Farewell Melbourne Part 1

We're down to one week and 3 days.  As I sit to write this C2 is still in Perth, J is still in Canberra,  I've just finished a telephone call with my Insurance company to transfer our policy interstate after which I've poured a rather tall glass of Australian Shiraz.

There are many stages of moving: (1) Denial (2) Acceptance (3) Nostalgia (4) Ready-to-Go.  I am at stage #3.  Everything I look at or experience this week makes me weak at the knees, drenched with bittersweet longing and a need to etch a memory of it in my mind.

Perfect example today, my gorgeous friend Mel took me for lunch on Acland Street in St. Kilda; as we strolled along the street, I sighed at the iconic European cake shops which J and I have frequented at the end of every school term as a special treat.  After lunch  we went for coffee at the beach.  As we walked along the St. Kilda beach boardwalk to the Stokehouse, I sighed again, as St. Kilda beach was one of the first places we visited upon arrival in Melbourne 3 and a bit years ago, and it has always had a special place in my heart.  I even barracked for the St. Kilda footy team (don't tell them I am switching allegiances to the Fremantle Dockers).

During my workout in Central Park this morning, I etched every loved corner of the Park in my mind.  As I walked home along our high street, I sighed as I glanced in the window of the My Kitchen Table cafe where J and I have lunch after tennis during the school holidays, I sighed again as I passed the Soul Cafe where I pick up coffee on my way to the tram.  I even sighed at our Australia Post outlet...I know I know, I am deep into Stage #3.

I am going to highlight what about Melbourne I will miss most....there will likely be several more entries in coming days:

1.  My High Street with its' block of  cafes and dear little shops;
2.  Glenferrie Road, my other High street with its' three blocks of cafes and dear not-so-little shops;
3.  Melbourne's iconic trams;
4.  From the tram window spying original Victorian houses with names like 'Ye Olde Parsonage';
5.  Central Park and Hedgley Dean Gardens both adjacent to our house and loved by all of us (including Murphy);
6.  Stunning Albert Park and it's rows of Palm trees.  I drive on the Formula One track around the Park to work in South Melbourne and often have to stop to allow crossings of waddling Black Swans.

7.  My peoples.  We've been having serious quality time with our dearest friends over the last week or so to etch as many memories as possible.  They have been amazing.  Supportive, loving, funny.  Everything I needed my friends to be.

Marco and Marie-Pierre - our port in a storm from the very beginning  And makers of THE best pizza outside of Italy:

With their crazy cat Minou

My girls at Ficelle for dinner (thanks Majella and Thierry):

Kerry

Mel

Majella

Emilie

Marie-Pierre

Severine

My gorgeous Kerry and her gorgeous family.  She is seriously the funniest person I have ever known:

In my usual position, guffawing at something Kerry has said

Only a family of six could have this many skateboards, and only this mother of four who works 60+ hour weeks would make this many home-made hotcross buns on a Saturday night.

Our backup family

Two Weeks and Three Days

We're in the final stretch.  Moving is a different experience this time.  When we left Geneva, we had 4 months of planning and frankly, it was excruciating.  C2 and I ultimately dubbed it 'the Long Goodbye'.  When I look back at the pictures of us when we finally extracted ourselves back to Canada for the Christmas break before shifting to Australia, we are grey and skinny.  From prolonged farewells, from the lessors-from-hell, from being too long in the moment.

This time around, we have a spreadsheet, we are dividing and conquering, and we're jamming it and all of the farewells into a short 4 weeks.  Whilst it is exceedingly painful to say goodbye again, for our roots have run deep, the goodbyes are accompanied by "come and visit us" and friends actually can.  We are moving 3,000km away not 14,000km.  In Geneva,  J and I used to visit with Sheila and her kids in London every school holiday; we can actually do the same from Perth to Melbourne...well maybe every OTHER school holiday.  Point is, we're still moving within the same country, and we're taking a lot of comfort from that.

