From Oz to Oslo

The Itinerary
I arrived in Australia five days ahead of my 'in-laws', for the purposes of extra quality time with friends and family who were starting to forget what I looked like, and to attend my ten-year high school reunion (which I had very intelligently decided to organise, from the opposite side of the world). When my boyfriend and his clan arrived they began their journey in Sydney, in an itinerary including tours of the Sydney Opera House, a tipsy day-trip to the renowned Hunter Valley winery district, and endless posing in front of the giant coathanger that is the Sydney Harbour Bridge (right).

I reunited with my boyfriend's family when they touched down at my local airport, in time to spend Christmas with my family in my hometown on the Sunshine Coast (below, right). We included them in the family traditions of Christmas lunch (with turkey, seafood, and silly paper hats), touring the neighbourhood Christmas lights displays, and watching the televised carols-by-candlelight shows. Of course the 30C+ degree heat prevented it from really feeling like Christmas for the Norwegian visitors, though they were at least very keen to pose in Santa hats at the beach on Christmas afternoon. During their stay, they also visited Australia Zoo, the wildlife park of our dearly departed crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, which is about 45 minutes from my hometown (above right).

An advantage to having a foreigner as a partner is that you make an effort to visit parts of the country you yourself might not have bothered to see otherwise. The final stage of our trip was to Cairns, a small city in the far north of the state, which forms the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef (see right) and Daintree Rainforest. After day tours to see both these wonders (and a day to recover: lazing by the pool and soaking up some much-needed Vitamin D) we headed to Sydney for the New Year's Eve celebrations, including the obligatory fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge. That was our last night in Australia, and we flew out on the first day of 2010 for an exhausting 38-hour Sydney-Singapore-Frankfurt-Oslo aero-extravaganza.

The Verdict
The trip was a success on all fronts. The tourists got to see many famous sites and experience an Australian Christmas, I got to clock in time with my nearest and dearest, and our two families got along just fine. There was some initial trepidation about how well everyone would be able to communicate (as my boyfriend's parents are not that accustomed to speaking so much English), but fortunately there was smooth sailing on the language sea. The only other culture clash - which was more a source of excitement than a clash, especially for the males - was of course the Australian novelty of driving on the opposite side of the road. The visitors were very enthusiastic to try it out (there may have been some bickering over whose turn it was to drive) and I am proud and relieved to report that there were no accidents, near-misses or traffic tickets.

Aside from going home and seeing family and friends, I had my own cultural excitements. Firstly, it was a relief to be surrounded by English again, especially Australian-English. It was delightful to feel confident reading signs, to know that other people will understand if you accidentally drop a slang word into the conversation, and to be able to eavesdrop on other people's discussions.
Secondly, food. For months I had been salivating over a growing list of foods (yes, usually junkfood - see left) that I planned to gorge myself on while at home: Tim Tam biscuits, lamingtons, pavlova meringue cakes, meat pies, cinnamon donuts, Cadbury's chocolates, Cold Rock ice-cream, barbecued meat, biscuits from Mrs Field's bakehouse... I may have gained a few too many kilos during my Australian stay, but it was worth it!

After all the excitement of the three-week trip, it was admittedly a dramatic comedown to return to Norway. We were going from +35C to -15C weather, transitioning from three weeks of sunshine to snow and darkness of winter, and we had but one day's respite before we were due back at work. I was already starting to feel a little homesick. I remembered how difficult it can be as a foreigner in a new country, and it made me wonder how long it will take to truly get used to my new life here, and adjust to being so far away from home.
However, I remind myself that it's only going to get easier as I become more and more familiar with local culture, more fluent in the Norwegian language, and more practised with those nasty winters.
That, and I'm already planning my next trip home to Australia for next year.