Hey you guys,

You already know this, but I’ll say it again: Sydney is home. Not just the city I grew up in, but the place that’s shaped how I see the world, what I hear when I close my eyes, the light I compare every other light to. As I get ready to move to Canada, that’s been sitting with me more than I expected. I keep catching myself in the middle of ordinary moments — walking somewhere I’ve walked a thousand times, ordering something I always order — and feeling this wave of I’m going to miss this.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to soak it all in. Revisiting the places that made me, saying quiet little goodbyes without really saying them out loud. I know it’s only for a couple of years, and I know I’ll be back. But knowing that doesn’t make it any less hard to leave the place that raised me.

So before I go, here are the places in Sydney that mean the most to me — the ones I’ll be picturing on the other side of the world.

1. Bondi Beach — the ocean I measure every other ocean against.
2. The Botanical Gardens — somewhere I’ve gone to think, to breathe, to remember who I am.
3. Vaucluse House — history and quiet, all in one place.
4. Newtown — loud, colourful, endlessly alive. I’ll miss its chaos more than I expected to say.
5. The Opera House — one of the most unique and recognizable buildings in the world, and somehow it still takes my breath away every single time.
6. Wahroonga Park and the local shops — a little obscure, I know, but this was my world as a kid. Every corner of it holds a memory.
7. Gertrude and Alice — the kind of place that feels like being wrapped in a blanket.
8. Palm Beach — where the pace of everything slows right down.
9. Jonah’s Restaurant at Whale Beach — a view I don’t think I’ll find the equal of anywhere else.
10. Sydney Harbour Bridge — walk across it, look at it, watch the fireworks over it on New Year’s Eve, whatever you do… it totally rocks, and it will always be the shape of home in my mind.

Leaving is bittersweet in a way I wasn’t fully prepared for. But I’m carrying every one of these places with me, and I know they’ll be exactly as I left them when I come home.

Sydney, thank you for raising me. I’ll see you soon.

Sophie xo