So That Was The Noughties...

I WRITE this in the centre of Brisbane, only a few hundred metres from Victoria Bridge where I counted in the year 2000. I can remember ringing in the new millennium surrounded by thousands of other revellers, yet still being by myself as predictions of mass chaos from Y2K went the way of other doomsday theories.
The whole thing has a nice symmetry to it: beginning and finishing my first decade as an adult in roughly the same place, although midnight will be spent up in the Valley rather than the City.
To say though that Brisbane's been where it's at the last ten years would be misleading.
For us Australians, the year 2000 brought the unforgettable Sydney Olympics. Even though I didn't make it to any Olympic events - Olympic soccer matches were here in Brisbane - I can safely say it changed my life. One afternoon I was due to attend a third-year chemistry lab class, but decided against it in favour of watching Bruce McAvaney crap on about Australia's equestrian gold medal for about the fifth time that day.
It was around that time that Mum's$%&^#@& of an ex-husband made possibly the only constructive comment of the decade. I'd shown Mum a letter I'd had published to the Cricinfo newsletter, whereupon he suggested that if I liked sport so much then why not become a sports journalist? This prompted an online search for university courses (I was studying Information Technology and Science at the time), and in February 2001 I moved interstate down to Canberra - although not before a summer spent in great company carving up the Criterion in Brisbane!!!
Life in Canberra was interesting. When I moved I wasn't interested in fashion, looking good, or evolving much beyond bogan. Blaise and Cagey, two older friends doing the same course, helped me start moving forward and come out of my shell a lot more.
Work and living in Canberra could be tough. I was kicked out of one place in 2003 around the same time as the radio station I worked at, SSS FM, closed down; add to this a relationship that never really got off the ground, my car breaking down for good and crashing Cagey's car - it wasn't the greatest time of my life!
Later that year I sent my resume to one of the journalism lecturers after he asked if any was interested in working for the Cooma-Monaro Express. Despite my flippant reply (yeah, I'll chuck my name forward), I was employed as a cadet journalist. My first full-time job lasted two years - which was a lot longer than some may have felt it would.
Cooma was good insofar as getting a city boy into a different environment. While down there I tried to involve myself in as much sport as possible, getting to know many people quicker than what I might have earlier in the decade.
One such person was young Jason, who told me of his plans to travel Europe with a company called Busabout in 2005. I'd never heard of this mob before; after looking into it I couldn't wait to travel with them. Eventually Jason, Cat and myself spent two enjoyable months travelling Europe, catching Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and meeting some amazing people that I still keep in contact with today.
Travelling Busabout with Jason was probably the best thing I did. At the time my self-confidence wasn't the greatest - it took travelling with an extrovert to realise that people are - for the most part - friendly. Jason would get people into our social group whereupon I could actually talk to them! Watching the guides do their thing made me realise that I had the skills to do the same; after a lifetime of moving around sitting up the front of a big blue coach talking on a microphone seemed like a dream job to me!
As such I applied to Busabout in October 2005, flying over to the UK for a week for the interviews. Upon arrival I had the quinella - a lost contact lens the morning of the interviews, combined with the late announcement that the individual interviews would be done after I was due to fly back to Australia! Fortunately we did this one over the phone, after which I was accepted to the training trip.
Busabout has since dominated my life. Working for six months in the European summer, I've been lucky enough to take people around France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Greece - and even Liechtenstein! I also did some work for Contiki in London and Paris, and for Eastern Trekker in Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. Busabout also gave me the chance to head up to Lapland in northern Finland - one of the most enjoyable tours I've been on! Having people come up to you randomly and say they enjoyed your work was amazing; the response I got from people when I announced I'd finished working for Busabout blew me away!
In between seasons I've worked in a five-star hotel and offices in London; travelled the USA, South Africa, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia; and even celebrated Anzac Day with other ex-pats in Toronto.
Throughout I've met some awesome people, both crew and paying punters from around the world. I've been honoured by being best man at Mark and Kara's wedding, two friends from the start of the decade that are first on my list of friends I see back here in Brisbane, and in whose company I'll see in the new decade tonight.
All in all the Noughties have been one hell of a decade! I guess despite my life's twists and turns since the start of 2000, it's nice to wind the decade back up where it started.
Here's to the next 10 years!!!