As I often report at this time of year, we are filled with mixed emotions. While the travel is arduous, the main problem of our country shift is dealing with leaving our family, friends, unit and country behind to once again face the challenges of living in our very familiar, yet still very foreign adopted home. This is always tempered by the fact the “girls”, Virg ‘n Mary are so happy to see us, and we get the chance to meet up with all our friends over here again.We had the opportunity to meet up with lots of family and friends on our trip back to Newcastle this year. One week, we managed to eat out every day, even twice, and separately, one day! We were also sad not to meet one of our friends, another sobering reminder to us to continue to live life along the way, just as we have been doing. We’ve managed to blimp out a little bit on all that great Aussie tucker and wine, despite the fact that, weather permitting, we regularly went off on our 6 km walk most days at an elegant clip. We marvel every day on the walk at the great vistas displayed for us and find we can while away great chunks of the day just sitting at our dining room table gazing out at the constantly changing views of ocean and people. Breakfast tended to be late and drawn out, accompanied of course by the “Krups” coffee (from which we’re in a sudden withdrawal!) and invariably a spotting of cavorting whales and dolphins. The business of the day was then conducted, whether it be surfing, walking, eating, visiting, or a combination of the above and then another hour to watch the reverse sunset over the ocean pinking up the clouds with a cup of tea at the end of the day.
Our bike trip was superb this year and we took in huge tracts of country NSW and Victoria, Cassy working out an itinerary where we travelled on roads we’d never been on before. When we plan our trips nowadays, it’s almost always going back to places, so this was no mean feat. The bike purred along as usual: how lucky we are to have this little luxury waiting for us each year. This trip gives us a chance to reconnect with Australia quite deeply each time and never ceases to amaze us.
Ross came over for a week and we were relieved to be able to show him a little better weather than last year’s “Pasha storm”! Our little surfari up the coast produced one of the biggest stormiest swells of the year, so we struck out on the waves, but we managed to have lots of laughs over a few beers at night, or trying to operate the satellite navigation in Chris’s car during the day!
We’re here a week early to mark some tests and do some pre-testing so the week shouldn’t be too taxing. Photos are just a sample of the break, photos of some family and friends we met, but we couldn’t fit nearly all in, nor did we take enough photos. Other photos of interest include Cass with her beloved cyclamen, the Mundine fight night which was great fun, and the girls sniffing out the bags when we got back.