I know that no matter where the world takes me I will always have my sister. About a half an hour ago I saw her off back home. We stood on the curb outside of our hostel in St. Kilda, a section of Melbourne by the water. We stood there and waited ten minutes. It was one of the moments that you wanted to last forever. It was one of those moments you couldn’t wait to be over with. Because as I stood there, looking at my sister I became overwhelmed with emotion at the thought that I have no idea when I am going to see her again. When I left almost 6 months ago we clung to each other at the airport. Our father watched as we cried. Then I got on that plane to start my great adventure and they went home, but we knew we were going to meet in Australia. This goodbye was a little different.
It was a crazy two and a half weeks. We started in Sydney, stayed in Bondi and had our road trip together down the coast (see last post). Once our friend Matt left it was just the two of us as we headed down to Melbourne together.
It was the most amount of time I spent with her in I can’t even remember. We bickered and fought. She got on my case about being too stressed out. I got on her case about not being stressed enough, frustrated with feeling like I had to take care of everything. We did sisterly things like dyed my hair and shopped. We partied together. We ate massive amounts of delicious food together and then bitched together about how we were going to eat salads for the rest of our lives after we parted ways. She was patient with me as I talked about the many adventures I had over the last few months. She also gave advice when I talked about my future with her and what I wanted to do. We overcame the issues of driving on the other side of the road together. We survived a hostel room with some of the horniest British guys I have ever met in my life. We got a kick out of telling people that we were sisters and seeing the disbelief on their faces. Then she would play the “guess who is older game” thus requiring me to reveal my age to a group of people usually much younger than I (that never made me happy). The best thing about having a sister is you can go through good times and bad times together. You can want to hug each other one moment and kill each other the next. But at the end of the day you are sisters and that is never going to change.
The highlight of my time with Brittney (besides our road trip with Matt) was when we drove the Great Ocean Road. Imagine the windiest road possible that hugs the curb along cliff sides with a brilliant blue ocean to the left of you. You want to look out the window all of the time and yet you can’t because the driving is so intense. You drive all day and just as you start to get tired of all of the turns you approach the Twelve Apostles. This is an area where the waves have cut into the land and created beautiful rock formations. The sun was setting as we got out of our car to see them. The wind was whipping through our hair and our toes were going numb from the cold air. The water was so incredibly bright with the low sun reflecting off the waves - it was painful to the eyes! The whole demeanor of my sister changed and I could tell that she was excited. She looked at me and said “this has replaced the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.” I’m so happy that I got to be there with her for that. She picked up her pace as we walked around and tried to see as much as possible before the sun set. The waves powerfully hit the coast over and over again and I felt like I was at the end of the world. I thought about where I was in the map, how southern we were. If I was seeing this on my own I probably could have stared at those waves for hours lost in thought Instead I got to be in this place with my other half.
That night we stayed in this small town called Port Campbell. It literally had one main road, one store and one bar. We split a bottle of wine and played maracas for the band. The lead singer got a huge kick out of the fact there were two Jersey girls helping him out. We got a little tipsy and had the deepest conversation of the trip. And it was incredible fun. We giggled that night in bed as we fell asleep, excited for what we were going to see the next day. When we left the bar that night a local popped his head out of the door and called to us “bet you’ll never forget Port Campbell ladies!” He couldn’t be more right. Because hours from now, days from now, weeks from now, when I get lost in my thoughts as I often do and look back upon our trip together I will remember that day - that night - that time when it was just my sister and I at the bottom of the world. I wish life could be that simple every day.
I know that I have infected my sister with the travel bug. She is already talking about her next trip and where she wants to go. I would like to say that I will be able to join her but I have no idea where my path is going to take me. In a way I am jealous of her. She is going back to her normal life where she has her job, her income, and stability. She is close to our family whom I am starting to miss quite a bit. But I am glad that she got to see a bit of what my life has been like out here.
So now I am on my own again and unsure of what I will be doing next in my journey. I am staying in Melbourne with my friends Stacey and Francis through Christmas. After that my path is unknown. I’ll keep you updated on where the windy road will take me next.
I love you Brittney. Don’t ever forget that. And you can bet your ass I am going to listen to “Sister Golden Hair” about 20 times tonight on repeat. Thanks for putting up with all my complaining, all the times I lost my things and my desire to linger in places when you are ready to move on. The road for both of us is a bit windy ahead, but I know that our paths will cross again soon. Who knows - maybe it will even be in Towanda. Love you dude J
