Crazy Days and Flooded Rivers

Up into the car park and around the park

With all the rain the rivers are flooded and overflowing and have caused damage for a number of people, but here we are fine, and I've only had one day where I've been unable to get to work due to flood waters across the main road to Wangaratta. The Murray River has flooded its banks and the walking track is under water, as is the jetty and half the car park leading to the flooded boat ramp.

The Jetty a couple of days before it went under

 
 
 
 
 

The swans with babies before the floods got right up

Jetty and picnic tables under

 

Rather, its been other craziness that has been keeping me away from writing my blog.  After

getting so sick I found I'd lost all interest in anything craft wise and it hasn't been until this week that I finally picked up my knitting needles to finish off this 3/4 sleeve jumper "Bear River", another Laura Aylor pattern.  At the time, I was happy with the length, but after wearing it the other morning I'm wondering if I should have made it just a tad longer??


With Friday Night with Friends suddenly upon us, I thought I might sit down and do some stitching of one sort or another - seems all I have managed to do is tidy up the craft cabin and work out what birthday gifts now need to get done before its Christmas!!!  I really need to get that side of things moving along!  I have managed to get a couple of dishcloths made for a friend to send off with a letter to her ....... hope they helped you Lyn to be able to see the difference with the types of cottons.

When Pete and I returned from the wedding in Brisbane, Dad had decided he definitely wanted to return to Brisbane and had made enquiries about a serviced unit in Janoah Gardens (a retirement village in his old stomping grounds of years ago - it even sits on land that once upon a time Dad's family had a small farm holding on!)  So once over the flu, I was busy getting his unit placed onto the market and beginning all that comes with

Maryborough Marina - tide out

that ........ its now looking quite promising that it may be sold - so fingers crossed!!

With that knowledge and the recent one day adventure to Maryborough and Hervey Bay with our friends whilst up for the wedding - Pete came home from work a couple weeks after our return and stated he is pretty close to ready to retire!!  Now that could mean a couple of months or another year or two and is dependant on a number of things that need to fall into place.  Mortgages, particularly of the larger type, are not something one can retire with when there is little to no superannuation to pay them out.  We had agreed we would stay here and continue to work to enable Dad to be able to move down to be closer to us, but with him keen to move back to an area he knows better and to have the care he may need in the next couple of years (which we cannot provide if we still have to be working), we are now "free" to be able to make other viable decisions for our "where to next" chapter of life. 



View from The Ridges Motel Room at Sydney Airport

So with some secret squirrel business and the help of a convenient long weekend, we decided to take a plane trip back up to Maryborough to take a look at some of the houses up there.  We flew out of Albury to Sydney on the Thursday night and stayed at one of the hotels at the Airport before having to be out of there by 4.45am to get back to the domestic section for an early flight out of Sydney to Hervey Bay.  We had quite the hectic time looking at lots of places - nothing is sorted or finalised yet, but our friends Chrissy and Denise came up from Gympie to have lunch with us on the Saturday, after which Pete and I headed down to the Marina to sit and enjoy it all.  Check out the mother duck that came by with her ducklings to eat the small crabs as the tide was going out......

And as we sat there sipping on some drinks and watching the world pass by, I happened to look over and saw this sign for Siromet Winery - how funny, as that was the Winery where the wedding had been held and initially led us to Maryborough in the first place!  I just had to take a photo of that!!

Sunday morning we headed to Hervey Bay early to have breakfast and enjoy the sunshine before having to fly back.  It was fun talking to people who were on the jetty catching fish - such a lovely atmosphere and nice weather, it was hard to leave it behind!

So I've been busy helping Dad with his viewings for his unit and meantime trying to do some Decluttering around our place.  We need to do some serious Decluttering if we are planning on a big move again as I sure do not want to take stuff we don't need to take, or things we won't have room for (including lots of ornaments I'm not fussed on dusting anymore, or boxes of stuff waiting to be sorted from the last move!!).....................  I feel the winds of change in the air .........

Canola Fields around Yarrawonga