Travel
Australia
In 2025, I took a trip to the great down under with my family. We visited Sydney for a few days, drove to Canberra, and then on to Melbourne, before driving back to catch our return flight.
I especially enjoyed the change in season. We traveled in December, which is late spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The sudden change of pace to shorts weather, a change even from Texas weather, was a welcome experience.
Our first night there was unfortunately the evening of the tragic Bondi Beach shooting. We realized in retrospect our original plans could have taken us there around that time. Later in the week, we took the opportunity to visit the memorial and leave a token of our sorrow.
Sydney quickly became one of my favorite cities, somewhere I would love to live if borders were no object. In the year 2025, since I was still closeted, the continued acceptance symbolized in the occasional rainbow was a promise of a future that would truly welcome me. From a Christmas market we visited, I covertly aquired a small rainbow heart that now hangs from my dashboard to remind me of that vision.