MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY, LOTS OF YUMMY FOOD, DRINKS, FAMILY TIME, RELAXING TIME, PRESSIES, A FEW WHACKS OF THE CRICKET BAT, A SATISFYING NANNA NAP, AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2009. MISS YOU ALL, LEASH AND SCOTT XXXXXXXX

Lots of Driving Later.....

Hi there, well so much has happened in the last fortnight that i don't know where to begin. When we left Mt Isa we kept driving west and eventually hit the Northern Territiry border, yay! my first time in the territory (Scotty had been 20 years ago on his year 10 school trip, i know, how old does that sound!!!). So that in itself was exciting, we finally made it out of Qld! Our first stop was Tennant Creek where we had a lovely night stay at a friends place. Alan, a naturopath I used to work with in my first clinic in Woolloongabba, Herbal Nature, now lives there due to his new job teaching nutrition to the aboriginal communities in the area. It was great to catch up and hear all his stories and he cooked us a very yummy chicken curry, so a nice meal, wine, chats and a stay in a house was very lovely indeed.

After that stay we started travelling south and saw the devils marbles (large boulders clumped together in the desert) on the way to Alice Springs. Once in Alice we stayed in a caravan park for a couple of days and waited for the water that was blocking the southern part of the Stuart highway to recede. There had been massive storms (not as bad as our poor Brissie copped) and the Todd river was once again flowing. It was fun watching all the excited aboriginal kids running around in the water fully clothed. I think it had been a good while since that much water had flown through Alice. After leaving Alice it was time for the big guns of the desert - Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olga's) and Kings Canyon (Kings Canyon!). They were all so amazing, I think I was most blown away by Uluru followed closely by Kings Canyon. Our first night we indulged in the 'Sounds of Silence' dinner. You are taken in a bus into the desert where you watch the sun set from a dune with Uluru (Scotty kept calling it 'big fella' which I quite liked) on one side and Kata Tjuta (means many heads) on the other while you sip champers and eat Australian themed canapes. Vegetarians might want to skip the next few lines. Kangaroo blinis with mango mousse and crocodile pastry cups and smoked salmon rolls to name a few. Then we were led down to an area where tables with white linen tablecloths and candles waited for us and we dined on a yummy buffet and lots of good Aussie wine. Sorry vegetarians, same deal for the next few lines...crocodile caeser salad, kangaroo skewers, wild barramundi, chicken sausages, lamb cutlets and lots more!!! We had a man on the didgeridoo during mains and after dessert all the candles were blown out and oh my god, the stars. Never seen anything like it. An astronomer did a star talk for us (using massive spotlight to highlight), explaining constellations and telling us the aboriginal stories that went with some. It was incredible. Then the night ended so brilliantly, as an irish tour group were at one of the tables (15 of them all up, and our wine glasses that night were bottomless) and they started to sing with amazing voices and all in harmony (of course, they were Irish) and sang a few Irish ballads. We were all so silent afterwards and i got the meaning of the name of the dinner finally. It was magic. The next day, we explored the rock, walked around the base and stuff and then explored Kata Tjuta. The next day we drove another 3ookm or so to Kings Canyon. We did the canyon rim walk and that also turned me into a frantic japanese person with their camera. Spectacular. We were really hot after the walk, the beginning was pretty vertical and although we had left at 8am, once we had finished a few hours later it had been 40 degrees for a while. So then, a long drive south to Coober Pedy in South Australia. O.k. so now I was yet again in another state I had never been in and I was excited as I had always wanted to visit Coober Pedy (Scott had been saying I would be disappointed but I wasn't). Sure, it is in the middle of the desert with nothing else around but my fascination with underground dwelling could not be quelled. So Coober Pedy (this is mostly for you Gillie) is the world's largest opal mine and everyone who lives there has something to do with the mining or selling of opals. The name Coober Pedy comes from the aboriginal words of Kupa (white fella) and Piti (holes). Due to the extreme temperatures, most of it is an underground community. Most houses, underground, are called dug-outs, there are 4 underground churches, underground cafes, bookstores and hospital!!! We stayed in an underground motel (I was so excited, felt like Wilma Flinstone getting dinner ready in our kitchen) and the next day went on an old opal mine tour and saw demo's of the machines and opals in the sandstone walls and stuff. Our guide was a miner (he did tours part time) and had been for 30 years, he was a very interesting character.

