Why am I here?

Don't worry - this isn't a mournful "oh god I'm so homesick" type post.

Far from it.

No, this evening I find myself nursing a glass of a rather nice Banrock Station (Australian wine is available everywhere over here, and quite cheap too) and contemplating what brought me to this, the far side of the World.

As I brought up reasons in my mind, and rebutted them, or disputed them, I thought that perhaps this semi stream-of-consciousness would make for a decent blog. So, here goes.

I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is money. Rather a crude thing to think of for some, perhaps, but at the end of the day, it's not warm climes, nor ice cold beer, nor cheery locals that draw people from Australia to England. We have all that at home. To a large extent it's money...but at the same time, it's not really the be all and end all. I mean, the Aussie dollar trades at 2 and a half to the pound, but that's nothing compared to the exchange rates between a place like South Africa (12 to 1 on a good day, 15 to 1 on a bad day), Poland (300 to 1) or Romania (Several billion to 1). By the time you factor in flights, cost of living, inevitable travelling you do here...well, you'd probably be better off financially to have stayed home. So, scratch that one.

New people perhaps?. Well, it's true - I've met new people - there's a great crowd at work and at the hostel I was staying at. But it wasn't lack of friends or family that caused me to leave. I have one of the best group of friends anyone could ever hope for back home in Oz - a huge extended family, my gaming mates, the musicians and drinkers of the BMC Band, and of course, the great mates I've still got from high school. There is no way anything can replace those people, many of whom (the latter in particular, as well as my family) know me better than I know myself.

So, no. Meeting new people didn't do it.

Perhaps then it's because life at home gets routine. Well, there is some truth to this - looking back, I can see that I was in a bit of a rut, of sorts. I was still enjoying myself, but I wasn't really going anywhere. And I think - no, I know, that it was this rut that led to what I'm about to describe suddenly becoming the major concern in my life.

I guess, what it comes down to is that there's that itch in us all, to see what's out there - to see what else inhabits this big wide world of ours. To experience for real, what you've seen in films, and read about in books. For some people, this itch remains a minor irritation, and the tea-tree lotion of a marriage, family, or a new career cures it - sometimes for a short while, sometimes for 30 years. But eventually, it becomes something that drives you distraction.

And for me, I guess it happened sooner than later.

That being said, nothing will ever be able to replace the friends and family at home, or the life I have there. Australia calls to me - it's part of who I am, and I show it daily.

Whether it's making my way to a pub by 8:30am to cheer Australia on in the Rugby League back home, wearing full tracksuit, beanie and gloves against the "cold" while the Poms are still in shirts and jeans; not being ashamed to hide my accent, even in the most British of locations; or instinctively saying to my boss the reason the numbers aren't adding up on his excel spreadsheet is because my predecessor "screwed up....err, sorry, made a mistake, with the April Bordereau" (he replied, "You mean they fucked up", but that's a different story) - well, it's those things that show me for what I am.

An Australian, born and bred. Drawn to see the wide world, and destined to return home to the greatest country on that same world.

And fucking proud of it.