distractions

We haven't made much of a start with packing. Neither of us has much enthusiasm or energy for the task of moving, again. The joy and excitement of moving into our new place has been tempered with the weariness of a difficult twelve months. Instead we have found lots of things to help distract us, like....

Every second Friday morning I join some fellow gardeners at the Community Garden, we potter around tending the communal spaces and also our own individual plots. This time of the year there is usually plenty of produce up for grabs - the morning's bounty included tomatoes, pears, apples, figs, cucumbers and Jerusalem artichokes.

Colin has had his eye on a new board. The old one is pretty dinged up now and he wanted to replace it with a locally made one. He spent a bit of time (actually a lot) at the nearby surf shop and decided on a board made by the local owner. With the sale of the house complete he could afford to make his much awaited purchase.

christening the board at 13th Beach

Our neighbour, along with a few of her awesome mates, decided that swimming from Point Nepean to Point Lonsdale, across the rip and mouth of the bay would be a fun thing to do on a Sunday morning. Support and safety team in place, a few kilometres and a couple of hours later they achieved their goal. The spectators had an anxious moment as mid bay they negotiated a huge tanker heading out to sea. There were joyful celebrations on the beach and a well deserved breakfast at a local cafe to follow. (Colin's iPhone)

A Sunday afternoon walk and a low tide found us on the opposite side of the Barwon River. As we walked closer to the river's edge there was movement and alas a multitude of crabs. It was the stuff of my nightmares, literally. As a child I found myself in a similar predicament and became hysterical, the memory has not faded. I managed to restrain the screaming but stayed well clear of the little critters, the nausea a reminder of my childhood trauma. (Colin's iPhone)

sunday morning

If you are out and about as the sun greets a new day, a five minute walk from our front door, this is what you might see....

sold

Phew, glad to have that over and done with. We received a great offer a couple of days before the auction and were happy to accept. I don't recommend buying before you sell, it is a bit stressful, but it all worked out OK in the end. Now we can turn our attention to moving into our new place in a couple of weeks - another move, more packing and unpacking. This will definitely be it...

forgetful

We are trying not to think about the looming auction of our family home. A bit of distraction was in order, so a circuit walk in the Brisbane Ranges it was. We left early to avoid walking in the heat of the day. It was pleasant enough to begin with, lots of birds busy about their business. A sprinkle of rain overnight left everything sparkly, especially with the morning sun steaming through.

Unfortunately we managed to attract the attention of a very territorial bee. It insisted on harassing us for twenty minutes or so, just when we thought it was safe, back it would come. It is not that much fun walking and swinging your t-shirt around your head fending off an angry bee. I was doubly apprehensive having been stung by one just a few days earlier, the red, swollen and itchy bump on my arm a reminder of the damage they can do.

We must have finally walked out of its territory for it eventually left us alone. Our thoughts turned to morning tea now that we could be still without fear of an attack. It was with great sadness Colin realised that he had forgotten his thermos, his dream of a cup of tea was just that, a dream.

As midday approached and the heat increased and our legs grew weary we were on the home stretch. I reached for my trusty point and shoot and it wasn't in the bag. I asked Colin where he had put it when I gave it to him to hold a while back. He had sat it on a post at a picnic spot and left it behind, another kind of forgetting. It was a couple of kilometres behind us, the end point a kilometre in front. Colin dutifully volunteered to go back and get it while I continued to the end, and he was off in a rush before we thought it through. He didn't have water and we could have driven back to the picnic spot to get it, but he was gone. He added a 4km jog onto the 10km walk. Luckily he rose to the challenge and made short work of the extra kilometres.

Not exactly our best walking experience but a memorable one...

the end

This last weekend in Tassie heralded the end - the end of a myriad of things that need to be done when someone dies. The last few months have been filled with decisions and organising and forms and processes. In his last days my father said "when everything finish you get all family together and you go and have big steak, best steak, all together," so that is what we did. Yesterday we gathered all the family in Tasmania for a celebratory lunch. It has been three months since my father's death and last week would have been his 77th birthday. We watched snippets from old videos and saw his image and heard his voice once again, we shared memories and stories and laughed a lot.

And today I find myself back home and a weariness and sadness fills me. I wandered to the communal garden to water my tomato plants and pick the first of my ripened crop. The tomatoes are a link with my father. I will make pasta sauce with these, just like my father would have done...

a hundred things

Hopefully we are in the home stretch. The last twelve months have had their fair share of stress. Every now and again we hit a wall, both physically and emotionally. It has been a year of 'hanging on' and 'getting to the end'. We are almost there. On Friday we spent one last day in the house that was home for twenty odd years. Colin took a photo on his iPhone to record the moment. With some luck there will be a sold sign across the advertising board in a few weeks.

Also in a few weeks we move into our new place here in Barwon Heads. We haven't had time yet to get our heads around the move. At the moment we take each day as it comes and deal with what needs doing on that day.