Then we were off again, still driving South and yesterday afternoon reached Port Augusta on the coast of South Australia. Even though we had only been inland for 3 weeks, my relief at seeing the ocean again was huge. It will be so nice to be able to drive for 1 hour between destinations instead of 6-8 hours. So now we will slowly meander along the coastline, heading West along the Eyre peninsula until we cross the Nullaboor plain and get into western Oz. Morrie, our van, has done so well with not a single problem (touch wood) and today is being rewarded with a service and tune-up here in Port Augusta. I like this state already as we have free wifi internet at all libraries across South Australia, hence this very long blog and well done to you if you have read this far! Tomorrow we are off to some national parks in the Flinders Ranges to do some walks as it's only 2 hours drive from here. So that's it for now but I will leave you with some of our terminology we use on long desert drives:

1. Road Trains - These are massive trucks that are about 50-60 metres long. They are like trains with wheels and use these outback highways to transport petrol, stock and god knows what else. On narrow one lane highways such as the Kennedy highway, you have to pull off the road when you see one coming to let it pass you. Morrie shakes like anything as they thunder past.

2. One finger Salute - You need to wave at any oncoming vehicle to show comraderie out here. This is is the most common wave. It is where one finger is lifted casually off the steering wheel in acknowledgement at the other driver. This wave and the waves below are only allowed by the driver and not the passenger.

3. Whole Hand Job - This wave is less common and occurs for a few reasons. If the driver feels suddenly energetic, or hasn't seen another vehicle in a while or the approaching vehicle is a high top van like Morrie, then the whole hand comes off the steering wheel in a wave.

4. Big Excitement - This wave is very rare. It is when the hand actually leaves the vehicle and waves out the window. It has only happened twice. Once by me when I hadn't seen any other cars for a whole day and once by Scotty as he noticed the oncoming driver was wearing driving gloves and this apparently warrants a big excitement. This wave is not to be used carelessly.

5. Wasaroo - Unfortunately quite common. It is the deader version of a kangaroo.

6. Rock Shower - When stray stones are flicked up on the windscreen by road trains passing. We now have 3 small star shaped patterns on our windscreen.

7. Botticelli - Game to pass the time that Soph and Lin taught me on the Camino. One person says the initials of a famous person, alive or dead, and the other person has to guess who it is by asking questions that can only be answered with a yes or a no.

8. This game does not have a name yet and we are open to suggestions. One person has to say any word and the other person has to sing a line of a song that contains that word. Very Fun and sometimes very hard. If anyone knows a song where the word 'pantaloons' is featured, I'd be most grateful.
Well, thats it for now, stay safe, Love Leash and Scotty xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm not an outback person after all......

Hi everyone, sorry no photos with this entry as we're using a library in Mt Isa which has this massive sign "Storage devices from outside the library are NOT permitted in this computer (NO USB's, Discs etc.) so yeah, sorry , gotta follow the (stupid) rules. Well the last part of our stay in Port was heaps of fun. Took 2 trips to Cape tribulation and did lots of rainforest walks and in the middle of nowhere camping and we quit our jobs (so fun to do after 6 weeks) Scotty quit a week earlier than me as he just couldn't hack the high pressure scenario of room cleaning and my boss was like WHAT???? but we were a bit over Port by this stage....then it got really fun again. My Bday came along, drinks were had, Mick, Elissa, her sister Kristen and our adorable niece and nephew, Charlotte and Findlay arrived and more drinks were had. Melbourne Cup Day, drinks were had, a day on a pontoon boat out on the river with Tina and her new bf Wayne, fish were caught, we brought an esky so more drinks were had (i caught a trevally and Scotty caught a Bream). Then we had our last dinner in Port with the Melbourne crew and more drinks were had. Then we left and haven't looked at alcohol since, it's only been 8 days......
We went through the Atrherton tablelands which we really loved, 3 days of rainforests, lakes incl. Lake Tinaroo, granite rock, cheese and chocolate factories, bliss. Highlights were the waterfalls (everywhere) and a visit to the biodynamic Mungali Creek Dairy. It's such an area of lush green rolling hills and farmland. Then in complete contrast we headed inland on the Kennedy highway and stayed 2 nights at the Undarra Lava tubes experience and that was incredible (promise to put photos soon). Then on our merry way into the centre, yesterday we stayed a night in Charters Towers and I thought that was hot! Today, another 450km west and we are staying in jolly old Mt Isa and it hit 40 degrees by half ten this morning. We left at 5am from last nights camp to get the bulk of the driving done in the morning. I can't stand the heat!!! I am definitely not an outback girl, i am always fondly thinking of city stuff when I am this far out of the way. Keeping me going is the thought that i will see Uluru, Kings Canyon and the olga's in the coming week. We are only 190km east of the Northern Territory border so yep, we are going to whizz through some sights and Alice Springs and head down to South Australia for the summer months. (will do top of NT next year) Well gotts sign off as library closes, bye bye air conditioning........

