Luca. Luca left eight years ago. Now, who has lived with his girlfriend in Australia for seven years, has quit his job and decided to take three months, but “it’s OK if there’s more” to travel around Australia, from coast to coast. It’s a story Gianni Staggi From San Concordio, born in 1989, and his girlfriend Eleonora MuratoriBorn in 1994 from Nozano San Pietro.
“I decided to leave Lucca, says Gianni, and go abroad for work. At first I chose California as my first destination, where I stayed for a year and where I worked as a pastry chef with brothers Damiano e Massimiliano Carrara. Then I went back to Italy for a few months and decided to leave for Australia with my friend Eleonora and we didn’t move from here. As soon as I arrived, I immediately worked as a pastry chef and this allowed me to obtain Australian citizenship. On the other hand, my friend Eleonora initially worked as a waitress for two years and then worked as a dental assistant. Here in Perth the Italian community is very large, and we often go out with other Italians. We chose this city and this country because I already had some friends who were staying in Byron Bay and spoke very well about these places. So we got some info and left. We immediately found ourselves in great shape, whether as a welcome or as a work experience.
In all these years I have always been a pastry chef, changing some restaurant or pastry shop, but I always do the same job. Now we both decided to resign and go around the island, coast to coast.” In all these years, Gianni and Eleonora did not have the opportunity to visit her because because of the visa he was tied to his employer. The couple also left the house, put all their belongings inside a garage, and left.
Fears? “We are not worried about the job because it is very easy to find it here also due to the fact that the borders are closed to Covid – says Gianni – we are confident,” says Gianni. We’ve now spent three months traveling around the country, but if there’s more, that’s fine. We move every day by planning the destination throughout the day. Now we are taking a tour of the West Coast and have begun the crossing that will take us to the opposite coast. We saw reefs and swam with whale sharks, tiger sharks, turtles and fish of all kinds. The beaches here are incredible. We have already been but we will also go back to the remote places where you don’t see cars going by for hours.”
For this, the couple will also be accompanied by visits to the most famous cities such as Melbourne and Sydney that pass through Queensland.
Gianni also talks about the emotion of meeting a kangaroo: “They don’t appear until sunset but as soon as the sun goes down they start jumping here and there. Lots of nice and sweet things happen to us on these days of travel. For example, we found a spider the size of a fist on the windshield of a car. And we didn’t know how to do it. We panicked. Eventually we called the Australian who took it off first and then he harassed us. For the trip we bought a pickup and had specialists just do the job. Surely it’s not a hundred percent that once the tour is over we’re back in Perth. If We found a better place where we can live, we are also ready to move.”
Every year the couple return to Lucca on vacation: “This year we couldn’t because Australia has banned international travel until next year because of the coronavirus.”
Meeting family and friends has been pushed back to next year, so for them also the 24-hour flight, including a layover, that takes them home via Doha. All those interested in learning more about this extraordinary experience can follow the “My road trip Australia” Facebook page or the myroadtripau Instagram account where every day Gianni and Eleonora post photos and news about the trip and the beauty of Australia. “And it is beautiful, even if Italy is not joking.” –
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