mittagundi

There is a place in the Alpine National Park, somewhere beyond Falls Creek and near Glen Valley called Mittagundi. Rachel did a placement there in the dead of winter. There is no power, rain water only, wood stoves for heating and cooking, no internet or phone reception... she loved every minute of it. It is a place where groups of teenagers come to hike and ski and learn about independence and making do and challenging themselves. It is a place where they cook and chop wood and fix fences and make things with wood and steel (old style) and in the process learn about themselves and working as part of a team. For many it is a significant and life changing experience. It is a place where young adults run the program and are entrusted with immense responsibilities and amazingly rise to the challenge. After her placement Rachel continued to be involved returning as a volunteer on a number of occasions. Mittagundi is also where Rachel met Cass.

Last weekend was the Mittagundi Festival, its annual open day and fund raising event. Colin and I re-borrowed our tent and self inflating mattresses from the kids and drove a long way to camp in a field with a heap of other people. It has been a while since we have camped and pit toilets and no shower for the weekend was a bit of a challenge, but of the good kind. We went to a bush dance, watched passionate people do amazing things with wood and steel using basic tools, swam in the creek (well Colin did, too cold for me), watched old and new staff and young people compete in the 'Mittagundi Olympics', ate, drank and listened to beautiful music surrounded by picturesque mountains and brilliant stars at night. Best of all was seeing Cass on her own turf, doing what she's good at and getting a glimpse of what this place means to her and Rach...

Rach and Cass and co

a passionate 'woodsman'

competition time, a pitchfork and bag of hay, go Cass

Mittagundi Olympic event -  Cass smashing it in the putting up and packing away of a tent 

wheelbarrow race

open mic, Cass on drums

bellarine rail trail

A last minute decision saw Rach join us for New Years day. It may have been grey and drizzly but that didn't stop us from packing up the bikes and riding part of the Bellarine Rail Trail as planned. We joined the trail at Drysdale and rode to Queenscliff, catching the steam train back.

It is not easy to ride with one hand and take a photo with the other,
even if it is a little point and shoot camera

acting the fool

a quick stop to check her bsl and eat a piece of fruit

cycling essentials, a thermos of tea and fruit cake. Don't worry about rain jackets,
we may be a bit wet on the outside but Colin is happy on the inside!

the steam train puffs her way past our morning tea stop

back on the bikes

lunch at Queenscliff

waiting out the drizzle at Queenscliff pier

yes, it has stopped

all aboard

Colin taking up our challenge to get a selfie
(it has become a family 'thing' that Colin takes a selfie and puts it on our family's fb page)

tie dye

Christmas was colourful this year. There was the usual - great food (and too much of it), a house bursting at the seams with family and friends, gift giving, beach going.... and there was the not usual - a family session of tie dying (thanks Heidi)

Tie

Dye

Rinse

Dry

Ta Da

preparation and anticipation

We arrived lately to Christmas preparations this year but are now feeling relieved to be somewhat on track. It is with great anticipation that we await the arrival of all our kids and their partners for a few days of celebration and feasting (our frequent flyer points came in handy to get Johanna from Caloundra to Barwon Heads). Our family tradition begins on Christmas Eve when we all gather to make and eat home made pasta (ravioli). I'm not sure how it has happened but my twenty something children (well one in particular) insist on hanging up their childhood Christmas stockings. And Santa, for some strange reason, keeps filling them up year after year!

This year will be a Duthie Christmas, lunch spent with Colin's extended family. As usual, we will celebrate Heidi's birthday on boxing day, it is a bummer to be born on Christmas day. At least this way she gets a day dedicated to her birthday. This year will also be the first (of many we hope) here in Barwon Heads; it will feature beach, surf, sand and who knows maybe even some sun! I do believe some tie dying is also on the cards.

There is a lot to look forward to and as usual we are sobered by our very good fortune to be able to celebrate and especially with those we love...

surely not

It was with a slight touch of panic that we realised on the weekend that it was only two weeks til christmas and we hadn't done a thing. So much has been going on, the days and weeks a blur, slipping by, that mid December has caught us unaware. We did some menu planning, wrote a couple of lists, and bravely headed to the shops on Sunday. It was less stressful than we anticipated and I don't know how it happened but I ended up in a cycling store for over an hour (no exaggeration) while Colin figured out the basics he would need to join the Barwon Heads Cycling Club. Yep, he has acquiesced, the years of 'no way' have reluctantly been set aside. Cycling is big in Barwon Heads and when you are new and looking to connect with other blokes it really is the best way. A neighbour is lending him a bike, another some gloves, he is not exactly wrapped with the lycra he had to buy, but if you want to ride, you have to look the part! It is a good club with great people, we met some of them at the pub the other night. A whole new world is opening up, I just hope he doesn't injure himself, he does have somewhat of a track record...

