I WENT TO AUSTRALIA (TWICE)
Wow, what a lucky duck. Last year, I travelled to Australia twice! The first trip was Feb/Mar (solo) and then for Christmas (with Abe).
Today is the 8th of March. We are in 2024. It’s been amazing and strange all at once and I want to tell you everything.
These excursions to Oz were fabulous and I feel so inspired.
I’d like to return to writing blog posts (last one was October of 2022, oops!) starting with the Australia tales.
So, here’s my 1st (incomplete) story from April 2023
…in February, I got a on plane. Well, I almost didn’t get on two planes. I arrived at Pearson 3 hours before my flight on a chilly, windy Sunday afternoon (Sayanara babeee). The swimming goggles are packed. The frocks are packed (mostly Redsky dresses). I have a back pack housing one crochet project, one knitting project, two books, a block of chocolate and most importantly, one tiny little pill for sleeping (I use to be able to sleep anywhere, anytime, not anymore). The check in agent asks “Do you have your visa for the United States”? Visa? What visa? I’m going to Australia. “Unfortunately you will need a visa to transit the USA as your itinerary takes you through San Francisco. You’d best apply for it right now. You’ve got 2 hours until boarding cut off”
omg, omg, omg, I start shaking, sweating, my phone’s dying, my glasses are fogging up with heavy breathing. I hunch in a corner and try to apply online through my phone. Somehow I figure it out and now I sit and wait. Perspective, perspective, I keep thinking…..Heidi has started chemo, that’s worse….it’s ok… it’s a privilege to travel….etc. The amount of stress body odour I was emitting was not going to be pleasant over the next 24 hours of sitting in a seat with myself. I need a shower and my journey hasn’t even begun.
The clock is ticking. I start imagining getting an uber back to our apartment, missed flight, missed out. I’m heading back to cancel the trip and then…by some miracle I see the attendant running towards me waving boarding passes “It came through. You’re on the flight”
Let’s just say….I board, I get to San Francisco safely, however….another challenge. I have 20 minutes to run through the terminal to try and make my connection to Brisbane. Now….here’s the thing…terminals….they’re big. San Francisco airport. It’s huge. You couldn’t have had any further of a distance between my landed flight and my departure. Now keep in mind…it’s now about 3am Toronto time. I tried not to sleep on that 1st flight (started watching The White Lotus, bloody amazing) and I have my carry on luggage as well as the backpack. The carry on luggage is a piece of junk my mother in law gave me (last minute boo boo) and the handle decides to pull up only half way. It’s also loaded, heavy with 4 years worth of thrifties for gifties I have packed for my nieces and nephews. So now I am running a marathon (insert…more stress sweat) through the terminal in an unnatural crouched position pulling this suitcase along. There was no amount of training to prepare me for this technique.
Let’s just say….I board.
And there we are…..flying through the night, or day, or both, enjoying the cinema, enjoying the cold glass of red wine, not putting your feet up or reclining very much, not able to hear anything because that white noise is fucking loud, but that’s ok, perspective. AND….I’m going to eat that sleeping pill shortly, perhaps after I finish my bread rock, I mean roll. and speaking of rocks…god my ass hurts.
Aah, one more trip to the bathroom, fluff the pillow and let’s tuck in for a nice long siesta. I mean, I need to kill some time here. It’s 15 hours. Let’s knock off some time with some zzzzzz’s. ok, there it is, I’ll just pop it out of that foil. oh, it’s bit hard to open, the foil seal…this could be outdated…ok,…. and then, like a slow motion scene from Trainspotting, that little sleeping pill popped out, out of it’s shell, and up, and down….down, down somewhere beneath, never to be seen again…..
Like a long lost dream, I arrive safely in Brisbane. My luggage doesn’t but hey…. the gifties are intact in the shitty carry on bag. First stop, a flat white and a vegemite on toast right at the airport and it’s amazing. In true Queensland style my first afternoon is a welcoming downpour of rain and a thunderstorm (which actually I was awoken to this morning here in Toronto) and I must say, I love a good Aussie downpour.
