We're back! Peter and I left Melbourne last Saturday and flew home to Minneapolis. We had a three-flight journey, which was a bit annoying, and we ended up getting delayed a few hours in Denver. I'm not sure I've ever flown through Denver without both hideous turbulence and a decently long delay. We finally arrived in Minneapolis around 7 pm, headed straight to Walmart to get SIM cards for our phones, and then basically ate and went to bed. On Sunday, we woke up early and drove four hours north to Lake Vermilion to join my family for our yearly summer vacation. I'll probably post about that later, but first, some thoughts on our move:

1) We were able to fit all of our clothes/other stuff into seven suitcases, just as we did when we moved to Melbourne. I have no idea how we didn't acquire a zillion things, but I did end up getting rid of about four bags full of clothes before we left, which helped to create some more space. We intentionally furnished our apartment with IKEA and the like knowing that we would get rid of it before moving back to the States, so we weren't that attached to anything. We stayed with our friends Matt and Lauren on our last night and somehow managed to (barely) fit all of our stuff into their car. They graciously took us to the airport early Saturday morning, which was much appreciated. This is a super low-quality photo, but it illustrates the extent to which Lauren and I were literally unable to move in the back seat.
We have great friends in Melbourne who helped SO much with the move. Sylvie and her boyfriend Ari were willing to take tons of unwanted stuff off our hands that otherwise would have been thrown away at the last minute, which was so helpful. They also purchased a few of our bigger items for their future place, which was nice, since selling on Gumtree (Australia's version of Craigslist) takes a bit more effort and isn't as reliable. I tried to sell our IKEA kitchen table and chairs and had about 384290 people message me to come look at it. Exactly 0 of those people actually showed up to look at it, as is pretty standard when selling things to random people on the internet. Thankfully, Sylvie and Ari took it off our hands!

2) The move doesn't quite feel permanent yet. I still feel like we're just on a visit back home and will return to Melbourne in a few weeks. I think this feeling will probably subside when we make our next move sometime in September and are finally settled into our own place. We've been staying with family, which is great (and free!), but also not permanent-feeling. Plus, our stuff is still packed away in suitcases for the most part, which makes it feel even more like we're on vacation.

3) We avoided jet lag almost completely, partly because we arrived after dinner time and were able to stay awake late enough to get a regular night's sleep. We also headed straight up north for a few days and were pretty busy and active the whole time, which I think is key. If we would have been hanging around on the couch all day Sunday I'm pretty sure we would have fallen asleep.

A few things we're loving about being back in the States:

• AIR CONDITIONING- We were welcomed back to summer in Minnesota with some high temperatures and even higher humidity. It's cooled off now, but the super-cold stores and restaurants were definitely appreciated on those hot days. Australia just doesn't air condition like we do here!
• TARGET- A legit selection of food, clothes, home goods, toiletries all in one place. I've missed it.
• FRIENDS AND FAMILY- I've gotten to see a lot of friends already and have spent a ton of time with family, which has been the best part of being home so far. 
• ONLINE SHOPPING- Free shipping! Amazon! 
• TV- Okay this isn't important at all, but it's nice to watch some of my favorite shows in real time instead of a day or so later.
• TIME ZONE- I enjoy being in the same time zone as most of my family and friends again. On the flip side, I'm now in a totally opposite time zone to my Aussie friends, which is weird and annoying. Can't win 'em all I guess. 

And a few thing's we're missing about Melbourne:

• PUBLIC TRANSPORT- I hate driving. Being home for a week and a half has reaffirmed this (extremely warranted) hatred. I would much rather sit on a tram, which is now not an option. Boohoo. 
• CITY LIVING- We're in the suburbs right now staying with our families, so we're definitely missing city life, but no matter where we end up, we likely won't ever live in the heart of such a vibrant and walkable city again, which is sad! We'll see what happens, but our place in Melbourne can't be beat. 
• FRIENDS- Our friends in Melbourne are amazing! We wouldn't have had such an enjoyable two years without them and we miss them all already. 
• THE FOOD- I'm not sure there's any city in the world with a food culture like Melbourne's. The quality, diversity, and sheer number of restaurants is insane. 
• THE VIBE- This one is vague, but those of you who have lived in/visited Melbourne will get what I'm talking about. When my friends in Australia asked me what I was going to miss most about Melbourne, the best answer I could come up with was the overall vibe/feel of the city. It's big enough but not too big, concentrated enough to walk the whole downtown area, safe and clean in comparison to similarly-sized American cities, easy to navigate, near the beach, and filled with interesting architecture, laneways, restaurants, museums, etc. Plus, there are so many different inner suburbs/neighborhoods to explore that each have their own unique feel. I'm fairly confident Melbourne is the best city in the world and we're definitely missing it! 

This weekend was our last in Melbourne, which is sad beyond belief. Luckily, it was pretty epic and consisted mainly of baby goats. If you don't like goats 1) you may want to skip this post and 2) why.

This week has been a whirlwind of selling furniture, canceling services, setting up things in the States for our return, and feverishly trying to hit up all our favorite restaurants. I think we are in a bit of denial that our time in Australia is coming to an end in just a few short days. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends much more frequently, but it's not going to be easy to say goodbye to our lives in Melbourne.

Who could not love this face?!
The Mornington Peninsula is home to a bunch of beautiful wineries with stunning ocean views, like the one below, so we had to stop for some scenery and tasting.
We headed to Cape Schanck, which is the scene of my closest near-death experience to date and the sorce of the drama I referenced above. Read this post for context. I will admit I am a dramatic person, but I stand by the description in that post. Also, I had forgotten that it was in Mornington where I first saw a Huntsman spider. I've only seen one or two more since then, which is one or two too many. They are hideous creatures that I am not sad to leave behind for good in a couple of weeks.
The weather was so much calmer this time around and the hike down to the water was shockingly enjoyable in the absence of a hurricane/tornado.
We took the coastal route back to the city and stopped a couple times to take in the view.
And stopped at Dromana Beach, which is a highly underrated Melbourne beach in my opinion, just in time to catch the sun setting.


Happily, I will be making one more trip down that way before we head back to the States! There is an event at the dairy farm this weekend and I'm obviously going.

It's official...after two glorious years in Melbourne, we are moving back to the States!

When we moved to Australia in July 2014 we planned to stay for two years (the length of our visas) and return to the States around this time. However, earlier this year, Peter's company offered the option to extend our visas for another year, which we immediately accepted. We both love living in Melbourne and weren't (and still aren't) ready to leave. We basically planned to stay until a promotion came up for Peter back in the States, which we thought would likely happen mid-2017. We were really excited about the opportunity to stay a bit longer than our original plan and fit in some more travel and adventure...I mean really, who would turn down an extra year in Australia?!

Well, long story short, that promotion in the States came up earlier than expected, and Peter was offered and accepted the job a few weeks ago. This is great news for Peter's career, but not so great news for our bonus year in Australia...we will be moving back to the States in a little under two weeks. We are really excited about Peter's new position, being closer to family and friends, and starting a brand new journey. We aren't so excited about leaving Melbourne, which has been a fabulous home for us these last two years, and the friends we have made here.

I haven't yet mentioned where we will be moving because.....we don't know. Peter's new job will be remote, as in he will be working out of a home office 50% of the time and traveling 50% of the time. He will have a portfolio of six or so accounts spread out around the States, so our location is pretty flexible, as long as we are living near a major airport. So, we have a few ideas about where we'd like to live, and what would make the most sense with Peter's new position, but I'll leave you in a bit of suspense until our plans are a little more solid ;). The plan for now is to stay with family in Minneapolis for a few weeks until we know where we're headed!

I plan to continue blogging about recent trips (Japan and Tasmania) and the moving process, and then I'm not really sure what will become of this blog? We'll see what happens. Also, if anyone in the Melbourne area is interested in buying a bunch of IKEA furniture....hit me up!