She's BACK!

But not really with a vengeance. Just happiness!

Tried to find the most Australian photo I had. Note from hair length that this photo is... old. Anyway. Straya!

I've been trying to readjust to a totally different rhythm. Staying in the same city for more than four days. Sleeping in the same bed every night, and not changing time zones. Having a shower whenever I please. Using a diary to keep appointments.


It's weird yet pleasant. I'm seeing family and friends again (and lots!) I'm sharing time with my cat. I'm visiting my local libraries and stocking up on delicious reads. I'm cooking.

More like it! Cycling to my grandma's place on a sunny spring day.

However, I've been alternating between completely stressing myself out with trying to set up a life again, and chiding myself when I do take some time out to relax (gosh this weekend was pleasant).


Perhaps I should take some tips from when I last came home after living in France?
Any advice?

This is it.

My final night overseas.

I'm in Paris. It's bliss.

Thank you to all who have made my year abroad so special. You know who you are.

See you on the flip side (Down Under?!)

I like...

Ooh, September has been a slim month blogwise. Did I mention that I was patting cats across Canada and the USA? Getting lost in secondhand bookshops? Burying my nose in flowers?

Yes. It's been a good month.

Anyway, time for some stuff I dig right now!

• Paw prints in set concrete (and bird prints are pretty sweet too).


• Using the Notes function on my phone. I use it for everything: places to check out in a new city, books to read, life goals, dinner recipes. Now that I've changed it from the default comic sans (ew), we have a very productive relationship.


• Capsicum (bell pepper) in sandwiches. It's crispy and tangy and delicious.


• Coloured pens. They're a bit juvenile I know, but I really like updating my diary with a purple gel pen or an emerald green erasable!


• Having the exact change for the bus. Bliss.

All picked in the lane behind my friend's house. Yum!

• Wild blackberries - but watch out for the prickles! The West Coast was insane for these. YUM!


• The rich, green aroma of forests. Breathe deep.

Right near Beaver Lake in Vancouver.



• Reorganizing the apps on my phone. It feels oddly fresh.


• Related: the app from xe.com (currency exchange) - how did it take me this long (and so many countries) to download it? It works offline!


• Vancouver radio station, The Peak. I hope I can stream it when back home!


• And finally, trying new podcasts. I'm really enjoying Welcome to Night Vale. Perfect for when I want a bit of human company but am too shy to talk to anyone whilst travelling.

Any snippets of happiness you fancy sharing? The next Like List will be from homebase, Australia!

Reluctant

My friends,

You may have noticed some hesitance to post these last few months. Technology notwithstanding (how do other bloggers successfully use their tablets to post? Am I missing something?), I have been reluctant to post lately as I worry about gloating. The Australian self-effacing Tall Poppy thing.

Because if I'm being completely honest? This year has been absolutely amazing.

Sure, there have been some low days and tricky situations, but these have been few and far between.

I have grown so strong these last 12 months. In every way. I'd like to think that I'm in a really healthy place mentally, and able to bounce back to my happy equilibrium after setbacks. My confidence is back (yes, it had disappeared). I am adventurous, curious and enthusiastic about the world around me. My biceps are rippling after carting my backpack all over Japan, Europe and North America.

I have had incredible adventures. I acknowledge just how lucky I am, and am grateful to all the people who have been a part of it. You know who you are.

At the end of the day though, this is my blog, and this is (part of) who I am. If you get tired of my optimism and find my posts too saccharine, that's okay! But I shouldn't let my perceptions of others' opinions affect what I want to write on my blog.

So here we are. I'm in New York for my 27th birthday weekend. I fly to Iceland again, for the fifth time, on Wednesday to be with my handsome Viking for a week. I'm booking an adorable studio apartment for a final long weekend in Paris. And then I'm back home, reunited with my family, friends and cat friend exactly one year after it all began. I have a whole summer to enjoy before I start a new job at the end of January. My boyfriend is coming over for Christmas. I'm going to find a cosy apartment, just for me for next year. So much goodness; so much happiness.

I am blessed.

Thank you for being part of these adventures.

