Its coming up for close to a month now since I last updated, and it been a season of busy – so I’ve just been trying to make a few notes at the end of each day to remind me of what’s being going on – so that’s basically what you’ll be getting here… including some filling in of any details that I think might be relevant.
Monday
– In to town to collect parcels from the post office, then back home to do some writing whilst the laundry got done.
The sun came out for a while this morning and gladdened my heart a LOT!
It’s still quite cold and windy though.
We’ve booked our flights to go back down south for my (step)Dads funeral Service.
He died back at the start of July.
My Love will be coming with me this time, and we’ll be taking a couple of days extra to go do something nice for ourselves.
We fly out next Thursday morning, and will be putting our dogs into the kennels that we have been using for almost two decades, and our cats will be looked after at our home by our GardenGuy and his Wife.
Tuesday
– had to go into town again this morning as my Darling forgot to tell me yesterday that we would need more chicken for the animals, so I went in to get that and to pick up a carton of Formulite and another parcel that was waiting at the post office.
Spent some time packing to go away for the night tomorrow as I’ll be leaving early and won’t have time to pack in the morning before I leave.
I am taking our van down to get the maxxfan installed.
It’s such a fiasco when you need to pack all the protein powders, shakers, cups etc and it takes up so much room, so I end up packing a bag twice as big as I really wanted to!
I also need to be mindful that I will be walking from the car drop-off place to the motel, so the weight that I’ll be carrying needs to be considered.
Wednesday
– early trip down the hill to the city to put the bus in to have the fan installed.
The wiring won’t get done today as e isn’t an auto-exec, so I’ll have to book that in another day with our auto-elect back at home.
Got stuck in the morning traffic jam, but made it with only being about 15mins late, and I called them in the way to let them know.
The receptionist was kind enough to drop me to the motel that we’d booked for my overnighter.
Originally they couldn’t find my booking, but then finally found it under “car-lady“.
The room understandably wasn’t ready, and so I waited in the reception area for around an hour, before I could get in – but that was ok.
I unpacked and made it ‘homely’, went to the loo and then headed off for a walk up the street to the huge DFO mall.
Thankfully the room has a microwave, so I could buy something for dinner and be able to heat it up!
I started to have a bit of a walk around, and did my usual handbag / backpack ogling at the luggage shops, but wasn’t really feeling much of a ‘shopping vibe’ (tbh, I’m bloody lousy at shopping without a purpose – its definitely not my idea of a fun time!) so I just went to the grocery store and collected some bits and pieces for me to have for lunch and dinner, got out some cash for the Car Guy, and then headed back to the motel.
A snack and a drink, a bit of a sit and some scrolling, then into the shower.
It was heavenly!
Thursday
– I messaged the car place early and they said that they would pick me up at 8:45am as my car was finished – which was great and super helpful.
Drove back up the hill to home, stopping off at the auto electricians on the way, and he’s happy to do the electrics for it once we get back from down south.
Once home, I did dishes, unpacked, sorted out something for dinner, then mowed and whipper-snipped the house yard and cleaned up the aisle-ways in the big vege garden.
Friday
– cooked dog food early as I was going out for lunch with my friend Louise.
We ended up going to one of the cafes in town, and I got a ham and cheese toastie, but the cheese ended up being cream cheese(!!) – not ideal on a toasty as far as I’m concerned!
We then went to do some shopping for Louise and then she dropped me home.
She re-pierced my ears for me before she left wth some new earrings I had bought especially for the job; which was good and saved me the cost of having to go to one of the local piercing places.
Spent the afternoon, tidying up and doing some chores around the house and repotting an indoor plant, while listening to podcasts.
Saturday
– the power was off from about 830am until around 1pm, so for a while I just sat out in the much-missed sun and read and soaked it alllll in!
After that I pulled everything out of our crockery storage shelves and wiped it all down, removed some stuff, and sorted through what was left and replaced it back on the shelving.
I also cooked some excess eggs for the cats and dogs, and some chicken for them as well.
We go away again next week – back down south for the funeral service – so it will be time to think about packing again soon.