Finally! We are Back!

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been so long since the last blog (special apologies to Helly and Gillieweed as they have put in requests for more). Hard to know where to start this time……we have been through something that has made us realise that this trip is a very special and important thing to be doing, I won’t go on about it but I have to write that if anyone I know and love feels like life is too short sometimes and that they wished they were doing something else, make it happen. It might take a while to come to fruition but get the ball rolling or the wheels in motion or the kettle on the hob or however you want to think of it. Sometimes just one little action towards what you want snowballs into living your dream. And just knowing that you are being proactive with what you want can make life feel more meaningful. Heaps of you may already be living your dream, this is just a little shove for those who are currently living life like I did before this trip (well for the last couple of years anyway) Living with the feeling that there may be something I would like to do more than what I was currently doing. Ok. With that out of the way, oh sorry, one more thing, I love you guys. Ok. Now really back to blogging about the trip instead of preaching.
So, we had an unexpected trip back to Brissie and stayed with Sel and Ben (again! thanks guys) and with our favourite island girls Soph, Lin and the Tonester. Also had more time at mum’s apartment while she treks over the top of Spain (hi mummas – buen camino!). Then we came straight back to beautiful Port Douglas where we have been living and working for about 3 weeks now. (Gillie, I know I haven’t added the map of oz for you yet but you can google surely?) We had come here for a 10 day holiday about 3 years ago and knew that on this trip we wanted to hang here for a bit. It’s such a nice place to be, for those of you who haven’t been before, it’s an hour’s drive north of Cairns and Christopher Skase basically developed the place in his hay day. Palm trees everywhere, a 4 mile beach aptly named ‘4 mile beach’, ocean that you can walk into easily as the water is tropically warm. Bike tracks and paths everywhere. Long main street with lots of shops, cafes, restaurants and dive places. Of course, very importantly, Port Douglas is the main access point to the Great Barrier Reef. Markets every Sunday in the park by the water. Nightly cane toad racing at 8.15pm at the Iron Bar and one of the best pubs in Qld, The Court House Hotel with an upstairs verandah where you can watch the sun set over a cold one. If it sounds like I am making it sound irresistible on purpose to lure visitors up here, I am (we have room for 2 extra people….) So I started working straight away as I am so legendary that I just have to walk in to a place and managers and owners fall over themselves to offer me a position. Yes, anyway, I work in a chemist! Always said I never would, but there you go, I’m temporarily working for my enemy - the pharmacist (no, I admit everyone has their place and they dispense a lot of life saving pills but sometimes I feel like throwing the codral bottles and other cold and flu syrups on the floor). Scotty is, wait for it, cleaning 5 star holiday units in a resort ! I have said to him of course, that when we are back in a house one day and his housework isn’t up to scratch that he will have no excuses as he used to do it professionally! We work the same days 3 days a week which gives us 4 days to explore the surrounding area – Mossman gorge, Cape Kimberley, Cape Tribulation (I love that name), Cooktown, the Daintree etc. We are living at Tropic Breeze Van Village, 24 Davidson St, Port Douglas, which is one street away from the beach and 5mins walk to the main drag (Macrossan St). We have a sweet little set up with our Oz tent erected next to our van, hammock, camp oven, swimming pool (oh, yeah, it gets quite hot up here, as soon as you finish exercising or riding bike, you need to jump straight into the pool, I am often beet red faced after any exertion). So that’s us for the moment…..we have a friend Tina up here who lives across the road, she has been in Port for 8 months now and has no plans of leaving so it is nice to hang out with her again…tonight for our 4th wedding anniversary (how time flies) we are off to the restaurant she manages, On the Inlet, a seafood restaurant right on the water, famous for their daily feeding of George the Groper, a fish that measures about 3 metres long and half as wide. It reminds me of something out of a movie. Also we were so lucky to see my good mate Iain, up from Melbourne for a few days to relax in Port, got to meet his beautiful new girlfriend Jacqui and drink far far too much wine (bloody Scottish - yes Iain, I blame you for not being able to lift my head without stabbing sensations over my scalp and temples for the best part of the next day and you broke the phone). Finally, we are looking forward to seeing Scott’s brother Mick (Pickle), his wife Elissa and our niece and nephew Charlotte and Findlay. They arrive from Melbourne on Nov 3rd (wonder what else is on that day??? Hmmmm) for a family holiday and we can’t wait as it’s been way too long since we’ve seen them. So guys and gals, if you need a break somewhere warm, drop us a line, take care and be good (sometimes). Leashy and Scotty xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ps. We are now addicted to the tv series Weeds, have seen 2 seasons so far…1 to go
Pps. Over and Out winking puffin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It's getting warmer....