Thank you for still reading even though posting is spotty.

Thank you for being supportive and not thinking I'm a smug jerk.

See you soon.

Ginger for Life

Travel is the perfect opportunity for a bit of introspection, so I thought I'd use the bus ride from Seattle to Portland to start designing my "Life List". You know, those big, lofty goals that you want to achieve sometime in your life.

I'm not particularly good at goal-setting, however. This doesn't mean that I don't achieve things in my life, just that I sometimes have trouble identifying what I want specifically. I guess a lot of it is unconscious processing, solving problems in my sleep, and the direction forward evolving organically.

That is to say, my Life List is looking a bit slim for the moment.

One thing that is on there however, is one day getting a ginger cat. I in no way intend to disrespect my precious current cat, living happily with my parents while I roam the world. But one day, one day, I would like a ginger of my own.

It's funny though, I can't see myself settling down and being able to commit to a cat anytime soon, or even medium-term. I wonder if I'll always be an explorer of the world? Surely the dream of a ginger cat is incompatible with another goal on my Life List of living at least a year somewhere in Asia...

Higher Education

Friends, it has been a really long time since I used my brain powers (for good, not evil). I think I can feel my grey matter turning... grey. Not good!

In an effort to tune back in to the "real world", and prepare myself for an inevitable return (sigh.) I thought I'd look into some learning. Why not take a TEFL course when back in Australia? (for those playing at home, Teaching English as a Foreign Language)


More immediately, and realistically, I have been getting into courses through iTunes University. Astronomy? Yes please! The Science of Happiness? Sure! Calculus refresher? How refreshing!

I'm hoping that downloading these courses - and actually doing them - will stem my inevitable decline...


Have you tried any online learning? Any recommendations?

Time to

More so than before, I feel fragmented, I'm not sure where I am and I never know what's an appropriate time to contact friends.

I'm on the West Coast of North America, and while this is closer to Adelaide time (home!) it also doesn't work out a lot of the time (my middle of the day is their early morning).

A lot of my friends are on the East Coast (of America) and Europe, and my heart is in Iceland.

I haven't been sleeping well/enough.

I'm tired.

I'm homesick.

I think it's time to start making my way back.

Book list

What deliciousness are you reading right now?


I just finished Stephen Fry's autobiography on the train back from Niagara Falls this evening, and then started on Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies".

We could even get a little crazy and add each other on Goodreads - what do you think?

I like...

Well well! It's been a while since I did one of these. (Does anybody else feel that this year is racing to a close?)

I like...

I started reading Arcadia just yesterday, and with so much time in parks and airports I'm almost finished! Enjoyed the dreamy first half perhaps more than the second but we shall see where the story leads.

Salty liquorice. I know it's polarising. I think that Scandinavia (maybe Iceland?!) does it best!

Have started watching Twin Peaks again, (when I have my laptop!)

Chili powder - spices up plain hostel meals!

Burying my face into roses any chance I get. Mmm.

Also been obsessing over hydrangea, ever since overdosing on them in Brittany, France. LOVE their vibrant colours, and how they respond to varying pH of their soil.

LOVE my velcro sneakers - such a smart buy for airport security and hostels that have a slipper policy.

I'd love to hear your current likes (loves?) in the comments below!

A Promise

Before I left for my North American Adventure (Hi Halifax! Hi Montréal! Hi Toronto! Hi Chicago etc etc) I promised myself that I would be organised.

That I would research in advance all the things I like to do while traveling: lovely gardens, secondhand bookshops, weird museums, indie gigs, vegetarian restaurants, libraries, science centres...

That I would book my accommodation well before I arrived.

That I would have all my essential documents printed and easy to hand: insurance, itinerary, useful phone numbers.


Instead, I find myself flying in to Montréal at midnight tonight (not entirely my fault; my flight has been significantly delayed) with a hostel bed booked only a few hours ago (I was just going to roll into town and try my luck, but decided against it due to the late hour) and my itinerary is sitting happily on my laptop hard drive, resting at my boyfriend's place in Iceland.


Will I ever learn? This year of hyperactive travel seems to have made me complacent...