'Straya

It's perhaps somewhat appropriate that I blog about my time back home after having been to the last show of Crowded House's reunion tour at The Royal Albert Hall last night and whilst listening to the dulcet tones of Tim Freedman and The Whitlams.
It's now been 2 weeks since I got back to London and in between running around to get paperwork together for my Highly Skilled Migrant Permit application and going out drinking every single night I have had a chance to ruminate on just how much fun I had and just what it is that's so special about our great Southern land and also about the things that are perhaps less cool.

I guess, for me (and I probably most of us), the best thing about going home for 6 weeks was the pure and simple act of catching up with people over beer, wine, hot chocolate (I don't do coffee), fruit juice, food, gelati etc. Deep down, I'm kind of a busybody and I like to know what people are up to. I did however find it slightly distressing that what most people were up to was Growing Up & Being Responsible. Almost everyone is starting to settle down, get married and buy houses. One of my mates is even having a baby in February. It's all a bit much for a not-so-recently single 26 year old who just wants to go out partying more nights than not. Having said that, I am extremely happy for all of my friends that are moving down that path and hoping to one day join them in their domesticated bliss, just not yet...

In between wine tours (god I love the Barossa and McLaren Vale), golf, Henley Beach, Holdfast Shores, Victor Harbour, all my favourite restaurants, I came to conclusion that many people have probably already come to. If the best thing about Australia is the people (and in my slightly biased view, I think it is), they are that way because of the environment around them. In the Nature vs Nurture debate, I'm going to come down on the side of Nurture - in that we are the way we are as a result of the environment around us. Ergo, the Australian people are laid back because we live in a generally spectacular physical environment with great weather and open spaces. We can put things off because we're fairly confident that the weather will be fine tomorrow and the day after and the day after and so on, hence the "She'll be right mate" mentality. More often than not it will be alright.
Don't you love simplistic views? ;?p

So, onto the not so cool stuff and really it's only not so cool because I'm at a stage of my life where I want to be partying more often than not, but having been back in London for 2 weeks, I've probably had almost as many BIG nights as the whole six weeks back in Oz, purely because people over here are much more up for partying on a school night. Probably not a bad thing if you are Growing Up & Being Responsible, but I'm not ready yet.

I've now got all my paperwork together and my HSMP application has been lodged so it's really just a matter of sitting around and waiting for it to hopefully be approved. Fortunately, I've moved into a really cool flat with some super cool people and it's the festive season so there's plenty to do.

Be good to one another,

PK