A Winter Weekend

The first open inspection of my place was at 12:30 on Saturday. Four couples came to look. One couple (apparently) liked it but the lounge was too small - so no, thank you. Another couple showed interest but had other places to look at. 

The estate agent had been hoping for six couples but I thought four wasn't bad when the place had only been on the market for three days. Plus it was very cold and gloomy on Saturday so people may have been put off by the weather.  The agent might have been disappointed but I was quite pleased. It was a long, long time after we put the house in Tupton on the market before anyone showed any interest at all!

In the meantime, Brandy, Whiskey and I have moved up to Hill House for a few weeks while Lindsey and Ian are away.  I must say, I am not looking forward to moving the cats to Melbourne. They howled all the way here and it's only a five minute drive.

They were a bit puzzled when we got out of the car and all their things came in. But they seem to have settled in quite well

Fascinated by the glass walls

We have commandeered Rupert and Hugo's feeding station

They found their cosy beds

and the actual bed

Paws tucked under -
must be feeling relaxed

Found a cosy bed on a comfy chair

I've got them confined to the kitchen end of the house. They are VERY curious about what is behind this door! (Piano room, lounge room and bedrooms - they can explore them in a few days)

I didn't do very much over the weekend, apart from clean Tani's floors, sweep leaves up from the patio and little lawn and move up here. I'll go back down to my place later this morning. There's an inspection at lunch time and another mid-afternoon and it's still very cold in Ballarat. I'll sweep the floors again and this time I'll put the heating on and make a pot of coffee so the place feels warm and inviting.

(And if you're reading this and thinking now would be an ideal time to head to Tani and clear it out - my neighbours are keeping an eye on the place. And so am I!)

It's suddenly got properly real!

 

The sale is live on realestate.com.au

There are inspections and viewings booked in.

I may have to actually move!

(I haven't told the cats yet!)

It's a glorious morning. But very frosty

Long Weekend

Yesterday was a public holiday across much of Australia.

And in Ballarat, the weather was awful pretty much all weekend. Winter most definitely came out to play.  It rained with enthusiasm. It was windy. It was foggy. It was COLD

Sunday's weather forecast from the BoM:

Monday morning:

 My place, pretty much all weekend:

I did go out, a bit, but no garden tidying got done. Lindsey and I  didn't go to the Bridge Street market on Saturday, but we did go to Wilson's and Petstock  and then had lunch at Oscar's. We don't go to Oscar's very often and we aren't sure why. The food is good and the place is handy for Central Square. I think it's because we usually go out for lunch on Sundays, and then usually go to pubs. We should go more often. I think it's two years or so since we last went in.

On Sunday we went early to Stockland so Lindsey could get a hair cut and then went for a wander around.

Yesterday I only went as far as Mount Clear, to get some firewood at the IGA.

It was a very relaxing long weekend but I didn't get a whole lot done. I really should get some things done - I am expecting the first open inspection of Tani on Saturday and I would like it to be shiny and beautiful for any people who come to look.

House Photos

Two photographers came on Thursday afternoon, one with a machine to make a video tour and floor plan, the other with a camera. They were here for around 45 minutes. I'll get their photos and video for approval on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I cleaned the house as thoroughly as I could before they came. And for the record - here are my photos:

(The cats on my bed are not included in the sale!)

Busy

I've been quite busy this last week or so.

Things have been busy at work. We are preparing for an accreditation visit in August or September. We have appraisals and meetings and training to organise, plus absolutely masses of paperwork to get done. (I originally typed "asses of paperwork" which I might not disagree with 😂), not to mention all the usual activity of the business.

I have been busy at home. The initial stages of the proposed sale of my place are underway.  A handyman has been and is coming again this morning to finish those few things that needed doing, such as painting a couple of kitchen cupboards and touching up some paintwork on the walls. A photographer is coming at lunchtime to get the advertising underway. Then the estate agent and I will talk on Tuesday and the first open day will happen the following Saturday.

The house is pretty much ready for the photos. I need to do a quick tidy, sweep the floors and hide the cat bowls and general paraphernalia, such as the oil bottles in the kitchen. I might even set the dining room table so it looks like a dining room table and not like a desk.

I have done quite a bit of work in the garden but there is still lots to do. A lot of it will be done by the time the first open inspection happens. But gardens are never finished. I will do my best.  I have planted more pea and broad bean seeds out the front and taken down some of the bamboo canes. I have cleared the little flower bed out the front ready for next season's planting. I have been weeding along the back garden bed, which isn't finished but will be by Saturday week. I have not really tackled the back walkway but definitely need to. Oh - and I should really sweep the patio before the photos!

I am quite pleased with this bed. It has a Bramley apple tree, a Tahitian lime tree and a miniature peach tree, plus various bedding plants. There is an asparagus bed behind it.