Murphy is enjoying her giant kennel in the middle of our living room so it's safe to say that she's used to it again; I am hoping that the flight will remind her that she's done it successfully and longer three times before.  Again watch this space.

We are moving into temporary accommodations in Melbourne next Monday, near Chapel St. - silver linings - as it is an awesome part of Melbourne - and one with which we are very familiar.  We will do our best to take advantage of the location, though dinners with friends are planned most nights.

J is officially withdrawn from his wonderful bilingual Melbourne school; I already miss it and our wonderful Franco-Australian community.  It felt like our transfer was  not real until I formally submitted his withdrawal, well I guess it's real now.

However, before this move is done and dusted, C2 heads to Perth for a week while at the same time J heads to Canberra with school for a week.  That leaves.....me.....Alone.....FOR A WEEK.  I don't think I've experienced that in almost 11 years!   I'll be working much of that time; as for the rest, well I guess I'll be counting my blessings for all that I have...with popcorn and Netflix.

And the Answer is..........PERTH (Australia not Scotland)

Yes, the nomadic Canadian/Swiss/Australian Family Hendricks is on the move again.  After 3 joyful years in Melbourne, we are giving up our bi-coastal lifestyle and heading west to be reunited regularly as a family.

Perth?  You ask, where/what is Perth?  Well, here is my summary of Perth, the resource capital of the state of Western Australia in no particular order.

1.  It is THE most isolated capital city in the world. 3,438 km from Melbourne, slightly more to Sydney, 8,325 to Johannesburg, 14,466 to London, 14,831km to Vancouver,  18,770 to New York,  but only 6,478 to Antarctica!

2.  The nearest city of greater than 100,000 is Adelaide at 2,104 km to the south-east.

3.  Perth is the resource capital of Australia, and the fourth most populous city after Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide with a population of around 1.9 million.

4.  Perth is the capital of the state of Western Australia, commonly referred to down under as WA.

5.  Perth is blessed with a hot, dry Mediterranean climate with an average winter temperature around 18c and average summer temps of 31c.  Cactus, Palms, and tropical flora flourish.

6.  Perth is home to four public universities: the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Murdoch University, and Edith Cowan University. There is also one private university, the University of Notre Dame.

7.  The WA coast is the playground of many whales and a large Great White shark population, while also being blessed with some of the most spectacular beaches in the world, including Perth's Cottlesloe, voted by Lonely Planet as the second best beach in the world for families.

That's a slice of Perth.  C2 has probably spent more time in Perth than in Melbourne in the three years that we have been in Australia, and the time has come to address that inbalance.  While I am utterly heartsick at leaving my beautiful Melbourne with the remarkable network of friends who have been like family,  and the unique Franco-Australian society we have forged, I recognise that we have to wrench ourselves away for the sake of our family.  Even J realises it.  To quote my man Bruce:

"...Well it comes with a hard hard price
you can't shut off the risk and pain
Without losin' the love that remains
We're all riders on this train..."  (Bruce Sprinsgteen "Human Touch")

Kinda describes this nomadic, expat life of ours.  At least to me.  I have been so blessed with wonderful friendships and connections in Geneva and Melbourne.  I hope I am as lucky this time around.  Resigning from a job that I love and where I felt valued has also been painful but there are NGOs in Perth too.

So on we go, we've settled on a house in a charming area of Perth between the giant Swan river, (the saltwater river that defines Perth) and the Indian Ocean.  An easy walk to the river, and a short way to the beaches of the Indian Ocean, 5 minutes to Cottlesloe.  Also a short drive is Perth's Alliance Française, where I expect J and I will spend much time continuing the french education he began in Geneva and continued in Melbourne.

Guess who else is coming?  Yep, 15-1/2 year old Murphy.  Her Vet signed-off on one more airplane journey, scheduled for April 5 with C2.  J and I will travel the next day.  I cannot be there if anything happens to her en-route.  This much I do know.  Watch this space.

It's a fast departure this time, the next three weeks will be full of organising the move, temporary accommodations, painful good-byes but joyful see-you-soon's, and parties we are dubbing the "Who-wants-to-put-the-Hendricks-up-at-Christmas-enroute-to-Canada" parties.

