I just returned from a work trip to Wollongong, which was a very pleasant experience indeed! It's times like these that I feel so priveledged to get paid to go to different parts of the world I have never seen before, and meet such interesting people.
While it was a jam packed few days of 8 meetings and 4 workshops, we got through it and had a few special moments along the way. Some of my highlights were...
* Driving from Sydney over the escarpment which leads to Wollongong- you are surrounded by lush, green foliage, and its it height, looks down over one of Australia's most beautiful coastlines. A lovely older gentleman who participated in one of our community focus groups, exclaimed that he had "travelled the world, but there is nothing quite like driving over that range, and seeing Wollongong... the natural landscape, it is just spectacular" and others also agreed :)
*Walking through Wollongong Central and seeing the David Jones that my great uncle worked in decades upon decades ago. It made me quite nostalgic... Although I never met my great uncle, I was very close to his wife, my great aunty Ellie. Aunty Ellie is my grandfathers sister and she was like a grandmother to me, always baking me caramel slice, or coming over to our house for a swim, and sharing stories with me of her time living in Sydney and Wollongong. While living in Sydney, my great uncle (and Aunty Ellie's husband) George received a promotion to head up Ladies Shoes at the David Jones in Wollongong CBD, so their family packed up and moved to that area.
Ironically, in my 3 years of studying at university, I got a part time job working at David Jones, and was allocated to Ladies Shoes! And ironically again, I am now working for a client who owns the building that the Wollongong David Jones CBD belongs to! How funny.
*Running my second community workshop, and feeling much more confident and pleased with how it went. This was an important milestone for me, as my first experience of faciliating a workshop was quite daunting and overwhelming, and I came out of it thinking "I don't know if I will ever enjoy this or really be any good at it!" So I am happy to report I felt a real sense of achievement and pride last night that I let go over the insecurity and inhibitions, and was much more comfortable in my own skin. It helped that I had a friendly, chatty group, but I think letting go of the doubt is so important.
*Learning an important moral in life that you can't always wait around for somebody or some big entity to take charge or make the life changing decisions for you. You cannot always be the follower, sometimes you have to stand up and be the leader. To be the unlikely hero in your own story. It takes decisive action to carve a better destiny for yourself to make a difference in the world. It's so clear to see it in others, but it is not always as clear to see it in yourself. What are you waiting for? Live life to its fullest potential. Be brave. Jump.
* On Tuesday night the client took us out to dinner at one of Wollongong's beautiful seafood restaurants, "Harbour Front" by the beach. You could smell and feel the fresh salt air, while we sipped white wine, and conversed about Australian cities and towns (what a beautiful part of the world we live in!)
Harbour Front restaurant, Wollongong, NSW
Glass reflection of the restaurant lights on the water
Sheer draped fabric with fairy lights!
(This photo doesn't do it justice... In real life, it made me think, wow I want this at my wedding..). Understated romance.
My colleague J and I shared an entre of a dozen fresh oysters kilpatrick.
As you can see we had no trouble polishing them off.. yum!
