22 Apr 2015

Pictures From Our Last Weeks In Victoria

It has been glorious and sunny for quite some time now leading up to our last week here. We have been doing lots of little exploring and adventures around town, and checking out places we have never been.

The biggest one is Christmas Hill. I have always known that it was a place but I had no idea that it is literally a 15 minute walk from our house to the top and that it is gorgeous once you get into the little park bit. We are so sad we did not figure this out sooner!!

I took these last night when we walked up there for the sunset.

There are all these beautiful wildflowers all around and an incredible 360 degree view of Victoria. It sure is a nice city to live in, but it is time for a bit of a change.

We have both been working lots, and that means that packing activities have not progressed much. I think we are still nicely on track, but Angie is feeling like we are falling behind.

Tomorrow and the next day are going to be big getting rid of thing days, and hopefully by thursday we will only have the things we need for the last few days of living here.

Anyways, here are some pictures from yesterday evening. More pictures and videos from around Victoria will be coming soon as we prepare to say goodbye!




21 Apr 2015

Tiny Point, Tiny Planet


A nice sunny day for a walk on the beach a few mornings ago. We finally went to check out a place I have been meaning to for years. It is called Cormorant Point and it was gorgeous, plus there was a cute little sea otter! He popped out of the water and had a little sun on the beach, and a little scratch of the back before heading back into the water and watching us walk. Super cute!

12 Apr 2015

Packing and Planning


When Graham and I aren't working (both of us are full time right now) we are busy going through/packing/donating/tossing all of our stuff!
We've donated a grand total thus far of 6 large blue recycle bags of clothes, 2 boxes of kitchenware and a handful of miscellaneous.  Amazing how much stuff we've decided won't be missed. What a material couple we* had been!
 
*Full disclosure... it was mostly my stuff... probably 99% of it was all from me...


Today we did a test run of how/what we would be bring to Aus with us. It was incredible how much we could fit into our bags. We have two Sea to Summit Compression Sacks (L) which were lovingly gifted from Grahams parents.

<--- These things are just FANTASTIC. I cannot say enough about them. They become incredibly dense and heavy, but you can fit so much more. Even without this wonderful method we would have more than enough room for all we plan to bring though, which is great because it means we have some accumulation room. I like accumulation room. I like accumulating things.



Graham and I had a conversation about our strategy once we get off the plane in Auckland at 5am. I figured that I would be completely exhausted by being on a plane for 14 hours and would immediately feel the need for a shower, a hair dryer, and some fresh makeup (AKA war paint; confidence to face the world). Graham figures that I won't be so tired because the plane is quite different than I'm expecting. He says that it is a wide body plane and will have much more comfortable seats than the flight to Florida.
I have to say that I'm not convinced, but he has at least convinced me that I won't need to check in to a hotel immediately to feel human...

Hyundai Getz
We figure that we'll start by renting a car, getting all our gear settled off our backs and onto the seats and then tour the morning a bit. I am extremely into the idea of renting a car brand I have never seen before (Holden, Daihatsu, etc), but he says we'll likely get a Mazda or Hyundai. Luckily though he said probably a Hyundai Getz, which I had never heard of? It looks like a funny little hatchback car. Cute, no?


Here's a cute little video of our packing efforts:

9 Apr 2015

An Empty Apartment


That was the sight a few days ago as Angie's mom's truck was filled with all of our things. There was no other time that worked for her to com visit before we leave, so as it was Easter she came for a visit.

An inventory of things we still have left: two office chairs, one computer table, one big comfy chair, a tv, and the basic pots and pans we need for cooking. Aside from that we have a foamy mattress in the living room which serves as our bed and our couch. Aaand that is about it. If it did not feel like we were leaving before, it sure does now.

The past few days have been beautiful weather wise, gorgeous sunny days. Our little planter box on the balcony is in full bloom with the bulbs I planted at Christmas. My sister gets that when we leave, and not a second sooner!

I am on the middle day of three days off, but there has not really been all that much I could do moving out wise, as we have kinda gotten to a point where we are using all the things we still have left, and we cant do the thorough cleaning yet as we still have a few weeks here/.

I think tomorrow I am going to try and do some wandering around some of my favorite spots in Victoria, but I might wait to do that with Angie as that will be more fun. Anyhow, with this warm weather we are having, we might try and do a couple more little adventures around Victoria before we leave, so stay tuned! Also we promise to try to do more posts!!