Australia.

It’s been five years since I left Australia. I swapped +30ºC for -30ºC, beaches for mountains, sea for snow. When I left, I didn’t intend for it to be so long before my return. Five years is too long not to hug my family; to swim in saltwater; to feel sand between my toes; to wake up to the cacophony of birds celebrating the dawn of a new day.

I arrived to a beautiful, sunny 25ºC day in Sydney. My sister and her partner took me out right away, satisfying my craving for a good Aussie brunch and an excellent flat white at one of my favourite cafés, Bills. Later that afternoon, we wandered around the neighbourhood before having a picnic in the park by Rushcutter’s Bay. I realised it had been almost 8 months since I had last touched grass—since perhaps September or October, before the snow and the frost arrived in Canmore. The next morning, I was awoken by the birds’ dawn chorus (something I miss out on in the mountains), and my sister & I went for an early 6:30am run. It was gloomy and a little humid, a sign of the rainy day ahead. I had forgotten what sweating in humidity felt like; mountain air is so dry. The next evening, we flew up to Brisbane together to see my parents and my brother, and we were reunited as a family once more. It felt like we had all only seen each other yesterday; my siblings and I exchanging our usual banter, filling the house with chatter Mom & Dad have missed these last few years since we all left home.

When you’ve been away from a place you called home for this long, you take everything in with new eyes. Greedy to remember it all, I stared adoringly at banksias and gum trees; at aloes and monsteras; at lorikeets and cockatoos. I savoured grass, sand and saltwater under my feet. I turned my face to the sun, soaking in every ray. Australian sun is something else entirely. I would delight at every critter, even the tiny spiders that managed to find me, looking at them with newfound curiosity. Every mundane and trivial moment is a treat when you meet everything with appreciation; from making my mother & I our flat whites on the espresso machine every morning, to the sounds of leaf blowers and mowers in the mornings and afternoons, or heavy rain falling on the roof as I fell asleep. Little did I know that the few sunny days I had during my first week back would be the only sunny days I would get. It was an unseasonably wet May, and we were inundated with heavy rain for a majority of my time home. Flood-battered regions braced themselves for the third time this year; most of the east coast has experienced significant flooding and many towns have not yet fully recovered. The rain meant I only got to swim at the beach once during this trip, dashing my idyllic daydreams of spending nearly every weekend in the sun and sand, but honestly, I was happy to simply be here.

There’s so much I’ve missed, like the food, café, fashion & art culture; the way warm, humid air feels; all the lush plants and greenery. I missed the architecture in Sydney and the Queenslander-style homes in Brisbane. I also missed so many milestones in my friends & family’s lives over the time I was gone building a life of my own. Many of my friends now have little ones in tow. I am grateful for social media helping to bridge the distance between time and continents. All I wanted to do during my month back home was to spend time with family & friends, and I got to do just that, all the while promising that I wouldn’t let another 5 years elapse between now and my next visit.

Everyone asks me if Canada is home now. They comment on my accent, all the “r” sounds heavier than they ever were before, a consequence of having grown up betwixt and between worlds, languages and dialects. Canada is home, for the foreseeable future, I answer. I love Australia, but the life I’ve made in Canada is not one I want to give up any time soon. More than that, I am happy with the version of myself I have become since having lived there.

I didn’t take many photos on my camera while I was home; it was nice to take a break from shooting, too. Below are some highlights you’ll find from our family trip down to Byron Bay to give you a taste of my home away from home. It’s one of my favourite places on Earth, and somewhere we love to go time and time again. I hope you get to visit one day, too.