Return Voyages

sunset on Moreton Bay

Somewhere in one of Paul Theroux’s books is a quote I meant to record, before I lost it (the book, and quote…). To paraphrase from faulty memory, he said that the feeling of leaving a place before you’re ready, before you’ve seen and done all you hoped to do, is what gives us the urge to travel: If we’re never quite satisfied, we’ll want to go back.

return trip to Springbrook National Park

We’ve spent the past few years caught between the drive to go back and the siren song of moving on. And when the world is so big, and so fascinating, who has time to visit the same place twice? No matter how compelling it is.

But over the past few months we’ve had a chance to savour the sweetness of visiting the same wondrous places more than once. The first time, when it’s shiny and novel, it seems like you memory only sketches an outline, it’s hard to see the detail.

 

Exploring Tangalooma on Moreton Island

But now that we’ve had repeat trips to Springbrook and out sailing on Moreton Bay I realize how much detail we must have missed along our journey. How many trails we never got to hike, how many view points stayed just out of reach.

There is a sweetness to seeing something new, but there is a richness in getting to see things again.