Coming Home

After 8 months living in the caravan, it was finally happening – I was going home! I left my husband in Port Lincoln (the Seafood Capital of Australia) behind and boarded the plane to fly home – finally!!! With my frequent flyer status I was able to take over 60 kg with me. I was actually quite surprised how much stuff I had accumulated in the van but I guess fabric weighs something and so does wool… I also took my Thermomix with me as I didn’t know how long it would take until I find pots and pans. I arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday and took the cab to my motel. The next morning I went to pick up my new car. I bought it online from a car dealer and also I had it inspected by the RACQ (our automobile club), I was hoping that the car was what I was hoping for. And it was! I bought a Hyundai i30 CW which is a small wagon. The car has a great reputation, it was well cared for and it’s supposed to be very economical. It was much bigger than I anticipated and it had plenty of storage. I was happy. With Mr S still travelling for another 4 months, I would need a second car to get around. Here in Australia, especially in the rural area where I live, you cannot rely on Public Transport. And I knew that my travel-obsessed husband would continue to travel while I work, so the 2^nd car really was not a choice but a necessity. So I bought my little i30, under $10k, 4 cylinder and VERY economical! I drove all the way from Brisbane to Rockhampton (over 700 km) without filling up!

Friday I was on my way home and I picked Janus up. I met with the breeder in Eumundi and as soon as I saw Janus in the breeder’s arms, I fell in love. Janus was a placid dog straight from the beginning. We were having coffees and he just enjoyed being with us. When we walked to the car, Janus walked with us without a leash. I was absolutely terrified but the breeder was confident. He’s been breeding Collies since 1957 – he certainly knows the breed. He breeds for temperament first and secondly for confirmation. I explained to him what I was looking for in a dog and he matched us up perfectly! So I packed poor Janus in a small pet carrier and off we went.

He was such a good puppy all the way! No whimpering or crying, no pooping. He slept nearly all the way and when he woke up, I made sure that we stopped for a toilet break. Puppies don’t have control over their bladder yet and therefore can’t hold it. They must be taught to go on command. And so I was walking a little puppy on rest stops trying to teach him to go on command… We arrived at the caravan park where we were staying for the night in the late afternoon. I picked up some dinner from a service station for myself and Janus had his premium dry food. Afterwards we went for a little walk, played and then it was bedtime. The caravan park where we were staying allowed dogs inside the cabin – but of course not on the furniture. This is a rarity in Australia and I was glad to have a caravan park like this 20 mins from my home. Janus slept in his crate – not the small pet carrier but a bigger proper crate which I couldn’t use in the car as I had too much stuff in there. I always crate train my dogs so we can travel wherever and they always have their ‘home’ with them. Janus only complained for the first 5 minutes and then he was sound asleep.

As soon as there was light on the next morning, we got up and after a quick walk, we finally went home. I had the Removalists coming at 8 am and as I had some handymen in the house before, I wanted to give it a good clean before we put all the furniture inside. So there I was at my house at 5.10 am in the morning. The yard didn’t look too bad – in desperate need for a tidy up but nothing major. I was anxious to get into the house to see how dirty it was and to check out the paint job as I did get the house painted. I had all of our keys and the Real Estate Agent hide the remaining keys in the laundry which is part of the garage. I didn’t know about this – the message I did receive was that they would be in the kitchen. However I was able to open the garage and found the keys. Then I wanted to go inside. I tried ALL keys on EVERY door – and there’re many keys and many doors. Not one opened any door…

I thought I must be too stupid to open the doors and tried again. Nothing. I checked that I could open the shed where all of our furniture was kept – I was able to open that one… Weird. I found a bottle of WD40 and sprayed the locks trying ALL keys and EVERY door again. Nothing. I started panicking. By 6 am, I called the Real Estate Agent in 15 minute intervals waiting for her to wake up. By 8 am I was totally stressed out, in panic and the removalists turned up. They had no luck either trying to open any door. As I pay those guys by the hour, there was no time to be wasted. I asked them to start bringing all the furniture to the house and I was going to organise a locksmith to get inside later. The Real Estate Agent finally turned up and then they brought in a Handyman who took one of the locks out so we could get inside. In hindsight, I should have just called the Locksmith immediately but I panicked and didn’t think straight. What happened was that the painter finished up so late on Friday night that the office was already closed, so he didn’t know what to do with the key, so he took it home… Well if I would be managing somebody else’s property, I would know who has a key or works there and organise for a secure key drop off… But well, that would just be me. I had to get the Locksmith in and I got most locks exchanged – just in case…

Unfortunately the house was an absolute mess! Two walls were exchanged due to a leak and there was fine dust and plaster EVERYWHERE. I was madly trying to vacuum and tell the removalists what to bring to the house and what to leave up the top shed and where everything was supposed to go. I was a mess! I just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. By midday, I send the removalists home and I started cleaning the toilet, bathroom and one of the bedrooms, found my beadspread and after a LONG day, I went to bed and slept…

Dum spiro - vivo - While I breath, I live.

