an aussie in austria

Before we went to Australia on our most recent holiday, I made a lot of lists. I like making lists. Lists of friends I wanted to see, things I wanted to do, food I wanted to eat, places I wanted to visit, food I wanted to buy and bring back… the list(s) goes on.

You see, what I was doing, was trying to organise the perfect trip home.

In ten days, I had to coordinate my friends for lunches, dinners, meetups and overnight stays, plus fit in a weekend wedding in Bright. Phew! But I did it. Or so I thought I had.

Because there were a few tiny hiccups that grated on my mind a little. We couldn’t dine in at my favourite Thai restaurant because my guest list included too many offspring (babies and dogs) so we had to do takeaway; my go-to favourite Chinese restaurant had changed hands and we had to choose a different one; and the pub meal I was looking forward to wasn’t the one I was expecting.

Now let me be perfectly clear – none of the things above were bad: the Thai takeaway was perfect because it meant I was better able to talk to everyone, the new Chinese restaurant was awesome and all the pubs (there were a few) we ate and drank at were definitely worthy.

And that was when I realised. What on earth was I thinking? Because I was trying to recreate the best moments of my Melbourne life, drawing from 30 years of experiences, in only 10 days. Which is not only a stupid thing to try to attempt, but is also impossible to achieve. Because things don’t stay the same from month to month, and even more so when you leave the country for a few years!

I did, however, manage to relive many of my favourite moments, and even better, I created new ones. We came across a dirty hot jam donut van (missed it on my last trip), ate fish’n’chips on the beach and most importantly, caught up with everyone I had been missing. I got my ‘Australia’ vaccination to keep me going until I can get back there.

And so next time, I’m going to try and be a little more relaxed about it. Because I won’t ever be able to do everything I want to, and I definitely won’t be able to do them all perfectly! But I will still have a great time – no matter what happens.

Though in the back of my mind, a list is already floating round with one things on it: a trip to Bunnings for a sausage in bread, damn I miss those!