Goodbye to Oz

Returning from the Great Ocean Road I met Bev out for lunch to try and plan out the final days that I had in Melbourne. I knew that it would be sad to leave again, but I have my fingers crossed that I will be back in a year for Omi's 100th birthday.

My last few days were quite event filled. Friday night the entire family was together again for dinner. Everyone was a little on edge though because Bev and Ryan had an auction the following day for the house they wanted to get. In Australia most of the houses are auctioned off at a set time right in front of the house... something quite different to what I'm used to in the states.

Saturday morning, Ryan and I headed off to take Jenna to her netball match. It was quite the entertaining game because Jenna's team is quite good. Jenna played forward for half the game and scored a few points and then was put on defence where she stood there biting her nails due to the lack of action at her end. Her team ended up spanking the other team and Jenna went off with a friend to celebrate while Ryan and I headed off to the auction.

I arrived at the auction with Bev, Ryan and Dylan. It was my job to watch Dylan while the auction was going on, quite the task. We went inside to take a look at the house. This place should be put in a museum because everything is out of the 1960s. I decided that Dylan would have the room that smelled the worst of old people. Thank goodness the plan is to tear the house down and build a new one. Right before the auction Bev found Dylan and I playing in the back yard and lectured us both to behave or else she will give us a smack. We were quiet. The auction started and was quite interesting. There were about 40 people just standing in the road outside of the house while the auction was going on. The bids were offered and the auctioneer gave the final call... sold. Bev and Ryan now owned this prehistoric house in shambles.

That night was just as exciting as the day because Peter, Chad and his friend, and myself headed off to watch a footy match in town. We headed to the game which was even more entertaining that watching it on TV. You wouldn't believe how much fighting goes on off the ball. It was a lot of fun to watch and Chad did a good job explaining all of the rules to me.

After the game I headed back to Bev and Ryan's to go and partake in the celebrations of the house purchase. A few bottles of whiskey later someone sober was nice enough to take me home.

The next few days I spent as much time with Omi as possible. I had a car and took Omi to lunch and for drives around town. The rest of the time was just spent sitting around and talking. I told her she had to make it another year so the entire family could get back together next year. The last night we had a big dinner at Ruth's house with the entire family. It was great having everyone there but I was really sad to leave. No worries... I'll be back next year.