Familiarities…
It is 5:59am here in Australia and I am writing from my dimly lit phone in bed while drinking a short black. Our flight left Vancouver at 11:40pm on Wednesday and we landed at 6:00am on Friday in Brisbane. The pilot was able to shave off an hour and 44 minutes of the total flight time. Love when that happens!
Dave and I were both extremely busy right up until the flight. We both worked all day and then came home and got the rest of our shit in order. We were so preoccupied with tying up loose ends at work that we didn’t think to double-check visa entry requirements. When we went to print our baggage tags they told us to download an app, apply for the visa and it should come through within 30 minutes. THANK THE LORD IT DID!
A huge oversight on our part but all was well and we boarded our plane on time. To be honest, I was absolutely dreading this flight. I love flying and I don’t get anxiety about crashing or whatever, I just HATE being uncomfortable and I psych myself up when I think I’m not going to be able to sleep. As soon as we got on the plane I got settled, popped my eye mask on and was in and out of ‘sleep’ for a good 6 hours. Plane sleep is never quality sleep but I take whatever I can get!
I think I watched 2 or 3 episodes of Below Deck and the rest of the time I tried to rest my eyes. I gave Dave the window seat after my ‘nap’ so he too could have a half-assed in and out sleep. Dave can sleep standing up which annoys me to no avail.
It was a bright and sunny morning yesterday which helped trick our circadian rhythms and made me feel somewhat human! Our friend Steph scooped us up from the airport and we were off. First stop Wooly’s or Cole’s, truth be told I can’t remember but I do remember stocking up on pizza Shapes, Bega cheese, sweet potato dip and passion fruit. You know, the necessities!
Having that first shower after a long flight must be what a royal feels like while getting her weekly sponge bath in 1872. Fucking glorious. We had some time to chill for a bit on the deck, a very familiar place as we used to live here at one point for a short amount of time!
In June 2017 Dave and I had just finished a 4 month stint working at an apple orchard and Dave wanted to stay in Melbourne, while I wanted to move to the beach. After much back and forth and us almost going separate ways, Dave agreed to join me! For some reason we had it in our minds that Brisbane would be the best option for us. On the map it was close to a ton of beaches, but still had a huge CBD where we could get “real jobs”.
I mapped out a road trip from Melbourne to Brisbane in our 1990 Toyota Camry ‘Old Greg’ and we hit the road! We had no idea what to expect on this trip and needed a final stopover and I remembered that my old friend Steph was living in Australia somewhere very close to a beach and on our route. We hadn’t seen each other in a very long time but I took a chance and reached out to her. It went something like this:
“Hey Steph, my boyfriend and I are heading to Brisbane, I know it’s been years but can we crash at your place for a night on our way?”
“Hey Nicole, let me check with my husband.”
“He said all good, see you in a few days”
The road trip was an adventure! I’m not the type of person to take the quickest route on a trip, I prefer to soak in as much as possible on the way and if that means going “the long way” to see something cool, then so be it! At one point we were deep in the Kosciuszko mountain range with no cell reception, no street lights, the glow of kangaroo (and whatever other animal) eyes reflecting off our headlights, and no idea what we would do if we got stranded as we hadn’t seen another person in hours. At one point we hit snow which was wild to experience because hello, it’s Australia. In our minds that wasn’t a thing but lo and behold it is. Anyway, that road trip was one for the books! Unfortunately, we did hit a kangaroo on this trip. They’re essentially the equivalent to deer in Canada, specifically the way they dart out into oncoming traffic.
Anyway, we did make it Steph’s place late one evening after a scary drive in a tropical rainstorm. The next day her and her husband showed us all around the area. Beaches, walking trails, cool places to eat. We fell in love instantly and decided we were not going to Brisbane after all! We ended up staying with them for 4 or so nights and quickly found a room share close by. I think in total while living in Australia we lived in 8 different rooms over the course of 2 years.
Now that we’re back in our old stomping grounds our AirBnB is half a block away from where we lived right before we moved back to Canada. It feels really cool to be back here! Yesterday was a bit of a blur after a long travel day. Today I managed to squeeze in 6 hours of sleep between 7pm and 1am. I spent about 4 hours resting my eyes until I finally gave up and got out of bed around 5:30.
We’re picking up our rental car today and are unsure what the plans for the day will be! It’s balmy outside but there is a cool breeze. I’m currently listening to the birds chirp: magpies, lorikeets, cockatoos and not sure what else. My bird Shazam app is not working here sadly.
Anyway, time to start the day! Stay tuned for more updates.
Nicole xoxo