Our last morning aboard the ship began early as we made our way to the decks before dawn to watch the sun rise as we slipped through the heads into Sydney harbour. Greeted by a crisp morning we finally got a chance to wear the coats we have carted halfway around the world.
We have certainly seen some magnificent countries and harbours on our trip but we were sure that our home city would rival anything we had seen – it didn’t disappoint. As the sun came up over our city we slowly made our way up the harbour, under the bridge with what looked like barely a metre to spare, and up along side our berth next to King St Wharf.
Mum and Brian had kindly come in convoy with two cars to handle the obscene amount of luggage we had acquired and were patiently waiting as we disembarked fro the final time and made our way through customs. The children were over the moon to see nana and Brian bombarding them with all their news.
It was a great surprise to drive up to our home to find all the gardens beautifully cared for thanks to Laurie and John from the factory. Inside fresh flowers, milk, bread and dinner ready for the oven thanks to mum and a spotless house thanks to Lynn greeted us.
Poppy and Lachie, our Border Collies, were happy to see us but understandably suspicious. As soon as we unloaded the luggage from the car Poppy jumped in and would not move. The girls ran squealing with delight through the house excited at having some room to spread out. David stood in the front doorway, hands on hips, and then strolled casually about surveying everything before diving into his Lego box.
We had only just put the kettle on when Jodie, Mick and the kids arrived to welcome us a home with a freshly baked cake. All the kids were madly swapping stories and showing souvenirs giving us all a chance to catch up over a cuppa.
After a leisurely afternoon of reminiscing over the trip and a greatly appreciated home cooked meal of Indonesian chicken and rice thanks to mum we were all in bed early for a change.
Coming back to reality after such a long and exciting break was never going to be easy but it has been good to have the weekend to get things in some sort of order before the real chaos of school and work begins.
The chooks, which were having a holiday with mum and Brian, were very happy to be home. They had turned their small, temporary enclosure at mums into a dust bowl and were pecking like crazy when we let them out into the lush green grass. The dogs are slowly starting to trust us again but spend most of their time sitting by the front door incase we try to leave. The kids have well and truly trashed the clean house. Sitting down with a wine in hand at night, overlooking the scene, we remember the benefit of living in such tight quarters for the last two months. Although our tiny cabin got pretty messy at times it only took two minutes to tidy and make it feel like home.
We all feel extremely privileged to have had this amazing holiday and experience and it has been great that we could share it with our family and friends as we went along through this blog. We hope all who followed our trip got some enjoyment or even inspiration from our adventure and we are looking forward to catching up with you all soon.
Luke, Louise, Johanna, Alison, Danielle and David Ommundson
