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!

Oasis Apartments, Hamilton Island

We arrived mid afternoon yesterday and were met by a shuttle bus which brought us to our apartment.

It's a nice apartment with lovely views

Afternoon view, on arrival

Morning view today

 We have two bedrooms, a lounge, dining, kitchen area and a lovely large, enclosed balcony

We have neighbours, both human and not:

We have a little village with shops, cafes, restaurants and an IGA (These are from yesterday; it's sunnier and less cloudy today)

And there are no private cars. Instead, people drive golf buggies. 

This is our buggy

  

I sit  here at the back

And this is our apartment (that's my bedroom window)

The forecast temperatures while we are here are in the low to mid 20s, with not much variation between night and day temperatures. Pretty perfect for exploring a small-ish tropical island

Week Off

It was Lindsey's birthday last Sunday. Ordinarily we would have gone out for lunch but it was also Mother's Day and the places we might have wanted to go to would have been booked out by the time we thought about it.

So she and Ian came to my place instead and I made roasted chicken leg quarters, with roast potatoes and lots of green vegetables.

On Monday I went to Melbourne to visit my podiatrist and went to La Manna supermarket on my way home. I had to be careful not to buy much. I don't have much freezer space and I am away this weekend.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I pottered about in the garden, started washing my poor, spider-webbed, dusty and much unloved windows. I started washing and brushing the patio. I swept and vacuumed the floors and carpets.

Hilary next door came around and agreed to feed the cats on the days that Lindsey can't  while I am away.

I came to Melbourne on the airport bus (and left my dinosaur cap on the bus 😥) and stayed in the Holiday Inn at the airport overnight. I don't remember staying in a Holiday Inn before and it's rather nice. Very comfortable and excellent wifi. Reminds me a bit of the British Premier Inns. I am about to leave on the hotel shuttle to meet Freyja and Simon at the airport. We are off to Hamilton Island for the weekend.

Room with a view:

All was going well yesterday until I left to catch the local bus to the station. I noticed that I had left a light on, went back inside to turn it off -  and my electronic lock flashed to say that it needed new batteries. I didn't have time to find the new batteries, get a screwdriver from the garage and change the batteries. So I wrote a note to Hilary and left her my garage fob. And then, of course, worried all the way to Melbourne that someone would walk up the driveway (unlikely), find the note (also unlikely) grab the fob from its hiding place and let themselves into my place and clear it out (extremely unlikely). In fact, as long as the cats didn't run away it wouldn't be a massive disaster if someone did break into my place and clear it out. It would make moving into a much smaller place much easier.

Lindsey already has a fob for the garage. I'm hoping she might change the batteries on Saturday.

🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫

Later:

We have made it as far as Sydney. A bit of a wait now for the flight to the Whitsundays and Hamilton Island

Visiting Docklands

Freyja and I went and looked at a couple of apartments yesterday afternoon. As I said, I booked the viewings purely because they were yesterday afternoon at times when I was available. I wasn't seriously considering them as contenders.

I might well have considered the first one as a contender once we looked at it. The location was excellent and the apartment was very cute and well laid out (and very tidy). The layout flowed well. Both Freyja and I liked it and could see me living in it quite happily. The deal breaker was that it is at the top of my budget and it is only 48 mᒾ, plus a large 6 mᒾ balcony. I would need a (small) mortgage to be able to afford it and the mortgage lenders won't consider anything that is less than 50 mᒾ, not including the balcony.

Pity. But then again, it probably won't still be on the market when I am in a position to buy.

I knew the second apartment was tiny. It also had a tiny price. I also knew it was right by Marvell Stadium, only just within Docklands. What I didn't realise was that it was more or less a studio / bedsit apartment, with a partition wall, that didn't go right to the ceiling, separating the sleeping space.  I'm not sure how you would get furniture into the sleeping space. The gap between the kitchen bench and the partition wall was very narrow. The balcony wasn't big enough for my egg chair. There was no natural light in the living space. And there was a completely useless, narrow "hall" next to the second partition wall leading to a window. A living space for the cats, perhaps. On the plus side, it was very quiet in the flat. There were crowds gathering at the stadium for a footie match and you couldn't hear them.

Also,  as Freyja pointed out, it had more of a CBD vibe than a Docklands vibe.

If I happened to be a youthful student it would probably have been perfect. But I am neither youthful nor a student. So - Absolutely No.

