2017-July-01 Australia, NSW, Sydney: Leaving On A Jet Plane

And so, after 16 months back in Sydney, it’s time to start phase 2 of our walkabout. We’ve LOVED being back in Sydney, spending time with friends and family and exploring our temporary home suburb of Chatswood. But enough is enough so it’s goodbye Australia, hello Europe!

This trip is far more planned than last time and we know where we will be almost every night of the next 4 months. It feels so responsible, but then we realise we don’t have jobs to come back to or any idea what we will do when we return so that helps keep it interesting.  As you’ll see from the “Where In The World Are We” page - it’s a nice mix of friends, family and Workaways’ spread across 7 countries.  BTW that’s 1 more country than we did in 10 months last time. Not a good or bad thing, just an observation. Probably says more about the scale of the United States than anything else. Plus we know we can only stay in the EU for 3 months out of 6 so there is a bit of pressure to get moving.

A few people have asked what we are looking forward to the most. That’s a tricky question and it probably changes day by day. For Anthony, it’s getting back into the light-heartedness of travel.   For Jean, it’s reconnecting with family and friends.

A quick update on our lives in Sydney since Feb 2016:    Anthony had a great run of luck with work contracts and managed to be employed most of the time we were here. All the contracts were good fun and interesting but the longest and most enjoyable was with PGH Bricks. Anthony had a fantastic boss that he not only got on with but learnt a lot from. He also really enjoyed the culture of the organisation and the people he met. No doubt part of it was all the free fitness sessions they sponsor for staff and the mentoring work with high school students they organised. 

They even organised a farewell lunch when he finished up, with balloons and everything !!! You should have seen how excited he was carrying them home on the train.

 Jean’s work has been as complex and ‘full-on’ as most of her projects. She has enjoyed her second stint at Lendlease and has had a great team of people working on the project with her.  Makes all the difference!  She wrapped up yesterday so thankfully Anthony finished a week earlier and could deal with the last-minute packing and admin that comes from moving house.

A replica of our family farewell photo for walkabout Phase 1 in 2015.  Same restaurant, same family in the same places, just 2 years older J

Family Farewell at H2O, Narrabeen