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Published: January 29th 2007
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The following may seem like quite a random collection of thoughts, and they mostly are, but it's all stuff I've been thinking about a lot over the last couple of weeks (and I've had a LOT of alone time to think) so I guess in that way it's all pretty relevant to my state of mind at the moment. It's introspective stuff, so apologies if you were hoping for a detailed entry about Melbourne and I hope you'll indulge me a little navel-gazing just this once.
Lately I've been feeling strangely disconnected from travelling and it didn't take me long to figure out why. I have spent pretty much the last few weeks with just Stuart, which has been pretty testing as we didn't end up having the great road trip experience in New Zealand that either of us hoped it would be and I spent most of the time feeling lonely, tired, angry, upset or depressed (or a combination of all of them). There were good moments but unfortunately I just couldn't often bring myself out of my malaise long enough to truly appreciate them. But, blah blah blah I'll shut up about all that now - onwards and
upwards!
Although I didn't come away with the notion of 'finding myself' (whatever that cliched expression means), I am certainly learning a lot more about myself than I thought I would, and I am discovering some things that are surprising and some that are not. For example, travelling has really highlighted to me something that my subconscious had long known about - that I am rather sensitive to my companions' moods, and if they are feeling unhappy or negative then I instantly pick up on that and that feeling often overwhelms me. But I know this is not unique to me; I know many people who experience the same and I guess it is partly this that makes us human. the ability to empathise and be sensitive to the environment we are in. But I guess the heightened experience of travelling really makes this much more noticeable, and I'm certainly more aware of it than I ever have been. Hence the importance of surrounding myself with positive energy!
Another thing I have learned about myself is that, after years of thinking the opposite, I have discovered that I am much more of a city person than I ever
Melbourne Skyline at sunset
It looks like these high-rise buildings are on fire, but it's just the sun reflecting in their windows thought I was. I love being in the countryside, in the mountains, in the lakes, but I also love the feeling of being in a city and having so much variety and diversity at my fingertips. This is something that I never appreciated or took full advantage of during my time in London, and something that, if ever I find myself living in a city again, I certainly won't take for granted. For example, I experienced something I can only describe as great joy when walking around Adelaide's Central Market the other day, looking at all the different people and all the hundreds of stalls selling everything anyone could possibly want, and more. What a fantastic place to be able to go to - it certainly leaves the need for a supermarket hanging in a somewhat redundant fashion.
This apparent love of cities has also given me a renewed appreciation of our own dear capital. Now, those of you who know me well are also well aware of the unpleasant taste that living in London for five years left in my mouth. But now, visiting some great cities and some less-than-great ones has made me realise how
cool a
city London is. Really. Seeing myself write that comes as as much a surprise to me as it does to some of you, believe me! And my negative experience there was not so much down to
where I was (although I still maintain, and always will, that Harrow is a soulless sh*thole and I will never go back there), but rather
who I was when I was there. And I am a vastly changed person now.
I'm not sure what any of this means, if indeed it means much at all. And I don't know whether these discoveries will amount to anything or lead me down a different path to the one I have been travelling on. And I daresay if they do I won't realise it anyway, as we rarely think about such things when we make decisions. But it feels good to realise that I am still learning new things, still growing and changing and (hopefully) improving. To live life to its fullest in this way, without stagnation and with constant surprises, is a blessing.
So, now I have got
that out of my system and out of the way, more about my time in Melbourne
and Adelaide . . .
I was in Melbourne for just over a week and in that time I did, well, very little. My visit happened to coincide with the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne Park, so although I woke up every morning with the full intention of spending the day sightseeing, I rarely made it further than the sofa. The tennis was too good to miss! As you will see from the pictures, I actually spent one day at the tennis. For the bargain price of $29, I got to spend the whole day at Melbourne Park, watching Hingis, Molik, Murray, Sharapova and Davydenko play. It was the best day I had had in a long time, and so much fun. Andy Murray's match was obviously the highlight of my day, and, my goodness, if that boy isn't winning majors in a couple of years' time I'll eat my hat. Or something.
I did do a couple of touristy things while I was in town, one of which was a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria (International), which is a huge and fascinating building with some fabulous exhibitions - I'm getting really into visiting art
galleries on this trip, and I particularly love it when they have good photography exhibitions.
The other trip I made was an organised 'Neighbours' tour (I know, but I just
had to!), which showed myself and a load of other British tourists such historical sights as 'Erinsborough High School', the studios where they film most of the scenes, and Ramsay Street itself (which is an awful lot smaller in real life than they make it look on TV). It was very exciting, especially when we were greeted on the bus by none other than Alan Fletcher, aka Dr Karl Kennedy. I swear the girl sitting behind me nearly wet herself. It was a very cheesy morning, but it was never going to be anything else, and it was a bit of a must-do for me, having been a fan of the soap pretty much since it began in the mid-to-late '80s.
Those are pretty much the highlights of my time in Melbourne so far, although I will be spending a few more days there this week. Now the tennis has finished I should be able to get out and about a bit more while I'm there!
I
am writing this entry in Adelaide, where I have been for the past 4 days or so. Adelaide: city of churches (there does seem to be an inordinate amount of them in the city - supply must outweigh demand, I'm sure); city of amazingly and unnecessarily huge, wide, multi-laned roads (again a supply outweighing demand problem - there just aren't
that many cars here). There are some lovely green spaces here, one of which I spent Australia Day relaxing and sunning myself in, and the Art Gallery of Southern Australia was a good place to visit. I also spent this afternoon wandering around the fantastic Tandanya, the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. Apart from this, my time in Adelaide has been restful (which for various reasons I needed it to be) and after 4 or so days here I feel more like myself again, which is marvellous. I walked down the street this morning with a renewed spring in my step and everything looked strangely clearer than it has in a while. It has also been great being back in a hostel again, even if it is the noisiest one I have stayed in so far! Hanging out with some fellow
travellers again has been rejuvenating. I will have happy memories of Adelaide, and I don't think one can ask for much more than that.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Yay, Karl Kennedy! I think I would have wet myself too, along with Richard Madley, hes my fave wrinkly pin up! love terry