Holiday in Busselton

We have just got back from another holiday, this time to the South West to a town called Busselton.
We stayed in a chalet in a caravan park called Mandalay. We went there with my sister and her family and my mother.
Peanut also seemed to enjoy spending time with her cousins as well.
We also took her to an animal farm, where she got to see guinea pigs, chickens, rabbits, parrots, donkeys, horses, lamas, goats, sheep and cattle for the first time in her life. She also got to have her first ride on a Merry-go-round.

Still no real progress with selling the apartment, there seem to be a few nibbles but buyers still seem to be holding back. We just need the right offer and then I can get ready for our drive to Brisbane. We have also discussed trading in the commodore for a Toyota Landcruiser Prado or a Toyota Hilux dual cab. We both like the idea of travelling about a bit whilst in Qld, as it could only be for 2 years, but could be permanent as well.

I would also like to get this over so that we can stop having to get the apartment ready for viewing each Saturday when Ang is working Friday nights and only wants to rest on a Saturday night.

This weekend coming we have Peanuts' christening and then a few drinks afterwards, she will also have 4 god parents to contend with, we thought it only fair a pair from each side, so we selected my sister and her husband and Angie's brother and his wife.

There is also the matter of only just over 2 weeks until my 40th birthday.

The best thing on the horizon is 9 more days until the footy starts and my starts the season as the reigning premiers, but also the youngest team in the competition.

GO HAWKS.

Trip to Sunshine Coast

It has been a couple of weeks, but I was on holiday last week. We went to visit the in-laws, who live on the Sunshine Coast, which if you don't know where it is, it is about 100kms north of Brisbane in Queensland.

Was great to get away from Perth and work for a week. The trip was also to do a bit of exploring the northern subburbs on one of the days to see where we might look for a house when we get to Brisbane.

We caughtwith Ang's 2 brothers and their families, which leads us to also seeing our new nephew, Daniel (pictured with me right), who is only 4 weeks old. It just shows us how much little Peanut has grown over the last 7 months. She even has 2 teeth now as well, and she really enjoyed exploring a bigger house to play in and seeing all her cousins.

On the Wednesday we went down to Brisbane, to explore the suburbs, and from what we have seen from driving around we are interested in Strathpine and Petrie, with interest also n the suburbs in between, which were bray Park and Lawnton. There seems to be some nice houses there as well.

We also went for a walk through a small bit of forest and then went to Gardiners Falls for a swim, the whole family went. The rest of the time was mainly hanging around the in-laws place with the occasional walk outside, so I could feed the mosquitoes. Every tie I go to their house I get attacked by them and everyone living around them like to keep dams with stagnant water so they can keep breeding, I still don't understand why they all want have a dam.

My next task to get sorted is my Aussie rules dream team, I still haven't started getting it sorted, but I have a couple weeks before the start of the season. I hope I can get a team as good as I had last season.

Lastly, the apartment has been up for sale for less than 2 weeks, there has been a fair bit of interest but no offers yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

Apartment for sale

Yay, finally we have te place on the market.

All the jobs that needed to get done have been done.

We have met with a few agents and decided on one. Hopefully it will be sold quickly and then our next adventure will start, The drive from Perth on the west coast of Australia, to Brisbane on the east coast, following mostly the coast line along the south.

The apartment looks pretty good tidyed up and with a lot of the clutter gone. Since the market is in such a shit situation at the moment we will be happy to get out at break even or just above, which might be possible.

It's all coming together now.

Selling the apartment

Well we are one day closer to getting it ready.

Removed a whole lot more junk out to mums.

Also cleaned one lot of windows which was interesting trying to get the outside done from the inside, since there is no balcony on that level. We got our room done, little peanuts tomorrow and some more cleaning.

On another note, what do these Aussie cricketers doing or more correctly what are the selectors doin. Some of the selections are a wonder, particularly Cameron White, he is a pie chucker and how batsmen at this level cannot do anything to Botha's bowling I don't lnow. He couldn't turn a ball in a cyclone.

Getting the Apartment ready

Back again, it has been a couple of weeks, but we have busy getting the apartment ready for sale. So that we can go to Queensland.
Over the last week or so we have painted a feature wall in the Lounge are an all of our bedroom. I have also learnt how to do grouting. We have redone the grouting in the kitchen and it has brought up the tiles nice enough to improve the kitchen.

We have also packed up all the souvenir glasses from out travels, as well as several boxes of books and DVD's. We still have lots more to pack and move out to make it presentable for sale. We will be packing up heaps of stuff this weekend. My brother-in-law is hopefully going to help us with moving some of the stuff out, by getting his trailer licensed and then bringing it aroung to load up.

The cleaning has also commenced all the kitchen is done.

We hope this will work and get us the price we are looking for, it will make our arrival in Queensland heaps easier.

Se you soon.

First Weekend of the Year

Not that big a weekend.

On Friday we had dinner with Theos, a friend over from Melbourne, at the Brisbane Hotel, very nice pizza. Then since Peanut's routine requires her to be in bed by about 8pm or she gets reallynarky, we went home and had a few beers watching 'They're a Weird Mob' DVD. I always love watching that movie, especially with my dads ways.

The next morning we watched the cricket and for a while there it looked like more of the same as the first 2 tests. Then this morning Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke seemed to actually take back some control from South Africa in the series and our innings finished a lot better than it was looking.

Late in the evening we deciced to change the curtins in our and Peanut's room. Looks better, but still have more jobs to do if we are going to sell the place before moving to Qld.

Back soon.

New Years Day

Well it is now 2009 but it doesn't seem like I will be 40 in 3 months.

We had a quiet night with a couple of friends over for a bbq, but their little one was getting a bit tired so they left early to get her home and to bed.

2008 was a good year for us, after all we did get Ciara on 15th of July and although there was some late nights in the first few weeks, that is all sorted and she is in bed by about 8pm and has been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks old. Ciara has now been commando crawling on her tummy since before she was 5 months old and first rolled over by 7 weeks. Solid foods have also been started at about 4 and a half months. So there seems to be progression pretty quickly.

We also renovted our bathroom though it wasn't cheap, it really adds alot to the place and will hopefully make it easier to sell the apartment. We are both very happy with how it turned out, with colours neutral enough not to put anyone off.

We also had a couple of trips to the eastern states as well, I went to Qld once and to NSW once, though Ang went Qld 3 times and NSW once. We also have another trip to Qld coming up in February which should be good and a precursor to moving over in April.

Back to Ciara
Ciara is already taking over our life and dictating what we can and can't do and when we can do it. Since she needs regular naps and is tired by 8pm and in bed we pretty much have to home by then. There is also the matter of regular feeding about 6 or 7 times a day, which is more of a chore for Ang than it is for me, but it means we have to carry enough food and supplies (nappies) for longer than we anticpate being out, in case we are delayed or I get talked into another beer :). It does seem to be a bit of work, but each day it is all worthwhile, Especially in the morning when I go get her from her cott and she has a huge smile just me or the same smile i get from making stupid noises for her, or even just getting in the front door after work.

Today we will be going to my mums'house for dinner, usual thursday outing, and Ciara will get a bath instead of her nightly showers with me, since our apartment only a double size shower and no bath.

Will be back in soon.