u/cy11261999

Not Indian, but a huge fan of South Indian food! 🇮🇳
I’ve travelled around Tamil Nadu and honestly had some of the best food of my life there. I moved to the Gold Coast a few months ago and have been trying to find some good, authentic South Indian food here.
I’ve tried Sankalp in Surfers Paradise, but apart from that, does anyone have any recommendations? Especially looking for places that do really good dosa, idli, vada, sambar, thali, etc.
Would love to hear your favourites! Thanks in advance 😊

Hi there!
I’d love to hear some thoughts from people who have been practising Ashtanga for much longer than I have.
I’m currently in Australia on a working holiday visa. My original plan for coming here was quite simple: work, save some money, and then go to Mysore for a few months to practise with a teacher who was recommended to me by a friend.
But something unexpected happened. I found a teacher here.
I know it might sound a little romantic, but practising with him made me understand for the first time that old saying: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
I’ve only been practising with him for a relatively short time, but my practice has changed noticeably. More importantly, I feel that he actually sees my practice — when to help, when not to help, when to let me struggle and figure something out myself. I feel a level of trust that I haven’t experienced with a teacher before.
So now I’m questioning my original plan.
My first-year visa ends in a few months, but I’m eligible for a second year. I could stay in Australia and continue studying with this teacher for another year. The difficulty is that my time in Australia is limited — I can’t simply decide to live here indefinitely.
At the same time, I’m still quite early in my Ashtanga practice. I’m working on Primary and only recently managed to bind Marichyasana D by myself. Part of me wonders whether it would make more sense to go to Mysore as planned, spend a few months practising intensively and building a stronger foundation, and then return to Australia and spend my remaining year with this teacher when my practice is more mature.
I’m also interested in studying Sanskrit and yoga philosophy while in Mysore, so going there isn’t only about progressing through asana.
But another part of me thinks: if you genuinely meet a teacher you trust and connect with, perhaps the “basic” stage is exactly when having a very good teacher matters most. Maybe thinking that I should become a better practitioner first and then come back is missing the point.
So I’m curious what more experienced practitioners think.
If your time with a teacher you deeply valued was limited, would you stay and learn from them continuously while you had the chance? Or would you spend a few months in Mysore first, develop your practice in a different environment, and then return to that teacher for a longer period?
I’m not looking for advice about which teacher is “better,” and I’d rather not name either teacher. I’m more interested in how people who have practised for many years think about timing, foundations, and the value of a long-term teacher-student relationship.

Thanks in advance 🙏