Final Farewells

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Day 503 to 509 (11.08.08 - 17.08.08)

Well this would be our last full week in Melbourne so we were to be busy getting stuff sorted and continuing to catch up with people before we left.

On Monday night Tiana came round to start moving the larger things from the flat as we parted with the bed frame, table and chairs and the flat began to look emptier and emptier.

We went to our last dance class on Tuesday night which was the usual fun but very sad to say goodbye to all our fellow dancers who were a great bunch. We were now starting to say goodbyes to people for the last time and feeling the sadness that comes with leaving a place that you've made your home. It's almost stranger for us to leave Melbourne than it was to leave home as we know we'll always return home.

On Wednesday night Tiana and Ash came over for dinner and helped us move the sofa from the flat. The following day they would head off to Alice Springs for a few days and had very kindly offered to let us stay at their house until we leave and use Tiana's car for moving over (yet another thing in a long list of generous acts). With the flat now almost completely empty Mark headed off to his last basketball match which sadly they got smashed in (it was by the top team in the league though so no shame at all there!)

After a dash home from work on Thursday we had the task of getting the last bits and pieces over to Tiana and Ash's and finally leaving the flat. The last bits are always way more than you think aren't they? By 10 'o' clock and two car loads later we had left the flat and were sat at our new temporary abode, pleased to be accompanied by Taiga.

Friday saw the last day at work for us both. Despite the extremely dull work we'd made some fantastic friends there so Mark and the guys headed out for a lunchtime drink before Mark made his last and jubilant exit from the doors of PCI. Chrissie had had a great time back at Leethal Fashion Accessories and would also really miss her workmates, especially Corinne whom she'd worked so closely with. The whole staff from the warehouse headed out to a local pub for a fantastic lunch and never made it back to work that afternoon - a great ending! Cheers girls!

The evening promised to be a messy one as we hit the town for our leaving do. After a few drinks and a wash and brush up with some friends around at 'ours' we made our way to the Curve bar in town - we felt this only fitting after the time (and money) we'd spent there when we worked in town. Suitably inebriated and with a huge group in tow we invaded Retro bar to dance, jump and scream along to some suitably cheesy music - what a great night! Thanks so much to all who made it out - a fitting send off which we enjoyed massively. By 4am we were sitting in a dodgy burger bar tucking in to some late night eats with Duan and Sarah before evnetually heading homewards.

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with as many people as possible mixed in with manically dashing around with last minute jobs we had to do before leaving for our (long) homeward journey. After going out to collect Tiana and Ash from the airport Tuesday afternoon we had a great final evening where we were also joined by Prue and Stacey. Popping out to the local Mexican we ordered the biggest Margarita we had ever seen and tucked into a fantastic dinner remaniscing about time with the gals and guys in Japan and Melbourne - we'll really miss everyone. Back at the house, we gave Tiana and Ash a little prezzie to say thanks for all their kindness and generosity since we had been there (there really is too much to list) before finishing off our final bits of packing. We didn't have to wait too long as Andre (who was picking us up to take us to the airport) was coming to pick us up at 2.30am - yuck!

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