The calendar says three weeks now and we are still getting over the reality of our decisions. Holy crap, it is paradise up here. No traffic, no traffic lights, no tolls. Parrots and whip birds greet us in the morning and we can wander into town for a lazy coffee or an ale, bloody oath!
We have a slightly weird order of priorities in our new home. So many boxes and flat packed furniture! Bed reassembled with a couple of bedside tables. Sofa unwrapped and popped back together. Telly plumbed into our new fibre broadband. A quick wander into town stocked up a few essentials like milk and a 5kg lump of local rump steak, don’t mind if we do! Pulled the sourdough starter out of the esky and gave her a feed.
Fabulous Jackie gets started on the unpacking whilst I un-flatpack tables and chairs. Every bedroom here has a built in wardrobe to swallow up the shorts and T-shirts that we need up here, just with hanging space only! Bunnings became the next stop to grab a few modular shelfie thingies to avoid any awkward T-shirt/sock/underpant confusion situations. Also purchased a couple of lights for our pickleball sized deck and some shiny new lines for washing line that looked like a demented spaghetti tree. A swift wander down the lawn mower isle added a new goat alternative for our national park sized lawn then off to the electrickery zone for a set of four downlights for the kitchen.
Washing line installed and tumble drier handsomely attached to the wall, the troublesome business of a week on the road can now be dealt with. Functioning downlights in the kitchen only revealed further items in Pandora’s infamous box. The dishwasher looked like a dish-dirtier and the cooktop like something from a uni student’s hall of residence. The Appliance Online troops solved the dishwasher issue the next day, Cerapol and Mr Scraper returned the cooktop to sanitary satisfaction levels.
Time to tackle the lawns! Slight regret here by not buying a larger grass clipping machine or a small tractor. Larger regret by attacking said task with a small hangover and 30 degree heat. The last time these lawns had seen a trim was possibly when T-Rex and his chums were feasting on vegetarians. Much of the paddock was knee deep grass and the poor little mower didn’t enjoy the experience any more than I did. Green bin stuffed full and off to pickleball in the evening for a Round Robin sesh. Chuffed AF to win at our first time of asking but wonder if that was a good idea in our new home. Too late now!
The deck lighting also revealed a new horror, so water blasting next on the agenda. Generally, decking boards have little gaps between them to allow the passage of water and small creatures. This gaff was built around 2009 and probably hasn’t seen a pressure washer. Several millimetres of black nastiness needed to be shifted before the wood re-appeared. Need to find a weather window before re-oiling this bugger.
Jackie’s little go-kart was fighting for space in the garage so that was next on the agenda. Whacked up some hooks for the garden toys, and shelf for the esky and general space consuming stuff. My spell with Coles Online also added a few handy crates for keeping stuff off the floor and the task is complete.
Hanging anything on plasterboard walls is a fun experience on a good day. Plasterboard walls in a fibro house is double the fun and so begins the game of find a joist! Mr Knuckle and Mr Drill do the homework before Mr Screwdriver and his metallic chums get involved. Mirrors up now, just a packing crate and cupboard full of paintings to find homes for.
Doorbell installed to inform us of the hoard of visitors that will never be here. Foose table up and ready to ensure that the aforementioned visitors never come. On the subject of visitors, we decided to encourage our avian chums with a small bird feeder thingy. Small being the order of the day to discourage marauding, deck eating and fly screen destroying Cockatoos. Having never seen or heard one of the Sulphur Crested pests, I was more than horrified to see the bird feeder almost horizonal whilst one of them watched his destruction from the safety of a tree. Safe however for him was in range of the jet setting on the hose. Turns out that cockatoos don’t like hosepipes, took the fu(ker three attempts before he got the message, haven’t seen him since. We now enjoy our brekky in the company of king parrots and rosellas.
Sourdough starter culture used for general brekky business, we are somehow on first name terms with the local bottle-O and the most wanted list of our new pickleball community. Found a purveyor of local mud crabs in the market. Life is good.
