I have left Melbourne. Goodbye Mum and Dad, goodbye Ben. Goodbye friends and family. Farewell ex-colleagues. See you for now, my loved ones.

There are plenty of things I’ll be missing. Where do I even begin to tell you about the people and places that I will miss? Before I left, I stood at nightfall on Princes Bridge and soaked in as much Melbourne as I could. I watched the cars hurtling alongside trundling trams on St Kilda road and the whir of cyclists eager to return home to escape the cold rush of wind against their faces. My favourite bar “New Gold Mountain” tucked away in a Melbourne laneway which my friends and I have affectionately renamed “21”. Having tea with my dearest of friends at the Hopetoun Tearooms, attempting to pre-empt the taste of my travels-to-be with “Fiji” flavoured tea.

I’ll miss the dinnertime “conversations” with my family. We tend to talk AT each other rather than partaking in any constructive or reflective discussion. I talk at Ben. Mum nags at me. I talk back to mum. Ben lectures mum. And any remaining ears will hear Dad’s complaints about the day. Extended family dinners will also be missed. Our last gathering for my farewell saw us feasting on an extensive nasi-lemak. My extended family always manage to produce dinners that would be sufficient to solve world hunger.

Strangely enough, I think I’m going to miss working with the doddery aged clients in Melbourne Hospitals. There’s always a great story to tell when you’ve worked in Aged Care. For instance, let me tell you about Mr L. There I was in the middle of transferring Mr L. He was strapped to the “foolproof” standing machine with one broken arm across his belly and the mother of all slings around his waist. As the standing machine levitated his bottom into the air, his anxiety got the better of him. He began yelling out:

“My arm!! I can’t put my arm anywhere!!!!”.

My exasperated response: “Well that’s because your arm’s in a sling…”

Whilst this barrage of verbalised anxiety came at me from Mr L’s direction, a neighbouring patient came wandering into Mr L’s room. He came shuffling towards myself and Mr L. Shuffling completely stark naked. Naturally I froze in my tracks and uttered a feeble “Help?”. Long live code nude.

And lastly – Chocolate. My staple diet will either send me broke in Fiji or leave me standing in a shop in Suva with a nervous tick in my body as I stare longingly at the $20 block of Cadbury.

Today has finally come. See you later, Melbourne.