Sunshine

We headed up to Sydney last Saturday morning to visit my Dad and Stepmother and to have a bit of a break. After being sick for over three weeks, I felt almost immediately better once we arrived up in Sydney. The moist, warm air (well, warm in comparison to Canberra) was fantastic - as was the relaxation that comes from having the small one completely focused on other people (her beloved grandparents) and having everything done for you by loving parents (cooking, cleaning, Lily-playing, etc)...

We went to the zoo to see the new baby elephant (oh.so.cute!), caught the ferry to Darling Harbour and took Lily to the aquarium (the tickets were a gift from my brother and sister-in-law), read the paper, went for walks in the sun to the lovely local park, enjoyed being looked after and generally had a lovely time.

While we were up in Sydney we got some more detailed quotes on the passive solar house that we wanted to build and began to realise that the budget was slipping further and further out of our means. Although this was a little disappointing, we weren't too sad about it, the weather and the fun of Sydney was once again weaving its magic on our life plans.

To add to this, I also caught up with my supervisor and attended a great seminar at the law school, which I found really intellectually stimulating. Both of these things really made me crave more of that kind of contact and I began to think about the possibilities of life post-PhD.

In the end we realised that there really is no one perfect place that we need to end up or one perfect plan that we have to find. There are so many interesting places to live in this world and so many interesting things to do with ourselves in those places.

For now, however, we think that we might aim for Sydney.

I can't promise that this will still be the plan next month though. We roll with the punches around here and you really never know what life will throw at you next...

[As a classic example of this very point: this morning we went out to the Farmers' Markets, drank coffee and ate pain au chocolat, stocked up on lots of yummy local produce and then came home to a house bathed in sunlight. Canberra is pretty nice too.]

An update

We spent last weekend in Sydney staying with my father and his partner. In an attempt to be more active I joined them on one of their morning walks with Midnight (Dad's dog). It was hilarious to see just how similar Midnight and Lily actually are. They both ran around on the grass like mad fools and then proceeded to gnaw on sticks.



We also went to the beach and it was shockingly warm. I didn't swim, but I did sit on the sand eating hot chips and soaking up the sunshine. It is quite blissful.



I have been having fun in the kitchen lately. Yesterday we baked gingerbread people. The day before we made falafel, homous and tabouli for dinner for the first time in forever. While on Monday we made a delicious miso soup for dinner. I have been a lot better at including Lily in the cooking process, but really need to work on my tolerance for the mess and destruction that tends to accompany this process.

I am planning to got shopping for a new pair of jeans this evening after a failed attempt last week. Please wish me luck. I don't really enjoy shopping and shopping-for-jeans is possibly my least favourite kind of shopping.

Sydney

Driving into Sydney last week P and I were both overcome with a desire to move back. I am not really sure what it was that struck us both so suddenly. Certainly proximity to some family was part of it, but we have a lot of family here in Canberra too. The milder weather is appealing - particularly in the depths of a Canberra winter - but I also like the seasonality of Canberra with its dramatic autumn colour and drawn out Spring.

I guess the fact that there are so many Universities also added to the appeal (in addition to the fact that my PhD is actually based at UNSW). However, at the end of the day, it was probably the fabulous beaches that pushed us over the line.

How good is a day at the beach?