I suppose a good place to start my blog would be with an introduction to myself and an explanation of why I’ve even started the blog in the first place? Ok then, here goes.

I’m Chris Corbyn, a 23 year old PHP Developer from Manchester in the UK. I finished studying at the University of Durham in 2004 and went into work as a Developer about a year later. One thing I do regret is that I walked straight out of University and into a job which paid the rent. I mean, some people take a bit of time off, have a holiday or go and see the world. Luckily, I do believe that although I’ll make a big sacrifice to do it (quit my job) I should still jump at the opportunity to do a bit of travelling.

Ok, ok so who am I kidding? It’s not like I had any money when I left uni anyway…. but it was a nice thought. Lucky for me I can gather enough to do this now.

Who made a new years resolution? I did… pretty simple really. Don’t waste any time and just get out of life what I can. That can’t be too much effort can it? Granted, I did make the pledge between Christmas and New Year, not on New Year itself.

I’d done all the reading around what you need to spend time travelling in Australia in the past so I had a pretty good idea but all the same I jumped onto http://www.immi.gov.au/ for an up-to-date read of all the documents. On 28th December 2006 I completed the Working Holiday Maker Visa online, which cost me $185 AUD (about £75 GBP) and got approved within a matter of hours. I couldn’t believe the short amount of time it took to be approved but it certainly put me in a good mood for the new year.

As of now, all I can tell you is that I need to start saving right now and all the way through to December, and that I will be visiting both the East and the West coast of Australia. I’ll be working in Australia to supplement my travelling costs of course.

I have 11 months to plan my time out there and get myself prepared for it all. It also just so happens that I live with an Aussie who’s visiting the UK after a little bit of travelling herself so I’ll be getting some travel tips off her and some notes on what to see and what not to see in Australia. I’d love some ideas from anybody who’s reading this too (is anybody reading this? :P) I can’t wait!

Keep checking back to see what I’m up to guys…