Reader I know the blog hasn’t been updated for several days and there is a very good reason. I’ve had a quick trans continental trip to the east coast where I supervised the movement of our stored Australian house pack into a removal container for shipping to Perth.
Things didn’t start too well when the airport security staff selected me for random explosive testing. Either Jan or I always appear to be selected, obviously we fit the profile! The testing officer must have thought he had struck gold when I tested positive. Even more surprising was a positive on the second test. He then tested himself producing a negative result. My possessions went back through the x-ray machine without incident. Eventually they established it was my shoes producing the positive result. So the lesson is “Don’t wear the shoes you’ve been wearing in the garden as the faint traces of fertilizer can be detected.
The 4.5 hour Qantas flight to Sydney was boring. I’m not sure which is worse. Going Qantas knowing you are going to have to eat the awful airline meal or travelling with one of the other airlines knowing you either won’t get anything to eat or will have to purchase it.
I collected a rental car at the airport and drove across Sydney to reach Jan’s brother’s house where I collected both keys to the container and gate into their farmlet. then it was back on the road heading north to Wyong where I had a room booked at the Central Coast Motel. The room was clean but noisy from a fridge with tuberculosis and passing trains on the main rail line across the road.
A two hour time zone change meant my body woke at 4am Perth time (6am Sydney time) and by 6.30am Sydney time I was on the road. The final part of the road to the main gate was very corrugated and I decided not to risk damaging the rental car opting instead to walk the last 400 metres up the hill.
The container was moved here two years after we had departed for the UK. It’s on reasonably flat ground and partially shaded by a large gumtree.
The road journey down from Coffs Harbour had shaken up the bottom layer of boxes and we have suffered some losses. But after six years of living on canal boats one thing that has changed with both of us is our attitude towards possessions. We’ve been minimalists and now view possessions as “stuff” that frequently clutters up your life.
The removal truck (lorry) arrived on time and by midday everything worth retaining had been transferred into their shipping container. This will be taken to Newcastle and then railed to Perth.
I spent another hour cleaning up the interior of the container and its surrounds. The container has to be removed from the site so we will try and sell it. Hopefully one of the local landowners is looking for a secure lockup.
There was just time for a photo of the farmlet buildings sitting in their parched surroundings before I headed back to Sydney. We are both rather pleased our possessions are on the move because the entire region has been in drought and is tinder dry. Ideal bushfire conditions!
My route back to Sydney Airport was almost the reverse of the previous day with a brief stop to return keys.
I managed to book a cheap flight back to Perth with Ryanair.
That’s me in Ryanair business class.
It’s a 5 hour flight going west (don’t ask… I don’t know why there’s an additional 30 minutes). After opting for the revolting pasta the previous day I selected the chicken curry and rice which was just as tasteless. Sometime in the last six years Qantas changed their meal service and hot meals now come in a cardboard box. Forty five years ago I would fly with the Royal NZ Air Force and their meals always came in a cardboard box. Little did I realise at the time how progressive they were!
Now I’m back in Perth and have commenced work on the bed making project. Photos to follow in the next post.
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