friends, family and food

That pretty much sums up the weekend. There was a definite Italian theme with home made gnocchi on Saturday night and spaghetti and meatballs for Zac's birthday on Sunday night. Sharing food is such a simple and yet profound thing...

a sneaky photo by Colin

whaaat!

I guess it might appear a bit impulsive to have a conversation about caravans one day and buy one two days later. It didn't feel that way though. We always intended to buy another caravan, the camper trailer was for the in between. It just turned out to be a shorter in between than we imagined.

Holidays are a good time to take stock, of where you have been and where you want to be. As we imagined the next phase of life, it became obvious that a caravan was the missing essential for us. The camper trailer is fine, when the weather is good, when the time is short and when you are staying put. But when it is wet and cold and it's dark at 5pm or you are moving from place to place it becomes problematic, well perhaps a bit unpleasant and more work is a more accurate description. We longed for warmth and the feeling of a tiny home, for freedom and flexibility and yep, comfort. We longed to be in a caravan again. We longed to spend more time travelling/working, exploring and enjoying this beautiful country of ours. The camper trailer felt prohibitive, a caravan, heart warming joy.

We figured it would be better to sell the camper trailer now, while it is still almost 'as new'. And while we were on holiday and had a bit of time we may as well look at some vans! And one thing led to another and it is a bit of a story but we ended up finding 'just the right one' (that was in our price range and that the patrol can tow). And so we paid a deposit and in a couple of months it will be built, fortunately here in Melbourne.

Conversations and dreaming and making decisions and choices to live a life without regret is never dull, that's for sure...


From Col's iPhone

Goodbye Dingo

Hello future caravan

slow

Returned south and promptly picked up a virus. So it has been a slow week, luckily there wasn't much I had to do. Anticipating some warm and sunny weather as I fly to the Sunshine Coast to meet Colin tomorrow, makes me feel heaps better...

byron bay

Think this year is number ten. Another winter, another Byron Bay escape.
Familiar places and familiar faces. Sun, sea, surf and sand. Wind, rain and grey skies. Friends, shared food and drinks on the deck at sunset. Surf, paddle and swim.

Unfortunately Colin is not doing much of the latter. A foot injury just days before leaving has left him watching rather than participating. He has hobbled his way through one week and the next is not looking much better. A big disappointment to say the least, a reset of expectations a neccessity. Johanna and I joined him for the first week, a friend will keep him company in the second and he will head to the Sunshine Coast for a specialist appointment where I will join him again before we drive home.

'What happens, happens' was part of our Yurting Mantra in the days when living in and working from our caravan were plentiful. This last week was one of those weeks that reminded us to let go and to be thankful. To let go of expectations and desires and to be thankful for what is rather than frustrated by what is not. Pain and injury and crappy weather 'happen' and so do kind friends and good conversations and mulled wine and a big pan of paella and the occasional warm burst of sunshine and the ever present sea. And there is always tomorrow...