To conclude, here are a few images of Perth taken on a trip a couple of years ago.  Not too bad eh?

Downtown Perth

Cottlesloe Beach, a heartbeat away

J and I walking along Cottlesloe Beach

J and C2 jumping into the surf at Cottlesloe

Rottnest Island, Perth's playground just off the coast of Fremantle

More Rotto (as the Aussies call it)

Of course, there are also lots of these guys....but we'll do our best to avoid them!

Bruce and Me

It's no secret that I harbour a passion nay a near-obsession with Bruce Springsteen.  I know his struggles, his histories, and his poetry.  He is a troubador who sings straight to my heart.  Always has.  I love how he tells a story with every record, commercial success be-damned.  Every word, every note, every melody speaks to me; I get him.

I never, however, had the pleasure of seeing him and the incomparable E-Street Band live; not ever.  Somehow the planets just never aligned.  But is has happened now; twice in 8 months in Melbourne.  Last May's event began for me with a shortness of breath in anticipation and I think I only remembered to breathe 3 and a half hours later.  That concert resonated with me for days.

Bruce returned to Melbourne this month and I was first in line with fingers over the SUBMIT button the moment tickets went on sale.  Oh man, the concert this past weekend...

I can only describe it as the closest thing to an ecstatic religious experience that I suspect I will ever have.  I sang every word, swayed to every beat, hollered till I was hoarse, wished for more.  Another 3 and a half hours of pure musical joy, stories sung, emotions wrung; every moment was pure magic.

Here are a couple clips of the two songs that bring me to my knees (or dancing on my seat):

"Ghost of Tom Joad" with newest E-Street Band member, the completely brilliant Tom Morello - together absolute musical genius

Rosalita - best Springsteen EVER and with the Big Man, Clarence Clemens, circa 1988 really does Rock and Roll get any purer?

The Not So Awesome Australia - Cockroaches

When we first considered relocating to Australia, a lot of people's first reactions were either along the lines of "Nine of the ten deadliest snakes live there", "Home of the Great White", "Don't go camping, too many poisonous things" or of course "Awww Kangaroos, Koalas, Kookaburras".  I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about "Look out for those monster cockroaches!"

I have learned to coexist alongside hairy Huntsman Spiders (as big as my hand), I tolerate fiies the size of helicopters roaring around, I have even grown to accept that armies of ants will invade my house at regular intervals, but I will NEVER get over the shock of seeing a cockroach eyeing me from inches away.

My usual reaction is to shriek wildly and my instinct to run madly in the opposite directions from its waving antenna.  Tragically, they are all too commonplace in urban Melbourne and are no commentary on the cleanliness of your kitchen (where they usually hang).  We all have them.  My friend Emilie takes great pleasure in trapping and pouring boiling water over them to kill their eggs which, she tells me, scatter everywhere when you stomp on them.   It sounds a tad medieval...even for cockroaches.

Complicating my cockroach problem is the fact that both C2 and I are animal lovers.  We never kill anything.  We live by the mantra "if you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive", preferring the trap and release method to insect control.  Karma and all that.  And yep, that even goes for cockroaches.

The usual scenario is I spot a cockroach, it waves its antanae at me, I shriek, C2 flings a tupperware over it, slides a cardboard under it, and escorts it to our tall brick wall where it is unceremoniously but humanely tossed into the wilderness of our neighbour's backgarden.  This happens a handful of times a year to be honest, and we largely cope.

