And Then We Moved!

Leaving Maryborough

Yep! You read that right .......... believe it or not, we have spent since our arrival back from Melbourne, going and looking at numerous houses and finally deciding on one ...... a month full of all sorts of various dramas trying to get it sorted out and a settlement date of 25th November as one of the sellers had moved to Fiji making things a little more tricky!   I have to say this has by far been the most difficult move I can remember us going through!  So where are we you ask?? Just a local move ...... from Maryborough and our very big, high set (meaning it has about 14 steps up to the house with lots of storage/ dumping/ man cave area), Old Queenslander home ........ down to Hervey Bay to a smaller home on a smaller block and low set with no under house storage and a small garden shed!  Bonus, pretty close to the beach and it has a lovely pool with lots of outside sheltered area and the bedrooms are a lovely generous size (unlike the bedrooms we had in Bundalong which were quite small!!).  

Our Neighbors not so happy to see us leave 

The main lot of stuff arrived at the new house on Monday of last week and the remainder of the week up until yesterday has been spent with either both of us or Pete (during the days I was working) going back to the house in Maryborough to continue getting loads of all the stuff the removalists were unable to fit on!  As some of you may remember it took 2 semi truck loads to get us from Victoria to Maryborough ....... and while I had hoped to work my way through things, I hadn't planned on working as much as it ended up being!  That's part of the reason (part) for us moving ...... I now have permanent work, but its full time and based at the Hervey Bay Hospital so rather than having to go back to driving 40 mins each way, Pete suggested we move!  There are a few other reasons for the move, but I may share that another time.  Naturally not all of our stuff fits!!! I have stuff everywhere, inside and out ......... we are gradually working on that ....... we also have a storage shed we have hired and it has quite a bit of Petes tools, shed stuff, camping stuff and the camper trailer. It's been sad having to say goodbye to good neighbors and the dogs, but we plan to continue to have catch ups at each others houses!

Pete has pulled down the single brick carport that was here and we are waiting on the double carport to go up ...... it had been booked to go up the end of November, but we are still waiting - apparently he didn't order the stuff when he said he would!!!  The solar was also mucked up and we now have another company booked to hopefully get it up prior to Christmas!    I'm still hopeful to get the christmas tree up, but we shall see .......  Foxtel turned up today and got the TV working, so that's a start - maybe I can get the lounge/ living area sorted a bit!
It's been sooooo terribly hot up here ....... the pool is being used by Pete and I constantly and I have to say its rather magic being able to drop into the pool after a long day at work!  I've yet to start walking ....... I've been using my "spare" time to try and get some boxes unpacked and clear areas so I can cook and wash clothes!  I'm behind on everything!!! 

 The same week we moved house, I also had to move from Maryborough Hospital to the Hervey Bay hospital and try setting up the office we will be working out of ........ its been a week of moving, and time spent trying to get my head around a new job, new position ....... new everything pretty much and little time to do it all in!!!  S T R E S S and then some!!!!  Dad has been having some cardiac events and Pete is in the midst of getting MRI's and further tests re his prostate cancer and both of us have had some pretty ordinary back pain ........ packing and lifting heavy stuff and moving things of course does not help but since we have no other options ???  And there will be more moving of stuff as work out what fits where and what has to be sold and if we need to put up a slightly larger shed to put all Petes "necessities" in ect ect ....... 




And there is the garden ..... naturally I brought LOTS of plants with us ......all potted up and some will stay in pots while some will be planted in various areas out the front, or side or around the pool.  We dug up the lovely Dancing Lady orchids we had in Maryborough and have planted them in the garden at the pool.  Speaking of plants, my blood lily that I bought when we were in Townsville this time last year,  flowered  two days after we brought it to the new house! It brought lovely memories to mind! 







On a positive note ......... I'm loving our new home!  It has the cutest mail box with a sheep on it!! A few of the houses along this section of our street have various ornamental mail boxes, but somehow I think the sheep really does fit with us ...... a reflection of our time in Victoria, our time having some sheep of our own down in Boorhaman, and not to mention all the wool/ yarn I use for knitting and crochet ....... and my love for having the chickens, sheep and cows as part of my usual decorating style!  










