20 Days until departure (First official post)

Welcome!

In 20 days I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago. As some of you must know, I'm going on a working holiday to Australia. This is something I have been planning for a long time, maybe 3 or 4 years. Still it came as quite a shock to a lot of people when they found out about it this past spring. Go before it's too late, it's now or never, yada yada yada...

I will be away from Finland for nine months, eight of which will be spent in Australia (probably). In three weeks I'll be in Hong Kong where I'll spend three nights before flying to Brisbane. From there I'll probably go to Cairns, where it's warm but not rainy yet. In the following eight months I'll work and travel and see as much as I can. Some familiar places like Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and hopefully lots of new places like Brisbane, Tasmania, Perth, Darwin and Alice Springs.

After the eight months I'll revisit New Zealand (this time on the Northern Island), fly off to Tonga and travel back in time to Samoa before coming back home in the end of May 2011. Okay, poor writer trick time. Here are some lists 'cause my brain isn't working very well.

Preparations for the trip I have done:

• I moved from my apartment in Turku to my parents' apartment in Helsinki and put most of my stuff in a locked storage for 15 months.
• I bought airplane tickets from Kilroy Travels for just over 2000 €. 1500 € was supposed to be my limit, but then I fell for Samoa and Tonga instead of San Francisco and LA.
• I've been working at summer camp for most of the summer to attain sufficient funds for my trip.
• Sold my old TV to a friend for extra cash.

Preparations I've yet to do:

• Buy traveler's insurance.
• Get rid of clothes I don't need anymore (coming to Facebook).
• Book accommodation in Hong Kong.
• Buy a trip from Brisbane to Cairns.
• Haggle with my phone company to free up my iPhone for use in Australia.
• Get a job in Australia. (I do have a contact in Sydney and one near Melbourne where I might go work on a wine farm)
• Prepare mentally.

Stuff I'm leaving behind:

• 1 girlfriend.

That's it for now. Out of the 20 days remaining, 11 will be spent not preparing for the trip but I hope I'll get everything done in time.

Please come back soon, I'll try to post as often as I can after I departure.

PS. Hit me up with any tips you have about working in Australia or abroad in general or about anything else in the comments.

PPS. Also check out my twitter feed (THERE! On the right!) for smaller updates.