Australia

As with South Africa, Australia was something of a bolt-on to our travel plans.

Don’t get me wrong - I’ve had many friends disappear to Australia for a year or so and come back tanned, about 2 stone lighter, and raving about how good it is. But for whatever reason (most likely the fact that it is about as far away from the UK as it could possibly be), it never appealed to me.

As we knew we were going to New Zealand, we thought that we should spend a few days there, seeing as we were passing through. One such emigrant friend very kindly agreed to put us up for a few days at their flat in Sydney and so we were lucky enough to crash for free - always a plus when several long haul flights start to weigh heavy on your wallet.

So really, this blog can’t speak for Australia as a whole. We only stayed in Sydney and only stayed for four nights, so to try and use this opportunity to write about the entire, colossal landmass barbecuing its way around the Indian and South Pacific Oceans would be like trying to write about life at sea having stepped in a puddle.

But very quickly I saw the appeal. For a start, we arrived to an extremely agreeable 25-degree heat and blazing sunshine that was blissfully offset by a cooling coastal breeze. I started to see why so many of our friends had abandoned the sodden ship of the UK - especially true at the moment, seeing as every BBC News report we read about the weather back home seems to suggest that it’s getting to the point where Noah had better check to see if IKEA do pre-fab arks.

We took a cab from the airport to our friend’s apartment, which was wonderfully bright and cool, and just a hop skip and a jump away from Bondi Beach, up there with Copacabana and Omaha in the pantheon of famous beaches (admittedly for somewhat different reasons). We soon noticed that, true to stereotype, everyone was tanned, slim, and, to a pair of browbeaten Londoners, confusingly active. Our friend told us that the culture in Sydney was that everyone started work a little earlier than the UK, say 8-8.30am, but then finished bang on the dot at 5pm. Either side of work, you usually went for a walk, run, swim, or some other wholesome and energetic activity.

Considering that even trying to hit 10,000 steps in London usually ends up with you getting cold, wet, and/or treading in dog mess, it sounded like heaven.

So having gone from not really understanding why so many of my friends had gone there, I suddenly found myself looking at house prices in estate agent windows.

The only downside was jet lag. Having flown from South Africa, a respectable and manageable two-hour difference from the UK, we were suddenly 11 hours ahead. In the grand scheme of things, we actually managed to survive relatively unscathed, but one slightly balmy night combined with some noisy emergency overnight road works down the road from the flat led to quite a poor night’s sleep, which seemed to trigger it. As everyone who has experienced jet lag will know, the next day was largely spent in a fog of sleep deprivation and caffeine-induced hysteria. 

Although everyone seems to be up at 6am in Sydney anyway, so at least we had company at the cafe.

We spent the majority of our time in Sydney walking along the coast, taking in the various gorgeous beaches and strictly adhering to our friend’s recommendation not to go for a swim on account of several deadly shark attacks that had happened a week or two before (this is true). The other stereotype of everything trying to kill you in Australia is also apparently true.

We also had a great day taking the ferry from a gorgeous lighthouse…

Into central Sydney, passing the famous Opera House…

Meeting some famous local celebrities…

…And finally going to Sydney’s Wildlife Centre to meet some koalas.

Having just come from safari, there was something a bit bleak about the animals being in quite small spaces (particularly the profoundly depressed-looking cassowary called Princess, who was also a male cassowary just to further compound his misery), but we did chat with some of the lovely and passionate staff and the animals were exceptionally well cared for, which offset our concerns a bit.

But again, as we were only there for four days and were mostly being sociable rather than touristy, it’s hard for me to give a more complete picture. What I can say for certain is that I now fully see why so many of our friends rave about it. Beyond the weather, society there seems to be focussed on a much higher standard of living than in the UK, which seems to have lost its way a bit in terms of work/life balance. 

The restaurants were all full, even midweek. Everyone values sleep, eating healthily, and getting exercise. Most managers wouldn’t dream of contacting their employees outside of office hours. These are all things that seem to be disappearing from the London I know, and it’s depressing to see how easily things could change for the better.

We’d do well to emulate Australia a bit more. Consistently several places higher than us on the Global Happiness Index, the upbeat, motivated energy that we saw from the locals was incredibly refreshing. 

All in all, our time in Sydney left us wanting to come back and see the other major cities. If nothing else, we felt like the longer we stayed in Australia, the healthier and better we’d feel, so long as we weren’t killed by one of the thousands of different species who all seem to particularly have it in for human beings.

One day, I’ll be able to write a much longer blog, once I’ve explored more of Australia. While avoiding the spiders/sharks/snakes/jellyfish/ticks/sea lions/seagulls/hurricanes/etc. etc.

On our final morning, we hugged our friend goodbye and made our way back to the airport for the blessedly short flight to our first long-term destination, and the country that had been top of my bucket list for over twenty years.

New Zealand beckoned, and, at long last, I was able to answer the call.