I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front for the last week because we finally managed to get the keys to our house! We lost our patience with the agent who seemed incapable of telling the tenant they had to hand over the keys as they had chosen not to pay rent for the last two months and were no longer at the property. You can imagine how frustrating it was walking past the empty house we could be living in while clambering over all our boxes and furniture in the house we are trying to renovate. So we met up with the owner of the letting agency who dealt with the situation post haste and we were in that afternoon.
Now the long job of moving all our worldly possessions up the road bit by bit is well under way and we are doing quite well. There have been a few comedy capers, notably when we tried to carry the washing machine into the new house. Have you ever tried to lift a washing machine? The house is on a slope and there are about ten steps down then seven up into the entrance, we got all the way to the second step from the top when Ian fell off the steps and I couldn't hold the machine which went crashing down to the bottom of the steps. Luckily Ian had fallen off the side of the steps so it didn't land on him and nobody was hurt. We also got to see why it was so heavy, there is a big concrete slab inside! It was not a very expensive machine and we were not that keen on it so, if it doesn't work when we put it back together, it isn't the end of the world.
There was a silver lining to this mishap as the man next door came running out when he heard the crash and insisted on helping Ian carry any more really heavy stuff. Result!
We are in now and we love it. This is a pole house and has fabulous big windows leading out onto our balcony which is up in the tree tops with a view of the shore line through the trees. Once we have trimmed a couple we will have a fantastic outlook. It is still warm enough to have breakfast on the balcony and we are joined each day by Rainbow Lorikeets, Australian magpies and Mynah Birds, fantastic.