6 Weeks In Australia: The Original Home

After two years living, working and travelling in the UK and Europe, I have come home to Australia to visit my family, get a new Visa for England and organise myself and my things to move to England more permanently. It’s less than two weeks until I return to England (providing my Visa is approved).

Coming home has been wonderful and challenging and has brought up a lot of emotions. During my first week back I felt really uncomfortable; so much has stayed exactly the same here. Part of me felt like the last two years hadn’t even happened; had I even been away? I’ve grown up a lot over the last couple of years; I’ve learnt a lot, experienced a lot, travelled a lot and become aware of other cultures and how people live. My priorities have changed, my wants and needs have changed, my perspective has changed. My outlook on life has changed.

Travelling has helped me to see what is important. I have lived a privileged life. I have been lucky. I have been spoilt. I still am. I have things in my possession that I have no need for, no use for. Two years I ago I could not part with my stuff. Moving around has shown me that stuff that is not important or useful and has no sentimental value is a burden. Coming back and unpacking all my boxes of stuff was so liberating. I don’t have this unhealthy and over the top attachment to stuff anymore. It was easier than I thought to sort my stuff out, to part with things that once were important, to pass things onto people who need it or appreciate it more than me, to keep just a couple of boxes full of memories and to select things to take back to England.

However, it hasn’t all been easy. I have to sell my car. I do feel slightly silly about how attached I am to my car, but saying goodbye to her symbolises saying goodbye to something much more important than some metal and an engine on wheels. My first car gave me freedom and independence. Living 30 minutes out of town meant that I had to get a lift with my parents if I wanted to go anywhere. I got my first car for my birthday and all my family helped put in money for it. This car has gone to festivals, loaded up with tents and sleeping bags on the roof-racks. It’s pulled other peoples’ cars out of the mud. This car has gone to parties in the bush, hours away. It has jump started friends’ cars. It has had baby seats in it for looking after my nieces and nephews. It has carried all my things when I moved out of home. It’s picked friends and family up from the airport. It’s taken me to work everyday and allowed me to earn a living. I’ve learnt how to change a tyre, how to reverse parallel park and how to check my oil and water! I had this idea that I was going to have this car for a while. That I’d have it when I settled down. That I’d have my own baby seats in it. Yes, it may seem silly to have such an attachment to it, but I do, and it’ll be hard to see her go.

I guess packing up my things means that this is real, I am really properly moving back to England. And I am so excited about this. I love it there. But I also love it here. Being back has reminded me of all the things I love here, at home - The Original Home. The open space. The freedom. The warmth. The birds. The wallabies. The small community. Memories of growing up. The schools I went to. Waterholes we used to swim in. Mountains we used to climb. Friends we used to hang out with. I am saying goodbye to that part of life and moving onto the next bit. That is okay, but it has taken time to let it sink in, and to welcome the idea of new opportunities and possibilities life brings. I am looking forward to it.

While I’ve been back in Aus I’ve caught up with a few old friends - the kind of friends that you might not see for a while, you might not keep in touch with, but they’re still your friends and that won’t change. I’ve been able to catch up with all my nieces and nephews; we’ve been playing and wrestling and cuddling. I’ve been spending lots of time outside. I’ve realised how much being cooped up inside affects me. Give me fresh air over screens any day. I got to explore my own town and surrounding areas and go swimming in waterholes I used to visit as a teenager. I got to be a tourist in my own country, adventuring around Sydney catching up with family. We had a picnic with my Aunt and cousin (on my Mum’s side) - we got to sit and eat and look out across Sydney Harbour with the Bridge and the Opera House sparkling in the sun. I got to see my 90 year old Grandpa! He is super cool. We ran to keep up with him tootling along on his scooter.  We stayed with my Aunt & Uncle and my cousins (on my Dad’s side). We got to go on a little road trip to my brother’s farm south of Sydney. We got to stay in a caravan. I got up at dawn and watched the sun rise and listened to the rooster crow. We picked vegies from my brother’s farm to sell at the market. We picked vegies to make our dinner. We ate homemade vegan chocolate brownies made by my brother’s partner. We went to a party and carved spoons around the fire. We were well fed - our bodies and our souls. Thank you to my awesome family for looking after us so well!

