This has not been a decision taken lightly. After all, I am almost 3 months into my epic trip and it's only now that I feel that I need to put some of my feelings and experiences down in writing, to go with the thousands of photos I have taken so far. I just can't go on any longer without some written words on the matter.
Since December 3rd, when I packed my suitcase and headed for the UK, I have seen more and done more than I could ever have imagined, yet have only experienced a very small part of the immense country that is Australia - which, in turn, is only such a very small part of the amazing array of cultural experiences that can be found all over the world. I've had a brilliant time but am most definitely not ready to go home yet, so it's lucky I don't have to.
I started off with Perth, Western Australia, the most remote city in the country. It takes five hours to fly from Perth to Sydney - just to put into context, within that amount of time you could fly from London to Moscow, or almost reach Nova Scotia from Glasgow. The size of this country is just staggering and really makes travelling inside the UK seem like a walk in the park. I'll never again complain about a six hour train journey from London to Scotland!
After that, it was Sydney for New Years Eve and, much to my surprise, I fell in love with the city almost immediately. I never thought I was a 'city person,' but my experiences in Sydney and Melbourne have certainly changed my feelings on this matter. I love the fact that there is always something going on and have certainly made the most of the international sporting events that have taken place during the three months I have been away. It's made me even more certain that my future does lie with some sort of sporting involvement. Now just to try and narrow it down from there...
I'm now back in Sydney, working part time for a company called Global Business Reports, a provider or industry reports on behalf of the Commonwealth Business Council. The project I'm working on is to compile a report for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that's taking place in Perth in October, and as a result, I now know more about the state of the Australian economy than I would ever have thought possible - and probably more than a lot of Australians know about their own company. The plan is to stay here for the next couple of months, before restarting my travels again properly, with the East Coast, New Zealand and possibly even the Northern Territory and Thailand awaiting.
So, from over 10,000 miles away, here is the introduction to my blog. This is what I'm going to try and do over the next few months, combining reflections on my experiences together with anything that I feel needs to be expressed. Thank you for reading it.
