Preparation

Here we are, we are finally at the point of no return. After months of seemingly endless admin, last minute changes and some mad saving of the much needed spondulas, we are about to leave on our next big adventure. Those of you that know us well know that this has been in the making for some years. Those of you that know us really well, know also that we have paid off doing much of the finer detail planning until the last possible minute - hence our rather rushed visit to the Royal Thai Consulate three days before we leave to get our visas. A small oversight - no doubt one of many to come.
Our first official leg is the flight to Thailand.

Really, we are pretty we ready, that is, when we have finalised and paid for our Trans Siberian travels through Tatiana the Russian Travel Agent, gotten our Cambodia and Vietnam Visas, arranged a bike hire one way from Saigon to Hanoi (and arranged our gear to be delivered to meet up with us there), picked up our tickets and travel vouchers from an as yet undisclosed location in Beijing. As I said we are pretty well ready.

"Get the scales"
"The kitchen ones?"
"Yep"
When looking at upgrading the trusty tent, weight and packed size were the major selling points... hence the scales. Didn't work so until the MSR tent arrives we won't know exactly how good the purchase was. This was the story of our lives... and so begins the epic...

When I think about packing up our lives and saying goodbye to all things familiar, I don't feel anxious at all, because I am going with Adam. He is pretty similar. It isn't the 'home is where the heart is' or having a 'soul mate' to share things with - it is having someone to blame when things go horribly wrong, and they will - that is the only certainty, for the next few years at least.

We had a great Christmas catching up with friends and family and of course going to the MCG for the Boxing Day Test and a One Day International.

We went to Broken Hill for a great New Years Eve (and a dodgy firework!!) with Peta and Brett and managed to be there for the Fifty Year Storm. We slept through the house flooding . . . haha!!

We even had a little party at Denmark st with our roomies (Jen and Stephen), Jon and Shivaun, and Eddie. The weather was ridiculously hot therefore requiring us to drink ridiculous amounts of beer. It was a great send off.