A bit of City in this Country Girl…
I think something that people often mistake about me, is that I am ‘just’ a Country Girl.
Now I don’t mean to say there is anything wrong with being a Country Girl – I’m darned proud of the fact that I grew up in the bush. I like that I can drive a truck, ride a horse, tell a cow from a steer. But, like most Country Girls, it doesn’t totally define me.
I am very many things and among these, is that I have a little bit of city in me too. I have lived in a number of urban areas during my life – and loved each and every one of them for their own special character and experiences.
I loved Toowoomba (Darling Downs Qld) with it’s glorious gardens, it’s misty mornings and it’s spectacular showgrounds. I loved Griffith (NSW) for its unique multicultural population, for its glorious vineyards and its ability to revel in its own isolation and beauty and food and wine. I loved Buderim (Qld) for its gentle pace and salt-tinged, leafy beauty. I loved nearby Mooloolaba for its surfy culture, its gob-smacking vista of ocean and beach, and its restaurants. And I loved the urban area where I began and ended my city-life…. Brisbane.
I regard Brissy (as she is affectionately known) as MY city.
I grew up regularly visiting my Mum’s Mum there – where the delights of Myer and escalators and milk in a carton were revealed to us.
I lived there as a uni students and then later spent a decade as a resident – exploring her inner urban high rises and her eclectic Valley eateries and nightclubs.
Driving through her older winding streets, discovering breath-taking views to Mt Coot-tha and back over her bridges.
Getting to know her river – the element that has shaped her and draws her together, and sometimes challenges her beyond endurance.
I met Mr Incredible during a visit to Brisbane (at this very pub!)…
…and we were (eventually) married in one of her glorious parks, with some of our wedding photos taken at Kangaroo Point cliffs overlooking the winding brown Brisbane River.
Both Dash and Violet were born there.
And a lot of my friends and my husband’s family live there still… we are connected, Brisbane and I, by a giant invisible 500km-long umbilical cord!
It IS my city.
Do I miss it?
Sometimes, when I need something QUICK or yearn to eat out and let someone else wash up.
Do I want to live there again?
Nope. I adore the luxury of my open spaces out here. I can put up with having my dose of restaurants and concerts and movies concentrated into mad rushed visits.
Do I love her still.
Absolutely. Always and forever.
How bout you? What is YOUR city? And why?
Trips and tips...
19 Comments
Fleur McDonald
Without question, Adelaide. I can still drive around that city with my eyes closed.
Fleur McDonald´s last blog post ..Guest blog: Maggie Groff
Bush Babe
I have never been to Adelaide or Perth… TOP of my Must See list!
Charlotte Nash
Brisbane is my city too! Been many places but I always come back.I was lucky enough to grow up here when our area was still rural and full of farms and horses. All that has changed but I still love my river city 🙂
Debby
I actually don’t have a city, but I love NYC simply because of its wonderful mishmash of so many different cultures. I love Washington DC because there always something going on just one subway ride away, and I adore history. I loved San Antonio for its western, Mexican influence. I loved the Riverwalk, and Durty Nellie’s. I guess I love a whole lotta places for a whole lotta reasons.
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Bush Babe
Oh NEW YAWK… yes. And San Antonio… fabulous! *sigh* Washington on the ‘to do’ list!!
Debby
But I sure loved hearing about your city.
Debby´s last blog post ..Hacked again…
Colin (HB)
My God, you set high bloody tasks!
Me: Born Sydney (WW2 years), then Guyra,
Boomi, Moree, boarding school “Joey’s”, Hunters Hill, Sydney again, then 6 years in New Guinea (interesting!), then West Wyalong, Caloundra, and finally Brisbane.
Best experience was Boomi, on the NSW/QLD border as a kid and living as you are now on a property.
Where would I like to live best – AUSTRALIA. If not and NYC would be my last choice (sorry Debby), followed by London. Yuck to both.
So Copenhagen,Denmark #1, Salzburg,Austria #2 and Hua Hin, Thailand #3.
But little ole “Boomi” was the best. Population then about 100 in the little town, but Boomi had 13 tennis courts for the weekend competitions, no TV in those days and the great telephone party lines!!
Also no electric power! The hotel was the only place that had a generator and that was in the early 1950’s!!! Everyone from the surrounding areas on properties came for the tennis matches. I guess the tennis courts these days are no more!
Memories of ages ago, but good ones.
Debby
I would not like to live in NYC but it is a favorite place to visit. I am a small town girl, and that is a big step from the woods where we have always lived…
Debby´s last blog post ..For Mikey
Lynda M O
My city is the City by the Bay, San Francisco, my adopted home in middle age but never happier anywhere. It’s filled with people who think about life, love, rights, responsibilities, others and their part in all that happens here on our little blue marble of a planet.
Lynda M O´s last blog post ..In the Early Morning Quiet…
Kelly
I’m not a city girl, having grown up in a small town (20,000). I lived in a couple of cities a bit larger while in school (Shreveport, LA & Knoxville, TN) and made many trips to visit family in Little Rock, AR… but was perfectly content to settle and raise my family in a rural area.
Despite this, I do enjoy the occasional visit to a big city and have been to Las Vegas more times than I can count! I’ve also enjoyed several visits to Chicago and New Orleans (would like to make even more!). I’ve been blessed to travel abroad a fair bit (including a summer studying) and London is by far my favorite city outside the US.
Kelly´s last blog post ..M.C. Escher
Bill
I need to be where I can smell dirt and see trees and water. But – I have been in many cities and they all look and sound the same to me.
jeanie
Had to laugh at your tennis courts, Colin – we used to boast that our nearby town had claim to fames for being first in the postcode book AND the highest ratio of tennis courts to population in the world – however it appears that there is a challenger.
I love Melbourne – and Brisbane.
(BTW – notice that Toowoomba didn’t get a guernsey?)
jeanie´s last blog post ..When I was a Girl
Bush Babe
Dear Lord… how COULD I forget those two years of my life!! Now updated to include the Garden City… 🙂
Colin (HB)
Jeanie.
Toowoomba! Nice place to visit, not in the winter though. Too cold and windy.
Re: The Boomi weekend tennis tournaments.
So serious it was – players were SEEDED!!!
The mini- version of a Grand Slam of the top North-West of NSW. Big blackboards appeared with the draws! Umpires were required for all matches, sitting up in their “crow’s nests” and kids were the ballMany a country romance was commenced on those tennis counts!
Colin (HB)
Went before completed : “and kids were the ball boys and girls” – very serious business, indeed – no shirking!
Amy
I have recently moved to Toowoomba from a country town and am slowly learning to love it! Would be nice if the sun decided to stay around sometime though haha
Bush Babe
Yes, Toowoomba might be in the Sunshine State but it likes to ignore that fact sometimes!! 🙂
Fiona Palmer
You totally read my mind with this blog. I’m a country girl but I love going to the city, I love the lights at night, the colours, shops, dining, movies….I have been to many cities but have lived in Perth so would rate as my city. Maybe that’s because I know it so well, I can drive around and not get lost. 🙂
Kate
Hi, BB. Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. I love the big city too but only in small doses. I’m getting to know NYC more and more but I would say that Philadelphia is probably my city. That’s where I was born.
Kate´s last blog post ..Dive bomb