"And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled"

I’m at work and battling a serious case of jetlag. I know I know. You can hardly feel sympathetic for me, as I just indulged in a 10 day vacation across the pacific in a thriving laid back metropolis called Sydney Australia.

It was more than good. I couldn’t wipe the dumb grin off my face for a few days after arriving. My friend Rowena and I did our rendition of Moulin Rouge’s Elephant Love Medley. Expensively brilliant Indian food was devoured by a group of us at “Delhi O Delhi” in Newtown. We sang “Singin in the Rain” at the Hero of Waterloo located in The Rocks. It was sunny and warm and very non-winterish the first few days. The next 6 days made up for that by torrential downpours.

It was really good to go home and see all my friends. To sit home with them most nights watching movies. Talking about nothing, and laughing about nothing. Getting to spend time with my friends on their days off, doing some of the things they usually do on those days. We drank many cups of tea – a ritual I miss very much and hit up the good old Aussie bakeries. We even went to an AFL game. It was a bit of a highlight. That night we were running a little late, so stopped by the local Indian takeaway restaurant on the way to the train station to grab $7 indian food. While waiting for our train (turns out we weren’t late at all, rather early) we sat on the benches at the station eating butter chicken, lentils and garlic naan. Does it get any better than that? The Eagles played the Sydney Swans and lost by 1 goal. I would have been a little upset if the Eagles had a huge loss, but a game as close as that is pretty exciting.

The last couple of days in Australia I was feeling a little melancholy, meditating on the fact that I was home, but going back to the US – trying to swallow that. I stayed home Saturday night while all my friends went out so I could pack and have some thinking time. It had been a full on week and I was craving some head space. A few hours alone solved that problem. The next morning my friends all caught the bus and headed to work. I watched Reality Bites, called a taxi for 10:15am and then went to the airport. After going through security I sat and read for some time. Then looked out at the view which showcased Sydney city. I looked at that view for 15 minutes or so to keep it as a memory, hopefully a clear one so that when I’m missing home I can imagine myself in that view. I walked to Gate 9 and sat down, daydreaming. Next thing I know I hear my name over the PA system. My flight is leaving in 10 minutes!! I had to get my name checked off and quickly board the plane. Yikes. That would have been the world’s best yet lamest excuse for not boarding my flight and staying home.

And now, its day 2 of work, and I’m fine with that. It was a great holiday. So I’m fine with being back in routine. I’m not even feeling homesick – which is kind of nice. It only took 2 years.

Its 10am and that time of day. I'm drinking a cup of tea. It feels like my morning saviour.

Here's a photo of the AFL game we went to. As you can see we had fantastic seats!



Sydney Views





At the Hero of Waterloo. A night of Irish Music, dancing and drinking beer.



My friend Rowena and I at Shelly Beach. It was a glorious day.



As for the subject line: yesterday I visited a couple of good mates. We got talking about camping in the bush and the subject led itself to a billy. A billy is used to boil water or cook food over a campfire.