Tag Archives: Travel

Today Would Be A Nice Day To Be In Sydney

November 18, 2013Monday Travel PostsAustralia, Sydney, Travelmelindacousins

I think there will always be a sense in which Sydney will be my city. I was born there and grew up in its suburbs and outskirts. Despite today’s forecast for uncharacteristically gloomy November weather, if I could hang out there today (ideally with my sister and niece!) instead of the other things I have to do at home, that would make for a wonderful Monday!

I still feel a strange kind of pride when filling in a form asking for place of birth that I get to write the name of a place so iconic and universally known. I walked across the Harbour Bridge on its 50^th birthday and saw Allan Border play his last game at the SCG. I performed in primary school choirs at the Opera House and went to the Royal Easter Show every year. We watched the Tall Ships come into the Harbour from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair on the bicentennial. My 13^th birthday party was at Luna Park and while our house was being built we lived for six wonderful weeks in a hotel on the Corso at Manly. I’ve spent a number of New Years Eves in the city for the fireworks, and I was at The Rocks the night Juan Antonio Samaranch announced that the 2000 Olympics would be held in “Syd-a-ney.”

I sometimes find it hard to believe that I have lived in a completely different part of the country for nearly two decades. I love Adelaide, but Sydney will always have a pull for me. Whether it is flying in over the harbour or driving up the Hume Highway, whenever I go back to Sydney there is a sense of coming home.

NYE Fireworks on the Bridge with the Cahill Expressway in the way

What is it about Sydney? It’s not a city I particularly wish to live in these days – the traffic alone would drive me crazy (although I do love that I still know how to drive from Liverpool to Newcastle without using any toll roads!) But it’s a city I appreciate and enjoy and I can certainly understand why many of my friends choose to make it home.

The view from Jonah's at Whale Beach — The view from Jonah’s at Whale Beach

What do I love about Sydney?

All the usual things that everybody else loves, of course – from Darling Harbour to the Corso at Manly, Taronga Zoo and Circular Quay. I love the northern beaches but am happy to leave Bondi to the real tourists. Living in Adelaide even makes me appreciate City Rail 🙂

St Mary's Cathedral — St Mary’s Cathedral

But I also love many of Sydney’s suburbs because of all the memories they bring back. Driving past the house I grew up in at Frenchs Forest or the unit my grandma lived in at Burwood, the hall where we did Physical Culture competitions at Willoughby or the publishing company where I had my first grown-up job at Lane Cove. Am I the only one who feels that pull just to go past and see old familiar places when I am in the area?

Looking out over the bay from suburban Cronulla

What have I learned from Sydney?

Many, many things, but what stands out today is the power of memories. I’ve learned so much from so many people in Sydney, and going back to those places is a way of re-connecting with my history and some of the experiences that have shaped who I am today. It’s a cliché for a reason, that the place you grew up will always be a part of you. And I wonder if it is all that I love about Sydney that set me down the path of traveling and seeking to appreciate and learn from all the other wonderful places this world has to offer?

The recently turned 40 Sydney Opera House

Today would be a nice day to be in Mwandi …

November 11, 2013Monday Travel PostsTravel, Zambiamelindacousins

It’s Monday morning again. Where would I like to spend the day if I could go anywhere just for a quick visit? Going back to Mwandi would be a wonderful, albeit heart-wrenching, way to spend the day.

Mwandi is a little village in south-western Zambia and I took a team to visit there just over five years ago. I’d love to see what has changed since. We worked with the local church and an Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project which provides education and food in order to support the kids staying in the local community. These are kids who have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and in a village where 60% of the population are under 16, this presents huge challenges.

Mwandi is also an incredibly beautiful place, right on the Zambezi River. We passed a tower of giraffes on the way into town and spotted hippos and crocodiles in the river. The sunsets were stunning, the local woodworker hand-carved intricate treasures, and we dined on freshly caught fish from the river. Neither the place, nor its people, should be defined by what they don’t have.

What do I love about Mwandi?

The people, absolutely the people. They were so incredibly welcoming and hospitable to us despite the cultural faux-pas I’m sure we were making left, right and centre. They had so little and yet they were so generous and open hearted.

