Lets start with a bit of an update since my last update. I returned from Buller to my adopted Australian home of Melbourne. My past week has been an astonishing completion to my time in Australia. I don't think I could've scripted a better ending to my 6 months in this country.
Tuesday: Upon returning to town I met up with a new friend and went out for deep fried ice cream at one of the fine local eatery's in Chinatown. After shutting down the restaurant (the night after shutting down the bar on Buller) I made a chivalrous attempt to ensure she got home safely, which resulted in me walking across downtown and Carlton Gardens after the trams had stopped running.
Wednesday: I started the day by cleaning up some technicalities before touring the local libraries. After that I went for dinner with my new friend and then a nice jaunt (or walk) along St Kilda beach until all hours of the morning. Normally 'all hours of the morning' for me that would be past midnight, but this was past the last public transportation time, to the point where I debated just waiting for the first tram in the morning. I settled on taking a cab instead. That was a fun night.
(Nope, not a single photo)
Thursday: After not-anywhere-near-enough sleep, I moved out to the suburbs with a friend from the Grand Prix. I managed to stay awake long enough to move, say goodbye to my new friend (moral of that story is that meeting awesome people right before you leave is REALLY hard), met up with another friend from the Grand Prix, travelled around the eastern suburbs, went up Mt Dandenong, ate a chicken parm, and make it back in time to meet my new two-day roommate.
Friday: Woke up early to pick up a hire car with my old friend from the GP and we headed off on a day long tour of the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne. After getting mildly sidetracked by a GPS set to take dirt roads (fool me once...) we quickly made it to the coast and began to appreciate how the road received its title. Later on we made the 3 hour return trip in the darkness.
Saturday: Got up after my second consecutive good sleep and moved back into the city for my last night in the country. After getting settled back in I made the executive decision to go see my (self-choosen) favorite footie team play instead of the match of the season featuring the two best teams. What I got was a crowd under 15,000 and my team getting throttled by a supposedly inferior opponent. Good call by me.
So that leads me to right now. Here I am. Staring at my screen, wondering what it all means. And I have no idea. I don't know how to make any sense of how lucky I am to have seen everything I have; how sad I am to leave behind all the amazing people I have met along the way; how excited I am to keep on traveling; how pumped I am to get home to see my friends and family; and how I am going to keep my emotions together through all of those things.
This last week has exemplified some of the very best of what traveling can offer; meeting great people, seeing great places, and experiencing amazing things. And at the same time it has reinforced some of the hardest things about traveling; worrying about what life will be like when you get home, remembering some of your new favorite places that will only be remembered by photographs from now on, and most importantly leaving behind people you care about without knowing when you will see them again.
But despite the inevitable emotional roller coaster that being through these things lead to, it is incredibly satisfying to just feel new feelings over and over again. Happy. Sad. Excited. Scared. Something new almost everyday. Here's to a few more months of that. Cheers.
PS I swear I'm not crying right now. I was...uh...cutting onions.
i wish you get a movie deal ... lol
ReplyDeleteLiving vicariously through you my friend.
ReplyDeleteKelly