Well it’s been 10 days since our entire lives were packed into a moving truck and shipped off to Brookvale for a year.
Thank goodness for the generosity of our good friends Erin, Keith & Felix who have let us camp out in their stunning 4 bedroom home just down the road from our house which has been invaluable to stay close to school, our routine and everything we know.
We’ve been living out of our suitcases, sleeping on air mattresses, borrowed linen and towels from family and minimal kitchen supplies. We ended up with only 2 forks between us and while I could have gone to borrow more or buy plastic it’s been fun for everyone to pitch why they need a fork at dinner depending on their meal. Ok you are having tuna so you get a fork, nup you with tomato salad use your fingers! The simplicity of it all is very refreshing. Going to the laundromat to do a bag wash has been such fun! A few days ago I had an hour of two in the middle of the day and coming home to no cooking, cleaning, tidying or washing meant I lay on the air mattress and watched Netflix (This is Us is what I’m watching right now), hoping this is a sign of the year to come.
Ben and I have had a HUGE amount of tasks to get through over the last 10 days but we did it, and only have 12 things to achieve in the morning before going to the airport. It’s been pretty crazy but we have mostly kept it together and stayed calm. I even had to take the girls to Westfield for 3 hours today (Sunday 2 weeks before Xmas) and remained mostly calm! I did however go to gym this week and not once but twice came out of the gym to find the car door and boot open…not sure how I managed that and did not notice but lucky it’s a safe area and the car was still there on my return.
We have had so many amazing family and friend farewells for both Ben and I and also the girls. It makes me so happy to realise how many amazing people we have in all our lives and can’t wait to share the next year with you all and see those who make it over to Europe in 2019. Thank you all for making our Sydney departure so special.
So the final luggage count at this stage is 140kg and we are not shipping anything! We have 6 suitcases between us, three carry on backpacks for the girls, Ben’s backpack (with 20kg of tech gear), my handbag/laptop, a trombone and a trumpet (yep 2 instruments for Hayley!) This all includes 2 laptops, 3 iPads, 4 iPhones, 2 kindles, 2 cameras, a drone and a gazillion chargers…yes our travel insurance is through the roof!
So all was going very smoothly and according to plan when today went a little pear shaped, as to be expected! Ben had just come back from the car wash with a sparkling car ready to put it into storage for the year tomorrow and we were off to our final farewell breakfast. We were almost there when Audrey said she had a tummy ache and the next thing out of nowhere she vomited which went all over her clothes and the car. She was hysterical as were the other girls who were trying to avoid the overflow. We pulled over, found a convenience store to get wipes, clean her up as well as the car and cancelled everything planned for the day. She slept most the day, saw a doctor who gave her something for if she is sick on the plane and fingers crossed she is bright as a button tomorrow. This is my sick chick below on her bed in an empty house, she’s pretty happy with her set up!
Can’t wait to get through the to do list tomorrow and get to the airport for a well deserved glass of bubbles.
Bon Voyage Sydney xo
