raising willow… and dexter!

Finally, I have the headspace to sit down and write about my trip to Canberra – this time last week I was just walking back from the sports club we went to in a desperate attempt to get something to eat.

I left home in a taxi at 4.30pm, with A and two forlorn, crying children waving from the carport. My driver was from Pakistan. He graduated from his IT degree last year, but was still driving taxis as jobs in his field were few and far between. We made superficial conversation about how fortunate we are to live in Australia.

I checked in without fuss and met one of the two managers (X), who was catching the same flight as me. The other worker(Y) and the other manager (Z) had flown out on Friday and Saturday. I scored the window seat from her as she wanted to sit in the aisle. The flight was uneventful and it felt like we’d just got in the air and we were descending again. We only had a coffee/hot chocolate and biscuits/Pringles to eat because we thought that we’d be able to get dinner at the motel.

As we dragged our suitcases from the carousel out to find a taxi, some Buddhist monks got between my manager and me. Frustrating as it was, trying to keep up with someone in a strange place; I reflected that it would probably be poor form to storm past the Buddhist monks!

On the way from the airport to the motel, we called ahead and found that the motel restaurant didn’t open on Sunday night. We should have taken the initiative and sent the taxi driver in search for a McDonalds or KFC, but we took our chances. By the time we got there it was 9pm. We met with the other manager (Z) and worker (Y), but (Z) wanted to head to bed. So (Y), (X) and I went out in search of food and found ourselves at the sports club. Funnily enough, this is where the conference was being held, as we’d find out the next day.

I had a couple of drinks, (X) pointed out the table of rowdy young men sitting across from us who looked a lot like the Hawks football team. She was talking to the wrong person if she expected me to be able to confirm it though!

We walked back to the motel in the cold and dark, excited about what the next day would bring. The drinks I’d had sent me off to sleep nicely. In the morning I met (X), (Y) and (Z) in the motel restaurant for a buffet breakfast. Bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and hash browns made for a good start to the day. We headed back to the sports club where the conference was held and settled at a table.

The conference turned out to be really good. The main presenter is known as the birth mother of the program we work for, so it was great to hear her speak. For a public servant, she was passionate and dedicated to the program, which I really admired. I hadn’t realised how much of a political football the program had been, but she defended it through the correct channels.

The food was pretty standard, muffins, sandwiches, scones, with fruit, tea and coffee. The venue was interesting, we had a nice view of the hills, which just made me want to go and see more of Canberra. I debated with (X), (Y) and (Z) about going somewhere, doing something after the conference had finished for the day, but they weren’t as keen as I. So we ended up going back to the motel for dinner.

We stopped at an op-shop on the way home where I got two Barkins tops and a very versatile Sussan denim skirt for $21.00. (Y) bought a gorgeous Japanese parasol for $10.00. Score!

One of the motivating factors for us to go back to the motel was the wine buffet. Yes, all you can drink wine, as long as you were eating in the restaurant, for $15.00. I managed to get my money’s worth, as well as graciously accepting the complimentary port glasses of mulled wine that the waitresses kept bringing over. Conscious that the night was early, (X) and I went for a walk outside in the cold fresh air.

I saw something that I’d heard about from A and various other sources, but to see it for real was highly amusing. Kind of like the first time I saw squirrels on the way to San Diego. We were just on the outskirts of a major metropolis and there was a mob of kangaroos on the front lawn of the motel, eating the grass. I wanted to see how tame they were, but I got close enough to realise that one was a big buck and the other was a doe with a joey in her pouch. I was sober enough to realise that they were not to be messed with and just watched them from a safe distance.

(X) and I went inside for dessert and port. Yum. We chatted in the lobby for awhile, then (X) and (Z) decided to head for bed. (Y) and I stayed chatting, then we saw some other conference participants and hooked up with them to go to the closer sports club. It was good to chat with them and find out their perspective on the program. A couple of jokes were shared, given our level of intoxication, they were hilarious and we laughed til our mouths hurt. We left them and wandered back to our rooms at 12.30am-1am, I’m not sure.

We saw them the next day at breakfast and found out that they’d stayed drinking til 4am. At least they were up and attended the conference. While getting ready that morning I was watching a breakfast program which featured a reporter broadcasting from Canberra, in front of Parliament House. I laughed at the irony that I was seeing more of Canberra on TV than in real life.
This day of the conference was less of the birth mother and more of guest speakers, those who already had experience with earlier roll outs of the programs and representatives of target groups the program is aimed at, an indigenous young man and an older woman representing the Forgotten Australians spoke and conveyed their stories well.

Too soon, the conference was over, I took the chance to quickly tell the birth mother of our program how much I admired her passion and she thanked me. We’d already packed our bags and checked out so we walked back to the motel, retrieved them from the luggage room, and waited in the lobby for our taxis. The managers, (Z) and (X) had a lot to discuss, so they took one taxi while (Y) and I took the other. (Y) and I have become close since working together.

Still lamenting that I hadn’t seen much of Canberra, my manager approved (Y) and I taking the long way from the motel to the airport. Somehow I don’t think the cabbie minded the big fare either!

We went up to the top of Mount Ainslie and marvelled at the view.

After that we headed to the airport. Usually I don’t like leaving places, but I was keen to get home to A and the children. The flight home was as uneventful as the one there, but we got dinner, which was a semblance of a chicken stir fry and rice. We were back in Adelaide in no time at all. A and his friend brought the children to met me at the airport. I have never been so happy to see them. Unfortunately, in the short time that I’d been gone, they’d both developed a cold and cough. No wonder Willow had sounded different on the phone when I’d called A!

This gave me a nice excuse to take the next day off and regroup, while A took Thursday and Friday with the children as he developed manflu. I went back to work, reinvigorated!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 12:34 am and is filed under life, jim, but not as we know it, man of my dreams, mummy stuff, workin' nine to five!. You can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS Feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.