A Homecoming

Flying into Sydney on Thursday evening I felt like I was returning home. Perth is where I grew up, but Sydney feels more like home. I was treated to amazing views of the harbour city as the aircraft came into land - I purposefully chose to sit on the left side of the aircraft knowing that if the approach was from the north the views would be stunning. Even saw where I used to live in Stanmore when I first moved to Sydney in 2002.

The flight from Perth was an hour late because of some mechanical problem. As I had a seat at the back of the aircraft I was one of the first to board. However, just after I'd made myself comfortable I realised that there weren't many other passengers getting on and a few moments later the captain announced that boarding had been stopped while the fault was looked investigated. Cath's flight back from the Sunshine Coast (where she said they had no sunshine for the whole week) was dealyed as well, so luckily she didn't have to wait very long for me.

Friday I spent the day with Anina, Mia and Gemma. The Vinciguerra-Johnsons are doing very well - Mia in particular is a real talker now and was constantly asking why, which was quite funny. Poor Anina hadn't had much sleep as Gemma had woken up early, but she managed to find the energy to make two delicious quiches for dinner.

Yesterday I spent the morning catching up with Cath. We were actually both planning on heading out fairly early, but in the end Cath decided not to go to tennis and I just couldn't decide what to do. Eventually we decided to walk up to The Spot and after some Thai-style noodles for lunch I caught a bus into the city and went for a walk around Circular Quay and up to Observatory Hill - one of my favourite places in Sydney. It's sad being here without Dhanushka as I was really looking forward to showing him Sydney, but what's done is done and perhaps over the course of these 3 weeks he'll realise what he's missed out on by deciding to go back to Sri Lanka.

My last few days in Perth were spend catching up with people. First of all with Eloise, who was away for most of the time I was in Perth, and the Gandossis. My family and the Gandossis first met over 25 years ago, when we first moved to Australia and in many ways Philip and I are closer to them and to Lian and her family then we are to our actual relations. In many ways the Gandossis and the Heathers are our family.

Am hoping to do a few of my favourite walks before I head down to Canberra and Cooma - as well as catch up with a few more of my friends. Still no news from Canberra about the baby - am planning on going to visit Judith first and may end up staying there the whole time depending on when the baby does arrive.

The photo is one I took on New Year's Day. The last couple of days I was in Perth it was much more unsettled and as we were coming back from an evening stroll along the foreshore there was the most amazing sunset, which I managed to capture near my Mum and Dad's place.