Category: Travel

Ingham chicken love ’em

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So it turns out Ingham Chickens aren’t from Ingham. It was rather a disappointment to me, if I were to be completely honest. One that I got over very quickly, but I realised I had been making the Ingham chicken love ’em joke for a little while and well, don’t I look sheepish.

Moving on.

We have internet!! Obviously. This makes me very happy. Except we don’t have much internet. We have gone from 200GB of ADSL a month to 3GB of wireless. It’s not pretty. I have a lot of reading to catch up on my feedly account, but I don’t want to blow our data limit!!

Ingham is great. The trip here went well – I drove the land cruiser towing our dodgy trailer (Hubs calls it “agricultural”…) with the red baron on top (see below) while he drove the kombi. We both made it with no trouble. The house they (the hospital) have provided for us is really lovely. I was a bit disappointed when they told us they didn’t have one of the lovely new roomy units available for us, and that they were putting us up in the older house, but as soon as we walked in the door, we knew we’d love it here.

We’ve just been settling in, albeit quickly, going to church the day after we arrived, and having someone over for dinner already, plus our friends came to stay for the weekend! The kids have been a bit sick on and off since we arrived, and Chanbe has been somewhat displaced and a bit challenging, but we are doing well.

We are heading down to T’ville for the weekend for Chanbe’s 3rd birthday party which Mum and Dad are coming up for, and then they are coming to stay here next week which will be lovely.

As usual, I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story!!

Let’s hit the road!

Chanbe was very keen to get to “Eeam” as he calls it.

The first few days were somewhat challenging. 
(FYI those books were on the shelf behind him about a minute before I took this photo…)
  
Chanbe has seriously been into his play-dough since we arrived. How do you like my strawberry??
  
This is our living room. We removed the TV on day one, just to eliminate temptation…
  
 My clever little munchkin!
  
 We try and eat our afternoon tea outside in the shade while we wait for Dadda to come home. Sometimes we wait a long time and then give up 🙂
  
 Gotta love watermelon season!
  
My poor little monkeys have been sick the last few days. Chanbe actually fell asleep on the couch!!

Not that you would know he’s sick most of the time…

So that’s us updated for now. We haven’t really gotten into any kind of routine as yet, as there have been a lot of days sleeps (them, not me 🙁 ) which has thrown things out of whack a bit. But I’m not really in need of routine at the moment. This is like a bit of a holiday for us, so we’re just going with the flow. Because that’s what you do in north Queensland ay?

Where was I?

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Ah yes. Brisbane. Had a great time!! It was actually much more relaxing than usual, as I had only just been the month before, so didn’t feel the same urgency to catch up with EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW who lives there. Just a few things here and there to top up my friendship cup.

And now, Mum is here in T-ville with us, and we are looking towards our next move. We are staying in Ingham for 10 weeks from the 10th of November. I say “staying” as opposed to “moving”, as we will be in a fully-furnished and decked-out 2 (very large) bedroom, 2 bathroom unit provided by the hospital. So we just really need to bring clothes and linen. Oh, and all the paraphernalia (WOAH! I totally just spelt that correctly first time!!??) that goes with having children. We had to buy a trailer to fit it all in. I’m serious. The rest is going into storage until the following move.

Anyway, after the 10 week stint is up, we will be heading west to Mt Isa. Hubs’ place of birth, and our home for 2014. I’m feeling quite fine about this move, unlike the last move. It might have something to do with the fact that I’m not pregnant, and not on as much of a time press as the Wang move. Plus, we REALLY didn’t want to leave Wang. And as much as we will miss our great friends and family here, as well as my cousin and her family who are moving up here next here (dang), we never really felt like we were “at home” in T-ville. I’m not sure we will feel any differently in Mt Isa, but we’re going in with open minds and know that whatever happens, we will make the best of things.

I packed 10 (small) boxes today. Mainly books and crafty supplies – you know, the easy stuff. Having Mum here to entertain the kids (and do all the other behind the scenes stuff mums do) is already a great help.

We’re not sure how much longer our internet will be connected here, so if I drop off the grid for a while, you know why. But rest assured, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Until then, wish me luck with the packing, and book your tickets to Mt Isa for 2014! Ha!

Busy Brizzie

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Actually, it’s not busy at all. I just like how “busy” rhymes with “Brizzie”. Ummmm…. yeah. Let’s move on.

