The Scout made it to Townsville....and so did I.

Well, we hit the first leg of our journey.  All the way to Townsville.  I want you to know that I/ME drove the Scout all the way up.  The 'pampered' lady drove the Scout.  It's interesting to see some of the faces checking out the Scout on the way up.  Quite a few guys looked at the scout and you can see in their faces..." What the heck IS that?'' 

As for driving it,...well,.. give me a luxury vehicle any day.  While the Scout DOES provide fun for camping trips and off road fun, it's not exactly a RELAXING vehicle to drive.  There's very little room to move your feet and legs, and the pedals were up a bit high, so I had to LIFT my WHOLE leg to shift gears.  I drained the wrong sub tank of petrol into the main tank, AFTER it was '' ALREADY explained'' to me.  The window handle fell off on to the floor.  After 3 hrs of driving, my foot kept slipping off the pedal, so I had to readjust it regularly.  At some point while going gently over a really rough patch of road on a SHORT WHEELBASE  AND  trying to keep the trailer inline,...Chris pipes up on the walkie talkie and says, '' you can step that up to a 100 now"...sure buddy, sure. 

It was fun at times like when the wind was blowing through my hair, the music blasting out of the stereo and my arm out the window, ......along with the air conditioner freezing the left knee cap and occasionally it stir up enough that you could actually feel it AROUND the cabin.  So at the end of each of the two days, I have a cramp in my butt, cramps in both legs, my foot cramping from the odd position of trying to stay on the pedal, a sunburn on my arm and a funny sensation of temporary deafness.   But I made it.  THAT'S always a good point. And as I got out of the scout, the door seals were coming away from the body,  the lock on the door was loose because of the rust around it, and the seat cushion came away from it's frame,.... And as for the Scout?...well,....let's just say Robert was VERY EXCITED about taking it home.  Me too,.. as I made my way back to the Landcruiser where I could stretch my legs out from that unnatural position of a pretzel.  I'm still curious about a man's fixation on this beast of a car, but I guess it's one of those " Mars/Venus" things.

AND to end this leg of the journey, we got to meet Casey, Rob's new SERIOUS girlfriend.  Very nice young lady she is too.  I'm looking forward to seeing Robert again and getting to know his new sweetheart while we stay up here for the week.  Pictures are on the way.

Freedom and Fraser Island......

There's a real sense of freedom when you camp.  You have a tent, food, and camp gear which is usually the barest essentials.  And when you do this with friends, it's even more fun.

We went to Fraser Island this weekend and it was GREAT!  Lots of sand, surf, and sun.  The Scout was MADE for this kind of stuff.  No bitumen roads, only sandy ones. (Although, there WAS one small portion of bitumen at the end of our trip) 

We headed up north on the ocean side of the island.  And because it wasn't low tide yet, we had to go up inland on the corrugated road.  I was so surprised to see so MANY 4WDs.  Once again, for being a REMOTE area, it was filled with so many people!  There were tourist buses everywhere, along with the local fisherman.  There were houses on the island to rent, and small residential areas, along with one or two spots for the tourists to stay.

We headed up to the Great Sandy Cape.  We got 'bogged' in the sand which took some time to get out, but once out, we took off like a shot up the beach.

We saw a ship wreck, a lighthouse, turtles, whales, and different types of flora and fauna.  We had a roast every night. (lamb, beef, pork)  Unfortunately we didn't catch any fish, but fortunately we  DID have the roasts available! 

 

This camp trip was great.  It was WARM  weather for starters.  And we even got to relax before heading off around 10 to 11 am.  This is MY IDEA of camping.  A bit of relaxing, a bit of travelling, a bit of touring, etc.  So it was all good.

  

Even did a little fishing...and by the way,...you need sunscreen EVEN in the early morning.  Which I found out the hard way!  Yes, I'm a pink little berry which should start peeling next week sometime.

  

This is a sea turtle.  He/she had  beached itself to rest, but high tailed it back into the ocean as soon as it saw us coming.

 

 

 

Just checking us out to see if we'll leave now.  And sure enough, as soon as we turned our backs, he/she came back on shore.  One of the other ladies got a much better picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it's time to get a move on.  We're leaving for Townsville tomorrow morning and we have oodles of things to do. 

Savouring our moment of 'free' time before more chasing...

We have moved out of the house and into the new house.  We decided to stay in the new house for a couple of days, not only to save money, but so we can fit the security screen doors and the dishwasher.

The sale of the house is finally over.  The waiting for 8 weeks for the contract to finalize.  This was the hardest contract to go through,.. EVER!  And even down to the wire, we still had delays.  Settlement was at 2 pm on Wednesday.  And at one o'clock, we got the phone,..."Mrs. Earixson?...we're terribly sorry, but there's been a delay on those cheques"..."would you like to pick them up in Southport because we won't get them until tomorrow morning."  So off we trundle to Southport to pick up the cheques.  We got the boxes in storage.  And we have our boxes for the caravan, and the trailer is full of stuff for Rob. 

And we've been into Brisbane to see Liz and James.  They graciously offered their house and home to us for a couple of days.  This allowed me to wash clothes and Chris went to pay for the Landcruiser and the Caravan. (which we pick up on Monday).

