Happy new year to you all!! Gosh, 2024 is here and let’s hope it’s a cracker! 2023 for me was a busy year with lots of highs and a few lows… so here we go, my 2023 in review…
January
I started off 2023 watching the incredible firework display at Sydney Harbour. It was one of those “pinch me” moments – something I had wanted to experience for many, many years. I had the same feeling spending Christmas on Bondi Beach and watching more fireworks in Sydney on Australia Day at the end of January.
Big changes came with the new year. Increasing rent costs and the end of my rental contract saw me deciding to leave my job and my amazing friends and completely changing job and location. It was heartbreaking to leave my friends in Sydney and everything I was familiar with. This was a huge leap of faith – I was moving to the other side of the country (when I arrived in Australia, it wasn’t part of my plan to head to the west coast) and I had taken a job as an au pair with an incredibly lovely family I’d met on social media. Of course, this was completely the right decision and moving out west to my Aussie family was fantastic!
February
So obviously, life of the west coast was a success right from the beginning. The family I worked for became my own family, welcoming me with open arms. They made it so easy for me and I settled in super quick and felt like I’d been part of the family forever! Working as an au pair was super fun – I was eased into the role by Gran, Mum and Dad and the children were just amazing!
February went by in a flash with wholesome family time – roast dinners, home renovations, playtime, adventures grape picking at the vineyards, beach days with snorkelling, and a trip to the aquarium to hang out with our fishy friends.
March
March was filled with more wholesome family fun and more adventures. More home renovations, brewery visits, beach and snorkelling trips, mini safaris looking for kangaroos, visiting a sculpture trail, watching beautiful sunsets, a trip to Perth zoo, a night out at Ocean Film Festival, and feeding ducks on our post-school run walk to the pond.
I also joined a women’s only group on a road trip and retreat to Kalbarri National Park where we visited a pink lake, snorkelled, watched the sunset on a river cruise, looked for the local wildlife, had group meditation and ate amazing food!
April
Started the month off in Kalbarri National Park before going back home to Perth. Not long after returning to Perth, I went on another adventure – a little pre-birthday trip to Rottnest Island. Rotting was fantastic, I basically just snorkelled, took millions of photos and hung out with the world’s happiest animal, the quokka.
After a fun couple of days on Rottnest Island, it was time for Easter and my birthday. It was the Easter holidays and the kids and I had fun making dens, crazy dancing and playing pirates.
And then the first low of the year… preparing to leave Australia. I’ve made no secret of my love for Australia and it was bittersweet to think of packing up and going home. While I obviously was excited to see my family, it was sad to be leaving my Aussie life.
May
The time had come to say “see ya later” to Aus. The journey back to the UK was long but I was looking forward to spending time in London and then getting home to Jersey.
I’d timed my journey home well, arriving in London for one of the most historic events in my lifetime – the Coronation of King Charles III. Despite the rain, the atmosphere was electric and it was just amazing to have been in London for such a historic event! The bonus of a trip to London was seeing my dad and a friend for Sydney aquarium.
Finally, it was time to go home home. Arriving back in Jersey was one of the weirdest feelings ever and I’m not really sure I know how to explain how I felt. It was amazing to see my family after a year away from them. I guess it was kind of overwhelming coming home as I had changed and things at home were different too. I also went straight into working in a new job and what a fantastic job it was!
The travel blues hit hard – in Jersey it was cold and the weather was yuck, I missed my friends in Aus, I missed the sunshine and heat, seeing social media posts from Aus made me feel jealous of not being able to do the same, and it was just difficult to adjust to being in Jersey again.
June
The first month in my job went super quick and I was really enjoying it and enjoying working with a great team! While the weather was hit and miss, I’d at least had a few jumperless days. We went on a staff social for dinner in Carteret in France (which was so much fun), had an unofficial staff trip to Les Ecrehous, I saw countless dolphins mostly from my office, and we had the addition of a small tortoise sculpture for Durrell’s Tortoise Takeover charity fundraiser. Things were definitely looking up and I was settling back into Jersey life.
July
July saw the arrival of Janvrin, our giant tortoise, and a giant Hare from Durrell’s Tortoise Takeover, and the tortoise trail was well underway. July was filled with outings ticking off tortoise sculptures from the list (whatever the weather) as well as post-work sea swims (when weather allowed), a crew bowling trip, and dolphin spotting from the office.
My mum, sister and I went on a day trip to Saint Malo in France. A lovely, wholesome family day of walking, drinking good wine, and eating yummy food.
August
August saw more dolphin spotting from the office and more sea swims after work. Beach trips, another trip to Les Ecrehous, ticking off more tortoises on the trail, a couple of gatherings with my old work (to say goodbye to those retiring and just a boozy summer barbecue), and a mixed bag of weather particularly one of the most incredible storms I have ever witnessed.
