Packing, Airports and Goodbyes

Airports are fascinating places – the hub of hellos and goodbyes. There are always people seeing each other after a time away from friends and family and in our case last Friday (was it only four days ago??) saying goodbye to good friends and a city we had come to call home.

The move process from our house in Camberwell had not gone well – note to readers: beware of Allied Pickfords and in particular the promises their sales staff make! Kristen had finished her job two weeks before the kids finished school so she spent hours sorting, donating, throwing out, selling, organizing etc. (alright, in between the odd lunch and spa visit so don’t have too much sympathy…) in order for the house to be ready when the packers and movers came. Not enough boxes, not the right kind of boxes, many frustrated phone calls and emails to sales people and a half day spent at their warehouse facility in Dandenong (only if you know Melbourne will you know that you don’t want to visit this suburb on a regular basis) did we finally get the container off to the dockyards. Well, we think it is now at the Dockyards but the communication from their end has been sparse to non-existent that we are only left to hope that this is the case. Stay tuned for the continuing saga that is an international move (that we are paying for which means we are just that little bit more involved in the process….ok…deep breath…).

Our good friends the Kimpton’s were silly enough to let us move in with them for our last three nights in Camberwell. I think the family of five took over their residence completely but I know we all had some fun. They were (as they have always been) generous with their time and I know the kids enjoyed hanging out with Callum and Charlotte a great deal. Some good food, stories and wine (and more wine) were had and then on Friday it was off to the airport and the start of the adventure.

Which brings me back to the airport scene. In Australia you can still go straight to the gate to meet and greet people and this has mixed results. For us, it was a prolonging of the inevitable tears, long hugs and anxiety of leaving something we grew to love and eagerness of the adventure ahead.

To all our friends in Camberwell, Melbourne, Nathalia and its surrounding suburbs – thank you for your support and friendship – it has been a fantastic time hanging out with you and sharing lots of great times. And so, the next chapter begins….