Prologue & August
We said goodbye (for now) to our friends and family in Melbourne which had been our home for the last 4 years. Packed up all of our possessions and belongings (mainly Marlee's outdoor gear), loaded it up into our ute and sailed over Bass Strait.
We had a lovely month in Tassie, Marlee's family squeezed in a visit, we went on lot's of mtb rides, did some farm work (much to marlee's delight).
We even squeezed in a multi-day hike. Marlee was very excited to see some snow still up there as unfortunately Tassie had another sad winter.
That month went way too fast and before we could believe it we were packing our bags for Sweden and saying our goodbyes.
We snuck in a week in Melbourne catching up with friends and family one last time. Lil had a busy social calendar and Marlee spent the entire week working out how to squeeze his bike into a box and not tip over the scales with his luggage allowance - more gear left in Melbourne much to Marlee's dismay.
Before we knew it our friends were dropping us off at the airport and we were checking in to our flights. Sitting in the terminal with bags checked in, a long flight awaited us, but we were giddy with excitement.
34ish hours later we touched down in Gothenburg, it was a beautiful airport, quiet, with lots of windows showing off the forest we were surrounded by. A nice change from the hustle and bustle of the last day and half in transit.
We had a week in an Airbnb before getting the keys to our studio apartment. The warm weather was perfect after coming straight from a frosty Tassie winter.
After adjusting to the new timezone we spent the next few days exploring the city, having lunch in the gardens, visiting the markets and swimming in as many bodies of water as we could.... to which there are a lot. Swedes love their swimming.
We took a ferry to the southern archipelago off Gothenburg and visited one of the car-free islands for the day. It was really cool to see all of the old buildings, fishing boats and gorgeous beaches. Living here would be a very different way of life.
We got the keys last Friday to our apartment and have spent the last few days getting it setup. Lil was very excited to go op-shopping and did extremely well finding all sorts of bargains. Marls was most excited for an excuse to go to the motherland - IKEA, we spent the afternoon there sampling Köttbullar (meatballs) where we decided they taste better here, and walked through the showroom floors marvelling at Swedish ingenuity.
There has been some gorgeous hot weather here. We are lucky to have a huge freshwater lake a 15mins stroll away and have been spending most afternoons and evenings down there to cool off and enjoy the warm weather.
Lil bought a new bike the other day. We had a funny interaction with a lovely guy who does up 90s MTB's and sells them on facebook. Lil managed to convince the man to swap the bars for some wider ones and add a pannier rack on too, all for the same price. Marlee focused on not buying another bike from the beautiful collection. We are both looking forward to doing some bikepacking and hiking together before it gets too cold and we inevitably swap our hiking boots for ski boots!
