In February, I embarked on a yearlong, working holiday to Australia.  Having been here 4 months now, it has been in a lot of ways harder to live a sustainable life than I thought it would be.

When embarking on my travels I knew that there were going to be a few home comforts I’d miss – my own bed in my own room being top of the list with my cats – the easiness of green living was not one of the things I expected to miss.

Having spent a few months travelling around the states in 2012, this time around I thought I’d have the travelling thing down to fine art, making it much easier to carry on my green ways whilst on the move.  Sadly I slightly over estimated things.  In my mind when I left the UK I would be moving to a warmer climate living by the beach, whilst doing my morning yoga practice on the beach as the sun came up. Surely as it’s warmer you use less energy and it’s easier to wake in the morning?

The reality hasn’t quite lived up to that as it does get cold here – June equals winter – plus, my ability to wake up early and function in the mornings has not miraculously changed by switching hemispheres.  I still love my sleep and dislike waking up in the morning even if it sunny.  Also for the first few months of my time here, I was moving around and staying in different hostels all the time, this is when it becomes particularly tricky to try and live a life that’s green.

Trying to conserve energy whilst on the move has been one of the hardest things to manage. Mostly because my phone has become a lifeline and I feel very vulnerable when it’s not charged.  This wasn’t an issues for me at home, my phone was just there when I needed to contact someone or read the daily mail whilst on a train.

Being such a long way from home on my own has changed my relationship with my phone. I’ve become very reliant on it for contact with home and for getting around google maps is my new best friend (sorry Trudi!). This new found attachment to my phone has meant that I seem to spend half my life carrying around my charger and looking for sources of electricity constantly to charge it, this isn’t exactly ideal if you’re trying to live more sustainably and conserve energy.

Since settling in Sydney I’ve tried really hard to get over my addiction to having a fully charged phone at all times and being near an electrical source. One of the ways I’ve managed to this is to buy a cover for my iPhone which charges it whilst on the go.  It’s made a massive difference as I plug my phone in at night to charge it up and the case charges at the same time, using way less electricity than I was before and once my battery gets below a certain amount I simply switch the charging function on and I’m away.