The pool area is just wonderful and soooooooo relaxing!!
We got quite a surprise when we saw the lights out in the pool area at night! 








 Feels a little like a tropical resort holiday if I don't look at the boxes lol!

 It will be a beautiful next chapter for us and a low maintenance one once we get sorted out! 


 Talk to you all again soon
Hugs 
Sharm

What Happened in Melbourne!

Things have been a little busy and frantic since returning from holidays down south!  After leaving the country part of our holiday, which was such a wonderful, relaxing time ..... We headed down to Melbourne ready to spend from Friday to Tuesday catching up with our daughter Stacey and her partner John.  John had booked this awesome stretch limo for us all to ride to the Casino in!!

I've got to say we all got quite a buzz out of it as it spent an hour driving us via all the sights letting people take photos as we drove by!  You can see why it's called "The Bumblebee Transformer".

  9 of us squeezed in including our son PJ who managed to come down to Melbourne to share in his sisters 30th birthday celebrations!  

What a fabulous time

and how wonderful to be able to catch up with some of our very old friends ..... and who just happen to be Godparents for Stacey!  

Little did they know what else they would be there to witness ..... As John had managed to get Pete on his own earlier in the day and ask "That" question to him ........

Yep!  After almost 10 years of them being together with just a short break apart, it was the last thing Stacey was expecting at the end of her 30th party celebration!

What a night!  We didn't get to have quite as much time with PJ as I would have liked, but he had to head back up home early the next day to go back to work!

  I miss my kids soooo much!! Jaron and Renee and the kids were unable to make the trip down from Townsville for the party - such a long way with a family!

Followed by Breakfast at the Vic Markets on Sunday morning where Pete was able to get a couple of Richmond Tigers Premier Shirts which he was extremely happy about ..... And Monday was Stacey's actual birthday ....... So after Breakfast we headed to the Ten Pin Bowling

........ something Pete and I hadn't done in years!  The 4 of us (Stacey and John and Pete and Myself) had sooooo much fun we even played an extra game before we headed to have fun in the "Timezone" section which was included in our entry ticket!  Pete won a pile of tickets and Stace ended up getting some toys for her Budgies and a ball for Cliffy lol 

It was off to Hogs Breath for the birthday Dinner which Jenny and David (Godparents), were able to come to as well ........

Jenny and David - Godparents extraordinaire!

it ended up being quite a long and fun night!  It's soooo nice when you have friends that you can just pick up where you left off and not have any baggage!!!  Those kinds of friends are few and far between, but we seem to be very blessed to have a few of those in our lives!  I wonder if it has anything to do with the number of interstate moves we have made over the years lol

After all the adventures in Melbourne with the emotional attachments we headed off Tuesday after a tearful goodbye deciding to just begin the long drive home without the extra stopover we had initially planned.  We got as far as Gilgandra that night where we had dinner in a local pub and went straight to sleep ..... heading off at 5 the next morning to make it the rest of the way home that afternoon!....  Cliffy was very happy to see us again, although he had been well looked after by our wonderful neighbours Martine and Scott!  Martine even went as far as sending me a "Cliffy" Gram most days lol!

Father and Daughter

The other thing that happened the day we left Wangaratta before arriving in Melbourne was to visit our banking fellow we've had working on our behalf for the past 12years or so .................. Stay Tuned for the next update!

One Sheep, Two Sheep

It's just soooo wonderful to be on holidays at last!  After those couple of days in Crows Nest visiting the Gardens in Toowoomba, we unpacked and repacked the car to head off down to Vic .....
Back on the road again!  It was Sunday and we seemed to catch every wide load that was on the Newell!  This particular one we ended up having to stick behind for 20kms of road work - I guess we were lucky in a way as you should have seen the huge line of traffic that was sitting on the side of the road after the works, waiting for this wide load to come through!!

We are on our way to Melbourne for Daughters 30th!  However, first we had a planned stop in with friends in Boorhaman for a few days where we used to live (its also quite close to Bundalong where we moved from).  A few days spent in the country with friends is just what the Doctor ordered!! 

 Our second day was spent with some woolly therapy of  a different style ........  moving and  drafting sheep. 