And in between it all, walking along a track somewhere surrounded by natural beauty has soothed our hearts and minds. And who couldn't be filled with joy seeing this happy, playful little fella.

life lessons

Our youngest daughter is gutsy (or maybe it is youthful ignorance). At 18 she followed her heart and took herself back to the Sunshine Coast. She stayed with a friend, found herself two hospitality jobs, somewhere to live and got her offer from uni (and deferred). We are immensely proud of her. In the process she made the discovery that it costs a lot to live; things like rent, food, phone and running a car (which her parents had tried to explain before she left). She also discovered that the unexpected happens; things like not getting expected shifts at work and speeding fines (whoops) and when you have no emergency money it is enough to tip you over the financial edge (which her parents had tried to explain before she left). She also discovered that she really hadn't saved quite enough before she left (which her parents had also tried to explain before she left). She came to the realisation that she wanted more from her gap year than living on the Sunshine Coast and that her dreams of travelling overseas required money and saving was not possible while living independently. And although her parents had tried to explain a lot of things, she figured most stuff out for herself and learned important life lessons along the way.

So our girl is heading home for a bit to take advantage of free accommodation and free food and whatever else might be free too. She has contacted her old place of work and got her job back and is planning on working and saving hard. Her parents will encourage her to research, plan and prepare adequately before she heads off on her next adventure. No doubt some more important life lessons will be learned along the way. We just wish it wasn't so stressful watching your child learning!

the after

There is a strange phenomena at the end of the summer holidays, a kind of communal sigh of relief, as the village returns to 'normal'. The Australia Day weekend heralds the end; the end of busy and bustling, the end of people everywhere, the end of cars clogging up the streets. Literally overnight they are gone, back to school and back to work, and a stillness and slowness descends. The locals reclaim their streets and their favourite coffee spots and their beaches and walking tracks. There is a pleasantness to 'back to normal' and there is a sense of loss too - gone is the energy of people and activity. In its stead emerges again the regular rhythms and routines of people and place, a village coming back to itself...

great ocean walk

Spectacular scenery, beautiful weather and tired legs (oh and being with two of my favourite people), that about sums up our two days on the Great Ocean Walk. Rachel was doing a practice run with some second hand and borrowed hiking gear in readiness for her outdoor education course this year, Colin and I were willing ring ins. We chose to begin at Blanket Bay and walk to Cape Otway and then onto Aire River the following day. Rach carried her fully laden pack, Colin carried a day pack and I got away with a back pack. Rach set up her tent and roughed it, Colin and I opted for a cabin at the caravan park (also so we didn't have to carry a whole lot of gear that we don't own!). We walked about 13km a day, so not too onerous but certainly enough.

Day 1

First stop to admire the view, about 30 minutes from Blanket Bay

Crossing Parker Inlet. We opted to follow the coast rather than the official path for a while

A very tiny river crossing, luckily the tide is out

Around the rocky coast

Lots of rock pools, craters and crevices

Happy to be walking on rocks rather than sand

Round the corner and here comes the sand

Hard work

A quick dip in Crayfish Bay and then back to join the official walking track

Colin walking and drying his swimming gear at the same time

Heading in from Cape Otway to Bimbi Park where we spent the night

Disappointingly, we didn't actually see the Cape Otway Lighthouse, you had to pay $20 per person for the privilege. We decided to pass on that and bought ice-creams instead (much cheaper). The caravan park was advertised as 2km from the lighthouse, maybe as the crow flies, but it was definitely longer than that following the signed path. There were also a multitude of grasshoppers along the grassy way, they were flying and pinging into our bags and our bodies. I kept my mouth securely closed, there was definitely a risk of foreign bodies being in places they were not wanted. Oh and something you don't see everyday, but we actually did, a koala in a tree having a pee.

Day 2

Back on the track

Along the ridge before a descent onto the beach

Heading down

Morning tea time, pity about the vicious march flies

Hard work again

Treasure on the beach

Up, and along the ridge again

Aire River mouth

The end is in sight

Aire River

Our two days were a small part of an amazing walk, we certainly aim to complete the whole track at some point. It is incredible to think that so few people actually see this part of the coast. We feel privileged to have had the experience...

summer fields

The vibrant golden Spring fields of canola have given way to the dry brown Summer fields of hay. It has been interesting to drive familiar roads and watch the fields change with the passing of a season. I had been meaning to take my camera and try and capture something of the summer fields but there was always a reason why 'not today', until it was almost the end of January and I returned from Tassie to find all the bales of hay had disappeared. Bummer, I had missed my chance. Gone was the image in my mind; blue skies, a golden early evening sun and bales of hay, maybe some long shadows, an interesting fence.... sigh. On our way home from a walk in the You Yangs on the weekend we passed a field with bales of hay and an interesting fence and an old abandoned farm house. Jackpot - only it was midday with harsh light and I only had my little point and shoot. Oh well, something is better than nothing. I made Colin stop by the road and snapped a few shots. If I was really dedicated I would have gone back later in the day and with my other camera, but it was too far and I'm not that dedicated and there is always next year...