Australia

Well it is all over, finished, done, no more. It is a bit sad really. Coming back to Australia – I can marvel at the clear, blue sky, the colours of the earth and olive green vegetation. The roads are wide and the people friendly and they all have an accent! I am also reminded constantly how dry it is – water restrictions in force, a lot of dead or dying plants in the garden and a thick layer of dust on everything.

Life will get ‘back to normal’ whatever that is, with work, school and sport filling in the hours and giving direction instead of searching the internet for accommodation or flights, visiting museums, photography, drawing and eating out.

I would like to thank family and friends who followed our adventures from afar on this blog or in the newspaper articles. It has been very encouraging to find out people actually were interested in seeing what we were up to. I have enjoyed the writing and photography and because other people were reading it, I tried to get the information as accurate as possible.

The last thing I want to share with you are some of my drawings that I did in each location we visited.
Barcelona:

Granada:

England:

Scotland:

Prague:

Berlin:

Venice:

Over and out

Debbie

Today was my last day at work. It is getting pretty exciting now. I also picked up all our tickets so I guess that makes it official.

I am really sick of all the organising - and me beign the great organiser and list maker of all time. There is so much to think about and decide (and pay for) - tickets, connecting flights, insurance, accommodation, luggage, security, transfers, stop overs. Then there are all the things to do here before we can go ... a whole cupboard full of dog food and cat food, a whole freezer full of frozen dog bones, garden, pool, flat, school work, farewell parties, phone numbers of people to help with animals, car, flat, repairs, the list goes on and on. I am pleased we don't have anything planned for when we get there first so maybe I can just relax, Jeff too. Francisco and Anita (and Victoria 5 and Patricia 3) are putting us up for the first 4 days as we arrive at the beginning of the Easter long weekend and everything will stop in Spain. I have got them some nice kids books in english and some other souveniers as a thank you. Will keep you posted as it gets closer to blast off day.

We have to pay for our tickets today. So that makes everything very fixed and real. Just going through the process now of comparing travel insurance etc - so much money to spend.
it is very exciting thinking about where we will be living soon. We at present live in a town in NSW (small by European standards) called Wagga Wagga.

It will be very different to be in Barcelona with all its amazing architecture and big buildings. I can't wait.

There are so many things to be done - tickets, packing, cleaning, insurance, banking ....
Max is excited and scared about the whole trip -it is all so unknown. I am excited and relieved that it is almost here and I don't have to keep it a secret anymore. Jeff is preoccupied with doing lots of other things so it probably hasn't really hit him how close it is getting. Lily is excited but more distant as she doesn't travel till mid year...
This blog seems like a good way to keep people in touch with our big adventure and these preliminary entries are practice for me