I’ve found myself saying “Everyone should move back in with their parents, it should be more normalized!” I realize it’s not for everyone. I am extremely lucky to have a happy and healthy relationship with them. They understand me, love me, and happily offered a safe space for me to decompress and exit survival mode. Though it took a couple of months for me to get over myself and stop identifying as the “30-year-old that moved back in with mom and dad”, I would not change it for the world. How blessed I was to have that time with them. I could go on for ages about all the positive changes I saw within myself during this period, but the best feeling in the world is to hear your mother say: “Alli, you’re starting to act like yourself again.” Thank you endlessly to my mom, dad, pepere, and sister who also lives so close by. 

4. Returning to work with horses at Iron Horse Therapeutic Farm: In August, after a few months of moping in the fear of the unknown, my mom softly suggested I find a way to return to working with horses. Mom truly does know best. If you know horses, it’s pretty difficult to stumble upon an affordable way to ride and compete, so I had to get creative in finding ways to simply spend time with them. We spent a couple of nights together researching farm jobs and volunteer work at therapeutic riding centers and came around Iron Horse Therapeutic Riding Center.

   Iron Horse Therapeutic Farm provides occupational and music therapy to their clients on their 10-acre farm with horses, goats, chickens, cats, and of course, their miniature donkey, Bob (cover photo for this post.) It is the most gratifying feeling to watch the way animals and the outdoors can instantly brighten the mood of young children. 

   I started helping with horse care a few days a week and almost instantly improved my confidence, sense of purpose, and happiness. I met some truly amazing people and animals during my time at Iron Horse, and they helped heal a piece of my soul that had been dampened for quite a while. 

5. Ending my relationship: We’ve all been here at some point. After about a year and a half, and several tries at making it work, it simply came down to compatibility. I am so grateful for the fun we had, the memories we made, and the people I met through the time we spent together. Looking back, I was at a pretty low point with my self-esteem when we met, and he was so patient and caring with me throughout all the ups and downs, consistently looking for ways to uplift me. I learned so much about myself as a person and as a partner in this relationship (i.e. my love language is not physical touch) and I also learned how to love again - for that I am so thankful.

   Though breakups are rarely easy, I like to think that the ending of this chapter in October of 2023 allowed both of us to explore the truest versions of ourselves that we were yearning for.

6. Exiting "survival mode" and recalibrating my mental, physical, and emotional health: We’ve made it to item #6 and have finally arrived at something that is rather unquantifiable. In the age of buzzwords and clickbait - the last thing I’ll do is provide a step-by-step guide to exiting survival mode and “living your best life” but I merely want to show how long positive change can take. By the end of 2023, I was more emotionally stable, had lost the extra weight, returned to my bright cheeky self, and the general anxiety nearly all but disappeared. This is an ongoing lesson, but my basis for comparison has drastically changed since observing the changes in myself from 2020 to 2024. I’ll leave you with another cringe cliche - find ya peace and protect it. 

7. Researching visa options and finding the Working Holiday 462 to Australia - before I turned 31! Okay, this one is a bit out of order. Amidst one of the short-term relationship breaks in 2023, shortly after the start of my unemployment, I started researching ways to travel and work abroad. The Australian dream technically initiated in December 2019 when my sales VP suggested I explore moving to Sydney as an SDR (all while I was dating a super cool Aussie from Melbourne.) Fast forward to December 2023 and I started pitching the idea to my family and friends. From a logistical perspective, I was on a tight timeline. The Working Holiday visa allows individuals ages 18-30 to travel and work in the country for a year, but I had to get to Australia before my 31st birthday on May 19th. Once I decided to apply, it was relatively painless to apply, pay, and get approved.

   That is until one of my dear friends James pulled the ultimate prank on me shortly after receiving my approval and making my travel arrangements. Tell me, has anyone ever written a letter on official looking letterhead requesting your attendance at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C. for an in-person interview? Did they create a fake proton email for you to contact? No? I gotta hand it to him, I was feeling like it was all too good to be true before I got this letter, but luckily he answered my polite email with a casual “G’day! Fuck it, approved!” and the joke was revealed. Well played sir, well played. You can never trust those Brits!

8. Discovering Employ Equine + Georgie to help me secure work before leaving the US: Though it isn’t completely necessary to enroll in a program to help you find work, I’m glad I did. Once I committed to the idea of Australia, I found Georgie at Employ Equine and she connected me with the farm Hannover Lodge, where I’m currently employed. It was a huge relief knowing that I was set with work, living accommodations, and travel before embarking on the journey. 

