For a Love of Australia

So after spending a total of five months and one week overseas this year- in amazing places such as (four months, working at summer camps and traveling) the States, and five weeks throughout Europe (England, Scotland, France and Germany) with a base in London, I have come to an even greater appreciation for my home country. Many people may find this funny as if you happen to know me even a little bit, you know I am always planning my next travel adventure, often before I’ve even been on the one that is coming up. My good friend Luke was laughing at me the other night when we caught up for dinner when I was talking about maybe staying in Perth for a little while and getting some money finally, commenting something along the lines of “you only ever stay in Perth long enough to get enough money to leave again.” Which in all fairness I suppose is true.

In my defense I blame my parents for my gypsy blood, who made sure I caught the travel bug at an early age, and whose fault I am sure it is for my seeming inability to stay happily in one place for more than two years.

But I DO happen to LOVE my country (and yes that totally did deserve capitals!) I love that I am able to call myself an Aussie (pronounced ozzy for any American’s that may be reading this, you can massacre every other word of ours and I will simply laugh, but PLEASE don’t massacre the word that sums up who we are! In this I find I am a little bit patriotic, a word I only ever really use in relation to American’s. Go figure) Anyway, there I go off on another tangent again...

I was lucky enough to be born in this amazing country ‘Down Under’ where sarcasm reigns, where people work hard, and play hard. A country where when a crisis arises in the world somewhere we dig deep and give all we can. A place of so many deadly things that I was often told in my travels that it’s amazing that I have lived to reach my twenties! A place filled with unique and rugged beauty. With beaches that rival the tropics, beautiful rainforests, magnificent gorges that hold so many wonders. Red dirt that clings to everything in sight, flat expanses that go on for as far as the eye can see. The white trunks of Eucalyptus trees that fill the air with their scent. The snowtops in south-east Aus, where you can have four seasons in one day (*cough* Melbourne), and the beautiful warm sunshine that reaches every corner of this amazing land. Where we have twisted and shortened and massacred the language called English and made it so much our own that those from other places who speak English can barely recognise any of the words that are used. (I still find myself explaining words like ‘sook’ ‘D&M’ ‘arvo’ ‘devo’ ‘boofhead’ and many more to those around me, then I realise that they know what these are and I don’t need to try to explain - and fail as I often do. However if i start saying, “that means....” then please just excuse my insanity for the time being, I’m sure it shall pass)

So if you have not had the pleasure of experiencing Australia then I suggest that you plan a visit to our gorgeous shores, and if you are an Aussie and have yet to travel through our extensively amazing country then get of your lazy backsides and DO IT! My first big trip as a kid was when I was seven. My parents, God forever bless them, sold our house, bought a caravan and we proceeded to spend the next year traveling around Aus, stopping where we felt like it and ended up living in beautiful Broome for a few months before coming back to Perth for 9 or so months then moving to America (explains a lot doesn’t it?) But this trip gave me something other than the travel bug I have happily lived with since. It gave me understanding and appreciation and a deep love for my roots. This beautiful and diverse country that I come from will always go with me in my heart and is such a big part of who I am. I don’t think you can truly understand where it is you have come from until you have delved extensively into it and then left and came back. Until you have done so, how will you ever really appreciate it or anywhere else for that matter? so get out there, visit Melbourne with its European like ‘arty’ atmosphere, Sydney with its iconic Harbour bridge and Opera house, Cairns and Surfers Paradise, the Gold and Sunshine coasts with their beautiful beaches and great surfing the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsundays. Down south WA- Esperance and its white squeaky sand, wineries and fantastic surfing at Margaret River, Coral bay and the incredible Ningaloo Reef, Broome and the Kimberley’s housing the wondrous Bungle bungle’s. And of course, Uluru- the red heart of Australia.