2009 has been quite a year!

January saw me "moving" to Edmonton to finish my last semester of University which was an intensive 5 weeks and 3 courses long. I drove the 150 km to Edmonton on Monday mornings, then spent the rest of the week in Edmonton, and drove the 150 km back to Red Deer on Fridays. The downside of choosing to make that move was the fact that I inadvertently chose a suite in the basement of a heavy smoker, and my asthmatic tendencies weren't too happy. The upside was that I was able to walk about 4 km a day, and spend 3-4 days a week, in the University gym. It also saved me from driving between Red Deer and Edmonton every day of the week through Canadian prairie winter conditions.

With just a few days to go in that final semester, I spent a day in the hospital in terrible pain ... a large kidney stone (4 mm x 10 mm). And the testing and Drs appointments started.

February was a shock. Bushfires swept over the state of Victoria in Australia, where my husband Rowan lived. On February 7, 2009 (Black Saturday), Rowan lost his home and many of his possessions, and narrowly escaped with his life. He left his home as the trees around it were going up in flame. We were both devastated by all the destruction. In the end, 173 people lost their lives and over 2000 people lost their homes. Fortunately, the orchard where Rowan was working sustained minimal damage. Several of the buildings were destroyed, including the main house, and some of the orchard itself was burnt, but it was still a viable operation, and so Rowan moved into a small caravan onto the orchard property to continue to work there. He spent the next three months living in that caravan.

While still reeling from the shock of the bushfire, I started my 9-week practicum with a Grade One class. I needed that practicum to finish my degree, but the first few weeks there were tough. How do you smile and act enthusiastic with a classroom of children when your mind is full of tragedy?

And then in the middle of February, my 16 year old, diabetic cat Sabre began to fail, and on February 19th, we decided to put him to sleep. I know it was for the best, but .....

In March, I turned 42! In March I also started settling into my practicum, and was teaching almost all day every day. It was a good learning experience. Spring Break was the end of March, and instead of going somewhere exciting, I went for surgery to remove the annoying kidney stone. The surgery went well, and the kidney stone is gone.

On April 17, 2009 I finished my practicum, thus completing my degree!! Finally!! It had been a long haul from the time I left my home and job in Winnipeg, and embarked on a 5-year plan to acquire this degree. A big Thank You to my parents who provided me with room and board and who supported me and encouraged me through these past 5 years. And a big Thank You to Rowan who also supported and encouraged me through these last 5 years as well.

I also started cycling regularly in April. I had not done much cycling at all through the winter with all the other things going on in my life. But April was quite nice for weather and we thought we might be in for an early spring. My father often cycled with me in April as well, which was really nice.

As soon as I finished my practicum, I started the process of sorting my things to see what I could get rid of. This turned out to be a long, and somewhat emotional process. In 2004, when I moved to Red Deer, I had gotten rid of about half my things already. So it was hard to go through everything again ... I had to put a lot more thought into what I really wanted to keep, and what I could let go. I ended up getting rid of close to half of what I had again. In many ways I wish I had done this back in 2004 ... but I probably wasn't ready.

In May I really began cycling in earnest, including many evening rides, a 100 km ride with my father and friends from Calgary, two trips into the Canadian Rockies with my father, and several other local rides. On May 9th, I finally rode my Sabre Century in honour of my departed kitty. As May drew to a close I realized that if I kept up the riding I was doing, I could reach a 1000 km month ... and I was successful!

Our early spring hopes became a dream in May. The temperatures dropped toward the middle of the month and a large snowfall occurred on May 18th. Typical Canadian prairie weather!!

May saw me finishing my sorting process and starting the packing process. That was another long process. Because everything is going into storage, and I'm hoping to ship my things to the other side of the world eventually, I had to pack everything very carefully.

In May, Rowan was offered one of the few remaining buildings on the orchard property to live in on a temporary basis, rather than the caravan he had been living in. The little, remote, rustic cabin (pretty much just a shed) was affectionately termed the "Love Shack".

