None of which, by the way, I saw on my recent trip to Australia.
I hadn’t meant to go back to Oz at the end of the year, but with hubby’s new job, I suddenly found myself a-flush with more leave than him, and we decided it was a good chance for me to take the trip on my own.
So off I tripped… for a whole month… just cause I could.
One regretful random afternoon in Austria, hubby and I were out shopping and decided to nick in to one of the many supermarket cafes they have here. I won’t say anything bad about these places – they have good, standard fare, it’s generally cheap, and they almost always have a salad bar – man I love Austrian salad bars!
But on this particular day, when I was pondering what to order, hubby made a suggestion for me – Herrengoulasch. Sounds interesting, methinks, so that’s what I went with.
Here’s what I got:
Growing up in Melbourne I’ve always been close to the beach. Our family holidays were often coastal and featured a lot of swimming both in surf and the calmer waters of the bay. From about the age of 10 my parents joined us up to a sailing club in Safety Beach, and from then on, until I decided I was too old to spend Sunday’s with my parents, we were there every week from November to April, rain hail or shine.
When you’re a kid, you kind of just assume that whatever your family does, it must be the same as what everyone else’s families do. This can lead to some awkward moments – an offhand comment and suddenly everyone’s staring at you like you’re mad.
When I was younger, I had no idea that my family’s favourite desserts were at all weird.
On the day of my work Christmas party this year, it came about that I needed to get from my office into the city on my own steam – eg. sans car. I asked around, but couldn’t find anyone that was heading there at the time I wanted.
One option remained: Public transport
And just when I think I’m starting to fit in, I realise I’m making a huge faux pas when it comes to winter in Austria.
I enjoyed a busy summer of visits this year… just two short weeks after one of my besties visited, along came my parents.
My folks have visited three times now, and it’s already their second staying in our house. Luckily the house is big enough (for everyone to have his own bedroom if they so choose).
From our binge-watching sessions of cooking shows on Netflix, an idea emerged to undertake our own cooking challenge while my friend visited in the summer. Hubby would be the judge/host/timekeeper and my friend and I would be the duelling challengers.
Five years ago today I arrived in Austria.
I remember the pre-winter sky being impossibly blue. Nine degrees and sunny was pretty good for that time of year.
I was there on an adventure – a quest of love – a gamble.
I had no idea what was to come.
I could not have imagined that five years later I would still be here.
an aussie in austria 