New discoveries

I've become a jet-setter :) Flitting down to Sydney for the day, then across to Adelaide for the weekend and finally back home. Phew! I'm exhausted. I wouldn't cut it as a politician or a celebrity, would I? So what have I discovered on my travels? Well a few things :)

I love Adelaide - I could easily live there. I've told Rob now that I've made the first move - which was the hardest and the biggest - I am now ready to try other places. Visiting the Central Markets on Saturday made me realise how much I miss some things up on T.I. - well stocked delicatessans for one. I'd forgotten how many varieties of cheese, olives and salamis are available to buy and how well they go with delicious crusty Italian bread.

K1 winery in the Adelaide Hills

The next day - the wine tasting. A short drive out of the city and we were in the Adelaide Hills and home of several well known wineries. What a pleasant way to spend a Sunday - tasting wine, lunching on platters and newly discovered wine blends, and driving through green lush country. How do you top that? You stop at a chocolate shop, that's how :)

As full as I was, there was still room for a Baileys Bomb - one little chocolate that had me oohing and aahing for ages. Once I'd bitten into it, I had to be careful and not let the liquor inside run out. It was like a chocolate shell filled with Baileys - it was truly a case of "I'll have what she's having".

Rob happily munched on a peppermint slice. I don't get it - how can you just eat chocolate. Don't you have to savour it first - sort of let it melt in your mouth and then you slowly swallow it while at the same time you try to keep it in your mouth? Isn't that how you eat chocolate? Not Rob - he bites off a piece and eats it - quick, no nonsense, done and dusted in a few seconds. I guess it's a boy thing.

I also discovered that I'm getting better at air travel - well I have to don't I, considering where I live. And I find that doing a crossword puzzle takes my mind off (i) take off, (ii) how fast we're going, (iii) how high up we are and (iv) the thing I don't want to think about the most - what keeps this thing up here????? So I concentrate on crosswords.

Reading .... well, my mind wanders and as for trying to sleep - well first of all I can't and secondly I hear every single noise, bump and swish, gear change and I'm sure there are times when that motor just cuts out. But if I'm thinking of a three letter word for "meadow" or another word for "room divider" then I don't hear a thing .... what was that??

And let me tell you I always listen to the safety talk - you can't hear that too often. But I still don't know - is that little red tube the whistle or the inflation thingy? And yesterday for the first time ever I actually felt under the seat to see if there really was a life jacket - there was :)

Rob and I packed a lot into our three days away - we spent time with his daughter and her new family and I met up with a friend. We shopped and we walked. We did a lot of our favourite things - we ate interesting food (stonegrill at the Strathmore - what a treat, crispy pizza at the Lazy Ballerina and amazing ethiopian food at Addis Ababa); drank new wines (hello K1) and we were merry.

But the best thing about our time away is that Rob and I reconnected - we talked, we had fun, quite a few laughs and we came home knowing that we love being together and want to stay together for a long time.

Life is good.

Love you Brisbane

We've been home for one week - and what a week it's been :) I couldn't think of one thing to blog about so I've decided to make a short list, in no particular order of enjoyment or importance, and share it with you.

In the past week I have enjoyed :

1. Family get-togethers. Since arriving we've had dinner at my Mum's with Mark, Carmel, Nikki, Dan and my brother Phil. As usual Mum cooked up a feast - had the entire population of T.I. come to visit, there would have been leftovers.

Above: Nikki and Dan
Below: Vera and Cameron. Phil is sitting behind Cameron

The following night Vera and Cameron joined us for a meal at a local turkish restaurant, complete with belly dancer. I must admit that I didn't need too much encouragement (after a couple of wines) to join in on one of her dances around the tables. Well - she did offer me a scarf ........

Yesterday Nikki and I went to visit my niece Pina, her 2 gorgeous little girls and her mum. We had a great time catching up and enjoyed a delicious lunch of individual quiche, salad, strawberries drowned in marsala and fresh cream. I came home feeling totally satisfied.

2. A session at the Story Bridge Hotel. It felt so good to be there and to see so many familiar faces - hi Julie, Kim, Margaret, Virginia, David and Sue. The jazz was there, the buzz was there and my favourite wine is still there to be enjoyed while chatting and catching up. Can't wait to do it again.

3. My best friend. On Monday I went to see the Valentino collection with my best friend Maria - we have been friends for 51 years :) I met her on the first day of grade 1 at the old St Stephens school in Brisbane City. We have through so much together - marriages, babies, marital problems, breakups, our kids' weddings, good times, not so good times but mainly lots of fun times. Through it all she has been a great support to me - "the wind beneath my wings".

