I’d originally started writing this post on the 5th of June which was my last day on the road in the Second Act, but never got around to posting it until now, which happens to be my first day on the road of the Third Act.

Now, like then, I’m currently camped on the banks of the Murrumbidgee river at Gundagai and just like the river before me I have cause to reflect.

The Second Act was quite different to the First, just as I know the Third will be different again. According to dramatic tradition the Third Act is about resolution…we’ll have to see about that.

But first things first, when I started this post I was going to reflect on my time spent south, which admittedly seems a long time ago now, with all that happened since then.

There were many highlights including my visits to Montague and Gabo Islands, my time spent at Bermagui, Tathra, Mallacoota, Wilsons Promontory, Flinders and Cape Schank. Then there was the wild ride across Bass Strait and some memorable places in Tasmania including Eddystone Point, Binalong Bay, Cape Hauy, Cockle Creek and the The Road to Nowhere through the Tarkine and along the wild west coast which led me to one of my favourite places, Marrawah, and the inappropriately named Cape Grim.

Apart from the lighthouses there were the people, friends old and new, who added so much to the experience. Spending a few days with my family in Milton before we each headed off in different directions was a very special time. Then there was Donna at Huskisson, Raj in Berry, Matt in Milton, Kevin & family at Breezy Brae, Roland & Linda at “Ness”, Andrew on Gabo Island, Frenchy and Reinhard at Mallacoota, Drew in Portsea, Howard at Yellingbo, Richard and Vesna in Melbourne, the Hutchings in Geelong, Jose in Launceston, Mick at Bicheno, Simon and Sacha at Clifton, Shalom at Sandy Bay, Peter at Cockle Creek, Jimmy and Gary “the Wog” at Dover, The Pieman at Corinna, Michelle & Mark at the Marrawah Inn and a chance to catch up with Sam from Prince of Wales Island now in Seymour!

Thinking back perhaps I had too much fun and didn’t get to do the contemplative stuff that I was expecting but there were some somber moments, reminders that we need to make every day count.

As much as I enjoyed my time in Tasmania there does seem to be a darker side, a shadow, a kind of sadness and resignation that seems to hang over the place, in stark contrast to the it’s wild and pristine nature. Maybe it’s best summed up by the MONA exhibition I was lucky enough to be shocked by, a tribute to Sex and Death!

So that was then and this is now.

It’s strange, when I was here last time, on my way home, I was excited by what lay ahead, reuniting with my family and an upcoming trip to South America, and I was in high spirits from what I’d just finished, it had been a great adventure, interesting and a lot of fun.

This time it feels different. I should be excited but I feel a bit apprehensive and I don’t know why.

It feels like “sliding doors”, our son arrived back from Europe a few weeks ago and our daughter last Friday and no sooner than we were all together, than I’m heading off on my own again. Not only that, but I was 69 last time I was here and I’m 70 now, and while that in itself is no big deal it does make you think about where you’re at in your life, and what’s important to you!

As I sit here watching the Murrumbidgee gently flowing past me I’m reminded that this place has a special significance in my life. It was here, in March 2000 that I made one of the biggest decisions on my life, the decision to return to Australia after living overseas for the previous 10 years. I was living in London at the time and had reached a point where I had to decide where to make my future. To be honest I was probably leaning towards the UK but driving down that long decent into Gundagai, past the dog on the tucker box, with the sun setting over the distant hills and crossing that old man river, my personal Rubicon – I knew I was home, I’m an Australian and always will be!

As it turned out that was one of the best decisions I ever made because not long after I made it my wife and I got together and the rest is history.

So this place has a special resonance for me, it’s quintessentially Australian and making this connection added to the poignancy of being here now and I understood that while I was sorry to be leaving my family I was grateful that they would always be at the centre of my life.

The other slightly melancholy feeling I had was around clocking up another decade but I consoled myself by knowing it was far better than the alternative and should be celebrated. So I called few other old codgers I went to school with and suggested we mark our three score years and ten by having a joint birthday party at the end of the year and that it should have a ’70’s theme to it, after all it was a great decade for music and fashion. So with that thought I cranked Max up and let Evie, Creedence, Gladys, Bowie, the Easybeats, Stones and Eagles power me on my way.

The mist had lifted and I could see clearly now! I was back on the road again, next stop Melbourne!