Sydney Part 2

With minds made up we were now able to spend the next 10 days or so enjoying being in Sydney, catching up with family and friends, as well as making the most of beach life and the famous Aussie coffee.

Our time in Sydney coincided with our friend Gemma’s 30^th birthday celebrations, and so we spent a sunny Sydney Saturday relaxing on the deck of a catamaran, with cold beers, tunes playing and some Doyle’s fish and chips before we jumped off the boat, with a little more grace than I did in Halong bay, to have a much needed cooling off in the sea. It was great to spend time with Ian and Kate and meet Gemma’s boyfriend Dave as well as the huge number of new friends they have made in the 2 years they have spent in Australia (only one Aussie amongst them). It was a great day with a little too much sun and a little too much beer but lots of laughs.

As a Christmas present, Sue and Tony had bought Jill and I surf lessons on Manly beach. I had attempted to surf once, while a little hungover during my stag weekend in Cornwall, Jill had never had a lesson, so we signed the beginner box on the form and headed out with our huge foam boards towards the waves. It was a rain filled morning and the wind lashed the spray into our faces off the sea. The water looked dark and ominous, but in we waded, with our instructors words of encouragement still ringing in our ears. The first wave came, and with a gentle shove from Brad the intructor I was off, the water pushing me on, I got my feet planted, I began to stand and then in a flash I was flying head first into the sea my board shooting off in the opposite direction!

After spending 10 minutes trying to get back out past the breaking waves I was ready to give it another go. I got the shove, I got the feet planted, I rose . . . and I was away! For the longest 10 seconds of my life I was riding the wave and grinning like an idiot. I caught the next couple of wave as well and was bursting with confidence. I met Jill out in the water and we compared our experiences, she too had managed to ride one, just as briefly, but they all count! After 2 hours of paddling out and attempting to surf back in we were spent, but by the time we reached the surf club we had decided that another lesson was needed before we left. We booked a lesson for Thursday, 4 days to recover would be perfect we thought. Unfortunately, the night before lesson number 2, my lack of balance and general coordination in football left me with what I initially thought was a broken wrist, the prospect of paddling on, or pushing myself up off the surfboard looked unlikely. And so it was left to Jill to show the Aussie’s how it’s done.

We woke to a gloriously sunny morning, Jill went on ahead to get herself sorted I followed behind as official photographer. By the time I reached the beach they were already in the water and with the silhouettes of surfers against the sun-bleached sea it was difficult to pick out Jill. Surfers came and went before I finally saw her preparing for a wave, she looked over her shoulder, she paddled hard, she got the encouraging shove, she planted her feet, she rose, she grinned and then she adopted the signature surfers pose, one arm straight out in front, the other at shoulder height, bent and also pointing at the beach. She came in bubbling with enthusiasm and was straight out again. Again I lost her on the bright sea. Then I spotted her, this was a HUGE wave, she paddled, and then vanished. The board shot up in the air, no bobbing Jill appeared, seconds went by, still no Jill, another wave broke, still no Jill, then a head and shoulders broke the surface with a shocked expression. The drowned rat plodded in, knocked by every wave as she came, she looking shaken and breathless. “That’s it I’m done!” she declared. After 5 minutes of deep breaths, in through the nose out through the mouth and envious glances at those still surfing it was concluded that this couldn’t be her last wave. So out she went. Again I lost her. I watched on as a silhouette paddled, it planted it’s feet, it rose, it adopted the surfers pose, in it came, closer and closer to the beach, the only feature visible was a beaming smile which broke into a full on laugh, she continued in, arms raised in celebration, she hopped off the board as it reached the sand, the perfect wave!

Our time in Australia was coming to an end, and with only one weekend left we thought it would be a great opportunity to get out of Sydney and spend some time with the Kinner’s. So on Thursday evening we picked up a hire car, had a great meal with Ian and Kate in Surrey Hills before heading back to pack. We woke early on Friday and finished filling the cars with stoves, eski’s, camping tables, tents and much much more.

After 3 hours driving north, guided by Ken our sat-nav, we arrived at Sandbar campsite overlooking Smiths Lake. It was a great spot, a ten minute walk from the beach, a short drive from numerous other amazing, white sand and near deserted beaches. On our arrival we set about the task of putting up Sue and Tony’s tent. A huge structure with multiple sleeping areas. It dwarfed most of the places we had stayed in over the past 4 months. Ben had been getting increasingly excited about the prospect of sausages and after an hour of tent building and a quick explore of the nearest beach we thought it was time to get the camping stove on for some much needed grub. As we sat and chatted we were interrupted by an odd ‘whhhooosh’ sound coming from the stove. To our surprise we looked to see it in flames. After three attempts to make it work and three more small fires we were left to accept that we would not be cooking our dinner that night. We set out in search of food and returned sheepishly to the campsite with pizza.

