One of the downsides of physics research can be the unpredictable nature of the funding. While there are plenty of instances where physics research can almost immediately be made into a commercial product (thus justifying its value in the minds of some, I’m sure), there are many others where the research is ‘pure’ or with such a long term before its intended payoff that, really, the only moneyed interest is a government.

Our return to Australia was on the basis of a fixed contract, as part of a defined project. And while it has been extended on a couple of occasions, the short of it is, there isn’t sufficient on-going funding. This isn’t news to me — nor should it be to anyone in Australia with an inkling of the system here — but we had initially hoped that it would parlay into something more permanent. After all, you never quite know how things will pan out or where you’ll end up!

During the past year, I’ve come to the understanding, with my position and skill set, that it would either be not physics or not Australia. Since we had bought a house and were generally living a good life, I spent considerable time pondering ‘not physics’. Teaching secondary school, a role in IT, patent attorney, physics outreach, and technology transfer were some of the opportunities I considered and pursued. And while I have no problem with working your way up from the bottom the couple I thought I would quite enjoy doing meant extra schooling and a significant cut in initial pay. So, though money has never been a main motivator for me, I did still have children to support and they don’t get any cheaper as they get older.

As per my usual technique when I’m looking for employment, I told anyone and everyone. I’ve found offers often seem to come in the most serendipitous way when you are really chasing them down and this time was no exception. A 10 minute conversation with a collaborator of a colleague, who used my office during a short-term stay, meant he passed my resumé and relevant publications onto his colleagues in a different area of where he worked. They had a job advertised that had slipped through my searches. A call in January asked me if I was interested in pursuing a position with them. At this time, through other channels and means, I already had two other offers and so, eventually, it came down to three places that wanted to employ me for the skills I already had. To be sure, a nice position to be in, though not one of them was in reasonable commuting distance of our house.

The decision to move back to the US — and San Diego is not a bad place to end up — was the most difficult one of all our moves. There was a lot of discussion, negotiation, and a few conditions put in place. And even though I believe it was the best long term choice and we’ve done it three times before, it won’t make the move really any easier. I do think, however, that it will likely be our last for some time.

Every once in a blue moon I manage to organise enough time to be able to take the motorbike out on a ride purely for pleasure. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty enjoyable way to get to work but it’s a whole other level of enjoyment to ride through some scenic country. Possibly because there isn’t a day of work waiting for you at the other end.

In any case, as a follow on to enjoying some of the country surrounding Canberra I decided a ride was in order. The decision was made easier after getting to know Nick, who has a 2003 Harley-Davidson Road Glide and a wife that loves being chauffeured around on it. Being the easy-going people they are they left it to me to pick the route and, since it had been a while, a ride out around Tidbinbilla seemed a good pick. After meeting up with Nick and his better half, then fueling up, we headed out to see the scenery as you only really can on a motorcycle.

Getting through the valleys I came across the road to Gibralter Falls. Being in lead I made the ‘executive decision’ to take a detour. After all, we were in no rush and I hadn’t seen them before. Pulling up on the side road, I failed to get my bike’s side stand down in time — an unfortunate combination of thinking about something else and jeans’ leg catching on the stand itself — and so Nick and Co. pulled up just in time to see me land on my butt with the bike coming a close second. Getting the bike upright was not that much trouble. The hassle came when I tried to gently straighten the now bent clutch lever. For the record, cast aluminium only has a few bend corrections in it and I guess they’d already been used up — the bike has definitely been dropped before, once by me, a low impact one, but at least one other, big drop.

So there I am, Saturday afternoon[1] and a number of kilometres from home, with an essentially unrideable motorcycle. Fortunately, not so far that the mobile phone didn’t have some coverage. Calling my ever reliable brother-in-law netted phone numbers for two motorcycle shops. First one was closed and the second one answered, despite having supposedly closed an hour earlier. The proprietor was very helpful; identifying exactly the correct part, double checking the one he had was right, taking my credit card details ($15!) and leaving it in a convenient power meter box on the outside of his shop for me to collect.

Missing clutch levers don’t do anyone any favours. Nick the Ferryman returns to help out.

So, Nick dropped his wife off at the falls themselves (only another 7km down the road) and gave me a lift back to town to collect the replacement lever. We dropped his Harley off and came back in his car, just to give ourselves a bit of back up if the new lever didn’t pan out as planned. I have to say, the ride on the Harley was quite an experience. I’ve ridden a high performance, custom Harley around a parking lot in the US — also an experience! — but getting chauffeured around on the mobile lounge room that is a Road Glide was something else.

