Thought I'd start this entry with a bit of cuteness...
Sooo many wallabies at once!
And they seem to be just as interested in us as we are in them...
Today marks the last day of our holiday days off. Three days
turned into five, but no complaints here ;)
The last days at work were as every other, except that less
and less people showed up and the fruit got more and more ripe. We ended up
outside our VHT-comfort and back in the heat for the last day and then happily
drove off into the sunset, knowing we wouldn’t have to wake up early, get out
of bed, prepare food etc…
Rachel and Tarn left work and went straight to family Christmas
business, so we came home to an empty house. You know you’ve found great
housemates, when you miss them before even stepping through the gate. We
realized that this time around, our working experience is not only closer to us
because we “feel” our jobs more, but also because this time around, we don’t
feel like the typical backpackers and have made more local connections. Aside
from our short time camping out in front of the shed in Katherine, we’ve always
had our own four walls or shared them with Aussies. Every time we talk to other
backpackers and are asked about our plans here in Oz, it’s all about work,
visiting some friends and then starting our “real” travels in Asia. The
excitement about discovering and exploring an unknown land is replaced by a
warm comfort of being back in a place where we spent some of the best times of
our lives. Re-visiting memories and building new ones. It’s still an adventure
and it’s still incredibly fun, but there’s a certain feeling of safety and less
nervousness than four years ago.
We have also been extraordinarily lucky this time around. I
mean, we have had work for the last three months, we live in a beautiful house
and have had no larger hiccups. And for the first time in a while, we had the
house to ourselves AND no work! And man, did we make use of it ;) From the 24th
till this very moment, the couch has been occupied by our lazy bums. Staying in
bed till hunger drives us out, preparing wonderful meals, watching movies and
series (Btw, why have I only discovered Newsroom now? What an amazing show!) ,
short shopping trips for “special stuff” (such as baguette for breakfast, a
chocolate bar, a bottle of wine) and an afternoon in our backyard getting some
sun, reading and watching the colorful parrots in our mango tree – that is what
our holidays were made of. And it has been BEAUTIFUL!
Christmas Eve was a charming little fail. After a
wonderfully lazy day, we got ready for our planned steak dinner out with a good
friend of ours who was coming from a caravan park. For the first time in a few
months, I put on jeans, earrings and make-up – and didn’t recognize myself! We
walked down the empty streets of Ayr looking for a place that had been
suggested to us. When we finally found it, it seemed like the entire youth of
Ayr-suburbia had gathered there, all dolled up and ready to party. And despite
just wanting a steak, we had to show ID, which Moe had forgotten. So after
walking back home and finally being let in, we sat around for a while laughing
at us sitting in a bistro/pub with extremely loud music pumping in the
background, everyone basically screaming at each other and girls in very revealing
clothes running around us – on Christmas Eve. And then… the kitchen was closed
for the night. And so was the Steak house down the street, the pub at the
corner, the Chinese restaurant and the Indian restaurant. So what do you do
when you can’t get your steak dinner on Xmas? Yes, you go to Domino’s Pizza and
make your Christmas calls home in the parking lot waiting for your 5$ Value
Pizza.
It ended up a very nice evening though with some drinks and
good conversation sitting outside with Maren and a friend of hers. And after
calculating three time differences (yes, we have managed to be on 4 different
continents and put as much distance between each other as possible this year)
and talking to the family, we were happy to put all that Christmas madness
behind us.
Tomorrow we go back to work and will probably continue on
till mid January. And then… who knows (like I said, this is still an adventure)
:)
I hope all of you had happy holidays, spent with delightful
people, ate amazing food (because in the end, that’s what it’s all about
anyways) and spread some holiday cheer! Enjoy the last few days of 2014 and
“Guten Rutsch”! See you in 2015 :)
Here some pictures of our holidays:
Beautiful Breakfast.
TV-Dinner Deluxe.
And I mean Deeeluxe! Making up for our Christmas Eve pizza.
Our backyard. A rare sighting of Mo hanging up laundry!
Our mango tree and bird congregation place.
Happy Campers :)
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