Leaving Australia Pt 1

I know, I left 3 days ago but things have been so hectic.  I had to post about the sermon at church while it was still fresh in my mind but I will go back to the moving out of my home of 28 years nearly 2 weeks ago now.

The removalists were booked for Tuesday and it was a stinking hot, humid day.  Even the fit young men said it was not the weather they expected in the Mountains. You did not expect it 20 years ago but it has become more and more common.

The Ezi-Bin had been delivered the day before and so first thing, I dragged my bed of over 30 years into it. Luckily my neighbour saw me struggling and she came and helped me with the final heave ho of the base.  By the following night, it (4 cu m) was full, so was my Otto bin and the recycling bin (they had been regularly filled for the past 3 or 4 weeks) and I had taken a trailer load to the tip. I sold my car and trailer to the guy across the road and he was happy for me to use them up until the Wednesday although he paid me a week before.

A truck came and collected my 34 year old refrigerator, 20 year old washing machine and microwave and an old filing cabinet that was probably used in the Ark by Noah (I purchased it 2nd hand when I was studying at university in the 60's.

My sister arrived soon after the removalists but there was not a lot we could do except empty out some of the area under the house. We just tried to find somewhere to keep cool.

By the end of the day my possessions had been reduced to a quoted 18 cu m (90 boxes) which is to travel over the Tasman by ship, 3 suitcases weighing a total of 42 kilos which I sent as unaccompanied air luggage a week later and is supposed to arrive by the end of this week and another case with 21 kilos plus onboard bag including laptop which I brought with me.

The removalists took about 6 hours to pack and load.

My sister drove me to a nearby motel for the night and I took her to dinner at the Sports Club.

Wednesday thankfully was slightly less humid.  My sister, as usual, took over and worked very hard with the vacuum cleaner, while I went to the tip as described and cleaned out cupboards. I thought it would take about 4 hours but it was closer to 7 hours by the time we left and returned to the motel in a heavy thunderstorm and again I took her to dinner, this time at a hotel in the local town.

Thursday was much cooler after a southerly change and there was  mountain mist which I remember on the afternoon of my first day in the house - January 4, 1982.  We made our last visit to the house to collect my remaining suit cases and my sister's cleaning equipment and visited my neighbour who was in tears and then took the keys to the estate agent. Strangely I was not as upset as I thought I would be.

I went to my sister's home near the city where I was to stay for the next week. That afternoon I bought her a mac laptop so that we are now able to keep in contact via Skype. Her Mac Mini did not have a microphone or camera. The laptop is slightly more powerful but just a little more than half the price of mine which was purchased in May 2007.