House Renovations.....still going

The house is progressing well, we have just about wrestled the garden back from Mother Nature and it only takes 5hours mowing and 3.5hours using the line trimmer to do the grass, every 5 days!

View from the front - thanks to a useful gadget on the camera.

The Canary Yellow walls are slowly being changed to something a bit more “us”. The neighbours seem very pleased with the change and have already thanked us for getting rid of the colour that they hated!

If this was a movie you would see my legs shaking – with ladder is at full 6m extension. I used the window to secure the ladder but I have a feeling that if things had gone wrong then the fall would have only been my first problem, followed immediately by the window/frame joining me on the ground!  Just as I was at full stretch, with my heart rate hitting dangerous levels,  Immi was in the lounge saying “Dad, Dad, can I have a drink”.....not now, Dad is very very busy!   

Wilson modelling his “invisible fence” collar.  After constantly leaving the property and straying across the estate we fitted this fantastic gadget. If he gets within 5m of the boundary the collar chimes, at 4m it chimes twice and at 3m he gets a “correction” via a capacitor. He’s reached the correction phase once and set a height record for his breed – similar to me hurdling our car port....... he now chooses not to stray beyond our fence .     

Weather now warming up, so BBQs from now on.

Note to self - shave legs more often.

It’s Dance Season

Just 2 weeks until the Jays Dance group Christmas show and its full costume rehearsal time. All 3 girls are in the show and doing a total of 19 dances between them! Gone are the days when we waited for 2 hours to see Katie do her 3 minute dance........but with 19 dances, we have more outfits than Les Miserables.

 Immi Sat with her friends......maybe not.

 Only 5 nights of sequin sewing - well done Sal

 Another very worrying photo for Dad 

 Its not Cling Film - its the Avatar costume

Nope, couldn't do any of those positions without pre-booking A&E.

 

Weekend in Eden + Fishing - Whats all the fuss?

Hello All, thought we’d put up a few photos of a recent weekend away to Eden with friends. It was also a chance to try fishing for the first time in Aus, although my previous experience (Crabbing in Conwy Harbour) didn’t help much.

Our friends used their camper trailer – all terrain, canvas “tardis”, with fold out BBQ, kitchen sink, annex and a dingy, boat trailer and outboard!.......the entire thing is water tight and can be submerged and the tow hitch even has a joint that allows the trailer to roll over completely without effecting the car......although, I think you are meant to stop if that happens.

Sat AM – Andrew and I swing into the local fishing tackle shop for a few tips on lauching, fishing license, bait (I’d done this before with Dad – “Le petit poison, en trape le grand poison”) to use etc etc.......now this is new world to me and these shops have absolutely everything under the sun, for catching fish or is it just stuff that makes you think that you will catch fish – does a flash reel costing $$$$$ and matching jacket / hat honestly make the fish take your hook more often?

Holly, Jack, Immi and Lilian

Off we trundle in the boat to an area about 200m off shore. Andrew shows me how to attach the weight thingy and hook / bait (my only knot – rabbit up through the hole & around the tree...wasn’t ideal) . Then we are fishing......hmm, 8 minutes gone and nothing.....not exactly dynamic is it. Andrew is casting into the distance but I have no idea how the reel works so I just opt for dropping the line over the side and “bumping” the weight on the bottom to stir up so interest........10 minutes gone and I thought I'd reel the bait in to see if it’s still on the hook........Oh my, it is on the hook but it not alone – 0.5m “flatty / shark ” (UK Dog Fish) on the line! Bit of a fuss in the boat and it’s into the cool box. I drop the line back in and do the same again twice over....forget your flash reel, matching hat and underwear, the only difference between this and the fish mongers is that I don’t get to choose dinner. Andrew is having no luck casting so we move the boat.....we settle in and I snag on a rock, no worries – pull until the line snaps and then do the “special” knots again......line drops in again,  quick drink of the cold-one (beer) and bugger, I’ve snagged another rock....OK, usual drills, pull, pull.....deep breath, pull....wow, the rock has moved....oh hang on, this is no rock.....its a stingray.....on seeing the stingray my first thought was that one of these things killed Steve Irwin so I handed the rod to Andrew and grabbed the net. Picture below – we put this beauty back. Still not sure what all the fuss is about.

Holly gives it a go..

The race lasted about an hour until they were all exhausted

Cooked the Flatties on the BBQ, I don't really like fish but they were fantastic.

