The Sister

Every year The Sister (who lives in Brisbane) and I try to have a girl's weekend away somewhere exotic or fun in Australia (although we talk constantly about further abroad, but The Husband even raised his eyebrows when I mentioned our next destination of Port Douglas, so I think I'm dreaming!).  We've been to Melbourne (drank too much), Coolum (Spirit House cooking school and fab beaches) and this weekend just gone, we went to Hobart.  I can see you shaking your heads, and truth be told, we did the same when I arrived on a bleak early evening.  It was like our hometown of Dunedin on a bad day.  But it got heaps better, probably helped by getting out and about in the beautiful crisp sunshine the next day.  I won't bleet on about all the things we did, but I will share one.
The Sister is older than me.  Much older.  Ok 3 years older.  We have a rythmn that just seems to work when we're together.  There is no niggle, there is constant talking, we solve all of life's problem, and there's a relaxed mix of chatting and chilling.  We have the formula just about perfect!  It's so blissfully easy to be together.
And she's always up for it, even if she moans about it.  So thanks to her conveniently sucking back two glasses of wine at lunch (in the gorgeous Peppermint Bay) I was delegated driving duties (actually, it was because she'd done the big driving day to Port Arthur the day before), so we're almost back to Hobart when she says, lets go up Mount Wellington.  28km of climbing up steep, windy roads, we made it.  The sun was setting, the sky was orange and purple and it was stunning.  And frickin freezing.
We took some photos, ran around a bit trying to keep warm, and then I spotted one of those towers that shows you've got to the highest point.  "Lets go up there!", I said.  There was whinging and moaning about how cold we were and her slippery shoes, so I headed off ignoring it.  I looked behind and there clambouring up the rocks and boulders, with no gloves and shoes with no tread, was my sister.

I miss her already.