If Ireland is green then Australia must be blue. It’s Autumn but the sun is bright and the air is as balmy as one of our best summer days.She left Ireland 30 years ago to go and live down under. She described her choice as the only option left to an Irish girl, still unmarried and without a good excuse to leave home. The plan was to advance her career, the result was a lifetime here. There is a long story, about a very long journey, but it’s hers.
She’s one of my oldest friends. We shared the ups and downs of all the teenage years. You don’t ever forget this kind of bonding, it’s just a given that it’s always going to be there.
She stands on the beach staring into this incredible Australian blue. Now I see her with fresh eyes. Making that epic journey to a new continent on the other side of the world. Leaving everything familiar far behind in time. It was a very long way from home on a quiet suburban street in the cosseted southside of Dublin. She has always had courage.
Only one other of our classmates has made it out here to visit her, and that was many years ago. We are not drawn here like the next generation. What must it be like to live so far away from Ireland for your whole life?
I can see how much she loves her chosen home. I keep saying to her that I “get” Australia having visited here. It is so beautiful, easy going, idyllic.
Next month I will attend the wedding of a young friend also on an Australian adventure. There’s a new generation of women making similar journeys to find their own groove in the world. If I had my life over again? Yes I would go in a flash, but something else has kept me here and that is another story…..
PS Dear friends next week will be my 200th blogpost so I’m planning something special……..if I don’t get totally distracted by the heatwave that is!
PPs And yes most of these photos were actually taken in that “Summer Bay”of tea-time soap fame…..
Lovely post!
Your words are bringing tears welling up as I think about my own journey from England to New Zealand some 40 years ago, visiting relations and wondering which path I should take in my life. It was soon decided for me when I met an Aussie! After some tripping around together we've been living here in Australia for more than half my life. Four children and a grand daughter later, it is home for me now, but don't think for a minute that I don't love England too. Thank you Catherine, beautiful photos and a lovely story.
Fabulous!!
Hello Catherine
How fabulous that you took the time to visit your dear friend in Australia. I bet there were late nights and lots of joyful memories and sharing stories.
I love the image of her on the beach.
Have a wonderful week
Helen xxx
Some people do have the courage to move far far away and make a new life for themselves and it's the right thing for them to do. This is not within everyone's comfort zone so I'm glad it worked for her.
It's great that you are able to visit – she sounds like the type of friend that both of you just pick up where you left off. No gaps in the conversation.
Your photos are lovely and capture the magic of her area.
Amazing how old friendships survive. It is so hopeful.
I lived in England for 25 years and left a lot of dear friends behind when I returned to Germany. But even seeing them only once a year, all the old stories and shared experiences come immediately alive.
Beautiful post, and pictures.
I love the northern beaches, I spent two years living down there. Lovely photos.
Its the details of our lives I think that in some respects make the impact. Its only once in a while the big picture matters. I loves these photos of the details
All of your comments are moving me so much today, those emotions we feel on separation and on striving to build our dreams independently…….something we all share whether we travel or not and now the next generation are making these decisions every day……
Lovely. I like this blog and I admire you for it.
– Paul.
What a beautiful story of friendship….and advanced congrats on your upcoming 200th…I just hit mine a few weeks ago. Hot here too…ugh!
Friendships that last and grow when oceans divide are among the very best 🙂
I've always imagined I would love Australia, in winter!
Beautiful images Catherine, I can hear the sea.