We arrived in Brisbane yesterday after a very successful, easy flight, thanks to Hubs’ Mum accompanying us after spending a few days with us in Townsville. Chanbe was a superstar and Quindy was delightful, albeit rather squirmy! I had a great night sleep last night, apart from Quinn being wide awake from 4-5am, as I didn’t have to wake up until after 9. Felt amazing! It’s lovely and cool down here, so I got to get under the covers which was so nice.

I really don’t have much planned other than making pierogi with my cousin on Friday, going to another cousin’s engagement party on Saturday evening, and catching up with Hubs’ sister and her girls on Monday afternoon/evening. Oh, and it’s mum’s birthday on Saturday, so it would be nice to do something special then too. There are other things to do, sure, but it’s nice to just laze around a bit and not be rushing around.

I’m feeling very positive at the moment. We have a lot on our plate (nothing new there) but in general, I’m just feeling very optimistic about life, which is giving me energy. It looks like we’ll be heading to Mt Isa next year – Hubs’ hometown! He grew up there and left when he was about 13 years old. We know it will have changed a lot, but we are excited about the new challenge this move will bring. It’s somewhat hard, as we are quite enjoying our lifestyle in Townsville, but this is a different opportunity for us, and we just feel we’d like to give it a go. And after that? As usual, who knows!?

So here I am. Just kicking back. A bit different to a year ago!

Having regrets (and getting over them)

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I’m currently booking flights for another visit to Brisbane next month. I regret not signing Chanbe up to the same flights reward program as me as soon as he took his first flight. He’s been on over 20 flights in almost 3 years. I also regret not always booking with the same airline, to build up more points.

These are small, somewhat insignificant things, but for some reason they, and a few other things, are weighing heavily on me. Maybe I’m trying to focus on small, meaningless things so I don’t have to concentrate on the big things in life at the moment. Like moving house. Again. I said I wouldn’t do it again. Who was I kidding? But it can’t be as bad as the last move, right? I mean, I’m not over 30 weeks pregnant. And we have a plan in the pipeline to make things easier for us. So it won’t be as bad. I’m sure of it.

Getting over it. I’ve just signed the kids up to the flights rewards program. Better late than never, right? I guess that’s one way to deal with regret. Do what you can do, learn from it and move on.

Update: I just realised, a week after writing this post, that it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d signed Chanbe up from the start. I never had to pay for his flights while he was under 2 years old, so none of those early flights (around 20!) would have earned him any points anyway. So there you go. I’m over it 🙂

Dorothy got it right

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There’s no place like home. We have had such an amazing time in Brisbane; staying with Gran and Grumpy, catching up with family and friends, and spending amazing quality time with people. But it’s time to go home. I miss Hubs (he went home 11 days ago to get back to work) and I miss our little routine we had going on up in Townsville. I need to feel settled again.

But things won’t stay settled for long. Hubs’ final rotation is in Ingham (chicken, love’m) so we will be packing up in the next 2 months, putting our belongings in storage, and moving in to a 2 bedroom unit for the 10 week rotation. And after that? Well, the jury is still out, but we will hopefully find out in the next month or so. 

This has probably been one of the best Brisbane visits I’ve had in years. I really wanted to have one-on-one time with people, as I find when we have lots of people over at once, it’s just too hard to have an in-depth conversation, and I leave feeling exhausted, but not really knowing what anyone is up to. Not this time. I can leave tomorrow, feeling closer to my family and friends than I’ve felt in years.

A few more highlights:

We turned Quinn’s seat around! 

Chanbe visited a fire station!
Chanbe drove Gran’s boat: (in the driveway…)
Even though packing awaits, I can’t wait to get home. The last move was pretty horrendous, and I believe no other move could be any worse than that, so I’m rather unfazed by it all. Plus, we have more of a plan this time around! I have quite a few of my 101 in 1001 to give you updates on, so I’ll be back soon!

Our holiday in photos (and a few words…)

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We began our holidays at Rainbow Beach, in this apartment, with this view:

 There was “incy wincy” cake:

 and books to read:

and more beautiful views:

 Then there was Melbourne. And what does Melbourne mean? Melbourne means coffee:

Then there was Wang. And Wang meant catch ups;

meeting new friends:

more coffee;

and more coffee:

and good times at old places:

and more catch ups with old friends:

and more meeting new friends:

Remember these guys?

Then back to Melbourne for some underwater fun:

and more catch ups:

and of course, more (awesome Melbourne) coffee:

Lots of lovely times at the park:

And a few snoozles in the car:

 And so many cuddles with Big Brother;

 Nanna;

And Poppy.

And one of the best things of all; ice creams in the car after a long drive.