Welcome to my blog "Dum spiro - vivo" which is Latin for "While I breath, I live".

 

I learnt Latin in school for 9 years and I like to use it every know and then like for this blog and in naming my dog. His name is Janus and he's a 16 week old Rough Collie puppy. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

Source

Let me tell you a little bit about myself and you will see why I've chosen this name for my blog and why the cute Collie ended up with a strange name.

I'm 40 years old, I'm married to the love of my life, we live in a beautiful house (because we renovated it completely) in a rural area with views over mountain ranges and the only noise we hear is from the wild birds (mainly cockatoos) outside. My husband is retired and I work in town in a job I just started 4 weeks ago but which I actually enjoy. I'm happy. Every morning when I wake up, I can't wait to get out of bed and start my day. Every night, when I go to sleep, I'm looking forward to the next day. I feel content, happy and energised. Sounds great hey?

But it wasn't always like that. Early this year (when I was still 39 lol), I worked 84 hours a week in a job I hated (but which paid extremely well), felt unhappy, dissatisfied, lethargic and depressed. I was doing FiFo (fly in - fly out) work, working 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off. Not a bad roster but still hard. Plus it was on the other side of the continent, so it took me 2 days to get to work and 2 days to come home. Then I needed 3 days to sleep and learn again how to deal with 'normal' people. I didn't like it but the money was great and as my husband loves travelling, the 4 weeks off enabled us to do lots of it!

I've started FiFo in 2010 to get away from a boss who bullied me. I planned to do it for 18 months which was the duration of my contract. Well fast forward to 2016 and I'm still flying over 5000 km to work every month. I was sooo unhappy but I always thought, this wont last forever, just take the money and suck it up. and so I did. I felt always stressed as I had to pack my entire life in those 6 months off - medical appointments, visiting friends and family, travelling, spending time with my loved ones, doing the things I love - I was always trying to fit everything in and it just didn't work which caused me to be frustrated and stressed. There was no flexibility to change my roster or anything, so once at work, I was there - working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 28 days straight. Eating food which was cut and cooked in Perth and then served 2-3 weeks later; feeling tired all the time (no wonder, we started work at 5 am and I had to get up at 3.30 am EVERY morning to get dressed, pick up food for the day and take the bus to work).

Then early this year it was all going to change...

Mr S & I decided to travel around Australia in our caravan. For my husband this has been a long dream; for me it was the right opportunity to get away from all the things I wanted to do but couldn't fit in. I thought while I'm working FiFo, it would be the easiest and really I don't have to do anything at all, so why not. I will dedicate a post about our travels another time. So just a few days in the new year 2016, we hooked up the caravan, rented out our home and off we went. Then it all happened very fast. I lost Hera, my 16-year-old German Shepherd x Kelpie who has been my shadow since she was about 6 weeks old. It broke my heart... Then I lost my Sun Conures (pet parrots) which were supposed to be cared for by our tenants. And then I found out that I was on my last swing meaning that my job would finish in April rather than August. I was in shock. I felt terrible. I lost nearly everything I loved and now I lost my job as well...

After lots of discussions with Mr S and even more tears, we decided that it would be best to continue our trip as planned - especially since I had overseas travel booked (and luckily already paid for) in August for my 40th birthday. And so with no work to go back to, I tried to make the most out of the travel and I really enjoyed it. For about 2 months. Then I got really bored. I wanted something to do. We drove all day to look at things and yes that was amazing but it wasn't satisfying. I missed having a dog, having chooks, gardening, I even missed cleaning. It was winter, the weather was cold and you couldn't spend much time outside so the 2 of us were inside the  caravan a lot. Also it was a comfy van, it wasn't the same as having a bit of space where the two of us could do different things.

We decided that it would be best for me to go back to work once we come back from overseas. And so I ended up back home, in the house I love, working in the garden, getting a puppy and working in a normal job Monday to Friday - with weekends, public holidays and all the pros and cons of living a normal life. And that's how Janus and this blog got their name and I start my life all over again just after I turned 40.