So let's discuss the giant cockroach we dealt with yesterday and his giant-er brother we dealt with today.  Yesterday's fun began when I brought in the mail from outside and one skittered across my hand.  I shrieked particularly loudly causing C2 who was on a conference call to say something about 'stop being such a baby'.  During this commotion, Giant was flung to the ground where he skittered under our very large and very heavy Quebec pine armoire.  C2 put his conference call on hold, grunted whilst moving said very large and very heavy Quebec pine armoire to successfully locate Giant while I clapped a tupperware over him.  I slid a bank statement under him, and C2 returned to his phone call intending to return to Giant shortly.  Two minutes later, Giant escaped but kindly left cockroach pee on my bank statement as a parting gift.  Tables were shoved aside and carpets frantically inspected until he was located again. Same process ensued but this time C2 generously showed me how it was done properly.  I agreed with his superiour technique all the while watching Giant make good his escape again only this time onto C2's hand.  There might have been more shrieking involved but not from me this time.  Giant was eventually returned to the wilds of the front nature strip.

This evening's fun began after a lovely and relaxing evening trip to the beach for a picnic.  C2 was getting J to bed when Giant-er sidled up along the wall beside me as I put away dishes.  He was about as long as my index finger.  I shrieked, C2 came running, we missed our first attempt with the tupperware but trapped him on the second.  Wary of our experience yesterday, we hunted high and low but unsuccessfully for cardboard to slide under.  All the while, Giant-er threw himself against the walls of the tupperware with sufficient speed and effort that I feared an escape was imminent.  In a panic, C2 grabbed the vaccum intending to suck up Giant-er and put him out with the compost and leaves.  In his blind rush to get Giant-er before the prison break, he hurriedly plugged in the vaccum, pulled it toward Giant-er, and knocked over my lit Cranberry Chutney Yankee candle, splattering hot wax across chairs, hardwood floors and carpets leading to much more shrieking.  Fortunately Giant-er escaped unscathed.

I am seriously over cockroaches.  I have found an advantage to -35c, long live Canada!

2014 Begins with a Heatwave

We've been back a week.  We ended our lovely trip with three days in Los Angeles including two at Disneyland.  It's a good thing that we spent some time at the happiest place on earth because J was about the unhappiest little boy on earth.  He feels the absence of his family immediately following our departure from them as keenly as ripping a bandaid off of a fresh cut.   He's better now that we're back in Melbourne.

I hit the ground running, I landed last Monday battling a bad cold but was back at work Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we had to unpack, put away all the Christmas decorations and detritus, clean the house, work with my physiotherapist, plant our summer herbs, and flowers, sweep about 10km of spider webs from the house, wash all the windows, and do 10 loads of laundry, just in time for an unprecedented heatwave to hit Melbourne. 

I don't know why but this just struck us as hilarious since "tossers" is a somewhat pejorative term down under!

The "Nightmare Before Christmas" haunted house at Disneyland - one of our favorites

Two days ago, the outside temperature gauge in my car registered 48c at 5:30pm!  That is pretty stinkin' hot!  We have a/c in our bedrooms and have managed to keep the rest of the house relatively cool by closing it up, but with temperatures not even dropping below 28c during the night, it's only barely tolerable.  C2 has had to relocate his office from the sunny front room to the air-conditioned guest bedroom.  Still many are suffering much more.  Even poor Murphy is having difficulty coping; she's had a couple of seizures brought on by the heat and we're not taking her out more than to do what she has to do twice a day. 

In addition to continuing to battle my cold, the intense heat has caused a bought of migraines in the last 36 hours.  I've taken multiple migraine meds which have brought me some relief but haven't sent this particular monster fully packing yet.  We joined some friends from the U.K. at the beach for a picnic yesterday evening.  The sea breezes were delicious and our Melbourne sea still refreshingly cool.  We're doing it all over again this evening.  Today and tomorrow are forecast to be the hottest days yet.  I don't know how the Australian Open tennis players are playing; J will be doing tennis camps next week, good thing it wasn't this week!

At Elwood Beach in Melbourne with U.K. Gina  on a stinkin' hot evening

Ten days left of school holidays.  C2 has been home since our return from Canada but resumes his punishing travel schedule on Monday.  If Melbourne's heat has been bad, 50+c is normal in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where he is headed.

It's hard to believe another year is over.  It's hard to believe we have been in Australia THREE years now; it feels like we were just planning this move.  Still, as I continue to lament the passage of time, now in the early part of 2014, I am grateful for my family and our devotion to each other, for all of our health, and for all of the opportunity we have been given.