Keeping them from running through the cross roads in the wrong direct

Pat and Judy had over a thousand sheep that needed sorting and putting through a foot bath so we had a great day out on the roads and in the sheep yards!


 I found it very therapeutic working with the sheep - they don't complain like people do!

Pete up the other end

We had a fabulous few days with our friends and caught up with quite a few others while we were there,  and unfortunately the time just went way too quickly!  Judy and I have missed out times sitting together chatting and knitting, but we sure did try to make up for lost time while we were there lol!  I have no doubt we will be back down for another holiday before too long! 

I love this photo of Judy looking rather amused that during the busy bits of moving sheep, I was busy taking photos as well lol!

For now, its time to hit the road again and travel down the rest of the way to Melbourne where we will catch up with family and other friends ....... See you soon!

Hugs Sharm

PS:  Thanks to those who checked out the comments problem for me, it seems to fine from this end! 

Whats THis???

One of my lovely blogger friends tried to leave a comment on my last post but was redirected to a "sordid" site rather than the comments window.  She emailed me privately to let me know - I have checked the HTTPS setting is already on which should avoid this and when I clicked on the comments I had no issues??  Can anyone give me any extra info on this??  My email is sharmshere@yahoo.com  ........ perhaps if I change my email account with my blog I wonder if that might work???

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

Is it seriously this long since I've posted here on my blog!!!  It's certainly been a year of change for us and I've really felt the difference working full time and having Pete retired with how much (or how little) I seem to achieve now on my days off work!!  Anyhow, lets hope now that i'm getting used to my new laptop that I can actually work on a few more frequent posts!  I am pleased to say that I have appeared to have worked out how to download the photos off my phone and ipad without it taking forever!!   Technically challenged!!  Anyway, I'm currently on holidays ....Yipee!!! 








 The very first day of my holidays we took off with the

neighbors to stay at Crows Nest so the men could go fishing at Cressbrook Dam, whilst Martine and I headed to Toowoomba for the the Carnival of Flowers!!  I have to say after wanting to visit this for a number of years, I was not disappointed.  It was wonderful. We spent the whole day looking at a few of the private gardens that were open and also a visit to Picnic Point and Laurel Bank Gardens - Laurel Bank is a must for anyone planning a future trip here!  So onwards with the flowers .....

Thanks Lyn

This morning we had a lovely surprise when our friends Lyn and Rob popped in on their way back home to home on the Qld/NSW border where they are having such a drastic time waiting for much needed rain! Lyn is a dear friend I "met" through pen-palling many years ago.   It was such a delight to have them drop in for a quick cuppa and very quick catch up. 
 I'm sure we could have chatted for hours, but with a 6hr drive ahead of them, that just wasn't possible ....... it did however give me the nudge I've needed to get back to my blog which has been neglected since my working life has increased to  what is currently full time! 

Sunrise on the Mary River - View from the end of our street

 Well, that, working out my new laptop and dealing with some chronic lower back pain that has had me feeling more like I'm about 90!  HOpefully that situation may be finally improving after 3 months of it!!! I'm pleased to say I'm back to walking again (when I get the chance to fit it in - usually early morning or on the weekend before the day really gets going). Daily stretching has been introduced to my morning ritual and I've also been using essential oils much more ...... I have a roller bottle made up with a carrier oil together with Lemongrass (an anti inflammatory), frankincense, Lavender and Copiba. (Just

using Lemongrass and a couple of drops of Lavender in carrier oil sometimes).
  I've also been adding Magnesium to the morning vitamins and found a wonderful lotion in the supermarket .... Magnesium and Anica!!! Wonderful stuff!!!  Of course, it probably hasn't helped that I've spent most of Winter here trying to get on top of my new garden beds..... but they are beginning to take shape and come Spring they should have lots more colour!  I thought you might like to see a bit of the garden and how it's developing .........

 Given there were no flower beds here a year ago, I'm pretty happy with them!  Not much in the way of finished projects happening right now although I have been working on another knitted top which I hope to get completed this week if all goes well ..... I'll show it to you then!

Pete has redone the roof over the deck, this time doing a complete cover which gives us a rainproof area underneath as well!  Nice job Pete!

And with that, I'll say goodnight and hopefullly it won't be soo long before I get another post up again!.  
Hugs to all
Sharm