Last Trip To Sydney
It is a big deal for us to say farewell (for now) to Australia. After meeting way back in 2005 and initially spending time in the US and UK, our first real home together was in Sydney from 2006 to 2011. Since moving to Singapore we have been lucky enough to visit Australia often, especially having friends and family in both Sydney and Perth. Australia certainly is a special place for us.
Given that our next journey will take us to Europe and beyond, it’s unlikely we’ll get the chance to fly the whole family back to Australia as often as we’ve enjoyed. So we’ll have to rely on some much needed visitors to our boat in the Med, and a lot of video chats!
We made this last trip Down Under extra long, to ensure quality time with our close family and new niece, as well as visiting friends and giving the kids a good Aussie summer (with plenty of beaches, nature walks, great food, and lots of outdoor play).
We managed to see lots of local wildlife, which the kids absolutely loved. As young Expats with many homes, it was so much fun showing them all the kangaroos, wombats and koalas. We bought our eldest his first bike and he learnt to ride along the shores of the beautiful Narrabeen Lagoon. We spent a lot of time over the road at the beach and down at the local playgrounds. We also took the kids fishing, and as you can see, they loved the boating experience!
And finally we got our first proper visit to a chandlery - Whitworths - which was an exciting (!) opportunity to see all the boat spares, tools, and gear on show that will soon become very familiar. Plus an obligatory trip to the marina (come on kids!) to gawp at all the sailboats is always fun… It’s so intriguing to imagine what our future live-aboard life will entail, from the different facilities to the variety of personalities encountered.
As usual it was a busy few weeks, but it gave us time to share the news of our upcoming adventure. As with all of our announcements so far it went really well and everyone was thrilled for us. It’s always lovely to receive such a range of reactions, encouragement, enthusiasm and variety of questions!
New Year’s Eve spent on the beach was pretty special, ringing in the New Year with family and friends whilst overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We couldn’t ask for a better way to begin the biggest of years - 2019!
Stepping off on our distant adventure is so bittersweet, especially since we’ve been fortunate enough to have regular annual visits to the UK and Australia over the past 13 years. Time certainly slowed down for a while this summer, allowing us plenty of time to reflect before moving on.
One day, we’ll sail back into Sydney Harbour… Until then, it’s goodbye Oz!
-Ben