I love the page in my journal I dedicated to my homecoming...
I WANT MONEY! ... then... "ya right!"
Seems fitting!
I also wrote;
Thing I want to take home;
Absolutely Fabulous video - WHY? Weird request for a keepsake from Australia?
Silverchair CD $20
Federal Hotel Shirt - bought. - Can NOT remember this shirt at all. Did I ever have one? What happened to it???
Aboriginal artwork - Fair enough.
Vegemite (yuck) and Ginger Beer - I was obviously not aware at the time that these items were available in our local superstore.
Chocolate.
Lift - No idea what I was talking about here.
Nikov - Border patrol NEVER would have let me in.
Winfield, Horizon, Long Beach, Peter Jackson - ALL cigarettes. I'm disgusted with old me.
Diggery Do - then I wrote... too expensive. Yes... I had to spend all my money on cigarettes. Priorities!
Hats with corks - Another tacky-tourist delight.
Boomerang $20.
Necklace for myself.
FUNKY necklace for Jen Gray.
My flight home had a bit of a stop over. It was a bit of an inconvenience and something I had put off until my flight home.
It was... 21 hours in Hong Kong.
These were the days of IF you left the airport, you were obligated to pay a departure tax. I had enough money to purchase a small milk. That was it.
21 hours of "That was it"...
It wasn't fun.
I spent the majority of those 21 hours mapping out the hour in front of me...
"I will read one chapter of my book... then I will walk 3 times around the departure lounge... then I will wash my face... then I will look at magazines..."
What an incredible adventure I had.
Australia 1994/95.
Most definitely, without a doubt, one of the best years of my life.
Yes, we drank and smoked too much, but the friendships I made during my 12 months down under made up for ALL the broke moments!
The people I met here will always hold a special place in my heart.
Some never lost touch with... others I have recently found via the powers of social media... and the ones that slipped away, I often wonder where life took them.
Thank you for the memories and a BIG thank you to all that joined me on this little "look back" journey...
It's been fun...