I am safe and staying at a hostel in downtown Sydney after three days in Gold Coast, but the journey was anything but easy.

Sometimes it is impossible to show empathy or relate to someone without first hand experiencing what they have. I know what it is like to be homeless for a night now. Gold Coast airport closed down last night between 10-4, and I thought I was going to be sleeping there. Instead, I slept on a hard wood bench with my kacki shorts as a pillow and a towel as my blanket. It was soo gold and I don't think I even got a minute of real sleep. The good news: I still have all my belongings, I got to sleep on a bench that was not near a smoking section, and I was the first person in the airport this morning so I didn't have to wait in any lines.

Gold Coast was cool but it was too touristy and Americanized for me. Designer shops, beaches, food joints everywhere, hotels. That kind of thing. It was decent for a day and a half but not for as long as we stayed. I did go to an amazing wild life reserve though and hold koalas and seeing rare endemic species to Australia. I ate Mexican food for the first time in 2 months, much needed. I miss the Mission at home a lot.

I am solo in Sydney for the next four days and will be meeting the group at the airport to go to Fiji on Monday. Needed some space. Pretty overwhelmed by some of the tendencies of my travelling mates. You learn way more about someone when you travel with them than living, or any other kind of environment.

I'll check back in the night before Fiji.