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August 2007

Feature length film - Our weekend in the Barossa Valley - Uncut!

Rated PG - Parental Guidance required. Suitable for all ages, but parents are advised that certain scenes may be unsuitable for children.

Row Row Row Your Boat...

Materialistic Enlightenment

I'm having a great day. I've taken the day off work so that I was here when our shipment from the UK arrived. It was nice to have a leisurely Monday morning rather than having to get ready for work and go.

The delivery guys arrived at about 8.30am and brought in the 16 boxes we had sent. The pile of boxes looked small in our open plan living area, compared to how huge they had seemed in our tiny London flat.

I started unpacking them all and got into a nice system of doing it a box at a time and neatly folding down each empty box and folding the tissue paper. It dawned on me that this must be about the 6th time I had unpacked my belongings in the last 4 years. I have kept the boxes and tissue paper for when we move at the end of our rental next year, and secretly hope it will be the last move for a while!

We had agreed in the UK that we wouldn't send furniture or bulky items as it would be cheaper to buy once we got here than shipping them. We're glad we did this as choosing new furniture is always exciting. I had said after many years of buying Ikea furniture I wouldn't do it again, but... it's just so convenient and affordable! Believe me, we've tried to shop around and look for some more 'individual' or 'local' pieces of furniture but when money is limited and space in the back of the car is tight, Ikea suits us down to the ground! Rather than fight the swedes, I've decided to pay homage to the god who invented Ikea and give full respect to their concept. And you don't get hot dogs at any other furniture store...

So the items we sent were just bits and bobs that we had intended would make us feel at home. Unexpectedly, I felt a few different emotions as I unpacked each box.

Excitement. It was soooo cool unpacking things that I had completely forgotten about. We've got some really funky stuff and it made me feel happy and content to go from an empty kitchen cupboard to a kitchen cupboard full of gadgets!

Teary. Yep, I have to admit that I shed a couple of tears whilst unpacking! It was bizarre to be pulling things out of the box that were from our 'London' life. The thought of how long it had taken for the boxes to get to us, and the distance they had come (via Singapore!) made things sink in a little!

Nostalga. A few family bits and bobs and a quick glance through photo albums made me think about 'life before australia'. It's funny how things can turn around to something completely different in the space of just five years. Seeing some of these things made me really reflect on where I've come and the journey I've been on to get here.

Motivated. Being reminded of family, friends and life in the UK was really tough but it felt selfishly right unpacking my things here. The sun was shining outside, I had space to leap about when I found something I'd forgotten... But as I unpacked I became more and more motivated to make it work. The goal over the last couple of years for us has been to get here. I've now moved the goal post and it is now to live here but have the lifestyle whereby we can make the most of life here and in the UK. OK, this is a big big goal and in my head I have dreams but won't jinx them too much by writing them here!

Smug. I had a break for lunch and sat out on the patio in the glorious sunshine. I even treated myself with a glass of wine. I felt smug. I could even identify some of the flavours in the wine as we've been doing our wine course! Life is good!

Enough for now. Hope it hasn't been too deep for you blogettes. I'm off to the beach... (smug moment number 2)

Becks
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Driving home via the Esplanade...