That’s all for now folks, if you made it this far, thank you for reading! This space is proving to be a much-needed emotional outlet during a time of big change in my life. I also hope it provides points of discussion for when I get the chance to catch up with my loved ones. If there’s ever anything I write about that prompts questions, please reach out! I’m thinking next week will get into more of my job on the farm and what I’ve learned thus far in the world of thoroughbred racing. 

xoxo, Alli 

P.S. I’m learning how to create and edit this website on an iPad without a mouse - and it’s proving to test my patience 🤨 I wanted to add photos to this blog post but couldn’t figure it out, so you’re stuck with my words 😘

she made it to australia!

Hello!

Welcome to my first-ever digital journal entry, where I will attempt to update my family and friends on my latest adventures in life. I’ve been thinking about how I want to document this adventure for a while now, and I’m really excited to have this website as a creative outlet. Though it's easy to feel as though nothing is ever truly finished, I’ve been using my spare time to design this space, choose what things I’ll be sharing, and just. start. writing. In a world that has quickly normalized self-promotion and meaningless metrics of social engagement, I simply hope to share my experiences, connect with my loved ones, and have some fun while doing it.

Now onto the good stuff!

If you’re reading this then you probably know that at the ripe age of 30, I decided to dump my corporate career "dreams" (or maybe they dumped me?) and make a short-term move to Australia to pursue my actual dreams of working with horses halfway across the world. Important to note, that the latter part of that dream developed a lot more recently than the horsegirl dream did.

So, I’ve made it 🤩 I arrived in Australia on the last weekend of March and spent the first week exploring the city of Sydney.

After a tear-filled airport goodbye with my parents, and an overweight checked bag, I boarded a plane for a relatively quick 3-hour flight to Vancouver, Canada before the 15-hour flight to Sydney. Luckily, I landed a seat at the window with an open middle seat and a sweet Canadian woman named Kathy by the aisle for the 15-hour trek down under. Though I was a little anxious about the flight, it really wasn’t all that bad. We took off around 11ish PM Friday night and landed in Sydney at around 8 AM Sunday morning. Wild to think you lose an entire day flying that far west, but it makes for minimal jetlag! Thanks to some CBD/Melatonin gummies, I slept for about 7 hours on the flight, ate 3 meals, and spent the rest of the time playing solitaire, doing word searches (lol), catching up on The Crown, and reading.

Sunday morning, after spending about 40 minutes in Customs so they could rid my farm boots of any disease-carrying US soil, I caught a van to my first-ever hostel stay at WakeUp Sydney. Though I had heard of some spooky hostel horror stories, I was pleasantly surprised to find clean beds, bathrooms, kitchens, and friendly roommates. Monday consisted of a walking tour through the city where we visited Hyde Park, Darling Harbour, The Botanical Gardens, and ended at the famous Sydney Opera House. It is truly a stunning structure to witness up close, self-cleaning tiles and all. On Tuesday, the group had a day on a catamaran around the harbour, where we had the chance to swim in a little alcove just across the way from the Sydney skyline. The water was warm and the beach was so clean 🏝 From Wednesday to Friday, I traveled up to Port Stephens, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney, where we sandboaded at the Worimi Sand Dunes, watched the sunrise on One Mile Beach, hiked Tomaree lookout, and caught some dolphins swimming in Nelson Bay. Saturday back in Sydney brought some fun nightlife and fireworks in Darling Harbour, though I gotta admit, the bar’s music selection really made me miss my Denver music scene and homies 🎧

Of the people I met the first week in Sydney, a majority hailed from the UK, but I also met people from Germany, The Netherlands, and France. Funnily enough, I didn’t meet many native Aussies, but I guess you can’t be too surprised when checking off all the tourist spots. It is so refreshing to meet people from different parts of the world, but it’s also emotionally tiring yanno?

The next leg of the trip began on Monday, the 1st of April when I boarded a train about an hour outside of Sydney to arrive in the town of Wilberforce to start work at Hannover Lodge, my new home until July. Seeing as I’m posting this at the beginning of May, I’ve been working for a little over a month and have already learned tons about the breed and the sport of Thoroughbred racing, while also experiencing numerous “whatthefuckdididecidetodo” moments (more to come on that).

There’s so much to share about this experience, but at least we’re a bit more up to speed now. After rewriting, rewording, and tweaking this post and the website for the last few weeks or so, I’m happy to have it out there and share it with my people!

xoxo, alli

p.s. I do not hope for these posts to act as a mere time log of my adventures, but more so a reflection of what I’m experiencing and learning, so stay tuned for what’s to come ✨