parting is such sweet sorrow - Australia to Nairobi...

The last week or so in Australia was a veritable blur to be honest. To try and detract from the stresses that come with packing and repacking my case, wondering when my passport would arrive (with my visa stamped in) and really taking time to consider what I was about to embark on, J and I spent the last weekend on a 2 day/2night dive trip out to Moreton Bay Marine Park to do one of the things we love most, being under the sea .




It was the perfect way to celebrate my final weekend in Oz.



Highlights were definetely seeing so many colourful, different nudibranchs (sea slugs) and a wonderfully close encounter with a fat 3meter grey nurse shark (J's face was priceless as he looked up from taking a photograph to see it idly swimming a couple of meters from him).




Back home and everything still managed to get done, the bag got packed, the passport arrived and all of those last minute 'bits' were purchased and I was 2 days less stressed then I would have been.




Departure day wasn't quite the traumatic event I had imagined. In fact there was surprisingly few tears (helped by the fact that I met up with one of my fellow volunteers at the airport along with her family). However it felt strange to be leaving for such a great adventure without J.

The first flight of 14 hours passed relatively quickly and in Dubai all four of the volunteers being placed were reunited for the final flight from Dubai to Nairobi. I was rather surprised to discover that I was the only one among us who had remotely adhered to the official baggage allowance limits and even more surprised that the award for most baggage went to the only male among us!

Formalities at Nairobi airport went smoothly and we exited as one large cluster of luggage to be greeted by our regional representative and a nice minibus to whisk us through the busy streets of Nairobi to our hotel where we were to spend the next week 'in country training'.




What followed was days of fairly intense information overload from security experts, medical advisors, Swahili lessons, meeting volunteers and various people in positions of authority. It was good to have such a packed program, but that first Tusker beer at the end of a long day was always savoured.



Wednesday was most definetly our reward day, with a visit to Nairboi National Park in the morning. The park is quite bizarre in that it is so close to the town that you find yourself taking photographs of wild animals going about their daily business but with skyscrapers as a backdrop!



The animals did not seem to be the least bit disturbed by their urban surroundings and we were treated to lion, zebra, rhino, giraffe, ostrich and all manner of horned beast (which I will eventually learn to distinguish).




Apparently the park is partly fenced (the City side), but open at the 'other' side to allow the migrating animals freedom to move as they please.





After our mini-safari we were taken into town to embark on an 'Amazing Race' style scavenger hunt, each of us being teamed up with a volunteer from the Nairobi branch office. It was a wonderful way to see parts of the City and also get to know a local volunteer




Everyone had lots of fun and we were able to end the fantastic day with a visit to a wonderful Ethiopian retaurant to share trays of delicious food served on injera (a spongy flatbread).




By the time Friday came around I was excited to be leaving our 'hotel bubble' and get to my new home town. In the morning a driver came to collect myself and my regional representative who was accompanying me and we left for the four and a half hour drive to my new home.