And then Friday, we went to pick the keys up for the new house.  The real estate agent had ONE key.  The front door key.  The owner still had the keys!  This is two days  AFTER the settlement.  Okaaay...that's fine,...you'll drop the keys in tonight?....okay that will be fine.  We get into the new house, and receive a call about an hour later.  "uh,..Mrs. Earixson?..I'm really sorry about this,...but you know, the owner is an old lady,...and she wants to hold onto the keys until the cheque clears."  "what?,...why?...we HAVE a key?"  and we also found some of the other keys in the kitchen.  We just don't have the remote for the garage at the moment.  I just shook my head.  WHATEVER!  So we'll be getting the rest of them on Monday AFTER her BANKCHEQUE clears.

It's exciting to have a brand new house.  This is our very first brand newy.  An open palette.  I can't wait to decorate.  It will be fun.

Our nerves have settled down now.  We even have Tillie with us.  She was a nervous wreck too, but she's settled down now as well.   She was spooked by the pit bull behind us.  There's a foxy at the laundry door that barks ever time you open the door and then across the street, there's another two dogs who bark at all the kids playing in the street.  And this neighbourhood?...well,...Chris already knows two neighbours.  There's LOTS of dogs (noisy ones) and LOTS of kids (noisy ones).  I think Chris will enjoy this neighbourhood.  There's lots to watch, and lots to comment on.

We had both forgotten, after so many years in the rainforest,...just how noisy suburbia is.  And there's planes flying overhead at odd hours of the day too. 'We're in a FLIGHTPATH?!!!"  and the water is very chlorinated.  Oh yeah,..now I remember.  Chris has been here one day,...and his comments?.."gee, the fence looks like prison bars"...."boy!  those dogs are noisy""I WISH those dogs would be quiet!" and the noise from the kids.  is  just like walking into a Burger King or McDonalds while there's a kids party on.  But at night, the noise goes away and quiet reigns.  "SEE?!!!  It's all GOOD!!! It's not that bad!"

Well, the security screens are in, the new dishwasher is in, and we're picking up the cruiser and caravan on Monday.  We head off camping next Friday to Fraser Island for 4 days and then on to Townsville to see Rob.

And when our travels end,...we'll look at water tanks for rainwater to drink.  We'll collect the dogs, collect the Scout & trailer from Robs, and settle down to suburban life.  And I'm sure I'll be asked a few more times by Chris...." Now,  WHY did we settle down here?" and " Remember Kath!,...this is ONLY for a few years!"

The joy in packing....

I love packing up the house. I get to go through all of the cupboards. I get to see things I use every day and then,.....I get to sort out the stuff I haven't seen in YEARS. I get to go down memory lane, when I find those diaries that I wrote in, 25 yrs ago. And those photos of the kids when they were small babies. The photos of mom and dad, my brother, and all the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. The medals from the swimming carnivals that the kids used to attend. Swim practice. The certificates that the kids earned from their classes. The Halloween costumes that we made up for, on our first and second 'Trick or Treats" with our neighbours. Just to let you know, Australians don't participate in trick or treating. And we even stirred up the local pastor who declared ON RADIO that he didn't think it was something we should encourage. (my 15 min. of fame or infamy)
And every time we pack, I find my troll doll that I used to play with, along with my aunt. She was more like my sister, than an aunt, as we're only 2 years apart. But everytime I hear the Monkees, or Herman's Hermits, it throws me back to when I was about 8 years old heading to their house near Pasadena.

I found pictures of my mom and dad who have since passed away, but with a flood of memories, the emotions come flying back. The excitement of being married, the excitement of showing off my new husband, and moving to Australia. Then the realization. We're here and we're not going back. The pain and the guilt of the choice I made. And then motherhood. The joys, the fears, the frustration, and the determination of having and raising children. And then onto another move, but this time as a family into a large country town. Working hard to keep everything going smoothly. And again the happy times as a family, but gathering friends with you, who also become family.

But, this time is different. This time, the kids are gone, my mother in law has since passed away, and it's now just me and Chris. So there's not as much to pack away and I'll have it done much sooner than I expect. Sorting out the bedding and furniture is the easiest part. At least,...this year it is. I have learned to keep everything to a minimum because of the many moves we've already done. But this year, it's just me and Chris moving onto the next stage our lives. Downsizing again. So out goes the furniture, out goes some of the manchester, out goes things that I don't need, use, or haven't seen for a long time. But not the memories. They stay with us every year and every move.

Chris and I have been married for 31 years now, and in that time we have moved 15 times. This is our 16th time. And as much as I've protested over the years about having to move. I really do look forward to the changes. That next adventure, that's around the corner. People come and go in our lives, but our memories are always with us, through the things we collect, whether it's photos, keepsakes, music, or knickknacks. And it's THOSE boxes that I love going through the most. So if you'll excuse me, I need to grab the box of tissues and finish the packing.

IT'S OFFICIAL!! The house is SOLD!! Two weeks to go and our new adventure starts.

Yes, we FINALLY got the call.  "Congratulations Mrs. Earixson, you've just sold your house" replied the solicitor's paralegal.  WOO HOO!!  Now!  I can get excited.  Now!  our adventure can start.  Now!  I can start packing and planning.  Chris has been waiting for me to get excited for the last two weeks, but I didn't want to do that.  I KNEW it had sold, but I just couldn't bring my self to that excitement level just yet.  And now I'm HERE!!!  YAY~!

The sale of the house means that we can go forward.  It means we can downsize the house, rent it out, and travel.  I can't wait.  This is what Chris and I have both dreamed about for so long.