In the end, the clutch lever fit was about 30 seconds and I joined them up at the falls a few minutes later. By this time the sun was setting, making for a pleasant twilight experience at the free flowing falls. Not exactly what we had planned but I think it worked out well in the end. Kudos to Nick’s wife for waiting patiently at the falls while we went back to town and double kudos to that ever reliable brother-in-law who also picked up Mara from ballet when it became apparent I would not make it back in time.

Despite the delay, the place and it’s view were worth it.

[1] For those readers in the US who are unfamiliar with typical Australian customs, many shops, barring the biggest of retailers, usually close around lunchtime Saturday. I guess they value their lifestyle over the money I may want to give them.

It always feels like a major logistical exercise to get the whole family and carefully chosen belongings from one continent to the next but it is such a great feeling to finally arrive and be met by good friends and family. Even tired and in a new time zone the relief is noticeable. Though the flights from Los Angeles to Canberra are not the longest trip we have taken — Brisbane to Singapore to Amsterdam to Jülich totalled 24 hours of actual travel time from airplane door to house door, not counting any layovers or stops — they are long enough to give one that awake-and-functioning-at-3am feeling. As we’ve said before, the children really are excellent travellers, handling the trip very well and now some are older getting fifteen suitcases through the various airports wasn’t as hard as it might have been.

Though (Because?) he is tired after the flight into Sydney, Micah insists on pulling his own bag through a busy terminal.

Unlike previous moves, we had actually already purchased a suitable van before we arrived — many thanks to Gaynor’s father for his excellent car hunting and repairing skills. Because of it’s shape, family members had dubbed it the Fat Green Wombat. Consequently, we had an 8-seater to get us home from the airport, along with friends and families’ cars, and by ‘home’ here we mean Tamara and Troy’s recently completed lovely, new house. They had already generously agreed to a 160% increase in their household size while we found a place of our own. Considering the cousins had never really spent much time in each other’s company and being thrown in such close quarters for extended periods, they all got along as if they were old friends.

Having the Fat Green Wombat also meant we were able to easily get out and about house hunting. We knew the rental market would be tough — we even made an application to rent before we left the US — but it still took us a solid month to have an application accepted[1]. Even though the house is the upper end of what we felt we could afford, it is in a pretty good location, easy walking distance to a good set of shops and bus stops, and is fairly large. At least it seemed large when we walked through it and didn’t have much furniture to put in it. We’ll see how long it feels that way 🙂

Our plan (and hard work) to pack up, leave the house in California and ship our things before Christmas paid off with most[2] of our stuff arriving about two weeks after we moved into the new place. Again, it is like Christmas all over again but you are opening the old and familiar, the known and loved. And because these objects have survived (most of them) moving, now literally, around the world you know they are things we really want to keep. That makes it even more enjoyable. 🙂 So, once again, we have the essentials and will work on replacing a few more of the nicer, but less essential, items over the next several months. Oh, and double thumbs up to Tamara who did a great job of picking up or saving items like dining table and chairs, mattresses and beds, kitchen equipment and even a television to mean that we had many things from the start. Thanks also to some new friends who felt they could donate a no longer needed washing machine (front loader and large — perfect!) and a single bed.

Finally, even though the Fat Green Wombat is great to get us all around, I decided another motorcycle would fit my daily commuting bill nicely. I mean, being the slave to financial rationalism that I am, it only makes economic sense![3]

Back on a bike — a 1985 GSX 750 S Katana — with a few minor things to do but she goes fine.

[1] Technically, we were accepted to rent a house that was not in an area we really wanted to live and wasn’t available until March. We applied because we were feeling pressure to find something. In the end, Gaynor took a gamble that we would find something sooner and in our preferred area and she was right (though a bit more stressful at times).

[2] Unfortunately, at least two boxes and half our chairs didn’t make it. The shipping company said we could fill out an insurance claim but the deductible is basically the replacement cost and the monetary value of some of the lost goods is much less than the sentimental value. Gaynor is not happy. Oh, and when I say ‘half our chairs’ I don’t mean ‘half the number of chair’ I mean, since the chairs were disassembled for shipping, the back half of the dining chairs didn’t make it. So now we have 8 seats and pairs of front legs. I guess I’ll make them into a dining bench or some such thing.

