Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Australia Part 12 of 12

Part 12: Going home :-(
My least favourite part to write. I so loved every single minute of my vacation that I hated having to leave. New Zealand had once again come to be home to me, and leaving it/Australia to return to reality... well, basically that really was what it was - leaving my dream to wake up. Of course I couldn't wait to get back to Lars again, but apart from that... I would have loved to stay.

Thankfully I didn't leave Sydney until after lunch, so I had a very pleasant morning in front of me together with Anne and her family. We got up early, and after a nice breakfast, drove off to a nearby Plaza so I could buy my Swarovski souvenir. I hadn't been able to find anything in New Zealand, so this was my chance. And once I saw it, I knew exactly what I had to get - a small ladybug! See, Giana's nickname on Anne's blog is "Ladybaby", so this would be a perfect reminder of my stay with them! After hearing my reasoning, Anne decided that since Giana really wasn't a baby any longer, she should graduate to being "Ladybug" on the blog as well - very sweet!

(who's a mutual friend of Anne's and mine, and who met up with Anne and her family some years ago) had recommended I took the kids to get Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and since pretty much most of Anne's family wanted to meet me (I almost blushed at that - I mean... really!) we decided to kill two birds with one stone, get a bunch of doughnuts and gather everybody together for morning tea by the river.

Unfortunately no doughnuts were being made while we were in the shop :( That would have been fun to see!


The morning tea was really cozy. I loved the park, and everybody was just so friendly! Made it even harder for me to say goodbye - knowing that most of these people I'd probably never meet again. But they were truly of the race that knows Joseph.

We made the most of the situation, and got Anne's SIL to take this photo of all 5 of us.


And of course another one of just the two of us :-)


At 11'ish we had to call it a day, as it was a bit of a long drive out to the airport, and we didn't want to risk getting in late. Once again Anne popped on a Colin Buchanan CD (a different one), and we passed a very enjoyable hour driving to the airport while singing along :) Turned out that she had ulterior motives in introducing me to Colin Buchanan, as she and Ian presented me with the two CDs I'd heard to give to my nieblings as presents!!! I thought that was so extremely sweet of them! And was rather pleased on my own behalf too, as I'd told myself I had to look him up when I came home, because I'd love to introduce my family to his music. Voila! :D

Check-in went without any hassles, I had a DELICIOUS lunch at the airport (Anne, do you remember the name of the salad? I forgot again. And seriously, why is fast-food anywhere else so much better than in Denmark? Sheesh!), and then - unfortunately - it was time for me to say goodbye to my new-found family and go through security.

Saying goodbye was really, really difficult. Despite only having been with them for 2.5 days, I felt like I'd become a part of their family, and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a tear or two as I stood in line to get through security. I've been blessed with many wonderful friends down-under, and it's such a shame they live so far away.

Thank you everybody, for making this such a fantastic, terrific, wonderfully blessed trip!

No comments: