Hometown Magic

There is magic to be found in the towns that edge the sea. The rolling hills and paddocks, the crashing ocean waves; they will always call to me.

Bundaberg is a small rural town in Queensland, Australia and it happens to be the town I grew up in. The funny thing about growing up in a small rural town is you know everyone, and they know you. To this day I still have the same best friend I did growing up and I like to call that quality over quantity and that is something that is valued in Bundaberg. I grew up on a cane farm on the outer edges of Bundaberg, my best friend lived five minutes away and two of our other friends 15 minutes away. I remember blasting Taylor Swift and driving on the back dirt roads, over a causeway bridge to get to my best friends house and would then spend the entire day there. Her family was my family and still is to this day. It's funny how one song can take me back to doing 100km on the highway with the windows down and singing at the top of our lungs.

From the sandy coastal beaches to the rolling paddocks that turn from brown to green each year, I call this town my hometown. Despite how I now feel about this special place, I couldn't see the beauty and grace that a town where everyone cared for you possessed. At seventeen I moved away, leaving behind my best friend and three younger sisters. This didn't last long though and I briefly returned home. During this return I met my now husband and fell in love. This town on the surface was stifling and restrictive but I found a piece of magic and carried it all the way to a new city with me. At 21 we fell pregnant and suddenly the quiet, open spaces and calm beaches called me home. This wasn't meant to be though so I would visit every year with my daughter and show her the magic I once knew. I still want to return to the quieter life that my hometown offers but the city calls to me equally.

My Mum's family were cane farmers and we lived around the corner from my Grandparents and Uncle and Aunty. Everyone had a house surrounding the farm but as I grew older my Uncle and Aunty both sold their houses and moved. I would spend my afternoons after school at my Grandparents making cheesecakes and playing in the cane bales. When I moved away from Bundaberg I was faced with a sudden longing for home and I discovered not everyone had that special bond I have with my grandparents. This strong relationship is something I have tried to impart on my daughter and thankfully she and my Mum have the greatest bond. Without my grandparents and parents I would not be the person I am today; without that town and the small close knit group of friends I had I would not treat people the way I do. I have that town to thank for everything I have and will ever have too.

One day I'll return to the magic of this place, when I am old and grey and things don't work the same. I'll dip my feet into an ocean I haven't been in for years. I'll walk barefoot in my parents paddocks, the same paddocks my great, great grandparents walked in. I'll fly down the highway doing 100km playing the songs that remind me of my best friend; hopefully she'll be riding shotgun but you never know what life will bring you. I'll have my daughter in the backyard with her children; a whole new generation to appreciate the magic that is my hometown. The magic is in me and I believe the magic is in you too; anyone can turn the place they live into a home.