London one-way!

What can I say? Quick as lightning, first I was there, then I was gone. I’m sorry for those of you who I didn’t get to catch up with, and thank you for those who made time to catch up with me. My whirlwind trip to Melbourne was short-timing but long-lived. Enough with the cliches, my grandma was asking me to blog the whole time I was there, but what can I say – I had better things to do!

So how did I find myself in Melbourne? Because no sane person would actually go to Melbourne in winter, where we experience four seasons in a day – which included snow in my backyard, something I’ve never seen before. Well, once upon a time…my parents taught me that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And 15 months in London I haven’t just sat on my bum the whole time, I’ve been out getting new experiences and meeting new people. Hence Cornwall. We all remember Cornwall? I spent a week in April volunteering at the International Musician’s Seminar – a blast of a time had by all. From there, one of the masterclass teachers was invited to play with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and I was given the opportunity to accompany his 18th century cello to Sydney because a cello is too delicate to put in the hold, but too big to fit as carry-on luggage, so it has to have a seat to itself.

I didn’t tell anyone I was coming because I wanted to surprise mum and dad, and because there’s less disappointment in what you don’t know. Therefore the preceding two weeks were hell because I couldn’t say anything to anybody, and the only ONLY lie I told was when mum and dad called me the morning of my birthday and dad asked me what I would be doing over the weekend. Because I couldn’t say, “well, I’m actually leaving Heathrow Airport tonight to sit on a plane for 23 hours with a beautiful cello and show up on your doorstep by Sunday afternoon for the birthday present of a lifetime”, I quickly just interjected with “Oh, Lija and I are just having a quiet weekend in London, go to the park and where ever”. Oh how evil I really am, because 23 hours later I had caught my ongoing flight to Melbourne, or Avalon as the case was, and a bus into town where Jen and Alan, bless, came and picked me up from Southern Cross Station – just so they could see the look on mum and dad’s faces when I walked in the door, which were by the way priceless.

We then repeated the whole thing several times over with my grandparents and some of my friends over the next few days. I had some great catch ups with some of my closest friends and even got to go to Kieran’s 21st birthday, which meant a lot. I stayed with my grandparents, Alex took me and showed me around his uni, and I went walking through the city. Mum, Dad, Alex and I drove up to Warburton one day for lunch, and Mum Dad and I sat in the sun in Warrandyte for a while. I couldn’t help doing a bit of work for Interchange, which was heaps fun, and spent a day volunteering with my old Youth Group. I so have to recommend the spanish doughnuts that mum and I had at Knox – a must!

So my two weeks were spent with my friends and family, in a place where I’ve spent the majority of my life, but right now I’m glad to be back in London, using it as a hub to see wonderful places and meet fascinating people and to just experience life. Asta la vista.

I Still Call Australia Home

I’ve been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rio and old London town
But no matter how far
Or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home.

I’m always travelin’
And I love bein’ free
So I keep leavin’ the sun and the sea
But my heart lies waiting over the foam
I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning ’round the world
Away from their families and friends
Ah, but as the world gets older and colder
It’s good to know where your journey ends.

And someday we’ll all be together once more
When all the ships come back to the shore
Then I realize something I’ve always known
I still call Australia home.

No matter how far
Or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home.

– Peter Allen

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.