Happy Halloween! Or in other
important happenings, t-minus one day until I leave Adelaide,
and t-minus two days until I’m back home in Cincinnati! It’s finally here. And guess
what? It STILL hasn’t fully hit me. I think once I’m on my way to the Adelaide airport tomorrow
and all my last minute errands are done all my emotions will come to the
surface. But until then I’m in stress mode, especially since I’ve been having
problems with my excess baggage through Qantas (I have gotten my luggage down
to three bags instead of four). The story goes like this: Before I booked my
flights a month or so ago, I called Qantas about one of the flights on the
itinerary I was looking at (a flight from Dallas
to Cincinnati).
It was listed as a “QF” (Qantas) flight, but said it was operated by American
Airlines. In order to be able to buy additional baggage online ahead of time at
a cheaper price than at the airport, your flights have to be “QF” listed
flights, but the website said something about not being able to do that with
codeshare flights. So I called Qantas and SPECIFICALLY asked about that flight,
gave the lady the flight number, and she supposedly looked it up and then told
me that yes, I would be able to order additional baggage online ahead of time
at the cheaper price. When I went to order it several days ago there was no
option in the booking manager to do that, so I called Qantas again and was told
I couldn’t buy ahead of time and would have to pay the more expensive price at
the airport. I had budgeted for the cheaper price so that extra money (even
though it’s not a ton) is a bit of a hassle. When I go to the airport tomorrow
I’m going to argue my case. I should not be penalized for the mistake and/or
poor training of a Qantas employee. We’ll see how that goes...
Now to recap my last week in Australia.
Last Thursday I had my last Pilates class in town. I’m going to miss doing
that! I really hope I can get into a dance/exercise class when I get home to
keep up my fitness. I’m not very good at exercising on my own, so group classes
are great for me. I’ll have to look into options when I get back. Friday was a
special evening. My friend Amber had me over for a DELICIOUS dinner (mmm,
salmon!) and then she, her husband, and her two little girls, Piper and Adonya,
came out with me to watch the emergence from Bat Cave.
It was a perfect evening for it. About halfway through the emergence Amber
commented that this was my last time watching an emergence. Wow, it was! I’m
glad I got to spend my last evening at Bat Cave with my new friend and her
girls, whom I have grown quite fond of. It was a special way to end my 14
months of watching these bats.
I spent the rest of Friday
(and into Saturday morning) packing my bags and packing all my unneeded stuff
to give to Chris when he came to pick me up the next day, as well as cleaning
my room. Deb came to “inspect” my room on Saturday, since I was living in the
park bunkhouse and had to leave the room in a livable state. I think I did a
pretty darn good job of cleaning if I may say so myself! Unfortunately (?) Deb
didn’t spend much time inspecting my room and just gave it a once-over. All my
scrubbing and tidying was for nothing! Ahh well. It felt like moving out of the
dorm every summer at OWU. Tons of crap, a late night spent packing and
cleaning, and the final inspection. Good memories from college!
Chris arrived Saturday
evening, and we went to drop my car off with the people who were buying it. It
was quite funny actually because when the new owners and I completed our
“deal”, they handed me a Ziploc bag of cash. Sweet! I suddenly felt rich,
although that feeling has quickly faded since then...On the way out of their
house I instinctively grabbed the car keys off the table, and they had to ask,
“Aren’t those ours now?” Oops, I guess it’s just habit! The car is now
officially no longer mine. Goodbye little Mitsubishi Lancer, you will be missed
(although boy am I looking forward to driving my Subaru Outback when I get home)!
Goodbye Sal!
After selling my car Chris
and I headed into town for one last dinner at the Kincraig Pub with friends
from the caves. I could finally say my proper goodbyes to everyone since I was
leaving the next day and I wouldn’t keep running into everyone at the park and
having to say another goodbye. I keep hoping that all my goodbyes aren’t FINAL
goodbyes and that someday I will come back to visit!
Chris and I headed out on
Sunday after loading up his car (well, his mom’s car, since he had to borrow it
because he wasn’t sure if his car would have made it to Naracoorte and back).
Leaving the bunkhouse and seeing it so empty was hard. I lived there for 14
months, and despite the many school groups and noisy kids that came through
(and often, out of curiosity, tried to get into my room), it was home.
My clean and empty room.
On the way through town we
stopped at Andrew and Tash’s place to say goodbye, as they had not been able to
make dinner the night before. Andrew was the one who helped me move in when I
first got here and really helped me feel at home my first few weeks here. Thank
you Andrew!
The drive to Adelaide was uneventful. I’ve spent the last
three days finalizing my travel plans home (or trying to) and basically cutting
all my official ties to Australia.
I have sold my car and submitted the disposal paperwork, I’ve cancelled my car
insurance, I’ve closed my bank account, and I just cancelled my phone plan. All
is coming to an end. I’ve enjoyed spending a few days in Adelaide with Chris before I leave. We went
to the beach under a beautiful full moon; had dinner with Terry and his partner
Joan and spoke about American food that Joan and I miss (she’s also American);
took the O-Bahn, which is basically like train tracks for buses so that the
buses can avoid all other traffic and drive quite fast, into the city center; went
to the midnight release for the new Assassin’s Creed III video game (our one VERY
nerdy activity for the week); and have nearly finished watching Season 6 of
Supernatural (only one more episode to go!). All in all a good way to end my
time here in Australia.
Farewell from Naracoorte.
Sunset on the way to Adelaide.
Riding on a bus on the O-Bahn.
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