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Living the dream Down Under

How patience and incredible persistence paid off for a Megaphone vendor who refused to give up

March 15, 2025

Any Vancouver local or Megaphone loyalist has likely spotted Stephen Scott’s vibrant setup at the corner of Davie and Thurlow Streets, proudly showcasing not only his stock of magazines, books and calendars, but his love for koalas and his dream of visiting Down Under.

For the past 13 years, Scott has been selling Megaphone publications with one huge goal in mind: saving for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia.

Spoiler alert — he made it. 

But that’s not the real story. Despite a lifetime of challenges and setbacks, Scott persevered and faithfully focused on achieving his plans. 

Scott’s trip to Australia and New Zealand in early January marked his first time leaving North America, and as he’s been saying repeatedly ever since his return, “It’s a dream come true.”

He travelled with his longtime partner, Adam, and his brother Daniel Scott. The trio enjoyed sunny weather the entire time. Scott was amazed at all the beautiful scenery and friendly people.

Megaphone’s Local Journalism Reporter Amy Romer recently sat down with Scott to chat about the obstacles he’s overcome, meeting a fellow street paper vendor from The Big Issue in Brisbane, Australia and of course, koala bears. 

Amy Romer: First of all, tell us a bit about what brought you to where you are today?

Stephen Scott: I’ve lived in Vancouver on and off since 1991. The first time I came, I was on the street. But the second time, in 1994, I had a place to stay and opened my own cleaning business. But it was hard. A lot of people were doing drugs — crystal meth, cocaine, things like that. I was really losing my mind at that time. 

In December 1999, I said to myself, “I want to go to Montreal to celebrate the millennium with my family.” I was driving my car, and that’s when I fell asleep at the wheel. 

The car went in a ditch and I woke up two months after from a coma. With all the blood work they had to do, they found out I had HIV on top of that.

It took me two years to get back to my feet.

In 2002, I was back in Vancouver. I decided to go snowboarding in Whistler. I got into another major accident and ended up in another coma for two months. They thought I was not going to make it. I went off a cliff and broke my hips, my ankles… bones were sticking out.

In 2004, I was diagnosed with permanent brain damage and a scan showed I also had a brain tumour. They told me I had maybe two months to live. 

I was out of money, waiting for some support. I didn’t want any treatment, and I decided that if I was going to die, I wanted to die in Vancouver. So in 2004, I returned to the West Coast.

At the end I was living on Granville Street on a piece of cardboard and asking for change to survive. I didn’t have any housing, so I was suffering homelessness, and because of everything that had happened to me, I just wanted to forget. I was supposed to, you know, die of brain cancer. 

But I’m still alive!

In 2010 I turned 40. This was a real wake-up call for me. I said to myself, “If I spent the first 40 years drunk and on drugs, let’s do the next 40 sober.” That’s when everything started changing for me.

Then, it was during a workshop that a woman named Carolyn Wong handed out cameras for a photo contest called Hope in Shadows. I made the top 30! That’s when I met Sean Condon [the founder of Megaphone] and started selling Megaphone merchandise. 

It really helped… when you have nothing, right? You make a couple dollars, it starts with that. But it grows, it grows. Step by step. [In 2014, Scott was honoured with Megaphone’s Vendor of the Year award for his outstanding skills and contributions to the organization].

The most wonderful thing about Megaphone is having some customers to talk to. To me, my customers are like my family.

When did you start saving money for Australia? 

As soon as I began selling for Megaphone, I was able to start saving money for Australia. It was too hard before I [quit drugs and alcohol], but being clean, meeting Adam and selling for Megaphone meant I was able to make my dream come true. 

After five years of selling, I said to myself, “I want to make a sign that I was five years clean. I got a balloon to celebrate my five years in my corner on Davie Street. And on my sign, I told everybody I’m raising money to go on my big trip to Australia. 

My goal was $15,000. After about 10 years, I reached $12,000 — and that was all through selling Megaphone. 

Tell us about the trip. Where did you go? 

We flew from Vancouver to Auckland, New Zealand and spent New Year’s Eve on the plane. We went to the Hobbiton film set from Lord of the Rings, which is near Hamilton, and then went on a 15-day cruise with eight stops, eventually reaching Brisbane, Australia. 

You had to wait until the very last day for the koala bear sanctuary! Didn’t that kill you?

Oh my God, sometimes I couldn’t even sleep. I was too excited. The moment was coming and I could feel it getting closer. 

And how was the koala sanctuary, when you finally got there?

Oh, it was so beautiful there [at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast]. There were so many things to see. There’s a train that goes around the park. And when I finally held the koala bear, it was very sentimental for me, to experience that. When they take the koala away from me, I started to cry. But they were tears of joy. 

And why do you love koala bears so much, Stephen? 

Because it looks so adorable, so innocent. It’s so hard to describe how they look. It’s just… and I saw one holding the baby inside its pouch. Oh, I think that’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the koala bear. And I had many stuffed animals. I spent a lot of time dreaming about holding a real koala bear.

Assuming the koala bear was the highlight of your trip, what was the runner-up? 

Anytime we were in a city, I wanted to find a Big Issue vendor. [The Big Issue Australia is a member of the International Network of Street Papers, a non-profit membership organization and global community dedicated to tackling poverty and homelessness through selling street papers]. I was looking everywhere and I couldn’t see one. I was looking in Aukland, Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane…

Then, on our last day, when we were on our way to the koala sanctuary, my brother spotted a lady selling The Big Issue across the street in the downtown district. 

Her name is Jenny.  I introduced myself and told her about Megaphone magazine. I told her I was so happy to see her because she was the first person I‘ve seen selling a street paper. I exchanged information with her and am hoping we can stay in touch. I bought two magazines from her and gave her a tip, including a $5 Canadian note. 

This trip is a long time coming. Tell us about some of the hurdles you faced in recent years.

We were supposed to go in 2020 — that’s when I’d saved up enough money. But COVID-19 happened and everything got shut down. Then, last year, we had a fire at my home and lost everything. Luckily, I was able to keep the money for Australia. 

What was on your packing list?

Oh my God, I had a lot of things on my packing list. Only one jacket though, and t-shirts, sunscreen. The most important thing is my camera. I needed to make sure I got a good picture holding a koala bear.