Closing a Circle in Sydney

The first time I thought of actually revisiting Sydney, my place of birth, was when I saw the cruise ship Pacific Star a couple of weeks ago on Isle of Pine. Having slowly given up the hope for the sailing trip with Magellan from New Caledonia to Darwin, Northern Australia, that ferry was the first practicable option to move on, and I must say - despite the original strategy of our 2bumbleb journey not to visit any place one of us already knew - it was quite a seductive idea to arrive in Australia on a huge cruise ship, entering Sydney harbour to view the magnificent Harbour Bridge and the famous Opera House before setting foot in the heart of the city at Circular Quay.


Once back in Noumea to organise the ongoing trip (still having Melbourne in mind as the final destination), we decided to take the next airplane to Sydney in order to answer a spontaneous invitation to the birthday party of Anh-Dao's friend Chris. The same weekend, in the legendary Customs House in Sydney center, there was a big event in the honour of the International Architecture Day, and Anh-Dao put on hands in a fun competition to propose a visionary residential solution for 250'000 new inhabitants on Circular Quay considering the principles of sustainable development. So finally, getting to Sydney right on time turned out to be a great move since we immediately plunged into a good architects' network with a considerable outlook to plenty of work opportunity for Anh-Dao.

Of course getting back to Sydney was like getting home for me, as I had already spent some key experience time 8 years ago in this beautiful city. On arrival at the airport, I immediately contacted my old friend Kim who spontaneously invited us to stay with him in his appartment. Of course we went to meet him and Tamara in the city first, since it was Friday evening, the time for the compulsory Afterworks beer party... Having rented a car for the weekend, we immediately planned to travel together and make a surprise to meet his dear parents in the Hunter Valley, Dorothee and Detlef, as well as his sister Michelle, who happened to be up there as well. I was deeply happy to see them in their new built lovely home and to witness Dorothee's artistic expression (click here to view her artwork).

Before moving on to Melbourne, we are considering the option of settling here in Sydney. There's much to do, besides starting the complicated process to apply for a de facto partner visa for Anh-Dao so that she can rapidly pick up work without being dependent of an employer's sponsorship. As much as starting a new life can be exciting, the questions are rather difficult to answer, and the more we think, the more we see how dependent some issues can be from others. For sure we can't do all things right from the start, so it's quite a challenge to manage and harmonize such a package like getting career-appropriate jobs, finding a convenient and relaxing new home, getting a reliable car for good value to maintain our mobility and be able to do kitesurfing in our speartime, learning how to adapt to the local rhythm of life without giving up our own. First of all we have to get used to driving on the left hand side of the road, dealing with everything in english again, and try to figure out what the major issues and concerns of the Australians are (not easy after having unwinded for 10 months).

Sydney is a very busy city, and now and again I catch myself getting sucked in by the swirls of traffic, noise, overdose of information and the countless attempts of the consumer world. I have to learn again to be able to contemplate with this hustle-bustle. One way is to enter into one of the many asian foodcourts and enjoy a well spiced and tasty meal, something I really missed throughout the trip. One other way is to regularly find a calm place and escape for a moment, like joining a Yoga class and centering myself again (yes, sometimes I forget to breathe properly, and this causes accumulation of stress). I was lucky to make the exceptional experience of attending a class with Master Kamal, founder of the very popular Planet Yoga establishments in Hongkong and throughout Asia. This young, open-hearted and eversmiling Indian Yogi inspired me a lot with his challenging, humourous and holistic way of teaching a wonderful way of life. Anyway, Sydney has all we could wish, it's up to us to know what we want and learn how to achieve it. May another adventure begin!

Click here for the Sydney Slideshow.