Sunday
– an early start to drive down the hill as our youngest son – whom we haven’t seen for around two years – was flying in and had a two hour layover, so we were going to spend some time with him at the airport.
It was soooo good to see him and hug him, and we all shed a few tears as we put him back in his next plane.
We didn’t get back home til around 3, so took the dogs out, then had a shower and relaxed for a bit before sorting out dinner.
Monday
– busy day.
Grocery shopped, put the mattress back into the bus and made the bed, changed the sheets in our daily bed, and washed the dogs blankets.
Talked to my sister about the details of Friday’s funeral for my (step)Dad, and the ashes scatterings of he and my Mother.
Tuesday
– Our Garden Guy came today and we did a big clean out of the shipping container, and thankfully he took most of the stuff we didn’t want home to his place – as it was still good stuff – just not stuff we required or wanted any more.
He and his wife came back later in the afternoon, so that we could go through what we needed them to do with the cats while we’re away at the funeral.
We went out to dinner at the International Club with our young friend C for dinner, and had some lovely fish.
Wednesday
– we woke up to torrential rain again this morning and some really wild winds, so we’ve decided that we will go down to the city early – and stay overnight prior to our flight – as we don’t want to risk there being a crash on the range due to the weather and us missing our early morning flight.
So I spent most of the day getting the last of the laundry done, house cleaned, car vacuumed, the cats organised, bags packed, and dietary requirements sorted; and once my Love had come home from work, we packed the car up with our suitcases and dogs, and headed off to the kennels.
Once we’d dropped the dogs off, we headed down the hill to the city.
We’re staying at the same place that I stayed at last week when I came down, as I was very happy with the rooms and service.
We got some takeaway from the nearby Thai restaurant for dinner: fish-cakes, spring rolls and some satay chicken.
Underwhelming.
Thursday
– a spectacularly craptastic night of sleep and I was glad when the alarm finally went off just after 5, and more than happy to get up!
After a cuppa and a repack of our bags, we headed off to drop our car at the parking place, and they then dropped us at the airport.
Once we’d bag-checked and gone through security we had breakfast.
Once we’d landed at the other end, we were collected by the rental car company and taken to their offsite dispatch yard, where we then had to wait and hour to get our car – which was bloody annoying(!) – but we finally got is and headed north to my brother and sister-in-laws place, stopping on the way to buy some groceries.
It was around 4 when we arrived.
We unpacked the car, took the groceries upstairs, and made a cuppa.
It wasn’t too long before my other brother arrived, whom we haven’t seen for a couple of years.
Actually – probably close to five!
I cooked ‘Swamp Food’ for dinner as requested – it seems to be a big hit – and after dinner my other brother headed off to his motel, and we headed off to bed.
Friday
– best sleep I’ve had in a week or so.
Funeral day.
Not too many attendees, but the ones who were there it was good to see.
Kindly, Dads doctor friend came for the service, which was appreciated by all.
The service was performed by Dads Baptist Minister friend, who is also the same Rev who did my Mothers service 5 years ago,
It was very lovely and tears were shed a number of times.
After the service and nibbles, a few of us headed off to the Noosa Heads lookout to sprinkles the ashes of both the Parentals, to reunite them together one final time for eternity.
Hopefully a nice rain fell that night, and washed the ashes off the hillside into the ocean…
A quiet night back at my brother and sister-in-law’s place.
We’ll head off in the morning.
Saturday
– woke up to a gorgeous morning with mist spilling into the valley – so picturesque it almost made me weep!
Lots of photos taken.
We left my brother and sister-in-law’s place around 9am and headed off on our drive south to the Gold Coast, arriving about 1:30pm at our motel where we will stay for the next couple of days.
Had a quiet afternoon in our room, catching up on some work and such.
Ordered a pizza to be delivered for dinner.
It arrived an hour late.
We were not pleased about that – when we’d ordered it two hours before we actually wanted it…! 😡
Sunday
– we weren’t sure whether to go to SeaWorld today or tomorrow – but eventually decided to wait until tomorrow, hoping that it will be less busy being that it’s not a weekend.