Christmas 2013 in Pictures

We've been in Canada almost two weeks now.  In that time, we spent 6 days in Whistler spending quality time together just the three of us.   We skiied everyday, soaked in the hotel hot tub overlooking the slopes, and wandered the chilly but charming village at night; in and out of the shops and enjoying the Christmas lights.  It was a peaceful time with terrific skiing and lots of fun.  The only downer was my brutal case of boot bang - stupid rental ski boots.  Next ski trip, I will only travel with my own boots.

We travelled to Vancouver in a blizzard but fortunately were only slightly delayed on our 12, yes, 12-minute flight to Victoria.  It's been great to be back.  We've done all that we hoped: spent time together all 8 of us, hiked Mount Doug, drank coffee and candy cane hot chocolate at Tim Horton's, J has played with the cats for hours, we've watched back-to-back episodes of "Breaking Bad" (again), wandered the city streets, and watched the sun set over Victoria's harbour. 

Hiking our much-loved Mount Doug

Then the Christmas tree fell down, we shorted the power in the house, and Marge got the flu, but Christmas was still celebrated with much love.  Our traditional reveillon was passed with the family and friends on Christmas Eve whilst following Santa on the Norad Santa Tracker.  Christmas morning dawned early with J and Marge filling the house with candles and Christmas music before rousing the rest of us....at 7:00am.

The rest of the day was spent quietly, some of us hiked, some of us cooked, glasses were clinked, and more memories made, especially for J.

The formal 2013 family portrait

Our preferred 2013 family portrait

Being silly

Big J and Little J

J and his cousin Renee

 

Victoria Harbour

Inside Victoria's Empress Hotel

Victoria's floating fisherman's village

Coming up for Air

Remember me?  I’m the one who promised to be more faithful in my reporting of the everyday a few months ago.  Well, it’s been a time of transition, and rolling through the ebbs and flows of life pulling me in many directions and away from blogging.  So as I board my 15 hour flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles en route back to Canada for the holidays, I will bring you all up to speed on a few things since last we talked.

In early November, my good friend Jen and I flew to Hong Kong to spend a week together.  She had a free pass to go anywhere Air Canada flies and asked if I would join her.  So she flew 14 hours west from Calgary, I flew 9 hours north from Melbourne and we arrived in Hong Kong within 20 minutes of each other.  It was my first real foray into Asia and, boy oh boy, did we explore and experience much that this amazing city had to offer.  We stayed on Kowloon Island, a short walk to the iconic Star Ferries which shuttle people the short distance across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island.  Many people  told me that Hong Kong is something of a shopping mecca and that was true, however, neither Jen nor I are in the habit of wandering into Chanel stores in Melbourne or Calgary so it wasn’t our intention to do so here.  Rather our goals were to eat local, get off the beaten track, avoid touristy stuff, and troll the markets.

I think we accomplished our goals, we spent time twice at the Temple Street night market, eating hawker food (amazing), at the Stanley Market, purchasing inexpensive scarves, bags, and Buddhist trinkets, and drinking copious amounts of refreshing watermelon juice.  We also visited the Jade market and many neighbourhood food markets where the emphasis was on local Chinese greens, and dried fish and beans.

The traditional Junk boat we took around Victoria Harbour

One of my favorite experiences was going to a colony of temples dedicated to Buddhist, Taoism, and Confuscianism in Wong Tai Sin where the acrid scent of incense was overwhelming and the feeling of spirituality palpable.  Here, we took boxes of numbered sticks, sank to our knees in front of Buddha, formed a question in our minds, closed our eyes, and shook the box until a single stick fell to the ground.  Noting the number, we went in search of an English-speaking soothsayer who interpreted a story based on the number.  The insight was startling.

Big Buddha on Lantau Island

Offering at Big Buddha

Peking Duck - OMG delicious!

