Leavers!

Every society has it's own traditions and rights of passage. Some cultures mutilate their bodies with tattoos, peircings or even scars. Some undertake elaborate rituals that include dancing, meditation, chemical induced intoxication, spiritual journeys and hallucinations. The Australian right of passage can often include all of these, although, the ceremonies are generally less formal and usually include a night out of binge drinking and stumbling into a tattoo parlour. But the more common approach for young Australians entering adulthood is to go on "Leavers". This is the tradition where, upon graduation, the soon-to-be unleashed upon the world young adult has one final fling of freedom as they travels with their mates to another region or even continent. And so it is with our young men, Zaren and Cyrus, that their turn has arrived to experience "Leavers".

The expression of Leavers really is just another example of unimaginative Australian slang. It's kids going on leave upon completion of their secondary education, also known as vacation or holiday. Every year around this time, thousands of recently ex-secondary students travel near and far with their friends for one final adolescent fling of freedom before the inevitable thud of adult life arrives complete with all of it's pain-in-the-ass responsibilities.

Many Australians "Schoolies" travel to Bali, Indonesia. It's a relatively cheap flight and the cost of vacationing there is also modest. Unfortunately, what this means is that there are thousands of perpetually drunk 17 and 18 year olds in a foreign country where the regard for human life isn't necessarily at the high level that they're used to. Every year there are stories of the Bali Schoolies on Leavers (sigh) getting arrested, assaulted, injured or even killed. There are also many stories of "Toolies" (young people that are already in the blue-collar work force that graduated in previous years) crashing the parties and causing trouble. Fortunately, neither Zaren nor Cyrus are going to Bali for Leavers. Instead, they chose to go to a much closer and safer location in the south of Western Australia.

Zaren is travelling with 10 friends to the Margaret River region, which is well known for it's holidaying and wineries. They arranged to rent a cabin for a week for all of them to share. They left on the 3 hour drive yesterday.

Cyrus and Tanya (his girlfriend) have chosen to rent a camper van and travel from Perth to Busselton, Dunsborough, Margaret River, Denmark and Albany. Or in other words, basically the exact same trip that we want to do at some point. Cyrus departed this morning for a week. They may meet up with some friends during their journey.

So, for the next week we are getting a preview of life without our sons. Of course, we worry like any parents would but we know they are responsible young men and they both have a good head on their shoulders. The good news is that our grocery bill, water consumption and internet use will be drastically diminished over the next week.

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 Both Nadia and I are both employed and we are comfortable financially. We have a very comfortable living arrangement. We are still able to participate and enjoy new experiences that wouldn't be available to us in Canada. We are generally enjoying the life that Perth has to offer and we've really tried to make the most of it. That said, we are fairly certain that Perth is not our chosen destination for the next few years.

My company is being acquired by a very large international corporation that I just happened to work for once before. One of the cornerstones of that company's philosophy is a mobile workforce. The new company has offices all over the world including the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, South America, Australia and Canada. So, when the acquisition is complete I am going to try to get a transfer to the east coast of Australia, preferably Brisbane or Sydney. Brisbane is the most likely destination as it has a lot of work that would suit me. From the east coast it is much easier to travel to the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, Fiji and of course, most of the other major cities in Australia. So, if we're fortunate, perhaps in a few months we'll all be going on our own version of Leavers minus the binge drinking and stupid tattoos.