Soon after I got to Broome I booked a flight home… Just for a month, to partake in some weddings and my birthday… Not going to lie, I booked the cheapest option available. Couldn’t have told you who I was flying with! I certainly do now…! Events from last week had me checking… Booking my flight from Darwin, wanting to drive up and complete my loop of Western Australia, I have found a relocation car and some travel buddies to reduce fuel costs. We’ll see how we go! The end of camel time coming around very quickly, heading off in the next couple of days, I am very much looking forward to driving rather than getting the bus!

Heading home for sure a difficult decision, it turns out August has more pulling me from Scotland than Australia and for the first time in a year and seven months I would rather be there than here… I am now really looking forward to going home! For sure when I get home and find it cold ;-), I’ll probably want to get straight back onto a plane but for now Scotland is capturing my heart and creeping into my days… I’ve encountered a man playing the bagpipes, received a postcard adorned with men in kilts, found irn bru and had quite a few conversations with a fair few Scottish people (my favourite held with a lady from Paisley about Santa Claus coming to town!!)

Now that I know I’m heading back to Scotland, many thoughts have run through my mind. From trivial insignificant things to bigger, important matters…

• Wondering what the response will be if I ask someone how they are goin? Maybe they’ll ask going where? Perhaps eliciting a response similar to how I feel about the Glaswegian ‘see you after’… 😉
• Whether it will be weird to name things peppers and courgettes and the process of selecting on self serve supermarket tills. They are now most definitely now zucchini’s to me ;-).
• What might happen if I tell someone to take off their pants and thongs?
• I’ve been working inside and in the shade and looking a bit paler than when I arrived in Broome… I fear people will never believe I’ve been in Australia a year and a half!
• I’ve come to quite like Jim Beam… Does that sit on bar shelves back home?! Does Scotland even have a bourbon that isn’t jack Daniels?! Neither me or the Scottish receptionist in my hostel can remember… I didn’t drink it before I got here… I know I’ll definitely have a tasting for it when I get home…
• Important matters like wondering how many packets of timtams/mint slices to post? 🙂
• Whether chai can be found in the supermarkets to make chai lattes…
• From stories you hear on the road wondering what I’ve missed and whether people will still be the same…
• Looking forward to sharing your own stories but fearing if it will be of interest to everyone…
• Whether people will understand what a journey you’ve been on…

The last few a little deep and meaningful, I’ll need to get home to find out… What I am most looking forward to though is:

• Having a duvet. Yes a duvet. Not even going to call it the Australian doona. The sheet and blanket I’ve had for the last few weeks is driving me nuts! Hopefully also sleeping without a need for earplugs!!
• Not being asked how long I’ve been in Australia for and hopefully most people being able to tell I’m Scottish!!!
• Using a kitchen, without having to hire utensils and having many ingredients to hand. Genuinely my mum is not going to know what’s hit her with what I plan to cook to earn my keep
• Though in saying that, giving my dad time in the kitchen to make his his homemade soup, his curry and a roast beef 🙂
• Looking forward to seeing the faces of those you remember so fondly. That have helped you from across the miles with some of the harder moments of your travelling journey… Who when you see them again it’s like you’ve never been apart… 🙂

It’s going to be epic. With just a little bit of adventure left in me yet, another week or so til I get on the plane, WA has totally upturned my notion of starting to feel ‘done’ with Australia. There is still much I want to see… I’ll most definitely be coming back here… Steep point, Karijini National Park, the gibb river road, horizontal falls and Cape Leveque are now on my travelling bucket list for when I next come back to Western Australia. Exploring on :-).