That’s the question I was asked on the spot today and going solo to Australia came immediately to mind. I’ve always had this fantasy about Australia, I think I got it from watching Home and Away religiously for 10 years. It was a faraway paradise filled with teenagers like me who surfed all day, drank milkshakes served up by Irene, and had exciting adventures in the sun. With this picture in my head I headed off last summer, last minute, to represent the Irish family at my cousins wedding in Newcastle, three hours north of Sydney.
I scraped all the money I had earned over the summer together and kissed my Mum for paying my air fare (it was her nephew’s wedding). Standing on Sydney bridge I had to pinch myself. I couldn’t believe that after 24 hours in the air I was standing in front of one of the iconic buildings in the world. Boy, I had really done it.
My friend Aoife not only shared her bed (tops and tails) but also took time out from her busy college timetable to show me around and I enjoyed the time I spent with her as never before. We had a terrific time catching up my Australian friends that I met in Greece but I also got to know her friends.
There were 3 ‘must do’ things for me in Australia, stand on the steps of the Opera House, see a kangaroo hopping along and say ‘good day’ to Mr. Stuart on the set of Home and Away.
Well so much for fantasies. The Opera House is certainly real but kangaroos didn’t leap about the bush as our plane came into land in Sydney (as I hoped they would…really?) In fact I had to pay $25 to pet an old, barely moving specimen at a reptile park to satisfy this fantasy.
But the greatest disappointment of all was Summer Bay. There was no surf club, no Alf Stuart…not even one house or a shop or a restaurant…not even a garden chair. Summer Bay does not exist……surprise…… surprise!
Now, like all fantasies that are subjected to scrutiny, mine of Australia are more realistic. Australia is great and the people are wonderful but its just another place to be happy or sad. That’s what travel does I think. It teaches you that people are important not places……and that you shouldn’t believe all you see on television.
……….and I’ve stopped watching Home and Away.