Well we are now in Cairns and we are really loving far North Queensland so far, can't believe we are still in our own state, this country is big man. Townsville was fun, and then we drove to this cute little place called Balgal Beach which was so small but had a free camp ground right where the river met the sea. This little place, right next to the camp called Fishermans Landing was a highlight. Basically a seafood cafe/bar in a little hut that played the most romantic music and you ate your dinner (from butchers paper) on tables on the water. We loved it. The next day we drove up to Tully (Australia's wettest place - in 1950 they recorded 8m of rainfall! It rained the whole 2 days we were there and we thankfully got Morrison a little cleaner), also a very cute town. They have an annual festival "The golden gumboot", sadly we will miss it, and they even have this big golden gumboot in town (8m tall to mark the height of the most rain they ever had, you got it, in 1950). About 50km inland from Tully was where we stayed for a couple of nights in the national park next to Tully gorge. The river was raging and is popular for white water rafters and the rapids were beautiful. It was a great stay, outdoor cold showers, very a la naturale !! Scotty got 2 leeches and we had many bugs at night. So peaceful though and again had the place to ourselves. We were going to do some walks but it was a bit wet so we watched heaps of Dexter instead (very scary at night, no light, no-one around and watching a serial killer series but hey..). It's also worth mentioning that the Tully pub has something called 'visual viagra' on a Friday night. Sadly, we decided not to stay around for that either. Then it was on to Innisfail for a quick stop (Scotty ran into an ex work mate from Integrated, John Valmadre, how funny is that!?) and then to Cairns. Cairns is great for bike riding, nice and flat so the bikes got a work-out today. We are in a caravan park right in town and last night we wandered down to the night markets, very touristy and kind of reminded me of Thailand. Even had people trying to grab us for chinese massage, very cheap, just for us!!! However, love all the healthfood stores here and healthy cafes and stuff. Also a visit to the Birkenstock boutique (OMG) resulted in an early b'day pressie for me (i know, very early), I couldn't resist and they were on sale!! Going to be here for a couple more nights and then to Port Douglas! Woohoo!! We have down graded our feather doona to a light bed throw. We have definitely left the cold behind now, Love Leash and Scott xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, its been nearly 4 weeks on the road and its been very fun so far......just feels like holidays though rather than our new life. Guess it will sink in eventually. Where to start...we love Morrison and are very happy with the organisation of the small space that we have going now. It’s funny how you need a whole routine to get dressed, cook, wash up etc. so you don’t have world war 3 breaking out. Outside of van living, we have been so lucky with the weather, not a speck of rain and the sunny days make living in the outdoors so much nicer. We are currently staying in Townsville, have had 2 nights here as it is really nice, The Strand is an area along the beach where we have been hanging out and its got man made rock pools to swim in along the beach that have new water pumped into them every 2 hours and so you can swim without worrying about the box jellyfish! Also, massive screen on a grassy hill showing the Olympics so we have been very horizontal there and catching up on the games. Today we are off to Reef HQ which is the largest living reef in captivity with all the life a good reef entails so we get to see big sharks being fed today and other cool guff – apparently the whole thing is massive so that should be good. We will leave you with some highlights and lowlights of the trip so far.

HIGHLIGHTS

*3 glorious nights on Hamilton Island – after 3 weeks in a van, all the space in a reef view room was weird (good but weird), got room service and had about 20 baths, also went kayaking, got whipped at tennis by Scott (again) and lazed around the pool (I had my first fruit tingle cocktail since highschool at happy hour! This one was purple, I remember them as being blue??)

*Whale watching at Hervey Bay, saw about 8 whales very close up, i nearly touched!!! Wished I had go go gadget arms this day. We were on a small catamaran with only 11 others so it was really lovely.

