The Countdown

Casey writes:

With less than three weeks until we set sail… literally, this is probably an opportune time to stop and reflect on our thoughts and feelings as we prepare to say farewell to Australia, and to the place we call home.

We’ve had visa success at the Chinese, Russian and Kazakh embassies, and with only the Mongolian visa to secure before we depart, we are engaging in celebrations (of sorts) as all of our timelines have, so far, gone to plan. But, we are not being led into a false sense of security, knowing that things may (and will) go wrong at various points along our trip. And that’s what’s so exciting…. It’s all just part of the adventure!

With five days of work at Emmanuel College left, I am preparing to farewell the workplace I have called home for nearly ten years, and the friends and work colleagues I have come to rely on so heavily. The reality of calisthenics retirement has finally hit home, as well as the notion that family will soon be left here on the other side of the world, and it’s with a mixture of sadness and sheer excitement that I prepare to farewell Melbourne and set my sights on London.

Richard, undoubtedly British and still refusing to dip a toe into the cold waters of Albert Park beach (despite the temperature exceeding 40 degrees at this very moment), is still making the most of the glorious weather and savouring the Melbourne lifestyle he has loved being part of for the past two and a half years. He too will shed a tear when he farewells his friends and adopted family, and may not even try to suppress his sobs when he has one final drink at the Oxford Scholar.

So we will continue to reflect on the past, and dream about the future, but we plan to savour the key moments of the next three weeks. In the words of Genghis Khan…. or, well… at least those of Bill Cosby, “the past is a ghost, the future is a dream, and all we ever have is now.”