Family Dinner

Over seven years ago, I lived in Broome WA; I loved Broome I can remember me and my sister spending hours on Cable Beach. Cable beach had pristine white sand, crystal clear water and amazing sunsets. Dad used to take us camping on the beach and we would build sandcastles together and look in all the rock pools. Another experience I can remember is the staircase to the moon, everyone would pile on the shores of Roebuck Bay and watch the full moon reflecting off the tidal flats of the bay. To a Grade 2 student, life could not get any better. That was until one life-changing day. My Mom and Dad sat me and my older sister down at the kitchen table and told us that my Dad had been offered a job in Queensland. We would be moving to Atherton as soon as we could sell our house. I was shocked; they had given no warning whatsoever. It took a minute for the words to sink in, and then I sat in quiet disbelief while Mum reassured me. She explained that my family lived in Atherton and I would have all my cousins there.

The next few months were a blur of constant cleaning in order to keep the house presentable for potential buyers and saying goodbye to close friends, I begged my mum if we could bring my dog, Jack over with us but she kept saying no. My dad was living on the Tablelands already, I remember crying because I missed him, and my mom was stressed over leaving home. When moving day arrived, I did not even think about the fact that I would never be walking into my home again; all I could think about was leaving Jack behind.

Arriving in Atherton was one of the scariest most nerve-wracking times I have been through, everything was different. I went from a town surrounded by flat dry land and suddenly there were lively green mountains and cane fields lining the roads home. We pulled into my nannas house and my whole family was there awaiting our arrival. I’d only ever met my cousins, aunties and uncles a few times but mum had told me so much about them.