Goodbye, Hello

Saying goodbye to good friends is never an easy task. It’s not like I’ve just come in through the bathroom window: I know how this sort of thing works. I’ve made some truly fantastic friends in my time in both Brisbane and Canberra, and had to say goodbye to all of them at some stage. It’s hard. Despite being told ‘don’t let me down’, or ‘don’t pass me by’ by close friends, I’ve done exactly that. Heck, one friend even screamed ‘get back!’ at me while I ran helter skelter to a plane I was about to miss. Of course I didn’t miss it: I had a ticket to ride.

Fiji is a little different in some respects because complete strangers have been thrown together in a volunteer program and told to play nice whilst saving the world. In some ways it's good: you have an instant community of similarly-aged expats to hang with. But there's also a danger of being trapped with people you'd rather not connect with on, well, any level. The people in the program could easily have been a march of the meanies, and led to lonesome tears in my eyes. Fortunately, the opposite is true. The people here are, on the whole, fantastic, and I would never dream of setting fire to this lot. I know, without a doubt, that any and all of them would lend me their comb if I really needed it, and if that’s not a true sign of friendship, I don’t know what is.

We’ve come together as mates, a motley assortment of personalities that just seem to gel. There’s Lucy (who’s tricky to hang with because she’s in the sky, but she does have diamonds); Carol; the ever-depressed Eleanor Rigby; lovely Rita; Clarabella; the dizzy Miss Lizzy; Lady Madonna; sexy Sadie; Julia; long tall Sally; Maggie May; and of course my Bonnie. And Polythene Pam (my personal favourite). And that’s just the girls. Yesterday we had a BBQ in the Octopus’s Garden with the blokes: Sargeant Pepper; Teddy Boy; Maxwell (who always brings a ridiculous silver hammer everywhere he goes); Johnny B. Goode; and some other guy. Hey, Jude just walked by. I can’t believe I forgot about him. And before you say anything, yes, we do have some weird nicknames for each other over here. Even me. In Fiji, I am the Walrus.

If Canberra taught me anything (apart from learning to twist and shout to prevent hypothermia), it’s that all you need is love saying goodbye is a normal part of life. In a transient population like Canberra’s, friendships are always fluid and you generally meet new people as often as old people leave for greener/warmer/better pastures. Living in Fiji as a volunteer is much the same. Except of course for the fact that the mailman brings me no more blues. Or much of anything, really. The fact is, a new group of volunteers arrive every three to six months, and existing groups leave with the same frequency. Sometimes I wish it would all just slow down: I’ve been here just on two months now and already individual members of an older intake have begun to run for their life back to Australia. It’s more than a little sad to see these friends go. Even my guitar gently weeps (mostly because in a couple of weeks we’ll be two band members down) at the thought of our little community slowly disappearing. Then again, soon we’ll have brand new volunteers arriving from across the sea of monsters. Thus the long and winding road continues.

Like being a paperback writer, it can often be a hard day’s night persevering with friendships when those friends no longer inhabit the same city or country as you. Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort from all parties. I’d like to think I will remain friends with most of the people I’ve met here even if they moved across the universe. And anyway, the fact that these new-found friends live all around Australia and can thus provide free accommodation is quite a nice sweetener. Of course, this doesn’t always work, and sometimes you just have to let it be. Especially if they won’t leave your kitten alone.

The person who finds the correct number of Beatles song titles (you didn’t just realise did you? Oh! Darling….well, you’re not guilty of anything but needing help!) in this post wins my respect and admiration. If you would please please me by letting me know said number, I’d appreciate it. You know me, I get by with a little help from my friends.

Oh, and Yellow Submarine.