Time changes everything!

We have now been parked up in Sydney CBD for a little over a week, enjoying the creature comforts of 4 walls and a roof (at a friend’s house!) while Lucy has a little roadside siesta.

Being right in the heart of it in Wooloomooloo, within easy walking distance to Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Paddington, just to name a few, we have very quickly reacquainted ourselves with our love of all things urban! Quirky cafes, laneways, boutique stores, tree lined streets and interesting folk. Some days we’ll walk 10 or 15km, admiring the architecture, the culture, looking at what each precinct offers, what it may be lacking and how we would do things differently. We chatter amongst ourselves, brainstorming business ideas and agree that we really are both ideas people, and most probably that will never change! We both have so much drive and ambition, not in a money hungry greedy way, but more in our desire to work for ourselves, doing something that has meaning to us and offer a service that ultimately brings people joy and delivers an experience. The things we look for in a café, restaurant or shop, but are so often let down by staff/business owners that are stale, don’t want to be there or are there for the wrong reasons.

We look at some real estate and contemplate the things we’d like to do, how we would do them and what we’d expect them to give us in return. The type of clientele, the lifestyle, the reward, and how that sits with our philosophy.

Over coffee, I stare off in a daydream, thinking that I’d be very happy to stay right here and call Sydney home. Not wanting to put a dampener on the remainder of our road trip, I keep my daydream to myself. Literally moments later Frank says “You know, I wouldn’t be disappointed if we stayed in Sydney and didn’t go any further.” Hilarious – both thinking exactly the same thing! We mull over it with all the pros and cons. We’d miss our friends and families terribly and always said that while we were open minded with our travels and where they may lead, we really both do call Melbourne home…hmmm.

It’s strange how time changes everything. Staying for an extended period of time in a place we love makes us see things differently. A different perspective again on all the things we love. We love little country towns, the beach, the open road, but there is something about little quirky urban areas that has our heart.

After taking 15 stops to get from Melbourne to Sydney (and at times spending more money than we had budgeted on non essentials!) we decide from here on up that we’ll take a little longer between stops and stop at mostly larger towns. Yes, we’ll probably miss some things, but there’s no way we can see absolutely everything, parking can be an issue (even though we are a stealth camper!) and we would rather have an amazing time that is a little bit shorter, than stop at each and every minor stop, scrimp on doing the things we like (like cafes!) but be away for longer. We are already thinking about what’s next, how our life will be when we finish our travels and where our next business venture may take us. There really are no set rules on where we go and for how long, so we’re happy to just keep adapting, evolving, communicating and finding our feet in what is panning out to be more of a new lifestyle than a holiday.

Sydney…you’ve been so so wonderful, but it’s almost time to move onto warmer weather and let our adventure continue. All we know at this point, is that we are headed North!!

JT xo