*30km bike ride in Hervey Bay - best bike track ever

*Bumping into friends of friends Amy and Aaron (from Sydney) while bush walking in Rainbow beach and then catching up for drinks at the surf club that evening....so nice to have an unexpected social rendezvous!!!

*Visiting Hayley, Ben and Clare in Bargara (just near Bundaberg) and their gorgeous new baby Nate.

*Finding isolated beaches in 1770 and having them all to ourselves, actually pretty much all of our stay at 1770/Agnes Waters was a highlight

*All the markets we have been at (Eumundi, 1770, Airlie Beach especially) and getting bargain priced and organic locally grown fruit and veg

*Watching a magpie attack Scotty as he tried to eat his cereal under a tree (i laughed so hard and pointed out that the tree had a rather large nest full of chirping babies in it)

*Ending the nights watching tv show episodes on dvd in bed. We have watched all of the last season of scrubs and re-watched all episodes of Entourage and now on to Dexter (thanks Indie – you are a legend)

*Seeing platypuses (platypi?) in the wild at Broken River in Eungella National Park (100km west of Mackay), also Finch Hatton Gorge and the amazing walks in this Park.

*Cracker night at Airlie Beach!! We were lucky to be there for their annual cracker night that precedes this big boat race week and the fireworks were amazing and put Brissie to shame (BTW – Marty and Ad, you must get yourselves to Airlie Beach for a week or so – trust us)

*Watching a movie at the cinema, such a treat!! If you haven’t seen Tropical Thunder yet, turn off your computer now and go (soooo funny)

*Eating in a restaurant in Townsville on Bargain Thursdays - ½ kg of prawns for $11.50! And a dozen Kilpatrick oysters for, wait for it, $6!

LOWLIGHTS

*Day after 30km bike ride in Hervey Bay (extremely sore behinds)

*Receiving wrong information from a brochure that said a free camp spot was accessible by car, later when we both were thankful to be alive and the van in one piece, we found more correct info stating that the track was only accessible to 4WD's and even then, quite perilous. It was a horrendous experience and Scott managed the van like a trooper while I had to do some deep breathing.

*Scott being attacked by magpie

*Nearly getting bogged in some soft sand at Carmila beach (not on the beach-we aren’t that stupid)

*The toilet always seeming so far away in the middle of the night when it is sooo cold and you can't find your clothes/torch

*Scotty still has not caught a fish after many attempts (luckily we are not counting on him to feed us)

*We missed Morrie while we were on Hamilton, we felt guilt at abandoning our beloved van in a parking lot for 3 nights and wondered if he was ok

*Trying to sleep in a van in Townsville (Hoon city), if you weren’t kept awake by screeching tyres, you were kept awake by very loud engines, extremely loud doof doof music or cretins yelling “Wakey Wakey” as they zoomed past

Ok, that’s it for now, till next time, Leash and Scott xxxxxxx

Finally we are off!!!!

Well, last time we blogged it was from our house in West End. Now 6 weeks later, we are finally leaving on the oz adventure. To fill you in on the last 6 weeks.......We moved out of home on 13th June after many garage sales in to Selly (my sis) and Benny's (her hubby) house in Tingalpa. It was sad leaving but it was a lovely home to come to and we were there about 4.5 weeks while we finished work and stuff, Scotty finished on July 4th (his own independence day) and while i finished working at Blackmores on the same day we moved out (cos we had the car up for sale) i worked at the Green Grocer in West End part time till 8th July. Then Scotty did heaps of homely improvements to the van while i got to spend some precious time with Selly who was on Uni break. Then we spent some time on Straddie with our girls Soph and Lin in their lovely new house and also got to help out a bit at their new Asian Cafe, if anyone visits North Stradbroke Island and you love good quality asian food, visit East Coast Cafe at the Masons (soooo yummy). We also did the gorge walk and saw about 6 whales, 8 dolphins, 3 kangaroos, 2 stingrays and an eagle. Not bad for a days work. Then goodbyes to the girls and on to my mum's house in Cooloongatta. We were supposed to stay a night and then go to Mt Warning for a climb and visit Byron, Bangalow etc. but some wet weather put a stop to that and we were at Mum's for 9 nights!!!! Thanks mum. We slowly made a dint in mum's very large dvd collection and when it wasn't p*^&ing down or blowing G-force winds we did some walks, went to Currumbin and back on one day. Then...... Hallelujah brothers ans sisters, our car sold! So the new owner picked it up last night (young guy who had the biggest grin on his face as he got into his new car to drive away - I loved that) and we spent our last night back at Sel and Ben's (in our old room) and Sel cooked us the yummiest seafood paella and we toasted to us finally getting out of their hair! So as i write this blog from their house this morning, i finally know it is my last morning in Brissie for a while. I'm excited, scared, a wee bit sad but happy to be moving on. We will write again from somewhere on the road! xxxxxxxxxxx

Blog page name expained...