Going out with Maria is an event - lots of laughter, usually a deep and meaningful thrown in for good measure, a lot of understanding and a lot of fun.

4. Movies!!!! Since Sunday night Rob and I have been to the movies twice. Once to see "The kids are all right" and then today to see "Wall Street 2". I'm sorry I won't be here to see "Eat Pray Love". I'll wait for it to come out on DVD and watch it on T.I. on the big screen that Rob has rigged up at the pilot house.

5. Coffee shops. Yes I have my favourite coffee shop on T.I. but it's so nice to find and experience new ones that have cropped up since I've been away. There's a new one around the corner called "Espresso Stop" - I've enjoyed a coffee there most mornings after my walk and this morning I took Rob for breakfast. It ticks all the right boxes - friendly staff, interesting selection of meals, great ambiance and of course good coffee.

6. Fresh flowers. The first thing I did last Friday was buy myself a big bunch of flowers to add to the gardenias that my house sitter had left for me on the coffee table.

I am so desperate for the flower experience that today I purchased a bunch of fake tulips to take back with me. I have to say that for fakes, they look pretty good - if I keep telling myself that I will eventually believe it.

Rob and I have another week before we return to our island adventure. Another week of family, friends, catching up, eating out and hopefully a movie. Another week of enjoying our home, our garden with it's lush greenery, spring lillies that are all in bloom and healthy pot plants on our wonderful front deck.

My niece asked me if I was looking forward to going back. I told her that I'm living in the now .... and loving it.

Life is good :)

Home sweet home ... for now

Before I left for T.I. I had to decide what I was doing with the house. I didn't want to rent it out because the time frame between making the decision to go and actually leaving was very short. And I didn't have the energy or willpower to pack up the place and do the whole rental thing.

So I decided to get a housesitter. This way I could leave everything as is. Then, when and if I decided to come home I could let them know and not have to worry about leases, contracts and fair notice and any other stress that having a tenant entails.

What a great decision :) On Thursday Rob and I walked into our home after an absence of several months. And nothing had changed. It was as I had left it - clean, neat and tidy. In our absence it has been lovingly and beautifully looked after by my lovely housesitter (I won't embarrass you Scott by mentioning names)(wink).

I'm sitting in my lounge room this morning, on my couch in my home. And it feels as if I have never been away. I'm finding it hard to realise that for the past three and a half months I have been living in another place.

On Thursday, after our flight, Rob and I shared a wine on the front deck. It all felt surreal. A few hours earlier we had been at the top most end of Australia and now here we were back in Brisbane ..... drinking wine as if nothing had happened. But it has happened. And this is a pitstop along the way.

Over the next few days we'll be catching up with family and friends. On Friday we go to Sydney to attend the memorial service for Chris - he's the reef pilot who died in the PNG air crash a few weeks ago - and then we're off to Adelaide to visit one of Rob's daughters. Busy busy.

But in all this whirlwind of activity I am reminded of a couple of things. Although things here all look the same and feel the same, I am not the same. I am different for having made the decision three and a half months ago to leave home and try out life on a remote island in the far far north of Queensland.

I've been to places I never imagined going to, I've done a few things that have scared me and challenged me and met people that would never have come into my circle in the normal course of things. I'm still in the middle of my adventure - don't know when it will end or change for that matter. But as I sit here on my couch, in my lounge room, in my house - it feels so very good to be home.

Life is good.

Feeling belonged

Do you remember my earlier posts, before and just after I came to T.I., when I talked about feeling 'belonged'? I used to wonder if I would feel a part of my new surrounds, if I would make a connection with people and places, would I feel a tug if I had to leave.

At the moment T.I. is in a frenzy of activity. September is the month of the Winds of Zendath Cultural Festival. This festival is held every two years (on alternate years a music festival is held) and this year we, Tagai College, are the hosts. While the festival is held here on T.I. all the outer islands partake. The school grounds have been taken over with tents, marquis and entertainment areas. It starts tomorrow with a parade and then the fun begins as we see dance exhibits from the different islands, taste traditional island food, and watch displays of the traditional crafts of weaving, braiding and other island activities.

And the streets of the town are also in festival spirit as shops and businesses decorate their frontages with palm leaves plaited and then tied around posts or hung from the eaves.

While there is officially another week of school, today was the last day for lessons as the rest of the week is taken up with cultural activities. The kids have been practising their island dances for weeks and over the next four days they will be performing them at the festival. Together with the teachers I have been assigned a supervision roster, but what that means is that I will roaming the grounds for a set period of time and actively encouraging students and visitors to partake in the number of activites planned for this happy occasion.

