Bye Bye Oz

The last few days in Melbourne were busy ones - packing, cleaning, parties, and saying goodbye to some of the great people we've gotten to know here. We can't believe how quickly the last 6 months have gone. It's been fantastic, but we're excited to move on to the next part of the journey. Despite looking forward to NZ, moving is chaos no matter how you cut it. I also felt a bit sad selling some of Georgia's things and packing up her little world to move on. This, despite the fact that she seems pretty content to be anywhere her family is right now.

A pic of Scott with the guys he worked with in Melbourne at his goodbye party

Our last breakfast at Jerry's - the milk bar (aka coffee shop) around the corner from where we lived

Scott had a busy final few days of work, so we were very thankful to have mom and dad here to help out with the little lady while we got some last minute packing done. K and S had one final Oz adventure - a day on Phillip Island where they visited a koala conservation centre and watched the famous nightly march of the penguins.

Mom and Dad at the Koala Conservation Centre on Philip Island

Georgie's last slide in the park

On Canada Day, we loaded our gear and made our way to the airport. As you can see from the pics, we did not travel lightly so had to order a 'Maxi Taxi' (a large van big enough for lots of gear and several passengers) to get us there. Getting through check in and customs to get to the gate was a fiasco, and would require a blog post of its own to do the story justice, but I'll sum it up by saying that today I am mailing several strongly worded letters that Scott has written (his manifesto, as I call it) to the top executives at Virgin Blue Airlines expressing our "displeasure" with the experience we had. Those of you who know Scott well will appreciate that he enjoys writing a good letter of complaint. I'll keep you posted on what comes of his efforts...

The pack mules with some of our gear in the Melbourne airport