Final day in Australia and BBQ

On Saturday 5th January we were invited to a house party at the new flat of our ex-flatmates Jens and Sharmi who had moved from Burwood to nearby Ashfield. We spent an enjoyable evening drinking and making pizzas in their lovely flat which painted a picture of what might have been for us had it worked out here (although to buy our own flat would have been even more unrealistic in Sydney than in the UK).

The following day we were invited to a BBQ at another ex-housemates (we had never met them though) house in the North Rocks area (about 40 minutes from CBD). We travelled to a more stereotypical Australian suburb than the one in which we currently live and were delighted when we discovered they had a pool in their garden. It was a lovely day, loads of sunshine, alcohol, BBQ food and volleyball in the pool. It made us (again) think of what night have been. However, both the flat in Ashfield and the house in North Rocks would have cost an incredibly significant amount of money per year (the house in North Rocks cost $550 – £500 – without bills and food per week!) that Nicola and I thought that we would never feel comfortable spending so much by comparison to what we could get in the UK (imagine what £500 per week could get you in Swansea/Cardiff/Bristol) and overall, we left thinking that to live in Australia could be nice for some but probably not for us.

It was nice though to finish our Australian adventure on an Australian stereotype – a BBQ. I think we will look back on Australia very fondly but we were both in agreement that it is an incredible place to travel but not a place that we would want to live in. For too many reasons (including the unbearable and debilitating heat) we cannot see ourselves living here but we can definitely see ourselves coming back to finish the sight-seeing trips we did not get around to i.e. Great Ocean Road, Uluru and Perth).

So, much sooner than we imagined when planning this trip, we have finished our time in Australia and are off on the next leg of our journey…New Zealand!