So, the time has come... I have left Australia! I'm actually writing this having just flown over the coastline of the Northern Territory somewhere west of Darwin, about four hours after take-off from Sydney. Eight hours to go to Mumbai... might as well exercise the grey matter by writing this while I'm here.
Although it was cold grey and gloomy in Sydney this morning... great weather for leaving anywhere, if you ask me... the clouds started to clear halfway across the continent, so allowing me a glimpse of the 'red centre' of Australia that I never really got to see by land.
Just for the record here's a shot of the last bit of Australia I will see for a while... nothing but rainforest, sandy beaches and the warm waters of the Timor Sea as far as the eye can see! Whenever I go back to Australia, I'm definitely want to do another 'road trip' and get out into the wilds of WA and the NT...
The last two weeks at work have been all about 'winding down'... I've kept myself busy enough but clearly it's time to move on from the Sydney office, at least for the moment. My contribution towards the 'natural wastage' of staff numbers is appreciated, and that's not me being negative, just a plain fact... a few big jobs have been 'put on hold' recently, including Brisbane Airport. I had a few decent conversations with various superiors about what we had learnt from me being in Oz... the good news being that everyone had actually learnt something, and that that was a positive thing!
I also made it clear that I might be interested in coming back for longer at some point in the future... while a six month secondment is great from some points of view (for example, if you're nervous about committing to working for a number of years in a country on the other side of the world that you've never even visited before!) I kind of feel like I've only just got my feet under the desk. And that idea applies to the social situation too. I've definitely made a few good friends and contacts in Sydney, but some of that has come about relatively recently... and then it seems like a shame to be moving on, especially with summer just around the corner!
Up until yesterday, the weather in Sydney has been absolutely stunning, a real little taste of summer. Last Saturday I recovered from a hangover acquired at an 'end-of-month-drinks' quiz night by watching the AFL Grand Final supping beers in a mate's back garden. How very Aussie. And then as the mercury climbed to 33 degrees on Sunday I got down to Bondi Beach to roast myself in the sun for a few hours. By the time I left at about 2:30 the place was packed! Note to self: find nicer beach upon potential return to Sydney...
On Thursday night I had some joint leaving drinks with my colleague and friend Elsbeth who also left Arup this week. We booked the rooftop of the Glenmore Hotel in The Rocks, which turned out to be a great move as Thursday was another roasting hot day. This fact, coupled with the amazing view of the Opera House that the Glenmore's rooftop enjoys, probably contributed a little to the great turn-out we had from the office; something approaching 100 of the 360 or so staff came along to wish us farewell and happy travels. That was a nice touch.
(photo below, featuring Ryan and Stijn from the office, not only shows off the view we enjoyed, but also gives some idea of how the evening panned out!)
Friday was even hotter, a ridiculous 35 degrees. We had another leaving 'do' - a pub lunch this time - and then after work started on the usual friday beers, where we were both embarrassed by the obligatory handing over of leaving cards and requests for speeches. And then my last day in Sydney arrived... and the weather was awful! The temperature had dropped about 15 degrees and it was chucking it down with rain. Not exactly weather for going to the horse racing as I had planned, but I did that anyway, meeting up with a friend from work and some of his mates for his birthday. Despite the rain the horse racing was a good laugh... no money was won but not much was lost. It was also an interesting introduction to the 'culture' of the crowd at the races... not sure if this is a uniquely Aussie thing, but I'd never seen so many pissed-up bogans in my life!
I managed another couple of drinks after the races but I retired early... the week of revelry was starting to catch up with me... so much so that I'm quite looking forward to not drinking so much in India; I seriously started to think that the Australian way of life was ruining my health! I've also been warned to expect to lose a bit of weight while in India (if you know what I mean, ahem). In my current physical state, bring it on, I say!
Robin
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