I’m headed to Australia!

(You’ll have to excuse my meta-thinking – bear with me for some great news!)

It’s hard to say where a dream originates. Is it given to us before we’re even aware it exists? Or is it sparked into being through our exposure to new ideas and experiences?

Specifically, where did my dream of going to Australia come from? Did it start as I grew up watching Finding Nemo and The Crocodile Hunter, like any other good millennial? Or maybe when I heard stories of friends and family taking road trips along the country’s coasts? It was certainly encouraged when I discovered The Man From Snowy River, A.B. Patterson, and as I enrolled in an Australian history and culture course at Slippery Rock University.

This dream and goal of mine has been ingrained in my brain for so long, I can’t decide where it started. But I do know that in just a few short months, I’ll touch down in a new airport and start to figure out how this dream continues.

In March 2019 I’ll be spending a month in Australia – volunteering, traveling, and exploring. I’m approaching this trip as a scouting mission. To try and discern why I’ve been drawn to this specific country. To decide if I could live and work abroad longterm. To continue to learn how to live a relentlessly adventurous life, leaving mundane routine and apathy far behind me.

For 10 days I’ll be living and volunteering at Attunga (meaning “high places” in the Aborigine language). As one of the few year-round Christian summer camps and retreat centers in Australia, they host volunteers, weddings, backpackers, youth groups, and corporate events. I first heard of Attunga through a connection made at the 2015 CCCA national conference, and I never would have guessed 3 years later I’d be taking action on a fleeting idea. While I’m not sure what exactly I’ll be working on, I’m positive it’ll be an experience to remember. BONUS: they have a horse program!

And who knows. Maybe it’ll just be a cool story I’ll tell my grandkids someday. Or maybe it’ll be the beginning of a grand adventure that I can’t even imagine quite yet.