A truly amazing mix of complete relaxation, delightful catch-ups, crazy toddler getting cabin fever in the car, yummy coffees and not-as-bad-as-you-might-think Victorian weather. Hubs is on his way back to Townsville in our “new” car (we bought Mum and Dad’s land cruiser off them) and the kids and I are in Brisbane (Woody Pt) until the 11th of September. Might see you round 🙂

Is she going on a holiday?

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Yes she is. And so is Hubs. And Chanbe. And Quinnbe. We leave tomorrow night for Brisbane, then on Wednesday we are heading to Rainbow Beach for 4 nights, then the Gold Coast for a night, then back to Woody Point for a night before heading to Melbourne. We will spend a couple of nights there, then go to Wang for Thursday night, then back to Melbourne until the following Tuesday. We then head back to Brisbane for a couple of days before Hubs drives back up to T’ville. The kids and I will stay down at Woody Pt for another week or 2 after that.

What? I didn’t say it was going to be a relaxing holiday! It’s what we do. We don’t mean to do it, but it always ends up this way. Hopefully there will be a few days here and there where we can take a deep breath and chill. The last 2 weeks have been quite relaxing a great, with a couple of visitors, some wine, some jazz, and lovely sleep-ins followed by cooked breakfasts. Yum!

Life is pretty damn sweet. Hope to see you in your home down during the next month. And hope to be here blogging about it too, but as always, this will depend on internet access.

26 hours til we leave! I should really start packing…

Whatever doesn’t kill you…

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…gives you gastro?

When I last left you, we had conquered Sydney and were celebrating our victory in Gosford. We got an early start the next morning, hoping to clock up about 500km or so. We had a great run in the morning and decided to push through to our friends place in Kempsey. The cars were running beautifully and we were all in great spirits!

We bid our friends farewell around 3pm, and things went downhill from there. The falcon made it about 2km before it stopped. We tried again, but after the third time, and only a few km down the road, we reviewed our options and decided to ditch the falcon and trailer at our friends place and just keep on going. I jumped in the kombi with Hubs and Mum and Dad went ahead with Chanbe.

This man can drive a van.
2012-11-23 19.08.22
We met up for Maccas and fuel in Grafton at around 7pm, and decided to just push on to Brisbane. Mum and Dad took Chanbe ahead and we followed behind.

So we covered 800km in the first 2 and a half days, and then 900km on the last day. It was a long one, and we arrived home at midnight Queensland time (1am “our time”) about an hour after Mum and Dad. Chanbe was not ready to go to sleep after such an exciting day and it took another hour or so to settle him, so by 1am Queensland time, everyone was in bed, mostly asleep. Saturday was spent preparing for Chanbe’s birthday party on Sunday, while Hubs had some much needed man-time with his man-friends, and I headed out for a hens party which turned out to be just what I needed!

Chanbe’s birthday party was a great success and it was lovely to be surrounded by family again. Here’s the robot cake I whipped up for him: (actually, I bought a slab of cake and just cut it out and decorated it 🙂 )

2012-11-25 15.57.52

I haven’t downloaded any of my photos from my camera as yet, so you’ll have to make do with the phone photos for the time being. Monday was a lazy old day, and we caught up briefly with our nieces and nephew and Hubs’ sister. I came home feeling a little off colour, and within an hour, I had lost my lunch and was in bed. It came out of nowhere, but wasn’t going anywhere! After hourly “attacks” (for want of a better word), by midnight we thought it best I go to hospital, as I was a little worried about Baloo with me getting so dehydrated. So my mother in law took me to the local hospital and I was given some anti-nausea tablets and given 2L of fluid. They took some bloods and did a few other tests, but I was told it was “just” gastro and that I could go home at 4:30am.

So the good news is, we have family and friends around to help out in this tricky time, and hopefully this bad run is over. Hubs has gone down to Kempsey with his BFF today to pick up the car and trailer and I’m expecting him home in the next few hours. Chanbe is having a little grizzle to himself in bed, but will nod off soon, and I’m trying to decide what I actually want to eat, now that I’m feeling a bit better.

Yest it’s been a rough week, but whatever doesn’t kill you… well, you know the rest 🙂

Ha ha ha. You gotta laugh, right?

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We did it! We moved out of our house in Wang, had the cleaning etc done, and got outta there in time. We had our last Bead Shop coffee in the morning, and handed over our clown bike to the dear owners.

We’ll miss you guys!!

