New Zealand: The Final Chapter

I must admit, when we were planning our onward trip to New Zealand, I was concerned we might be a bit bored of everything by then, seeing much of the same landscape, culture and attractions as we’d seen in Australia. I didn’t think it would be that different. How wrong I was.

Back when we were still in Sydney, we’d decided we would start our New Zealand trip on the North Island as I had some very good friends living a few hours south of Auckland that I was dying to see. So we booked our flights from Melbourne to Auckland and decided we’d figure out the rest as we went. But as the time to leave Australia drew closer, we both reluctantly admitted to each other that we were actually starting to feel tired of travelling now. We were both getting sick of worrying about suitcase weight limits, always wearing the same clothes, never getting a chance to fully unpack before having to re-pack to move on to somewhere new, never feeling fully rested and missing our friends and family back home. Now I know that may sound strange (and probably somewhat ungrateful) to someone who’s not done the moving around, living out a suitcase, never quite knowing where you’re going to be sleeping one week to the next thing type thing, but trust me, as amazing as the idea sounds (and it really is amazing in many ways) it begins to lose it’s appeal after many months. For me in particular, I’d already done a year of living abroad in Canada and I was starting to feel like my itchy feet were starting to lose that itch – a relief I (as well as my Mom) was worried I would never feel.

Back to City Life Civilisation

Melbourne

So after an incredible road trip it was time to return once more to Brisbane airport where Laura left us to head back to the UK and we flew to Melbourne to start on the next and final part of our Australian tour. Melbourne was quite a culture shock from Queensland. For one it was much cooler and we were reunited with our jeans for the first time in 3 months, although strangely they must have shrunk in my suitcase as they were decidedly tighter than I remembered! We were back to more of a multi-cultural Australia, similar to Sydney, and people were noticeably more reserved than the stereotypically outgoing Queenslanders. It was nice to be back in the city environment and we made the most of the bustling restaurant scene which was a welcome change to the fried food we’d be resorting to on the road (come to think of it maybe that’s why my jeans didn’t fit…) and we sampled the delights of the Greek district, the tucked away restaurants of the famous brick-paved laneways and the deli counters of the Queen Victoria Markets.

Carry on Camping: Queensland to New South Wales

It’s a testament to what a busy and exciting time our last few months down under were that I’m only just getting around to updating my blog, over a month since it all ended and we returned to the UK. Now that we’re back to the grind in the ridiculously rainy UK, the sunshine, landscape and adventure of Australia all seems like a distant memory but I will enjoy relieving it as I bring you all up to date on the final instalments of our epic year.

When I left you last time, the boy’s sister Laura had just arrived in Cairns ready to begin the classic road trip down the East coast all the way to Byron Bay. It tipped it down the day Laura arrived in Cairns and she must have been wondering why she’d bothered making the 36 hour long journey (complete with three joyous plane changes) but the next day she was introduced to the 35-40 degree heat and sunshine that would become the norm for our trip. I was apprehensive when we picked up our van; despite worrying about camping before our West coast road trip it had turned out to be perfectly manageable with only the two of us but how would we cope with three?! I needn’t have worried though, with a free upgrade to a 4-berth van complete with full kitchenette, toilet, shower and aircon (phew!) we were in the relative lap of luxury.

Surviving sharks, crocodiles, spiders, cassowaries and jellyfish – a typical Queensland holiday!

Well as I’ve said before travel is most certainly better with friends and that was confirmed to us yet again with the arrival in November of my Mom and Dad (yes I know I spell Mom like an American, don’t know why, always have, probably watched too many sitcoms as a child, anyway I digress…) The boy and I had reached our final week of work and Mom and Dad had flown down to Sydney to meet us. My last week of work was a funny one, after being offered sponsorship earlier in the year which I’d politely declined, in my penultimate week of work it was announced the company was going into voluntary administration and pretty much all my colleagues would be leaving the same week I was – talk about fate. It was a real shock and I was sad to see my colleagues and the company I’d really loved working for have to go through that but at least I left safe in the knowledge I’d made the right decision to leave. Anyway the boy and I had bigger adventures to go have.

Travel is better with friends

Travel is so much more enjoyable when you have others to share it with. I know the boy and I have each other, but honestly after 8 months of being almost exclusively in each other’s company we were starting to feel more than ready for someone new to talk to and to share with us in these amazing experiences. We were sat in the park one day and delighted over how a couple wandering by did a double take and got so excited at their first ibis sighting. We could remember how thrilled we were and how exotic everything felt when we first spotted a group of ibis pecking around in Brisbane but since then they’d become a daily sight and suddenly we’d become so blasé about them and many other aspects of life in Australia. As soon as my good friends Marion and Neil arrived in Sydney, we noticed the difference. It was so good to have new people to talk to other than just each other, and for me, it was so great to see them again after such a long time away from home. We really loved showing them around our new home city and we shared in their excitement as we saw Sydney and Australia once again through their eyes and fresh perspective.

