Home Soil

First evidence of 'home', complete with bogan Aussie!

It's real - me and my trusty blue jumper (and trusty backpack and trusty hiking boots and trusty everything else) have hit MELBOURNE! The best part was that my luggage arrived with me!!!

After 164 days overseas, it was time for me to head back to Australian shores. I can't express how much I enjoyed my holiday. It was a true blessing from the Lord, to have the freedom of time to explore just a little bit more of His spectacular creation.

I left South Africa with mixed feelings - it was sad to see my journey coming to an end but also exciting to see my family again. Going back to Tassie meant that I would see Mum and Dad and my brothers again. But not my sister. So it's wouldn't be a complete family reunion! This had been on my mind a little during my stay in Edinburgh so I decided to spontaneously book a trip to Canberra.

That turned out to be a brilliant idea!! It meant that I would be able to extend my trip that little bit longer and 'put off' the big return to Tassie. I did want to come home but I was feeling a little hesitant about landing back in Tassie and picking up where I left off. It also would mean the end of a dream and the beginning of a big decision making process. In a way, I could start my life over! No job and no commitments means that you can do whatever you like! Scary stuff :) You don't want to blow it :)

My trip back home was much longer than it should have been. I left Cape Town to fly to Johannesburg, but rather than flying straight across the Indian Ocean to Perth I diverted to Dubai instead.... this was compliments of Emirates Airlines who always go through their 'home' (Dubai) when flying around the world. My flight ended up being 43 hours or something ridiculous like that (including transfer times). It wasn't so bad though - I sat next to some really lovely people, chatted a bit, watched more movies than I had all year combined, slept a little and got used to the fact that I was actually going to land in AUSTRALIA.

Hitting Melbourne was rather unique. I must say that Australian accents sound rather strange (read: terrible) after being away for so long. Don't get me wrong, I'd met plenty of Aussies overseas, I'd hung out with Aussies and I'd certainly kept my strong Aussie accent (much to the humour of my South African relatives!), but when you're bombarded by the Australian twang at every turn, your ears start to curl and you notice how absolutely Australian Aussies sound - there's no escaping it - or the fact that your home! Those of you who have travelled will understand exactly what I mean! Let's just say, I suddenly understood perfectly what amused the van den Berg's so much :) :) :)

Rather than taking my connecting flight from Melbourne to head south, I headed north - to Canberra. I was pretty excited to see my sister again and was rather pleased that, despite all of those travelling hours and lack of showering, I actually didn't look like death!

I bounced off the plane in Canberra, ready to run into the arms of my gorgeous sister, only to find that the airport was distinctly empty of any relative of mine.... Oh well.... just get luggage then. After 164 days, that darling girl couldn't even get to the airport on time!!

I collected my baggage, did a few laps of the Canberra airport until I finally spotted Lauren looking around and not seeing me, so I yelled, "After all of this time, you couldn't even make it to the airport to meet me!!" Cue lots of screaming, exclamations, hugs and full bore chatting! That pretty much didn't stop for most of the week :)

We had an absolute blast together - one of the best diversion trips I've ever had! Love you sis xx