Saying Goodbye, and the Bindaree Regatta

Yep, I was right, 5:30 this morning came way too soon! I woke up sad, knowing that today I really did have to say goodbye to Jen and start my homeward trek. She's a sneaky girl. When I headed downstairs to use the bathroom and brush my teeth, I discovered that she'd written "Safe journey home" on the bathroom mirror in gel gems! Well, that got me all teary and I remained in the bathroom a little longer than was strictly necessary to do my business. When I went back upstairs I rewarded Jen with a punch in the arm. She and I truly have developed our own method of communication over the last eight months. :-)

The taxi came to pick us up at 6, and we were at the airport before 6:30 - mostly because our driver was a complete psycho speed demon! So after I'd gotten myself all checked in and we'd made it through security (here in OZ, non-travelers can go through the security screening at the domestic terminals and accompany you to the gate, which is great), we wandered through the terminal, looking for something to eat for breakfast. My stomach was not at all happy - I think because I was more than a little upset about having to leave. In the end Jen convinced me to take some slices of banana bread with me on the airplane, to eat a little later on.

I think that was about the point that I burst into tears and completely bawled my eyes out on Jen's shoulder. She took it well, all things considered. :-) I guess it just finally hit me that I really am heading home, and that this awesome adventure is over, and I have to go back to my so-called normal life. Sigh.

I finally managed to pull myself together and we made it to the gate. Then it was my turn to surprise Jen. Earlier this week I'd burned CD's with all our pictures from the year, and I also made a music CD of all the songs which have become our unofficial soundtrack for the year. I gave these to Jen, along with - of all things - a rubber chicken. She and I have been joking for a while now that of all the things we didn't bring with us from Canada, we really regret not bringing our rubber chickens! Ha ha! Yet more proof that the two of us are completely psychotic. So enjoy the chicken, Jen - and like my card said, use it well.

Then all too soon it was time to get on the plane and fly away. The flight to Sydney was fine, and I even splurged and bought myself a hot chocolate from the cart. (gasp) Bill picked me up at the airport and brought me back home to dump my stuff and get changed, and then he whisked me off to Bindaree, the Sutherland Shire Guides' water activities centre, where I met up with Ruth and her Guides and a whole ton of other Guide units from around the region, for the Bindaree Blitz Regatta! Well, if I was looking for something to distract me from the fact that I'd just left one of my best friends back in Melbourne and that I'm heading homewards, this was it!

The Bindaree Regatta is basically a smaller version of the HUGE Boree Regatta, which happens each October. Unfortunately Jen and I had missed attending that one, due to our busy schedules. So I was glad I got to participate in this smaller event, at least! There were about 150 girls at today's event, aged anywhere from 6 to 17 years of age. In the morning the younger girls (Gumnuts and Brownies, essentially) did the water events and the older girls did land events, and in the afternoon they switched around. I ended up working with the water activities leaders, as they were a little short-handed.

I arrived about 45 minutes late (due to my flight and getting changed and having to dig through all my stuff to find my bathing suit and all), so I wasn't all that sure what exactly was going on. But they needed more Guiders to help organize the girls and canoes and kayaks etc. at the start of each race, so I ended up helping there. The young girls' races basically had the girls paddling straight out from the beach, around a buoy, and back to the beach. This was complicated a bit by the strong current on the river (like all the rivers around Sydney, the one we were on is tidal and the tide was heading out in the morning), and the fact that many of the girls hadn't ever been in a boat before. There were two leaders out in kayaks on the river to help the girls and coach them along, and two more leaders in a powered zodiac (it's called a rubber ducky here, ha ha!) in case a rescue was needed. It was all great fun. I also got to participate in one of the races, where the youngest girls were racing each other in the canoes. Each boat had a girl in the front and a leader in the back. Ruth was really hoping I'd win that race so her unit could gain some points in the competition, but unfortunately I got wedged between two other boats and ended up in third place. Ah well!

Once the morning races were over I had just enough time to grab myself a sausage for lunch and wolf it down, and then head back over to the beach for the afternoon's older-girl races. I was asked if I would be willing to take over as one of the safety boats on the river, so of course I said yes! So I spent the afternoon paddling around in a kayak, helping the few boats which were having problems paddling, cheering everyone on, and generally having a blast. One of the afternoon races I thought was particularly cool. They sat one girl in the middle of each canoe, and then the bow and stern paddlers in the boat were blindfolded. The paddlers had to rely completely on their sighted passenger to give them directions to paddle around the course. It was so cool! What a great cooperative activity! I want to try this at Woolsey this summer.

Got back to Ruth's this evening and enjoyed a nice hot shower to get rid of the salt and the river smell. Carroll came over and joined us for dinner, and now the two of them are relaxing in the living room, eating chocolate and watching TV. It's about time I went and joined them. More tomorrow!