2017 will go down as the year I bought a cardigan and moved to Canberra.
So, as most of you already know, we made the move to Canberra shortly after arriving home from France. The move was primarily initiated by TW not having her contract renewed for 2017, something we only found out just at the end of 2016 – whilst still in France. We discussed the possibility of leaving Darwin while we were still away and when we got home she began looking for work in other cities. I was all for it as she is the brains in this outfit after all and they’re too good to waste. Also, I rate myself as a pretty ordinary Paramedic so I didn’t think it would be difficult to cut St John away (as it turns out, it wasn’t). Lo and behold, the first job she applied for she got. We flew down to the capital to meet the team she would be working with and were able to stay with friends whom we had originally met in Darwin. TW liked the people she met and the sound of the project (it’s on Multiple Sclerosis) and she accepted their offer. Our friends also talked it up as the best thing they’d done in a while so we didn’t need much more than that.
Now it was real. Now we had to go home, pack up, sort out the house for renting, find tenants and of course, renovate the kitchen. Yes, renovations, it’s what crazy people do when there’s not enough stress in their lives already. I didn’t mention it, but we renovated the bathroom just after getting home and thanks to Carps, it looks amazing, but it was still stressful. Not content to satisfy ourselves with a new bathroom, the decision was made to put in a new kitchen as well. As luck would have it, it was completed 3 days before we moved so we didn’t even get to enjoy it.
I bet some of you are thinking “why Canberra???”. Well, for a start I’ve lived here previously so there was a familiarity to it. It’s a capital city with access to all we need without being large and busy like Brisbane or Sydney. It’s close to lots of things we want to do/see/visit/experience. There are four seasons, not two and there’s the added bonus of no cyclone season. The mountain biking is pretty awesome, and of course, the education system craps all over that of the NT.
So here we are. Two months in and not regretting it for a second. Yes, it’s cold but you can deal with it, mostly. I say mostly as the weather is only one aspect of it. The house we rent is an old un-insulated cottage built in the ’40’s and it’s resemblance to fridge is uncanny. Even with a top temperature of 11 degrees during the day, it’s still warmer outside at 2PM than it is inside. Until now I’d only slept with a beanie when I was camping!
CA’s adjustment to the move has been slower than ours.Three moves in less than twelve months can take it out of you when you’re eight years old. Her school seems good and she’s made some friends so she appears to be getting there. Sadly her French is fading away despite weekly lessons with Alliance Francaise.
Me? I’m telling everyone that I’m semi-retired. I don’t have a plan yet as I’m liking the stay-at-home dad gig a lot. If I do get something, it will be part-time in order to fit in with school and I’m fine with that. I’ve just started volunteering with the Kowalski Brothers Trail Works team building mountain bike trails on the weekends. I might do a post on that separately.
So for now we’re trying to make the most of winter whilst hanging out for summer! Snow is already falling in some of the Alpine regions and it’s only a matter of time before we head away and take advantage of it. Do we miss Darwin? Not a bit, however there are some small things that I notice the absence of, like the call of a Barking Owl in the evening, or the way no matter where you are in the yard, there is always a skink or two dashing around near your feet. I liked that about our place up there.
In the mean time, I promise to be a better blogger and keep the regular updates coming. Ciao!
Categories: