You know me, I love to make a good list. I make New Year resolutions less because of a “new year, new me” mindset (I think you can make positive changes in your life any time of year!) but more because it’s an excuse to bust out my bullet journal and my google sheets and make a bunch of lists. I also love to take stock, of favourite things and experiences, successes and failures, and everything else. So of course I love a mid-year check-in as well. My resolutions this year were to reconnect with some of the things and people I love, rather than specific plans or goals, but I have a few hard stats for this halfway point:
Books read: 29
Kilometres run: 531
Blogs posted: 27
Movies watched: 14
Gigs attended: 7
Trails hiked: 9
And here are some things that can’t be quantified:
Fitness
The last six months have been pretty great fitness-wise. I’ve gotten back into bellydance thanks to an amazing teacher her in Melbourne, and I even got to perform a couple weeks ago at a local farmer’s market. While the summer heat put me off running for a few months, I did start the year with my highest kms ever (200km in January), and now I’m three weeks into training for the Melbourne Marathon. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten out of practice with yoga, so that’s something to improve on for the next six months. Looking ahead with running, I’m doing a half-marathon in a little less than a month, and then the aforementioned marathon in October. In between, I’m hoping to do some day hikes to get prepared for the week-long Overland Track in Tasmania this November.
Finance
Australia is expensive as, even with higher pay than New Zealand, and I’ve been doing and planning a lot of stuff (see below) which has meant I’ve been dipping into my savings a bit, but I know it’ll be worth it. At the moment I’m mostly trying to cut back where I can by packing my own lunch, not going out too often, the usual stuff. I know an ice cold beer on the beach in Thailand will taste better than a meh pint at a local bar (seriously, some of the bartenders here and their pint-pouring…). Job-wise, I’m 4 months down, 2 months to go at my current position and I’m still enjoying it/will be sad to leave, but hopeful I’ll find a few short-term gigs in between travels afterward (and if anyone needs any freelance writing/editing done, hmu).
Fun
I feel like I don’t do quite as much in Melbourne as I did in Welington, which is a little surprising because I was doing freelance work on top of my full-time job there. But I also had a closer-knit group of friends in Welly (although I’ve met some lovely ladies here through GLT), easier access to hiking trails around the city, and a few other advantages. However, I’ve still had a lot of fun in the last six months, going to events, learning wax carving which I dedicate a lot of time to, and so on. The next six months in Melbourne itself probably will be similar to prepare for amazingly fun times travelling.
Future
Which of course brings me to the future. Even though I’ve pretty much known since the beginning that my time in Australia would only be a year (I’m not interested in doing the 88 days of farm work to get a second year, or in staying long-term), I have still tried to live in the moment and not only look ahead to the future. But there’s so much amazing stuff ahead that I can’t help it! The last few weeks in particular have been a whirlwind of planning and booking travel both in Australia (Sydney, Cairns, Tassie) and out (Japan, New Zealand, Southeast Asia). There’s still more to do, but it makes me even more excited for the rest of the year. I can’t wait!
thebestpossibletime 