The last plane out of Sydney's almost gone ...

Dear Laura,

A lot of things have happened this week. The earth shook for me, both literally and figuratively. Yes, you read that right. Melbourne experienced a little thing called an earthquake. This is not something that happens often in old Melbourne town, so we all collectively freaked out. The olds took to radio to share their stories of pictures shaking on the wall and the youngs took to twitter to tell tales of dogs barking and things falling off shelves.

As you might have gathered, it wasn't very big (the Christchuchians and San Franciscans would totally judge us for freaking out). But it did kind of herald the weird week I was to have. The big news: Dad is moving back to Sydney which means I am moving on out! I have a few leads on apartments, but I will keep you posted.

That's the boring stuff out of the way.

You've been in Thailand (or Malaysia? Somewhere in Asia proper) for around 4 days now. Not enough time to be missing home. But I thought that I might put together a bit of a Australiana playlist for you, so that if you ever feel like a slice of home, you can came back to this letter, play these songs while eating vegemite out of the jar and feel like you are in beautiful Sydney.

First kangaroo off the ranks:

You thought I wouldn't include this? Foolish, foolish Laura. Didn't I mention? This list is going to be totally old school. None of your hipster bands here. These songs are awesome, and slightly daggy, just like Australia itself.

That's right, bitch. You come from the land down under, and don't you forget it. 

Ummm. I love how the lead instrument in this song is a bloody HARMONICA. YES. (I know it's about Vietnam, not Thailand, but still!)

You have to dance like Peter Garrett when this song is on.

Did you REALLY think you were going to get away without that one? Oh, foolish child. 

You know, I remember hating this song, but let's be honest: I totally teared up a bit when listening to it.

I love me some Missy. THE ACCENT! Tell me you don't love her and I won't believe you. 

Some Nick Cave is absolutely necessary on this playlist. Don't try to argue. 

His voice is just so amazing. It's stunning. It's fabulous!

What? It's a classic! 

Do you have many wide open roads where you are? 

And I'm getting away with this one because we love Australia truly, madly, deeply. 

Maybe if I feel kindly at a future date I might make a hipster playlist, but for now ... Enjoy! 

Hope you are enjoying your first week out in the big, bad (although it has a heart of gold) world. 

Much affection, 

Lauren

P.S. I have an absolutely fabulous book idea to tell you about. But that's a post for another time. 

From Claire to Laura with love

Dear Laura,

At times like these I would normally point to a great character from literature or film, encouraging you to draw inspiration from their gutsy actions - from the way they struggled against the odds to find success.

If you were going to New York we would go for Felicity, London we would have the whole range of Jane Austen characters to draw on and of course Canada would place us firmly in Anne of Green Gables territory. But Thailand … the only pop culture references I can think of are Bangkok Hilton, Brokedown Palace and The Beach – perhaps we should avoid taking lessons from any of these films?!?!

I’ve decided that the lack of characters to draw inspiration from as you embark on your journey is a good thing  …  why? Because it means you – yes YOU – will be the pioneer. In years to come people will be looking back to your story and say, "I want to go to Chiang Mai and walk in the footsteps of Laura Free".

That is the kind of potential I think you have. Laura have you ever thought that you could become a cultural icon? Because I think that is a totally achievable dream for you.

At your going-away-party I heard you say to a friend that what you wanted while your away is a “taste of home”. That, my friend, is what Dear Laura is intended to be.  

Lauren and I will send you virtual letters because, lets face it, who can be bothered using pen and paper, an envelope, a stamp and a post box anymore. In these letters we will endeavour to tell you charming stories of life in Australia, hilarious work anecdotes, chance encounters with handsome men and details of great dinners at new pop-up bars.

Note that I said we would endeavour to do these things. It is likely, however, that I will be writing to you about my nights spent at home eating canned soup, watching reruns of the O.C and going to bed at 9pm.

Yep - this will be a must-read!!           

Lauren may have some better stories. I mean she does live in Melbourne. Lots of good stuff happens in Melbourne - that is where we came up with the idea for this fabulous blog after all.

We haven’t talked too much about the specifics. Lauren – do we want Laura to write back? Do we want her to comment? How should this work? Mmmm ... what do you think Laura?

Well enough from me today. We have a whole year of blog posts to write so I can’t waste all my thoughts about your adventure in the first entry – except to say this:

YOUR ARE AWESOME – I am crazy proud of you and love that you are the kind of person who doesn’t sit back and talk about all the awesome things she wants to do with her life. I love that you are the kind of person that just goes out there and does it. I'm pretty lucky to have a friend like you.

Love you lots and lots and lots,

Claire