achievements

I guess now's the time to debrief. And no, not debrief as in removing underwear.

As much as I hate to commit to being in a certain place (case in point: I never registered my car in NSW because I was always 'almost moving' to Melbourne or Perth or Canberra) I guess I need to write down what I achieved and did during my time in Orange.

I've been thinking about it for a long time - what I've done, what I think you should know that I've done. So in bullet points, here's what I've done in the past 18 months:

*conquered my anxiety attacks about moving - yeah, that would have to be the biggest hurdle.
*patted a giraffe
*picked cherries
*went to Melbourne not once, not twice, not thrice but FOUR times.
*developed a hatred for Sydney.
*flew in an ultra-light plane (read: lawnmower with wings)
*flew in another ultra-light plane, but this one was actually enclosed.
*floated down the Murrimbidgee River in Wagga.
*found the best coffee in the world, with the best people in the world serving it.
*saw far too many daffodils in a random village.
*missed Perth family and friends
*learned not to miss Perth family and friends (not in a nasty way, just in a 'life happens' way)
*ate some amazing food.
*drove thousands of kilometres.
*learned how an electric blanket works.
*purchased a great pair of ugg boots.
*sang a LOT of Singstar with my housemate.
*bushwalked in the Blue Mountains (if you're unfit, do NOT attempt the giant staircase)
*went to the Parkes Elvis Festival, not once but twice.
*drove on the Bathurst 1000 circuit at Mt Panorama.
*was cracked onto by drunken motorsports fans.
*interviewed a taxidermist (that was my one aim in my paid journalistic career, tick!)
*got my arm waxed for a radio story.
*met three true-blue, Aussie outback shearers.
*listened to a lot of older people rabbit on for far too long.
*saw Fred Hollows's grave.
*went on a paddleboat on the Darling River in Bourke.
*visited the Back O' Bourke.
*saw some of the most disadvantaged communities in NSW.
*witnessed the spirit of the people living in those communities.
*interviewed a nun
*saw backyard apple cider being made.
*got an education on why haybales can spontaneously combust.
*came to the conclusion that no matter how hard you try, no one whether it be Mother Nature or the Federal Government will make farmers happy.
*lived somewhere it snows in winter.
*learned that sometimes you just can't put on enough layers of clothes.
*found a family who adopted me as one of their own.
*rediscovered some amazing friends who just happened to be on the same side of the country.
*found a mentor.
*discovered the joys of Aldi (read: cheap German supermarket that's super efficient)
*signed a contract to write a book (yeah, that one's still sinking in)
*chaperoned drunk colleagues at Lismore's semi-gay bar.
*spent a lot of time on Skype.
*then subsequently didn't spend a lot of time on Skype.
*got drunk with a sizeable chunk of Orange's community while celebrating Orange's wine industry.
*wrote some great stories.
*wrote some truly crap stories.
*learned about radio station office politics. Ouch.
*worked with people who summed up the phrase 'passive-agressive' to a tee.
*met a pet cremator.
*rode a quad bike poorly.
*scraped a lot of frost off my car windscreen.
*learnt how to clean a house with Enjo and a Dyson.
*abseilled two metres to conquer my fear of 'little heights'
*abseilled down a dam wall at night because the SES people clearly knew I was sucker for punishment.
*took a lot of photos - 7000 photos for work, maybe a quarter of that for pleasure.
*met the best, authentic, real friends to spend Wednesday evenings with.
*went on a quest to find the best pub lunch deal in Orange.
*drew a flow chart of how to get from Orange to Wagga.
*spent so much time in Wagga that my friends called their spare room "Jess's room".
*went licorice bowling in Junee.
*had many, many adventures in the NSW/Victoria/ACT countryside.
*spent more weekends away from Orange than in Orange.
*learnt that it generally takes 12 hours to get from Orange to Perth. Lame.
*realised that Perth is a long way from... anywhere, really.
*grown up - in every sense of the phrase.
*thought a lot about what home really is.
*came to the conclusion that home is matter of who rather than where.

Yeah, so that's as much as I can list in one go. There's heaps more but a lot that can only be explained in anecdote form. Do I miss Orange? Like crazy (especially that best coffee in the world bit). But have I been distraught to be back in Perth? Not as much as I thought I would be.