On the plus side, as we walked across the Marvell Stadium concourse, we found a stall giving away good sized cones of hot chips with tomato sauce. For free! I have no idea why they were free. I didn't ask.  Just took my cone of chips. I think they were advertising Heinz tomato sauce. The chips were quite nice. Excellent value for money 😁

Freyja and I walked along to The District, where I had parked the car. It was a beautiful afternoon. Perfect for an afternoon of exploring. Then Freyja went away, I collected my car, and then I came home.

I walked just over 10k steps in Docklands alone. It's lovely and flat.

The die is cast

Actually, it should really be the dice are cast because two dice have now been thrown on the table.

I have signed the authority for the estate agent to sell

I have engaged the services of a conveyancing solicitor and paid the upfront disbursement charges. (That sounds grander than it actually is; I use that company for all my solicitor needs and they did the conveyancing when we bought this place)

I seem to be committed!

And then, of course - I got seriously cold feet about this whole enterprise 😹

I've got over that now. 

Anyway. I have to buy a new apartment. I've bought it a present, even though I don't have it yet. In fact, I've bought it two presents. When I have bought it and moved in it will have a brand new NutriBullet fancy air fryer and a new NutriBullet blender to go with the mini blender I already have.

I'm working on Saturday morning so have taken the opportunity to book in for a couple of apartment viewings. They might not be apartments I would actually ever want to buy but they were later in the afternoon so I can comfortably get to them. Doesn't hurt to know what's going on, property wise, in an area you are looking to buy in.

*************************

Struggles with Jim's finances continue to haunt me, even though he's been dead for 21 months and I was under the impression that his estate had all been finalised. 

I received a cheque in the post yesterday from HM Revenue and Customs. I was a bit surprised. I wasn't expecting anything from them and usually if they decide I have paid too much tax on my British income they send me an email telling me to log onto my account and then they pay the money into my British bank account. Then I read the accompanying letter and realised it was a repayment for Jim's tax. I did fill out a tax form when he died and sent it back - and then forgot all about it. I don't know what to do with it. My Australian bank won't accept foreign cheques. If it was just something small I would throw the cheque away but it's for a fairly large amount of money (large by my standards, art least) and I could certainly use the money. I can't quite bring myself to ring HMRC and ask them to cancel the cheque and pay the money electronically into my British account, which is what my local bank suggested I do.  It's a pity it didn't arrive before Wendy left for London on Tuesday. She could have taken it with her and paid it into my account in person.  I shall ponder.

Getting Ready for the Estate Agent

I spent most of last week, when not at work, (not) getting ready for the visit yesterday of the estate agent.

I say "not" because I could have put a lot more effort into it. I left the proper cleaning of the house until yesterday morning (apart from the daily stuff I do anyway). I did not clean any of the windows, although I am fully aware that they need doing. I did do a bit of work in the garden, although there is quite a bit still to do.

Lindsey and Ian came by on Sunday and helped me move some of the things that aren't coming with me into the garage, which has transmogrified from a house for the car into God's Waiting Room for Unwanted Things. Some of the things will go to the Lion's Opportunity Shop in Buninyong. A few things are going to Hill House. A few things have potential new homes waiting for them. Anything that is left will go into the next skip.

The next steps are that a handyman is coming to fix a kitchen door and to paint over a few spots on the walls. I need to get curtains for the small bedroom, which somehow was overlooked when I bought the blinds for the rest of the windows. When I get back from Hamilton Island a photographer is coming to take the marketing photos. And then the place will be advertised and a For Sale board will go up on the nature strip.

The estate agent is a bit worried that settlement might happen while I am in Japan. In itself, this isn't a problem. I don't need to be here for settlement to happen. I can be in Japan. I can be anywhere. I can empty the house before I go. I could, if absolutely necessary, empty the house at any point. The problem is what to do with the cats. I can't exactly send them away in a skip!  I am not going to worry about that. I'm only away for two weeks and I have some agency in when settlement happens. And if someone offers me silly money if I settle while I'm away, I'll accept it and move somewhere short term well in advance

I should perhaps clean the patio!

We moved the sideboard into the garage on Sunday. Brandy approves of the new view

Some time ago, I bought a very expensive cat tree. Mostly, they have ignored it, although Whiskey has used the scratching pole quite a bit. 

I don't like it on here.
I'm getting down

It has now been moved into the garage, waiting for its new home, and I have bought a cheap, smaller, Kmart replacement.

I should just have bought a cheap, smaller, Kmart one in the first place!!!