Well, things in the world of me seemed to take a momentary pause. I think a breath of air was able to be taken enough times to feel both relaxed and at home, but this was only a short term pause.
Well, a week before the official departure date, it was time to see what my youngest nephew looked like. After trudging around Melbourne with a days worth of gear I eventually made it back to Geelong station to be warmly greeted (in the typical way of my sister) with a “Ya ready ter go down ter have a few with Glenn?” Where Glenn was her hubby. Things were a perfect temperature down in Portarlington at the start of August, well except for that bloody slashing rain and the howling wind that stopped the fishermen from going out on the job. To drown out the weather Glenn and I had a couple of the Johnnie and Cokes on tap before heading on home to join my sister and the three ankle biting boys. Overall I was pretty happy to be able to see the whole crew, not just because it will be over 7 months until next time, but because they are one of the more relaxed crew you’d come across (if you hadn’t have guessed it by reading the reunion above).
This was precisely a week before leaving. Now, getting back home I still had a couple of urgent matters to tend to. Things referring to the government and my superannuation and other similar things had worked themselves onto the “must-do” pile due to the in-competencies of individuals of the organisations.
An urgent matter that I had preempted included meeting up with the manager of the main library of the Geelong branch to collect as many books was deemed allowable (to my knowledge). So, 18kgs worth of books later I am walking out of the library to the car, which the officer is looking at and pulling out his pen to write a ticket (or tap his machine for the ticket). Well, I had parked the car within the adjoining park in the designated loading zone. With a bit of grunting and struggling the officer soon realised that in fact the car may have been used to do some loading. Yay, no ticket for now. So, for a few days my parents were to be able to put up with an extra bundle of unnecessaries lying around the house.
One reason why they would have to put up with the extra load, and not me, was because of the trip to Queensland I had organised to visit my first niece (oh, and my bro and Nikki). Charlotte was only 4 weeks old the day that I saw her (17 July). Well, not only was it exciting to see more family (actually all the direct members and their respective partners) but going up to see my bro, I got to see my sister-in-law’s niece as well. Having a chat to my sister-in-law’s brother as well helped my thought processes for if I was to live in Australia, and where I would want to live. Companies with a focus in engineering, as well as potentially working in a department where there is some attention at helping the community, bring it on.
Getting back to Melbourne several days later I was picked up at the airport by a friend of mine, to whom I explained the situation to… I was bloody excited (sorry all you from England who would get offended by such Australian language), this was when she just stopped in mid thought process and started laughing. I don’t remember the last time I was able to make someone laugh so hysterically and do it so unknowingly. Anyway, apparently I had been told a number of occasions by this same friend that they had just gotten a job for the identical company, who’s a fool!
Well, GC was a short visit but let the good times roll. While several friends and I were not able to make adequate plans to meet up, it was good to meet up with those important in my life, as well as the people important in their lives, too.
Back home… at 9pm, leave home… at 6.10am for trip. Things had already been packed before heading to Queensland, but a little bit of reshuffling was now on the cards. Everything was done by 1am, but within this time I was able to say seya later to my little bro and sisters, and spend a few moments with mum and dad. I know a special thing should be done if someone is to be gone for a good period of time, but I tried to put it into perspective: My older brother and his wife had not been to see my folks for over a year, I think between 15-18 months. We had seen each other prior to this due to the wedding, and that was it.
Now, no finger pointing, but we left too late for the airport and this was a problem for two reasons: a) I was driving and I like to catch up on lost time; b) Catching up alters your senses, and I nearly hit a car when I was going off the off ramp and tried to over take another car all in the one motion. Time ended up running on our side, where we found a spot and got to the correct series of desks with plenty of time spare. BTW, it was dad and I on the journey to the airport. At the desk the lady asked how much I had on me to check in, when I said how much she coughed a little, followed by: “Do you know that for every kg, above 20kgs, you will be paying $26 (I had 38kgs)? And that will only account for the leg from Melbourne to Tokyo.”
Rearranging things around slightly, dad took all except 4 of the books back with him and the lady gave me another bag to account for the other 6 kgs excess I had to carry on. Well, saying farewells to dad (nothing too sappy), I went on my way with a new bag from the check in lady, as well as two of my originals. Looking around I saw dad hitch the 18kgs worth of books higher onto his shoulders and walk with a little lurch in a perpendicular fashion to me, where I headed for the awaiting customs.
