We are all set up at
Condobolin, house-sitting for Wendy and Ian.
The cool weather has been welcomed after the weather in Queensland prior
to us leaving. BUT you need to know what
has happened in the middle…………………….
We were due to hand over
the keys to Victoria Point at 2.45pm on the 11th April. We left the house at 10am on the 11th,
the real estate agent was going to hand over the keys for us and we said sad
farewells to our dear neighbours. At
2.21pm we got a text from the real estate agent to say that the new buyers
wanted to do a ‘pre-settlement’ inspection before they paid the rest of the
sale monies…… :C Really - 19minutes before it is all supposed to be settled!!!!
At 2.30pm we got an
email from the Solicitors to say that settlement had occurred early. So they were obviously pleased that we had
left the house clean and tidy.
We drove out to
Jimboomba and set up in Beckie’s front yard.
Over the next few days we had appointments to complete and then we
headed to Taree to see Darryl’s brother Neville and his sister Shirley. We spent the first night at Halfway Creek,
south of Grafton. This is a great spot
near the Shell service station and we had about 18 other vehicles with us. We then travelled to Taree the next day. It was a shock to see the van park at Dawson
River almost empty BUT still charging high School-holidays prices ($45 per
night and then it dropped to $35 per night on the Sunday at the end of the
holidays). We are really beginning to
feel that they are out-pricing themselves for us to stay and we may have to find
somewhere else. We had a great few days
there and even went up to Port Macquarie to for a surprise visit to Uncle Max
and Aunty Kath.
Uncle Max and Aunty Kath
Free, Aurra and Julie
Vesna and Nick
It was also a great day
as we managed to catch up with cousin Julie and Free and Aurra, and also Vesna
and her lovely husband Nick. A truly
lovely day.
We returned back to
Jimboomba to see the doctor and get scripts filled and then it was Beckie’s
Birthday (Happy mid-30’s Birthday :D) and then the next day was Mother’s
Day.
Miss Independant with 'Hulk', Max, 'Bobby', Bec with Lucky Last and Mr Man
Beck, Ben, Barb, Darryl
On Beckie’s birthday we went to a
‘Hippiness and Happiness’ Market that was held at Woodhill Hall. What a great day we had. Lots of different stalls from usual
markets. Ben came and joined us for Mother’s
Day and we had a latish lunch once the children returned from their prospective
fathers. We had a great evening. Beckie has been teaching Miss Independent and
Monkey Boy how to play Canasta – and they have both grasped it really
well. We all had several good sessions
with them.
We set off on the
Monday and travelled to Inglewood in Qld.
It would seem that Autumn has begun on the road to Toowoomba
We were still debating which way to travel on our way to Condobolin and
weren’t sure if we were going to go through Goondiwindi to St George or down to
Moree. The camp spot at Inglewood was
well used that night with 8 rigs in for the night. We had some light rain showers during the
night and it was a quite a warm night.
We travelled down to
Moree the next day and took rest at Tooraweenah rest area just south of
Coonabarabran.
Sunset
It was quite overcast and the wind was cool and fellow resters were also from Qld and they found the cool wind very uncomfortable and they were heading to South Australia – so will definitely need their winter woollies.
6 degrees and foggy next morning
Next morning it was 6degrees and the wind was blowing again and it was
time for long pants and socks and shoes :D.
We travelled through to Condobolin through Narromine and Tullamore and
arrived at Condobolin at about 2pm to find no one at home :C BUT Wendy was
travelling back from Dubbo and Ian was to get home on Friday from Orange. We set up in the driveway and then went in
and gave Rosey a big cuddle.
set up in the driveway :D
Miss Rosey is 11 years old
We then got
the fire going to warm the house and let the chickens out of their pen to have
a good scratch in the yard. Darryl made
some chicken and vegetable soup for dinner and Wendy stopped in Parkes and got
some lovely crusty bread to go with it.
We all headed into
town on Friday and whilst Wendy was at the hairdresser Darryl and I did the
shopping. When we got home we found Ian
had arrived and we had a lovely evening catching up.
On Saturday we chatted and ate and chatted
whilst getting the campfire roaring and then Ian and Wendy prepared a lovely
roast beef lunch which we thoroughly enjoyed and then sat around the campfire
until after dark.
Ian checking the Roast in the camp-oven
Relaxing after lunch - Wendy painting
Darryl relaxing near the camp fire
We then listened in
whilst Wendy and Ian had a skype session with Miss Holly from Poland and we
participated right near the end. It was
really lovely chatting with her and all three of them are getting terribly
excited about meeting up in Amsterdam in about 18 days…….
Sunday we let Ian and
Wendy complete their preparations for travel and we left for Dubbo at
10.45am. We arrived at just after 1pm
and Ian directed us to a pub for lunch.
From here we went to Officeworks so that Wendy could get some pens for
drawing for use whilst away and we took advantage of the stop to get some
supplies as well :D
last minute checking at the airport
Once we waved them
onto the plane for Sydney, Darryl and I travelled to visit our friends Jenny
and Doug and were lucky enough to meet up with Helen and Peter who were on
their way home to Adelaide. The time
flew WAY TOO fast and it was very dark by the time we headed on our way down to
Parkes and out to Condobolin. We got
home at 9.15pm and had a quite cuppa whilst giving Miss Rosey a good cuddle.
I have been invited to
attend a Weaving Day at Forbes on Wednesday and also to join with the Weavers
of Condobolin the following week. So am
getting very excited about that also.
Monday and Tuesday we
attended to the chores that come with caring for a home and we heard late that
night that Wendy and Ian had arrived safe and sound in France.
Wednesday Darryl and I headed off at 9am for
my weaving session. We arrived in Forbes
at 10.15am and Darryl went and kept himself occupied whilst I mingled with the
ladies (I did ask him to come in for a cuppa and to meet the ladies but he
declined :C). What a great morning and
afternoon – lots of great yarning and learning.
I learnt to make string and also started to weave a fish using twining –
which you will see in the attached photos.
String from red hot poker plant.
starting the fish tail
starting to move it out to make the body
weaving more of the body - concentrating hard
ready to shape front of the body
front taking shape
ready for the mouth
almost finished. Have done mouth and whiskers but now to do eyes and do the dorsal and lateral fins. Will then make some more string to use as a hanger.
Yucca, cumbungi, watsonia, red hot poker is what has been used to make 'FISH' :D
Unfortunately, it was the last of these community sessions held by the
Orange Fiber Artists – UNLESS they can get more government funding or work out
another method of funding.
Yesterday and today I
have been getting our laundry done whilst also sitting and weaving the
FISH. It has been a very interesting and
satisfying activity. I look forward to
learning more next week when I meet with the weavers of Condobolin.
