We are sitting at the airport in the lounge waiting to board our flight. We’ve made multiple weigh-ins and the check in area bins are now stuffed with toiletries, runners, magazines and other odds and ends that were weighing us down. Literally. We couldn’t get through until I moved my belongings around and I’m now sporting multiple layers and a 8kg lighter luggage load.
And so the adventure begins! It still hasn’t quite sunken in that this is not a Christmas vacation to Canada and Ireland, that we are saying adios to Brisbane (for now) and that we won’t be able to walk around bare foot in shorts in the below zero weather we’re about to encounter.
We’ve managed to pack in as many memories as we could in the past two extra months we spent in Australia.
I turned 28 in our temporary apartment, celebrating with a cake on the 30th floor.
We went to Tweed Heads to see where a community centre was named after a cousin of my husband, who was an Irish priest that emigrated to Australia in the 1950s, taking photos to show the family when we get back.
We celebrated the silly season with work Christmas parties where we snorkled, lounged on the beach and enjoyed a few Sailor Jerry’s at a high street cocktail lounge.
We hosted a ‘white Christmas’ party BBQ at our hotel, where friends stopped in to see us off on our last weekend in Brisbane.
And we even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to see Bon Jovi play their final show on their world tour!
It’s hard to believe Christmas is in five days, especially since we haven’t started our shopping. It’s also hard to sort out our feelings – they are a mixture of excitement, sadness, apprehension and a small dose of fear thrown in for good measure.
We don’t know what lies ahead of us but then again, who does? We can try to predict the future and drive ourselves crazy planning a path that we may or may not take, but life is unpredictable enough as it is. So why not throw in a few more and see what happens!
I hope you enjoy the holidays and here’s to an unforgettable (and unpredictable) New Year.
Notes From Another Land 