Every day on my way to and from work I ride the train over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I really do try to appreciate it every time I do this; the view of the harbour is magnificent and the bridge itself is spectacular when viewed close up. Obviously it's easy to take it for granted when you do it twice everyday, but whenever I reach the other side and realise I've neglected to appreciate how good it is I feel a slight pang of guilt at becoming so blasé about it.

But the other day as I looked up at the giant grey steel pylons and thought "that really is an awesome bridge," I had another entirely different thought. I suddenly realised, with a fair amount of surprise, that I'm really comfortable here in Sydney. As much as I like to whinge about my job and complain about how un-tropical everything is I'm actually really well off and have settled into a great community.

I imagine (possibly a little narcissistically) that by now alarm bells are going off in the heads of all the people I have promised to return to in my home town. You can switch them off – I'm definitely still planning a return within the next few years. And that is itself the point (yes, it's taken me three paragraphs to get to it).

Apart from an inherent urge to keep moving, I could quite happily stay here indefinitely. Sydney is awesome, but something still compels me towards once again uprooting everything and shifting somewhere else. It could just be a love for Darwin that does it, but as I've already said, I'm starting to love Sydney as well.

It’s more than just wanderlust. While I admit that there are other motivating factors to keep me moving on before I get stuck (for information on this theory, ask Daniel Langlands), I'm convinced now, more than ever, that ultimately the Lord is calling me back to Darwin. Possibly via Europe (that's another story).

Far from home

Garry with 2 Rs

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