First, for those who know us well - you can skip this bit. For those who don't, I thought I would explain our blog page title. When Scott and I were 'dating', we went on the first of our road trips down to Scotty's home town of Ballarat for his 30th Bday where I met his family (lovely) and friends (a bunch of rascals) and then continued on down and did the great ocean road (spectacular). Along the way, we played our first game of monopoly (now only played rarely due to the extreme competitive nature of both of us resulting in tantrums and sulking while playing against the other, but as a new couple, how were we to know...) and i exclaimed that his marker for around the board HAD to be the scottydog as that was his namesake while I was the shoe as Imelda has been thrown at me from time to time (not now of course, as for the trip i have whittled down my collection to 8 pairs! Before anyone raises their eyebrow, i am proud of this fact, so there!) but i digress....So for the rest of that trip, i referred to him as Scottydog and it stuck and morphed into just plain dog, while i became leashydog which also morphed into dog and now we are both called 'the dogs' or as Soph and Lin and Sel call us 'the doggetts'. A little lame perhaps but that's us. It's funny when we yell for each other in a public place... 'DOG' and one of us comes running, I do wonder if people think its weird but anyway, that is how I named our blog page - 2 dogs around oz!!

What I will miss about West End

Where do you start, these are going to be in no particluar order but here goes.......

1. The food and variety of what you can get to eat for all different tastes and prices. First is Quan Than and the beef rice vermicilli salad for $9.50. I have lost count of how many I have eaten over the years but I have never had a bad one and each one has been exactly the same as the rest, I doubt whether I will find an equal to it anywhere (big call I know but it is great!!). Next will be the chicken yiros at Lefkas, so big it is a struggle to finish. What about Mondo's crispy potato square's, hmm yum
2. Orleigh park and walking along the river and how everyone you pass says hello or good morning or acknowledges you in someway, that doesn't happen everywhere
3. Jumping on the 199 Buz and heading into town or to the valley, you head down hardgrave rd, turn right into vulture st, left into boundary and then travel along melbourne st until you reach the city, there are always characters on the bus that make you laugh to yourself
4. The markets at Davies park on Saturdays.....cheap fresh produce and people everywhere
5. The view from the top of Dornoch terrace where you can look out over the city skyline, the XXXX brewery, Suncorp and the TV towers at Mt Cootha, an awesome place to watch fireworks from or a storm as it rolls in from the south east
6. The view from our front sun room at night
7. Happy hour at the Pavalion on Sunday afternoons where you can sit and people watch for hours and then walk home, stopping off for dinner on the way.

There are lots more things I will miss but I will always remember

Moving House

It is 3 days to go before we move out of west end. We have been here for 5 years now and we will miss hanging out here. We have just finished up the last of our 3 garage sales on the weekend and our house is nearly empty. We had to make some tough choices over past few weeks, and we had to break things down into 3 categories: 1. it comes on the trip with us, 2. it goes into storage or 3. it gets sold.

What we now have left in the house is what we are taking with us on the trip in the van.

We took a trip on the weekend down to Austonville to drop off about a dozen boxes at leashy's grandma's place.

Here is some of the thing we sold; our fridge (i bought it when I moved into a place in Carnegie with Ad, he bought the washing machine), our bed (thanks Bunya for letting us keep it until the last weekend), our kitchen stuff (thanks again Bunya!!), our couches (thanks Sarah & Garry - we will be back to sit on them one day soon), coffee table (thanks Al), our TV and stand (thanks Soph and Lin - we bought them off them when they went travelling and now they have bought them back, funny!!). I lost count of how many of Leashy's bag she sold at the garage sale as well!!!

I still haven't found a buyer for the peoples champion, Octagonal!!!, maybe I will keep it for the pool room.

So now the house is nearly empty it is time for the cleaning to begin, god I hate it, but anyway sh*t happens.........