Home

So finally, I am making things happen in terms of steps towards another year in Australia. I have moved out to Shepparton, almost 200km pretty much due North of Melbourne, and have so far done one week of apple picking. In chatting to other people travelling around Australia and hearing their impressions, recommendations and tales of where they've been living since arriving here, I've begun to think about how this country has become our home.

Only now, by leaving for an as yet undefined block of time, can I begin to realise that Melbourne has become a home for me. I find the concept of 'home' interesting. I feel like we sometimes seem to be of the belief that only one home, or one true home, can exist in our minds, hearts and lives, but why is that? Of course, any one of our previous of current resting places might feel like the one we feel most strongly drawn to at any one time, but I think we can have many homes, and we can allow this 'top' home to be an entity that is constantly changing to adapt to our constantly evolving lives. Whether that adaptation be geographical, physical or emotional, I like the idea that 'home' is flexible. It means, for me, someone with a desire to eplore, that maybe I can make a home anywhere, and although my previous homes are elsewhere, they still exist as long as I want or need them to, and can always be revisited.

So through our lives we don't hop from one home to another, but rather we add to our list of homes, we collect them, to whatever extent we wish, and the important and necessity of each individual home is fluid.

This way, the whole world can become our home if we wish, which of course, in a way, it already is.

Beautiful Australian countryside, which actually looks quite similar to the area surrounding my home in England.

Photo found here

A day in photographs

First stop was £1000 Bend, easily one of my favourite cafes in the city, for a coffee. After running a few boring errands I walked past the new H&M open in the city centre and contemplated popping in but swiftly changed my mind when I saw the huge queue! I hadn't been in the Block Arcade before, but it's a great shortcut between a few of the main streets, and is full of beautifully ornate walls and arches. Perfect for some snapping practice. Lunch was at The Little Mule, a delightful combination of bike shop and cafe, tucked down a laneway. I had a delicious salmon bagel and a juice full of many fruits, all of which I cannot remember. One of my favourite things about it was that it came in a jar with a retro looking straw. Easily pleased. My big cultural activity for the day was a visit to the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne, to see an exhibition of Indigenous contemporary art called The world is not a foreign land. I shan't go into detail here (that's for another time) and photography wasn't permitted in the gallery, but it's safe to say I'm glad I went; it's opened a small can of worms in terms of my questions about and interest in Aboriginal art. Last stop was the cafe at the gallery, the Potter Espresso Bar, for a cup of tea and a hedgehog slice for a sugar hit to keep me awake until I got home.

All in all a productive and interesting day.

Appreciating

I unintentionally spent yesterday appreciating various things in life, something which I all too often forget to stop and take time for. There are so many good things going on right now, and one of my current priorities is to concentrate on them and do more of them rather than dwell on the negatives. 

To borrow from the well known quote, I am trying to accept the things I cannot change, find the courage to change those that I can, and practise gaining the wisdom to know the difference.

Some things I find helpful for realising this little mantra is, productivity, fresh air and a walk, so that's what I took. After running a few errands I spent the afternoon around the Shrine of Remembrance and the Royal Botanic Gardens, an area which I haven't explored yet at all. The weather was perfect for a walk, and an hour for lunch and reading a book under the shade of a tree.

 

Deep Blue

Yesterday I finally visited Sea Life Melbourne, an aquatic oasis in the middle of the city centre, just five minutes from Flinders Street Station. Walking into the sounds and sights of the ocean is the perfect antidote to city life, or an escape from wherever you are to somewhere completely different. 

The iridescent corals and brightly coloured fish that live amongst them are some of my personal favourites. I love that they are all so magical looking yet are completely natural. After seeing those again I will definitely be trying to scuba dive when I visit the Great Barrier Reef!

The day was also a great chance to get some more practice in with my cousin's lovely Canon DSLR. Unfortunately I don't think my skills are quite up to scratch yet, and these photos don't quite do justice to their subjects. It is a joy to be able to experiment with a camera much better than my own though, something I'll be saving for one day.