Ready or not, here we come!

Incredibly, the day that Amanda and I shift our lives to Palau is finally here. I think we are fairly well prepared but that doesn't stop the feeling that we've forgotten something or haven't completed something. Bit too late now anyway :)


A spanner was chucked in the works for me this week though when my brand new 6 week old Dell ultrabook died in the arse. And unfortunately despite the best efforts of the local technician they couldn't get the right parts to me in time. It's now going to have to stay behind in Brisbane and be shipped over once fixed. I'm pretty annoyed with this as I think Dell could have got the part here in time but "offshore" Dell seemed to have NFI what was going on and were too stuck in their own processes to do something slightly out of the box to get it sorted in time.

So to kick off a period of my life where I'm going to have to get used to being less reliant on the internet (Palau's internet is stupid-slow) I'm also going to have to start it without my computer. Maybe this is a good thing to be thrown straight in the deep end. 
 
Back on topic though, tonight we fly domestic to Cairns then overnight to Guam. We have a full day Guam tomorrow, then onto Palau, arriving tomorrow night.

And for those interested in the state of my foot/ankle after my stack on Monday, here is a pic I took on Friday:

So until we are back on familiar shores, Farewell Australia!

It's the final countdown

After what seems like an endless 6 months worth of planning and organising we are suddenly in our final week at home before we move to Palau. This time next sunday we'll be at the airport! After such a long build up it feels quite surreal for it to be here finally.

Yesterday we had a large going away party attended by lots of friends and family starting at New Farm Park then onto the German Club for some pork n beers. It was great to catch up with a lot of people but despite frequently saying "see you in a year" it still doesn't feel real yet. Maybe it's easier for us as we are the ones off on the great adventure ;) 

Also on Friday just gone I finished up at work (going on unpaid leave for the year). If you include a number of months working as a contractor in 2002 I've spent two weeks shy of 11 years at the same company. While I'm not going to miss staring at a computer screen and sitting sedentary In an office all day I will certainly miss the regular contact with a large group of fantastic people. Some of these people I've worked with for all 11 years.

And again It's not really sunk in that I wont be heading into work as normal this week and for the next year.  While I still have some security with being able to return to my job at the end of the year, it is definitely an odd feeling to not have that familiar routine (and pay check!). Despite the few concerns this creates, the excitement and possibilities of our adventures in Palau far outweigh any concerns.