We're in!

I should have written an update a few weeks ago but we've been very busy.
With a bit of help from our friends we painted the entire inside of our 5 bedroom house. An undercoat onto the raw Giprock and two top coats. It took about 4 weeks and even now there are door frames and window frames that still need another coat. All the doors are yet to be done but their original colour matches nicely with the colour scheme.
The tilers took about a week. They ripped off the skirting boards and broke some, which was a bit stressful for me but the floors do look amazing. The long plank ceramic tiles really do look like wooden floor boards.
The carpet was laid in a few hours the day before we moved in.
So now were just back to normal life. S walks to and from school every day, L enjoys playing trains in the train room and R is being toilet trained. This last year seems like it was forever ago.

Farewell Artarmon

So we've spent about 3 months with Dad, in his 2 bedroom apartment in Artarmon. It's cozy.
On Friday we move back to the Hills! I can't wait to be back in the area. School, friends, church, it's all there. Our very generous neighbours are having us for a few weeks until we can move in.
The house is so close to being finished I can smell it, well not quite as we're the ones doing the painting and that hasn't begun yet. We decided we could save some money that way and afford the floor tiles.
In other news it was a sad day when had to sell the Prado to pay for carpet. He's still mourning it's loss.
So here are some pics of our amazing house.
BTW, that drain pipe at the front post, it's moving! What were they thinking!!

The roof is on!!

The last of the Basalt Colorbond went on this week, and it looks fantastic! Also here's a pic from the front door. Hopefully it will be a bit brighter once the plasterboard goes in.

On the road again

Melbourne in June. It's cold, it can be wet, and generally not the best time of year for a wedding. Dispute all this Janet and Peter has a wonderful day.
Exhausted from driving around the country we were given two weeks to recover before heading south for Evan's sisters wedding. As I've said before, what's another 2000 km when you've just done 22 000 km?
We left Sydney after work on Thursday and drove to Yass for the night. The traffic leaving Sydney was horrendous, and this was before 5, what's it going to be like in 10 years?
We stopped at a motel with tiny rooms and crammed all the kids in on the floor.
The best part of the journey was discovering that the submarine in Holbrook has been yarn bombed yellow! It looked amazing. There are some crazy people out there, a submarine jumper. The boys were a bit disappointed they couldn't climb it.

It was 8°C and raining when we picked up Uncle Bruce and drove to Ringwood from Geelong.
The venue, Rosebank, was beautiful, an historic house with a chapel in the front garden.
Fran had altered her wedding dress from 1968 as Janet had asked to wear her mothers dress. The fabric was still perfect white with embroidered silver flowers. Her hair and make up looked beautiful and she was beaming. Peter seemed pretty relaxed, although I don't think I've ever seen him stressed about anything.
The 90 guests crammed into the little chapel. The boys behaved very well but were glad to run around on the grass outside after the ceremony and blow bubbles.
The food was fantastic and so much, canapés, then entre, main and wedding cake for dessert. I felt ill from eating too much.
A fantastic day. Congratulations Janet and Peter!!

Growing, growing, gone

So after 14 weeks of growing, Evan said goodbye to his bush man look today. Here are the stages, a few times that I was tempted to stop clipping... and now he looks years younger and quite a bit lighter (with the thanks too the lack of hot chip lunches when we were away).
Welcome back handsome Evan!

Cockatoo Island

I love Cockatoo Island. Just off Woolwich, west of the Harbour Bridge, in Sydney Harbour, this island had been resurrected from it's convict, war and industrial days.
It's a higgle-di-piggle-di, mishmash of buildings. There are huge warehouse buildings constructed of iron beams and corrugated iron, including the Turbine Hall, in the Industrial Precinct. There's a Docks Precinct with cranes and a dry dock where ships were built during the wars. On the north western side of the island is a lovely grassed area which is set up with a hundred tents, if you feel like a night on the harbour. All this is on the reclaimed part of the island.
The sandstone bedrock in the center of the island is elevated and has an area where ships were designed and a Convict Precinct constructed of cut sandstone blocks. Two tunnels also go through the centre of the island. So much to see in one day. Lucky we've been here a few times before.
So as well as all these historic buildings to see there is also some really weird art on at the moment thanks to the Biennale of Sydney.
We had perfect winter weather and lots to see. L was fascinated by the huge projection of the waterfall in the Turbine Hall, complete with the roar of the water, but it wasn't quite the same the Fortescue Falls at Karijini NP.
There were a few strange movies, some quite scary.
I was not prepared to ride the ghost train through the dog-leg tunnel, I can't even take balloons popping.
Grandpa enjoyed the room full of exercise equipment attached to pulleys which did all kinds of strange things like blowing bellows, pumping water and making a skeleton dance.
One artist had a room with bessa blocks and she would spin metal hoops until they would clang to the floor. Very weird, but at the Biennale weirder is better, right?

Mandarin picking

Back in Sydney, we've only been home 2 nights, but life already seems busy. We've caught up with friends, had to find school uniforms and new school shoes, and been welcomed back at church.
It was nice to escape to the country this arvo to pick mandarins at an orchard at Wiseman's Ferry. It was also good to get the boys out of the house on a cold wet afternoon.
I found myself checking Wiki Camps to find some free camps to escape to, there are a few national parks in this area and a beautiful river.

The last leg

We drove through the rain the day we left Sydney, 3 months ago, until we got to Bateman's Bay. Since then all we've had was a small shower in Albany, the midnight storm in the Kimberley and a downpour in Carnarvon Gorge.
I lugged my knee high gumboots around the country and wore them once.
So it seems fitting that as we approach Sydney on our final day, it's raining.

I am looking forward to getting home, to seeing friends, off loading the kids to play with their friends, S going back to school (he can't wait!), having a roof over my head, being part of the neighborhood again, not having to sit in the car all day.

It's a bit sad that the adventure is coming to an end. I've had people say that we're doing the trip of a lifetime but I don't think of it like that at all. I think it's only the beginning. We've got the camper trailer and Evan won't sell the Prado so we can go again at a moments notice. I want to do The Red Centre one August and there's also the Queensland coast (because we ran out of time). Back to the Gold Coast to stay with Jo again.
The Gibb River Road would be fantastic with a few other families. And Kakadu and Arnhem Land, I'll have to find out when the cultural festivals are on.
Closer to home, there is Barrington Tops and Myall Lakes. After driving through central Queensland we want to take the kids to a country show or Rodeo, maybe Orange or Dubbo next year.

Let me know if you want to join is for our next adventure*

*Tyre shredding and fine weather guaranteed.