2024 - The year that was!

If turning 50 wasn’t big enough we decided that we were going to move from our home of 15 years in Melbourne to Adelaide, the birth place of Marty and where his family lives.

We started talking about it around August 2023 and thought we might move when the boys (out 2 cats Toby and Zack) were no longer with us, but things changed quickly and by November we had decided that now was the time.

The decision to move wasn’t a hard one, there wasn’t much keeping us in Melbourne and COVID had shown the world that it didn’t matter where you were located you could still work - so the business was all good.

There was discussion about moving north to the Central Coast of NSW to be near my family or to move to Adelaide to be near Marty’s family. The decision came down to money and the fact that Marty’s brothers kids were only 1 and 3 so lots of opportunity to be part of their lives growing up.

We did 3 trips to Adelaide in 3 months (2 in one week) and in February we bought our new house in Adelaide and sold our old house in Melbourne.

Since arriving in Adelaide it seems to have been non stop unpacking, settling in, buying stuff we needed and getting to know the place, but it’s all been great.

As someone who likes to get out early in the morning and start the day with a walk I have been exploring the area and with so much nature around - I love it. I can walk 15 minutes in one direction and be at the Morialta Conservation Park, walk 15 minutes in the other direction and be at the site of the original Penfolds vineyard - and not to mention we can walk to Marty’s parents and his brother.

We’ve also come from living 25km from the center of Melbourne to 8km from the center of Adelaide so we’ve actually spent way more time in the city than we ever did in Melbourne. Back there it was a chore to got o the city - here it’s easy - getting around in general is easy!

No we’re at the end of the year and in the middle of 3 weeks off for some well needed rest - although we have had a couple of trips this year. In July we went to Sydney for a few days to catch up with my family, and in November we had a week in Queensland.

Marty was speaking at LaraconAU for the second year in a row, and this year I came along - and had a ball. They do a great job of making sure there are a wide range of topics for both tech and non-tech people. I can’t wait for LaraconAU 2025!

Being in Brisbane gave me the opportunity to catch up with Kirsten, a friend of over 25 years. I don’t get to see her often so it was great to have the chance. I might write a separate post sometime about how Kirsten and I met - it’s a funny story.

Following on from Brisbane we headed north to the Sunshine Coast after a lunch pit-stop in Margate to catchup with my bestie Donna - another funny story for another time about when we first met.

Our time on the Sunshine Coast was meant to be relaxing, and it was, but we were still on the move all the time.

We splurged and stayed at the Crocodile Hunter Lodge at Australia Zoo - it was amazing and highly recommended. Being part of the zoo we had unlimited free entry so took advantage of that - and it paid off - we got to see the entire Irwin family doing their trademark croc show. Note the heavily zoomed in photo of Robert below!

And here we are at the end of the year - and it ended withe some excitement - a fire in the bush behind where we live. This was on December 23rd - I was out walking and down the hill noticed some some. I called Marty who was at home and got him to look out off the terrace - and yes there was a fire. We both rushed up the hill where Marty called 000. The fire wasn’t too big, but they sent a coupe of ground crews and 3 planes who flew over and dumped water on the fire. While the fire was not great it was exciting to see the planes in action.

There was actually a second fire lit about 20m from this one the next day. Seems like someone has a problem. Let’s hope they get caught!