The Friends Make the Place

Over the course of the year, we have amassed countless pictures of the ocean, Australia's unique wildlife, and our family on hikes, swimming, camping and more.  But what has truly made this year memorable are the people we've met, who took the time to get to know us even though they knew we were only here temporarily.

Ocean, Jackson, Kenyon, Alex and Rhed

Bronwen and her brother, David

Riley and Kenyon

Alex, Biniam and Connor

Jackson, Preston and Yazan

Kenyon and Riley

Abby and Kenyon

They have opened up their homes...

Sal and Emily

Bronwen and Amelia

Kylie and handsome Jack

Leigh, Sal and Simon

Simon and Sam

Kenyon and Julian

Bella

Kenyon and Mika

Jessica and baby Felicity

Sam, Emily and Yeedah

me and Yeedah

Sal and Kenyon

Yeedah and Shelly

Riley and I

They have showed us some of the best parts of the area...

Yeedah at Pandora's Wine Room

Kenyon and Mika at Pod

Hall, Thomas, Harris and Tunheim families at the lighthouse

Rhed and Kenyon at the lighthouse

Kylie and Issy at Birdland Animal Park

me, Yeedah and Sal at His Boy Elroy

Simon in his studio

Issy, Josh, Xavier and Kylie with my best friend Bubbles the wombat

Alex, Jackson, Riley and Kenyon at Little Beach

Sam, Jackson and Ocean at Osborne Park

Jackson and Xavier at Depot Beach

David at Liz and Martin's in Mullumbimby

Kenyon and Riley at the rockpool

Victoria, Emily and I at His Boy Elroy

We had a warm, wonderful send-off, and I received the loveliest gift that I will always cherish.

I will miss all of you, too.  The Earth seems smaller now, and we'd love the opportunity to open our home to you in the coming years.

Saltwater in our Veins

Despite the fact that Sam and I grew up on opposite coasts and have had a lifelong love and comfort with the ocean, our boys up until this year were Colorado-born--more comfortable amongst the mountainous landscape and hiking than the sea.  At the start of our year here, they were somewhat tentative in the surf.  They have made great strides, though, and Jackson and Alex now both dive with ease under oncoming waves in a manner I never needed to become accustomed to in the warm, still bathwater of Miami Beach.

One of the best things the boys have participated in this year is the Wollongong City Surf Lifesaving Club. Kids as young as 5 years old learn about ocean safety and practice different events: Jackson and Alex both compete in flags (a quick beach race to grab a small section of hose, with one or two kids getting eliminated each round), sprint, sprint relay, and wade--and at Jackson's level they also do a swim as well as board races.

We also signed them up for the four competitions in the Sydney Water Carnival Series, where they had an opportunity to compete against a number of other surf clubs in the area.  Between the Saturday carnivals, the Sunday Nippers training and the Friday board training, the boys slept well at night.

Jackson, who at four years old told us he was 'focusing the blood in his brain' before riding a sheep at a rodeo, thrives on competition.

Jackson on the red board 

At the start of the season, Jackson was playing catch up as he learned the technique of each event for the first time, but by last week's Nippers pointscore competition, he was 2nd in flags, 4th in boards, and 5th in the swim.

And here's a little glimpse of what we see from Alex, our dreamer...

With no extra fat on his bones (clearly taking after his father more than myself), he is not one to brave the cold water and he often says he makes sure to not do well enough in the wade to have to go again in the finals.

Flags is his favorite event, and he has done as well as 2nd place within his club (when he doesn't miss the signal to start running).

For months now they have had everpresent sand in their scalp and unlike Sam and me, don't seem to mind a little grit in their bedsheets.  At the last Sunday session this morning, Alex's Under 8 group gathered around and gave him three cheers as a send-off, of course while I subtly wiped tears from under my sunglasses.

Over the past couple of weeks, and with a little bit of gentle prodding, Alex has confided that he's feeling anxious and that what he will miss most about Australia is the ocean.  Dear friends wisely gave the boys some worry dolls as a going away present, and Alex used one last night because he told me he worried about how his friends will do here without him.  As we walked away from the surf club for the last time this morning, Alex held my hand and told me that he thought he'd be using the worry doll again tonight.

Sweet boy; I know exactly how he's feeling.

