It's About The Journey

“We carry our homes within us which enables us to fly.” – John Cage

We last updated the blog just before we returned to Australia for a month, after being away from ‘home’ for a year. Family, friends, summer sunshine, laughter, tears and celebrations – the best way to enjoy the land down under. It was wonderful to meet our new cousin and nephew, Charlie, and have so much fun as we always do at Burnewang. Christmas in Dongara is a blast and catching up with everyone we love so much all over Australia, really makes us appreciate all the beautiful people in our lives and how lucky we are to have them all.

And of course, never a dull moment – during this time, Rach was offered an incredible career opportunity to return to a well-respected former employer in a senior position, based in The Hague in the Netherlands. Wow, what a decision process we went through to leave an amazing company to move countries, change schools and start a new role… more on that soon.

After being back ‘home’ in Cyprus for a week, Rachel attempted a not so stylish dismount from a chin-up bar at the gym. The (rather painful) result was a dislocated (and freaky looking) elbow, with a break in it for good measure. We are now 8 weeks on with hours and hours of physio, with lots more to go to get her arm ‘back’.

Miss Lani turned 7 with an awesome birthday party at Galactica, bowling with all the kids in her class to celebrate. She also got a beautiful new guitar (and lessons), so many gorgeous gifts from her mates and heaps of new clothes (oh, and unicorn poo from Zekie).  

We also met an incredible artist who is sure to become a life-long friend, lucky for us he is amazing at tattoos! We have spent a lot of time together, allowing Chris to leave his very talented mark on us for many years to come. Photos to follow once we’ve healed up.

With our time in Cyprus drawing to a close, we set about checking out the few remaining corners of Cyprus we were yet to see. As well as this island, there was a place less than an hour’s flight away that has been on our bucket list for ever, which we just had to experience before we departed this part of the world.

Israel. Incredibly talented writers have struggled to capture in words the experience that a visit to this remarkable country instills in you. There is no chance we can do it justice in just a few words but suffice to say the experience left an imprint on all of us that will last a lifetime. As one of the cities where modern history as we know it today begins, we spent a few days exploring the old city of Jerusalem by foot, both above and below ground. There we walked within the city walls with fellow humans representing just about every culture, country, civilization and corner of the globe, all with their own agenda, ideas and beliefs, and all walking peacefully beside one another.

We visited the City of David, including Hezekiah’s (water) tunnel, visited the Western Wall, walked the Stations of the Cross marking out Jesus’ last walk to his crucifixion and saw his tomb.  So much history jammed packed into such a small area, were blown away by the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and relics from the earliest human civilization of the region from more than 7000 years ago. The Dead Sea and the desert fortress of Masada rocked our world, where the Roman’s siege of Jewish rebels came to life in our imagination. A Roman aqueduct still sitting on the beach at Caesarea, gorgeous chalk grottos at Rosh Hanikra right on the Lebanese border (complete with chatting to Israeli soldier on watch) filled our brains to exploding.

Our overnight stay in Tiberius, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee was a highlight with a tour of the Golan Heights along the border with Syria – with Israeli tanks and bunkers – the best kind of classroom! We dug up a 2200 year old rubbish dump leaning about archaeology and found bones, pottery and charcoal before heading to the Ayalon Institute with its incredible story of a clandestine underground bullet factory from 1942, showcasing Jewish chutzpah. Only an hour’s drive away from all this history is the vibrant city of Tel Aviv on the emerald Mediterranean Sea. Truly one of our favourite explorations to date, and thanks so much to Chana – we were so lucky to find a true gem of a guide, to share so much with us with such passion.

As we sit here in a packed-up house, ready to fly tomorrow in a world consumed by panic with the coronavirus outbreak, we’re reflecting on our time in Cyprus and the emotions are swirling. There is some joy in our sadness though: we are sad to be leaving this special little island, the friends we have made, the things we have learned about the world and the growth we have experienced here as a family; and the joy comes from the exciting new adventure that is just around the corner, where our new home awaits.