June 9th was my graduation day!! I debated about attending my grad, but decided to go for it. After all, I've wanted to get a Bachelor of Education ever since I was about 8 years old, and had been working so hard toward it for almost 5 years. It seemed right to go to the ceremony to celebrate.

And on June 10th, I started the journey to Australia, arriving in Australia on June 12. Rowan and I have been staying mainly in the Love Shack ever since, with frequent trips to places like Tasmania (for 3 weeks) and the surrounding area here in Victoria (on weekends).

Living in the Love Shack was an adjustment for me. It really is very rustic ... off the grid in many ways. Water comes from the rain, power from the sun and a generator, and heat from a fireplace. And moving into an uninsulated shack in winter, even an Australian winter, was a chilly business.

From the last hour on my flight to Australia on June 12th, I developed what felt like a horrible calf cramp in my left leg. In my usual way, I ignored it and figured it would stretch out eventually. It did fade away, but by about mid-July it returned with a vengence ... and the leg swelled up ... and the least little bit of exercise started to wear me right out ... and I developed what I thought were a collection of bite marks around my ankle.

A short walk on Monday, July 27th had me feeling like I was going to collapse. My leg felt like a tree-trunk and I was struggling to breathe. Tuesday, July 28th, I tried to call around to the local Drs to see if I could get an appointment when all of a sudden Rowan came rushing home, and rushed me off to a Dr. He said he just had a feeling he had better get me into a Dr, and that when he got me, I looked terrible. The marks around my ankle weren't bite marks ... they were broken capillaries.

The Dr booked me for an ultrasound on Wednesday, July 29th, and the ultrasound technician confirmed our suspicions. My left calf was chock full of blood clots, and there was a large clot lodged in my thigh completely blocking the main vein. The ultrasound technician wouldn't let me go until she had arranged for me to see the Dr in the hospital where the ultrasound was done ... and the next thing I knew, I was being booked into hospital.

For the next two weeks I remained in hospital, getting two shots a day in my abdomen of a substance designed to break up clots, and regular doses of Warfarin. My fitness level dropped off to nothing. Walking was a huge effort. I could only manage very short distances, very, very slowly with lots of rests along the way.

Finally in mid-August, I was released from hospital and Rowan and I headed to Tasmania for three weeks ... a recovery trip. I was able to increase my walking through those three weeks ... faster speeds, further distances, fewer rests. It was great seeing Tasmania again. Our trip started in the north and basically went around Tasmania counter-clockwise. I was there five years ago, and this time we got to see several of the places I'd seen before, as well as a lot of Tasmania I did not get to see then. We were also able to connect up with many of Rowan's friends while we were there. I've added my Tasmanian Tour photos to the Australia collection below.

We returned to Victoria in September to find out that my application for residency here had been lodged and I could stay on past my visitor's visa. But we still had to wait for approval for residency. If that approval did not come through, I would have to go back to Canada.

After the Tasmania trip, I returned to cycling again ... finally! My long rides in were about 20 km to start, in between days of rain. I've never lived in an area where it has rained so much before. It has rained just about every day since I got here in June, and the temperatures in October have been about 3°C lower than the normal averages. A little global cooling setting in!! But we had a list of cycling events on our schedule for November, so I needed to get into shape to ride some of them.

Spring finally sprung in late October, and on October 27th I was accepted to remain in Australia for the next two years!!

I spent a lot of time in November riding my bicycle and on November 14th, Rowan and I did a 100 km event put on by Audax Australia ... the longest event I've ridden since May and the longest Rowan has ridden since January. We also attempted a century ride at the end of November, and although we completed the century, we were way over the time limit. I just wasn't quite in shape to ride that sort of distance.

In December I got a job sorting cherries for a local packing plant. That was a very interesting experience and I got to know quite a number of Grey Nomads. Travelling and working, like the Grey Nomads do, is a very tempting lifestyle which Rowan and I are seriously considering for the future ... and possibly not too far into the future. :) We'll see how things go in 2010.

Photo Collection of Australia