Tasmania is a state of Australia but it is an island off the mainland of Australia. There is a ferry that can bring you across from Melbourne, Victoria or one can fly. We chose to take the ferry so that we could also bring our car with us.
We left on the 22nd of January 2010. It was an easy decision for Victor because he always hankered about moving here and told me about this almost the instant we met - well maybe a few dates later ! But for me, it was a hard decision. I was leaving my two kids who were my world, leaving a job that I had worked hard to get ahead which in turn was my security and all my friends and networking that I had worked hard to establish in the 15 or so years I had lived in Brisbane.
It is not that I had not lived in other parts of Australia and for that matter in other parts of the world. But as one gets older and as one keeps setting down roots, I think you kind of want to stick to what you know. But, the decision was taken out of my hands after Victor's accident. So, we packed (and read I packed) and set off. Our goods were picked up and moved over the prior week so it was just us finalising everything and then driving off on the 22nd.
I remember waking up that morning - we were staying with my daughter and her fiancé that last week, and feeling such a sense of loss that I was going to be leaving my children. Yes, they were old enough (25yrs and 23yrs) but as a mother they were still my babies.
I kissed my daughter good bye that morning and I thought my heart was going to break. But this is a decision I had made for my future. Kids as much as you love them, adore them and do anything for them including lay down your life for them, they will always do what they need to do, when they need to do it. So IF I had decided to leave Victor because I did not move to Tasmania I believe I would have ended up living rather a lonely life. My life is with Victor and I am very happy that I have made my choice and my two children have made theirs. Still doesn't take away from the fact that my heart was breaking and hot tears were running down my cheeks as I drove away that morning.
I had a drive of over 1700km to get to Melbourne where we would then catch the ferry across to Devonport, Tasmania. I was the only driver. Since Victor's accident he is not allowed to drive. I was determined to break the back of this drive and do at least 1000km the first day. We had set of about 5am in the morning. I figured I would drive for 12 hours with plenty of stops for food and stretching and try and reach Sydney on the first night. The drive was uneventful although several times during the day I was crying. Victor who is a very stoic man who had been to boarding school since he was 5 years old and therefore quite self sufficient could not quite get what I was going through.
The first night although I didn't reach my target of 1000km, I did 983km in 12 hours and 26 minutes and reached Campbelltown in New South Wales, which is past Sydney. My friends back home were sitting on pins worried about my driving on my own without any help and that we had not stopped sooner. I also hadn't realised that Victor was feeling unwell. His medication had been increased just prior to our leaving and it was only when we stopped for the night I realised that his words were slurring and he really couldn't walk properly. Still, we walked to the restaurant for dinner that night. The next morning we had an almighty argument because he wanted to reduce his medication that he was taking for his seizures because that was what was making him unwell. All I could see was that he was going to get a seizure whilst we were on the highway and I wouldn't be able to stop the car. All he could see was that it was making him unwell (understandable) and he didn't like feeling that way. We could not come to a compromise. At this point his medication had increased from 300mg to 330mg to 360mg. He decided he was going back to 300mg and that was that. And as much as I tried to tell him to just go back to 330mg he was not going to listen! Need I say he is a stubborn man ? So am I, so you can imagine how it went.
We left around 9am that morning from Campbelltown, and reached Melbourne that evening. We were going to have a few days with Victor's son and family before we set off on the last leg of our journey, our adventure, our future and our dream. We left Melbourne on the 27th of January, the day after Australia day which is the 26th of January. We travelled on the day ferry which only operates during peak times. Normally, the ferry only travels each way at night and they have two ferries working all the time.
We arrived at Devonport
Once off the ferry and all quarantine cleared we still had 70 odd kilometers to reach Victor's brothers home in Mole Creek, Tasmania. We were going to stay with him until we found and bought a home.
It was a balmy night, the days are long in the summer here unlike Brisbane, they have day light saving, and they have twilight which you don't get in Brisbane. So although I was driving after 8pm there was plenty of light and we reached our destination exhausted and looking forward to the next part of our journey. Looking for houses !
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