AspiringNomad

The week flew by as Arron was off gallivanting in the North of the Country, enduring severe floods and equally severe humidity. Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef and trekking through the Daintree Rainforest. Comparatively, my week was not so wholesome. My evenings were spent celebrating the Chinese New Year and heading to various bars in the CBD. I think Arron and I unintentionally created a good balance between us for the week! One of cultural education and bucket list activities, with my contribution of a few beers! Despite the alcohol fueled long work week, the random videos of Arron jumping into his hotel pool, his treacherous drives through stormy floods and his daily adventures in Queensland was keeping me going!

Friday soon arrived and the excitement of seeing Arron again had kicked in. Following a day at work, I headed for the airport and facetimed Becky in the Domestic arrivals area which, I must say, is not as exciting as the international arrivals area! Nonetheless, I was excited to be reunited again with my brother. I was on facetime to Becky as I waited, Arron came through the glass doors and joined the call for a while before we decided to head back home and get some sleep!

Most of Saturday was unfortunately spent apart from one another again, as I had a full day course that I had to attend. Arron kept himself entertained by heading to the beach with another one of his online dating victims. An Aussie from QLD who had moved to Sydney and was living in Woollahra. I still haven’t determined if Arron was more interested in her or at the fact she had 3 cats! Either way, he was going to be busy for the day! As luck had it, my course finished much earlier than expected and desperate to get into the sun, I went to meet Dean and his friend Myles at Clovelly just up the coast from where Arron was. They went in for a dip and we spent the late afternoon chatting by the water. Arron and his Tinder date came to join us at Clovelly. (Unfortunately the cats didn’t come with them). We soaked up the last of the sun before we parted ways and made our own way back to Kirribilli.

Arriving home first, I decided to crack on with dinner for when Arron got home. A simple pasta filled us both up and prepared us for our big trip out on Sunday. A surprisingly early night (for me) meant that we were up and ready in good time Sunday morning for the journey up to Palm Beach. After a quick breakfast, we packed our beach essentials; Sunglasses, towel, swimwear and to my surprise, Arron had agreed that SPF50 was needed! The bus journey boasts a beautiful route along the coast, past all the Northern Beaches who quite rightly look down their noses at the Eastern Suburbs. Bright blue, vast views of the ocean and lush green hillsides kept us entertained as the bus took us all the way to the end of Barrenjoey Road. We had arrived at Palm Beach, famously known as the home of the well-known TV show, Home and Away. We mistakenly took one of the popular cafes in the area as the one where some of the filming for Home and Away takes place, so settled in and accepted the fairly high priced lunch options and coffee, only to later find out that the actual cafe used for the shots of the show was a bit further up the road! Due to the said high prices of food, Arron ordered a prawn baguette with fries. I ate the fries and we had a coffee each. It turned out to be ideal and we both had time to recuperate from the long bus journey to begin our little hike up to the lighthouse. I had underestimated the mixture of the incline and the heat, and my denim skirt was getting more and more uncomfortable just thinking of it. Arron kindly lent me his swimming bottoms to wear for the walk and although I don’t think they had been washed from the previous swim, the smell was more bearable than the denim!

At the end of the Palm Beach Penninsula, and the end destination of our walk, an unobstructed 360° view from the lighthouse awaited us. One direction sends your gaze over the blue sea out into the abyss, the other leaves you looking back over the peninsula where the two sides of Palm Beach are visible, only linked with a shoe string strand of sand and a small park between each coastline. To the left, the Pacific Ocean crashes into the shoreline and the right side lies a tranquil and calm beach dotted with the odd sun worshipper. It’s a beautiful place to stop and take it all in (and get some rather good photos!) The accent up to the lighthouse was fairly easy but in the heat, Arron and I had sweated out 50% of the water in our bodies! We both seem to have inherited the Martindale sweats. Thats is, the uncontrollable sweating at any hint of physical activity, and so the drinking water at the top was a life saver! We stayed for a while exploring the views and soaking up the beauty of the Australian scenery before making our way back down. The water now looking even more inviting! By the time we were at the bottom, I couldn’t wait to jump in (and take off the stinky shorts). My sandals were kicked off and I ran to the sea! Unfortunately, the tranquil calm water had accumulated some sea-like slim and it wasnt quite the refreshing dip I had wanted! But either way, it was cooling and once Arron had got his smelly (and now very sweaty) swim shorts on, he joined me in the water too! We stayed on the beach for a while and walked up to a secluded area where a Kookaburra laughed at us from the treetops! We found a good rock to climb up and sit on to take in the view and top up our tans. While enjoying our time in Palm Beach, we had been trying to book a restaurant for the final night of Arrons visit but found it increasingly difficult to get a spot at our chosen restaurant. We walked back along the shoreline and took a seat in THE Home and Away cafe for a refreshing drink and continued to try and book somewhere for that evening to eat.