[3] Yes, I already know how dangerous they are — I have clocked over eleven years as a daily rider, a number of them on the gnarly southern Californian freeways — but I do appreciate your concern. Seriously.

Having been officially homeless since a little before Christmas, we’ve relied on the generosity of family and friends to keep a roof over our heads. Though we discussed many possible exit strategies — having to balance such things as the actual departure date, remaining commitments at work, when to ship household items, what shouldn’t be shipped as it would be needed and when and how to sell four vehicles — it always turns out a bit crazy in the end.

Since we had planned for some time to spend Christmas with family in Utah and, given that it would take two to three months for our household goods to be shipped to Australia, we thought it a good idea to move out before Christmas. And that’s about when it became a bit busy. Gaynor and the children drove up a few days before the closing date for the house, leaving myself and a number of volunteering friends to ship, sell, give-away, donate or discard what remained of our possessions, as well as to clean and make minor repairs to the house. I never would have made the deadline were it not for those very good friends who pitched in when it was needed the most and to them I extend my gratitude once again.

After weeks of selling and giving away over half our worldy possessions, what remains is filed for future archeologists.

I flew up to Utah on Christmas Eve to join the family and had a wonderful time over that break, especially since I didn’t have to get rid of anything else, enjoying time with Martin and his lovely family. Gaynor and the children, with the exception of Elijah, sojourned in sunny, snowy Utah for the month following while I returned to southern California in the New Year for the last few weeks of work. The children really got on very well with their cousins and Gaynor kept her sanity by crocheting and cooking. Stacie was pleased to have her own personal cook and highlights of the stay included ice skating with the Parkers, bowling with Erin and spending time again with Donovan. Meanwhile, Elijah had worked on convincing his parents that he desperately needed to spend more time with his friends in southern California before settling across the Pacific and, with plenty of good people willing to take him off our hands and some to drive him back down, we relented with a few specific instructions designed to ease the stay.

After what seemed like ages but at the same time passed very quickly, Gaynor and the children, with Joshua doing most of the driving, travelled back down to California for a few more days before flying out from Los Angeles. We’re grateful to our close friends who not only provided places to stay for us and our belongings but also decided to throw us a farewell party. It was lovely to see good friends one more time, for what might be a while, and to receive and give well wishes. Of course, they may have also been looking forward to the even bigger party that was sure to be thrown just after we left. In these days of web logs, Facebook, email and Skype staying in touch is far, far easier that ever before — so no excuses people! — but we’ll still greatly miss the times spent in the company of fine friends.

A final photo with our good friends who came along to make sure we left the country — they even provided the required convoy of vehicles to the airport, just to be extra certain. Thanks!

Even though the trip was a little while ago now, I still want to post about it, if nothing else to keep up the facade that we travel a lot. The trip up itself was fairly uneventful, stopping overnight in Redding, northern California before pressing on to visit, and stay overnight with, some friends outside of Seattle. Portland, Oregon became our least favourite city due to a horrendous traffic back-up through the city. We even ended up getting off the highway for a bite to eat just to let it die down a bit. We were going about as fast as the restaurant anyway.

The next day saw the border crossing into Canada — relatively trouble free except for some errant apples. Gaynor seems to take it a little personally when she has offending food. To be fair, there wasn’t much warning fruit would be a problem. The weather driving into Vancouver was lovely — the city itself is set in a spectacular locale — and would prove to be one of the few sunny spots of our stay. Since we only really had one shot at the interview at the consulate we went to check things beforehand.

Near the US Consulate and, despite being pressed for time, we still managed to stop and pretend we were in a movie.

The interview at the consulate went fairly well the next day, especially since I did not have a complete set of paperwork. I have to say, the US Department of State is one of the more efficient, helpful and reasonable vestiges of US bureaucracy. They gave me time to organise what couldn’t be done before the trip, due to another less efficient US government department, with no need to schedule another appointment or to bring everyone back in. We hit the Vancouver Public Library so I could have some internet access back to my work to try and sort it out and everyone made the most of the unexpected delay.

Gaynor likes to keep her reading current.

Eventually, the paperwork was sorted and I returned the next day to finalise everything. One of the aspects to renewing a visa out of the country is that it must be approved before you can re-enter. So if you are on some kind of schedule, there is always a bit of angst over whether it will be approved and delivered in a timely fashion. In our case, the member of staff was very helpful even suggesting they could complete the visa in shorter time if needed. Indeed, the visas were ready for pick-up on time on the Friday.

