Dad Moves ......

Dad ready to leave his Yarrawonga unit.

As many of you would be aware, my Dad did not cope at all well with the Victorian winter (which just happened to be one of the wetest ones on record). Even so, he still managed to turn outside of his unit area into a lovely garden while he was there.  I'm so pleased he got to see the roses bloom and even the Gladioli's put out a great show.  Much better than Dad had expected since they were bulbs just bought from one of the cheap shops. 

the back yard area

He has been wanting to return to the Brisbane Bayside area of Wynnum Manly ever since he and my stepmother moved away from it about 15 yrs ago.  To cut a long story short, which I'm sure many of you might be up to speed with anyway if you follow my blog, he ended up moving down here in March this year.  His unit sold pretty quickly once he put it back on the market and 45 days later, settlement! 


Chrysanthemums flowering out of season.

  Naturally there had to be a hiccup  - a problem with the furniture removalist breaking down so they sent a friend of theirs with a car

Arriving at the new unit

and tandem trailer (and nobody else to assist with the moving of furniture - lucky I was able to roll up my sleeves and hadn't happened to wear a skirt that particular day!)  I was so exhausted, the last thing I thought was to get a photo of it, so Dad reminded me of that the day it was due to turn up at his new unit - a serviced apartment in a Christian retirement village in Manly West - and interestingly built on land that was once owned by Dad and his brother years ago for market gardening.  They had to sell up since at the time they had trouble trying to get water!  Anyhow, back to moving day ........

  Imagine my surprise when I saw that turn up instead of van, knowing it would be making an interstate journey ........ Thank the Lord for watching over things and keeping rain from getting it all drenched (kmart tarps with holes don't equal water proofing). So Tuesday was a little more tiring than I had planned you might say (not to mention very stressful for Dad who was horrified by it all - trouble is, what options do you have when you have to be out that day and live in a rural area, and it's the 2nd last day of November!) 

I was feeling more horrified/ saddened by the fact that all his stuff actually did fit into the trailer ...... even though we kinda needed it to fit in order for it to get moved! 

Dad spent that night at our house and then he and I made the trek to fly out of Albury, via Sydney to Brisbane.  I was very thankful I'd thought to phone Qantas and arrange for mobility assist - they did a great job meeting us and helping Dad, who really did need the extra assistance as the flights played with his inner ear and balance - I'm sure the stress of the big move also played a major role.  All in all, it was a good trip up on Wednesday and Dad stayed with Uncle Richie that night, allowing the brothers time to catch up with each other.
Meantime, I stayed with a friend of mine who has her own dog grooming business and Wednesday night just happened to be the Christmas dog obedience break up and all were required to attend if we planned on eating dinner lol (not really, but it was a couple of hours of much needed light relief after the past couple of stressful months). I came prepared already dressed in my dress that I told her was also appropriate for Christmas lol - I did have a change of earings with me to add a Christmas touch and being the good friend she is, she had a chrissy hat ready for me to add the finishing touch ....... and voila!  From an hour car trek and several hours of plane travel and airports and rental cars  to doggie Christmas party !  Love it  lol

Photos with one of her doggies before we left

 and Thursday morning just after 9am the stuff arrived (and another removalist to assist).  Uncle

Richie was on hand to assist and a couple of hours later an old friend of mine showed up.  We took a much needed break for morning tea at the coffee shop and Sheila and I caught up on old times.  It was so lovely to catch up with her again and she stayed to help with more unpacking of Dads stuff.    The last time I saw Sheila we were at the same retirement village cleaning out my Grandmothers Unit while she was being moved to Palliative Care! 

I am blessed to have some very special friends in my life, friends that we are able, despite the time and the miles that might separate, to just pick up where we left off, accept things as they are, no pretence, just pure friendship!  I thank the Lord that I have a few of those types of friends and I do miss that I can't catch up with them more often.     It took the whole day, but we managed to get the furniture all placed , TV reprogrammed, photos up, things packed away into drawers and Dad and I even made a trip to Bunnings so I could buy him a couple of new outdoor chairs to go with his table, and a couple of Geranium plants to add some colour, as well as a new watering can and a few colourful pot saucers to give his balcony a bit of colour.

 Can you see the little "rocks "  (Stacey had bought him those for his garden at Yarrawonga ), and the gnome light (Dad and I both bought one of those when he first moved Yarrawonga) .......... they were packed in the hope he would have a spot to put them at his new unit (he hadn't actually been able to view it prior to moving there, so it was hard to know how things would fit). 

 

Job done!  Unit all Set up xox (Dad took his 1st Ipad photo)

  Anyhow, I think we managed well and I really hope Dad is happy with it.  It was a bit sad saying goodbye to him, and goodbye again to this area as it still very much is a big part of me having spent many years of life in this area at various stages....... but now its time for this next chapter and to embrace whatever the pages ahead have for us all.   Take care my friends

xox