On going farewell musings

Through judicious bargaining I've now broken the magic 100 and have 99 days left before we go - having been here for 569 days.

I think I'm going to miss the Footie. I can't explain it: I don't like soccer, if you can call 36 players on a pitch 30% bigger than a soccer pitch running frantically for 3 hours beating the pulp out of each other the same as soccer. Somehow though it gets under the skin. Yes you have no choice - its a religion in a city of 4 million and everyone from 6 to 90 year olds follows it with a fervent passion, but its a bit more.

The athleticism of running non stop for 3 hours (OK 30 mins at half time to stretch out) and being able to do sub 10 sec 100m sprints appeals to the cyclist. The brutality appeals to the animal in everyone, but its hard to say.

I look forward to visiting Earl's Court to get a decent brunch and coffee and minority sports on Sky on my return.

Up Up and Away

Cycling up in the Dandenongs. At only a 40 minute drive from the heart of Melbourne the landscape is beautiful and feels like a million miles from anywhere. At 7am in the morning it was a bit nippy though!

The solidarity at this time on a Sunday is great though with the mountain taken over by the cyclists - hundreds and hundreds of $15,000 bike people (myself excluded) crawling over the 4 major roads that make up the crucifix, and the hundreds of minor roads weaving through the fern and mountain gum forests.

Special mention to "Terry's Avenue". 600m at 20%+ , a little flat and then 1.3km at 13% - I mean WHO makes a road like this!? You sit back to get traction over the rear wheel and the front wheel starts lifting: you lean forward to get weight over the front and the rear starts spinning with lack of grip. The lifespan for a clutch on cars up here must be measured in hundreds of miles.

137 days to go

Ages, but I'm trying to get my head around the pros and cons of going. I'll leave you to guess which is which:

Bacon Sandwiches

Decent beer

Well travelled stella (it doesn't travel well)

Bacon

God the traffic jams

Coffee! - you're having me on

You've know idea how great it is to have a butcher and a fishmonger - remember them

Insipid 3 week old defrosted fish at Tesco's

The weather

The pot holes

Sitting in a traffic jam for 2 hours going nowhere

Bacon sandwiches

Skiing in Europe - sorry but Aussie skiing is like Scotland (sorry home!)

Decent steak - some of the best raw materials in Europe but somehow Tesco has homogenised it by the time it gets to the shelf

Learning to moan about everything again (should be easy for a Scot)

Public transport

Living in the boondocks - Although it doesn't feel like living in a city I think a lot of Melbourne's pluses are that you're actually living in a big city - although it doesn't feel like it

Ability to fly for 1 hour and be in a very different culture. Melbournians might argue that there is NO culture in North QLD, but I can fly over 3 hours here and be in the same country.

Sunday brunch

The long wind down

I'm going to beat Sharon to this one, and with no more planned holidays, a big go live over the next few months, and as of today confirmation that we're leaving at end of September I see the blog becoming steadily more introspective.

Return to the UK was always a concept somewhere in the distance, an idea of something that we'd return to but never really had to engage with the hard facts. We've been living in some limbo land where its been nice/strange/exotic (and bloody stressful) here. We've joked/debated/rolled around the idea of staying but knowing it was never really happening, but also never really having to think about leaving. It's still 4 months away, but all that has now changed with me confirming the secondment conclusion in September.

Its good to have a focus and certainty, but I feel a sense of having to shake myself out of the dream and focus on home.

I can see myself sitting in a cafe in 4 months time, drinking shitty coffee, watching rain lashing against the window, wondering who on earth voted for David Cameron, and thinking that Melbourne was all a passing dream.

Grampians - Last Day

Having had a taste for a little more walking after the Hollow Mountains (a certain 11 and 9 year old may dispute this view of history) we spent the morning of the last day climbing from the wonderland car park up to "The Pinnacle".

Although not quite as extreme as Hollow Mountain this was a fairly stiff uphill slog through some great rock scenery, essentially consisting of climbing through ever narrowing gorges: The Grand Canyon, followed by Silent Street. You could find a bit of scrambling if you wanted (which Caitlin certainly did - was she secretly jealous of Ciara's broken leg from last year), but the standard Aussie fare of stone cut steps and railings were provided. I've got mixed views on these, it allows the runner (trainer) clad brigade with shopping bag of lollies (sweets) to get into the hills, but it does sanitise the experience a little, and the reduced effort to get somewhere tinges the final reward. Having said all that the views from the top were great.

The afternoon we drove through the Southern Grampian's to Dunkeld before heading on the 3 hour dive to Melbourne. By the names you'd be forgiven for thinking we were in Scotland, and certainly the farmland views with a backdrop of towering hills reminded me of, well the Grampian's, and both adults felt a little homesick.

In summary the Grampian's were really enjoyable, and by Aussie travelling distance standards, very accessible from Melbourne.