 Another day, anxious for a break from the overwhelming crush of humanity in Hong Kong, Jen and I travelled by ferry, tram and taxi to the far end of Hong Kong island, miraculously found an elusive trailhead and headed up the long and spectacular Dragon’s Back trekking trail.  We trekked for a couple of hours in peace before joining more widely-travelled part of the trail.  The views from the top of the ancient volcanic topography that is Hong Kong were amazing.  At the end of the trail, we hopped on a bus to the small beach town of  Shek-Oh where we peeled off our sticky clothes and swam in the wintery warm waters.

At the top of Dragon's Back

 Jen is one of my soul sisters, and we moved in a similar rhythm, inspired by the same things, equally adventurous and curious, she is grounded, generous, smart as a whip, and a treasured friend.

Upon returning to Melbourne, I took a taxi directly to Albert Park in South Melbourne where Child Wise was sponsoring the 5K charity run that J had been training hard for.  It was 9:00am and I was jetlagged but met up with C2 and J, and we ran the race.  J sprinted by me at the start and I didn’t see him again until the finish line.  He finished 4^th overall among ALL runners in 26.29 which, for those of you not in-the-know, is FAST.  About 5 minutes into the run, my persistent hamstring injury made itself very known and I limped to a 29.28 finish.  

At least my socks were cool even if my hamstring wasn't

So began my weekly visits to Dr Physio who diagnosed severe tendonopathy in my right hamstring, and banned me from running for 2 months.  Let this be a lesson I hope to follow in future months – DO NOT IGNORE INJURIES AND RUN THROUGH THEM HOPING THEY WILL JUST GO AWAY because they don’t.  It’s a very bad tendonitis, and quite debilitating.  I’ve continued swimming as my shoulder injury is improving with therapy and added in yoga…till yoga aggravated my hamstring and Dr Physio has now banned me from yoga for a month.  Sigh.  I am very much missing running and both the physical and mental release that it gives me.  I am behaving and working hard to build my glutes and lower back muscles to assist in recovery.

Our darling 15-year old Labrador Murphy is still trucking on but the signs of aging are building.  She was diagnosed this month with early heart failure and is on new meds to combat it.  It has been an interesting journey sheparding our much-loved dog through old age.  During our absence for the next three weeks, my neighbour’s 25-year old daughter is moving into our house to dog-sit.  I have prepared THREE Webster trays of meds and vitamins (Monday-Sunday AM and PM) to be dosed out at specific intervals, and a clear schedule of walks and care.  Though we have been blessed with much time and travel with this lovely girl and I am grateful; all three of us gaze upon her with our hearts in our throats, I feel time is beginning to run out.

C2s work and travel schedule continue to be intense and it has a knock-on effect on our family.  We are coping but I feel change is in the air.  C2, thankfully, is healthy, fit, and well-balanced, but as we both had significant birthdays this year, we find ourselves wondering about this expat life of ours.  It has been an amazing experience, rich in culture, new worlds, and people, but there has been a price attached to it. The price is being rootless, wandering the globe, never quite sure where we belong or where we want to be.  Honestly, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about how we have lived the last decade, not a single thing, but the experience has not been without cost.  As J gets older and attached to things beyond the two of us, we are conscious of our choices and their impact on him.

I have started a new role at Child Wise.  Our organisation has undergone a painful reorganisation, I have emerged in a good place, many have not and that has been difficult.  But I am looking ahead to new possibilities and new horizons.

I am now three hours and three episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” into this  fourteen hour flight.  I think this is the longest moment I have had to sit and reflect in months.  I am very excited to see my family, again; excited for the three of us to spend a little quality time together; excited to ski for the next five days, breathe the cold air, and feel snow on my face; excited to hike Mount Doug on Vancouver Island, one of our happy places, inhale the heady scent of pine trees and bear witness to the stormy palette of the Pacific Northwest, excited to see my mother and feel her unconditional love, excited for the revelry of Christmas Eve reveillon, and excited for the joy that my sister-in-law and J create on Christmas morning.   I can’t wait to get there.