Who doesn't love reminiscing about the good times. Even if they do feel like they only happened last week.
2015 was an amazing year for us and one full of unexpected surprises. To honour this post tradition here are my highlights of 2015 from our year in 'Straya.
1 Road trip with my parents
In March, my mum and dad flew half way around the world to embark on an epic road trip with us across Australia. Only 6 months had passed since we left home but it felt like years and we were ecstatic to see them. In our wonderful campervan Delilah, we drove from Sydney to the capital, onto Melbourne, picked up their Mighty campervan and convoyed to Phillip Island, across the Great Ocean Road and all the way to Adelaide. We made some amazing memories on this journey of a lifetime of over 2,300 km. You can catch up with all the posts here: Sydney to Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road.
2 Getting sponsored
Finding a job on a working holiday visa is hard. Even harder, when your visa expiry date is only a few months ahead. I managed to land myself a great job, through a contact I had in Sydney. It was clear from my interview that they had big plans and offered me the chance to stay in Australia. This wasn't our plan but it was an opportunity we just couldn't turn down. Although it was a long slog to get the visa it was worth it and I am glad we made the decision to stay.
3 Making new international friends
A month after arriving in WA we fell in love with Perth and took the offer to stay. We took the daunting decision to move in with strangers, a kiwi and Aussie couple. Looking back now our last year in Perth just wouldn't have been the same without them. They were so welcoming and within a few days they had introduced us to the 30-strong tribe of kiwis (with a couple token Aussies). All of which we are happy to now call our friends.
And of course arriving in Perth wouldn't have been as much fun if we hadn't met fellow travellers Carina and Simon from The Wombat Chase. We had such an awesome few months exploring WA together until they continued their trip driving around Australia. We made an instant friendship and continue to stay in touch, in hope of another adventure together one day soon!
4 Catching up with old friends
There is nothing better than having a good old chin wag with friends, especially ones that you can be brutally honest with. When our friends from home, Grimo and Pamela, made an unexpected detour to Perth we were so excited. Seeing familiar faces and being able to talk about all the good times, and the bad, and exchanging stories of our parallel lives across the pond was great. So much so that we followed them to Bali for round 2 of our Indonesian adventure.
5 Meeting my pen pal
When I was 6 I started a pen pal friendship with a girl who lived in England. Our parents had met through work and thought making us pen pals would be a good way of keeping us occupied. We exchanged letters (hilarious to look back on) up until our early teens before we got too preoccupied with boys, I mean studying! By nothing other than serendipity, we both ended up in Perth at the same time. Of course we had to meet and it was great to finally meet the wonderful person Claire has grown up to be. We are more determined than ever to stay in touch as we parted ways across the world once more.
Here's to another year of adventures.
À la perchoine, Jodie
What a great year 2015 was, eh? Can’t believe it is nearly a year since your ma and pa were out there visiting you. You have made some good friends and get to have lots of adventures, so much to do and see. Well done, and remember …….. keep safe! Love, Ali xxxxx