This week, and leading up to this week, I have felt belonged. I have made a connection with my new community, with my work colleagues, and today as I welcomed students and teachers from the outer islands to the school I felt like a local, I felt like a part of T.I.

On Thursday Rob and I are flying home to Brisbane for a two week break. Will I feel a tug? Yes - a little one. But the biggest tug for me will be the tug from home as I get closer and closer to my family - to Mark, Vera and Nikki and their wonderful spouses, as I get closer to my Mum. A bigger tug will be as we drive from the airport to home and as I wait to hear their footsteps on the front stairs when they all come to see me. And then let me tell you, no tug - no matter how strong - is going to keep us apart.

Going home to my loved ones - life is fantastically good!

Farewell to Boris

Our kitchen - a warm and welcoming space where we shared our meals with Boris

This morning we farewelled Boris :) He's been with us for a week and this morning Rob put him on a flight to begin his journey home. Tonight he'll land in Canberra where he will be met by the ambassador who will issue him with his new passport and then tomorrow he flies to Sydney to connect with a flight for Venice.

While he's been here, he's eaten with us every night. At first I was a bit concerned - what do Slovanians eat? Well .... anything, especially if they've been at sea for three years :) Boris was a very genial guest - he graciously complimented my cooking and ate with gusto whatever I put in front of him - pasta, stir fry and roast lamb.

My Italian has improved considerably since having him here and he learnt enough English to communicate with Rob while I was at work.

But the most enjoyable part of playing host to Boris was sharing our space with him. I know he felt welcomed and comfortable joining us for meals. And we liked having him at our table.

He told me this morning that he while he thought T.I. was a very beautiful place he was very homesick and couldn't wait to get home to his family. Understandable. He also told me that Rob and I had become like family and that he will never forget us. Feelings mutual Boris. We wish you well and look forward to catching up with you on your turf ..... one day.

življenje Je Dober

Boris

Boris on his yacht - Customs took him back to retrieve his belongings but the boat had been stripped bare.

After the sadness of the past week I wanted to post something positive. Life continues and in the midst of our grief, little things happen to remind us that well .... life is good, and we have to keep going and get on with it. On Thursday, Rob and I and the pilot house had such a reminder.

Due to the nature of the reef pilot business, Rob is the recipient of any information regarding activity in the Torres Strait. On Thursday, there was a rescue operation to pick up a yachtie whose boat had become wedged on one of the reefs about 7 hours from T.I. On receiving this email, Rob notified Customs that should he need it, we could give accommodation to the yachtie, at least overnight.

He was brought to the pilot house late Thursday night accommpanied by two Customs officers. They notified Rob that the gentleman was from Slovania and could not speak English - the only other language he knows is Italian. Rob smiled - no problem - my wife happens to be Sicilian and speaks Italian (albeit with a slight Australian accent) and she would love to help. And so we met Boris :)

Boris was rescued from his yacht hours earlier in treacherous seas. He had to leave everything behind - including his personal papers - and jump into the water to swim to the Customs boat. The waves were too strong for the tender to come in close to pick him up. He walked into our office in a pair of borrowed overalls and a shy smile. When I introduced myself, in Italian, his eyes lit up and he started talking ..... and he hasn't stopped.

Boris embarked on his journey three years ago after he and his wife divorced. He was an economics professor at the university of Slovania (which is a small country that abuts a part of northern Italy by the way) and has two children - a son and daughter in their late 20s. He was travelling through the Torres Strait on his way home when his yacht struck the reef.

On Friday, Customs took Boris back to the yacht to retrieve his personal belongings ........ only to find the boat was stripped bare. Looters had found it and robbed it of all that they could - instruments, food, fuel, furniture, compass, all his equipment, personal papers, passport, credit card - whatever they could lift and carry. But what has distressed him the most is the loss of his personal journals.

Over the three years Boris has not only documented his journey, but also his own personal journey. He told me that he has discovered things about himself that he never knew. He spent many hours - days - alone, thinking and realising truths about his life - and some of those truths were confronting. He has reconciled with himself about decisons made and paths chosen and in this process he has grown and developed as a person. He has discovered what really matters.

When he walked into our office on Thursday night, with nothing really - even what he wore did not belong to him - he told me that in that moment he was the happiest that he has ever been, that he was the most at peace that he has ever been.

It's been good to help another person. We've given him clothes, food, shelter and companionship. Rob and Boris have spent hours on the phone to his embassy arranging for a passport and his brother in Slovania is assisting him with money for tickets. Unfortunately being the weekend nothing happens on T.I.,but tomorrow it's all systems go as try to get him home.

Boris has been good for us - we needed him.

Ciao Boris - la vita e buona