Beating the post-holiday blues

We’re back in Australia after five weeks in the Netherlands. Five weeks so glorious that if I could jump on a plane back to have just one more day, to hug everyone one more time, to go on one more bicycle ride to the beach and to have one more family dinner together I would... But alas, I am a responsible adult (or so I tell myself) and our life is here, so back to normal it is. And in any case, saying goodbye once is quite enough.

After 17 years abroad, you’d think I would have got used to leaving. Fact is, I haven’t and I am not sure I ever will. That’s not to say I don’t love my life here, because I do, pretty much every single minute of it. But it’s never nice to leave people behind when you go on journeys as long as that 24 hour flight downunder.

How I deal with it? It’s probably a mixture of denial – trying to block the goodbyes from my mind and focusing on the positives, of which there are a lot, thankfully – and a lot of gratitude for what we do have, a happy, healthy and loving family and an amazing amount of beautiful memories.

Here are some highlights from our most recent trip back home to the Dutch island of Terschelling. Call me biased - I will be the first to admit I am - but to me this is the most beautiful place on earth, and seen as it's set in a Unesco World Heritage area, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone...

 

 

While it’s been tough to leave, those post holiday blues never last long. Something to do with that glorious Sydney sunshine and all the fun we have downunder. Here’s what we came back to...

Always look on the bright side

Expat life can be pretty tough. Much though I love our life here under the Australian sun, with all the opportunities this country provides, the amazing friendships we’ve built and the breathtaking scenery we get to enjoy each and every day, we’re always two long haul flights away from home.

Two long haul flights, a car journey and a ferry in my case. That’s 40 hours door to door. 40 hours away from parents, from grandparents, from siblings, from friends raising their children, from weddings and births and just simple hugs that will never really be simple because every moment you spend together is extra special.

There’s extreme happiness, linked so closely to extreme sadness. You have, and then you have not. That can be pretty tough.

But against that there is a lot of beauty. This country really is amazing, and we are so privileged to be able to call this place home. On top of that, we are lucky to have flexible careers, to be able to work from anywhere in the world, to be able to take our children on long holidays and – if you add it up – spend a lot more quality time with our families than we would if we lived in the same country and saw eachother on weekends, rather than in holidays.

Last month was one of those holidays, spent at Seal Rocks and in Port Stephens. The weather was glorious, and we got to enjoy long days at the beach, followed by gorgeous sunsets, barbeques and campfires. Spending every minute of every day together for such a long period of time has been simply wonderful.

Here are some of these memories that will last a lifetime...

Port Stephens was just as magical...

And now the countdown has begun to our next Europe trip! Only 5 and a half months to go...

xxx

 

Endless summer

As a child, winter was always my favourite season. I lived for skiing and summer – for obvious reasons – doesn’t make for ideal snow conditions. It's been years since I picked up a pair of skis (too long in fact, that’s life with toddlers for you) but these days I much prefer summer to winter (at least in Australia, because yes it gets cold down here, and who doesn’t love a good Australian beach day...)

Luckily for us, this summer, which finished nearly 3 months ago, appears in no hurry to go anywhere. Temperatures are still in the mid 20s, the water is still pretty warm and apparently we’re heading for a record "endless summer" (that's the press talking, not me).

Either way though, I’m not complaining. This is how we’re spending our free days...

On a completely different note, next week I'm off on a photography course! I've been meaning to get used to shooting in completely manual mode for ages, but when push comes to shove I always end up reverting back to aperture selection and autofocus (there wouldn't be many pictures even vaguely recognisable, let alone worth publishing otherwise).


The problem though is that it's forever leaving me with slightly blurred images (like the one above), particularly during my favourite golden hour with that gorgeous sunflare streaming into the lens.


I'm not quite sure whether with two fast moving objects (that is of course my children) using manual focus is simply ambitious or plain crazy, but apparently it can be done and I can't wait to find out how.


I'm looking forward to sharing the results with you here and wishing you all an equally sunny Spring/ Autumn wherever you are,

xxx