There has been time for a bit of fun as well. Lindsey and I went to the Red Lion for lunch last Sunday. We haven't been there since we went with Stella a couple of weeks before she died. So a year ago! I'm not sure why we haven't been since. They do a good Sunday roast, with  lots of roast meat and lots of well cooked vegetables. We still have the Buninyong pub on our list, but you need to book well in advance for a lunch table on Sundays. We tend to think about Lunch Out much closer to the time.  We'll get there.

Had I been in  Tupton rather than Ballarat I would have been very suspicious of these clouds, which were travelling south to north, rather than the more usual west to east

Fortunately, they delivered nothing more exciting than some icy drizzle. I am looking eastward towards Lindsey and Ian's hill. They may have got more than drizzle.

Another week off

I had last week off work as well. I was intending to carry on clearing out the house and tidying up the garden. The weather was perfect for working in the garden, if a little on the cold side.

Alas. My knee and therefore my hip continued to be very unhappy following the boat trip a week before. I bought a new knee brace which has worked well. It's a double brace so wraps around both over and under the kneecap. That helped, but I didn't think it wise to annoy my knee even further by weeding and digging and planting. However, it is a lot happier now. The weather is also holding firm - for now. I have plans for my little vegetable garden and for the beds along the back fence.

I have until Thursday of next week, when the photographer is coming to start the advertising of the house.

The handyman came on Friday to assess a couple of little jobs. He's coming back at the beginning of next week to do them.

I ordered some curtains for the little bedroom and have now hung them up (which more or less hides one of the little jobs that needs doing).

I have continued turning out cupboards and wardrobes. 

I have done all the usual, day-to-day things.

And this week I head back to work.

But I've got to stop watching Selling Houses. It's very dispiriting when I look at the finished houses and then look round at mine and see all the things that need doing and which I possibly might do if I were planning to stay. Or not. Probably not 😂 

The outside spiders were busy while I was away. I had de-webbed many of the windows before I went away. They need doing again. Not quite as badly but even so. I don't mind spiders. They are useful creatures. But I wish they weren't quite as untidy.

The cats have been enjoying the late autumn sunshine

He gets combed almost every day
You wouldn't think so, looking at his curly belly

They enjoy the heated couch blanket as well

Right. It's almost 9:00. I am not dressed yet. There is a lot to do today. I had better get wriggling

Home Again

We had enough time yesterday morning to head back into the village to visit the bakery for breakfast supplies and coffee.

We packed, tidied up and got organised.

The shuttle van came at 10:15 on the dot and took us to the airport (which is small enough really to be called a fancified airstrip 😁)

And then we flew home, direct to Melbourne this time. 

We had a late lunch/early dinner at the airport and then Freyja and Simon took a taxi home and I waited for the airport shuttle bus back to Ballarat.

An almost two hour wait 😢

There is almost always a very long wait for the next shuttle, or I have to absolutely leg it to the bus station and catch the shuttle by the skin of my teeth. I do not much enjoy either of these things.

I wonder how much it costs to park in the value car parks at the airport. I wonder why I haven't thought to wonder this before.

It costs $12 a night in the value car parks. The shuttle costs $90 return, plus $30 for the taxi home. It would have been cheaper to park the car at the airport, even taking fuel into account. Not to mention that by the time I got onto the shuttle I would have been almost home had I been in the car. For longer trips away, the Skybus to the city and the train home would be cheaper, even including a taxi home from the station, and might even be quicker.

I might have to abandon the airport shuttle.

It has been something of a shock returning to Ballarat,  temperature-wise. Winter decided to pay a visit while we were away and the temperature plummeted. It was 2℃ when I got up this morning. It is a beautiful, sunny morning but it is still definitely on the chilly side. I was positively cold in bed last night. This morning I put the winter quilt on the bed.

Time to go home

Snuggled up next to me 
on the electric couch blanket

Monday - Last Full Day

We started the day quite gently, back at the little Wildlife Park for a keeper tour. We visited the pademelons, koalas, wallabies and dingoes. We also walked past and greeted the crocodile but she didn't do a talk about him.

We went back to the resort area and I went for a swim. It's the first time in a VERY long time since I have been in a pool just for a swim!

We went on little tours in our buggy of bits of the island we hadn't been to

We stopped for a glass of wine in a wine bar at the lookout over "Wildcat Island"

We saw wallabies, birds, a possum, a huntsman spider.

We went to Coca Chu for dinner. Dinner. At night. In a restaurant! They have a separate menu for vegetarians/vegans and the food is very delicious - although Freyja and Simon accidentally ordered pretty much the same thing three times. The crispy tofu they had for their entree was very much the same as the tofu platter they had for their main and both came with the green vegetables that were on the vegetable platter. The menu is really a sharing menu, but I was the only person who could eat my chicken and noodles. No sharing for me! (Although I did get to share some of the green vegetables and a bit of the crispy tofu)

Today we are going home, back to freeze, rainy, wintery Melbourne.

