YOLOing ourselves into poverty.....YoBroke

After a brief hiatus, the yoloers were reunited (well 3/4 of them) when The Yoloers Australian adventure finally kicked off. Christine, Caitlin, and Nick met up in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast to enjoy two weeks of surf, sun, and parties. Kate, our friend from ChCh, became an honorary Yoloer by scraping up the cash to join us on the first leg of the trip. We also met up with Died and Parker (two fellow L-towners) and Marc and Kiel (two ChCh friends). When the Yoloers come to town, everyone wants to be there (except Maggie). Yes, we are really this popular.


A typical YOLO photo. Notice only three shadows because Maggie is too busy working in Queenstown to join us in Australia.


Nick and Kate were the hottest things to hit the beaches of Surfers Paradise, especially when they busted out their sweet boogey boarding skills.


Visiting Dreamworld amusement park, we stopped into the petting zoo. No trip to Australia is complete without petting a kangaroo. Granted this was in a small caged setting where the kangaroo is clearly on sedatives, making this far from an actual kangaroo encounter, but who really cares when you get to pet a kangaroo.

A group trip to Dreamworld to celebrate Caitlin and Marc’s (left corner) birthdays! A day filled with riding roller coasters, experiencing the world’s tallest free fall, and finding the only store in the South Pacific to sell peanut butter M&Ms makes for the best birthday celebrations.


When your budget is cheap and you need to get around, you try and see how many people can fit into the back of a camper van, with luggage in tow. Seeing that none of us are Aussies, it is almost like we are transporting illegal immigrants, hence Kate’s festive hat.


After a fabulous time in Surfers Paradise, once again the Yoloers parted ways. Nick flew back to Sydney while Christine and Caitlin joined Parker and Died to travel up the coast. This is Caitlin and Christine’s new home! Actually the “home” would be a tent next to this, but this is the mode of transportation for the four girls (and what Parker and Died sleep in). Our tent was a budget purchase from KMart, resulting in it being about two inches too short for Caitlin. When you travel cheap, some sacrifices must be made.


Our first stop was Frasier Island. We booked a trip where we were given a 4WD vehicle, 8 other people, and some camping supplies and told to have at it and explore the island. On Day 1 we visited Lake Mackenzie. This is one of the most gorgeous lakes in the world, notice the crystal clear water. Wish you all were here…..



Hurrah for YOLOing! Died, Parker, and Christine jumping for joy at Lake Mackenzie






Our life for three days. No showers, and lots and lots of sand.









Another stop on Frasier Island, Lake Wabby. Wait, you don’t see a lake? That’s because you had to walk through the desert to get there! No joke, an actual desert. No trees, no water, and piping hot sand. Once over the sand dunes, we hurled ourselves down the sand hills into the lake.







Our traveling companions on Frasier Island. What do you get when you combine three brits, four irish lads, and four Americans? Team 1- the best group to ever travel a 4WD around Frasier Island. With these companions there is no way you would get eaten by a dingo (because did we mention that there are man eating dingos on the island. Yes, MAN EATING….ever hear the saying “the dingo ate my baby?”….mmhmm).


After leaving Frasier Island, we drove our trusty van up the coast to the WhitSunday Islands where we traveled on a sailboat for three days and two nights around the islands. Caitlin, Parker, Died, and Christine taking in the sun on the boat. We don’t have many photos from this trip because we actually didn’t do much on this trip. You know your trip is going to be bad when you leave three hours late, arrive to the island in the dark only to walk through the abyss without lights to a “resort” (aka eroding shit hole), you learn the captain and the cook are dating because they have lovers quarrels that make the cook cry while chopping tomoatoes, you don’t get to see the most famous island because of “bad” weather, and the scuba instructor is a crazy swede whose favorite drink is red wine and tobasco sauce. This was only a few of the things we experienced on this boat. We are currently in the process of getting our money back.

Died, Parker, and Christine on their introductory scuba dive in the Whit Sundays. Even though times were bad, you still have to YOLO.








This blog was written by Caitlin and Christine, who are about to head furthur north up the coast of Australia before driving back down to Sydney to meet up with Nick. Maggie is still MIA, but we heard she’s doing well, working hard, and courting the Queenstown men.

PS. Caitlin wanted to mention, that although she didn’t do a solo post, she had a fantastic time traveling New Zealand and Australia with her mom. And no, this is not because she got to stay in hotels every night and didn’t spend a dime.