Wakeman's Rocky Reunion

Australia is a diverse country, and I guess we have been well within our comfort zone in Sydney, which is essentially much like any other international city. Ian has extended family in Rockhampton, Queensland, so whilst his parents were here, we travelled north to meet them. Rockhampton's main, and perhaps only tourist attraction is that it has the marker for the Tropic of Capricorn running through it (well, not even this, it's somewhere miles out of town). Rockhampton's own tourist guide provides a list of 'Top 10 Things to do in Rockhampton' which includes going to the council libruary and watching planes at the airport. Unsurprisingly, the Rough Guide (our bible of what to do) suggests giving the town a wide berth.

It was therefore Ian's lovely and very welcoming family that made our trip here a highlight of our time in Australia so far. Rocky is primarily a beef and mining town, so you can imagine how seamlessly we fitted in. However, we had some great times here with Ian's cousins and Aunt, and there were loads of appropriately aged second cousins for Georgia and Ethan to hang out with. The photos include our visit to the Botanical Gardens - including koalas to keep Georgia's friends happy.

We all had a great Friday night out at the local Rodeo, definately not put on for the tourists or the faint hearted. We had more BBQ's than the rest of our time in Oz put together and Georgia and Ethan probably came as close as they are ever going to get to being cowboys, when they brought the cows back to the farm on horseback (no saddles, no riding hats, you can imagine how calm I was about it all). They were also encouraged to slaughter cane toads and caught turtles in the lake. Probably not behaviour to be replecated anywhere else on earth but we were just trying to fit in with the family. It's also true that one of the cousins we didn't meet is a real cowboy, out of town doing cowboy things whilst we were visiting.

We also had an amazing trip out to Great Keppel Island, the closest I've ever come to a tropical island paradise, albeit with a rather charmless resort hotel. The snorkelling was impressive, so Ian tells me, I haven't got over my aversion to fish in the water, probably meaning that our expensive trip to the Barrier Reef will be wasted on me. Anyway, a big thanks to all the Wakeman's in Rocky, we'd love to reciprocate in Brighton some time.

Brighton

This blog is meant to be about Australia. But its also about our lives. Discovering new things, finding out novel modes of experience, and so forth.

And so Ian did go forth - or rather whence he came, on a rapid trip back to England. And do you know what? I discovered that I miss the place a lot, and somewhere along the way I've become a Brightonian. Given that Brighton is a place where people come from elsewhere, one wonders exactly when you actually become someone who comes from Brighton rather than a day-tripper or temporary alien. Is it when you buy a house? When you have children? When they go to school? Or when your calendar is at one with the city, when its obviously the last week of April because the festival starts next week, and children should be getting excited about marching through town in silly costumes? Whatever the answer, I was happy to be back.

It was a quick trip - dinner with Wendy, a very long run along the downs and the sea-front, dinner with Martin and Ilse, and then off to work in Warwick. Steve's stag night (congratulations to Steve and Becky for finally sorting out their tax situation, and if you're reading this and going to be at Steve's birthday, pretend to be surprised), and then back to Australia.

Its been vast amounts of fun being out here at the bottom of the world, and will carry on being so for the next three months, but it will be good to be back home.