I’m writing this curled up on a coach seat
somewhere between Sydney and Canberra. I am still sometimes struck by the
strangeness of being back in Australia – sometimes people ask me how I find my
frequent commute between Canberra and Sydney - travelling by bus?!
Not driving? Not flying? The
indignity! The discomfort!
Could be worse. At least there’re no chickens (alive or
dangerously consumed days after death).
By far the worse bus trip I’ve endured was
last July in Tanzania, on a rickety retired Japanese passenger bus from the
80s, pale and sweating from the dodgy chicken twisting my intestines, windows
shut, squashed amongst dozens of other passengers, and the front of the dalla dalla filled with squawking flapping
chickens.
This is bliss by comparison. I’ll arrive in Canberra at 5.30pm, and
then I’ll walk home in the rapidly deepening dusk to my apartment. That also is a strange luxury compared to the
constraints on my movements after dark the last time I updated this blog.
It has been quite a while.
I have no hope of giving a full account of everything that has happened since. I won’t try.
I left Swaziland in mid-July 2011 and met
my then-boyfriend in Jo’burg. We
travelled East Africa for a month – starting in Zanzibar, then Dar es Salaam up
to Arusha, safari across the Serengeti then to Mwanza, an overnight passenger
ship to Bukobo, and a long bus ride up to Kampala. Uganda was glorious, and I hope very much to
spend more time there and do that country justice. Brief side trips to the DRC (Parc National des Volcans) and Juba, a few days paddling a kayak in the white water rapids of
the Nile (mostly spent hanging upside down in the river trying to learn to
eskimo roll), and then home.
In late August 2011 I moved to Canberra to
work for Justice Hayne of the High Court of Australia. I’ve been living in Canberra since, and
travelling to Sydney regularly to see friends and family. I’m now down to my last month in Canberra
before finishing my associateship and moving back to Sydney… and then moving
overseas.
Along the way I’ve lost the boyfriend
(there’s an amazing story of Hollywood-esque deception, intrigue and betrayal
that goes with that statement, but it’s a bit last year’s season), engaged in
some serious Personal Growth, begun to question my desire to enter commercial
legal practice, and (I hope) have put in place the first stepping stones
towards building the legal career I want – using law in the pursuit of justice, using law where it is needed most.
The next step for me is Harvard Law School,
where I will be studying for the LLM (Masters in
Law). I will most likely do a doctorate after that, either with Harvard or with an Australian university.
I leave Australia on 25 July 2012, and once
again my plan is to use this blog as my means of mass communication with the
folks back home, as well as a place for me to explore my thoughts on and responses
to the brave new world of the United States.
I can’t wait.
There’s a glorious sunset out the window
and we are almost in Canberra. I will
sign out here.