We then handed in our keys and had a farewell lunch at Espresso on Ovens – one of the first places we ever had coffee in Wang. We farewelled Juan and he wished us well in our next adventure.

The last thing we had to do was pick the kombi up from the mechanic, who basically said “good bye and good luck!!” We knew it was going to be a rough ride, but we hoped it would get to Brisbane okay, so we left Wang the same way we arrived 2.5 years ago – Hubs at the wheel of the kombi, me by his side and up the duff, and running late. It was bitter sweet.

We headed up the Hume Highway, and after a quick rendezvous north of Albury, we decided to take the coast road (for various reasons.) The Falcon was struggling a bit under the weight of the BIG TRAILER…

though, we can’t imagine why! So the next morning, after a night in Gundagai while Chance was with the babysitter…

… the boys did a re-pack and evened things out somewhat. Things were looking up! And then we hit the road. And the Falcon stopped. And it just got worse from there. We were going to try and make it to Mittagong for lunch, then north of Sydney for the night. Instead, we made it to Mittagong for lunch okay, but didn’t leave that night. The Falcon went to the autoelectrician, and we went to a motel.

But the fun didn’t stop there. The kombi started playing up as well, so that went to a different mechanic. So this morning there was a lot of hanging around and praying. And playing!

By 3pm, both cars were back on the road, but only slightly fixed – enough to get us to Brisbane (please please please!!!). So there we were. 80km south of Sydney, peak hour approaching, and the desire to get a 3-car-convoy through to the other side, without a) breaking down; b) getting lost or c) going crazy.

So Mum, Chanbe (who fell asleep immediately) and I led the way for the 150km journey. It was a little terrifying, and just after we got off the toll roads (remind me – I need to pay some tolls!!) we lost Hubs. I got a text, assuring me he would be okay, so we just ploughed on. We all met up in Gosford just after 6pm and I have never been so proud and relieved to get through traffic in my LIFE! We did it!!

So after 2 and a half days, we have traveled less than 800km, but all in all, we’re really only a day behind our very loose schedule. If all goes to plan (which nothing has so far!) we will make it to Grafton tomorrow for the night, then arrive in Brisbane on Saturday afternoon. If nothing goes to plan, (which seems much more likely!) at least we’ll have more travel stories to laugh about in times to come 🙂

A truffling thought

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I’ve been a bit absent from regular blogging lately, and I fear this trend will continue for the next few weeks months. We are in the midst of planning and packing and (sadly) counting down the days til we leave Wang (18). We are fitting lots of socialising in which has been lovely. We headed to Melbourne last weekend to farewell our “med friends” – this group of people have really made the last 4 years of our lives somewhat amazing, and they will always hold a VERY special place in our hearts. I know that we will certainly keep in touch over the years to come.

Here are the graduates of 2012. Hard to believe we only met them in 2008!

And here is the “support crew” (missing a wife and twins of one the the graduates!!)
And the graduation cake I made for them:

And as yesterday was Hubs’ last day of medicine (he has 2 days of exams next week and then that’s really it!!) we have had a few end-of-med dinners and lunches to attend which has been great. The one we went to on Thursday night was a thank you from the students to the Doctors and teaching staff, and I offered to make some baked goods to hand out as a thank you. I decided to make truffles, as I’d never made them before and it’s always a great idea to try something new when you are making presents for 20 people. (Ahem.) Thankfully, they turned out beautifully:

And everyone was very thankful which was lovely. I made the little boards out of cardboard wrapped in alfoil, and stuck the patties down with melted chocolate. I was worried about them melting but I believe they stayed intact. I made over 100 of these little friggers!

 This coming week:
– tonight I’m making lamb shanks as an end-of-uni treat for Hubs
– tomorrow we’re doing a bit of local sight-seeing and maybe catching a bit of the Wangaratta Jazz Festival (I can hear it from our house)
– Monday night we’re having 6 people over for dinner + Revenge episodes (yes I’m hooked. Don’t judge.)
– Tuesday we are going to the local races for Melbourne Cup Day (like last year)
– Wednesday Mum and Dad arrive and Hubs heads to Shepparton for his exams til Friday
– Thursday I’m hosting Mums group at my house for the last time (boo)
– Friday Hubs and I will hopefully go out to dinner to celebrate the real end of Hubs’ medical degree!!
– Saturday we are having a garage sale

So, you know, enough to keep us busy. I’ve been having a bit of anxiety lately, most likely centred around getting ready for the big move, and am just trying to be aware of it, acknowledge it, and not let it manifest itself in crazy ways. I know we’ll get there. We always do 🙂