It has been about 5 months since I departed the Sydney International Airport with a glimmer of a tear in my eye. Time and again, I have felt the Aussie-Withdrawal as my heart truly does lie in the Land Down Under.
Before my first trip to Australia in 2005, a handful of people told me I would not want to come back once I arrived there. Though I know I would have a great time in Aussie, I doubted their thought of my desire to stay. Boy, was I ever wrong. I loved Australia and such was the reason for my return this year.
Until you have been there, you, unfortunately, will not understand the draw the nation has. My ultimate goal is to spend as much time as possible there for the rest of my life while traveling abroad and building a family. That lifestyle is a work in progress. Until I am able to do that, I can only remember the gloriousness (Aussie deserves words made up in it’s honor) and dream of the day I return.
Today, I, in a personally satisfying way, am sharing the things, places, people, etc. I miss most about Australia. They are not in any specific order of importance.
- Ho’s Dim Sim Kitchen
- The Hyde Park Chess Board
- The Salad Bowl
- Paddy’s Market
- 50 cent McDonald’s Ice Cream Cones
- The Base Hostel in Sydney
- The Manly Beach Ferry
- Gelato
- Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge
- The Australian Accent
- The Care Free Attitude
- $6 Jugs (that’s pitchers) of Toohey’s New
- Bundaberg Rum and Coke
- Runs through Royal Botanical Gardens
- The River Walk in Brisbane
- Eagle Boys BBQ Meatlovers Pizza Happy Hour Special in Byron Bay
- Harry’s Tiger Pie
- Arwen Campbell—-the awesome red head you should meet now in Cairns
- No Pennies!!!
- Hearing ‘No Worries’ all the time
- Snakebite’s (the drink)
- Kangaroo Meat
- Wide Open Up Close Touch Friendly Zoo’s
- Lack of Obese People
- Rugby at ANZ Stadium
- Liters of Light Lipton Peach Iced Tea
- Generic Australian BBQ Sauce
- All the Runners
- CityRail
- Qantas Airlines
- Having more liquor stores than gas stations
- Universal Health Care
- Cairns
- The Esplanade at Cairns
- Great Barrier Reef
- Sausage Rolls (despite my belly turning over every time)
- Beautiful Landscapes
- Smogless City Centers
- The last bench at the corner of the Opera House looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge
- Kings Cross
- Circular Quay
- Sunday Markets at The Rocks
- Australian Licorice especially Green Apple
- Queen Street & Pitt Street
- Subway Pizza Sub’s on the Menu
- Sydney Olympic Park
- Tassie, but mainly Launceston
- Incredible Weather Year Round
- Sunset’s from Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair
- Frasier Island
Oh Aussie, how I dearly miss thee……
Have you ever been to Australia? What do you miss most from the land Down Under?
David Damron
LifeExcursion
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Good list, although I feel like we may have spent time in different Australias.
I’m referring specifically to your #24: Lack of obese people.
Besides seeing it with my own eyes, this year Australia edged out the US to become the fattest country: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4171160.ece
What’s interesting to me is that Australia had more health food (vegan/gluten free at every Wooly’s and Coles) than any other place I’ve been (including the US). And that is what I miss most.
Good list….I’ve lived in Australia my whole life and never had kangaroo meat. I think tourists have it more than the locals
This post tugged at my heart strings! I love Australia! I spent a year there in 99 and reading your list was a great reminder of all the little things that I love about it! My favourite things about Oz… Chocolate tim tams, saying ‘g’day’, newtown (a suburb of sydney, where I mainly lived in my year there) and Byron Bay…my all time favourite place in the world!
Jen
Amazing list! I’m going to seek out #39 next time I’m in Sydney
The Valley in Brisbane.
Awesome list! I was in Australia for 4 months back in 2006. I think I would add the food chain Oporto and spicy chili sauce to this list! So good!
You forgot a few the come to my mind:
1. the stunning coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee
2. being able to walk to Hot Yoga in the morning at 5 am in the dark and feel safe
3. the little breakfast place by Hyde Park that Lindsey and I ate at that had the best toast and fruit salad ever!
4. No slums visible
5. The walkability of the city
6. Being able to walk between two harbours in 15 minutes.
P.S. I think of Australia every single day and my heart aches for that place.
Oh yeah… how could I forget the grapes there!?!
I agree with Jen on the Tim Tams!! Especially the white chocolate covered ones which I couldn’t find anywhere this year when I visited ( I guess I was the only one that liked them!).
Here’s a few other things I miss:
- the Op shops of Sydney Road (Melbourne)
- hiking in Wilson’s Prom
- endless music festivals
- pub meals (especially a parma and a pint!)
How about the spectacular (and spectacularly noisy) bird life?! Never before would I have suspected a cockatoo would sound like a terradactyl, a wild king parrot would eat out of my hand, or that a kookaburra’s call would always get a smile out of me…
@Earl – - – I certainly do miss the cheap but always delicious pub meals
@Nora – - – The birds in Sydney were crazy. The craziest was this one day when I had this feeling someone was following me by hyde Park. I kept looking back and it was just a weird situation. Then it became weirder when one of the million pigeons ran straight into an all glass window and fell 2 feet behind me. Yes…he died. Yes, I was scared s+++less. 1) I thought someone was after me 2) The birds were after me like a Alfred Hitchcock feature film.
Thanks for commenting!!!
Dave
LE