The beginning of summer at merricks

The winter’s gone and spring has past,
The welcome summer’s here at last,
With sun and all its warming rays,
To lighten all our care worn days.

Sweet are the flowers which fill my room,
Casting off all care and gloom,
For they, make such a fragrance rare,
That floods thro’out the cottage air.

Yet, we can find such beauty here,
If only we will stand and stare
And see, whatever season brings
For each of us who love these things.

I, always find such peaceful days,
When resting in the warm sun rays
And feeling, what is here for me
In my country cottage by the sea.

Ronald Edward Robb (chris’ grandfather)
Summer 1985

the last few days were spent here… visiting chris’ dear aunt joey, uncle russell and their beautiful children.

we had a lovely time. lots of laughs, lots of stories. why do we have to live so far away? 😦

being a tourist is fun. but hard on the feet. haha. we spent about 6 hours walking the downtown area of melbourne, the capital city of Victoria which perenially wins the worlds most liveable city award. melbourne is an urban masterpeice, a wonderful cross section of old victorian architecture set against modern skyscrapers and shopping districts. we caught a few trams. but mostly walked and took in the wonderful sights. gorgeous.

chris’ favorite spot was the Australian Center for Moving Images where student short films played in one of a dozen personal viewing stations. cameron would have loved the video game exhibit, dedicated to sonic the hedgehog! after a few days in the mountains, it was good to be back in the hustle and bustle of city life—offices, shops, restaurants, stunning churches and theatres mixed with trams, cars and people moving every which way.

we couldn’t have asked for a better day to walk through the city. gorgeous weather. not too cold and not a bit of heat. crisp and yummy.

we went to healesville sanctuary today. it was gorgeous because you didn’t feel like you were in the city zoo– like in LA, where all the animals are behind a wire fence. 🙂 these barely had a little rope strung across. the emu’s would come right up, i thought they would jump right over the puny rope. ha! the kangaroos were quite lazy… sleeping. chris frightened them and they started hopping, i thought for sure they were gonna jump out and drop kick us. the dingos made this funny howling noise and all i could think of was that movie with meryl streep. 😦 the tasmanian devil was this funny little animal, looking nothing like Taz. we went right up a one wallaby. cute little thing. i was too chicken to get any closer though.

but our favorite by far were the koalas. sweetest little animals. usually we sorta-see them faaaar away up in the tree at the LA zoo, a little ball of fur, doing nothing. just zoning out from eating so many leaves. but this was different. we were so up close. one woke up and toddled around, climbed some trees, ate some eucalyptus leaves. chris said they reminded him of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. totally!!! cutest little snuggle bugs is what they are. they kinda reminded me of my kids. 🙂 i want to take one home.

were spent in Mount Buller. we drove straight there from the airport, through the gorgeous, lush australian countryside. tons of farm animals just grazing, wild cockatoos flying everywhere… green hills that made me think of sound of music. 🙂 (this is jamie talking if you can’t tell:) ) it was crazy going from that horrendous LA heat to this. beauty. love the sight of untouched snow. so peaceful. i managed to take my first ski class. it went alright, i was a bit snappy at the instructor… skiing is supposed to be fun, but it is clearly a lot of hard work.. and if you know me, you know that i am not that athletic. i was whooped. but grateful i had the opportunity. so i only went that first day. the next few days were lounging around the cabin, watching movies, reading, relaxing. so nice. crazy that i didn’t have internet for those first days, and i was like in withdrawl– haha. chris had a blast on the slopes, he’s a natural. and he looked like a local up there, all cute in his snowgear. 🙂

so now we are in the city. i’m totally giddy to be here. ready for our adventures. i am a city girl, you know. 🙂

Ladies and gentleman, flight QF94 will be departing from gate 23 in five minutes. please stow away your lives for the next 17 days. “departure.” Such finality to that word. not like leaving. or going away. “departure.” it feels more imposing than those other words. you leave for the day. You depart for, I don’t know, awhile. so that’s what we’ve done. we’ve stowed away our responsibilities, we’ve left it all behind and hopped on a plane that’s headed, literally, to the other side of the world.
ladies and gentleman, we have begun our descent. please stow away your worries, your concerns, those little nagging thoughts that creep into your bed at night. we will be arriving in Melbourne in 15 minutes. there’s the other side of the world, and the other side of a word. for inevitably, when we depart, we’re not long before arriving at a new destination. there’s something about being this far away that makes leaving it all behind a bit easier. we’ve realized we need to do this more. let go of stuff. live in the moment. enjoy each other. it shouldn’t take a trip around the world to figure this out, but hey, if that’s what it takes then it’s worth the flight.
ps- jamie here now, chris will be taking over with some of the writing. it is his profession, and he is much better at it than i am, so i will gladly step aside every now and then and just take photos. 🙂