We woke to the sound to kookaburras and lorikeets at dawn and as the sun rose so did the temperature in the tent. We spent the next couple of day visiting the nearby beaches and cooking on our borrowed barbeque. It was great to spend time with Sue, Tony and Ben and get to know them all a little better. Since being with Jill I have never lived in the same country as them and so I needed to take advantage of the short time we had in Australia.

We returned to Sydney and had a meal together, joined by Michael, who had been unable to make the camping trip because of wisdom tooth issues. It was a really nice way to end our time in Australia. In the morning Sue drove us to the airport where we would catch a flight to our final destination before home. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, knowing that it would be quite some time before we would see them again, Jill and Sue shed a few tears while Ben wondered what was happening, there were hugs all round and then we were off. It was nice to think that after the sad goodbyes of Sydney we would be seeing friends and family soon, but before all of that we had a couple of days in Singapore to enjoy.

Relaxing with Ian on Gemma's 30th

Jill rides the surf on a sunny Aussie morning.

Jill enjoying the last wave of the morning.

Ben, Jill and Bobby camping

Sue and Ben enjoying some long overdue sausages

Me and Ben being silly

A typical Smiths Lake envening

Ben and Tony at sunset.

Sydney Part 1

As we flew towards our penultimate destination, the friendly pilot’s voice came over the PA system informing us that it was going to be a warm day in Sydney – a balmy 45 degrees! Now I know we had been acclimatising ourselves for the Australian summer for the past 4 months, but even so, that sounded hot! In our defence a newspaper described Saturday 5^th March as the day the city melted.

We had a warm welcome (no pun intended) from my sister, brother in-law and 2 year-old nephew Ben (who I am officially obsessed with,) and were delighted that he instantly declared “Jill”, “George” when we walked into their flat (good coaching skills Sue!) We were invited back to theirs for a BBQ on the balcony overlooking the stunning Manly beach later that evening, and went off to settle into our room, which was very kindly provided by Michael. We were going to be in Sydney for 3 weeks and actually felt like we could catch our breath and have a little bit of a normal life. The idea of being able to make a cup of tea for ourselves and even pour our own cereal in the morning was alarmingly exciting.

One of the reasons we added Sydney to our travel itinerary was the fact that we could spend time with some of our closest friends and of course my sister’s family who we hadn’t seen in far too long. It was wonderful to catch up with Ian and Kate – who are looking way too healthy, relaxed and sun-kissed from their time living in near the beach – and to meet their friends who are sharing their Sydney lifestyle. We were welcomed like old friends and invited to drinks at the stunning location of the Opera Bar. It was lovely to catch up with Amanda too, who seems to be thriving in the city and enjoy a couple of glasses of wine.

Our objective for the next 3 weeks was to find out how feasible it was going to be to get sponsorship to live and work in Sydney and to then decide whether we wanted to do that, or return to live in England. That will be easy we thought.....how wrong we were! The reality was in fact 2 weeks of turmoil with our minds changing almost daily. We felt like we were auditioning Sydney and every time we did anything we were asking ourselves if we could see this as our life. It actually got to the point of drawing up a pro’s and con’s list (for which both Sydney and England had countless pro’s)

Whilst in the process of making the ‘Big Decision’ we took every opportunity to enjoy being Auntie Jill and Uncle George in the flesh rather than virtually via Skype. We readily accepted the challenge of a whole day of babysitting and spent the day at the zoo with Ben. We quickly assumed a tag-team formation with one of us pushing the buggie whilst the other ran after Ben pointing out various animals and averting disaster. We were exhausted, but satisfied at the end of the day when we had passed every test – he’d eaten at all the right times, napped and even had a very pooey nappy changed – phew!

We both managed to arrange interviews for jobs in Sydney and were surprised to find that it would definitely be possible to get sponsorship and therefore visas to live in the country. We realised that it was impossible for us to make up our minds and so decided to leave it to fate – if we were offered jobs we would take them, and if not, well, we would be happy to head home to London. This seemed like a perfect solution until I was actually offered a position and told that I would be living in Sydney in less than 2 months. Reality hit like a ton of bricks and it was then that we realised we couldn’t do it – England was home and that’s where we wanted to be. It goes without saying that we would miss family and friends in Sydney, but our decision was made – we were going to stay in England.