I have often thought April is a great name for a woman. Isn’t it curious that the three months that can be used as female names are grouped together, April, May and June. Sisters united. I am sure somewhere out there, there is a family with three girls, April, May and June. Of course there is.
For me today is simply Sunday 30th April 2006. My Anzac day post was rather truncated by the fact that my daughter woke up just as I got started and we had to head off to visit the relatives out at Frankston. My daughter then further frustrated my attempts to write my blog by commandeering the laptop for the totally frivolous excuse that she needed to do some assignment work for school and used the train trip out to Frankston to catch up!
Anyway, I am now well and truly back in the Blue Mountains and yes back in the van! I have been told that caravans are making a comeback in Australia with sales rising each year. I know, I am a talkback tragic with a head full of useless bits of trivia thanks to ABC radio. Anyway, like many things, after years of being daggy things have gone full circle and caravans are cool again, or so I’m told. I am not surprised when you consider that the fridge is just one pace from the kitchen table and two from the bed. Now that is convenience! Yet, there is one thing I like even more than this and that is the group experience thing. You know, everything you do in a caravan creates a movement throughout the caravan. Shake, shake, shake shake. Want to get up and go to the toilet in the middle of the night? No worries! ‘Hey everyone, it is not and earth quake that is disturbing your sleep and interrupting your dreams, …. Just me go to the bathroom’.
Megan is at a sleep over party so finally I have some time to blog on. She said to me, ‘Dad, you can turn the caravan upside down tomorrow for all I care, I won’t be here’. Obviously she is into the group experience thing also. OK, yes it is the last day of April. Megan and I had a great trip down to Victoria and really good to catch up with relatives and discovered a new cousin, how’s that! Catching up with the relies was the best part of the trip. Megan and I both decided we need to head south of the border more often.
The trip home was fairly eventless, train to Hurstbridge, sleep at Margo’s, up early then 12 hours north. Mission accomplished in six days. Yes, that is far too brief yet it is sometimes amazing what you can poke into a short stay. Megan got a fairly good taste of Melbourne rattling around on the trams and seeing the sights. (Catherine, you’ll know the significance of our going to the Aquarium also!!!) Melbourne is definitely a more liveable city than Sydney; more open, more sunlight, more trees, better transport, less pollution and basically more street culture.
Now back in the mountains things have definitely moved on a pace. I have been keeping a bit of a secret. I have had my house on the market for a few months and had an offer at the beginning of April and been waiting for all the usual building and other checks to take place before the purchaser signed the contract and always conscience that these things can fall through I have not mentioned this yet. Anyway, you know where I am going with this, yes, on Friday they finally signed on the dotted line and after a short stay of just fourteen years I now need to start packing my bags to move on. Whoa!
That is going to be a mammoth task and one that starts today. I arrived in the Blue Mountains fourteen years ago in my white Hiace van with a few cloths, a dog called Ziggy, a thousand bucks and that’s it. It seems like a lifetime ago since then and I have managed to get a degree, buy a house, have a child to name a few things in that time. Moving on then is certainly a big move. So, you see, when my blog began on Good Thursday mixed into the equation was a large amount of hope. I was ready to move on and the only thing stopping me was the signing of the contract. That done, it is time to move along.
Now, having said all that about moving on, I am not actually leaving the mountains. Well, not exactly. Being born and breed in Queensland the chill and damp of the mountains while being romantic at first is excruciating for me now. The winters down here are just far too long. They seem to start in June and stay till October. Oh, I didn’t mention the wind. I hate wind!!!! Being on top of the range means we get some fairly nasty wind sheer as the weather patterns move across the range. There is one thing however that will keep me in the mountains, Meagan. You either commit to being a parent or you don’t and thirteen years ago I made that commitment to Megan and I am not about to break it.
However, I have come up with a compromise. I am going to leave the mountains during winter. I am going to head to warmer climes during the worst of the winter months here. My philosophy is that you only have so many summers during your life and if I can cheat a little and grab a few extra by heading north then go for it! I think I have done fairly well as a dad with a thirteen year old daughter, happy, confident and well adjusted and can now take some time out for myself.
April this year for me was bookended with an offer on my house on the 2nd then four weeks of anticipation followed by the signing of contracts on 27th. In between there was a trip to the Wombat House and Melbourne. The anticipation is over and today I start packing the very first box. Farewell April and Kamillaroi Road.