It is very tempting to stay here in our summer and beach clothes.

Sunday Boat Trip

We asked, when we booked the boat trip to Whitsunday Island, whether it was a hard slog for people who are not as agile or youthful as they once might have been. We knew the adventure included lookouts and a long, sandy beach but needed to know how steep the walk to the lookouts was and how difficult the terrain would be. We were assured it was boardwalks with a few stairs.

So we booked it.

It was a beautiful day for a half day boat trip, if a touch windy.  Freyja and Simon went for a walk in the morning. We pottered around a bit. We got to the boat with plenty of time in hand

 

We sat upstairs, and outside on the deck. It was quite choppy once we got out of the marina and bay onto the open sea. I don't suffer from sea sickness (or not usually) and didn't mind the choppiness, or even the spray. I didn't like the feeling of instability though. The boat was sturdy enough but at times I feared I might be flung from my bench (I wasn't)

What nobody had thought to mention was that, in order to get from the boat to the island, we all had to decamp to a dinghy. We were then taken to the shore where we had to step out of the dinghy into knee-deep water, slippery rocks underfoot, and wade a short distance to the beach. I don't mind getting wet and I was wearing beach appropriate clothes, but I do not enjoy clambering in and out of dinghies, nor wading on slippery rocks.

Nor do I enjoy climbing up uneven stone steps, of which there were many. I made it to the meeting point where the paths to the lookouts, beach and the landing beach intersected and decided to let Freyja and Simon carry on to the lookouts. I was not the only one who decided to do this. One elderly gentleman who had suffered from the choppy ocean and then the climb to the meeting point even lay down on one of the benches and had a recuperative sleep. 

There were more steps heading down to the swimming beach. Not a boardwalk in sight (although Freyja and Simon tell me that there were boardwalks once you got down to the beach). I cut my losses and very slowly, very carefully made my way back down to the landing beach. I can do Up quite easily, although I was worried about my knees and hips which were not enjoying the clambering. I find Down a lot more difficult, unless there are hand rails. 

There were no hand rails!

Eventually I made it down and sat on a rock in the sunshine and read my book until everyone returned

I was quite happy, sitting on my rock, reading my book and watching the sea but really, I could have done that on Hamilton Island at considerably less expense. 

And then, of course, I had to get back into the dinghy to get back to the boat!

We sat in the downstairs cabin on the way back with a table and everything. It was just as choppy but wasn't as precarious. Plus, there were cups of tea and nibbly things and even little donuts with custard filling.

I definitely wouldn't have done that particular boat trip had I known about the dinghy, or even all the steps. Freyja and Simon did much better - plus they got to the sandy beach and had a swim and saw stingrays and a baby shark. I saw a turtle from the boat.  I like looking at turtles, but not so much that I want to be flinging myself in and out of dinghies.

I might need to take up yoga again. I shouldn't be channeling my mother quite so much. Or not yet, at least

Exploring on Saturday

We had breakfast in the local cafe. My poached eggs and bacon were delicious and my iced latte was good and strong

Freyja and Simon had smashed avo
on sourdough

Then we went to the wildlife park. There were lots of koalas and macropods - although there are also lots of agile wallabies pottering around outside the wildlife park

I am not a koala OR a wallaby.
I am the Mighty McCulloch!

Then to Catseye beach

It is a very lovely beach

One of the good things about Hamilton Island is that there are two shuttle services which loop around the more populated part of the island. The green shuttle, which runs every 10 minutes and more or less services the hotels and the resorty bits, and the blue shuttles which loops around a larger part of the island and runs every 30 minutes. Both of these are free, and operate as hop on, hop off services. We rode on both of them. We did not hop off, except just past the airstrip where the driver had a five minute break, so we did too.

We had lunch at Sails, in the resort centre. My Vietnamese style noodle salad was delicious and my lychee and cranberry mocktail was delightful. So was the lunchtime view

Freyja and Simon went swimming, not in the sea but in the public pool.

We drove around the island in our golf buggy. 

This put me immediately in mind of
Wildcat Island (Swallows and Amazons),
transplanted from the Lake District to the tropics

We met another neighbour, guarding the entrance to our buggy garage

It's a yellow bellied tree snake
so not venomous
but we kept out of its way anyway
and did not run it over with our buggy

And we enjoyed delightful sunset views from our apartment

and from the marina

It was a good day - apart from when Simon discovered that his vital medication had cracked and was leaking. The local pharmacy had a replacement but it was the wrong brand and his script didn't cover it. But even that was resolved with a phone call to Melbourne and the almost immediate arrival of an e-script for the brand that the pharmacy did have. Technology is a wonderful thing!