You know that feeling when you’ve been on a long holiday and you’ve had the best time but you walk into your house at the end and it actually feels really nice to be home?

That’s what it’s like.

So, after close to 2 years in Sydney, totalling 5 years away from home, we made the call to come back. We were both kinda at career crossroads, Tom had made the decision he didn’t want to be a podiatrist anymore, especially in the job he was in. He said he felt like he was having the same conversations every day (of course, he worked in dementia wards so he quite literally was).

Mine, a little more complicated. I was loving Pernod. The culture is amazing, so much fun. All the people I was so intimidated by when I started, I was good friends with by the time I left. My team was fantastic. I was surrounded by some of the smartest people I’ve ever met and loved absorbing everything I could from them. Whats more, I think I was doing really well too. I used to freak out in my first months there, I thought everyone was so smart and I’d never be like them. Then within a year I was managing a multi-million-dollar MasterChef campaign – it was a massive stretch, but with the support of the team, I did it. And that will probably remain one of the things I’m proudest of for the rest of my life.

We’d had a ball in Sydney. We loved catching ferries around, popping to the beach on weekends, and doing Boot Camp looking over the harbour. It never felt like home, but like a fun holiday.

But it was starting to seem like the trip was dragging, and it was time to be back with the people we love.

So, I put feelers out around the Yarra Valley, and the opportunity came up to meet with Rob Dolan Wines. While I drove up the beautiful driveway through fields of green and rows of vineyards I knew it was where I wanted to be. Half way through the interview a beautiful chocolate Labrador came in – I lost all professionalism and dropped to my knees to give him a hug while my voice rose a few octaves to tell him he’s a good boy. Nice one Mel.

The job opening was a Cellar Door Manager, which, let’s be honest, wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. My skill set is in marketing + comms… and while I love chatting to people and educating about wine, I have much less know-how in hospitality.

But, I loved the business and knew they were who I wanted to work for, plus it was a great opporunity to develop in other areas.

Leaving Pernod was really hard, they gave me my start in wine, with the best training I could have dreamed of. From being a Wine Ambassador and training in 5 wine regions; working overseas; learning key entrepreneurial skills; honing networking and presentation skills; and learning about the wine trade and consumer…. To being in marketing; learning how to build a brand; understanding every facet of the business and working cross-functionally; learning how to weaponise data; and getting a really strategic understanding of a business, and a brand. But maybe most of all, I had a bloody blast, met some awesome people, and had the most amazing experiences being part of a business so well-known for its people and culture.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So, here we are. We’ve moved home and honestly couldn’t be happier back in Melbourne. I drive out to the winery to work, and it’s the small things make me happy; the smell of fresh cut grass, walking through the barrel room every day, the buzz around as vintage kicks off, and getting a hat that makes me a part of Vintage 2020.

The people are really wonderful, so down to earth (they also say “hoo roo” instead of goodbye which is possibly the most Australian thing I’ve ever experienced) like any job there are challenges, but nothing I can’t overcome.

We were a bit scared about coming home, would we get itchy feet? We would be bored after the crazy lives we’d been living the last 5 years? Well, it’s only been a month or so, but so far it just feels… right.

It feels like I’m finally doing a big exhale, but I didn’t realise I’d been holding my breath for so long.

I’m happy.