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Published: March 30th 2006
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Sydney we greet like an old friend. We've never visited previously but it is so relaxing and easy you feel like you've been before. We slip into gentle lazy patterns; reading for hours; surfing an endless net (broadband connected computer in our room - Steve is very happy); eating fabulously well at the local cafes and browsing all the secondhand bookshops on our road (thanks for the recommendation Jo, Glebe is right up our street).
Despite the comfort of our motel (in Oz, motels don't have any of the shabby connotations you get in the UK, they are actually very plush) we have ventured out to do all those things you can't leave Sydney before you have seen. We took in a play at the Sydney Opera House, strolled through the Botanical Gardens, admired Sydney Harbour Bridge, took the ferry to Manly one day, and another to Watson's Bay where we enjoyed a great seafood lunch at Doyles (who have monopolised the whole bay with no less than four restaurants, it's hard to eat anywhere else!). We've sampled the posher (Paddington) and the seedier sides (Kings Cross - is there something inherent in that name that leads to neon lit
debauchery?). We met up with Bec (who used to work at Capital Carers a few years back) and her boyfriend Brendan for a great meal. Today, our final full day, was spent in the Blue Mountains. They were indeed very blue (all down to Rayleigh's scattering apparently, I will leave the interested to google).
I have even officially aged here - turning 31. My generous husband (with our shared travelling funds) took me out shopping to Sydney's shopping centre and told me I could buy whatever I wanted. Anyone who knows Steve will know this to be a great sacrifice on his part, and a true concession to my happiness. Usually, his idea of shopping is to click on a mouse and wait for the postman. If found in a shop that doesn't sell DVDs or computer parts, his face takes on a forlorn injured look, and he will follow me round, dangerously close on my heels until I give in and leave. But, not this day, I would stop short of saying he looked interested but he certainly gave a convincing performance of not looking in pain. Despite extensive searching however, nothing in Sydney could tempt me. I
think I must have undergone 6 months of operant conditioning. Every time I buy something, I know at the back of my mind I will have to carry it. Maybe I will never recover from the 'weighing up' of any product (will this be the thing I buy that when added to my rucksack will finally cripple me?). This began ever since early days in Cambodia when I fell over in the street, and was stuck on my back with my legs in the air awaiting rescue (it took all the might of a laughing Steve and a bemused local to haul me and my possessions upright again).
Tomorrow we fly out and begin a rather long journey home. The man on the shore with the megaphone is telling us our time is up, but we'll row back with a broad smile. We've been let off the leash for a damn fine run. True, this tree smells good but home is the other direction. TS Eliott wrote that the whole point of a journey was to come back to the place you left and see it for the first time. Henry Milled intoned that "One’s destination is never a
place, but a new way of seeing things". Even from early days, a substantial part of our musings have always been about home; the people, places and things we love. Those dear elements that make up our world. This was never lost on us, however varied, exotic and exciting the sights before us. Knowing this more clearly than before, it will be all the more special to return.
In summing up this blog, I would report that I have not only survived 6 months with Steve as my constant companion, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel this bodes well for the long years ahead! For my husband's part, in a sentimental moment he remarked, "there is no such thing as spending too much time with my wife." He says that now. I am sure 7 months would have done him in.
Couldn't quite say that I have learnt as much about my new husband as the countries that we have seen for the first time. After all, I have had 6 years to grow accustomed to his strange habits and social idiosyncracies, unlike India or China who pounce from behind when you are looking the other way. But
Bearing All
Bears bearing artistic works from all nations, Sydney Harbour maybe these travels have been as much about each other as the places we have been. These have been good times, happy days. The best gift any girl can ask for: time, space, a wonderfully exotic backdrop and fabulous company. It beats several toasters and the dodgy lampshade with no receipt. An unconventional wedding gift no doubt, but one that will stay with us until we are too senile to remember anymore. Maybe we will never have the chance again to spend such wonderfully undiluted time together. The next opportunity may well be the retirement leg, but by then our tastes may well have changed and we will head to Bournemouth or Scarborough for our excitement. Any of you, out there, still gamely hanging on for this, our final instalment, who contributed in some way to the life of riley we have made our own for the last 6 months, a big THANK YOU. It really has been all it's cracked up to be (can you say that? Who knows!).
***
"We should consider every day lost in which we do not dance at least once" -Nietzsche
"One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it's
left behind." -Charles Dickens
"Eat dessert first : life is uncertain." -Anonymous
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Clare
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Thank You
Dearest Steve and Martine. Thank you so much for an utterly entertaining account of your travels. It's been so great to be able to keep tabs on where you have been, and somehow has made your time away from home not seem so long. Now you're coming back, it only seems like yesterday that you were bidding us farewell! Bon voyage, and we're looking forward to seeing you very soon and introducing you to Cosmo. Felix still recognises you from the photos, so your fears of being forgotten have proved to be unfounded! And last, but definitely not least, thank you for introducing David to the concept of soapy zorbing. His life (and consequently, mine) will never be the same again. xx