On the homestretch to unemployment

Sydney’s Hyde Park

I’ve been back in Australia for a few weeks now and I’m pleased to report that the cockroach situation has dramatically improved and we’re actually really enjoying our new home. The boy is relishing having the run of the kitchen – the fruits of which I am definitely enjoying too – and I love my new walk to work through Sydney’s Hyde Park each day, past the noisy groups of cockatoos each morning and under the swooping flying foxes most evenings.

Back in Blighty: Is this the end?

So this post is actually brought to you from a plane currently some 5,000 feet above Russia. It’s been a truly crazy few months, but don’t worry, it’s not the end of the adventure. I’ll bring you back up to speed, just as soon as I can figure out where to start…

Well, we were fully into the swing of Sydney life. I was loving my work with the agency, I had some challenging deadlines and projects but the work was interesting and the people were fantastic; unfortunately the boy couldn’t say the same for his job. We loved our weekly sightseeing days together every Sunday, and really made the most of each one, but we wanted more. So the boy decided to look for a new job, preferably something more Monday to Friday to give us that extra time together. Then in the same week that the boy made the stressful decision to hand in his notice, we were served our notice on our flat. The guy we were renting from was coming back from Queensland and wanted his room and rooftop pool back, not that you could blame him. After all the hard work and time we put into building a life in Sydney, we felt catapulted back to the start again with the boy on the job hunt as I tried to find us a new place to live. We were exhausted and stressed and at times, certainly for me, homesickness started to creep in.

Watching Whales

It’s always been a dream of mine to go humpback whale watching. I’ve been fortunate enough to see wild orca (killer whales) and grey whales, but never humpback whales and so I was eager to get out on the water as soon as whale watching season started in Sydney in June.

Australia is one of the best places in the world to see humpback whales with plenty swimming up along the coastline each winter in their annual migration north. Australia regulate this lucrative piece of eco-tourism well, with respectful viewing codes of conduct and heavy penalties for anyone seen to be chasing or harassing the whales. It’s not only this that warrants my respect; I’ve noticed that quite regularly Australia’s outspoken views about the Japanese whaling program make the newspapers here and no matter what anyone says, Australia won’t back down. They want to expose the Japanese “scientific research” whaling program for the needless, wasteful massacre that it is. The UK government would never have the passion or guts to do that. Go Australia!

Sundays spent Sydney-side

Polenta crusted tofu lovingly cooked by the boy

So after my last post, you might be quite surprised to learn that the boy and I are still in Sydney. Soon after we’d settled into our flat and I’d started work, the boy landed himself a chef job at an Italian restaurant coincidentally only 5 minutes from where we now live. The boy is an amazing chef, and I’m not just saying that because he’s bribed me with polenta crusted tofu, he really is and used to work for the former ‘best restaurant in the UK’ complete with its Michelin stars. He was offered work at some of Sydney’s best restaurants, but opted for a job at a smaller, family run establishment as it meant he would be able to have every Sunday off when the restaurant is closed. Weekends or evenings off in the restaurant business are unheard of so with me working standard Monday to Friday office hours, this meant we’d at least get one day a week to spend together. So Sunday became our weekly ‘adventure day’.

Have we made a huge mistake?

Sydney Harbour

I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since we arrived in Sydney, time has flown. I was really nervous when we first arrived from Brisbane. You may recall, we’d purposely chosen to settle and work in Brisbane over Sydney or Melbourne because we both wanted to be somewhere a bit different and the boy isn’t a fan of big cities. So we’d gone to Brisbane, quickly fallen in love with the place but then an un-missable work opportunity came up for me in Sydney and the boy agreed that we should make the move. With that in mind, let me tell you the story of our arrival. We leave beautifully warm, sunny, tropical Brisbane and we get on our plane, one hour later we arrive at Sydney airport. We catch a cab over to the north shore and Neutral Bay where we had a hotel booked for the week. We dump our bags and because it’s now lunchtime we’re starving. It’s grey and it’s foggy and the boy is looking at me like “where have you brought me to?” I think to myself, I know, I remember how spectacular and impressive the Sydney harbour is, we’ll get a ferry over to Circular Quay past the harbour bridge and the Opera House and we’ll get some lunch there. He’ll be bowled over by its beauty and forget all about Brisbane. Think again. As we sailed past the country’s two most iconic landmarks, I’m not sure he could have looked any more disappointed.