So now that I've had my bimonthly blogging epiphany, it's time to stop all of this "blogging about blogging" nonsense. I think we all get it. I want to write more. I haven't been publishing many posts. I've redesigned this space more times this year than I've written honestly about my life. Blah blah blah why do I say the same thing over and over again?

I've been at my job for a month now, and despite having to overcome a little hurdle called "imposter syndrome", I'm loving this job and am inspired and excited every day. I also love feeling like a proper adult with my swipe card hanging off my pencil skirt and the dual-screen setup at my desk. I'm learning a ton and mastering skills I didn't know I could have/need. It makes such a difference to be working towards something. I always struggled with hospitality, not because I didn't enjoy it or do well, but because so much of my time was taken with tasks I'd need to repeat again and again every day to reach the same goal.

lately

I guess I was avoiding this place. There was so much uncertainty and my life needed me more than I allowed myself to need to write about it all. There is still so much uncertainty, but there is clarity amidst that.

We moved for an opportunity for Tom, but thus far relocating has worked out really only for me. Tom's job hasn't been what he expected. Tom's job is no longer Tom's job. I don't know how else to say that. It's really upsetting to see him doubt himself when there are clearly so many things about that whole situation that are nothing to do with his abilities or his value as a person. He'll find something new, something better matched to his incredible mind and his passion for Environmental Science. But to say that this has been tough is an understatement. I could not have predicted how much it would challenge us. And I definitely would never have predicted how relieving it could be for Tom to lose that position. After so much stress and pain and worry, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted.

I, on the other hand, applied for an awesome position in Youth Services and am proud to say that I've been working there for three weeks and I absolutely love it. I'm working with some amazing people and on some exciting projects. I'm planning a couple of events and it's both exciting and terrifying to be solely responsible for their success; I've only worked as part of a team on things like this (and only in my spare time).

It's challenging having such different experiences of this move. We both love Darwin, but Tom has been uninspired and overwhelmed while I've been quite the opposite. He's been working out of the city and I'm right in the heart of that tiny hub of activity. I've made a few friend through working at a coffee shop when we first arrived, he's only been able to meet people through the workplace that hasn't been a great place to him. It's like we're living in two entirely different places.
 

That said, we're managing to explore this beautiful city more and more now that life has calmed down and it's been so nice to find a Darwin that belongs to both of us. Yesterday we visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and then enjoyed the sunshine at the Ski Club for a beer. It was the perfect date to reconnect. I love our love and I love Tom's resilience.

I'll write soon. How are you all?

One Week in Darwin

I’ve fallen in love with this tiny, humid, world-of-it’s-own city. Darwin is a mixture of Australia and South-East Asia and something else all of it’s own. During those nine days between Tom getting the job and us hitting the road, I was given a lot of crappy advice based on a lot of crappy Darwin stereotypes. From what I’ve experienced thus far, people ‘down south’ give Darwin and it’s locals an entirely unfair rap.

Darwin is the welcoming, open-minded and multi-cultural city that Australia likes to pretend is it’s national culture. I didn’t know what to expect, but I don’t think I was expecting this. I was concerned that I wouldn’t handle the heat, that this city would be too small and confining, that the culture here would be as bogan as I was being told by friends and strangers alike. I’ve certainly learned that you have to experience something for yourself and take what you are told with a grain of salt, because nothing I was told to expect was the city that I found here. Instead I found delightful people, friendly strangers and an incredible mix of cultures.

Going to the Rapid Creek Markets on Sunday was like walking right into Thailand or Malaysia (which are admittedly the only countries in Asia I’ve actually had the pleasure to visit thus far). The markets were overflowing with trestle tables full of delicious, locally-grown produce, home-made curry pastes in a mishmash of margarine boxes and Vegemite jars, eskies boasting mangoes frozen from back when trees all over Darwin were heavy with the weight of delicious fruit. I will take photos when we return this weekend.

Darwin is unlike any other Australian city and not merely because the weather is so unlike that which is typical of this country. Darwin is laid back; I’m certain that if the Rapid Creek Markets were to set up in Adelaide they’d be so overrun by pointless regulation that they’d lose the warmth and charm that emanated so clearly to Tom and I last weekend.

All of that said, Darwin is expensive. Our original rental budget, double what we were spending in Adelaide, now seems ludicrously naive and we’re having to increase our budget and readjust our ideas of what is reasonable.

Tom has now been at work for a week and he loves his new job and company. I had an interview and hope you’re all keeping your fingers crossed for me, but I’ll look for a cafe job for the interim (whether I get this job or something else) because I have far too much time on my hands and no studio to work in. I can’t spend all of my time waiting for real estate agents to get back to me - I need to be doing something.

Hopefully next time we speak it will be from our new home and I can get back to regular posting! x

A new city to explore

Long time no speak - and so many adventures to share with you! They may have to wait, though, because we're still homeless and I'm using hotspot from my phone to access the internet and I really need to be using it to hunt down some sort of home situation. Rent up here in Darwin is so outrageously expensive that we've had to readjust our expectations and ideas of what is 'reasonable'. We're lucky that Tom's uncle and aunty moved up here a little over a year ago and are graciously opening their home to us while we settle since the move was so quick we really couldn't organise anything from Adelaide.

Tom starts his new job on Monday and is full of nervous energy and I'm acclimatising to the humidity in this tropical climate whilst applying for work and preparing for my first (hopefully last, since this is the perfect job) interview on Wednesday. Life is pretty crazy, but I'm loving exploring a new city. Darwin is so unlike any other Australian city, mostly due to the tropical climate I suspect, and I feel kind of like I'm on a permanent holiday in Thailand with the monsoon rains and the crazy Sunday morning markets. I love it here. I was worried before we left, but this is definitely where we need to be at this point in our lives and I'm so excited to find a place and start feeling like locals.

I'll share our road trip another time, but here's a taste to tide you over:

1 back bumper bar missing somewhere along the Stuart Highway
2 shredded tyres
3 swimming holes
8 sunrises
3,766 kilometres travelled (2,340 miles)
4 climates (Mediterranean, Arid, Sub-Tropical, Tropical)