Tomorrow I will be mostly grouting.
As you can see we have developed all kinds of new skills while renovating the house, some we enjoy, some we don't. Ian has been teaching himself a bit of plumbing, which is his least favourite DIY task, and has managed to install a new bath. Meanwhile I have been tiling, which I quite like. Thank goodness for Tommy Walsh and his 'How to' guides on youtube!
The kitchen is now half finished and, once that is done we just have a car port to erect and a bit of paving and graveling outside then we are ready for tenants.
We heard this week that our goods and chattels from England have now made it through the quarantine inspection apart from two pairs of shoes and a bin that I had to be destroyed because there was a speck of dirt or blade of grass on them or something. I had to pay for the pleasure of having my shoes incinerated and an ottoman has to be reinspected because they could not get it open and assumed it was locked, that has to be paid for too. The timing of this has worked out pretty well because we have given notice to our tenants in the other house and they are leaving in time for us to have all our goodies delivered straight into there.
We went to a barbecue at the Tilligerry Habitat today. This is essentially an information centre about the local native flora and fauna and a spot where tourists come to see koalas, like all things koala, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. They have these barbecues every month and we went along last month to be polite because someone had invited us and we discovered a great bunch of people all bearing wine and beer and having a thoroughly good time! The Habitat is run by volunteers and they stage plenty of fundraising events, but no boring jumble sales and coffee mornings for them, every event takes the form of a party so, needless to say, we have joined.
It is well into autumn now and the clocks have gone back but it is still about 23 degrees most days and, when we were in Newcastle we saw the kids coming home from school, instead of a school bus, many of them have to catch a ferry across the Hunter River. One group of boys were swimming in the river pool while waiting for the ferry, imagine doing that while waiting for the 140!