The End

Several weeks ago, Gus was told that his contract would end early on January 31. They are sending all the expatriates in his department home. We were not totally surprised since the global economy is affecting everyone. We’ve evaluated our options. Gus has a job offer in Texas (more of this later on). We’re excited to be closer to all our family. We’re sad to leave friends and jobs unfinished. Australia has been a wonderful experience, one we will treasure for the rest of our lives. What a great year and a half this has been. Our ears will always perk up for every Australian accent we come across and we’ll have to ask, “what part of Australia do you come from?”.

Peggy is somewhat sad to be leaving her job. She had just figured out how to do it efficiently and made out the travel schedule for next year. The hardest part is knowing that, unlike in populated developed areas, they will probably not be able to recruit an audiologist for East Arnhemland and the patients will go unserved.

So, now on to the next chapter. We have lots of sorting, packing, unpacking, rearranging to do. Peggy doesn’t have a job yet, but has begun to look. Taking the dogs back will be a breeze compared to bringing them. Christine will care for them for a couple of weeks during the actual move. We will leave Australia and visit New Zealand on the way home.