Return Journey - Post One: Getting ready

Suitcase is (almost) packed!  Hard to believe isn't it?
It's taken me the best of thirty years to arrive at this point.  I should have gone years ago.  Procrastination,  indecision,  circumstances,  call it what you will,  but the time never seemed quite right to make the return journey to the country of my birth.
So yep, the suitcase is just about filled with still a week to go before I fly out of Brisbane International Airport and I'm just hoping and praying we don't go missing somewhere in the southern ocean  !
The past few weeks I've been organizing my passport,  travel insurance,  buying warm clothes (spring temps are currently -0C overnight  to around 8-10+C in the daytime)! and souvenirs for family and friends i'll be staying with.  My head's been abuzz. Planning, thinking about all the bits and pieces I still have to do before I go,  like copying documents,  printing some photos to show rellies,  visiting the bank, downloading books to my eReader... On and on.  Oh yes and the cat needs somewhere to stay.
Anyway I reckon I'll be ready in good time.
Now to get those butterflies in my stomach to settle down.

PS: Many thanks to my patient daughter Tonia, who helped me choose suitable outfits and cull those not needed. Mwah!

Almost packed! I think everything will fit nicely.

Better late than never...

It's been nearly a month since we came back from our trip to Tasmania. It seems so much has happened and yet in fact life has been pretty quiet really.

Tasmania: We LOVED it. Such a stunningly beautiful place. We had the best weather - some rainy days  which was good because the countryside everywhere was yellow from the lack of water. For those that asked: NO, we did not see any fires as we came 2 days after Dunalley burned down. We hadn't planned to go down to the Tasman Peninsula anyway, but what a sad day though for Tasmanians who suffered the fires, lost their homes and some their lives. Too tragic for words!

We arrived at Hobart Airport to a rainy, cold day, experienced immediately when stepping out of the aircraft doors, as there, you walk across the tarmac to the airport buildings. An altercation with our taxi driver left a sour taste in our mouths, but at least we arrived safely at the Camper van depot. Picked up our van and drove through to Snug where we found a lovely little spot to stay. Next morning off to gorgeous Bruny Island via car ferry, where we spent the day driving around to see all the beautiful scenery. Back to Snug Caravan park overnight...and so it went. Day after day of stunning scenery, lots of driving, sleeping in the van, exploring lakes, forests, gorges and small towns and villages.

Instead of boring you with detail, let me say that it was hard going trying to fit all of Tassie into 14 days. Impossible. I felt we needed at least a month to be able to actually enjoy the trip more. For me it was too rushed - I need to meander, to sit and contemplate the beauty around me. Watch people, have time to read signs of interest, take in a view. I truly dislike having to rush from one place to the next.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse, TAS

Looking South from the Rookery, BI, TAS

Highlights:

• Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake walk. It took us 3 1/2 hours instead of the recommended 2. It was a challenge, but we had an absolutely stunning day to do it in.
• Bruny Island
• Climbing up to Wineglass Bay lookout and Coles Bay.
• Bay of Fires - stunning
• Meeting up with and staying with my lovely face book friend Janet Drummond
• Attending a church service with her and meeting some of her friends
• The Bridestowe Lavender farm - outstanding http://bridestowelavender.com.au/pub/
• Strahan - Gordon River cruise and excellent guided tour of Sarah Island
• Salamanca Markets, Hobart

Binalong Point, Bay of Fires, East Coast, TAS

Ross and I at Cradle Mountain, TAS , before our walk around Dove Lake

I was exhausted by the time we got home partly because it took 12 hours from arriving at Hobart airport to get home at 11pm. 2 cancelled JetStar flights in one day was not something we were expecting. I think it will be the first and last time we will fly with them. No apologies, and no response to the email I sent them.

Australia Day:Our lovely family and grandies came for lunch unexpectedly - was great to see them all and to catch up over a quickly organised lunch. They headed for home in the late afternoon with Oswald bearing down the coast!

That night Ross and I watched the AO Women's Tennis final in the lounge and were just about to go to bed, when I heard a soft 'pop'. Without time to even think of what that pop could be, we were covered by our lounge room ceiling which had dropped on us without any warning. Ross got hit on the head and shoulders, but I had instinctively put my hands and legs up and was actually holding the (7mx7m) ceiling up above my head. Well, one side of it :-) . How amazing is that? We were in shock as we crawled out from underneath the heavy rubble. I immediately rang Anita as I didn't want to spend the night in our bed, worrying about more ceiling coming down on us.  Anita and Craig very generously opened their house for us on short notice and we stayed there two nights during the wild and wet Australia Day weekend while Oswald wreaked havoc up and down the Queensland and NSW coast. 

