March 6 - Australia: Cairns, Queensland

I woke up early to take a call from Lauren, my A.T. Kearney mentor.  She and I chatted a while about the status of the company and the likelihood of my starting work sometime this year.  Bottom line: who knows?  The company is still anticipating more layoffs, but we keep hearing that the US is lifting out of the recession so they're hoping the project pipeline will pick up.  There's always the possibility that my start date could be sooner rather than later.

But our money situation is getting pretty tight.  Since Jon and I had a whole day to think about it, we're feeling more level-headed about our choices.  In fact, Jon sent an email to our favorite dive shop in Key West to see about maybe getting work there for a while.  They said they couldn't offer us anything now, but that it's likely they'll have some positions available in the summer.  We just have to get there, they said.  So now we're thinking about extending the drive across country to include a long stop in the Keys.  If we can get work there, then we're set for a while.

I'm babbling.  Knowing us, plans will change 3-4 times more over the next two months.  So don't hold me to anything I write here.

Packing Up the Townhouse

We spent the entire day packing up the townhouse and running errands.  I went to the supermarket to get some boxes and realized an amazing thing: you have to get up early to get boxes in this place.  Everyone and their dog was there for boxes.  At Cole's, they had just given away their last two.  And at Bi-Lo, there was a couple scrambling through most of the boxes and they left me two of them.  What is it with this place?  What kind of a supermarket doesn't operate with a surplus of boxes?  It's insane.  So I went home with my two piddly boxes and hoped for more later on.  I also went to the book store and stopped by the post office too.

Then we packed.  It's incredible how much stuff we've accumulated over the past three months.  I'm not sure how we ever got around with just two backpacks.  I called Air New Zealand to see how much weight we were allowed to check on the plane.  Luckily, they have a limit of 64 kilos per person.  Thank God!  Between our backpacks, scuba gear, PADI books, cooler (esky!), and cooking utensils, we will likely reach that limit.  That's a lot of stuff.

We're sad to leave our little townhouse, but all good things must come to an end.  Jon is feeling better today, which is good since we have to hit the road tomorrow.

So the rest of the day was devoted to washing clothes, loading the car, and finishing off whatever food we had in the fridge. The worst thing about moving is having to throw out perfectly good condiments!  But it's just not worth it for us to bring that 1/2 jar of jalapeno peppers with us.  And the brown sugar from Jon's Christmas Pie?  Tossed it in the trash.  Such a waste.