Less than 3 weeks to go!

Things have really gone into high gear this week with lots of time spent on the phone endeavouring to contact various utility companies, etc. to cancel accounts. Very frustrating! But gradually the things are getting ticked off the "to do" list. Lots of sorting out, throwing out and cleaning happening - as well as more goodbye drinks & dinners. We are so lucky to have such great people around us. Did I say it already? I'll miss you!

As a tangible sign that something is happening, our bedroom is lined with open suitcases in various stages of packing. Now it's starting to feel very real.

Brian is off at golf this morning - likely his last game at Shelly Beach Golf Club - that's something else we will miss. We went over this week for dinner and raffle night - which we like to do occasionally and, if we are lucky, might come home with a tray of meat for the BBQ. Not so this week. We did however take with us the lovely English Angela and her very cute son Sam. Angela and her husband are buying our Toyota Rav. They have just arrived in Australia and as Kevin was away, we thought it might be nice for Angela to see a bit more of the area. Lovely night experiencing what it might be like to be grandparents of a 3 year old! We have much to learn.

We've had a visit from the new owner of our house, Gary, to learn about operating the pool, spa, and all of the other little secrets that houses have - such as "what does that switch turn on?". There are still two we have never figured out - maybe he will have more luck!

What else? Well, we've spent a lot of time on the internet looking at houses - criticising the very expensive ones of course as not being worthy and how could they possibly charge so much for THAT! It's going to be an interesting exercise. What do you think about this one?  It's high on the list but we are going to have to do some hard work to get the price down from $1.9m to around $400k! Pretty nice huh?

Well, a person can dream can't they?

The stirrings begin & unemployment looms

I'm now unemployed (15th June)

Well, today was my last day at work! I was given a wonderful farewell at Mingara Recreation Club last night with fellow workers and industry colleagues. It is lovely when people say nice things about you that's for sure. See the happy gang below. I'm going to miss you all!


Central Coast Tourism staff, Board & friends

It's going to be strange not going to work tomorrow. Hope they miss me just a little bit.

The stirrings begin

Once there was a happy couple living well in their lovely home in East Bateau Bay NSW Australia. They were always busy renovating or gardening or getting together with friends and had a very happy life in their lovely suburb by the ocean.

The end result of a lot of hard (& yard) work.

The wife had an interesting job through which she was fortunate to meet lots of good people; the husband was a wonderful man who could do anything needed in the house; loved his golf and his wife. Then one day, they woke up and said: "Why don't we move back to Canada?"

Well, that happy couple is us! It's winter in Australia and we are well into plans for our next big move...back to Canada. We are really excited to be moving back closer to our 5 children in Alberta. So, where in Alberta will we be moving you ask? Silly, after living so many years in Australia we have decided to try somewhere just a little warmer than Alberta (or is it just a bit less cold?). Anyway, we've decided that the Nanaimo area on Vancouver Island will fit the bill.

We've sold our house here in East Bateau Bay and have to move out on 7th July. It has been a crazy month or two with preparations for that. Ginnie's last day at work is next Wednesday (15th June) - we have been busy with farewell lunches & dinners, garage sales, visitors, etc. which is making it all seem very real now.

The family will be here the week before the movers come (on 4th of July) for a week of last minute carousing and craziness. I'm going to miss "the sisters" very much but looking forward to our get together.

We've booked our flights to leave Australia on 14th July. We've also been spending time looking at houses online and trying to imagine what the next phase of our life will look like. I'm sure that just a little renovation will feature in some way! We've been in contact with some old friends and have been put in touch with some soon to be we hope "new" friends who have been great in answering our questions etc. about life in Nanaimo and assisting put us in touch with key people.

If you want to get in contact with us, we are switching over to using hotmail or gmail so: brianandginnie@hotmail.com or brianandginnie@gmail.com should do the trick. Or post a comment here. We would love to hear what you have been up to as well.

It's a sad time in a lot of ways for us but also a very happy and exciting time with what is ahead. We'll keep you "posted".