As I write 3 weeks later, the assessor and cleaners are here packing up everything in the room and taking it away to be deep cleaned, as the insulation has penetrated into the electronics, furniture, piano etc. We will be happy when everything is back in it's place in a renovated, freshly painted and clean room. Thankfully we have insurance for house and contents, so that's all covered.

We are back at work driving special needs children to school, enjoying our church and friendships. Our family is always a source of friendship, fun and kindness to us - where would we be without them, their beautiful families and their love and care.

Some more...

Just a little update on my health.
Unfortunately this chest condition is lingering. Three weeks on and I'm still 'under the weather', and really not feeling too good. My chest is feeling very tight at times especially at night.
Funny thing is, that it's not so much cold air that's affecting me, but when I get into an overly warm room, or my car that's been sitting in the sun, my breathing tightens up and I start coughing uncontrollably. Not a nice feeling. You know, I'm not complaining but just writing a little update for those who happen to venture here. Not that it's really blog worthy, but  then it's my blog, and I can write what I want to, can't I? This needs a smiley face alongside it for sure - here it is :))
I've visited my health practitioner 3 times now and getting some improvement, but it's a slow road and I'm getting fed up. I know there are plenty of people with the same condition this winter, so I'm not the only one.
Chin up. Keep smiling Tricia...things could be worse.
But I prefer...better.

It's no fun being 'under the weather'...

It's just no fun ...

I 'pride' myself on being healthy 'all' the time. How can I say that? I really can't, because it's something no-one can control and if you have it, it's something to be continually thankful for.

This week I got 'under the weather' (whatever that actually means) and I woke up with a searing sore throat and upper chest feeling like it was burning up. So up I got at 4am and off into the dark kitchen located the salt shaker, a glass and some warm water. Gargle, spit, gargle, spit. Not much fun but it's the best thing I know for settling down an inflamed throat. Then back into the bathroom...now where! did I last see that small jar of Vicks Vaporub? After 5 minutes of shuffling around between both bathrooms and the pantry I finally located it. I'm a great believer in Vicks chest rub. My kids will tell you this and I don't believe they would remember this fondly. Memories of their mother rubbing this potent potion on their chest, back and under their nose would not  be remembered with much kindness towards her, I'm sure.

Anyway I woke up several hours later feeling entirely much better, but as the day progressed things got worse and by nightfall I was on the bed ready for sleep. I felt so tired and not well at all. Next day was much the same and by the next night I recorded a temperature of 39.5C and feeling very sorry for myself. No dinner again that night and I called my bus supervisor to see if someone else could drive for me. Luckily by morning I felt well enough to drive and by resting during the day, my afternoon run was taken care of by me.

So why am I telling you all this? Because it's just feels so good to be even a little better. Even after just a couple of days or so, I realise again how good it is to feel at least 50% improved...

One of my fb friends mentioned how she has chronic pain from a car accident and the only way to relieve it is through medication, meditation, exercise and rest. This afternoon on ABC 24 a segment on Chronic pain was aired. It's something I've never really thought about. This must be just so amazingly hard to cope with and I've a new understanding (to just a teeny weeny degree) that this is like a life sentence!

Hopefully there will soon be a solution to this for all those that have to live with it every day and still carry on with their jobs, their families and keep smiling as best they can.
Because life becomes unbearable, it causes many that suffer chronic pain to become addicted to the very medication that is supposed to bring them relief.

If you have great health, be continually grateful for every day you live pain free.
I am.

A tourist in your own dot on the map...

It's always fun to be a little unpredictable.
It's the last day of the Easter hols and on Monday we are back to driving kids to school.

