Meeting - part 3

The thing about living in two different time zones is that when you actually get together you're still living a little in two time zones. To make sure we got up in time to check out when we were supposed to, T set the alarm on his phone....which just happened to be three hours behind what the real time was. You can imagine how fast we woke up when I looked at the clock and realised we had to be packed and out of the cottage in an hour, not having eaten, tidied or packed at all. We pulled it off though - talk about team work!

I decided to take a different route home so that T could see a bit more of the state. I drove up through Stawell and through part of one of Victoria's wine regions, although we didn't stop at any wineries. We did check out a wind farm. I don't see how anyone thinks they make the countryside look bad. I'd prefer a few of these things in my backyard than a dirty great mine that uses fossil fuels. I think wind farms look quite impressive. (Did you know each blade is about 9.6t and is made from wood and epoxy? Now you do!) Unfortunately, we couldn't find a road close enough to get a photo and we didn't want to go traipsing over private land.

I needed fuel, so we decided to get petrol in Ararat. In most country towns you'll find a petrol station on the way in and on the way out. Not in Ararat. There were lots of closed down petrol stations and a whole bunch of car repair workshops, but do you think we could find somewhere to get petrol? Nnnnooo. Talk about stupid. We drove past one petrol station on the outskirts on the way into the town, but figured we'd stop on the way out. That plan didn't work, so we ended up having to navigate our way back to where we'd come from just to get fuel, so we had our own private scenic tour of the township as well.

Meanwhile, we'd driven past a lookout. Having been let down by most of the things to look at on the drive, we were dubious, but we decided to go back and check it out. Turns out my fear of heights also applies to roads that are basically a thin piece of ashphalt up high, with mountain edge on either side. My stomach turned as I drove up that damn road. Just as well that I was going slow though, because a mother kangaroo with a joey in her pouch jumped right out in front of the car and straight down the other side of the mountain. The view at the top was almost worth the stomach turning, but I was glad to be able to drive back down again.

After we managed to re-aquaint ourselves with the one and only damn petrol station in Ararat, we headed off again and I took a detour home through Daylesford, where we had some lunch and checked out a great little bookshop on a lake, watched some ducks and took some dorky photos of ourselves.

We got back to my place at about 6pm and pretty much passed out till just after 7pm when we had to start getting ready to go to the airport. Both of us were pretty quiet for that last hour. We arrived at the airport a little early, so we had a quick coffee before we went to the gate.

I can't really describe that feeling. We were both happy that we'd had such a great time, sad that it was over and apprehensive/anxious about what comes next. That bit is still yet to be determined, but it looks as though I'll be the one on the plane in a few weeks time.

I'm not too proud to admit that I cried when he left. It was hard and I was sad that the weekend was over.

Both of us are nervous about where this is all going to go, but I think we're willing to just keep plodding along to see how it all plays out. It's a scary concept to venture into something again, for both of us. At least the positive side of the distance is that it'll force us to take things slow and I don't mind that right now.

So there you have it....mildly condensed, but pretty much how it was. I'll have photos in a couple of days so I'll post them when I get them.

And now....I gotta go make a phone call.... ;-)