Sydney I'll Come Running

It's my last day in Australia.  I've just been bumming around Sydney trying to take it all in.  

In my one nod to my chosen profession, yesterday I took the ferry to Manly beach and stopped by Adriano Zumbo's patisserie.  It was the perfect day for lounging around drinking coffee and eating sweets.  And then hiking up to the top of the sea cliffs for views of Sydney.

Prior to that I spent the weekend in the Blue Mountains hiking around.  All this hiking!  Don't worry, there have been sandwiches and meat pies aplenty to keep me going.  It was freezing in the mountains, but the hostel I stayed in had a fireplace and a cat, who was reluctantly available for snuggles.  

Now I'm just doing all the things I love about Sydney one last time: my final visit to the botanic gardens (naptime!), a last trip to the library (no really, it's awesome), and a flat white or three.

I'm sad to be going - there's still so much I didn't get to see or do - but I'm excited to be heading to Seoul and to a friend.  There are only so many times you can have the what's your name/where are you from/how long are you traveling conversation before you just start to make shit up.  And then live in fear that you won't remember what you made up.

I am equally exited about going home (CATS!!!), freaked out (employment, wherefore art thou?), and plotting my next escapade.  In the meantime, it's naptime.

And then there was one (week left)

How did this happen?  Didn't I just get here?  Where did the time go?

I'M NOT READY TO LEAVE!

But that's how it goes, my lovelies.  I am down to my last week in Oz.

I'm back in Sydney after braving the outback and seeing a very big red rock.  There are stories to tell and situations to be sorted.

I didn't climb to the top of Uluru.  I was contemplating it on the ride out there and the trail was open, a rarity.  But then I saw the path and after the Mt Wellington sufferfest, I thought my time would be better spent circumnavigating the rock instead of battling the enthusiastic flies and relentless sun while trying not to fall off. The path is practically vertical and Catherines are clumsy and lacking in adhesive material in the feet and hands.  So yeah.

The base walk was beautiful; being able to see the different perspectives was amazing.  No regrets.

So how to spend the last week?  I'm headed out to the Blue Mountains this weekend (train ride!) and then my last few days in Sydney.  Then I'm out.

It feels so unreal.

Some Cogitation

It's been a quiet few weeks for the mobile worldwide Noms HQ.  There's been a lot of reading and yoga.  And coffee - though that probably goes without saying.

So what have I been doing?  Walking around and exploring neighborhoods and public gardens, both in Hobart and Melbourne.  And hanging out at the library.  Honestly, the Victoria State Library has become my second home; I want to move in here.  Truthfully, I've been looking for the quiet; mostly I've just wanted to reflect: on travels and on news I've gotten from home.

When I was living in DC I worked at a nightclub where every band that mattered played.  You think I'm joking?  Sure, whatever flavor of the month graced the stage, but so did Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and James Brown.  It was an unparalleled musical education and everyone who worked there was both awesome and slightly unhinged.  I fit right in.

More than any other place I've worked, it felt like family.  Even now, three thousand miles away and a decade later, I still keep in touch with most of them.  Which is why it hurt so much to find out one of them had died.  Worse still, he was one of the most enthusiastic and happy people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and he leaves behind his wife (also a friend) and their two kids.  It's sad when anyone leaves the party before you think they should, but this feels especially cruel: like he left right as it was getting good.

The same day I found out that I'm going to be an auntie once again, for the third time.  So this holiday season there will be not one, but two new McNultys in the world - you've been warned.

So it goes.