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Published: April 27th 2012
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6 January - 15 March 2012
Well, our time at Coogee has finally come to an end. Looking back on our time living on the "other" side, I have some mixed but mostly happy memories bubbling to the surface. It has been a memorable experience living on the western side of the continent, albeit only for a short time. All in all, it has been 7-8 months (in two separate stints) living over in Coogee. The location has been brilliant - a very short stroll for the simple pleasure of feeling those fine white grains of sand between your toes and watching the most stunning sunsets plonked on the sand with a glass of plonk in hand. Holding on as tightly as humanly possible to those images of my two little boys running in and out of the water, silhouettes dancing amongst the seaspray, laughter erupting from deep within their bellies like lava, completely and utterly (and beautifully) oblivious to any other soul on earth, so totally attuned to their own and each other's fun and happiness that the rest of the world could just fall away and they wouldn't even notice. All this with a magical sunset
as a backdrop, so perfect that it makes you feel as though it was put on just for you...
I guess my most fondest memories of Coogee are those times we have spent doing just that. Both Alex and I worked hard to get to the point where we could take time off with our children and travel and by far the best part of travelling is watching your children soak up the ever changing surroundings and observe their little personalities develop and unfold right in front of your eyes. Sure, it has been tough at times (but not that often) and perhaps once or twice I have seriously considered buying them a one way plane fare back to Sydney - or taxi or train or boat; not all that fussy when you have grey hairs sprouting out your head at an alarming rate and a certain 2 year old thinks it's hilariously funny and clever to throw hard objects at your head whilst you are attending to a certain 5 year old. Like I said, I am open to any means of transport....
The Perth summer has been perfect weather-wise and after all that horrendous weather we
had at the beginning of the trip, we have really made up for it now. Those first few months of the trip were a real challenge and I sometimes found myself wondering what good was going to eventuate out of the dismal weather but now I know it was quite possibly just to make us appreciate the weather we have had recently (and consistently for quite some time now) and make the most of every day.
I guess there have been some down sides - one in particular - out of all the places we have travelled to so far, Coogee has been the place where I have felt the most vulnerable in terms of safety. I have felt safer in the bush out in the middle of nowhere than I did at Coogee. We had a few incidents where thieves would come through the caravan park at night and one night they tried to steal our bikes and another night they came right into our fully enclosed annex. Luckily I happened to be awake (the one and only benefit of insomnia I'm sure) so we were able to scare them off by yelling at them and trying to
confront them. They got away with nothing but were successful in planting the seed of paranoia which caused a fair few sleepness nights. It wasn't just those two incidents but other weird and seedy "stuff" going on all the time which didn't dissipate the feeling of uneasiness.
This time around at Coogee, we have really tried to make the most of our time here. We spent a lot of time in and around Fremantle, have been to concerts on the beach and the river (the Cat Empire on Scarborough beach was awesome), visited Yanchep National Park where the koalas put on a bit of a show for us, explored parts of the city, caught up with friends, celebrated Oscar's 3rd birthday, went to festivals and thanked the lord when we realised the fins near us in the water at Rockingham belonged to a dolphin and not a shark!
Moving on is bittersweet as it's the end of one part of the trip but also the start of something new and exciting (and unknown!).
What lies ahead fills us with such excitement and anticipation, not to mention the sense of freedom once again - bring it on!!
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