We went and had a look around Pacific Fair, and then went to Carara Markets.
We got a few things at Typo and Kiki-K, and a pair of pants and a bra for my Love, but nothing else sparked our interest too much.
We’re just not the type of ppl who shop for the sake of shopping / entertainment.
Walked to the surf club for dinner.
Monday
– spent the day at SeaWorld which we both enjoyed, but it wasn’t quite as good as our memory has us believe it was.
A lot of the shows seemed much shorted and less ‘elaborate’.
We dropped the rental car back off to the car company as we leave tomorrow and will just walk or catch a cab to the airport in the morning.
Dinner was Noodle Box from Uber Eats.
Home tomorrow – early flight.
Tuesday
– early rise at 3:45am, a cuppa and then off to the airport in a cab.
Flight was pretty much on time, and once we’d collected our bags we got the bus to the car-park place to collect our car.
After a couple of stops we headed back up the hill to home, stopping at the supermarket on the way to grab some milk and dog food.
We picked up the dogs from the kennels later in the afternoon, as well as getting the bags unpacked, and my Love went and checked in at work.
An easy dinner and we both pulled up pretty well considering we’d been awake since so early.
Wednesday
– another early start as I took a friend down to the city as she was booked in to get an epidural for her back pain issues, and it’s best that she has a driver to come home, as it’s about an 80 minute drive.
Didn’t get home until mid-afternoon, so not much got done around the house today. Managed to get some laundry done at least…
Thursday
– spent a day at home doing laundry and general housework that hasn’t got done in the last few days with us being away etc.
It’s been wildly cold and windy today – and of course the rain is still ongoing – which is a lil beyond the pale by this point…
The ground is back to being so incredibly sodden, and parts of it are even growing a type of slime.
It’s definitely been a day of wearing knee-high mud boots with thick socks to be able to walk around the Farm in comfort.
Friday
– another day of cold wind and incessant rain.
Once again it’s getting me down but I’m trying to push through.
Woke up this morning with a sore throat this morning.
Yesterday evening I felt a little tickle in my right gland and thought that maybe I was starting to get something and sure enough – I have – woke up in the early hours of the morning with my throat like gravel!
Into town around 830am and went to see if bigw had any pants in my ‘new’ current size, but there weren’t any.
I then collected my grocery order that I had booked yesterday afternoon, and went to the nursery and got some vegie seedling in the hope that maybe we’ll get some sunshine soon and can finally get back out into the garden and put some plants in the ground!
It’s been too wet to be able to put seeds in, so I’ve given in and bought some starts.
I also made some dog food.
Finally remembered (after breakfast!) to weigh in and I’m now under 75kg, with a loss of a whisker under 27kg.
Saturday
– My nose is running like a tap, but thankfully my throat isn’t nearly as sore as it was yesterday. I’m very blocked up though, and it was a very broken sleep last night because of the difficulty breathing.
We actually got a few hours of sunshine through the morning, but the wind was still bitterly cold and gusting.
I sat out in the sun with the cats and dogs for a while and just basked in the warming rays.
It truely was delicious!
By mid afternoon the clouds had come over and it was trying to rain again.
We ducked in to town to collect some tissues and lozenges, then we rugged up and watched a few YouTube videos we’d missed seeing while we were away.
Sunday
– went out for breakfast and it was an absolute shit show!
We usually try and share a breakfast these days, but considering that they forgot the bacon – there was barely any breakfast to share, so I just waited till I got home and had a shake.
The rain was in in the afternoon so we watch telly, played a few games, read some, did a bit of work on the computer – just generally bludged around.
Monday
– it’s hard to believe that it was only a week ago that we are at Seaworld!!
The rain is still here, as is the cold and wind, but we’ve had some intermittent blasts of sunshine today which has been very welcome.
Last night I manage to crick my lower back – just as we were going to bed – when I was trying to get the cat to stay off the bed and leave us alone.
When I woke up this morning it was not good, so breakfast consisted of Panadol with my soup.
