Well, we're now counting the days rather than the weeks until we leave Oz.... It has been a lovely year - thanks to the Aussie mums for helps and advice; I'll miss being part of the overnight posters. I think it's actually harder leaving here than it was leaving the UK mainly because the people we say goodbye to here we'll probably never see again whereas last year it was just for the year.
Things I'll miss:
Sunshine and heat
Relative cost of living
Lifestyle
Outdoor swimming pools
Wildlife (lorikeets are so much more attractive than pigeons)
Fresh fruit and veg mostly locally produced - so tasty
Likewise beautiful cuts of meat (and my particularly lovely butcher)
Ds1's school. State schools are so fab here
The no shoes lifestyle (will be a shock for ds2 to have to put something on his feet again)
The fanfare that greets the news broadcasts on ABC radio - still makes me laugh 12mo on
Family friendly ethos everywhere
Lack of litter and graffiti - we are still amazed that the many, many free bbq's are always so well maintained and clean - just can't see that happening at home
Loads of great parks with good play equipment
Sunshine and heat!
There are some things we won't miss - fickle TV schedules and lack of decent programmes, not v good radio, lack of choice of newspapers, power cuts when it's 30 degrees overnight and no fans or aircon, lack of shops and shops shutting at 1pm on a Saturday (that's a TVL thing), the fact that we are so far from anywhere - it's not that easy to pop to anywhere interesting for the weekend from here and internal flights are really expensive.
And it will be nice to be just that bit closer to friends and family
Sure I will think of more as the week wears on. We're having a garage sale tomorrow - fingers crossed that everything goes.