First visit Down Under

I just returned from a vacation that has been almost 30 years in the making. Yes, I just spent the past week in Australia, visiting my wife's relatives in Sydney. Here I am standing with the Sydney Harbour Bridge over my shoulder, and the Opera House is just off stage right.

I would give this trip a score of 9 out of 10 (happy, Doyle?). I can't say a perfect 10 because that would imply that I accomplished all I wanted to accomplish on this trip. Alas, there simply isn't enough time to see and do all the things one wants to do in only five days. Nevertheless, I was extremely satisfied with my time down under.

As for that earlier statement about this trip being 30 years in the making... I say that because I first learned about Australia through my uncle Allan, who lived there for about 25 years. Since first hearing about Australia, I have wanted to go there. Although we are planning to move there in 2007, I really couldn't wait anymore to go there.

This was my first trip to the southern hemisphere, which means something to me, probably because of my fascination with this world we live in. Australia is the 3rd continent I have visited (along with Asia and North America). And Sydney is the latest in my personal tour of great world cities. I got to lay my hands on the Sydney Opera House, adding to my list of visited world wonders (including the Great Wall, the Empire State Building, the Petronas Towers, and the CN Tower).

Although I felt some culture shock in Australia (the Aussie accent gave me some difficulty, as did their idioms and almost total neglect of North American sports), I came away feeling that Australia was basically like a combination of Canada and England, but with great weather. Since part of the reason for this trip was to get a first-hand sense of what it would be like to live there, I think that my family could be very happy there. Certainly, I met some really great people in Australia (including Doyle and his family, Bob and Judy, and Doyle's buddy Chris), so I think living in Australia could be a whole lot of fun!

But I still have a year to go before that happens. And for now, I get ready to go back to work at JLS. Teaching English. Yawn.