I’ve applied for my Visa and so now it is just a waiting game. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. If all goes to plan I will be arriving in England on 24th September.

Thanks for visiting my little online space. Below are some photos from the last few weeks here in Australia.  See you very soon! xxx

Lemon tree and chair

The old blue ute

Mt Warning

Joel in Byron Bay

River

Mish

River and me

Libby and me

Flying into Sydney

Picnic looking out across Sydney Harbour

The Opera House

View from Sydney Tower

Grandpa!

On the road to Cobargo through Kangaroo Valley

The Caravan

Washing vegies

Thea selling fresh home grown produce from Fishbone Farm

One of the dams at Fishbone Farm

Sunrise through the trees

Bermagui Wharf

Nelson's Bay

L-R: Thea, my brother Tim, Joel & my oldest nephew Tal at Nelson's Bay

Nelson's Bay

Nelson's Bay

Party near Bega

Party near Bega

Party near Bega

Saying goodbye

Saying goodbye

The best brother

Party near Bega

Party near Bega

Tim and Thea

Where I’m At || Simple Living || Slowing Down

I wake up, open my eyes and see the blue pre-dawn light above me. Birds are waking too. I can hear them calling to each other. The ducks are chatting as well. And then during the day they continue conversing sporadically in that language of theirs. At night I hear owls just outside, so close to me. I hear the wood burner crackling. The water in the kettle heating to boiling temperature, ever so slowly. Then eventually the urgent, panicked whistle. I will have a cup of tea in an hour or so. I hear wind in the trees and their branches tapping gently on my window. I see the bright red glow of the embers in the burner through the three small opaque windows at the front. In the warm light of the morning I lie in my bed and look up through the window in the roof and watch the way the leaves and branches move in the breeze. 

Have you ever given yourself the time to just sit and watch and listen, with no distractions? 

Everything is worth watching. I am learning how to appreciate the most simple things again. It’s okay to feel child-like and be in awe of a leaf or a blade of grass or the squelch of mud underfoot. Slow down. 

I smell wood fire smoke. I smell incense. I smell ginger and garlic, sizzling slowly in my cast iron pan. I smell mud and rain. I smell liquorice tea, a new discovery for me as I usually don’t like liquorice. I feel warm on the inside and on the outside. (Is it the tea, the fire? Is it contentedness?  Or is it a combination?) There is something so comforting about being a bit disconnected. I feel like for the last few months I have been taking a big, deep breath in, and now being here, I am able to breath out with a big sigh of relief and relax.

I have been reminded of patience. I am enjoying the fact that nothing here is instant, and more than that, I can see the process happening in front of me. Chopping wood. Cleaning the ashes out of the burner. Lighting the fire. Waiting for it to heat up the truck, waiting for the kettle to boil, waiting for dinner to cook slowly. Filling up my water container. Reading and writing by candle-light. Re-using everything! (I’m collecting all the plastic I use while I’m in the truck to see how much I use and how much I can improve.) I am really trying to live more simply, more consciously, more appreciatively. It makes you realise how much we don't need things. We don’t need to wash our clothes as much. We don't need to shower so often. We don’t need screens. No TVs, phones, laptops! We don't need internet at our fingertips. We don’t need electricity. These things are useful but not necessities. There are always alternative ways of doing things. 

I am enjoying this life. I have more time and more freedom. I feel more free. I felt claustrophobic in Brighton. And I also felt a bit lonely. I was surrounded by people and things to do and see. But I still felt lonely. Overwhelmed. Here, in the truck, I am alone, but not lonely. I have no expectations here. It is how it is. I am happy to just be. 

I am so thankful for the experiences I have had over the last year. I am now understanding myself more. I need my own space. I need to spend time alone. I like hands on things. I enjoy chopping wood for a fire. I enjoy going to collect water. I enjoy slow-cooking. I enjoy waiting for the kettle to boil to have a cup of tea. I enjoy living out of town. I enjoy getting up half an hour earlier and driving to work. 

I’ve come full circle. This is how I grew up. Simply. Slowly. It is familiar. It is comforting. And it is how I want to continue to live. I am making plans in my head. Things to do when I return to Australia. And happiness is my priority.

Black & White Snaps.

Colour Photographs.