The Joys of Moving House

Having been given early access to our new house for cleaning and a part move, we merrily went to the property on Tue PM with the front door key. Spent all of Wednesday cleaning and unpacking stuff, felt very organised by the end of the day and fully prepared for the truck removals on Thu morning.....what could possibly go wrong?!

2 "tanks" and 2 trailers for bit of self move before the big day. 

That evening I casually asked the agent about the rest of the keys for the property and what time we could collect on completion day.....he didn’t have any and the solicitor also had none. That meant that we could not get into 3 of the 4 doors and much of our gear would not go through the one door that we could open!......our agent chased the vendor and a finger pointing exercise started between the ex owners (now divorced).

So we woke on completion day with only one key and removal guys who would have probably driven away from our old house in an empty van if I had told them of the predicament. After a few hours of calls between agent and both solicitors, I was given the green light to call a locksmith at the vendor’s expense. So I started calling locksmiths.......did the entire yellow pages and none were available until the following day!!!!

The agent and both solicitors had read the riot act to the vendor and they had until 2.30pm to produce keys call in the locksmith. At 1PM, the truck was full and my happy removal men were blissfully aware of the problems that lay ahead. We set off to the new property, me leading with white truck men following, still no idea on the keys or a Plan B......2 minutes to go, with new house in view, my phone goes in car, it's the agent who has had a call from Mrs Vendor who states that he does not have any keys!!! But 9 months ago there used to be one under a rock next to the back door!!!!......BINGO, with are in.

Now, half way through the above, we had a "Buyers final inspection", something I had not heard about until the night before. An Aussie option to inspect the property that you are buying prior to releasing your funds and purchasing.....a bit bloody late if you ask me. However, new "potential" owners arrive at 11.30 on move day for a walk around our half empty old house, for what I thought was going to be a 15minute look to see if the tiles were still on the floor etc etc. 1hr15min later, our agent is stood with them using his Ipad to prove that the blinds in Immi's room are not included in the sale - I'm on the phone outside with my solicitor who has been called by their solicitor saying that they wish to contest the contract.....OMG! its the 11th hour and 59 minutes, the Dorsett's Worldly possessions are on a truck and the purchaser you are about to pull the plug because of a kids roman blind.......

Fortunately, I had spent some of the time during their inspection showing the new Mr 3 Myrtle the pool and a few other features / things we had left so the ice was broken between us and he came out to talk direct - blinds gifted, all sorted. Solicitors horrified that their clients had spoken directly, but a handshake was all it took.

Also, on top of all that action and in the same hour, I had a call from Optus phones saying that after 2 full months waiting our Iphone4s had arrived but we had to pick them up before 5pm or they would sell to another customer! and the flight company called to double check that we would pay for our UK flights by end of business or the price would go up......its nice to be popular.

OK, so that little debacle is over and we get on our way to the new place. On Tue we had found a lot of gear from the last owners of the new place and by a lot I mean a very large skip full – fortunately they agreed to provide a skip. At 3PM on move day a lady walks down the drive and I go to meet her, its Mrs vendor who is very emotional about seeing her Ex-house being filled....we are talking sobbing type emotional....I was mentally "full" by this stage and Sal stepped in to comfort the lady, accepted her forwarding address, agree skip size and turning her around to walk back up the drive way.

We are in the house, everything has gone through. The place is just perfect for us and we struggle to believe that it is all ours.....but looking back, move number 16 was by far the most challenging.

Immi's 5th Birthday Ski Weekend

Immi’s 5th Birthday and we took a trip to the snow for a couple of days.

Thanks to all that sent messages, cards and presents. She had a lovely day, even if we did wake her at 6AM to open them...........can’t be late for the first ski lifts.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather and conditions -no wind, little or no cloud and the best snow for several years – just fantastic.

All of the girls skiing improved so much, but Immi made the leap from “magic carpet” status to open slopes and skiing with her sisters. She was a little rocket, who after explaining how she planned to follow us safely down the mountain, quickly took the lead and had the big girls chasing with Sal and I shouting “TURN!”.....I think self preservation comes with age.

VIDEO:

The 'Big Girls' on the chair lift

VIDEO:

Immi's first ski with her sisters

Mount Kosciusko (end of Katie's finger) – the largest hill mountain in Australia (2,228meter)...about double Snowdon....still looks like a hill though.

Dam these boots!