Ch, ch, ch, changes!

So.....things have been a bit quiet here on the blog of late. This could be because nothing of note has been happening of late. You know, kids have been working away on their maths texts books, practising their Japanese while I juggle organising the next bit of maths and Japanese to work on with my library, visitor centre and ranger work. Oh, and domestic duties. Yep. That could be it.

Or....I could have been a tad busy dealing with some iddy biddy changes in Defying Gravity land. Like moving interstate and quitting all those old jobs and starting a brand new job. Yep! That could be it!!!

SURPRISE!

For a while, we (hubby and I) have been pondering moving to our nation's capital (that would be Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory for my vast overseas readership). We like it there - it has heaps of things to do, great universities, lots of educational resources and is just a bigger, better resourced place to live than our current tiny, regional, coastal town. So finally, after a few years of contemplating this, we decided to make it happen. So we began applying for jobs here. Guess who got the first one, huh? Go on, guess! Me!

For those of you who enjoyed our New Zealand and Asia cruises, it will come as no surprise to you that I love cruising. I spend my days researching the next big cruise. So when Cruiseabout in Canberra advertised, I thought "why not?" (let's just ignore those guilty feelings about 'abandoning' my children for a minute).

So I applied and although they (being Flight Centre, the company who owns Cruiseabout) had filled the job, they offered me a position as an International Travel Consultant in Escape Travel (their family holiday brand). I contemplated it for a weekend, discussed it with the kids and the hubby and finally said YES! (eep!). So, for the last three weeks, I've been ensconced in a hotel in Sydney learning how to do my job and I start tomorrow!

I actually am quite excited by the prospect of it now - there will be lots of travel discounts (the airfares for staff are amazing), there are lots of incentives (if I do well in my first 3 months, they take us to New Zealand) and rewards (end of financial year ball in Sydney in July is already booked). We are expected to work hard, but they give you lots of training (another week in Brisbane in June) and support. I reckon I'll do alright :-)

While I currently sit typing this in a motel room, we have found a suitable rental property nearby and hopefully will start the process of moving our stuff in this week. We will keep our coastal house as a holiday rental (once it gets a bit of TLC - it's fit for us to live in, but I wouldn't expect people to fork out money for it in its current state!). That way we can visit "home" on the weekends (and my mum, who lives nearby). Video Boy for one, is looking forward to having a bedroom that doesn't have rodents and termites in it! And we also get cable internet - what's not to love about that?

And the burning question - WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS???  Well, initially, we will continue to "homeschool". They have been totally brilliant doing their schoolwork when I've been working casually and during the last few weeks (I'm going to share with you soon their fabulous Shakespeare efforts). But, apart from needing to shore up our financial future, we also need to make sure the kids needs are met. Wombat Girl is kind of driving us nuts with her insatiable cognitive demands and Video Boy has matured so much! So, no rush, but the ACT senior school system is pretty impressive - and I think if we do our research properly, we can find them something suitable. Maybe not - we can always do distance ed, but it might be worth a try. I will certainly let you know how things progress.

Hubby's coming too, but just for now, I'll respect his privacy and not share ALL our plans :-)

What does this mean for the blog? Well, I think I'll keep blogging - you want to know how all this journey turns out, don't you?? Besides, you get to see a whole new part of Australia (I'm sure we'll get to do fun stuff on the weekends!), see how the kids get on and best of all, I'll get to show you more hairy legs and sweaty bras on my future travels (of which I hope will be lots!). Part homeschool blog, part gifted education blog, part mommy-blog, part travel blog. Who needs a niche, right???

Whaddya think? 

Surprised?