Old Petrie Town is a little historic village just over 5 kms from our house situated on Dayboro Road, Petrie. We'd heard that the Friday night markets were being extended, so on the spur of the moment we thought we'd have a wander around the stalls, so off we drove. When we got there we found that the  markets were no longer on but some of the quaint shops were open, as well as the Rock n Roll cafe and Cafe Down Under. Every Friday night the Classic Car Club members roll up in their 60's Chevys, Holdens, Buicks and even some old 20's cars, but mainly 50's, 60's vehicles, to meet at the Rock and Roll Cafe. A good sized screen is erected outside the cafe and tonight they were showing some B&W movie, I think it was a Dracula one. It was such a balmy night and plenty of people were enjoying hamburgers, fish and chips, soups, hot dogs etc while watching the movie and chatting with their friends. It's a good place for families to hang out and lots of kids were out with their parents. We decided to order early (about 5.30) because it does get quite busy there and we didn't want to be out too late, seeing Ross needed to watch the footy at 7.30! :-)
We ordered Barra, salad and chips and a jug of water and then sat down in one of the red vinyl covered booths to check out all the paraphernalia on the cafe walls. Vinyl records, sleeves, plastic flowers, a juke box and a life sized Elvis decorated the place - it's a lot of fun. Steel and laminate tables and chairs, cafe booths and a couple of red vinyl couches complete the scene. We enjoyed our meal, then checked out the cars and the few shops that were open. We walked around to the Cafe Down Under, which is down some stairs partially under a building, where you can buy a smorgasbord meal and coffee. There was live 60's music which was rather fun to listen to while we drank our coffees. It reminded us a bit of when we were on our trip around Oz and we'd  stop in some bush town to stay overnight, and there would be some band entertaining the travellers staying in the caravan park. All very relaxed and relaxing!
Anyway we had a lovely couple of hours together just mellowing out.  And best of all, we got home before the start of the match with just a couple of minutes to spare, so the man was happy!

So, yeah, I reckon it's a good to do something without too much forethought sometimes. We enjoyed ourselves and it didn't cost the earth, nor did we have to drive far. Sometimes it's good to become a tourist in your own area - you never know what you might find.

Me and Rossy

Yummy Fish, chips and salad

Rock n Roll Cafe interior

Me 'n Elvis

Ross with a loooong Buick

Some news in 2012...

I certainly am a slack blogger! Another year has passed with little to show for it blog wise.
It's been a busy term seeing me go back to work albeit part time, after at least a decade! A new baby boy has joined our extended family - Lachlan Craig was born on 10th March, 2012 to Anita and Craig. He is growing fast and beginning to sleep for long stretches during the night, which pleases especially his mum. Our grandchildren are giving us much joy especially seeing Jesse and Shontelle came to stay with us for a few days during this Easter  break. We had fun going to the pool, seeing the movie The Lorax, and climbing Wild Horse mountain on the way back to the Sunshine Coast.
We spent a few days at Marcoola for a good earned rest. I realise that I'm not as young as I used to be and going back to work has affected me more than I thought! I've also taken up swimming laps again, averaging 1.5 kms (30 x 50mtr laps) each day, as well as 300mtrs water resistance walking. By the time I've showered, dressed and driven home I'm ready for a cuppa and a nanna nap, ready to go back to work at 2.30pm! :-)
Ross celebrated his 67th birthday, so for 6 months I'm younger than him. Quite a nice feeling...:-))
Life is good even as we approach the next big age milestone, but not to focus on that but to be aware that time doesn't wait and we need to take every opportunity to seize the day, enjoy every moment we can.

Friends...

Friends. Just sitting here browsing the net and looking at a Texas lady''s blog; someone who is so creative, using op-shop finds and things that are old and new together. Someone whom I don't know, lives across the other side of the world but I can enjoy what she's about, because she took the time to post a blog with beautiful pictures.
Friends I realise can be anywhere in the world. A friend can be someone I've known for years, or just met yesterday. A friend can be a person who writes down their thoughts and ideas and you feel a connection with them.
This  morning a whole bunch of new and old friends met up to celebrate a lovely friend's birthday. Everyone was invited to say something about what she means to them. An hour later the words were still coming - words like: enthusiastic, loving, kind, joyful, encouraging, amazing, wisdom, strength. Many words were said to describe what she meant to her friends.
This is who she is. Full of love and joy and encouragement, yet she carries a great sorrow in that her husband died only last year of cancer. She has such faith in God...but not a soppy, religious faith. She has faith in a down to earth way. As she said after everyone of her lovely friends has spoken " I don't understand God, I don't know why He does what He does, but I trust Him and I know he has more things for me to do. Even when I'm lonely I tell Him about it."
Faith like this puts me to shame. Faith like this makes me realise I have so much to be thankful for. A great healthy (most of the time) hubby, four great daughters, 3 wonderful grandchildren and 3 sons-in-law. A house to live, cars to drive, food to eat and clothes to wear.
How much to be grateful for.
Friends are the honey of life; they sweeten my day. Whether I go out to have a coffee or cuppa tea with them, whether they make a comment on Facebook, ring me up, send a text or even when I read a blog of some lovely soul across the globe, a friend I haven't met, I love them all.
They are special, generous and make life worth living.  God bless you my friends where ever you may be. Mwah!