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Goodbye dark days… hello Summer

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Safety Beach, Australia

I’m usually a fairly optimistic person. But I have been a bit down lately, as many of you read in my recent blog posts. But I have to say a big thank you, to everyone that reached out to give me a bit of love and support, and reminded me that it is all going to be ok. Because it is going to be ok.

I was already feeling more positive… the sun was shining, the weather was warming up… and despite the fact that the world was still being super crazy, I was doing ok at letting go of things out of my control.

And then suddenly I found myself on a plane to Australia.

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Long Trips – Australia – the land of fire and flood and dangerous animals

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Australia beachNone 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.

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Creating the perfect trip = attempting the impossible

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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.

Australia sunset beach walk
Perfect sunset beach walks with the Captain

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Homeward bound – the push and pull of ‘the new’ over ‘the familiar’

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Backpack flying home
Can’t wait to be carrying my trusty old backpack round again!

The lead-up to any holiday is exciting, the lead-up to a trip home when you live overseas is something else entirely.

On one hand, you’re super excited to be heading back into familiar territory, to have the chance to talk properly to people who have known you your whole life and understand your subtle nuances … and just the opportunity, to put it simply… to feel less isolated.

On the other hand, you’re just going home. You’ve been there before – many times. You grew up there. It can hardly be called a holiday, right?

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Austrian food – what’s missing

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Food plays a very important role in my life. Not only do I need it to stay alive, but I love to eat it, I love to cook it and I love to read menus! After a few months living in Austria (remember, small town) I found that most things I knew existed in some way, shape or form… it was just a matter of translating and hunting.

First pie attempt in a tart dish... unacceptable.
First pie attempt in a tart dish… unacceptable.

But more than a year in… there are still some things missing. I’m not talking about the classic Cadbury chocolate, Tim Tams or Vegemite, I’m talking things you wouldn’t initially think about. Here’s my top five:

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Home-sickness… it’s not fun, but it is a privelege

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It seems appropriate to write about home-sickness now since it’s been quite a dominate presence these last few weeks.

And I know it’s not the worst thing in the world and it’s not really going to hurt me and I’m not going to die… but when it hits you… quite frankly… it just sucks.

homesick like Captain
Missing my boy

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