With just a month to go until I land on Australia’s golden shores, I thought I’d put together a wish-list for my time there. As a lover of lists, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with the ticking-off of tasks and one works one’s way through a tally of to-dos. From reading, to writing, to exploring everything that Australia’s vast landscape has to offer I’m hoping that by putting my Australian wish list in writing it’ll give me more of an incentive to fulfil my hopes for my time down under.
Finish reading the BBC Top 100 Reads: I’ve been working my way through the BBC Top 100 Reads for the past few years and hope to tick off the final few during my time in Oz. At the time of writing this I have 14 left to read and while there are a number of novels from the list of 100 I’m looking forward to reading, there’s certainly a few that I’ve left until the end for the purpose of avoidance. Having said this however, prior to reading many of the BBC’s Big Reads – from Lord of the Flies to The Godfather to Pillars of the Earth and beyond – I had written some of them off as not the kind of books I’d enjoy, so I’m hoping that those remaining to be read might very well offer a pleasant surprise!
Write more: Because of the amount of reading I commit to – for both personal and work reasons – I’m often left with little time to write – which has long been a favourite past time of mine. I’m hoping that living in a foreign land – albeit a very western one – might inspire me to put pen to paper more frequently and get my creative juices going. I have the beginning of two manuscripts buried deep in my laptop’s archives and hope that once I’ve finished reading the BBC’s Big Read I’ll be able to do a bit more work on one or both of these. Quite aside from fiction writing, I’m also hoping to try my hand at a bit of travel blogging as I get to know my new homeland.
Qualify as a yoga teacher: As I mentioned in a previous post, while in Sydney I’ll be training to be a yoga teacher, which involves a week-long retreat in Bali. Two of my very best friends – Laura and Sian – are both yoga teachers and I have little doubt it will require a great deal of both mental and physical strength. I hope I have the drive and determination to end the course with a qualification which may well be the start of an altogether different adventure.
Explore: Despite having been to Australia three times, I’m ashamed to say that I’m yet to leave the glorious shores of Sydney; indeed the furthest I’ve been is to the Blue Mountains where I went earlier this year with my fabulous friend Scarlett. When I first arrive on September 4th, I’ll be spending the weekend in Sydney before visiting my Aunty Kate in Mackay and also plan to fly to Melbourne to see my wonderful friend Krish as often as I can. I’ll also be going to the Sunshine Coast for the four day Wanderlust Festival in October, and with beaches, cities and outback galore, I’m hoping to explore as much of what Australia has on offer as I can.
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