Settled in Brisbane to begin 2021…

Having had a full year of no overseas trips, not even to New Zealand, we settled down to what is expected to be another year in Australia.
Exciting start to the year
The year started with much excitement – a murder! We were visiting Underwood Wine Estate in California’s Napa Valley when it took place. Given we haven’t been out of the country, you have probably guessed by now that the murder was a scripted one and we were really at friends’ house in Brisbane for a murder mystery party. Dressed in red sequins & feathers, Glenda starred as Marilyn Merlot, a former wine princess, now Hollywood movie star, returned to Napa Valley for the Wine Festival and to gloat over her success. Appearing as distinguished sommelier, Bud Wiser, Walter looked dapper in his dark trousers, white shirt & braces topped with a stylish fedora. Carol & Rob went to so much trouble and a fabulous night was had by all. A great way to bring in 2021!!






Courtney’s wedding ….
In March, our niece, Courtney, married Jake in a horse float surrounded by friends & family seated on purple & white covered hay bales. That is, after arriving on her ex-trotter and special horse Buddy. It was a relaxing & happy afternoon in the sunshine and suited the couple perfectly. We wish them both lots of happiness as they now look to welcoming a son into the world.



Making the decision to move on again ….
We decided to leave our home amongst the deer and wallabies at the end of our 6-month lease. Having had some challenges with the landlord’s lack of understanding of his rights when renting out a property and being concerned about the liveability of parts of the home during the winter months, we decided to leave at the end of our lease period. The property was advertised at $250/week more than we were paying, so we wouldn’t have renewed at an increased rent anyway. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of announcing our intent to leave too early, which made the last 6 weeks a living hell. The landlord fired the agents and brought in someone new. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say that we were glad to get out at the end of the period, clean the place and have the full bond refunded into our bank account.
Preparing to move ….
Having bought a few extra items of furniture, we figured we’d need a bigger storage unit than we had previously. Everyone in Brisbane must be storing stuff!! We really struggled to find a unit that we thought would be big enough to hold our goods, particularly having enough space to access things when we need to. Having explored a number of options, we took a chance and booked one that we weren’t sure would be sufficient, knowing that we may need to find an additional small one to supplement the space.
Whilst we’ve accepted that moving goods frequently tends to cause additional damage, using specially created boxes for items such as paintings helps. In addition, Walter decided to undertake the huge task of wrapping all the furniture items. This would have the added benefit of reducing the storage space required. Boy, were we glad when it was all done before moving day.



A break from the all-consuming move ….
We had been invited to a friend’s 60th birthday party the evening before the big day. Whilst a little panicked at the thought of what still needed to be done, we wouldn’t miss Julie’s special night for the world. And we were so very glad we’d made the effort. Such a privilege to be part of a fabulous group of people celebrating the life of a special person.


Moving into storage ….
Moving day dawned bright and sunny albeit the coldest morning of the year to date. Given the torrential rain that we’d had 7 days before, we were very grateful. The relief was short lived when Peter, our removalist, arrived without the 2 burly lads that we’d been expecting. Whilst we ended up having to do more physical work than expected, it turned out to be a good day. Peter’s wife, Heather stepped in and the four of us made a great team. Walter spent most of his time packing the storage unit whilst the rest of us shunted the stuff off the truck and on to trollies. He did a great job of getting everything in with plenty of room to place with. Whew!
Enjoying our river side home ….
It was so good to know that we had our little “home” waiting for us after the stresses of moving. We didn’t even have to make the bed as Terri had set it up for us beautifully as always. The fridge was even waiting for us to load our cold stuff.
Celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary a few days after moving in was a bonus – particularly as it was the same day as we received our bond refund into our bank account.




Now we can rest and recover a little before embarking on our trip to the Northern Territory for our 250km journey on the Larapinta Trail. https://www.larapintatrail.com.au/