Despite not being too far from Sydney, which is already renowned for being fairly chilled, Palm Beach took it one step further. The atmosphere was very serene, there was no stressing, and everyone seemed very unwound and disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the city. Although it was only for a few hours, I think it had started to rub off on Arron and I. As the sun was shining the charm of Palm Beach had us hook, line and sinker, and so we decided to enjoy the last of the sun and figure dinner out when we got back.

Later in the afternoon, we eventually began our journey back to the bright lights of Sydney. While we sank into the contentment of the day we had just had at Palm Beach on the bus, I suddenly remembered an Indian Restaurant that is not too far from mine that we were able to book for later that night. We returned back to my little studio and freshened up before walking to the Indian along Lavander Street. With a bit of time to spare before dinner, we wandered through Wendy’s Secret Garden so I could show Arron one of my favourite places to see Syndey as the sun goes down and the lights come on. We sat on a bench below a big tree and admired the city from the north side of the Harbour.

Up the hill, we arrived for dinner and were seated by a small window with a view to die for! We indulged in a curry, rice, naan and of course, poppadoms while we looked out across Wendy’s secret garden, lavender bay and to the harbour bridge. An uninterrupted view of the city at night framed with palm trees from the garden below. It was a perfect spot to enjoy our last evening meal out together in Australia! As if all that food wasnt enough, as we walked back through Kirribilli, we stopped at Gelatissimo and grabbed a post indian ice cream!

Monday was the beginning of the end of Arrons trip here. Of course, a trip away with Arron wouldn’t be complete without at least one blocking of the toilet. I recieved a text at around 11am ‘Do you have a bucket?’ A watering can was the best I had to offer and that was the last I heard on the toilet front and therefore, I assumed the watering can worked! Arron had kindly offered to run an errand for me and exchange Dad’s Christmas gift at one of the Bunnings in the city. As it happens, Arron was keen to see an area south of Sydney where a job opportunity had presented itself, so, off to Kirrawee, on the train south, Arron begun the realisation that it is in fact, MILES out of the city! Nonetheless, he had visited the prospective work place and run the Bunnings errand before heading back to the city to join me in the Myers food hall for some lunch!

Arron headed back to continue his last mad dash to get everyone presents to take home and I finished up my work day. I returned home to all of Arrons things packed and ready to go. The big pit in my stomach had started to reveal itself and the realisation that Arron was heading home was starting to kick in. Arron had a few more photos taken from the balcony and it wasnt long before we had to rip the plaster off and head to the airport.

I managed to hold it together until I saw Arrons suitcase being taken away by the conveyer belt as he checked onto his flight. The last 3 weeks had be testing, tiring and at times, a bit stressful to say the least. But 99% of the time was spent with a full heart and a smile on my face! I’ve settled in a small corner of the world, far from home, with some iconic and beautiful areas and being able to share this with Arron has ignited a new love of the country. It’s reopened a new lease for adventure and I’ve been reminded why I am here and how lucky I am to experience this everyday! But my experiences here have been made 100 times better by having Arron here with me.

It felt like just yesterday that I was greeting him at the international arrivals terminal, but already, we were saying our goodbyes! As much as my heart ached to say goodbye to Arron as he goes back home to friends and family. I hope that the experiences shared have given us an equal amount of gratefulness for life and a fresh perspective which we all need every once in a while. Until next time….