I have 3 weeks with family spending the first half on the Sunshine Coast with my sister Heidi who has just started chemo treatment for breast cancer found before Christmas. We plan all the relax/care and comforts, retail therapy etc for her whilst I’m there and then my back goes on day 2 and Heidi laughs “I’m doing chemo and now I’m looking after my sisters bad back”
Gosh I love shopping in Australia. I love the products in the supermarket. Yoghurt with passionfruit. I love the fashion and design. Gorman. Country Road. Sass and Bide. Zimmerman. Dinosaur Designs. Check them out, they are thriving. I played dress ups with my sisters and made clothing swaps (unbelievable how many outfits I packed when I really shouldn’t have).
I also love the wild nature of it all. I took it all in. Got my fix. The ocean. The skies. The birds. The trees. The river. The pure wild joy available every day. I swam. I laughed. I cried. I dreamed. I loved. and I loved some more. and I photographed.
And I tucked Sam into bed hugged and kissed Sam every night and played cards and read The Clever Cowboy and drank instant coffee with my mum and looked at knitting patterns and watched her tend the garden and laughed with my dad and ate his pizza and drank Tasmanian whiskey with my brother in law until 2.30 in the morning in the plant room of Steph and Jayde’s mid century modern bungalow under the branches of a monster sized monsterra.
I met my 2 and a half year old nephew for the first time. Lenny. Possibly THE coolest cat I’ve ever met. Born from a frozen embryo made at the time his brother was made 5 years previous. Incredible. An incredible little person.
…And now for my second trip/story.
December 2023. With Abraham for 3 weeks over Christmas.
Wildflowers in the bush
Trees on the mountain top somewhere near Castlemaine, Victoria.
I cannot tell you how excited I was to take my guy home (he even more). The last trip was before he turned 2 so this one he’ll remember. It was a damn long journey this one with 2 stops, bringing our door to door timing to around 35 hours. Abraham was a champ. Enthusiastic all the way stating things like “This spacecraft food is excellent!”
I spent the first 5 hours trying to snooze away the time but was jolted awake by the stand up comedy routines playing in my head. I wrote about 30 pages, probably all horse shit but at the time I thought I was a genius riffing on name theories and planning my speech for Janine Naumann’s 40th birthday party next year.
As hair brained as the journey is it’s always worth it the moment you get off the plane and squint at the sun, gork at the expansive sky and smell the dusty earth.
Jet lag works well on arrival. Early wake up which is so nice in the middle of an Aussie summer. I would lie already awake pre dawn and wait until I heard that first kookaburra before getting up to “put the kettle on”.
One of the pros to not living in Australia is that I really get the star treatment on visits and my family go nuts to see me. My sisters spoil me rotten and have ‘prezzies’ for days. I always get into trouble with my return luggage and I’m often up the night before, sweating to fit everything in to my bursting suitcase! I Love it!
Christmas Day in the pool.
Christmas day. Bendigo. 2023
Here are some more favourite shots….
It was wonderful for Abraham to be with his cousins and my family for 3 weeks. Despite overhearing Sam say “ I can’t wait to get my own friggin’ room back”, the 2 boys were bawling on leaving day. Abraham and I got on the 5am bus from Bendigo to Melbourne and he sobbed the whole way while I contained some other issues...
I have been doing a lot of dreaming. I find it pretty empowering to put down the ideas on paper and the new year seems likea good chance. So here we go…new goals for this year.
I want to work more like an artist than ever before. I want every photo project to feel more personal. More beautiful surprises (for you and me). I want to return to my practice of documenting with film. ‘People, Objects, Life’ is the mantra. ‘Everyday Pageant’ is another title I am brewing.
I want to be shooting more events, people related gigs, head shots, branding. Again with a personal touch. I want to dress up for all the events and wear the brooches and the good shoes.
I want to launch a portrait product that I am secretly so excited about. I will keep you posted on this.
oh, and of course, as always…I want more babies in front of my lens!
Baby Tommy was the star.