Goodbye Goonellabah

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And it's come to the one last hoo-rah, the final night in Goonellabah on Pineview Drive with the Compton family. Five weeks has flown by with living here, and with working at the center. The feelings I have right now are a mixture; a mixture much like the pizza flavors we had tonight. For dinner we had pizza from a local pizza shop acclaimed to be "the best pizza shop in Lismore." I did enjoy the pizza very much. I liked the crust because it was a nice thin crust. This local pizza shop is only open on evenings because it gets enough business in the evenings because their pizza is "the best." We had bbq chicken pizza, mexican pizza, and thai peanut sauce chicken pizza. All of the pizzas were delicious, and to seal the deal, Mum had celebratory wine for our final night here. Back to my mixture of feelings (ofcourse I side tracked myself with my tea meal) I'm sad that my 5 weeks here has come to an end, and sad to be leavning the routine that I've become familiar with in Goonellabah. The first week we arrived in Goonellebah and started working, Kelly and I walked to school in the rain nearly every day for the first two weeks. It's been quite rainy today, and for the firs time since those first two weeks, I whipped out my gum boots for the walk today. A nice way to start and end the journey in the hills of Goonellabah. I'm excited to be going on our Sydney adventure, and I'm looking forward to going home to see everyone. I also must say I'm looking forward to regular work outs again and regular eating. I have been keeping up with workouts here, but it's much out of my regular workout routine. Here in Goonellbah, I've become very familiar with swimming (which I wouldn't mind keeping up with. A great full body workout). A funny thing I noticed about swimming pools here, similar to back home, the older women use the pool for "social hour" rather than lap swimming. This creates people (Kelly and I) having to share lanes. If you are in the pool, I personally think you should be excercising versus gossiping. Along with my eating, I've been eating healthy but at home I have regular meals that I'm used to. Going "out of the norm" for 5 weeks has been an adjustment, and it will be nice to get back into my own swing of things. I will miss my mum's meals. Our mum has treated us well with homecooked meals each night. My favorite meal Mum cooked was quiche and pumpkin soup (I think I enjoyed this one the most because it hits close to what I'd eat at home : ) ) But MOM, I look forward to coming home to your cooking! And fill up the flour & sugar bins because I've got some Australian baking to do.

At school today we spent a lot of time doing rainy day crafts to keep the kiddos busy. There was only four children in my class today. A hand full of the children have been getting sick, and at the other center where Kelsey and April are placed there's some kiddos with chicken pox. Yikes. I suppose there's a positive to the fact that our time here is over. Kelly and I also presented our supervisor, Lisa, with some Minnesota gifts today. The small gifts were a snowy book and a snow man sculpture. It's a fun way to leave our Minnesota mark at the center.

After school today Kelly and I met up with April for coffee, and to discuss our Sydney plans! I'm looking forward to getting on our 12 hour train ride to Sydney tomorrow evening. We will arrive in Sydney at 6 am on Saturday and from there on, we have 4 days of adventure. No school to worry about, but simply adventure of enjoying the final four days in the land down under.

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” (With that said, my story in Goonellabah may be coming to an end, but my time in Australia is not over, and my memories are forever. It's also because of the people I'm with who've made this experiece so positive. By that I mean, thank you Kelly Conway for waking me up each morning by the crack of my door and motivating me to workout!

Tomorrow is the final day at Nestle Inn, and than we load the bus. I'm unsure of how often I'll be able to blog in Sydney, keep checking back, and untill than, Lots of love from down unda! (...and tim tam time.)

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Photos

Rainy
Rainy walk to Nestle Inn on the Goonellabah hills

Umbrella
Rainy Day activity

Australia
Playdough :)

Lismore Pizza
The best pizza in Lismore

Comments

[helenschoenfeld]

nixed feelings- to be expected!
Thank you Sarah for bringing your trip to life for us. Have an absolutley ecellent time in Sydney to finish your amazing adventure. Love, G and G

[Gramma Pat]

Coming home soon
Sarah, We have enjpyed you very interesting journals of your adventures in Australia. Anxious to read about your time in Sydney. We look forward to welcoming you home again. Thank you for the Happy Anniversary wish. Love you, Gramma Pat