Life is busy! But we finally caught up with my friend Susan and she agreed to write a guest post for us and I was so excited about being able to post this. We will continue to stay in touch with Susan and where her life is taking her as well as when it will bring her back to our neck of the woods. Even if it’s just for a quick visit! Sign up for our newsletter so you can be cool and in the know of all these exciting happenings! No one like hearing info through the grapevine!

Here’s Susan:

Returning to Oz

I can’t believe it has already been 3 months since we left Squamish. It seems such a short time, yet at the same moment so long ago since we were in Canada. For those of you who don’t know my story, or should I say ‘our story’ (as we are a  family of 4 !), then let me fill you in just a little bit;

In 1992,  after traveling and working in Europe for the previous 18months … I was back in Melbourne, catching up with friends, trying to figure out where my next adventure lay … Canada! Yes, what a brilliant idea. I had 2 girlfriends that had ventured over there a year ahead of me who kept calling me telling me to join them in Whistler … and the rest is history. 19 years later I am married to a wonderful Canadian man, have 2 amazing children, had more than a couple of loving, adorable pets, the most precious June, being one that shared our lives for 15 years, and many, many unbelievable days of adventure: including such things as snowboarding, skiing, hiking, rock climbing, scrambling, ice skating, baseball, softball,whitewater rafting, kayaking, heli-boarding, back country snowboard touring, mountain biking, trail running, live music events, camping, picnics … oh, yes and co-raising our 2 fab kids. Oh yes and also I ran my own photography business, which brought it’s own series of adventures and roller coaster rides!

Now, life is pretty sweet when you read it like that, but just like everybody else, there were some challenging times thrown in there for good measure, along the way, and there have been some times when it was just plain hard….. For the last few years, as I watched my little kiddies grow before my very eyes, I got to pining to be back here in my homeland, downunder. It was one of those big game changers, the decisions that feel huge, long before and after you make them. After spending over a year of preparing to get here, getting here and now being here, life as we know it has changed. We are standing in a moment of time, each day, marvelling at simply being here.

And, yes it’s different, yes we love it, yes I feel like I have come home. But Canada holds a big piece of my heart too. The vast expanses of farmland, horizons and coastal parks that sprawl out in front of me  are a testament to the difference in where I have lived for the past 19 years and where we are now.

The sounds of so many varieties of birds! If you are a bird enthusiast, this would be a magical place to be, but be prepared for a bit of noise, at least where we live! The smells of the salt air here by the coast, as well as the eucalyptus trees after a fresh rainfall in summer. Lemon trees over producing, finding their fruit in boxes at the opp shop or street corner declaring that they are ‘free’ please take some!

The following photos are just a few moments we have shared on our nearby beach since moving here. Please enjoy and feel welcome to follow along for some more of my journey as I allow it to unfold and I share it on my blog.