Last week, I ditched nine lectures and five discussions to go to Australia. My band SWIMMERS was given the opportunity to play at a music festival that toured through Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

While about half of my journal entries read, “slept on the floor last night. I am sore. 5 am plane flight. fuck,” the trip was filled with incredible moments. Everything I thought I knew about Australia was turned completely upside down: Koalas smell really bad. The word “cunt” is a term for your friends, while “mate” is used if you are looking for a fight. The spiders that are the size of your hand are not the ones you have to worry about, and every single person is in peak physical condition. Hauling my big tourist camera everywhere with me, I sacrificed any attempt to aesthetically assimilate as a local just so I could share some of these experiences. Enjoy.

Max, Joey and Seb getting on the flight from Sydney to Adelaide.

Selfie with BAE at the Steve Irwin Australia Zoo in Queensland. We took every spare moment to be tourists.

It was difficult adjusting to 100-degree weather after a cool California winter. We all accordingly prepped for the show half-nude.

Adelaide, the land of silver toilets that clean themselves.

On the steps to Bondi Beach in Sydney, about to be put to shame by the beach body culture.

Waiting for one of three 6 a.m. flights to get to the next shows.

Lazy beach daze in Sydney, wishing we had our surfboards.

Seb looking out the tram window in Melbourne dreaming of a Nando’s chicken wrap.

“Give me your best b-boy pose!” — water photo by the MC Bat Commander of the Aquabats.

When it’s too early to pick your own nose.

Mandatory opera house selfie on a day off in Sydney.

Needless to say, our flight attendant hated us for this.

Everywhere.

Watching the Aquabats’ set from front of the house in Brisbane. It was a pool party for the cool kids in my school.

Cole Becker is a staff writer for The Weekender. Contact him at [email protected]