NOTE: This is a blog update for friends and family in Scotland….. .Ambro has a special cool car doggy blanket called ‘Dogs On Tour’, this means the car stays clean and Ambro seems to love it; she’s been an absolute star in the car. She sat happily in the back for the entire 6 and ½ hours and when we stopped at places she got out for a quick loo stop and then back in with no trouble. Every now and again she’d fall asleep, but most of the time she was awake. She was no trouble at all and has been great in the car ever since. We stopped at a pet friendly motel in Coffs Harbour called The Big Windmill. It was nice, much better than the horrible Picton Motel experience we’d had previously. The people there were very friendly and they made us feel welcome. We were so tired from the driving we just ordered some pizza and hung out in the room sleeping.
We left Coffs Harbour early in the morning and because we were traveling over the border of New South Wales into Queensland we gained an hour as we had to put our clock back. We arrived at the place we’re staying now called the Jacaranda Lodge in Springwood, about 20 minutes from the house and 20 from Brisbane. It’s basically a pool house in someone’s garden and although it doesn’t have air con it’s nice. We thought it was going to have a cooker and an oven, so were rather surprised when we got there and it was only a fridge. We decided to pick up our microwave early from Clive Peeters and we also bought a George Foreman grill so now we and cook. We’ve just been eating salad and some grilled meat for dinner so if we don’t lose any weight with all the walking and not eating something is up!
We went and picked up the Number plates for the car and got those put on. They look brilliant and we also got Ambro registered with the local council so she’s safe and tagged for 3 years. It was very easy to do, we just had to go into the council and fill in a form and then sign a stat dec to say she’s been neutered. We did this at the court building next door in front of the justice of the peace and it was all really simple. So far here things seem to be fairly straight forward when you need to do things so here’s hoping they stay that way.
We organised the pool too and are going with a company named Narrellan Pools. The sales guy there was called Brad and he was very helpful. Hopefully it all goes well and we don’t have any problems. The house is getting on great and they’ve already done some of the tiling and the rest of the inside. You can see photos of it on our flickr of course.
We went on a trek today around the local area and found an amazing place called Sovereign Island that has the most amazing houses on it. All of them are mansions that are individually designed and have their own boat ramp, security, and actual island space with views over the water. Really amazing and it’ll definitely be something we will take mum and dad to see. Other than that we found a lovely little place called Paradise Point (I think!) and we sat there outside in an Italian café and had lunch then took Ambro for a walk. It’s brilliant to be able to sit outside and enjoy the day with the dog with us as well.
We actually had quite a bit of rain overnight and it was overcast today, so hopefully it’ll rain again as it’s very warm tonight and feels like it needs it. We will be able to check email every day now as we’ve managed to get an internet connection even though it’s very slow. We are planning to work a bit whilst here for the month, as well as just find out new things.
Will update soon!