The movers arrived on Saturday 25th, and that night we stayed at Lolo and Dida's. The kids had been there since the night before, so their last day in our home was actually Friday. They also had their last horse riding lesson with Milea on that Friday morning. It was a great lesson, with lots of cantering, and lots of tears at the end. Poor Carmie was so sad, and she made both me and Milea tear up. It was quite heart breaking driving away from the farm and the horses.
On Sunday morning we said our goodbyes to Lolo and Dida. Poor Lolo was crying even before we left. It was very emotional. Jeffrey left before us, with the rats and Bella, and he drove all the way through to Coffs Harbour, almost nine hours. The weather was unbelievably bad. I'm talking the worst rain and wind storm the area had seen in years, and Jeffrey and I had the horrible task of driving through it! Me and the kids only had five hours to drive, because we stayed for two nights with Oma and Opa in Lemon Tree Passage. But the drive - unbelievable sideways sleet and rain, white knuckling it for about four hours. I have never driven in such bad weather, and for hours. But, we made it, a little worse for wear because we were unable to get out and have a play in parks on the way up, which was our intention.
Anyway, we had two nights in Lemon Tree Passage, and it was really nice to have a break from doing anything! I had been packing for a month, and I knew there was so much unpacking ahead of us, so it was good to just do nothing but hang out. We took the kids down to this boardwalk area which was really lovely, but the weather still wasn't very good, and Arley was a pain in the butt. The wind was up, and he usually gets quite affected by the wind. He did not want to be out at all, and he let us all know it. We made it to a cafe for milkshakes and coffee and he settled down. That afternoon we had a visit from Oma's mother Midge, who is doing well at 89 years old. The kids had a good time with their grand parents. They are spending a lot of time on screens these days, because everything is so unsettled, but they seem quite happy with that.
The next day we got on the road right after breakfast for the rest of our drive to Coffs Harbour. The weather cleared and the skies became blue and sunny, and we arrived at lunch time. We had big hugs from Jeffrey before he showed us around our new house. The house is great...but we might not be staying. Things are up in the air at the moment, which is very frustrating. As I said, the house is great, but it has very little backyard to speak of. It has a nearby park which is handy, but it is not the same as having a big backyard. We found another house nearby that we love, so we filled out an application for it and we had high hopes of securing it, until today when we went to a viewing. No joke, there were at least fifty separate groups going through the viewing. The realtor told me that they had already accepted thirty applications. So, we have little chance of getting this house. We have another app in with another place, and I'm waiting to hear back from that realtor. Chances are we will be staying here, but we have been in complete limbo since Friday of last week when we first saw and applied to the first house. We are living around boxes, half packed and half unpacked, and it's getting really old! If I don't hear back from either realtor by the end of Monday, we will unpack fully and stay here, even without a back yard. We'll make do for six months to a year, and then try again. The good news is that the house that we are in is pretty nice - it was only built last year, and they have put in a great stove and oven, it has a great pantry and lovely bathrooms etc.
And as for Coffs? It is lovely. We have been taking it slow, getting out once a day exploring. We have found the main dog beach and taken Bella for a run. There were definitely more people there than we are used to, but it was still beautiful. We took the kids to the harbour and out for ice cream, we went to Sawtell. We went up to Sapphire Beach and found a great park with a cafe, right next to the beach. And yesterday we drove up to Woolgoolga, which was amazingly beautiful. We took the kids to the mall one day, and Carmie was dumbfounded. She had no real concept what a mall was! How sheltered our children were living in Ulladulla! Today I went on my own to another even bigger mall, and bought Carmie some new much-needed clothes. It is great to be able to duck out and go places like that. We are not used to it, and I don't think it's going to get old any time soon! Also, the weather is amazing! It's winter, and it feels like spring. I haven't been cold once!
The kids have been really great. I was expecting a lot of drama with all of the upheaval, but things have been going really well. Arley doesn't seem to be minding all of the changes, and Carmie is no longer sad that we have left Ulladulla. All good!
Next week we are hoping to take the kids up to the learning centre in Bellingen, and also to settle in one way or another. We can't live around boxes much longer, it is doing my head in!
I found the next six photos on my phone, and had to add them, because they cracked me up. This is what Jeffrey does in his spare time! :)
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