sight unseen

These are crazy days. In a period of four days my youngest child left home, my father died and we bought a house, that I have not seen. Colin has seen it and I have seen photos of it, I just haven't been in Barwon Heads long enough and at the right time to actually see it, for real. Someone else made an offer and we had to as well, or let it go. And a lot of research and watching and waiting said this was worth pursuing despite the appalling timing. They were waiting for our offer, we made it early morning as we made our way to see my father. An hour later he was gone. Amidst the tears I cheekily suggested to my father that maybe there was something he could do from up there, to get us over the line. Perhaps he did, for an hour later we had our answer and a new house. Our new home will forever be linked to my father now...

enough

I flew straight from Caloundra to Tassie last Wednesday, for a different kind of goodbye, the final kind. My father's health had steadily declined and as he entered end stage with his lung disease he decided he'd had enough. Once his independence was compromised and the quality of his life poor he made his decision, the only one left to him, to proactively seek the end. We supported his right to choose for himself. He stopped taking his medications (other than pain relief), stopped eating (his appetite had been poor for a while) and had minimal fluid. He was determined and peaceful with his decision. There was time; time to say goodbye, time to remember, time to laugh and time to cry. He was his funny and amusing self right to the end. He noted with interest his skeletal hands and must have wondered if the rest of him looked the same way. He asked my sister "what I look like, I look alright?" They took a selfie so he could see, "oh, not too bad". He became weaker each day, someone was with him all the time and within a week he slipped away. He got his wish today. He was ready to die, he chose to die and now he is at peace...

Arrivederci Pops

saying goodbye

2000 km in a day and a half is not bad. We have arrived, Johanna and her car are in Caloundra safe and sound. It is the end and the beginning.

Johanna is house sitting for her friends family for a couple of weeks. Colin and I are staying in the apartment complex where we used to live for a couple of days. So many memories from such a happy and special time in our lives.

It just so happens that late on the afternoon we arrive Johanna and I find ourselves walking along the path that we traversed most afternoons when we lived here. It was our end of day walk along the beach, a ritual, familiar and precious. Sometimes we talked and sometimes we did not. The late afternoon shadows were long, the sky often tinged various shades of marmalade, mostly it was warm and pleasant. And here we are again, walking, remembering times past and how much things have changed, how much we have changed and how much is about to change. And it is sad and it is good and it is scary...

restless

Johanna is blaming the super moon, "I feel all, I don't know, weird." Me too. We have had four days in Tassie, four in Barwon Heads and tomorrow it's back to Tassie for four days (year 12 exams) and then the drive to Queensland. Johanna finishes her last exam Friday morning, we fly back to Victoria Friday night and leave for Queensland at rude o'clock Saturday morning. She is off - at the very first chance she has, literally. And in the middle of exam study she has been finishing work and saying goodbye to friends and packing and organising and looking for a job and somewhere to live on the Sunshine Coast and....Colin and I have been looking at houses and talking to the bank.

Every now and then the reality of the passing days and the imminent departure hits home, "this time next week I'll be left home, I don't know if I'm ready to be an adult yet." Ready or not, the time has come. Such a mixture of emotions for us all.

So a late Monday afternoon finds us both feeling kind of weird and restless, our solution, binge watching netflix to pass the time and provide distraction, each of us in front of our computers in separate parts of the house. Not exactly quality time in these last precious days, but sometimes you just do what works for the moment...

last days

She stands at the precipice, childhood and high school behind her and before her a multitude of possibilities, a leap into adulthood and independence. These are the last days - of school and study and exams, of return to Tasmania, of living in Barwon Heads, of working at Kyosk, of living at home...

In a couple of weeks it will all be done and she will be free, free to return to her beloved sunshine state, to her friends, to warmth and sun and sea. She has waited a long time for this, two years really, her heart has always been in Queensland.

It has been an intense few months, for her (and us); moving to Barwon Heads, returning to Tasmania regularly for school, finishing year 12 and preparing for exams, working to save money and making choices about next year. Like most 18 year olds she changes her mind every few weeks. It has been a roller coaster of a ride.

In all the busyness and things to be done, these 'last days' have snuck up on me. Every now and then I feel an overwhelming sadness, the last of my children is stretching her wings and flying from the nest. These last four years it has often been just the two of us, it will be a significant change when she is gone. If I am honest, along with the sadness is a touch of relief. The roller coaster ride that has been most of this year has left me weary and the prospect of slower and quieter days is not an unpleasant one.

There are two more weeks and a lot to happen in that short time, the roller coaster has not stopped yet...