Since Will’s last post, so much has happened. I’ll try to get it all right, but it has been such a whirlwind, that I may have to revert back in time a bit here and there. So we went to Yallingup for cousin Sara’s wedding, which was beautiful, and Smith’s Beach turned on the perfect Aussie summer weather for the whole weekend. Definitely a highlight for the past month, and a nice break. Great catching up with the Kiwi relo’s, and making us even more determined to visit the old NZ, sooner than later.

The beautiful view of Smiths Beach, balcony babes and crazy Kiwis braved the freezing water

At the wedding all dolled up, and Will helping to get the gopher to the car…he loved it.

I’ve been having heaps of trouble with the stupid dick knee, low energy, and now some serious back pain. It was getting so bad, that even Guru Drew couldn’t fix it, and I was resorting to pain killers and anti-inflammatories (Don’t like taking pills usually). Nothing was helping, yoga, massage, pills, nothing, so I went to the Doctor and told him something was wrong with my body. It wasn’t working right, so what is it? He checked my back and knee, and ordered CT scan and blood tests, and then spotted a weird dark mole on my good leg and ordered that chopped out too. Ugh, not the good leg? Anyway, long story short, I have contracted Ross River Virus for the second time. Are you fucking kidding me? No way ! Well, that explains the fatigue, sore body, and exaggerated arthritis pains. Also, I have advanced arthritis in my lumbar spine, which is inflamed from old mate Ross River.

We managed to get a few mods done to my Honda, in preparation for our tour.

I certainly feel the way I look, frazzled and a bit crazy.

We also managed to squeeze in a nice afternoon ride to Dwellingup with friends.

So, back to Guru Drew, when he comes back from his well deserved break. In the mean time, pills and packing. Everyday, we are pushing the builders, telling them we have no choice but to be in the house by the 11th March, and they are continuing to be annoyingly slow and unorganised. If we are going anywhere in the car, we are taking boxes of small stuff over to Travel Home Base (THB) and checking up on the progress. It is not looking good, but too bad, we are moving in on the 11th, no matter what. We are also busy getting quotes for aircon, blinds, and security screens. More waiting! Ugh, this is not my strong side.

Another load of unnecessary stuff, and a couple more vehicles delivered and stored.

Eventually, the day came, and we woke up early and collected the good old rental truck. A big one, 6 tonne, with a tail lifter. Will and I had only the big furniture to move, and as we had cleared the house we had cleaned each part, so as soon as everything was out, it only took me about an hour to finish it off. We had great help from Will’s brother Steve, and our son Hayden. The boys worked really well together, and we had our stuff loaded and unloaded again by 11:30, and they were onto the second house of the day, Will’s dad. Steve’s wife and daughter (Stacey and Shaye) had been at Bill’s house all morning helping pack his stuff, and by the time they all arrived at THB, they were knackered and our poor giant shed was overflowing with unnecessary shit.

Shift number one in progress, and the only things not fitting are the pot plants.

Shift number two all done and dusted. Many exhausted individuals, plenty of seats though…hhm.

Oh my god, people, we have SOOOOO much stuff! This is a nightmare. We are going to have to sift through this mess and clear out more than half of it. We only have 3 weeks until Will and I have to head off towards Melbourne. Small steps, just think small steps.

The helpers were happy to go home and rest, and we were happy to be able to go to bed in our own beds, even if we were in strange rooms. Sunday was the third house move for poor Will, who took off early to help Mandy (my step sister) in the truck. She had as much stuff as Bill and us put together, and it was a struggle. But with the help of Mandy’s kids (15 & 18) and another fit young man (Kieren 20), they got it all done by early afternoon, just as the rain started to fall. Phew, good work team. Bill and I pottered around unpacking bits and pieces, and resting our sore bodies. Ol Ross didn’t like the couple of glasses of wine I was drinking each night trying to get through this moving part.

Mandy’s furniture delivered, and our pot plants collected. Three moves in Two days. Phew!

So come Monday morning, it was straight into the next part of our renovation, and getting onto some of the things that were not quite right. First, my brother (a plumber) came and fixed the slow flowing, lukewarm showers. The tiny filters were clogged up with silicon, and the hot water system (which is new) was set incorrectly, at about 35C. Not happy with that shoddy work. I had to clean the kitchen, clean the oven and then put it all together, and when I put things on our walk in robe shelves, they got covered in plaster dust. I got on a chair to have a look and discovered chunks of plaster and a thick coating of dust. Not clean! On top of this there were no hanging rails in the robes (fitted later by the Chippy), no holes drilled in the cabinetry for the washing machine hoses to connect to the taps, and Will had to spend the good part of the day getting these things sorted.

(Will: on a positive note & to their credit the Builder has allowed us to move in before the final  house progress payment, since the build is behind schedule & we had nowhere to live).

We had the split system installed in the studio the day before our move, and after the move a glass of wine was required.

Tuesday, we had Rohan in the yard with (my brother John’s) mini excavator, digging a hole for the soak well, Alan the 70yr old concreter marking out a path along the extension, the aircon guys installing the aircon for the main house, and Bill and I still slowly pottering around emptying boxes. Wednesday, Rohan and Will were back at the storm-water project, and leveling out the backyard for the next process. Thursday, was clothesline day, as we were all getting short on clothes. We have all minimised well in this area. Will bought one, and got it together, while also mapping out the raised gardens, chook pen and gravel areas. The retic guy came to measure up, to quote on retic, and the clothes line was put in place. Friday, Al came to concrete the pathway, and Will put up a few of our pictures to help make it feel more like home. Phew, this is hard. We are still waiting for the builder to finish off the covered areas between the laundry, the studio and the house. Getting them to do anything is getting harder and harder. Their communication skills are very poor, and I’m finding their passive aggressive methods harder to tolerate. I am ready to tell them just how crap I think they are, and what I think of some of their contractors, but they are not ready to hear it. I could not recommend them, or the electrician. Two new TV points, were not even connected to the antenna. Why even put them in, if you don’t connect them to the bloody antenna. What the hell man?

One of the builders reasons for the delays, was that you couldn’t have too many contractors onsite at one time……….didn’t seem to stop these guys that we organised. Smashin’ it out!

Rohan and Will worked like dogs getting the storm water done before the “Storm Water” came. Good work guys!

Back yard, smooth and ready for phase 2, and Al smashing in the last pathway.

So suddenly, we are a week in the house, and we (well maybe just Will) have achieved heaps. We have missed our daughter Olivia’s 21st Birthday on Monday, so we invited the whole family to a late lunch of Ribs and Wings, courtesy of Lone Star Rib House in Fremantle. A totally lovely afternoon, going cowboy on some delicious chunks of meat, and catching up with all the family. I have stopped with the wine and reverted to the anti-inflammatory smoothies, and the Ol Ross is easier to manage. I’m back to see Drew, and determined to carry on with the motorbike tour now with two weeks to go. This week we are tackling the dreaded Shed, and trying to consolidate some of the items in there, sell lots of it and re-organise the rest onto some proper racking that is on it’s way. A massive week ahead, but we have to get to it, not much time left now.

Our first visitor. Old mate magpie who had been severely beaten up by his peers. Poor bugger!

Happy 21st Liv, cool to have a birthday week. So nice to have so many family members together.

The bikes are ready and waiting, it’s just us that have to get things together. No matter what, we have to head off on the 1st April. We really don’t want to race across this beautiful country missing everything just to get to Melbourne. Besides, we are not motorbike fit, and 300-400 kms will be a big day for me and the Ol Ross River. Oh, and we have to find our camping gear, it’s somewhere in the shed……aaarrgh….to the shed then, it is!

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