Trip home so far...
It's funny how on some trips I end up going to a particular place a lot that I normally go to rarely. The railway line from Sydney to Newcastle is just that on this trip. Apart from the trip back from Brisbane the other day, this is the second time I'm going up to see bradz and YvonneZ, and their lazy dogs:
I'm doing my best to have a lazy trip as well.
The weekend before last, hopeforyou drove me to SFO for my flight. The airport was lit up for Christmas:
My flight to Sydney normally leaves from the gate decorated with old brass instruments, but this time there was a dragonfly exhibit, which I think is new. I hope hopeforyou gets to see it some time soon, since she likes dragonflies:
I spent the first couple of days dialling into work from my parents' place, and after work, going for walks. I actually hit the bush within hours of touching down.
It's a good place to unwind, feel grounded, and adjust to being in Australia again, and it being summer. On the one hand it all feels a bit routine, but on the other hand, it feels too good to be true.
When my parents and I moved into their house in 1989, you could walk to the end of the block and cross the main road, and see a paddock full of cows. By the end of 1990 it was covered with newly-spawned suburbia. I walked through that area again, and found it had all come along quite nicely. The network of bare drainage canals at the bottom of the hill had become overgrown with bushland, inhabited by birds and snakes. They've put in a couple of cycleways and a right-of-way to the back gate of the local school. I still couldn't live there, but it was much better than I would have imagined when I moved in, feeling dreadfully, dreadfully in the 'burbs. (The edge of town is now a good 20km further out-sprawl sprawl sprawl.)
On the other hand, it's clear to me now that it's one of the most conservative electorates in the state. The regulations for one of the new parks are ridiculous. I think it's funny how they've left space to add even more restrictions and warnings in future:
I spent the next couple of days with bradz and YvonneZ in their suburb of Gosford. I really enjoyed working from there, since they were working as well. Sitting on the back patio, birds flying around, occasionally throwing balls at the dogs. bradz would occasionally take a break and stuff around with his 1970-something HG Holden. He reckons that he gets better fuel economy with its old V8 engine than a modern 4-cylinder car of a similar size.
Then, last Friday, I caught a train back to Sydney, to the airport, and a plane to Brisbane. I mostly stayed with witchery696, but working from her place did not go well. It went great when I was there in March, but since then her eldest moved out, taking the router with him, and for some reason her cable modem and my laptop didn't get along. Not to worry; I did the essentials at a 'net café in the City, and I'll just have to do a few more hours of work next week.
I met porcineflight for a couple of beers that afternoon; it was good to catch up. From there I met sagewisdom at her office party. It was smaller than my work's office party the previous week, but seemed to involve just as much alcohol per person. It was a nice setting, by the river, nice view of the Storey Bridge.
The next day was Litha, and I thought the plan was for sagewisdom and I to go to a ritual. But apparently the people holding it decided at the last minute that they didn't want a stranger there (i.e. me), so I ended up having somewhat of a crappy solstice. I headed back to witchery696's instead, and hung out with her, her family and her new boyfriend. I'm glad she found him; he's a good bloke.
I spent my last evening in Brisbane with a mate of mine from uni and his wife. We met at Southbank, a beautiful area of Brisbane on the old World Expo '88 site. Apparently Australia's river cities are copying off London and putting ferris wheels next to their rivers, built by the same company that made the London Eye. Brisbane's is only a third of the diameter, but it looks nice over the outdoor cinema.
The next day I travelled back to Sydney by road (held up slightly by a truckload of stubby holders spilt on the freeway) and rail (these very rails), giving myself a decent amount of pondering time. I like land travel; I had hoped to take the train from Durban to Johannesburg in South Africa in September, but it was sold out.
I was back in Sydney in time for my dad's birthday, and a whole bunch of my parents' babbling 70-something-year-old friends and some of their zero-something-year-old grandchildren were there for the event. It wore me out pretty quickly. Christmas at my parents' place was as uneventful as has become normal lately, and I like it that way. Went out to a nice restaurant for dinner on Christmas Eve, a pleasant outdoor setting near a couple of nice fountains.
I spent last night, Christmas night, with a new friend in the Blue Mountains. She lives in Blackheath, home of one of my favourite lookouts in the world, but she showed me a few other ones nearby which were just as spectacular. These photos don't do it justice, but they might give you an idea. Or go and watch Sirens again; it was filmed in the same general region.
We had some fun getting-to-know-you time, frustrated by the fact that she's monogamous and I'm poly. It might have been the beginning of some kind of a relationship if it wasn't for that. There's always something.
So that brings us to today, Boxing Day, beautiful and hot. I took a leisurely drive down the mountains, opting for the back road from Springwood to Richmond instead of taking the highway and freeways back to my parents'. I had originally intended to go to ozgenre's traditional Boxing Day party, but the weather is too beachy for me to pass up heading north and crashing with bradz and YvonneZ again, before their barbecue tomorrow where I should see a few other Arcadians. I actually haven't been in touch with them; hopefully they'll call back in the next half an hour or so and they can meet me at the station. If not, I'll stay on this train and take it to Newcastle and meet GRiPZ. [... which is what ended up happening. We're staying with his sister, who lives in a house in Newcastle's western suburbs, between the highway 123 bypass and the wetlands regarded as the state's mosquito capital. It has no 'net access and still has a bit of damage from the 1991 earthquake. But his sister is generous and hospitable (good cold beer) and spent her economic stimulus cheque on cool toys for her kids, the kind that almost make me wish I was a kid again.]
Plans for next week: catching up with friends, including uberredfraggle, lunatravels and Rrrob, Penelope Swales, and seagoon and naturalredhead if they call me back. I've got those few of hours worth of work to do, and I'll find a day to go bike riding along the river with my parents, one of the few family activities I actually enjoy, especially if I have friends along as well.
Happy holidaze, everyone. As much as I'm having a great time here, I look forward to catching up with friends and lovers in the Bay Area again some time after the 6th of January.