G’day everyone,
Just wanted to drop a short note to you all to wish you Da Best for Christmas and New Year.
It is to you all that I owe a great deal of thanks and love for the time I’ve spent with you during my travels over the past 7 years. There is a reason I've kept in touch with you, and that this email list gets longer and longer all the time. You have been a part of my life, made my life what it is, my experiences all the greater for having you in them.You have all made my day, week, month and years.
Especially big, big thanks to those of you who have extended your hospitality to me, putting me up (putting up with me!) on your couches, floors, spare beds, played tour guide, showing me around your town/city/neighbourhood, shouting me dinner, burning me your favourite cdee's of bands I would otherwise prolly never have heard of. You have given me experiences I could never ever have if I just stuck to what’s in the Lonely Planet and other backpacker paraphernalia. You’ve also saved me a truckload of money! – which has enabled me to stay away on the road longer…and that can only be a good thing!
But alas, there is a time when you do finally run out of money, get tired, bite the bullet, and go home.
And that’s where I find myself now.
And its been hard….very, very hard. Still living with the folks, in my old teenage bedroom, way out in the far far northern Melbourne ‘burbs miles and miles and miles away from anywhere. My friends have all moved out of the neighbourhood I grew up in, and have gotten married with mortgages and careers and have kids or have them on the way.
The sooner I get my own pad the better, but that can’t happen til I get a regular job with a steady income…and that ain’t come yet either.
When I got home, I had two main objectives and a deadline. I wanted to be employed and in my own place by Christmas. That is now exactly one week away, and neither has come to fruition.
But I knew it was gonna be hard, I knew I’d have to drive hard and push thru the periods of depression that I get when I first come home, and I know I will get thru it. It took me over 2 months to feel like a Melbournian again last time i did this. What does get me thru are the emails I get from you guys from time to time, flicking thru the web pages on my flickr.com photo website, listening to the music of awesome bands I’ve discovered and picked up on my travels, and periodically writing up the last of my USA journal – sending me back to that happy place, if only for a short time. There are more of those to come in the coming weeks too.
Although, it is not all doom and gloom. There is a glimmer of light. I have applied for a job at Flight Centre!! – a global-wide travel agency. Wish me luck on that one. If I can't be travelling, I'll be as close to the culture as I can!!
And the other thing that has helped me in my transition back into Melbournian life…is Melbourne itself. This city of mine is amazing. It has changed quite a lot in the last 3 years, metamorphosed into a thriving, bubbling, energetic hub of life, music, sport, arts, and culture (not that it wasn't b4 of course, but now I think it's even better - if a tad more expensive than I remember). I’ve loved rediscovering it again, looking at it thru the eyes of a tourist essentially. My only downfall is that, because I’m no longer on the road, it is no longer my first impulse to grab my camera before I walk out the front door. Without fail, every single time I leave my parents place, I leave my camera at home. I really want to get this city photographed and up on the web so that you all can see it.
Hey, That can be my New Years Resolution.
On that note, I’ll end…was a little longer than I originally planned, but what the hell – I like to write (in case you hadn’t noticed)
So, I hope you’re well, Have a Great Chrissy Crimbo period, and keep writing me.
Cheers,
Tony
