Thursday 9 April 2015

The End- more sputter and fart than whizz and bang.

So my blogging mojo left me at almost the precise moment we pulled onto my parents' front lawn in Newrybar and it didn't even look like making a reappearance through Christmas or New Year's. I thought I might be back into it in early January, but since it seems that whilst we've been living 'light', we had definitely been travelling with loads of excess baggage, so it took a few days just to get everything out of our campertrailer. Not to mention the three days of airing, vacuuming, bleaching, scrubbing and swearing at the camper trailer,  proceeded by even more days of transporting our travel goods and chattals back to Noosa, then painting, unpacking, reintroducing our children to their permanent home and amongst all of that, seeing friends and family en masse. So yeah, it's been a busy couple of months, all of a sudden it's April and I've got a few apologies to make:

1. I'm sorry I didn't get out my usual Christmas card. Merry Christmas to you all- hope it was awesome!

2. I'm sorry I didn't send a text about having a wonderful New Year. Happy New Year, I hope 2015 is all you wish it to be!

3. I'm sorry I've missed around 5 blog posts up the east coast from Mallacoota to Crescent Head. I'd planned to complete these in early February when Marguerite went to school and I'd have heaps of time on my hands. See how mentally retarded I am? Those posts will probably never happen. So sorry to all the Virgo/OCD/EverythingHasAnOrder Freaks out there following this blog. Let's just say the NSW coast was great, we had a few pretty ordinary weather moments and we packed up a few days early and just scooted back to my parents' house, such was our need to get back to 'home'.

4. To our beautiful friends who battled life-threatening illnesses and/or soul destroying issues throughout the year, I'm sorry we weren't there to help you. We are so blessed to have you in our lives, still here, a little battered and bruised but here nonetheless.

Here's what I'm not sorry about:

1. I'm not sorry that except for this blog and the occassional text or Facebook like, we were not completely 'present' in our community of loved ones. We love our friends and family, but sometimes it was impossible to contact you due to phone reception, timezones and the general melee of life with kids. And sometimes we were just tired. But most of all, we were enjoying the company of our little family and the adventure we were on. I'm not sorry about that. 

2.I'm not sorry I had an amazing year, travelling around a country which is incredibly diverse, mind bogglingly enormous, harsh and beautiful. 

3. I'm not sorry the trip has ended. As wonderful as travelling is, an ensuite, walls which don't move when there's a bit of wind and a finite area for my kids to play in (ie the backyard)... well, I'm in heaven.  

4.And last of all, I'm not sorry for the next comment: The Uyshuis is NOT lucky. Lucky means things of a wonderful nature fall into your lap through no effort on your part, or you take a misstep and avoid a disaster of biblical proportions. Sure, some lucky things happened on our trip, but we were not in any way lucky to have completed it. A camper trailer didn't find its way onto our lawn with our name attached to the registration one innocuous day. The house was not emptied and then filled with tenants by virtue of some mystical rental fairies. My husband's business did not continue to run itself nor did we remain blissfully unaware of issues concerned with it while we were away. No. We are not lucky. We made it happen. In fact, the bulk of the credit must go to Fiela and his amazing perseverance in hunting down and ticking off a goal on his Bucket List. We made sacrifices (I'll be staring at pink carpets and blue tiles for a lot longer) and made this trip a reality. You can too. But you won't be able to do it with luck, just a plan and some resolve.  

So there you have it. I've come full circle in many literal senses; a year on I'm still sitting in my own stink surrounded by packing boxes, we travelled around Australia- a dream realised and new, exciting and daunting challenges are presenting themselves for the year ahead.

If you have the wanderlust, organise yourself. The amazing adventure you will have will far outweigh the shit and drama of getting off the couch, getting a caravan and rolling off the driveway.

And most of all, thanks for reading!