Technology and other joys..............

What fun.  I've just spent the last hour or so trying to send an email, with attachment, from my tablet.  Easy  peasy one would think! In David land not so easy.  Because we are on the road access to wireless networks is limited, meaning we have to tether through a mobile phone.

Not so hard when the phone says we have 3G access.  Yeah right! Ultimately it did work, but only after blowing away the original email and starting afresh.  Tether to my phone, tether to Katrina's phone, try again..... and so it went and all the while the tablet would  happily surf the web and send other emails, just not this one - the one that mattered.

We're now in Geelong with my parents, which leads to the other technology bits.  Last weekend my camera met with an unfortunate piece of concrete and later a parquetry floor. The outcome was pink flaring in the left of the viewfinder and a black bar that moved about when you shook the phone a bit, and it appeared in the pictures.  Not worth repairing is the advice, but if I can find the receipt........... Yeah right.

So a quick trip into Geelong town later I now have a new camera - a Nikon entry level ultra zoom thing.  Been having fun learning how it works, does all sorts of useful picture things and has better picture quality, feels more robust and a better zoom.  All in all not a bad exchange.

While we were getting the phone I got acquisitive about bluetooth keyboards and now have a funky SONIQ rollup keyboard, which seems to work well with the tablet - win.  Now I just have to work out why the layout is US standard, but seems to have that odd French key setup. Thank goodness for all that time spent using French keyboards at the World Customs Organisation.

We  are still no closer to having a finalised departure date, but I am hopeful the earlier referenced email will help things along on that front.

So apart from playing with the new camera, we haven't done ANYTHING.  Well we may have gone for a short (emphasis on short) walk and watched some tennis.  What is it with our parents? Both sets (SETS - AAARGH, I'm even using the terminology!) have recently taken to watching the tennis!    It's now Sunday and in the interim we have watched more tennis than in the entirety of the rest of our married life!  Still think drying paint has certain attractions................

And just because I have been playing with the camera......

On the road again.....

This morning we packed our bits 'n' bobs into the car and drove to Wonthaggi in victoria where we will spend a couple of days with katrina's parents before heading off to geelong to do the same with my parents.

it was a nice trip, crossing the high country and pottering down the coast road. unusually wew made a lot of stops, could be part of that whole slow departure from the country thing.    Extra stops to remind us of the Australian countryside that will be left behind.  A final imprint if you will.

Since we moved out of home we've had time to sit back and relax a bit.  Amongst other things we've had bonus dinners with friends and a little more relaxed time to say farewells. That has been nice.

Yesterday we went back to the house as removalists were coming to pack and collect the things that we are taking with us to Oman.  It is kind of funny that I was able to pack the house and put so much of our belongings into storage without any emotion, other than argh - rush - panic!  And yet watching  removalists do the same thing brought on a whole range of emotions and  well a bit of moisture.  That may also have been because I was standig in my house, that is no longer my home and very noticeably so.  Robert and his friends have wasted no time in making the place theirs.

Tomorrow is Australia day and for the first time in a long long while it will be a quiet one for us.  But then that will suit this year. Wonder how and if we will celebrate it next year.  At least there should be no sign of bogan hordes adorning clothes, cars, selves and any other non sentient object that comes to hand with the Australian flag.

Hurry up and wait - 19/Jan/2012

Well a couple of days ago the not unexpected occurred and our departure from Australia is now delayed for one to two weeks.  I'm told not to take it personally and I'm not.  It's just a major inconvenience.  We have to move out of the house today and for the next little while I guess we will be relying on the largesse of friends and family for crash space til we finally depart.

So our adventure starts a little sooner and a little closer to home than we had imagined.  Katrina and I will now at least have the time and opportunity to get down to Victoria and say proper farewells to family before jetting out. What with siblings all around or over the 50 mark and octagenarian parents/in-laws this is rather important.

The whole thing is still rather surreal, but it will happen. Katrina has resigned from the School of music and I have started long term leave, so at least there's money coming in and a cushion to float us through til the new income starts flowing.

Talking about money, we have had fun and games on that front, the Bank has been, in parts, incredibly useless and also amazingly helpful which I guess on an averaging effect leaves them rated as an organisation let down by the sum of its parts.  And I thought public sector bureaucracy sucked.

The mad rush that is the house pack ends today.  There's still plenty to do, but that long black tunnel is now not so long and enough stuff has been packed so that the light at the end of the tunnel is very bright and beckoning.......

Bj (Robert) becomes the leaseholder on our house as of tomorrow and most of the share house tennants have moved in aleady, which has made for an interesting dynamic for the last few days in our own house.  Yesterday they went over to the real estate agents and signed their young lives away in servitude to out mortgage. So nice of them to take that on!

Ah well time to go and do...

Cheers

David

What's it all about

It's January 2012 and after 50 years of living in Australia, and a couple elsewhere, Katrina (my wife) and I are leaving the comfort and security of Canberra and a public service job to go to Oman and enter the life of a contractor.

At the moment it's all madness getting the house packed down and waiting til after the termite eradicators have been so I can put the packed boxes in storage in my workshop.  Which will then be locked and we'll be off to the wild blue yonder a few days later.

In the mean time it's panic stations and there's so many things to do... Ah well once we're there and settled in things will settle down.

Oman is the most liberal and stable of the countries around that area and has a lot of things to go and see.  Once we've seen some of the country it will be a great jump off point for adventures further afield...