Australia

October was a blur of holiday preparations, work dramas, and then boom, we were on the plane, digitally clutching almost forgotten eVisas, trying to use ridiculous neck pillows, and making ill-advised small talk with customs officers. Two weeks on the other side of the world staying with an old friend in Sydney and (too briefly) hosting our Perth-living son.

We’ve never had a holiday like it, and certainly not since the children were born. I felt young again out there. An October spring. Now I know what a cicada sounds like. I’ve driven the long road to Byron Bay and tried all the coffee shops. There were bookshops everywhere I turned. I drank so many flat whites I had to switch to long blacks. Everything went right. Unlikely parking spaces. Accidentally discovered perfect beaches. A humpback whale and her calf off Lady Bay.

There’s too much to try and write about. It was a holiday that I’ll remember when I’m old and can’t travel anywhere. It’s given me an appetite for more.