So with the business of visas out of the way, we had time to spend relaxing in Vancouver. We took in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, a walk through gorgeous scenery, a ferry trip out to Bowen Island, a visit to the medal ceremony area for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and lunch in Stanley Park.

Of course, sometimes travelling coincides with birthdays — Elijah’s in this case — and we do the best we can with what is at hand. He picked the restaurant and the birthday ‘cake’ and his ever-helpful sisters provided the finger candles. He’s the kind of young man who patiently learns new things at museums so he can experience the sporting thrill of something like the Olympic staging area.

And then, with visas in hand, we headed south. The border crossing back into the US was more arduous with quite a long wait to be seen and then an hour of processing time. Seven people (Micah had a free pass), including fingerprinting of the older ones, just takes some time I guess. We stopped in central Oregon overnight and took the opportunity the next day to experience some of the famed Oregon outdoors with a hike to some natural hot springs. Incredibly scenic, wonderfully peaceful and deservedly relaxing.

Finally, we pressed on to visit our good friends in San Jose for a day or so, including Memorial Day. A trip to one of their favourite parks was a highlight for the younger children, especially the miniature steam train for Micah and the carousel for Bryna.

Micah had a great time waving good bye to people and hearing the train blow its whistle.

Bryna always seems to know where the camera is.

So we counted the trip as successful — a long drive but some new things to seen and done. We can highly recommend Vancouver as a destination — clean, interesting and a fabulous natural location — even if you don’t need to visit the US Consulate (which was at least one of those things).

You can check out all the photos of the trip on our Flickr page.

Though the length of our stay here in the US is as yet unknown we don’t want the children to lose touch with the other cultures they have been growing up in. So to that end, we are sending Elijah back to Canberra for his summer holidays and Joshua back to Germany for most of his. Elijah is specifically going back to play rugby with his old club since the coaching and opportunities here are lower and fewer[1]. Joshua is largely going because we are awesome parents.

Of course, for us it isn’t as simple as ponying up a pile of cash for the airline tickets. Our entry visas to the US have expired and — though our immigration status is perfectly legal — must be renewed before the boys will be allowed to re-enter the US after departure. Somewhat inconveniently, one must leave the country and re-apply for the visas at a US Consulate. Even though Mexico is only a couple of hours away, we’ve decided to head the opposite direction and will visit the consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia. The decision is primarily for processing time — Tijuana typically takes nine days and Vancouver two — since one must stay out of the country until the visa is processed. Though we certainly would like to visit Mexico at some time in the future, it just doesn’t work at this stage.

So we are treating the 4400km (2700 miles) round-trip — roughly Port Macquarie to Cairns and back again[2] — as this year’s family summer holiday. If all goes to plan, we should have a few days in Vancouver with little to do but enjoy it. In addition, we’ll also get to stop in and see a few friends on the way up and back.

Now all I have to do it make sure the van is up to the task …

[1] I should know, having just finished as Head Coach of the boys’ club.
[2] Or for our European friends, Amsterdam to Lisbon and back again.

One of the ironic exchanges made for us when moving to the US from Europe was the vast improvement in weather coupled with a vast reduction in work holidays in which to enjoy said weather. So it was with a fair bit of anticipation that we organised a couple of weeks away.

There had been an intention to make it all the way up the west coast to Vancouver and renew our entry visas. In the end, a lack of available appointments at the US Consulate in Vancouver meant that the focus of the trip shifted to relaxing with a bit of sightseeing. Northern California was still on the radar starting with a few days — including the Fourth of July — with some good friends in San Jose. During those days we made our second trip into San Francisco with Gaynor desperate to hunt down some `decent Chinese food’. Apart from the House of Nanking, sights included Coit Tower and rides on the cable car. The cable car was fun but seems mostly for tourists as the waits to get on were fairly lengthy.

So after the hospitality of San Jose we headed north-west to camp and relax. Basically days of doing nothing but eating, sleeping, reading, talking and running amok. We did rouse ourselves for a day trip into Sacramento — nice but a return visit probably isn’t necessary — and another day in Yosemite National Park — popular, spectacular and well worth going back!

The trip back through the San Joaquin Valley was a bit warm, especially without air conditioning in the van. I believe the high was 41C (106F) and the children coped with it very well using cooler packs and spray bottles to keep themselves from over-heating. Micah was a pretty fair traveller and we arrived home just on his first birthday.

More photos from this trip on Flickr.