Managed to do the laundry and a deep clean vacuum, then did some research on small houses, building designs, and any builders in the area that google inferred may do small-house building.
Tuesday
– it’s been a few weeks since the bus was last driven due to us being away and just life getting in the way, and I usually like to try take it for a run at least twice a week.
So this morning I headed off to one of the nearby towns to blow any cobwebs out of the bus, and to have a general change of scenery for me.
I messaged a friend who lives there to see if she wanted to catch up in town for a cuppa, but she called me to explain that she couldn’t that day, as she already had another appointment that she had to go to; but we spent about 30mins yacking on the phone and catching up, so that was nice.
After the call was finished, I went for a wander through one of my favourite hippy shops, then went to a nearby cafe and had a ¼ of a lemon tart.
I took the rest home for my love to have for her afternoon tea.
Made some dog food in the afternoon, and cooked up some chilli beef to go with our garlic smash, and put the first coat of varnish on the new Ganesha artwork I got today, so that I can hang it outside.
Wednesday
– another day of the weather not playing nice.
This morning I finally put together a set of shelves that I bought the other day.
I keep forgetting to do it until it’s too late in the day, but I got it done today and put in to place in the shipping container.
There’s still some more tidying up and rearranging to do in there, but I’m glad that I’ve at least manage to make a start, and its already looking a lot better.
My friend Lou came for a visit today which was unexpected so that was nice – and she bought her four dogs – so they got to come and play with our dogs while we had a cuppa and a catch up.
I’ll be going up to her place next week sometime as she has some stuff she wants me to go pick up as she’s having a bit of a declutter.
I booked the bus in for the auto-electrician on Monday morning so that they can do the wiring for the roof top fan.
That’s a bit exciting!
Mid afternoon, I went into town to get some groceries and got some chicken breasts, which I cooked up for the dogs and cats.
I’ve been making a point each week of trying a different supermarket drink to try and work out what I can and can’t drink, for when the eventuality arises that I get caught short without a drink – when in town – so I’ll know what I can grab.
Trying to find something low sugar but with decent protein is blooody difficult!
(feel free to drop a recommendation if you know of any)
It was soooo much easier when I could just drink water!!!!
Hopefully that day will come again…
Thursday
– we had no internet all day which was super annoying and meant I couldn’t get a load of work done that I’d planned on.
Mowed the houseyard and got about ¼ of the paddock mowed.
The sun even came out for a couple of hours which made for a VERY happy me!
Went out for dinner and I had a bit of my Wifes grilled fish, but ended up having numerous vomits afterwards – side effect of the hiatus hernia.
Friday
– we expected ‘clearing showers’ today, but instead got shitful freezing rain.
Our garden guy came over for a cuppa and a catch-up which was nice.
Did laundry.
Got a few weeds pulled in between the squalls, but not many.
Quiet day for the most part.
Saturday
– some sunshine in the morning which was so well received by humans and animals, but unfortunately it didn’t last too very long and by afternoon the rain and cold came back in.
In the afternoon we put YouTube on the big tele as one of our sons was in the Nationals Weightlifting Competition, which we watched well into the night.
He did himself (and us!) so very very proud – and we’re rapt for him.
He ended up taking out 11 National Records, and 2 World Records.
Sunday
– sun again this morning.
Glory beeeeee – soooo happy.
Did a ton of weeding and pruning in the vegetable garden and in the houseyard.
Harvested two cabbages (one was 3490 grams) and around 20kg of yačon.
I’ll share some of each with our GardenGuy family, and may sell some of the yačon tubers.
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I think that that’s way more than enough for this little update, so I’ll stop here…
I guess the takeaway from it in [TLDR] dot point would be:
– we travelled south and had the funeral service
– we did the ashes sprinkling for TnT (the Parentals)
– we went to Seaword
– its been incessantly raining for the majority of the last 2 months
– we’ve had some really cold and windy patches mixed in with the rain
– any sun we’ve seen has been muchly revered
– I got a cold, but am coming through the other side of it now