I was also fortunate enough to go on a day trip to Sark (one of the smallest Channel Islands and somewhere I have never been before) – I spent the day walking around the island, snapping photos, and taking in the amazing views.
September
The summer season passed by in a flash! I had the most fantastic job, worked with the most incredible crew and we finished the season with a bang – an end of season staff party to Sark. A full day of food, drinks, biking around the island, diving off the boat, swimming through caves and all dressed as either pirates or mermaids – it was such a fun day!
When I finished work at the end of September, I had a couple of weeks of rest and planning for my trip around Europe. One of my oldest friends also got married and it was wonderful to celebrate this next chapter in her life.
October
October was a time for a big change within our family. My grandparents sold their home after 54 years to downsize – a lot of treasured memories were made here and while it was sad to think of our family home not being part of our family after so long, the thought of a new family making new memories made us all smile and made the change a little easier. As well as moving house, my grandparents also celebrated a huge milestone – their 60th wedding anniversary!! We celebrated together as a family with a lovely meal out and reminiscing about our memories as a family.
My big Europe trip started – this came about because I realised that despite living in Europe for my entire life, I have seen shockingly little of it (I’ve actually seen more of Australia at this point). I first head to Amsterdam, then into Germany (more on that in a sec), back to Amsterdam, then to London and a quick trip home to Jersey for my grandparents anniversary. I also went to the Lake District in the north of England to visit my dad and his side of the family before heading to Switzerland. The Europe trip had begun well and I was looking forward to what was to come.
The reason for my little dip into Germany in October was to reunite with my university friends to celebrate the wedding of one of our group. We hadn’t seen each other in over 7 years (since we graduated) so this wedding weekend was made even more special as we caught up with each other and celebrated our friendship as well as the wedding.
November
Starting the month of in Switzerland before heading to Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Germany (again) and finishing off in Scotland – what an adventure! Lots of things happened, I did a lot of activities, saw a lot of new places and met new people.
Two places I want to mention specifically are Slovakia and Scotland. While in Switzerland, an old school friend reached out to ask me if I wanted to catch up with him if I was around Slovakia way – as Vienna, Austria is only an hour from Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia), it was an easy yes to meeting up. Seeing him for the first time in a decade was so great – a celebration of 23+ years friendship! Finishing the month in Scotland meant meeting up with two friends I’d met in Australia – Chloe and Iona. It was so good to see them and have a few days together after almost a year apart.
So, November – the month of A LOT of travel… in this month alone, I visited 7 countries and 12 cities, honestly looking back I think this is awesome if not slightly insane.
December
Adventures and Christmas markets in Scotland marked the end of the Europe trip and it was time to go home to Jersey for family time and Christmas. It had been a busy couple of months (and a busy year really) so it was also time properly rest and recharge.
Christmas and New Year came with more wholesome family time, meals out, a work crew social, games nights, carol services, and lots of yummy food!
Goals for 2024
I don’t like the word resolutions when we talk about a new year. Research suggests that around 22% of people who make New Year resolutions fail by the end of the first week of January and 43% of people have given up by the end of January. I like to have GOALS, something I can work towards and if I don’t achieve them, that is totally ok. So here are my goals for 2024…
#1 Return to Australia – with the changes for UK passport holders in 2023, it’s been a long wait but my return to Australia is on the horizon and I’ll finally be able to apply for my next visa come July. It’s a long wait but it’ll be so worth it when I can finally step foot in Aus again!
#2 Scuba dive more – diving is one of my passions and one I haven’t embraced enough! I love how peaceful and calming being underwater is and I love marine life and underwater photography so I need to make time to get in the water.
#3 More travel and adventures – while I haven’t got anything major planned (I’ll likely save any big plans for my return to Australia), I do have a couple of little trips planned here and there.
#4 Read more – I enjoy reading and to be honest, I think we all spend too much time on technology and watching tv so I want to read more this year. The most books I have read in one year is 13 so I might try to top this just to give myself the extra challenge but however many I read, it’ll be good for me.
#5 Learn a new skill – I think it’s important to always be learning so I’d like to learn a new skill this year… I don’t know what new skill to learn yet but I have a whole year.
#6 Blog lots – this year, I’ll be celebrating 2 years of Waves of Wonder! I have lots of blogs to write from my travels around Europe so that’ll keep me going a while for sure. I want to grow my blog and social media channels and that can only be done from creating content and the support of my followers (thank you all for the support so far).
#7 Most importantly, be happy and healthy!
So, here we are, the end of another year and the start of new one! 2023 was a year of travel and adventures, of celebrations and change. I want to thank everyone that has been part of my life in 2023 – it was an insane but cracking year!
Here’s to a fantastic 2024 – I hope this year is kind to you!
Comments