I left Brisbane in my early twenties and did not look back for a long time. That is not a criticism of the place. It is just what you do when you are young and the world is large and everything you want seems to be somewhere other than where you already are.

There is a difference between visiting a country and being brought into it. My partner is a Kiwi. His family lives in Auckland. I have been going there long enough that parts of it feel less like a destination and more like a second home. Here is what that changes.

Most people drive the Great Ocean Road in a day. They leave Melbourne early, stop at a few lookouts, photograph the Twelve Apostles in the middle of the day when the light is flat and the car parks are full, and drive back to the city in time for dinner. They will tell you they have done the Great Ocean Road. They have done a version of it.

Everyone has seen the photographs. The coral in impossible colors, the fish suspended in water so clear it barely looks like water. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most photographed places on earth, which means that by the time most people get in, they think they know what to expect. They do not.