The Travel Bug

Two weeks from today, we'll head out of Wollongong for the last time.  I'm trying to temper my sadness of leaving Australia with thoughts of Colorado: there's nothing like the promise of fresh snow, a fire burning in our woodstove, and Denver's eye candy of those majestic mountains draped across the city's backdrop to get me excited about going home.

Sam and I wonder how we'll feel when we get home--do travelers look forward to their next adventure, or do they revel in nesting for a period of time?  I am already dreaming about a summer-long road trip across the States...but also yearn to be settled in something that's ours again.  Once the springtime fruit tree blossoms give way to summertime heat, I can see planting a full-fledged garden, meeting friends at City Park Jazz, hiking, and experimenting with my ice cream maker.  Denver summers--all its seasons, really--are glorious.

The ice cream maker in my head was heartily churning but disappeared in a poof when I saw that Africa Adventure Consultants recently launched a contest to win a South African family safari.  We immediately started some family brainstorming and a couple of weeks later, we had an absolute ball filming, editing and submitting a video you can see if you click here and go to 'View and Vote'--ours is titled 'Australian Safari'.  As you'll see, we are far from professional web/graphic/film/nameyourtechnology designers--but it was great fun to plan and execute our faux wildlife documentary.*

After this year in Australia with my kids tracking goannas, quietly observing kangaroos, crawling into wombat holes, and platypus-spotting, their bred-in-Colorado love for the natural world has increased exponentially.  A South African family safari would be an incredible experience that I don't foresee us affording on our own, and the kids would soak up every minute of the wildlife, from the beetles to the Cape buffalo.

Our video doesn't need to receive the highest number of votes; we just need enough to get us into the top 25--all of the finalists are judged on quality, creativity and humor.  So, if you are so inclined--check out our video (as well as the others), and make a vote!  You can vote once a day if you are so inclined, but likely only my mom, at best, would be so devoted.

If we don't win the safari, you are all invited to our house to hover around the ice cream maker next summer and test out some experimental flavors--heirloom tomato ice cream, anyone?


*and a big shout-out to Riley, our favorite 13-year old Aussie and semi-adopted son who helped us scout locations, film sequences, and edit the piece into a somewhat cohesive concoction! 

The End is Nigh

Yesterday marked a month until our departure...and the pit in my stomach is growing.  Wollongong feels like home now, so much so that I was actually surprised when a waitress recently asked us if we were from the States.  Who, us, with an accent?  I don't even notice it anymore, especially since Jackson has picked up all kinds of Aussie phrasing.

"Oi mate, let's play some footy.  It'll be fun as, bot!"

Driving on the left side of the road doesn't give me the slightest pause, although I still regularly (cough cough *today*) walk up to the wrong side of the car to drive.  I tried to make it look casual, like I needed something out of the passenger side, but it was a little conspicuous.  Maybe because I was wearing my red white and blue 'Proud to be an American" shirt.

JOKING.

My stomach muscles have now adjusted to the Herculean strength necessary for steering the grocery carts without careening into the aisles.  When people ask me "How ya going?" I know to answer them with a 'fine' instead of having an inner debate about what the hell that means (by car? by foot? ummm...).  When friends tell me they'll see me this arvo (pronounced ah-vo) I know I'll see them in the afternoon, not at the Salvos (the local thrift store).  I can even tell by the squawk whether it's a galah or a sulphur-crested cockatoo flying overhead.

We know that an outing at low tide means always keeping an eye out for sea urchin skeletons--there's nothing quite as appealing to me as the orderly, nubby rows on those round gifts from the sea.

We know that a calm sea makes it easier to catch the spout of water from a whale; the tail usually follows a few seconds later.  Early evening is a great time to spot squid, and dozens of hermit crabs make great playmates at Little Beach.  The best coffee is found at Lee & Me, Swell, or His Boy Elroy (where the cocktails look incredible--mental note to test my hypothesis in the very near future).

Just when I have this all figured out, we're putting our car on the market, starting to clean out closets, and our goodbye party is on the calendar.  My light posting here is a function of still not having an adequate camera (I think Hurricane Sandy must have slowed the shipping out of Long Island) and the fact that we are spending much of our non-school hours at the beach.  North Beach, Little Beach, City Beach, tidepools, continental pools, rock pool...soaking it all in, literally.

I love Denver.  But part of my family's hearts will always remain in Australia for sure.