C is for Choices

So my first anniversary in Perth have come and gone (15/08).  A lot has happened.

We first decided to come to Australia back in 2008 when we were still living in London, in a council flat in Pimlico.  It was an incredibly long process, my beloved had to gain UK NVQ skills and then had to get it converted to Australian skills and standards.  I was a little hurt when I realised that we wouldn’t be able to come to Australia on the back of my “skills”.  It really doesn’t matter how you get here at the end of the day.

After several years of proving ourselves and doing all kinds of crazy shit, like working in terrible jobs, English tests, health checks and all other kinds of “are you are a complete psycho/terrorist” kind of tests, we were given the OK in Feb 2012.  We did get to do an awesome roadtrip through RSA for about 6 weeks and spend 2 years with our friends and family, so all was not lost.

I’d like to remind everyone out there that, most of the Saffas have been speaking English since before the age of 6 and were blissfully AIDS, TB, mad-cow and Teste-fly disease free for the first 21 years of our lives.  I was fortunate enough to play the piano by the age of 3, I was only 2 exams away from gaining my license to teach….and then I lost interest at the tender age of 16…we are obviously not uncivilised idiots.  We also drive surprisingly well, seeing that we’ve had to compete with taxis and buses all our lives.  Sadly, this is not a skill highly regarded in Asstralia, as I experienced recently.  Imagine my surprise when I failed my Practical Driving Assessment…the dude was like, well, I can tell you’ve been driving for a very long time…..and that was it, really.  45minutes of training isn’t enough to unlearn 15 years of bad habits.  My goal for the day was usually to cut off/piss off a taxi driver, at least…guess that’s a bit tame for Asstralian standards.

Anyway, I guess the point of this blog for today is making a decision.  It’s not always the easiest or most obvious thing to do.  It is really hard to say goodbye, to leave your comfort zone and restart, especially if you’ve already been there, done that.  But I can guarantee you, it will probably be the best decision you’ve ever made.  Whatever they  put you through, no matter the uncomfortable urine samples you need to give (I tend to get stage fright), believe me, it’s better than eating unflavored tofu or lizard.

I just recently (2 days ago) made the crazy decision to leave my very comfortable finance role for a job at Flight Centre, I can only pray that my passion will see me through!  You will only ever grow at the edge of your comfort zone, or so I have been told by my wise training buddy at my new job.  Very clever, and very true.

That is the great thing about Australia, everyone gets a fair go, unless you’re a lizard in the Northern Territory.  Then you will probably just end up on the baaaarby.

It’s going to die

B is also for Beaches

I miss going to the beach.

As I’m sitting here, enjoying my cold beer on an equally chilly day, I’m reminded of the fact that I really hate winter.  Winter in the Southern Hemisphere is truly lame and pointless, how are you supposed to enjoy all the beautiful nature and stuff.

There really isn’t anything better than waking up before dawn and going down to the sea to watch the sunrise.  The sand is still cold and twilight still lingers…and then, the sun bursts over the horison, blinding you, flooding the ocean with oranges and pinks and you stop to think, WOW, I’m lucky.  I like to pretend I’m a plus-size mermaid (working on that…) and really enjoy a swim in the vastness of the ocean, it just makes you feel so small and incredibly skinny.  The workout you get from walking on sand for an hour, damn, I woke long sleeping muscles from their laziness!

Busselton

See, when you walk on the beautiful beaches of Western Australia, you are highly unlikely to come across the following:  broken glass, needles, heavy nappies, dead birds.  Now I’m not saying that the beaches I’m used to, suck (in fact, the beaches on the West and East Coast of South Africa is still beautifully unspoilt and wild), it was just that more than occasionally, you’d come across something at your local beach that would completely spoil the mood.   A friend of friend once went for a swim and as he came up for air, came face to face with a floater (if you don’t know what this is, keep it that way).  Mood destroyed.

Beaches are supposed to instill a sense of utter tranquility and space.  Below you will see some excellent examples of what a beach should look like.

4×4’s allowed here!

I really like that beaches are also used for the purpose of exhibiting art, what a wonderful idea, you couldn’t ask for a better, more flattering, slightly distracting, back drop.  These pics were taken at Cottesloe Beach a while ago.  There was this really great ‘Eye of the Needle’ exhibit which counted and documented the country of the event for each person to climb through the eye, how cool is that!

Cottesloe beach exhibition

A mere 3 hours drive from Perth, you get to see the longest freakin jetty in the Southern Hemisphere (Busselton, WA), almost a full 2km into the ocean!  Back home we used to go for a walk down the jetty with an ice cream on a Sunday (or a sneaky bottle of champagne for a friend’s birthday), but this is something else.  Better get your walking shoes on!  Oh and 5 bucks to keep it the great shape that it is in.  I was surprised and happy to see that many people had little plaques up on the jetty, reminding you that, yes, it looks cool, but many people also deemed it of such importance to their personal memories that they requested their ashes to be scattered here.

Busselton Jetty

Yes, beaches are versatile and many people use it for many different things.  What I like about the general attitude to beaches in this country, is the respect.  You can even have a BBQ on one of the many free gas bbq’s on the beautiful green grass, right next to the beach.  How amazing is that!

Sausage sizzle!

So, if you’re currently caught up in the chaos and mayhem of immigration, or anything really, take a deep breath, picture the salty air and unrelenting rhythm of the waves and remember why you’re doing it.

PS:  can someone please add some mountains to the WA landscape?  Great, thanks.

Cottesloe beach exhibition