Entrance to the Village Chief's Residence — Entrance to the Village Chief’s Residence

I also loved the warm weather, the community culture, and the peace and solitude readily available. Walking through the market and hearing the sharing of lives along with produce. The giggles of children watching us walk by with our strange clothes, language and customs. The roadside entrepreneurs selling everything from haircuts to mobile phone minutes. The warm welcome into people’s homes and the opportunity to join in whatever was going on from singing and dancing to making mud bricks to gutting fish.

What did I learn from my time in Mwandi?

I was inspired and taught by the deep faith in Jesus I saw in action. As a Westerner with the title “Rev” I was treated with respect, even deference, and looked to for teaching and comfort. But I learned so much more than I was able to share. It was an incredibly humbling experience to pray for those who were dying and to try to share hope with those who had lost loved ones that day. I felt so out of my depth and my comfort zone, but God gave me incredible opportunities to learn from being stretched in those ways. I also felt shame at the excesses of my life, the stuff that I do not need and yet cling to, and the way that I compare myself to those who have more and feel either justified or jealous. And I was challenged by the way people shared their lives and cared for one another which stands in stark contrast to the isolated, independent lives so often lived in my cultural experience.

A villager's kitchen and living area — A villager’s kitchen and living area

Mwandi is the kind of place where you find yourself thinking, “I will never be able to go back and live my life quite the same way I did before I came here.” And yet it’s so easy to forget and slip back into what seems so normal and innocuous when you return home. I want to remember my visits to place like Mwandi because I need to be reminded every day that the way I live is not the experience of the majority of the world, and because I want to live my life in light of how they have to live theirs.

Today Would Be A Nice Day To Be In New York

November 4, 2013Monday Travel PostsNew York City, Travel, USAmelindacousins

New York, New York. So nice they named it twice. Or something like that. If I had to make a list of my top five cities in the world, New York City would definitely be on it. I’ve been there three times and I still I know whenever I get the opportunity I will be back. I’d love to be able to teleport over there today and just spend a few hours wandering!

What is it about New York that captures the imagination of so many people? Perhaps it’s due to growing up watching so many American movies and television shows, so that the first time you walk the streets of New York it all just feels so familiar. Or perhaps it’s the fact that in this one city you can find pretty much anything and everything from around the world whether art, music, food, people, or ideas. Maybe it’s that every second person on the street is also a tourist and so it feels like you are all figuring this place out together. And that it’s big enough to allow everyone to discover their own ‘secret’ favourite places.

What do I love about New York?

This could be a long list!

Concerts in Central Park in the summer, snow in Central Park in the winter, incredibly talented buskers using the acoustics of Central Park’s tunnels. The fact that Grand Central Station really is quite grand and the fact that you really can choose to pay whatever you wish to visit the world’s most incredible Museums. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center (yes I did!), the view from the Empire State Building by day or by night, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. The quirky pop-up shops and amazing desserts at Chelsea Market, the public library reading room, catching the subway, the Macy’s Christmas window displays.

The flat iron building, the story of the Chrysler building, and queuing up for tickets to that night’s shows on Broadway. Watching people people-watching in Times Square, the brand new Ground Zero memorial and the old St Paul’s Chapel right next door. Pizza in Little Italy, BBQ in Little Korea, dumplings in Little Thailand and curries in Little India. The scorched stone statue from Hiroshima in the UN building and touring the places where the world’s leaders meet. Catching the Staten Island ferry and going past Lady Liberty, the place in Wall Street where George Washington became the first US President. Being the only person walking the High Line and looking down at the frenetic pace of the city below.

What did I learn from the people of New York?

That is quite a bit harder to answer. I’m not sure how many true locals I’ve met there. I’ve run into what feels like the cast of characters from a stereotypical New York sit-com including the taxi driver with pearls of wisdom to share, the concierge who assures you he can get special deals for the right price, and the café waitress who can’t quite understand an Australian accent. New York is brimming with life of all kinds and yet it often feels like most of the people are visitors there to observe rather than participate. I visited an amazing church with an incredible gospel choir but even there I still felt a little bit like a spectator watching a show.

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to live in Manhattan for a while. I imagine those who live there have a very different perspective. But I hope they cannot help but see in their city a microcosm of a world in which there is incredible diversity and beauty, and that sometimes it’s worth slowing down just to sit and watch it all go by for awhile. That’s not something I often take the time to do when I’m in my home city, but maybe I’ll find at least a few minutes where I am today to do the same.

Thinking Out Loud …

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